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M ay 21 June 3, 2015

BUILDING
AND

CONSTRUCTION

Cedar Street Apartments. Photo by Carla Occaso

IN THIS ISSUE:
5: New Pocket Park on
Main Street
12: Montpelier's New
Residents
14: New Doorway at
Uncommon Market

PRSRT STD
CAR-RT SORT
U.S. Postage
PAID
Montpelier, VT
Permit NO. 123

17: Barre's Seasoned

Realtors

Rooms With Views:

New Apartment Building Nearly Complete
by Jake Brown

MONTPELIER Construction of a six-unit apartment building

close to downtown is nearing completion, and two of the six apartments in the building on Cedar Street have been spoken for, says
owner Jason Merrill.

He said the units are energy efficient, with electric heat pumps to
He says the project, the first new residential apartment building warm and cool the apartments. The building also offers five covered
constructed in downtown in many years, should be finished by July parking spaces on the ground floor of the building. The units will
1.
be rented, not sold.
For years there has been a very high demand for rental housing in The building is three stories. The apartments in the top two floors
the city. Merrill, who owns 12 other apartment units around town, offer views of the downtown skyline, including the State House and
says he rarely has vacancies in his other apartments.
City Hall. Rents for the upper units with the views are $1,750 per
The building, which sits on the cross street running between East month, and rents for other units are less. Utilities are not included.
State Street and School Street, replaces a dilapidated apartment All of the buildings apartments are two-bedroom, one-bathroom
building that was torn down last year. The building is about 50 apartments with a living and dining area facing downtown and
yards from the Union Elementary School and about 150 yards from bedrooms in the back.
the intersection of State and Main streets.

Interior. Photo by Jake Brown.

The Bridge
P.O. Box 1143
Montpelier, VT 05601

Merrill says people who have looked at the units like the new construction, the proximity to downtown and Union School, and the
views from balconies in the upper units.

View of downtown skyline. Photo by Jake Brown.

PAG E 2 M AY 21 J U N E 3 , 2 015

THE BRIDGE

Nature Watch
by Nona Estrin

Watercolor by Nona Estrin

The Sweet Fragrance of Spring

p on our hill, the apples are still blooming and spring is boasting its most beautiful weather in years, with gentle slowly soaking rains setting off days of sun. Wild
plum fragrance has given way to apple and lilac. The air is sweet, the days are
long, while gardens demand we turn our energy to digging, hauling and planting! And
the lawns! It's time to just walk away, take a tour around the block or up a mountain,
breathe deeply the yard will be there when you return.

Follow The Bridge on Twitter:

@montpbridge

M AY 21 J U N E 3 , 2 015 PAG E 3

T H E B R I D G E

HEARD ON THE STREET

New Barbershop to Open
Todd Wheeler, Paul
Somerset and Sean
Myers of Myles Court
Barbershop.
Photo by Dot Helling

MONTPELIER A new business is getting inspected by the end of this month, and then
men and women about town will be able to sit on a refurbished 1940's vintage Belmont
barbers chair under a new pressed tin ceiling with recessed lighting to relax, recline and
get a cut and/or color. Sean Myers, Paul Somerset and Todd Wheeler are partners in the
new Myles Court Barbershop located at the foot of East State Street just up from Coffee
Corner. Myers is more in charge of the business end, such as the website, while Somerset
and Wheeler will tend to the cuts. And Wheeler is something of a stylist to the stars after
working in West Hollywood for years following in his fathers footsteps. Wheeler has tended
to actors Robert DeNiro and Lawrence Fishburne, singer Madonna and others while in
California. He specializes in cuts and color for men and women.

More Heard on the

Street on Page 10

The first day open, proceeds will benefit Lost Nation Theater, Myers said. They will do
other charity events in the future, such as for Central Vermont Humane Society, so get ready
for a shave and a haircut!

Myles Court Barbershop on East State Street. Photo by Dot Helling.

Re-inventing The Bridge as a nonprofit community newspaper

Report From the Board

Update
Board members, support group members and Bridge staff met for about an hour prior to a recent official board meeting on May 8. We discussed the editorial and geographical
focus of The Bridge.
When we put out our first issue in December 1993, The Bridge was a Montpelier paper with a strong Montpelier focus. That focus continues.
Over the years, The Bridge has attracted a wide readership not just from people who live in Montpelier but from people who work here and live someplace else or who enjoy
Montpelier for its pleasing diversity.
Increasingly, over time, The Bridge has paid greater attention to whats happening in Barre. And from time to time we write about important developments in other neighboring communities across central Vermont.
The Bridge is a fiercely local paper. But were aware of the world in which we live and national and global forces that can sometimes have profound impact on our lives here.
We cant therefore ignore those larger forces that are changing our lives where we are and where we live.
What we write about and publish constitutes our editorial focus. Theres hardly anything thats more important to us and more continuously discussed.
Highlights from Board Meeting
The board unanimously supported the idea that all board meetings be open to the public and therefore the time of all future meetings be appropriately advertised in The Bridge.
The health of a community newspaper is determined by the support it receives from the community it serves. This support is manifest in two ways. A community budget
must be funded to finance operations beyond what can be sustained by advertising
revenues. Also, important is the support
Community Budget
of a corps of volunteers. How to promote
Support Request
and achieve these healthy outcomes, vital
to the survival of The Bridge, were the
subject of board discussion.
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efforts, were seen as essential to gain the
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Thank
You!

PAG E 4 M AY 21 J U N E 3 , 2 015

THE BRIDGE

City Council Votes to Ban Smoking in City Parks

Smoke-Free Downtown Also Proposed
MONTPELIER Effective imminently:
No smoking in city parks. Effective soon?
No smoking in downtown Montpelier. The
details: To be determined.
City councilors voted unanimously on May
13 to support the motion made by outgoing
City Council member Thierry Guerlain
and seconded by Jessica Edgerly Walsh to
eliminate tobacco smoking in city parks. I
move we designate to make our city parks
smoke-free zones as recommended (by the
Central Vermont New Directions Coalition). I would also like to recommend that
we continue to figure out how to make,
and where should we make, downtown
Montpelier a smoke-free environment.
Guerlains motion followed a lengthy presentation and ensuing discussion spearheaded by Ann Gilbert, director of the
Central Vermont New Directions Coalition, and Ginny Burley, prevention specialist.
The parks smoking ban cannot be implemented until a city staff member writes
up a draft ordinance and presents it to the
council. Then, the council must hold two
public hearings followed by two council
votes, according to Mayor John Hollar in
an email to The Bridge. Assuming the
council gives its approval, I would expect
it to take effect later this summer, Hollar
wrote.
This wont be the first local park to get a
smoking ban this year, said Gilbert in a
telephone conversation with The Bridge.
The Wrightsville Reservoir board of directors voted to ban smoking on the beach,

fields and parks this coming year, Gilbert

said. Smokers who go to Wrightsville, in
Middlesex, will still be allowed to smoke
in the parking lot. Last year the board of
directors designated a nonsmoking section
and a smoking section of the beach, but
the wind blows and it doesnt matter, Gilbert said, adding that parks in Barre have
also gone smoke-free.
After seconding Guerlains motion to
ban smoking in the parks, Edgerly Walsh
suggested having the pedestrian committee work on the details of a downtown
smoking ban. Her recommendation came
after discussion about the complications
of pushing smokers out of the citys nerve
center that culminates at the intersection of
State and Main streets.
Gilbert said that the Church Street Marketplace in Burlington banned smoking
five months ago, and that ban has been
successful during the day, but largely ignored at night. During the day smokers
cluster on the borders in front of side-street
businesses, which has prompted some Burlington merchants to ask for a citywide ban
so they arent adversely affected.
Several councilors brought up additional
ideas and concerns. Guerlain said he received a call from a constituent who mentioned a smoking-friendly spot behind
Montpelier Pharmacy and Guitar Sam at
the edges of the municipal parking lot.
Would smoking be banned in parking lots,
Guerlain asked. Burley said it is up to
the council; however, the council needs to
figure out where people will be allowed to
puff a butt.

by Carla Occaso

I think if we are going to do this, it would

make sense to extend it to all of these lots
back here (gesturing toward the back of
City Hall), otherwise the back side is going
to be all smokers, Guerlain said.
Council member Justin Turcotte said he
doesnt want to see young people pick up
an addictive habit, but he is worried about
how to support existing smokers. If we are
going to be banning smoking, if we take
something away, what can we give smokers
in return? he said. Gilbert said smokers
can get free smoking cessation supplies
and counseling from an organization called
802 Quits.
Turcotte also echoed a recurring question: If smokers cant smoke downtown,
just where can they smoke? I want to be
compassionate and thoughtful to people
who are struggling with addiction and may
not be ready to try to quit yet. They are
part of our community, whether what they
are doing is right or not, we dont want to
make them feel as if they are being pushed
further and further away, Turcotte said.
Council member Anne Watson also expressed concern about where smokers will
be allowed to smoke. She suggested perhaps a smoking ban from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m.
I think about the crew that might be in
front of Charlie-Os or Three Penny ... and
we are pushing people to back alleys or to
parking lots. Do we really want that? she
said. I think at night it might be better to
have those people on those main streets.
Watson also said she would like input from
Washington County Mental Health.

What is the goal of such a ban? Hollar said. Does the city want to protect
nonsmokers from secondhand smoke, or
are we trying to discourage smokers from
smoking? What does downtown have to do
with it other than making it difficult for
people? Hollar said he spends a lot of time
downtown and has not suffered a secondhand smoke problem.
Council member Dona Bate said that a
group clusters at an entryway in front of
Bagitos (on Main Street), creating a cloud
of smoke at the door and leaving behind
cigarette butts. The area in front of McGillicuddys is also marred by secondhand
smoke and cigarette litter. To me, it is
about public health as well as cleanliness,
Bate said.
Edgerly Walsh said, after talking with a
friend following the last discussion of a
downtown smoking ban, she has concluded
smokers will adjust to the change. In addition, a group of people who smoke on the
bridge across from the farmers market creates an uninviting environment.
Council member Tom Golonka said he was
concerned a downtown smoking ban might
prevent Canadian tourists from visiting
Montpelier.
A wide array of concerns emerged with social, medical, visual and economic ramifications. Turcotte said he thinks the council
should take it slow on formulating a plan
to allow time to observe how other communities, such as Burlington, fare with the
complexities of a smoking prohibition.

M AY 21 J U N E 3 , 2 015 PAG E 5

T H E B R I D G E

Pocket Park on Main Street Creates

Inviting Community Space
by Ashley Witzenberger

he lot on Main Street next to Splash Naturals has been an eyesore for Montpeliers
historic and quaint downtown for some time, but that is about to change. If you
havent already seen the beginnings of the makeover, a new pocket park and public
gathering space is coming together and the project is a true community partnership. The
owners of the lot, the Jacobs family along with Vermont Technical College students who
designed the pocket park, have come together with support from Montpelier Alive and
the City of Montpelier to work out all the details. These include permitting, insurance
and other particulars that are being put in place to ensure the success of the project this
summer.
Professor Ward Joyce and students from the college were the designers of Montpeliers
first parklet located on the Rialto Bridge last summer. This year, Joyce wanted to try
something new and had the idea of moving the parklet to Main Street. After speaking
with Jesse Jacobs about the unused lot on Main Street, Joyce and his architecture students
designed a park around the idea of a deconstructed and expanded parklet that will also
include a bike parking structure for 10 or more bikes. It was a pleasure to work with Joyce
and his architecture students at VTC to bring this pop-up park to life. The temporary
activation of our space is going to be an exciting addition to downtown Montpelier this
summer, said Jacobs.
After circulating the design in the community, securing permit approvals from the city
planning office, touching base with the bike and pedestrian committees and the Montpelier City Council and then after succeeding with a Kickstarter campaign the
project was ready to go ahead and Joyce wasted no time. The morning after the city
Council meeting there was heavy equipment and a half dozen people working at the site,
creating quite a buzz in downtown Montpelier. Since then, the community feedback has
been very positive; Sheri Rockcastle posted to Facebook, So glad for this continued and
greatly expanded opportunity to enjoy alfresco gatherings to eat/chat in the middle of

Correction
Concerning a story on the 16-unit building proposed for Sibley Street: the owner
is W.J. Properties, which is a partnership represented by Win Turner and Jamie
Hansen. The architect team working on the project is Hillview Design Collaborative led by Mark Bromley. There is also a team of engineers led by Chenette
Associates, PC. Andy Shapiro is the energy consultant.
Clarification
The cover photo on the last issue of The Bridge included a sculpture by Gamp
Wickenheiser. The other sculptors who contributed artwork to the Vermont
Psychiatric Care Hospital were Chris Miller, lead artist; Heather Ritchie and
Ryan Mays.

P.O. Box 1143, Montpelier, VT 05601

Phone: 802-223-5112
Fax: 802-223-7852
Editor & Publisher: Nat Frothingham
Managing Editor: Carla Occaso
Calendar Editor, Design & Layout:
Marichel Vaught
Copy Editing Consultant:
Larry Floersch
Proofreader: David W. Smith
Sales Representatives: Michael Jermyn,
Rick McMahan
Distribution: Tim Johnson, Kevin Fair,
Diana Koliander-Hart, Daniel Renfro
Editorial: 223-5112, ext. 14, or
editorial@montpelierbridge.com.
Location: The Bridge office is located at
the Vermont College of Fine Arts,
on the main level of Stone Science Hall.
Subscriptions: You can receive The
Bridge by mail for $50 a year. Make
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to The Bridge, PO Box 1143,
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Published every 1st and 3rd Thursday
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publish the 3rd Thursday only.
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Twitter: @montpbridge
Copyright 2015 by The Bridge

our downtown.
Over the Memorial Day weekend, 10 people will load the pre-built pieces on two flat bed
trucks at Vermont Technical College to transport them to Montpelier. They will arrive in
town around 11 a.m. to unload and construct. That is when they need community help
for chapter two of the collaboration. It will be even more fun than last year as this park
is much bigger and off the road. I have at least 10 distinct projects that can all get done
at the same time: lighting, post caps, ropes on bollards, pergola construction, planting,
bench assembly, bike platform, water catchment, and more, said Joyce.
Sunday will be another community work day, with more of a concentration on plantings.
Kelly Ogrodnik is spearheading the planting which includes about five times as many
flowers as last years parklet, as well as the green wall and probably four trees. People
are welcome to help with plantings and final details of the construction. Community
members should feel free to come downtown to volunteer or just to cheer on the workers.
The entire community is invited to a ribbon cutting celebration on Tuesday, May 26,
4-6 p.m. to mark the opening of the park. At 5:15 p.m., Mayor John Hollar, Joyce and
Vermont Technical College President Dan Smith will cut the ribbon. There will be music
and other fun things planned by the Montpelier Alive Design Committee. "This is a
great project that seems to be generating a lot of support. It will be a nice addition to our
downtown," said Hollar.
This summer Joyce and Montpelier Alive hope to host a few community events in the
space including live music and maybe even a movie, and they hope that others will plan to
use the space for their own gatherings. To stay informed about happenings in the pocket
park and downtown Montpelier, visit Montpelier Alives Facebook page.
The writer is the executive director of Montpelier Alive.

PAG E 6 M AY 21 J U N E 3 , 2 015

THE BRIDGE

A Message From City Hall

This page was paid for by the City of Montpelier.

City Council Sets Annual Goals and Action Steps

by William Fraser, City Manager

very year after the Annual City Meeting elections, the newly formed Council, with input and assistance from city staff, spends several hours outlining key priorities for the
city. Broad policy goals are identified, many of which are multi year in nature. Specific action items for the current year determined to help make progress toward reaching
the main goals. A final document is created which forms the basis of the City governments overall work plan for the year while still delivering everyday services and responding to unexpected situations.
This years goals document was approved by the Council on April 29th and is as follows:

Note current project commitments:

1 Taylor, Bike Path, Re-Zoning, Montpelier in Motion Plan, Solar Array, full DPW
project list, new Website, Rec Transition,
Stormwater Management Plan, ADA transition plan, Winter Parking Ban Revision
This is, obviously, an ambitious plan but
will result in a more comprehensive vision for future work. Items such as the
Economic Development Strategic Plan,
Downtown Master Plan, Parking Plan,
Montpelier in Motion (Bike/Pedestrian)
Master Plan, Stormwater Management
Plan, Water/Sewer Master Plan and our
Capital Improvements Plan will be linked
strategically in order to allocate future
funding in line with future needs and priorities.
Additionally, a comprehensive public discussion and education process about long
term budget planning and choices will be
launched well in advance of next years
budget cycle.

In the meantime, plenty of work is being

done. The most major piece of policy work
currently underway is the Zoning Revision
process. Zoning regulations need to be
revised to further city goals like addressing
parking in downtown, fostering economic
and housing growth and supporting the
health of our downtown and business community. Land and building use impacts
everyone in a neighborhood. Well thought
out regulations will improve the quality of
development and provide clear guidance to
developers about our communitys expectations.

The following is the Re-Zoning meeting

schedule:

The goals of the process are to streamline

development review and permitting, provide flexibility for well designed and creative projects, foster residential infill development, enhance neighborhood character
and quality of life and encourage efficient,
walkable and compact development.

June 8

May 21
4:30 Open House in City Hall Council
Chambers
7:00 Zoning Workshop on Medium
and Low Density Districts
May 28
5:15 Housing Issues Meeting in Police
Department Community Room
7:00 Zoning Workshop on Eastern and
Western Gateway Districts
5:30 Planning Commission Meeting in
City Hall Council Chambers
June 11
7:00 Conservation Issues Meeting in
City Hall Council Chambers

After these series of meetings, the Planning Commission will revise the working
draft and, subsequently, hold further public hearings. The Commission forwards a
recommended Zoning Ordinance to the
City Council for final hearings and consideration. We urge citizens to become
informed and to participate in this key
decision making process.
Information about the Zoning process or
other City business can be found at our
website www.montpelier-vt.org. I also encourage you to like the City of Montpelier Official on Facebook and/or follow
@vtmontpelier on Twitter. Additionally,
the city often posts information on Front
Porch Forum. Finally, emergency notifications can be received through Vt Alerts.
Thank you for reading this article and
for your interest in Montpelier City Government. Please feel free to contact me
at wfraser@montpelier-vt.org or 802-2239502 with any questions, comments or
concerns.

M AY 21 J U N E 3 , 2 015 PAG E 7

T H E B R I D G E

Is Growth Always Good?

by George Webb, retired UVM professor

hen population increases, development increases: More

commercial buildings, houses, apartments, schools, and
more and wider roads. My personal experience has been
that not all of these changes are good.

Opinion

I moved to Vermont in 1966 when the population was about

423,000. Now it is about 625,000. In 1966 we could easily afford to
buy a house on Lake Champlain because the demand was low. Due to increased population, the demand has greatly increased and prices have gone through the roof: thus our
annual real estate taxes are almost equal to the original house price. We still enjoy it, but
it is not quite as pleasant as it used to be. I still enjoy kayaking on the lake at sunset, but
it is not as peaceful now due to a big increase in motor boats. We used to walk or crosscountry ski directly across the road from our house, but now the beautiful meadow and
woods have become a large housing development. Now there are times when we have traffic jams in Burlington. One improvement was the building of a bike path over what were
railroad tracks when we moved here. But, the path is getting more crowded with a mix
of bikes, joggers, roller-bladers, walkers (some with dogs), and small kids. In the 60s and
70s I usually encountered fewer than a dozen other hikers at the top of Camels Hump,
but in the early 90s there were about 200, and no good spot to sit for lunch.
I have experienced the same types of changes in Singapore. I went to a lab there to do
research while on sabbatical leave from the University of Vermont in 1993; then the population was 3.3 million. When I retired from UVM in 1997 I began spending the winters
in the same research lab in Singapore, and I was there for a month this winter. Now, in

2015, the population has increased to 5.5 million. This has brought
about many bad changes. Prices are higher, and many areas that
used to be grass or tropical forest are now huge developments or new
university or hospital buildings, etc. The beaches are more crowded.
A few years ago I kayaked to a beach with two friends where we were
the only people there; now it is a huge development. In 1993 my wife
and I used to stroll along a long shore front path in West Coast Park
and enjoy the sunsets. Now that park is a huge container ship unloading facility and the
view of the setting sun is blocked by a tall fence and stacks of containers.
In the early 90s I was chair of the population committee of the Vermont chapter of the
Sierra Club. When I retired from UVM I began spending about five months of each year
in Singapore and had to give up my chairmanship. No one came forward to continue
the Sierra Club committee, but fortunately that hole was soon filled by Vermonters for
a Sustainable Population, which was founded by George Plumb and is still going strong.
In 2013 my primary grant funding in Singapore expired and I cut back to one month per
year in Singapore. I then became chair of the Vermont Sierra Club Sustainable Population Committee, which collaborates with VSP. Both groups are striving for sustainable
populations in Vermont and the world. For Vermont to be sustainable we should consume
only renewable foods and supplies, preferably produced in Vermont. VSP published an
online report (www.vspop.org) which concluded that the best sustainable population for
Vermont is under 500,000. This means that we should work toward a phase of negative
growth.

Stop Workplace Bullying Now

by Sherrill Gilbert, State coordinator for the Healthy Workplace Bill

Opinion

he fight for human rights continues. There is a war going on

and like every war there are casualties. In this country the
numbers continue to grow each day. Workers in the workplace
are targeted. The numbers of families that have been impacted by the
bullying of their loved ones, the numbers would be astronomical, the
impact on the economy could also not be able to measure in dollars
and cents, like a stone thrown into the still waters the ripple created by
bullying spreads outwards way beyond its boundaries, the cost of health care rises as does
the demands of health care needs. The immune system is comprised by bullying. Bullying
Is Abuse! It is estimated that 45 percent of targets are impacted physically, psychologically,
and financially.
This war does not take place on a battlefield, nor are the attackers seen. We do not have the
visual of broken bodies, there are no guns shot wounds or blood shed visible to the human
eyes. This is a psychological war that is also called the silent epidemic. Nationally 157
million workers are impacted by bullying in workplaces.

The Healthy Workplace Bill grassroots movement started in the late 1990s by Dr. Gary
Namie and his wife, Ruth Namie, both PhDs in psychology, now encompasses 38 states
with coordinators like myself. The Bullying Institute.org would be started after Mrs.
Namie had been targeted at the University in California where she worked. Ruth Namie
would experience PTSD resulting from the psychological violence of her bully.
Vermont has had a bill introduced first in 2007 through 2015. This is the ninth year that
this bill has remained attached to the wall in the legislature. The Senate bill S143 has again
been altered from the original bill. Vital language has once again been omitted. The bill
in its present state will be like the road in Alaska that Sarah Palin had talked about in her
campaign for presidency that went nowhere.
Complaints are filed with the attorney generals office to be investigated. It is well-known
that the state does not have the staff nor the finances to investigate these complaints. I
have helped many targets to file complaints. Out of all the complaints since 1999 only one
had been investigated and confirmed they wrongfully terminated almost three years after
she had filed the complaint. The attorney generals office advised her to go to civil court.
This individual psychologically declined over the three years she waited for the decision
wanting some kind of closure. In the end, the lawyer would be the one who benefited the
most financially.
I have had targets call me from all 14 counties from all walks of life. I have had calls in the
middle of the night, I have had some who have arrived on my door step. I have brought a
few to the emergency room who expressed suicidal ideation.
The most recent numbers in Vermont for targets that are presently being bullied in the
workplace is 90,900 targets if you add the numbers of past employees that have been impacted by bullies the number rise to 157,000 out of a workforce of 337,000. These numbers
are one that our legislatures are aware of. The cost of Bullying in the United States of
America has been estimated to be $300,000,000.00 that is transferred to the cost of goods
and services in this country. Bullies in the workplace are expensive. The loss of experienced workers, hostile work environment impacts productivity, workers immune systems
are compromised so absenteeism is high, error rates rise along with inefficiency. Workers
that are impacted require health care so the cost of health care rise.
I have asked for a public hearing since the bill has been introduced and again this year I
am once again being told that they will not take action this year. We need to contact our

senators and our representatives to amend bill S143 to its original state
and to make this a civil matter allowing the 45 percent has suffered
physical, psychological and financial harm the right to legal redress in
civil courts. This would not add to the budget deficit, the state would
not have to pay a penny to stop the abuse!

Have something important to say?

We want to hear it!
Send it to us at: editorial@montpelierbridge.com

mps

PAG E 8 M AY 21 J U N E 3 , 2 015

THE BRIDGE

personalization
community
sustainability

This page was paid for by the Montpelier Public Schools.

MHS Welcomes New Principal!

As a Rowland Fellow in 2013, Principal McRaith collaborated with Angela Duckworth
of the University of Pennsylvania, a researcher internationally renowned for her work
on learner grit & perseverance. His work at EFMS led to a schoolwide focus on school
community & social-emotional learning, culminating in the new school motto Be nice.
Work hard.
Principal McRaith co-teaches "Increasing Student Achievement through Social-Emotional Learning, a popular online Castleton course for Vermont teachers, and has worked
around the state to share the latest research and teaching resources in this domain.
Things like perseverance, optimism, and self-control are sometimes thought of as character traits, but the fact is that these are crucial skills that can be taught, improved, and
valued by a school community, he said.
Principal McRaith cares deeply about creating equitable, inclusive learning opportunities
for all students, and believes students need to be challenged with a rigorous course of
studies at school. "I'm wholly dedicated both personally and professionally to improving
the achievement gap in our schools, he explained.

New MHS Principal Michael McRaith

As of July 1st, Montpelier High School will welcome a new principal, Michael McRaith.
Before coming to Montpelier, Principal McRaith worked at Enosburg Falls Middle &
High School, first as a guidance counselor, and then as Principal since 2013. Asked about
why hes happy to be coming to Montpelier, Principal McRaith said I'm excited to be
a part of a learning environment that values student personalization, community, and
sustainability.

What is important to our students?

What do they care about?

He looks forward to working as the Montpelier High School Principal because of its
talented teachers and positive school culture & climate. "The need to belong has always
been important to teenagers, but the increased layer of digital pressure the modern teen
now has requires schools and communities to provide more support, teaching, and healthy
opportunities to connect and belong, he said.
Principal McRaith is optimistic about Act 77 and Vermonts current focus on personalized
and proficiency-based learning, adding Vermont is in a very unique spot to evolve public
education into a more personalized, authentic, and challenging experience for students.
You can follow Prinicipal McRaith on Twitter @mikemcraith or learn more about his
work with students at mrmcraith.blogspot.com

New Testing on Computers,

Not Paper

How can we know our students better

as learners?
How can we help students reflect on
their learning and set important goals
for themselves?

Community Forum Series

On the evening of April 30th, Montpelier Public Schools hosted The Future of School,
the first of a series of community forums to discuss current educational initiatives with
parents, students, teachers, administrators & community members.
The evenings guiding questions were
What is important to our students? What do they care about?
How can we know our students better as learners?
How can we help students reflect on their learning and set important goals for
themselves?
To start, participants took part in a jargon-buster activity to better understand
Personalized Learning Plans (PLPs), Proficiency-Based Learning (PBL), and the new
Smarter Balanced assessment (SBAC). The evenings discussion turned to how these
changes in education connect to our communitys values and our hopes for students,
with many participants stressing the importance of social belonging, personalized learning, and student voice in designing high-quality learning experiences.

For the first time in a decade, Vermont schools are using a new standardized test to
track students key skills in math, reading, and writing as required by the No Child Left
Behind Act of 2001. In Vermont, the successor to the pencil & paper NECAP is the
Smarter Balanced assessment (SBAC). This new approach uses formative assessments to
help prepare students and computer-adapted testing to get more accurate information
about what students are able to do in each skill area. The SBAC also makes available
computer-based supports for English Language Learners and students with special needs.
Michael Hock, Director of Educational Assessment at the Vermont Agency of Education,
has said that this first year of testing has gone smoothly around the state thanks to the
efforts of Vermont teachers, administrators, tech integrationists and also the students
who have exhibited great problem-solving skills as they work with new technology and
the new online platform.
Special thanks to the MPS SBAC Team! Sincere gratitude to Lucas Johnson, Russell
Leete, Jeffrey Jarrad, Cathy Clements, Eli Rosenberg, Jenna Bravakis, Joy Thomas, Sue
Monmaney and Jen Wall-Howard for their hard work.

The next community forum will be held October 16th (6:00 - 8:00 pm) in the Montpelier High School Library.

5 High School Drive, Unit #1, Montpelier, VT 05602

Students will be capable, motivated contributors to their local,
national and world communities.

M AY 21 J U N E 3 , 2 015 PAG E 9

T H E B R I D G E

Echo Valley Offers Shakespeare Camps for Area Youth

by Nat Frothingham
Shall I compare thee to a summers day?
Thou art more lovely and more temperate.
Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,
And summers lease hath all too short a date.
from William Shakespeares 18th sonnet
EAST MONTPELIER/PLAINFIELD Imagine summer. Now imagine Shakespeare
and youth. Now add experienced theater teachers and two day camps: Shakespeare in the
Hills for kids ages 9-13 and Shakespeare Alive! for teens ages 13-18.
The Shakespeare day camp for younger children started in 2007 founded by Tom Blachly,
Peter Young and Naomi Flanders. Three years ago, Shakespeare Alive! was added.
Weve moved around to different venues for the camps, Flanders said, but have settled
on the Four Corner School House for the younger camp and the Plainfield Opera House
for the older kids camp. Theres one constant for the camp experience, and it is putting
on a performance of a Shakespeare play. We keep the camp size small enough so that its
manageable. Its great fun for everyone involved. I think the reason it works out is its
summer and two weeks is just the right amount of time for kids to find their roles, learn
their lines. We double-up and triple-up on roles. We do some cutting of the plays."
And what about the impact on the kids? I asked.
Each kid will have a different answer. They have a lot of fun. We do a lot of theater
games. They make long-lasting friendships. They come back year by year. They learn
how to use their voice, how to use their bodies, how to act, how to understand the text
they are working with, Flanders said. "Nobody is suggesting that Shakespeares language
is normal, everyday speech. We invite the kids to ask questions.
Flanders is amazed by some of the comments and observations that come from the kids.
It gets them thinking about human nature, and they come up with novel interpretations
of plays that critics have been discussing for centuries.
A typical day at the camp begins with a circle for checking in and a few theater games to
warm-up the group. This is followed by yoga and breath and voice work. The day is then
broken into periods for theater games, improv, stage combat and staging scenes. In the
first two days of the two-week camp, the kids read the play and are given their roles. As
part of the camp for younger kids, there is quiet time after lunch when the campers can
rest, study their lines or write.
In 2013, Shakespeare in the Hills added an advanced theater camp for older kids under
the direction of Neil Worden, a seasoned New York City actor who headed up the acting
program at Vassar College for six years. A few days ago, The Bridge talked by phone to
Worden from New York City.
In his first year, Worden chose to concentrate on Macbeth as the play the camp participants would work on and finally perform.
The show was great, Worden said. Its intense. Its got great characters. You can pare it
down to an hour and a half pretty quickly. It helped that Worden is a fight director so
the kids could learn stage combat from an expert. Last summer, Worden chose to work
with the advanced summer camp on Shakespeares comedy As You Like It.
Its a really good comedy to do, he said. "You can concentrate on the characters. Theres
a huge role for Rosalind, the female lead." Worden was lucky enough to find a good actress in the person of McKenzie Lattimore who had attended the camp the year before.
Worden expressed his personal excitement in watching Lattimore grow as an actress from
the year before. Lattimore wanted the role, worked hard on it and embraced the task of
learning and speaking the 600 lines. Praising her performance as Rosalind, Worden said,
She did it beautifully.
Two Shakespeare campers expressed their appreciation for what the camp experience
meant for them in these words.
Evan Lewis said, Ive been doing it for many years. Its a great camp, a great community
full of good people and its a blast!
And Maeve McCurdy offered this reflection, This camp showed me the beauty of
Shakespeare and has given me a love of theater as well. I would definitely recommend
this camp to anyone remotely interested in theater and/or Shakespeare.
Shakespeare in the Hills, for ages 913,
will be held from July 6 through 18, 9 a.m
to 5 p.m, at the Four Corners Schoolhouse
in East Montpelier with an end-of-camp
production of Much Ado About Nothing.
Shakespeare Alive! for ages 13-18, will be
held July 20 to Aug. 1, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. at
the Plainfield Town Hall and Opera House
with end-of-camp production of Romeo
and Juliet. Auditions for Shakespeare Alive!
are to be held on June 7 from 6 to 11 p.m.
at the Plainfield Town Hall and Opera
House. For further information please go
online to:echovalleycommunityarts.com or
call 454-7770.

Photo courtesy of Naomi Flanders

Founder: Tom Blachly
Tom Blachly got bitten by the Shakespeare bug 48 years ago when he was cast as Oberon
in a school production of A Midsummer Nights Dream and it has been downhill ever
since! An actor, director and playwright, Tom co-founded Shakespeare In the Hills over
10 years ago and has helped run summer theater camps nearly every summer since. Tom
has directed plays for area schools as well as for Unadilla Theatre and Plainfield Little
Theater. The is the author of over 40 plays, including a 19-play series based on events
from American history. Five of his plays have been produced in central Vermont within
the last few years.
Producer and Voice Teacher: Naomi Flanders
Naomi Flanders founded Echo Valley Community Arts in 2002 and Echo Valley has
produced and directed over 36 productions in central Vermont over the past 13 years.
Flanders helped found Shakespeare In The Hills and Shakespeare Alive! summer camps
for kids and teens. She is an innovative voice teacher, director, administrator and producer. She studied with Marcy Lindheimer in NYC during the 1980s when the vocal
world was changing its approach to how vocal technique was taught due to work of Kristin Linklater. She was tutored in Feldenkrais Body Work with Marcie Lindheimer and
practices yoga. Flanders combines these two body disciplines with vocal technique to lay
down a solid base for body flexibility and proper breath support for performance artists.
Shakespeare Alive! Director: Neil Flint Worden
A member of Actors Equity, with a Master of Fine Arts degree in performance from the
School of Drama in Seattle, and a Bachelor of Fine Arts in acting, Neil has directed over
50 productions in the last 15 years, and played nearly 250 roles in his career. Neil has
acted in 27 of the 37 plays in the Shakespearean canon, and directed or coached nearly
20 of them. Neils expertise is contemporary classical acting, movement and organic
staging of Shakespeare.
Voice and Speech: Michael Keene
With a Master of Fine Arts in acting from the University of Iowa and living in Vermont
for the past 20 years, Michael has trained extensively in the Linklater voice technique,
acted in hundreds of roles, and coached and taught Linklater throughout the United
States.
Character and Movement: Rosa Palmeri
Completing her second year in the Master of Fine Arts acting program at American
Conservatory Theater in San Francisco, Rosa is a Vermont native who grew up with and
now staffs the Get Thee to a Funnery Shakespeare Camps with Peter Gould. Having an
extensive acting resume, her expert coaching in clown and character have been essential
elements of the most recent seasons of Shakespeare Alive!
Stage Manager: Jasmine Carpenter
Behind every excellent production is a brilliant stage manager, and having graduated
from the Johnson State College Bachelor of Arts in theater tech program this year, and
having stage managed more than 25 productions, Jasmine has been at Shakespeare Alive!
Camp for the last three seasons! She was recently honored with a Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival candidacy in Washington D.C., and is getting married in
August (post Shakespeare Alive!) to the love of her life.
Set Designer: Christy Jones Ketchel
With a Masters in Architecture from Norwich University and a BFA in Studio Art from
Tulane University, Christy joins the Shakespeare Alive! Team with more than ample
credentials for our minimalist Shakespearean productions at Plainfield Town Hall. Recently interested in set design, she brings a vast wealth of original ideas and skills to the
team this year.
Band Director/Composer: Chris Robertson
Chris has agreed to put a 1940's jazz band together and compose a jazz standard version
of the famous Palmers Sonnet in Act 1, Scene V where our star-crossed Romeo and
Juliet meet, and instantly fall in love.

PAG E 10 M AY 21 J U N E 3 , 2 015

THE BRIDGE

HEARD ON THE STREET

Man, Gall Bladder Split

New Arts Center to Hold Gala June 4

ADAMANT After 68 years and two months, Larry Floersh and his gall bladder have
parted company. The ceremony was brief, a little over an hour, and the officiate and those
attending wore loose, flowing gowns of lavender with matching hats of diaphanous material that resembled floppy berets. Larry wore nothing but a short gray shift that opened in
the back, ankle-length tan socks with non-skid bottoms, and a hat matching those worn by
the assembled throng. Once coaxed from its hiding spot, the gallbladder appeared naked to
those still awake to see it.

MONTPELIER The Center for Arts and Learning located at 46 Barre St. at the old St.
Mikes school/convent will introduce itself to the community in an open house gala to be
held early evening on June 4. According to the new director, Irene Facciolo, the center is
committed to enhancing the cultural life of central Vermont through its founding member organizations, as well as embracing individual artists, musicians and other nonprofits
in a collaborative and welcoming community." Guests to the gala can expect food, drink,
music and a tour of the building as well as some arts partners such as the Monteverdi Music
School, T.W. Wood Art Gallery and River Rock School. Counterpoint and the Olabelles
will perform.

In speaking after the ceremony, Larry and the one who oversaw the proceedings agreed that
it had been a good gallbladder, not a great one, and that Larry and the gall bladder were
much better off going their separate ways. That was followed by refreshments of cranberry
juice and buttered toast provided by ladies from the Church of Recovery.
Shortly thereafter Larry departed for his home in Adamant to begin his new life without his
gall bladder. The whereabouts of the gallbladder are unknown at this time.

Got a news tip? We want to know!

Send it to us at:
editorial@montpelierbridge.com

2015 Real Estate Market Off To Strong Start

by Phil Dodd

espite a cold winter, the local real estate market is off to a better start this year than
during the same time period last year, figures from the Multiple Listing Service
show. Low interest rates, a slowly improving economy and pent-up demand appear
to be behind the improvement.
The market is strong, said broker Janel Johnson of Coldwell Banker Classic Properties.
Last year was better than 2013, and 2015 looks like it could be even better. In 2014 we had
some sales with multiple offers, and this year we are seeing more of those. Houses are not
staying on the market very long.

Broker Tim Heney of Heney Realtors agreed the market this year is really good and dramatically different than last year. Properties that did not sell last fall are selling this spring,
he said. All of a sudden we are seeing more first-time home buyers and more people moving
here because local employers are hiring, he said.
In Montpelier, 11 single-family houses sold this year as of the end of April, compared with
eight in the first four months of 2014, a 37.5 percent increase. At the end of April, there
were 15 pending sales, compared with nine last year, a 55.6 percent increase. The median
price of homes sold in Montpelier this year is $210,000, up from $205,250 in the first four
months of last year.
Countywide, house sales were also up strongly, although the increases were not quite as large
as in Montpelier. House sales in Washington County through April were up 22.9 percent
to 118, and pending sales were up 27.2 percent to 145. The median house price jumped 9.8
percent to $186,000, up from $169,450 in the same four months last year.

recognized as being of high quality, and that is a draw for people moving in from more rural
school districts. Johnson said the U-32 towns are also considered to have good schools.
The biggest negative about Montpelier is the high taxes, which especially impacts people
who have had a house here for a long time and are now on a fixed income, Johnson said.
They want to stay but cant afford it.
The market in Barre City has lagged behind that of the rest of the county, but that market
is starting to pick up now, Heney said. Barre has really good values, he said. The median
price of a house sold in Barre in early 2015 was $153,500, a 16.3 percent increase from last
year, but more than $56,000 less than Montpeliers median.
Prices in Montpelier are up a bit this year, but the biggest change in recent months is
that houses are selling more quickly, Johnson observed. Most people want homes in the
$250,000 to $300,000 range, and those are the ones that go fastest, she said.
We do have a selection of homes on the market in the $175,000 range, but they tend to
be in neighborhoods that are harder to sell because they are not as close to downtown,
Johnson said.
More expensive Montpelier homes can be difficult to sell, Johnson said. Those properties have really high tax bills, which makes them harder to sell, she said. But they do sell
eventually.
Heney said sales are also strong in the U-32 towns surrounding Montpelier. There are some
very strong deposits now, he said. And there is not much inventory in the U-32 towns.

Median prices were higher for all of 2014 than in early 2015, both in Montpelier ($224,500
last year) and Washington County ($181,000), but median house sale prices tend to be lower
in winter than in summer. Median prices for all of 2015 will probably end up higher than
the prices from January to April.

Condominiums are also in demand. In Montpelier, there were three condos sold this year
through April, compared with zero in the same period last year, and there were three condo
sales pending at the end of April, compared with one last year. The median price of the
condos sold in Montpelier so far this year was $166,250, MLS statistics show.

In both Montpelier and the entire county, houses sold more quickly in April than had been
the case earlier this year. The average number of days on market until sale in April was 96
days in Montpelier and 148 days countywide.

Recently, the market has become even busier, as it usually does in the spring. Right now,
there are a lot of properties coming on the market, but there are also a lot of buyers, Johnson said. I wish we had more inventory. If someone has been thinking of selling, this is a
good time to do it.

Why is Montpelier in demand? What I hear from buyers is that they like Montpeliers
vibrant center and want to be within walking distance of downtown. Also, the schools are

T H E B R I D G E

M AY 21 J U N E 3 , 2 015 PAG E 11

The Bridge publishes every 1st and 3rd Thursday of the

month, except in July when we publish only on the 3rd
Thursday. Our next issue comes out June 4.

PAG E 12 M AY 21 J U N E 3 , 2 015

THE BRIDGE

Who Is Moving To Montpelier, And Why?

(This is part one of a two-part series. Part two will cover residents who are leaving Montpelier.)
by Phil Dodd

the right size.

A subcategory of those moving back to Vermont or Montpelier consists of young adults
who actually grew up in Montpelier, such as Bibba Walke Kahn. She spent several years
away before returning with her husband, Harry, and small daughter to buy a house in
Montpelier a year ago. The daughter of Judy and Stephen Walke, Kahn teaches French at
Montpelier Middle School; her husband works at Keurig Green Mountain in Waterbury.
After graduating from Middlebury College, Kahn spent time in Baltimore, Paris, Brattleboro, and San Francisco. But I always knew I wanted to return to Vermont eventually.
I love the community, the people and the town itself.
Kahn said Montpelier has been developing a new vibe that is attractive to young people.
Montpelier has come into its own, she said. There is more going on, more music venues, more things that appeal to people in their 20s and 30s. Another big attraction for
me is a that a huge contingent of my friends left Montpelier for other places and then
came back to Montpelier.

Photo by Jimmy Emerson

t didnt take Kate Belcher long to decide she wanted to return to Montpelier after
having moved away last year to help take care of her granddaughter. After six months
away, I missed Montpelier a lot, she said. Its a unique town with great people.
Today, she is back in a Montpelier apartment and has found a job just one block away.
By contrast, Erin Aguayo, her husband, and two young children moved here almost by
chance. When the long-time Texas residents, who were living in Spain, found they had to
move on very short notice, the only person willing to take us in was my sister, who had
moved to Montpelier, and who has a finished basement. The family eventually decided
to stay here and bought a house on Kemp Street a few months ago.
For a place we had never intended to be, it might be everything wed been searching
for, Aguayo said. The school is wonderful, the winter is cold and unwelcoming to a
lifelong bike commuter, the spring is breathtakingly gorgeous, the people are unusually
well educated, determined, and involved in their community, she said.
The stories of why people move to Montpelier (and also why they leave) are diverse and
interesting. For this article, we talked to a half-dozen people who had recently moved
here, tracking them down through Front Porch Forum postings or word of mouth. For
the next issue well talk to some folks who decided to leave, either full- or part-time.
One trend that became clear is that there are a number of people who move away but
eventually choose to come back to Montpelier, such as Belcher. She is single and had lived
in this area since 1980. She said she feels safe in Montpelier and is a big fan of Hubbard
Park.
Not that she feels life here is perfect. The job market in Vermont is not that good, she
commented. Belcher also said this past winter had been a tough one for herself and others. I heard some people here say they cant take another one like that, she said.
Maggie Burke, 30, never lived in Montpelier, but spent many years in Vermont before
heading to Crested Butte, Colorado, for four years. She recently got a job with Vermont
Adaptive Ski and Sports and is currently looking for an apartment starting July 1 in either
Montpelier or Waterbury. They both seem like up-and-coming towns, she said. I like
hanging out at the Three Penny Taproom.
Burke went to college in southern Vermont and lived in a few different towns before moving west. I lived in Burlington and felt like it was too big, she said. Then I moved to
Waitsfield, which seemed too small. I ended up in Waterbury and thought it was about

Jill Pralle did not live nearly as far away as San Francisco when she decided to move to
Montpelier. She lived in Marshfield for 15 years and her husband, Trevor Tait, had lived
there for 25 years before they made the move to Montpelier this year. Pralle is gallery
manager at Artisans Hand.
The motivation to move to town was twofold, she said. Taits parents had moved to
Montpelier from Connecticut two years ago, and Pralle and Tate wanted to be closer to
them. They also thought living in Montpelier would be more convenient. The two had
looked into building a house in Plainfield to be a bit closer, but crunched the numbers
and found it would be too expensive. Finding the right house in Montpelier took the
pair took a fairly long time. But we ended up in a great neighborhood, and we are very
happy, she said.
Family was also a factor in the move of Katie Craig, a soon-to-be 29-year-old who moved
here after four years in Denver, Colorado. Last fall, her brother and his wife, who live
in Underhill, announced they were having their first baby. I'm very close with both my
brother and sister-in-law and excited to be part of my niece or nephew's life, she said. I
had been thinking about moving back to New England for the past few months, and this
announcement was the catalyst I needed to make it happen.
Craig found a job at a nonprofit that seemed ideal and started her job in Barre a few
weeks later, moving into a small apartment in Montpelier March 1. Her partner came to
Vermont in mid-April. Craig has college friends who live nearby, and she is also meeting
new friends. We are finding many folks with whom to go rock climbing and hiking, she
said. Yoga classes, Three Penny Taproom, and the trails in town have been great places
to meet new people and feel like a part of this great community. Oh, and Front Porch
Forum what an awesome tool!
Tom Aloisi grew up outside Burlington and stayed until 2001, when he decided he
wanted to leave the state at age 35. Since I knew Boston, it made sense to look for work
there, he said. I was convinced winters there would be easier. I was completely wrong,
and had to endure several blizzards, which are less fun in Boston than in Vermont!
Aloisi eventually headed to Washington, D.C., for a job, but was laid off after seven years.
After being unemployed for several months and applying for 100 jobs, he looked at the
state of Vermont website on a whim and found the perfect state job. I knew I would
apply, and get it, and move back to Vermont none of which had been a consideration
just 10 minutes earlier, said Aloisi, who moved here in 2013.
I always said that if I ever moved back to Vermont I would want to live outside of Burlington to get the FULL Vermont experience. And I always liked Montpelier with its hippie vibe. I am single and will be 50 tomorrow, said Aloisi. But he is not bothered by the
big birthday: Vermont is a very old state. In D.C., I felt old. In Vermont I feel young!

T H E B R I D G E

M AY 21 J U N E 3 , 2 015 PAG E 13

PAG E 14 M AY 21 J U N E 3 , 2 015

THE BRIDGE

Uncommon
(New) Histor
Installed at 1

by Nat Frot

Courtesy of
architect Jay White
MONTPELIER After graduating from high school in his late teens, Matt Dwire was
all set to leave Vermont.

grocery store, also at various other times a restaurant, a laundry, a millinery shop, a printing shop, a locksmith, a sporting goods shop with apartments on the upper two floors

I was signed up to go into the Air Force, he told The Bridge. But instead of joining the
U.S. Air Force, Dwires life took a different direction and he stayed in Vermont.

Today, at 41, Dwire has now owned the corner store building for 19 years. Hes also the
lead guy at MD (Matt Dwire) Enterprises, an excavation, earth-moving, foundation and
new construction business.

But lets begin a few years earlier.

As a youth, Dwire had worked at the Worcester General Store. I kinda liked it, he said.
Then when he was 16 he went to work for Ron Lebourveau at Rons Corner Store in
Montpelier right across from the Elm Street Laundromat at the busy intersection of Elm
and School streets where the Uncommon Market is today.
When Dwire was 19 he bought Rons Corner Store from Lebourveau. Three years later he
bought the historic brick corner building from owners Peter Hood and Tim Ayer.
That corner building at 1 School St. first appeared on a Montpelier map in 1889 and
through the years it has housed a number of ground floor retail establishments often a

Looking back on his 19 years of ownership, Dwire likens the task of managing the building and dealing with its problems to something almost like a formal learning experience.
This was my college education, he said broadly. Then he got into the specifics: getting
good tenants, rebuilding the second and third stories, rebuilding the porches out over the
North Branch of the Winooski River.
Last summer ECI, an engineering and construction company with headquarters in Williston was working under contract for the city of Montpelier to carry out some street
improvements at the intersection of Elm and School streets. When the workers on the
construction job noticed that a whole brick wall a brick faade was pulling away

Constru

T H E B R I D G E

M AY 21 J U N E 3 , 2 015 PAG E 15

n Doorway:
ric Entrance
School Street

thingham

uction in process. Photo by Nat Frothingham.

Completed doorway. Photo Carla Occaso.

from the Elm Street side of Dwires building, they stopped construction. Soon it was
determined that the brickwork on the Elm Street side of the building would have to be
replaced completely.

doors. One small oak door at the extreme right of the entrance way leads to an upstairs
apartment. Then theres the handsome, large oak door in the middle of the entrance with
sheets of glass on each side.

There had been a steel-glass entrance door on the Elm Street side of the building surrounded by cedar shingles and siding. One option was to simply replace the wall of bricks
on the Elm Street side of the building and go with the steel-glass door and the cedar
shingles and siding.

Lets say that you are new to Montpelier, or downtown Montpelier, and you need a little
extra help locating the restored entrance on the Elm Street side of Matt Dwires corner
brick building. Well, in recent days, Uncommon Market has placed behind one of those
large glass panels to the right of the big oak door on the Elm Street side of the building a
luminous blue neon sign that says, Fresh Fish. The blue neon sign is a great new look
during the day and an even greater new look at night.

But Dwire had been looking at old photos of the building and was asking himself this
question, Where was the satisfaction going to be?
Dwire felt that the satisfaction lay in returning the entrance to the Elm Street side of the
building to the way it looked in the historic photographs. His next step was to contact
local historic preservation architect Jay White who drew up plans to restore the Elm
Street entrance to the way it was when the building was first constructed.
As completed at a cost of about $25,000, the restored historic entrance features two oak

Reclaiming the historic entrance to the corner brick building has not gone unnoticed.
Said Dwire, People I dont even know walk up to me and thank me for what Ive done.

Column

PAG E 16 M AY 21 J U N E 3 , 2 015

THE BRIDGE

Hands-on

Gardener
Rules to Plan By

Sparge:

by Miriam Hansen
Photo by Miriam Hansen

/sprj/ verb. A brewing technique that extracts the

sugar from the grains by exposing the grains to water.

his is one of those years when spring has really passed in the blink of an eye. My
prediction that wed have to wait until late May to plant warm weather crops has
proved utterly wrong. Weve been frost-free in East Montpelier since the beginning of May. Despite a brutal winter that wouldnt quit, everything is early. The asparagus, usually ready in early June, has been producing like crazy.
Still, I am glad I started many of my seedlings later than usual this year. I have not had to
juggle the usual jungle of plants. I even figured out how to grow broccoli and cauliflower
seedlings without having to transplant them twice. I just planted two seeds in every cell
of a plastic four pack and set them out in the garden when they had their second set of
true leaves. Theyve been under row cover for about two weeks and are growing rapidly.
Aside from the benefit of not having huge, leggy plants to set out, staggering your
seedlings means you wont have everything ready to eat at the same time. This spring I
planted only four cabbages for early coleslaw. Ill start the bulk of the cabbages in late
June for a fall crop that should overwinter in the root cellar better than the ones I planted
in spring last year. We do have celery, parsley, peas, onions, leeks, broccoli, cauliflower,
radishes, carrots, beets, and chard planted. But I just barely seeded the brussels sprouts,
kale, Chinese cabbage, and kohlrabi in six packs to be transplanted into the garden in
about a month. Its a little late for brussels sprouts, but they should be ready to harvest
late September to mid-October, and thats actually ideal.
Ive been busy in the perennial gardens and have been pleasantly surprised to see that
most of the plants the deer damaged are actually rebounding. Remember this past winter? Apparently the deer were so hungry, they needed to shear my heathers and prostrate
Daphne down to the nub. The heathers actually benefit from a spring shearing, but my
prize fragrant creeping Daphne is another story. Ive been amazed to see it leafing up and
producing flowers even where the deer smacked their lips on my treasure early this spring.
Still, something has to be done about the unfettered deer munching in my perennial beds.
We circled the largest bed with a see-through black netted fence, but Im tired of seeing
those fence posts even though the netting itself is invisible from a distance. There are a
number of liquid deer repellents you can purchase either ready-to-use or in a concentrated
form. The concentrate is a better deal, although if your needs are minimal, Id go with the
ready-to-use Liquid Fence or equivalent. My perennial beds, like my vegetable garden, are
ever expanding, so Im going to buy concentrated Bobbex to keep the deer off my azaleas,
rhododendrons, hostas, and tulips in the spring. Deer actually eat my hostas any time of
the year, so Ill be spraying those plants through the summer. The rule of thumb for these
liquid repellents is that you need to spray about three times a season. I was unable to find
Bobbex at local garden centers, but it is easy to order online.
Ive been thoroughly weeding my perennial beds. Unlike the weeds that come out of
the vegetable garden, I do not recycle perennial flower bed weeds in the compost pile.
Many of these are flowering invasive plants that I either purchased or requested from
well-meaning gardening friends. Plants such as Canadian anemone, Japanese anemone,
gooseneck, violets, Johnny jump-ups, and forget-me-nots are all beautiful in their way,
but they run or self-seed to the detriment of plants that behave impeccably, mounding
up, staying where you put them, or self-seeding modestly and appropriately. I cant get a
hot-enough compost to be sure of killing those noxious roots, so I dump those weed loads
over the bank where they are free to run and jump as the case may be. Beware of plants
that do exceptionally well. They are apt to be invaders.
After over 30 years of growing perennials, I do think I am getting the hang of it. It has
been frustrating. I can grow almost anything, but knowing where to put plants has been
an elusive concept. If you are starting new perennial beds this summer and need help
thinking about it, here are some valuable rules to go by.
Many of the rules for writing apply equally well to perennial gardening. Think of it this
way. The human eye, like the human heart, prefers asymmetry to symmetry and likes to
bounce a bit. Thus the first rule: when planting multiples of the same plant variety, always
plant in odd numbers three, five, seven instead of two, four, six. Properly spaced,
the plants will grow together to form a pleasing large clump.
The second rule has a few branches. Getting the eye to bounce can be achieved through
repetition along the bed. So if, for example, you love cleome, or lilies, or hostas, or any
plant whatsoever, repeat them at intervals. Your eye will travel along these repetitions.
Another way to get the eye to bounce is by varying heights, and we need to think of the
height of a plant not just by the height it will reach but where it is as it grows. In early
spring, tulips and daffodils are the high point in my rock garden. But when their flowers
are spent, the hostas and peonies are what bring the eye up from fairy wings, dianthus,
and heathers.
Which leads to a third rule. You want to pair perennials such as Oriental poppies and
lupines with plants that will hide their yellowing or floppy leaves after they have gone by.
My poppies are behind a giant peony and repeating euphorbias that hide the unsightly
poppy leaves and straw colored daffodil leaves when they have gone by. To be continued.
Happy spring and happy gardening!

M AY 21 J U N E 3 , 2 015 PAG E 17

T H E B R I D G E

Granite City Groove Behind the Scenes with Seasoned

Realtors
by Joshua Jerome

or many Americans, purchasing a home is the largest financial transaction theyll

make in their lifetime and its not just a home, but an investment. And for many,
this investment will be the largest investment in their lives and a decision that will
have lasting implications for years to come. Because of the significance of the transaction,
there are often emotional ramifications that are created during the home buying process.
With so much at stake, its important to identify resources to help you get through the
process of purchasing or selling a home and one of the most important resources is having
proper representation.

Heney Realtors works with a Vermont company, Union Street Media, who specializes in
building web platforms for the real estate industry.

According to the National Realtors Association, nine out of 10 people looking to purchase
or sell a home utilize the professional services of a realtor. In central Vermont, we are
fortunate to have a number of well respected and knowledgeable realtors to choose from.
I caught up with a couple of them one day, Tim Heney and Michelle Moran Gosselin
from Heney Realtors, to talk about the history of the firm and what theyre seeing in the
local market.

In the fall of 2013, Heney Realtors acquired Town & Country Associates based in Barre.
The move has helped expand its market presence in Barre and theyve embraced the
community; becoming title sponsor for the second year in a row to the popular summer concert series in Currier Park, a 10-week series of live musical performances every
Wednesday at 7 p.m.

Heney Realtors was started in 1956 by Bill and Bud Heney right down in the same building where their Montpelier branch office resides today. Tim said he practically grew up
in the Heney Realtors office, often spending the afternoons after school monitoring the
dealings of his father and grandfather, as well as playing the ever important role of oldest
brother to his nine younger brothers and sisters. Entering into the family business came
naturally for Tim and he became fully immersed in the real estate business after graduating from the University of Vermont in 1981.
Michelle has been helping homebuyers and sellers throughout central Vermont for over
27 years. Interestingly, Michelle is the youngest of nine brothers and sisters and upon
this revelation we all sat at the table contemplating the significance and stark contrasts
between both Tim and Michelle. With decades of experience between both, I didnt waste
any time going right into asking how the technology sector has affected their industry.
Michelle said they constantly monitor whats new in technology while Tim noted that

Advertise
in the
NEXT ISSUE:

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OUT!
June 417, 2015
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AND AD SPACE
RESERVATIONS DUE
FRIDAY, MAY 29.

For more information

about advertising
deadlines, rates and the
design of your ad call
223-5112 ext. 11
or email our ad sales
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or rick@montpelierbridge.com

I asked them, In a world of smartphones, is it difficult to not be connected to work?

Both agreed that it is impossible to not be connected to work, but the culture at Heney
Realtors encourages employees to unplug from work during vacations. In addition to staying up on the latest tech trends in real estate, they pay attention to legislative actions like
the increase in the real estate transfer tax passed by the legislature this past session. It is a
must for agents to provide the highest quality service.

I asked Tim and Michelle how the revitalization of downtown Barre has affected real
estate sales in the area and both said there has been a positive correlation between people
purchasing houses in Barre City and Barre Town because of the redevelopment of the
downtown. Tim noted that many of their clients, when they take a tour of the community, are impressed with the number of community assets, the heritage that feeds Barre is
incredible, a real strength here. And Michelle pointed out that Barre has good inventory
on the market at varying price points, but that there was still good value to be found.
I was pleased that both Tim and Michelle gave me some time to sit down and discuss the
history of Heney Realtors and the role they are playing in Barre to provide high quality
real estate services. The purchase of real estate is an important decision and having a
knowledgeable agent can help any buyer or seller have a rewarding experience.
The writer is executive director with the Barre Partnership.

PAG E 18 M AY 21 J U N E 3 , 2 015

THE BRIDGE

THURSDAY, MAY 21

Performing
Arts

Bike Chelsea with Green Mountain Club. Moderate to difficult. 25 miles. Begin Washington to
Chelsea, where we will have lunch. Back roads and
Rte. 110. Along the way we'll stop at several points
of interest, including a potter's and small farm.
Definitely need a bike suitable for back roads.
Contact George for more details: plumb.george@
gmail.com.
EarthWalk VT Open House. May 2022. For
those interested in having your child attend EarthWalk Village School next year. Participate in a full
morning at EarthWalk: nature museum, games,
nature stories, making friction fire, giving thanks
and activity stations. There will be time throughout the morning to talk with mentors about any
program questions you might have. 9 a.m.noon.
Goddard College, 123 Pitkin Rd., Marshfield.
Free. 454-8500. anika@earthwalkvermont.org.
earthwalkvermont.org.

THEATER, STORYTELLING
& COMEDY
May 2223: Green Mountain Comedy Festival: Bueno Comedy Showcase. As a part of
this years Green Mountain Comedy Festival,
the caf will be hosting two back-to-back
comedy showcases featuring comedians from
all around Vermont. 8:30 p.m. Espresso Bueno,
248 N. Main St., Barre. $6. 479-0896. espressobueno.com.

Third Thursday: Stories in Stitches. Ellen

Thompson from the Green Mountain chapter
of the Embroiderer's Guild of America presents
Vermont-made samplers made by girls in Vermont
between 1791 and 1840. Come hear the stories
they have to tell. Final Third Thursday for this
season. Bring a bag lunch. Noon. Vermont History
Museum, 109 State St., Montpelier. Free. 8282180. amanda.gustin@state.vt.us.
Brain Injury Support Group. Open to all survivors, caregivers and adult family members. Third
Thurs., 1:302:30 p.m. Unitarian Church, 130
Main St., Montpelier. 244-6850.
Diabetes Discussion Group. Focus on selfmanagement. Open to anyone with diabetes
and their families. Third Thurs., 1:30 p.m. The
Health Center, Plainfield. Free. Don 322-6600 or
dgrabowski@the-health-center.org.
Survivors of Suicide Loss Support. Monthly
group for people affected by a suicide death. Third
Thurs., 67:30 p.m. Central Vermont Medical
Center, conference rm. 1, Fisher Rd., Berlin. 2230924. calakel@comcast.com.afsp.org
Perennial Vegetables and Beyond: Growing
Food, Growing Soil and Sequestering Carbon.
With Aaron Guman. Our landscapes and tables
can be enriched with perennial vegetables. A
Transition Town program. 67:45 p.m. KelloggHubbard Library, 135 Main St., Montpelier. Free.
223-3338. kellogghubbard.org.
Grandparents Raising Their Childrens Children. Third Thurs., 68 p.m. Child care provided.
Trinity United Methodist Church, 137 Main St.,
Montpelier. 476-1480.
Catching the Fire of Hope. Teen poetry, music,
fire and snacks. Hear the voices of local teen poets
who've been part of the teen poetry workshop
"Catching the Fire of Hope." Bring a snack to
share if you like. 6:308:30 p.m. Eroks 113
Creamery St., Plainfield. 454-1979.
Songwriters Meeting. Meeting of the Northern
VT/NH chapter of the Nashville Songwriters
Association International. Bring copies of your
work. Third Thurs., 6:45 p.m. Catamount Arts, St.
Johnsbury. John, 633-2204.

FRIDAY, MAY 22

American Red Cross Blood Donation. Donors of

all blood types especially those with types O
negative, A negative and B negative are needed
to help ensure blood is available for patients this
spring. Appointment or walk-in. 8 a.m.1 p.m.
U-32 gymnasium, 930 Gallison Hill Rd., Montpelier. 1800-RED CROSS. redcrossblood.org.
pemery@u32.org.

Remembrance, on display in the Gifford Medical Center Gallery through

June 10, is part of a series artist Lynn Schulte created to celebrate the memory
of her mother. See Visual Arts section of the calendar.
SCOP (Senior Community Outreach Project).
U-32 seniors are offering a day of community
service for residents of U-32-sending towns. 8 a.m.
The senior class will be all over the county volunteering their service. pemery@u32.org.
EarthWalk VT Open House. May 2022. For
those interested in having your child attend EarthWalk Village School next year. Participate in a full
morning at EarthWalk: nature museum, games,
nature stories, making friction fire, giving thanks
and activity stations. There will be time throughout the morning to talk with mentors about any
program questions you might have. 9 a.m.noon.
Goddard College, 123 Pitkin Rd., Marshfield.
Free. 454-8500. anika@earthwalkvermont.org.
earthwalkvermont.org.
Magic: The Gathering. Test your skill with this
strategy game. Beginners welcome; two starter
decks are available for those who do not have their
own cards. Ages 612. 34:30 p.m. KelloggHubbard Library, 135 Main St., Montpelier. Free.
223-3338. kellogghubbard.org.
"Children of Paradise." Film Showing and
discussion led by Rob Mermin. "Children of Paradise" (Les Enfants du Paradis) is a classic romantic
drama depicting the life of 19th century mime
Baptiste Debureau and his love for a famous Parisian courtesan. 710 p.m. The Plainfield Opera
House, Rt. 2, Plainfield. $10 suggested donation.
plainfieldtownhall@gmail.com.

SATURDAY, MAY 23

Home Alone and Safe. Children ages 811 learn

how to safely respond to a variety of home alone
situations. 9:30 a.m.noon. Gifford Medical
Centers Family Center, 44 S. Main St., Randolph
(beside Gifford Ob/Gyn and Midwifery). $15.
Register with instructor Jude Powers: 649-1841.
Kids Creating Music. With Bob Brookens. Ages
18 months4 years. 10 a.m. Waterbury Public Li-

brary, 30 Foundry St., Waterbury. Free. 244-7036.

waterburypubliclibrary.com.
American Red Cross Blood Donation. Donors of
all blood types especially those with types O
negative, A negative and B negative are needed
to help ensure blood is available for patients this
spring. 11:30 a.m.4:30 p.m. Berlin Mall, 282
Berlin Mall Rd., Berlin. 1800-RED CROSS.
redcrossblood.org.
High Tea and Open House. Fundraiser for Onion
River Exchange. 35 p.m. 107 College St., Montpelier. $20. Pre-registration required. 661-8959.
info@orexchange.org.
Teen Filmmaking Series: Storyboards and
Short Scenes. Learning how to plan out a short
film will be the focus in this last installment of
the Teen Film Series. Create storyboards, learn
basics of camera use and put all of this together to
film short scenes. Ages 1218. 35 p.m. KelloggHubbard Library, 135 Main St., Montpelier. Free.
223-3338. kellogghubbard.org.

TUESDAY, MAY 26

Bike Moretown with Green Mountain Club.

Moderate. 26 miles round trip. Montpelier to
Moretown and back. Paved and dirt roads. Bring
lunch and water. Contact Reidun and Andrew for
meeting time and place: 223-3550.
American Red Cross Blood Donation. Donors of
all blood types especially those with types O
negative, A negative and B negative are needed
to help ensure blood is available for patients this
spring. 9 a.m.2 p.m. Randolph Union High
School, 15 Forest St., Randolph. 1800-RED
CROSS. redcrossblood.org.
Tech Tuesday. Drop-in time for tech and maker
projects. Featuring DIY, creating circuits from
different materials, hobby motors, basic electronics and more. Supplies and ideas provided just

May 23: The Public Access Center for the

Obvious Presents: The Situation. Bread and
Puppet Theater hosts a rousing evening of brass
band music and radical puppet performance.
This darkly comedic puppet play by Peter
Schumann is a musical memorial for the already
extinct Western Civilization. 7 p.m. Barre
Labor Hall, 46 Granite St., Barre. General $15;
students/senior/low income $10. breadandpuppet.org/tour-schedule.
May 23: Rodeo Gals Stage Reading. Presented
by Moxie Productions. Written by Jeanne
Beckwith; music by F. Brett Cox. This cowboy
play features local actors. 7 p.m. The Waterbury Center Grange Hall, 317 Howard Ave.,
Waterbury Center. Free. 244-4168. moxie@
pshift.com.
May 29: Spielpalast Cabaret. A scandalous
and subversive performance, including political
satire, burlesque dancing, gender bending and
elaborate avant-garde nonsense spectacles. 8
p.m. Haybarn Theatre, Goddard College, 123
Pitkin Rd., Plainfield. 322-1685. $30. meg.
hammond@goddard.edu. goddard.edu.
May 30: Kathleen Kanz Comedy Hour. Adult
content. 79 p.m. Charlie-Os World Famous,
70 Main St., Montpelier. Free. 223-6820.
May 30: Jimmy Higgins: A Life in the Labor
Movement. Actor-teacher Harlan Baker brings
to life a fabled American worker in his original
one-man show. Q&A session follows. 7:30 p.m.
Old Labor Hall, 46 Granite St., Barre. Adults
$15; seniors and students $12. 479-5600. info@
oldlaborhall.org.
June 421: Always Patsy Cline. Presented by
Lost Nation Theater. Part concert, part play,
Always Patsy Cline reveals her story and songs
complete with down-home humor, true
emotion and maybe a little audience participation. Thurs,. 7 p.m.; Fri., 8 p.m.; Sat., 2 p.m.
and 8 p.m.; Sun., 2 p.m. Montpelier City Hall
Arts Center, 39 Main St., Montpelier. $30 Fri.
and Sat. evenings; $25 Thurs. and matinees;
$15 preview Thurs., June 4 and Sat. matinee,
June 6. Students and seniors 65+ receive $5
discount. Youth 11 and under $10. Family pass
(2 adults/2 youths) $65. 229-0492. lostnationtheater.org.

Calendar of Events

T H E B R I D G E

Visual Arts

Montpelier.

M AY 21 J U N E 3 , 2 015 PAG E 19

Through June 27: The Gathering. Annual exhibit of works by the artist-members of the Valley
Arts Foundation. MonFri, 10 a.m.3 p.m.; Sat.
by appointment. The Festival Gallery, #2 Village
Square, Waitsfield. 496-6682. vermontartfest.
com.

Through June 3: Frank C. Gaylord, Sculptures

& New Drawings. Exhibit includes bronze, stone
and resin sculptures, models for major works,
paintings and drawings from early in his artistic
life, and photograph albums that show models
and finished sculptures. Reception: May 21,
Through July 2: Mary Admasian, Boundaries,
5:307 p.m. Studio Place Arts, 201 N. Main St., Balance and Confinement navigating the
Through May 22: Maplehill School Student Art Barre. 479-7069. studioplacearts.com.
limits of nature and society. Gallery hours: 8
Show: Plainfield. Original artwork on canvas
a.m.4:30 p.m. The Vermont Supreme Court,
May 25June 4: Archistream. A renovated 1969 Montpelier. Free. lightson_mary@comcast.com.
and mixed media on paper. Also included are
carpentry and blacksmithing pieces as well as an Airstream Globetrotter that serves as a mobile
maryadmasianart.com.
design gallery and education center. The public
oral history project with the Twin Valley Senior
Through July 30: River Works. Group show.
Center. Plainfield Community Center. 153 Main is welcome to engage with the design and learn
more about ecological design in the process.
Collection of images, colors, textures and
St. (above Plainfield Coop), Plainfield. Jamie@
Mon.Fri., 9 a.m.4 p.m. River Arts Center, 74
constructions directly inspired by Vermont rivers
maplehillschool.org. maplehillschoolandfarm.
Pleasant St., Morrisville. riverarts.org.
and water meditations. Opening reception: May
org.
7, 57 p.m. River Arts Center, 74 Pleasant St.,
Through June 10: Lynne Schulte, RememThrough May 30: Michael Heffernan, Sweet
Morrisville. Mon.Thurs., 9 a.m.4 p.m.; Fri., 9
brance the Pink Chair Project. Paintings.
Images. Studio Place Arts, 201 N. Main St.,
a.m.2 p.m. Free. 888-1261. riverartsvt.org.
Gifford Medical Center Art Gallery, 44 S. Main
Barre. 479-7069. studioplacearts.com.
St., Randolph. 728-7000.
Through July 31: 1865, Out of the Ashes:
Through May 31: Loretta Languet, BeautiAssassination, Reconstruction, and Healing
Through June 13: Axel Stohlberg. Solo exhibifully Imagined Functional Pottery. Playfully
the Nation. Focuses on the aftermath of the
tion of paintings, drawings and assemblages.
designed, functional ceramic pottery whose
assassination of Pres. Abraham Lincoln, the rehaAxels Gallery and Frame Shop, 5 Stowe St.,
surfaces depict abstractions of floral imagery
bilitation of the South and efforts to unify the
Waterbury. 244-7801. info@axelsgallery.com.
speaking to her love for gesture, rhythm and
country. Museum hours: Mon.Fri., 8 a.m.4
axelsgallery.com.
movement. Cheshire Cat, 28 Elm St., Montpep.m.; Sat. 11 a.m.4 p.m. Norwich Univerlier. 223-1981. cheshirecatclothing.com.
sity, Sullivan Museum and History Center,
Through June 13: Wagon Wheels Farm. A
Northfield. 485-2183. academics.norwich.edu/
Royalton Historical Society exhibit about an
Through May 31: Art of Creative Aging. A
museum/
Edward Hopper-related historic site on Rt. 110
juried exhibit featuring recent work of nearly 40
just outside South Royalton. Royalton Memorial
older artists living throughout the central VerThrough July 31: Kara Walker, Juxtaposition,
Library, 23 Alexander Pl., S. Royalton. Free.
mont region. Works presented are available for
Contemporary Specters, and Harpers PictoThrough June 14: Area Artists Show. Artsale. A portion of the proceeds will benefit the
rial History of the Civil War. The artist comists from central Vermont east of the Green
Kellogg-Hubbard Library and Central Vermont
bined her signature overlays of black silhouettes
Mountains in Orange, Washington and Windsor with historic lithography to produce poignant
Council on Aging. Kellogg-Hubbard Library,
counties display their work. Chandler Gallery,
135 Main St., Montpelier.
and sharp commentary on stereotypes found
71-73 Main St., Randolph. 431-0204. gallery@
in the nations history of slavery, Jim Crow and
Through May 31: Art Resource Association
chandler-arts.org.
segregation that still infiltrate present stereoGroup Member Show. City Center, 89 Main St.,
types. Mon.Fri., 8 a.m.4 p.m.; Sat. 11 a.m.4

EXHIBITS

bring your creativity! Ages 6teens. 34:30 p.m.

Kellogg-Hubbard Library, 135 Main St., Montpelier. Free. 223-3338. kellogghubbard.org.
Medicare and You Workshop. New to Medicare?
Have questions? We have answers. Second and
fourth Tues., 34:30 p.m. 59 N. Main St., Ste.
200, Barre. Free, donations gratefully accepted.
479-0531. cvcoa@cvcoa.org. cvcoa.org.
Veterans Book Group. Opportunity for veterans
to connect with each other, build relationships,
read insightful materials and share experiences.
The groups explorations will include books,
poetry, articles, photos, and short stories. 56:30
p.m. Norwich University, Wise Campus Center,
Meeting Room 218, 158 Harmon Dr., Northfield.
Free; pre-registration required. Includes copy of
readings and light supper. 262-1356. acunningham@vermonthumanities.org.
Parenting Group. Share tips you've had success
with and troubleshoot common frustrations with
other parents. Come with at least one idea of
something that's worked well for you with your
family and bring something you'd like help with.
Parents only please. 78 p.m. Jaquith Public Library, 122 School St., Marshfield. Free. 426-3581.
jaquithpubliclibrary.org.

WEDNESDAY, MAY 27

American Red Cross Blood Donation. Donors of

all blood types especially those with types O
negative, A negative and B negative are needed
to help ensure blood is available for patients this
spring. Noon5:30 p.m. St. Johnsbury Moose
Lodge, 2388 Portland St. (Rt. 2 E.), St. Johnsbury; 9 a.m.2 p.m. Ben & Jerrys, 1281 Waterbury Stowe Rd., Waterbury. 1-800-RED CROSS.
redcrossblood.org.
Montpelier City Council Meeting. Second and
fourth Wed., 6:30 p.m. City Council Chambers,
Montpelier City Hall. 39 Main St., Montpelier.
montpelier-vt.org.
Reflections and Musings by Gregory Sanford.
Marshfield resident and Vermonts first state
archivist. Discussion and refreshments following
the presentation. 79 p.m. Hap Hayward History
Center, Jaquith Public Library, Old Schoolhouse
Common, 122 School St., Rm. 2, Marshfield.
Free. 426-3581. jaquithpubliclibrary@gmail.com.

THURSDAY, MAY 28

Take out, Eat In Dinner at Twin Valley Senior

Center. Italian menu of homemade Italian tomato
sauce, penne pasta al dente, meatballs, fresh crispy
salad, whole wheat roll and maple/apple crisp. All
proceeds support the TVSC Meals on Wheels
program. Twin Valley Senior Center, Blueberry
Commons, Rt. 2, E. Montpelier. $10. Call to
reserve: 223-6954.
Multiplici-Tea! Informal meet up and tea time
for parents experiencing the unique challenge of
caring for multiple birth children (twins, triplets,

etc.) Play space for toddlers, resources provided.

Free coffee and tea. Fourth Thurs., 9:3011:30
a.m. Good Beginnings of Central Vermont, 174
River St., Montpelier. 595-7953. gbcv91@gmail.
com. goodbeginningscentralvt.org.

to help ensure blood is available for patients this

spring. 11:30 a.m.5:30 p.m. VFW Post 792, 792
Pioneer St., Montpelier; 10 a.m.3 p.m. American
Legion, 16 Stowe St., Waterbury. 1-800-RED
CROSS. redcrossblood.org.

American Red Cross Blood Donation. Donors of

all blood types especially those with types O
negative, A negative and B negative are needed
to help ensure blood is available for patients this
spring. 12:305:30 p.m. Williamstown High
School, 120 Hebert Rd., Williamstown. 1800RED CROSS. redcrossblood.org.

Magic: The Gathering. Test your skill with this

strategy game. Beginners welcome; two starter
decks are available for those who do not have their
own cards. Ages 612. 34:30 p.m. KelloggHubbard Library, 135 Main St., Montpelier. Free.
223-3338. kellogghubbard.org.

Green Mountain Care Board Public Meeting.

Board business including but not limited to payment reform, insurance rate review, Certificate
of Need, hospital budgets, rulemaking and new
business. 14 p.m. GMCB Board Room, City
Center, 89 Main St., 2F, Montpelier. gmcboard.
vermont.gov.
Green Mountain Dog Club Monthly Meeting.
Learn about the club and events. All dog lovers
welcome. Fourth Thurs., 7:30 p.m. Commodores
Inn, Stowe. 479-9843 or greenmountaindogclub.
org.

FRIDAY, MAY 29

Cutler Memorial Library Plant and Book Sale.

Annuals, perennials, and vegetable plants of many
kinds and thousands of books on all subjects. 9
a.m.5 p.m. Cutler Memorial Library, 151 High
St., Plainfield. $5 a bag. Joyce: 454-8306.
American Red Cross Blood Donation. Donors of
all blood types especially those with types O
negative, A negative and B negative are needed

Friday Night Group. For youth age 1322 who

are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer or
questioning. Pizza, soft drinks and conversation.
Cofacilitated by two trained, adult volunteers
from Outright VT. Second and fourth Fri.,
6:308 p.m. Unitarian Church, 130 Main St.,
Montpelier. Free. 223-7035. Micah@OutrightVT.
org.

SATURDAY, MAY 30

Hike Worcester Mountain with Green Mountain Club. Difficult. 2.5 miles, with option to
continue on the Skyline Trail, an additional
1.5 miles to the other side. Round-trip 8 miles.
Contact one of the following for meeting time
and place: Phyllis at 223-0020 or Phyllis@PhyllisRubensteinLaw.comcastbiz.net; Charlene at
229-9908 or charlenebohl@comcast.net.
BirdFest 2015. Early morning bird walks, bird
banding demonstrations, bird drawing and photography contests, bird carving demonstrations. 7
a.m.1:30 p.m. North Branch Nature Center, 713
Elm St., Montpelier. 229-6206. northbranchna-

p.m. Norwich University, Sullivan Museum and

History Center, Northfield. 485-2183. academics.norwich.edu/museum/

SPECIAL EVENTS

Green Mountain Watercolor Exhibition Accepting Entries. The Valley Arts Foundation
welcomes submissions to the fourth annual
Green Mountain Watercolor Exhibition, to
be held in July at the Big Red Barn Gallery at
Lareau Farm Inn in Waitsfield. Works will be
judged for style and technique that interprets a
diverse subject matter. For more information and
the prospectus for submission: vermontartfest.
com or contact Gary Eckhart at fineart@moosewalkstudios.com.
May 2324: Open Studio Weekend. Central
Vermont is offering 12 artist studios and galleries
with exhibits and demonstrations of pottery, jewelry, photography, mixed media, painting, woodworking, bookbinding and more. Artisans Hand
Craft Gallery in Montpelier is the local regional
information center for the Montpelier Watershed
Artists. A free copy of the Vermont Studio Tour
Guide is available at the Artisans Hand Gallery,
89 Main St., Montpelier. All studios are located
in central Vermont. 10 a.m.5 p.m.
May 31: The Museum of Everyday Life: Dust.
Opening day celebration of the museums new
exhibition "Dust." Local animatrix Meredith
Holch and Circus Amok founder Jennifer Miller
will play original songs about dust. Special guests
from Canada will present a new performance
piece. Dust dances and dust manifestos. Snacks
and beverages provided. 37 p.m. Museum of
Everyday Life, 3482 Dry Pond Rd. (Rt.16),
Glover. By donation. 626-4409. museumofeverydaylife.org.

turecenter.org.
City-Wide Tag Sale. Hosted by Montpelier
Alive and the Washington County Youth Service
Bureau. The organizers have encouraged citizens,
businesses, churches, civic groups, associations
and neighbors to plan a sale. Maps will be available in advance at downtown stores and at the
Capital City Farmers Market on the day of the
event. Rain or shine. 9 a.m.3 p.m. montpelieralive.org. montpelieralive/facebook.
Union Elementary School Tag and Plant Sale.
All proceeds will be used for the Union School
Playground Project 9 a.m.3 p.m. DONATIONS
NEEDED: Adult and Children's Clothes, Shoes,
Furniture, Household items, Plants (please label
name and type of plant and sunlight required
such as indoor/outdoor). We cannot accept
bike helmets, car seats, ski equipment, or cribs.
Donation drop-off: May 29, 37 p.m.; May 30,
79 a.m. Union Elementary School, 1 Park Ave.,
Montpelier. Kristin: 477-2547.
Cutler Memorial Library Plant and Book Sale.
Annuals, perennials, and vegetable plants of many
kinds and thousands of books on all subjects. May
29, 9 a.m.5 p.m.; May 30, 9 a.m.3 p.m. Cutler
Memorial Library, 151 High St., Plainfield. $5 a
bag. Joyce: 454-8306.
Adamant Blackfly Festival. Celebrate Vermont's
state bug with live music, great food, blackfly
parade, fashion show and poetry slam. Rain or
shine. 9 a.m.5 p.m. Adamant Co-op, 1313
Haggett Rd., Adamant. 223-5760. adamantcoop@gmail.com. blackflyfestival.org.
Spring into Summer. Hosted by the Montessori
School of Central Vermont. Celebrate the warm

PAG E 2 0 M AY 21 J U N E 3 , 2 015
weather with snacks, crafts and outdoor science
experiments. Dinner of the Month raffle. First
prize: gift certificates from 12 local restaurants.
Second prize is a dessert gift certificate. 10 a.m.
noon; raffle at noon. Old Shelter at Hubbard Park,
Montpelier. Free. Raffle tickets: $6 each of three
for $15. 223-3320. mscvt.org.
Lu.Lu. Ice Cream and SND Spirits Tasting.
Join Smugglers' Notch Distillery and Lu.Lu. to
try small batch artisan ice cream featuring SND
Spirits. 11 a.m.5 p.m. SND Barrel House and
Tasting Room at The Vermont Annex, 2657
Waterbury-Stowe Rd., Waterbury Center. Free;
spirit tasting $3. 309-3077. smugglersnotchdistillery.com.
Wildflower and Fern Identification. Nature
walk with Suzy Klinefelter. Raindate: May 31. All
ages. 1 p.m. Meet at Barre Town Forest kiosk, 44
Brook St., Websterville. 476-4185. mkotch731@
gmail.com.
Montpelier Senior Activity Center hosts Senior
Prom. Join us to be transported to a night in
the city with decorations, music, dancing, food
and fun. Proceeds support the Montpelier Senior
Activity Center. 710:30 p.m. National Life
Building, 1 National Life Drive, Montpelier. $10.
223-2518. Tickets available at seniorprom.brownpapertickets.com or at Montpelier Senior Activity
Center, 58 Barre St., Montpelier.

MONDAY, JUNE 1

Parent Meet-Up. Come meet other parents, share

information and chat over light snacks, coffee
and tea. First Mon., 1011:30 a.m. Hayes Room,
Kellogg-Hubbard Library, 135 Main St., Montpelier. Free. mamasayszine@gmail.com.
Classic Book Club. New members always welcome. Most first Mon., 68 p.m. Cutler Memorial Library, 151 High St. (Rte. 2), Plainfield. Free.
454-8504. cutlerlibrary.org/resources/bookclub.
Savvy Speakers. Find your voice and confidence. Receive helpful tips on how to reduce
public speaking anxieties and gain confidence.
6 p.m. Kellogg-Hubbard Library, 135 Main St.,
Montpelier. Free. 476-0908. mlferguson2002@
yahoo.com.
Monthly Book Group for Adults. For copies of
the book, please stop by the library. New members
are always welcome. This is the last book group of
the year. The book for June is The Goldfinch by
Donna Tartt. 7 p.m. Jaquith Public Library, 122
School St., Marshfield. Free. 426-3581. jaquithpubliclibrary.org.

TUESDAY, JUNE 2

ADA Advisory Committee Meeting. First Tues.

City managers conference room, City Hall, 39
Main St., Montpelier. 223-9502.

THE BRIDGE

Calendar of Events

Montpelier Parks Work Hike with Green Mountain Club. All abilities. Give back to the city parks
we enjoy year round. Approximately six hours, although all shorter shifts are welcome. Bring water,
lunch, work clothes and gloves. Tools provided.
9 a.m. Rain date: June 3. Meet at Montpelier
swimming pool parking lot, Elm St., Montpelier.
224-9980. happy.jill.aspinall@gmail.com.
Tuesday Morning Nature Walks. with Marianne
Kotch and Suzy Klinefelter. Every Tues. June
2Sept. 29. 9 a.m. Meet at Barre Town Forest
kiosk, 44 Brook St., Websterville. 476-4185.
mkotch731@gmail.com.
Womens Circle. Women and mothers discuss
motherhood, family life and womens health.
Hosted by midwives Chelsea Hastings and
Hannah Allen. First Tues., 68 p.m. Emerge
Midwifery and Family Health, 174 River St.,
Montpelier.
Reading Faulkner: Go Down Moses. Bob
Barasch will present themes of Go Down Moses. Second in a three part series. Next and final
presentation June 16. 7 p.m. Kellogg-Hubbard Library, 135 Main St., Montpelier. Free. 223-3338.
kellogghubbard.org.

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 3

Grandparents Raising Their Childrens Children. First Wed., 10 a.m.Noon. Barre Presbyterian Church, Summer St. 476-1480.
Tobacco Cessation Classes. Do you want to quit
tobacco use but need help? Special attention is
given to developing a quitting strategy, including dealing with weight control and managing
stress. These workshops will offer ways to change
your behavior and help you start a tobacco-free
lifestyle. Every Wed. in June, 56 p.m. Central
Vermont Medical Center Conference Room #4,
130 Fisher Rd., Berlin. Register: 225-5680.
CVMC Birthing Center Open House. Learn more
about our full range of services, ask questions,
meet staff members and tour our Garden Path
Birthing Center. Friends and family welcome.
Refreshments. 5:307 p.m. Central Vermont
Medical Center Birthing Center, 2F, 130 Fisher
Rd., Berlin. 371-4613.
Cancer Support Group. First Wed., 6 p.m.
Potluck. For location, call Carole MacIntyre
229-5931.
U-32 School Board Meeting. Open to the public
and community members are always welcome to
attend. 6 p.m. U-32, Rm. 131, 930 Gallison Hill
Rd., Montpelier. 229-0321.
Montpelier School Board Meeting. 7 p.m.
Montpelier High School library, 5 High School
Dr., Montpelier. 225-8000.

THURSDAY, JUNE 4

MBAC Meeting. Meeting of the Montpelier

Bicycle Advisory Committee. First Thurs., 8 a.m.
Police Station Community Room, 534 Washington St., Montpelier. 262-6273.
Design Speaks. This talk with Diane Gayer is on
architecture and the public process with a focus
on Morrisville charrettes 1999 and 2008. 5 p.m.
River Arts Center, 74 Pleasant St., Morrisville.
888-1261. riverartsvt.org.
The Center for Arts and Learning Open House.
Celebrate the opening of the new central Vermont
arts, music and education center with music,
celebration, tasty treats and a grand tour of the
building. Music from Counterpoint, the Olabelles, Susan Picking, Annemieke and Jeremiah
McLane and others. 68 p.m. Center for Arts and
Learning, 46 Barre St., Montpelier. 223-4217.
irene@cal-vt.org. cal-vt.org.
Diabetes Support Group. First Thurs., 78 p.m.
Conference room 3, Central Vermont Medical
Center. 371-4152.

FRIDAY, JUNE 5

Long Trail Backpack with Green Mountain

Club. June 58. Difficult. 40.7 miles. Backpack
Divisions 1 and 2 of the Long Trail (from the
Massachusetts terminus to Kelly Stand Road).
Limited to eight people. For more information
and/or to reserve your place, Contact leader Phyllis: 223-0020 or Phyllis@PhyllisRubensteinLaw.
comcastbiz.net.
Death Caf. Group discussion about death with
no agenda, objectives or themes. First Fri., 11:45
a.m.1 p.m. Twin Valley Senior Center, Rt. 2,
Blueberry Commons, E. Montpelier. Bring your
own lunch or eat at the center for $4. 223-3322.
Coffeehouse. Enjoy live music and share your
own. Fellowship, potluck snacks and beverages.
First Fri., 79 p.m. Trinity United Methodist
Church, 137 Main St., Montpelier (park and enter
at rear). Free. 244-5191, 472-8297 or rawilburjr@
comcast.net.

SATURDAY, JUNE 6

National Federation of the Blind, Montpelier

Chapter. First Sat. Lane Shops community room,
1 Mechanic St., Montpelier. 229-0093.
Bike Peru, New York with Green Mountain
Club. Moderate. "Acres of Apples" is a side trip to
the Lake Champlain Bikeways Network. We will
park in Burlington, take the ferry to Port Kent,
bike with stops as desired at farm stands and Ausable Chasm, where food is available and return.
Helmet and closed shoes required. A rewarding
all-day trip. Meet at Montpelier High School, 5
High School Dr., Montpelier Contact Reidun and
Andrew for meeting time: 223-3550.
Bury Cancer Survivorship Celebration. Part
of National Cancer Survivorship Day. A day of
celebration for those who have survived, an inspiration for those recently diagnosed, a gathering of
support for families and friends and an outreach
to the community. 5K run 8 a.m.; parade 1 p.m.;
dinner and wine pairing 6 p.m.; light show 9:30
p.m. Downtown Barre. 279-0599. info@vcsn.net.
vcsn.net.
10th annual Central Vermont Extension Master Gardeners Plant Sale. Perennial, annuals,
veggies and gently used books for sale. Master
gardeners and master composters on hand to
answer questions about plants and the programs.
9 a.m.noon. North Branch Nature Center, 713
Elm St., Montpelier.
Babysitters Training Course. Learn to be a safe
and responsible babysitter. Bring your lunch. 9:30
a.m.1 p.m. Gifford Medical Centers Family
Center, 44 S. Main St., Randolph (beside Gifford
Ob/Gyn and Midwifery). $20. Space is limited.
Register with instructor Jude Powers at 649-1841
or Nancy Clark 728-2274.
The Northeast Storytellers. Writers, readers
and appreciators of prose and verse meet regularly
the first Saturday of every month. The public is
welcome to attend and new members are always
encouraged to join. 11:30 a.m.2 p.m. Catamount
Arts, 115 Eastern Ave., St. Johnsbury. 751-5432.
brookequillen@yahoo.com.
4th annual Bowlers Unite. Bowling fundraiser
to benefit Green Mountain United Way. Form a
team of four or five. 13 p.m. Twin City Family
Fun Center, 702 Rt. 302 (Barre-Montpelier Rd.),
Barre. 622-8056. mknight@gmunitedway.org.
gmunitedway.org/bowling-was.shtml
Osteoporosis Education and Support Group.
Learn from a variety of guest speakers and medical specialists. First Sat., 13 p.m. Community
National Bank, Community Room, Crawford
Rd., Derby. 535-2011. mary@betterbonesnek.org.
betterbonesnek.org.

Story
Corner
You Can't
Eat the View
by Daniel A. Neary Jr.

ver the years, the kitchen table at

the former farmhouse belonging
to George and Gert Cromwell
was a place for everyone to stop and chat.
It was a typical morning about tax time
and the couple was hosting coffee and
some Cromwell donuts. The guest was a
retired state employee named James Conlon who used to work with George in the
Department of Labor and Industry.
These three had noted some changes in
the state. It was now well into the second decade, and gentrification was alive
in Scampsville, the town in which the
Cromwells lived. Now the farmers were
regarded as being the dinosaurs with
their chunks of bulk land used formerly
to farm.
"Might even snow today," said George
who kept a close eye on the weather.
"That's the great thing about the Homer
Stone Range," said George,"it is a good
way to predict the day's weather. You just
look at those mountains and see the patterns flow up the side of the mountain. I
call it my mountain barometer.
They all paused for a while and then
George broke the ice, he said, "We are
going to have to sell timber to pay my
town property taxes. The bill is approaching 10 grand. When we came to
the town of Scampsville in the 1960s, it
cost us just a few hundred dollars.
"You still have that view," said Conlon.
He was not the only one who liked the
vista. People from all over the state came
to see it "you can't eat the view,," said
George.
Several months later
Conlon walked over to the Cromwells.
When he got to the pond there was a
hand lettered sign which read:
For Sale: 10 acres
He walked over to the front door and
knocked. Alice opened it. What made
you decide to sell the land? said Conlon.
"Well we needed a pickup and they cost
$20,000.

Tell them
you saw it in
The Bridge!

T H E B R I D G E

Music
VENUES
Bagitos. 28 Main St., Montpelier. Free. 2299212. Open mic every Wed. bagitos.com.
May 21: Art Herttua & Ray Carroll (jazz guitar/
percussion) 68 p.m.
May 22: The Neptunes, 68 p.m.
May 23: Irish Session with Sarah Blair, Hilari
Farrington, Benedict Koehler, Katrina VanTyne,
Bob Ryan and others, 25 p.m.; The Few Remaining (old time/Americana/swing) 68 p.m
May 24: Dave Tisdell solo piano, 11 a.m.1 p.m.
May 27: Supply And Demand (blues/soul/
Americana) 68 p.m.
May 26: The Peoples' Caf, 68 p.m.
May 28: Kick 'Em Jenny (old time/Cajun) 68
p.m. 6-8pm.
May 29: Fox & Fern (Americana/blues) 68
p.m.
May 30: Irish Session with Sarah Blair, Hilari
Farrington, Benedict Koehler, Katrina VanTyne,
Bob Ryan and others, 25 p.m.; Jason Lee
(blues/alt. folk/rock) 68 p.m.
Charlie-Os World Famous. 70 Main St., Montpelier. Free. 223-6820.
May 22: Broken String Band (bluegrass) 79
p.m.; Skattitude (ska/punk) 10 p.m.
May 23: Kathleen Kanz Comedy Hour, 79
p.m.; The Devil's Cut with special guest (punk/
Americana) 10 p.m.
May 24: DJ Disco Phantom Dance Party, 8
p.m.
May 29: Wes Hamilton (solo acoustic) 79 p.m.
May 30: Kathleen Kanz Comedy Hour, 79
p.m.;The Miss-Fits, Tsunamibots (punk) 10 p.m.
June 4: Vinyl Cape, Sketch tha Cataclysm
North Branch Caf. 41 State St., Montpelier.
Free. 552-8105. donia@thenorth-branch.com.
thenorth-branch.com.

Calendar of Events
May 21: James Secor (kora/guitar) 7:30 p.m.
May 30: Jason Mallery (singer-songwriter) 7
p.m.
Nutty Steph's. 961C U.S. Rt. 2, Middlesex. Free.
229-2090. nightlife@nuttystephs.com. nuttystephs.com.
May 21: Jim Thompson, 710 p.m.
May 22: Jazzyaoke, 7:3010:30 p.m.
May 28: Cookie's Hot Club, 710 p.m.
May 29: The Tomasas Rumbath Latin Rock
Steady Band, 710 p.m.
Positive Pie. 22 State St., Montpelier. 10 p.m.
Ages 21+. 229-0453. positivepie.com.
May 22: The Holter Brothers (rock/pop) $5
May 23 and 30: House Shuffle Dance Party
(hip-hop)
May 29: Funkwagon with Binger (gospelinfused funk) $5
Sweet Melissas. 4 Langdon St., Montpelier. Free
unless otherwise noted. Other shows T.B.A. 2256012. facebook.com/sweetmelissasvt.
May 21: Seth Yacovone plays Bob Dylan, 7:30
p.m.
May 22: Mark LeGrand, 5 p.m.; Beg Steal or
Borrow, 9 p.m.
May 23: David Langevin, 5 p.m.; Michael
Arnowitt, 8 p.m. $5.
May 24: Django, 8 p.m.
May 25: Kelly Ravin, 8 p.m.
May 26: Michael T, 5 p.m.; Open Mic Night, 7
p.m.*free*(7pm)
May 27: D. Davis, 5 p.m.; Big John, 8 p.m.
May 28: Dave Keller, 7:30 p.m.
May 29: Mark LeGrand, 5 p.m.
May 30: Main Street Syndicate, 9 p.m.
May 31: Django, 8 p.m.
Whammy Bar. 31 County Rd., Calais. Thurs., 7
p.m.; Fri. and Sat., 7:30 p.m. Free. Other shows
T.B.A. 229-4329. whammybar1.com.
May 23: Artie's Birthday Bash with Hot Diggity
(blues/rock)
May 29: Barn Band (classic folk/rock)
May 30: Dylan Wannabe winners

M AY 21 J U N E 3 , 2 015 PAG E 21

SPECIAL EVENTS
May 29: Singer-Songwriter Night. James Tautkus, 7 p.m.; Michelle Rodriguez with Paul Boffa,
8 p.m. Espresso Bueno, 248 N. Main St., Barre.
479-0896. espressobueno.com.
May 2931: Scrag Mountain Music Ushers in
Spring. Featuring Franz Schubert's "Shepherd
on the Rock" for soprano, clarinet and piano
and three whimsical Norwegian songs by Edvard
Grieg. Come as you are, pay what you can. scragmountainmusic.org.
May 29: 7:30 p.m. Unitarian Church, 130
Main St., Montpelier.
May 30: 7:30 p.m. First Light Studios, 34
Pleasant St., Randolph
May 31: 4 p.m. Warren United Church, Main
St., Warren
May 30: A Feast of Singing! A festive day of singing with Peter and Mary Alice Amidon and John
Harrison. Sing choral arrangements of classic
gospel, original gospel-inspired songs, traditional
folk songs, songs by composers steeped in the
oral tradition and shape note music. All songs
will be especially suited to community, church,
hospice, high school and college choirs, family
and friends singing gatherings. 10 a.m.4 p.m.
with tea breaks. Bring your own lunch. Unitarian
Church, 130 Main St., Montpelier. $50. Register:
feastofsinging.org. More information: 778-0881
or info@johnmarkharrison.com.
May 30: Open Mic for Everyone. Bring your
talent, the band, a few songs and a guitar, sing a
cappella, tell a joke or perform a clown routine!
The stage is yours. 7 p.m. Espresso Bueno, 248
N. Main St., Barre. 479-0896. janice@espressobueno.com. espressobueno.com.
May 30: One Concert. Pianist Jesse Feinberg
performs music of Vermont composer Dennis
Bathory-Kitsz in a 50th anniversary concert.
All-piano concert including premieres of works
from 1968-2015. 7:30 p.m. Unitarian Church,
130 Main St., Montpelier. Suggested admission: general $15; seniors $5. facebook.com/
events/1640176759549723

May 31: Randolph Singers. The Randolph

Singers bring their spring concert, How Can I
Keep from Singing? to Chandlers stage. 4 p.m.
Chandler Music Hall. 71-73 Main St., Randolph.
By donation. 728-9878. chandler-arts.org.
June 5: Community Gospel Choir Choir
Concert. Come join us for a lovely kick-off to
summer concert in the serene setting of the Old
Meeting House. 7:30 p.m. Old Meeting House,
1620 Center Rd., E. Montpelier. By donation.
oldmeetinghouse.org.
June 56: Village Harmony Alumni Ensemble.
Led by Larry Gordon and special guest conductor Bongani Magatyana from Capetown, South
Africa. 7:30 p.m. 426-3210. Suggested admission:
adults $10; students and seniors $5.
June 5: Fritzs Barn, 697 McCrillis Rd.,
Marshfield.
June 6: Hyde Park Congregational Church, 26
Prospect St., Hyde Park.
June 67: Montpelier Chamber Orchestra:
Seedtime, Season Finale. MCO finishes the
season with Mozarts Symphony No. 40 and new
work commissioned by MCO composer and bass
soloist Evan Premo. With vocalist Miriam Bernardo and guitar soloist Michael Chorney. June 6,
7:30 p.m.; June 7, 4 p.m. Unitarian Church, 130
Main St., Montpelier. Adults $15; seniors $12;
students $10. montpelierchamberorchestra.org.

AUDITIONS
May 27, June 7: Green Mountain Youth Symphony Auditions. For summer and fall placement
in all three orchestras and CAMP. CAMP will be
held at Johnson State College August 915 this
year. Placement in the orchestras and summer
camp is by audition only. To schedule an audition
or for more information: 888-4470. info@gmysvt.org. gmys-vt.org. $25 audition fee; financial
assistance available.

PAG E 2 2 M AY 21 J U N E 3 , 2 015

Weekly Events

Calendar of Events

Lunches for Seniors. Mon., Wed., Fri., Noon.

Twin Valley Senior Center, 4583 U.S. Rt. 2, E.
Montpelier. $4 suggested donation. 223-3322.
twinvalleyseniors.org.

Beaders Group. All levels of beading experience

welcome. Free instruction available. Come with
a project for creativity and community. Sat., 11
a.m.2 p.m. The Bead Hive, Plainfield. 454-1615.

Feast Together or Feast To Go. All proceeds

benefit the Feast Senior Meal program. Tues. and
Fri., noon1 p.m. Live music every Tues., 10:30
11:30 a.m. Montpelier Senior Activity Center, 58
Barre St., Montpelier. Seniors 60+ free with $7
suggested donation; under 60 $9. Reservations:
262-6288 or justbasicsinc@gmail.com.

Noontime Knitters. All abilities welcome. Basics

taught. Crocheting, needlepoint and tatting also
welcome. Tues., noon1 p.m. Waterbury Public
Library, 28 N. Main St., Waterbury. 244-7036.

Barre Farmers Market. May 16Oct. 17.

Every Wed., 37 p.m.; every Sat., 9 a.m.1 p.m.
Vermont Granite Museum, 7 Jones Brothers Rd.,
Barre. barrefarmersmarketvt.com.

Women Knitting for Peace Group. Knit/crochet

items to be donated to those in need world-wide.
Bring yarn and needles. Thurs., 1011 a.m. and
67:30 p.m. Montpelier Senior Activity Center,
58 Barre St., Montpelier. 223-2518. For basic
info. and patterns: knitting4peace.org.

Capital City Farmers Market. 53 farmers, food

producers and craftspeople. Every Sat. through
Oct. 31. 9 a.m.1 p.m. 60 State St., Montpelier.
capitalcityfarmersmarket.com.

ART & CRAFT

BICYCLING

HEALTH & WELLNESS

Turning Point Center. Safe, supportive place

for individuals and their families in or seeking
recovery. Daily, 10 a.m.5 p.m. 489 North Main
Open Shop Nights. Volunteer-run community
St., Barre. 479-7373.
bike shop: bike donations and repairs. Fri., 46
p.m.; other nights. Freeride Montpelier, 89 Barre
Sun.: Alchoholics Anonymous, 8:30 a.m.
St., Montpelier. 552-3521. freeridemontpelier.org.
Tues.: Making Recovery Easier workshops,
67:30 p.m.
Wed.: Wits End Parent Support Group, 6 p.m.
Thurs.: Narcotics Anonymous, 6:30 p.m.

BOOKS & WORDS

Lunch in a Foreign Language. Bring lunch and

practice your language skills with neighbors.
Noon1 p.m. Mon., Hebrew; Tues., Italian;
Wed., Spanish; Thurs., French. Kellogg-Hubbard
Library, 135 Main St., Montpelier. 223-3338.
English Conversation Practice Group. For
students learning English for the first time. Tues.,
45 p.m. Central Vermont Adult Basic Education, Montpelier Learning Center, 100 State St.
223-3403.
Ongoing Reading Group. Improve your reading
and share some good books. Books chosen by
group. Thurs., 910 a.m. Central Vermont Adult
Basic Education, Montpelier Learning Center,
100 State St. 223-3403.

BUSINESS, FINANCE,
COMPUTERS, EDUCATION
Computer and Online Help. One-on-one computer help. Tues. and Fri., 10 a.m.1 p.m. Waterbury Public Library, 28 N. Main St., Waterbury.
Free. Registration required: 244-7036.
Personal Financial Management Workshops.
Learn about credit/debit cards, credit building
and repair, budgeting and identity theft, insurance, investing, retirement. Tues., 68 p.m.
Central Vermont Medical Center, Conference
Room 3. Registration: 371-4191.

FOOD & DRINK

Community Meals in Montpelier. All welcome.
Free.
Mon.: Unitarian Church, 130 Main St., 11
a.m.1 p.m.
Tues.: Bethany Church, 115 Main St., 11:30
a.m.1 p.m.
Wed.: Christ Church, 64 State St., 11
a.m.12:30 p.m.
Thurs.: Trinity Church, 137 Main St., 11:30
a.m.1 p.m.
Fri.: St. Augustine Church, 18 Barre St., 11
a.m.12:30 p.m.
Sun.: Last Sunday only, Bethany Church, 115
Main St. (hosted by Beth Jacob Synagogue),
4:305:30 p.m.

Early Bird Bone Builders Class. With Cort

Richardson, Osteoporosis exercise and prevention
program. Wear comfortable clothing and sturdy
shoes. Light weights provided or bring your own.
All ages. Every Mon., Wed. and Fri., 7:308:30
a.m. Twin Valley Senior Center, Rt. 2, Blueberry
Commons, E. Montpelier. Free. Cort: 223-3174
or 238-0789.
Bone Building Exercises. All seniors welcome.
Every Mon., Wed. and Fri. 10:4511:45 a.m.
Twin Valley Senior Center, 4583 U.S. Rt. 2, E.
Montpelier. Free. 223-3322. twinvalleyseniors.
org.
Tai Chi for Seniors. Led by trained volunteers.
Every Mon. and Fri., 12 p.m. Twin Valley
Senior Center, 4583 U.S. Rt. 2, E. Montpelier.
Free. 223-3322. twinvalleyseniors.org.
Living Strong Group. Volunteer-led group.
Sing while exercising. Open to all seniors. Every
Mon., 2:303:30 p.m. and every Fri., 23 p.m.
Montpelier Senior Activity Center, 58 Barre St.,
Montpelier. Free. Register: 223-2518. msac@
montpelier-vt.org.

KIDS & TEENS

RECYCLING

Baby & Toddler Story Time. Every Mon., 10

a.m. Waterbury Public Library temporary location, 30 Foundry St., Waterbury. Free. 244-7036.
waterburypubliclibrary.com.

Additional Recycling. The Additional Recyclables Collection Center accepts scores of hard-torecycle items. Tues. and Thurs., 12:30 p.m.5:30
p.m. ARCC, 540 North Main St., Barre. $1 per
carload. 229-9383 x106. cvswmd.org.

The Basement Teen Center. Cable TV, PlayStation 3, pool table, free eats and fun events for
teenagers. Mon.Thurs., 36 p.m.; Fri., 311
p.m. Basement Teen Center, 39 Main St., Montpelier. 229-9151.
Story Time and Playgroup. Story time with
Sylvia Smith and playgroup with Melissa Seifert.
For ages birth6 and grown-ups. We follow the
Twinfield Union School calendar and do not
hold programs when Twinfield is closed. Every
Wed. through June 3. 1011:30 a.m. Jaquith
Public Library, 122 School St., Marshfield. Free.
426-3581. jaquithpubliclibrary.org.
Read to Coco. Share a story with Coco, the
resident licensed reading therapy dog, who
loves to hear kids practice reading aloud. Wed.,
3:304:30 p.m. Kellogg-Hubbard Library, 135
Main St., Montpelier. Sign up ahead: 223-4665
or at the childrens desk. kellogghubbard.org.
Story Time for Kids. Meet your neighbors and
share quality time with the pre-schooler in your
life. Each week well read stories and spend time
together. A great way to introduce your preschooler to your local library. For ages 25. Every
Thurs., 10:30 a.m. Cutler Memorial Library, 151
High St., Plainfield. 454-8504. cutlerlibrary.org.
Read with Arlo. Meet reading therapy dog Arlo
and his owner Brenda. Sign up for a 20-minute block. Thurs., 45 p.m. Kellogg-Hubbard
Library, 135 Main St., Montpelier. 223-4665.
kellogghubbard.org.
Robins Nest Nature Playgroup. Playgroup for
parents, caregivers, and children ages birth5.
Spontaneous play, exploration, discovery, song,
nature inspired crafts and story telling. Every
Fri., 9:3011:30 a.m. North Branch Nature
Center, 713 Elm St., Montpelier. Free. 229-6206.
northbranchnaturecenter.org.
Preschool Story Time. Every Fri., 10 a.m.
Waterbury Public Library temporary location,
30 Foundry St., Waterbury. Free. 244-7036.
waterburypubliclibrary.com.
Drop-in Kinder Arts Program. Innovative
exploratory arts program with artist/instructor
Kelly Holt. Age 35. Fri., 10:30 a.m.noon.
River Arts Center, 74 Pleasant St., Morrisville.
888-1261. RiverArtsVT.org.

Sex Addicts Anonymous. Mon., 6:30 p.m.

Bethany Church, 115 Main St., Montpelier.
552-3483.

Teen Fridays. Find out about the latest teen

books, use the gym, make art, play games and if
you need to, do your homework. Fri., 35 p.m.
Jaquith Public Library, 122 School St., Marshfield. 426-3581.

Senior Success Series. Topics important to

seniors including food assistance, fuel assistance, long-term care options, caregiver support,
transportation and volunteer opportunities. May
26: caregiver support, including dementia respite
grants, support groups and more with Sara Willhoit. Every Tues. through June 16, 12:30 p.m.
Montpelier Senior Activity Center, 58 Barre St.,
Montpelier. Free. 223-2518.

Community Playgroup. An early childhood

educator will be present to provide free play and
conversation, seasonal songs, lap games and an
occasional puppet story. For children under 4
years accompanied by their parent or caregiver.
Every Sat. through May 23, 1011:30 a.m. The
Childs Garden, 155 Northfield St., Montpelier.
Free. Pre-registration appreciated: morgan.i@
ovws.org.

Overeaters Anonymous. Twelve-step program for physically, emotionally and spiritually

overcoming overeating. Two meeting days and
locations. Every Tues., 5:306:30 p.m. and
second Sat., 8:309:30 a.m. at Episcopal Church
of the Good Shepherd, 39 Washington St., Barre.
249-3970. Every Fri., noon1 p.m. at Bethany
Church, 115 Main St., Montpelier. 223-3079.

Mad River Valley Youth Group. Sun., 79 p.m.

Meets at various area churches. Call 497-4516 for
location and information.

HIV Testing. Vermont CARES offers fast oral

testing. Thurs., 25 p.m. 58 East State St., Ste. 3
(entrance at back), Montpelier. Free. 371-6222.
vtcares.org.

THE BRIDGE

SOLIDARITY/IDENTITY
Womens Group. Women age 40 and older
explore important issues and challenges in their
lives in a warm and supportive environment. Facilitated by psychotherapist Kathleen Zura. Every
Mon., 5:307:30 p.m. 41 Elm St., Montpelier.
223-6564. Insurances accepted.

SPIRITUALITY
Christian Science Reading Room. You're invited
to visit the Reading Room and see what we
have for your spiritual growth. You can borrow,
purchase or simply enjoy material in a quiet
study room. When we are closed, we have free
literature out on the portico, over the bench, for
you to read or take with you. Hours: Tues., 11
a.m.5 p.m.; Wed., 11 a.m.7:15 p.m.; Thurs.
Sat., 11 a.m.1 p.m. 145 State St., Montpelier.
223-2477.
Christian Counseling. Tues. and Thurs. Daniel
Dr., Barre. Reasonable cost. By appt. only: 4790302.
Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults. For those
interested in learning about the Catholic faith, or
current Catholics who want to learn more. Wed.,
7 p.m. St. Monica Church, 79 Summer St.,
Barre. Register: 479-3253.
Deepening Our Jewish Roots. Fun, engaging
text study and discussion on Jewish spirituality. Sun., 4:456:15 p.m. Yearning for Learning
Center, Montpelier. 223-0583. info@yearning4learning.org.

SPORTS & GAMES

Roller Derby Open Recruitment and Recreational Practice. Central Vermonts Wrecking
Doll Society invites quad skaters age 18 and up.
No experience necessary. Equipment provided:
first come, first served. Sat., 56:30 p.m. Montpelier Recreation Center, Barre St. First skate
free. centralvermontrollerderby.com.

YOGA & MEDITATION

Christian Meditation Group. People of all faiths
welcome. Mon., noon1 p.m. Christ Church,
Montpelier. 223-6043.
Zen Meditation. With Zen Affiliate of Vermont.
Wed., 6:307:30 p.m. 174 River St., Montpelier.
Free. Call for orientation: 229-0164.
Shambhala Buddhist Meditation. Group meditation practice. Sun., 10 a.m.noon; Tues., 78
p.m.; Wed., 67 p.m. New location: Center for
Culture and Learning, 46 Barre Street, Montpelier. Free. 223-5137. montpeliershambala.org.
Sunday Sangha: Community Ashtanga Yoga.
Every Sun., 5:407 p.m. Grateful Yoga, 15 State
St., 3F, Montpelier. By donation.

MUSIC & DANCE

Barre-Tones Womens Chorus. Open rehearsal.
Find your voice with 50 other women. June 1 is
Guest Night. Mon., 7 p.m. Alumni Hall, Barre.
223-2039. BarretonesVT.com.
Dance or Play with the Swinging Over 60
Band. Danceable tunes from the 1930s to the
1960s. Recruiting musicians. Tues., 10:30 a.m.
noon. Montpelier Senior Activity Center, 58
Barre St., Montpelier. 223-2518.
Monteverdi Young Singers Chorus Rehearsal.
New chorus members welcome. Wed., 45 p.m.
Montpelier. Call 229-9000 for location and more
information.
Piano Workshop. Informal time to play, refresh
your skills and get feedback if desired with
other supportive musicians. Singers and listeners
welcome. Thurs., 45:30 p.m. Montpelier Senior
Activity Center, 58 Barre St., Montpelier. Free;
open to the public. 223-2518. msac@montpeliervt.org.
Ukelele Group. All levels welcome. Thurs., 68
p.m. Montpelier Senior Activity Center, 58 Barre
St. 223-2518.
Gamelan Rehearsals. Sun., 79 p.m. Pratt Center, Goddard College. Free. 426-3498. steven.
light@jsc.edu. light.kathy@gmail.com.

Submit your calendar

listing by using our
online submission form at
montpelierbridge.com/
calendar-submissions

~OR~
send listing to
calendar@montpelierbridge.com
Deadline for next issue
is May 28.
Send information for events
happening June 4June 20.

M AY 21 J U N E 3 , 2 015 PAG E 2 3

T H E B R I D G E

Text-only class listings and

classifieds are 50 words for $25.
To place an ad, call Michael,
223-5112 ext. 11.

CLASSES:

T&T Truck for Hire

ALLIANCE FRANAISE: SUMMER SESSION

Six-week French classes for adults at our
Colchester and Montpelier locations.
June 8July 16. One morning session available
in Colchester.
Our summer session includes conversation
classes for all levels as well as classes that will
combine language instructions and culture.
We also offer private tutoring.
Please go to the AFLCR website at aflcr.org to
read all about our offerings for this summer.
For more information contact
Micheline Tremblay at 802-881-8826 or at
michelineatremblay@gmail.com

LIght movIng, L andfILL

runs, and odd jobs.

Weve got the truck.

Give us a call at:

224.1360

TRAINING:
DRUID TRAINING 2015
The Green Mountain School of Druidry invites
you to join its 2015 training starting in midJune. Based in Worcester, Vermont, since 2006.
Get in touch with us to arrange an interview.
Become a Steward of the Earth, and change
your life! Contact us at ivanwyvan@gmail.com
and www.greenmountaindruidorder.org.

RecyclE

This Paper!

GREGS
PAINTING

Metal Roof Painting

Interior & Exterior

802-479-2733
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FREE ESTIMATES INSURED SINCE 1990

Tell them
you saw it in
The Bridge!

New Construction
Renovations
Woodworking
General Contracting

223-3447

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Advertise in THE NEXT ISSUE:

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Design & Build

Custom Energy-Efficient Homes
Additions Timber Frames
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June 4 17, 2015

Kitchens Bathrooms Flooring

Tiling Cabinetry Fine Woodwork

ALL AD MATERIALS AND AD SPACE

RESERVATIONS DUE FRIDAY, MAY 29.
For more information about advertising deadlines, rates and the design
of your ad call 223-5112 ext. 11 or email our ad sales representatives at
michael@montpelierbridge.com or rick@montpelierbridge.com

The Center for Leadership Skills

Since 1972
Repairs New floors and walls
Crane work Decorative concrete

Consulting ICF foundations
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BUSINESS & LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT

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Taking You from Frustration to Enthusiasm
802 778 0626
lindel@lindeljames.com
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PAG E 24 M AY 21 J U N E 3 , 2 015

THE BRIDGE

Math Problem in the House: Too many Dems

by Rep. Don Turner, House Republican leader, Milton

ast November, Vermonters sent a clear message that the status

quo no longer worked for them. Vermonters told us that we
needed to get to work to return the state to a sound and sustainable fiscal path, work to make Vermont a more affordable place
to live and work to grow our economy so that the next generation
will have more opportunities than we have had.

Opinion

The 2015 legislative session is over. As Republican Minority leader

I was very proud of the efforts and hard work that our representatives put forward this
session. Our newly elected representatives rolled up their sleeves and worked hard to make
a difference. However, with a large majority of the House being made up of Democrats
and Progressives, we were unable to accomplish many things we believe Vermonters asked
for loud and clear. So even with the best efforts, Vermonters will pay and the setbacks for
a fiscal responsible state will continue. The added costs to everyday living are significant
and next year the budget mess will be worse than ever.
Its a math problem and perhaps a policy outlook problem. The Democrat-controlled
House has enjoyed not only a majority of voting members, but also a continued policy
vision to spend more than the state takes in. Democrats seemingly ignore the basic fact
that many people are struggling dearly and cant afford to live in the state that they love
so much. Democrats also have a policy of making Vermont a disproportionately large
employer while not encouraging the private business sector to succeed. Doing business in
Vermont is expensive and trying to grow a business in this state can be Mission: Impossible.
Vermont has a history of being a caring state. It is imperative that we protect our most
vulnerable. However, we must provide a responsible path to let Vermonters grow into
self-sufficiency. It is degrading to not offer Vermonters the prospects to work and raise
the quality of their lives by providing jobs and opportunities.

priorities for this session. Our goal was to put Vermont on a sound
and sustainable path, grow our economy, address rising property
taxes, and ensure clean water for the next generation of Vermonters.
We are disappointed a budget passed that grew state spending by
more than economic growth. This budget was more of the same and
leaves us staring at a budget gap of nearly $70 million next year.

And our fight for Vermonters was not for the lack of effort. Led by our Lt. Gov. Phil
Scott, we listened to Vermonters about what we could do to grow our economy and
worked many of those efforts into the economic development bill only to watch them be
taken out in the senate.
We offered a way to clean the waters that would have reprioritized existing dollars and not
raised taxes on Vermonters. In the end, that alternative did not pass.
We have been working hard to keep our word to you, the people of Vermont. Even with
the odds against us, we will continue to work to make sure you are heard. And about this
math problem? The only way we are going to change Montpelier is to change the representative makeup of the legislature. Business as usual has not worked and current majority
leadership has failed to address the basic economic challenges that most Vermonters face
each day. Republican legislators offered many solutions. Instead, under Speaker Shap
Smiths leadership the Democrat majority solved their problem by raising taxes and not
addressing spending. It does not work and Vermonters will pay.
So about that math problem; we can mostly look to 2016 to make a change. The future of
Vermont can be better and affordable. It will only happen in the voting booth. Business
as usual in Montpelier isnt working and unless we change who is running state government, Vermonters will get more of the same and that harsh reality is just not acceptable.
We can do better. Vermonters deserve it!

Entering the State House in January, our caucus held a press conference outlining our

Precious Lives are No Laughing Matter

pparently there are those who appear to continue to believe

that it is perfectly alright to jest about taking one's own life
or otherwise suicide in general. Sadly, up until only recently,
Gov. Peter Shumlin had been among those repeatedly doing so.

Opinion

For those of us who have lost either loved ones, friends, school or
work colleagues when they have taken their own lives, suicide is never found to be a
laughing matter, nor should it ever be.

Although Shumlin might have found it rather difficult and highly frustrating to answer
certain questions posed to him pertaining to Vermont Health Connect during his April
21 press conference, joking about taking his own life in order to attempt to evade repeated
or further questioning on the subject was not only completely inappropriate, as he later
acknowledged, but it is also very distressing to those who know all too well what it is like
when someone close to us commits suicide.
By joking about it in the manner he has on several different occasions, the message the
governor has basically sent to people is that if you are having a real hard time of it and
are feeling really frustrated, whether by life in general or some difficult situation or circumstance, it is perfectly fine to kill yourself or, short of actually doing that, to otherwise
joke about doing such.
While the governor might have later issued an apology to members of the press on the
subject, particularly as the top political leader within the state, this does not go far
enough to truly address these type of repeated jests on his part as well as the matter at

Support the Ice Rink

Picture this: An ice rink sparkling under the January sky. Skaters
practicing figure eights and small children slowly finding their skating legs, wobbly but happy. Couples bundled up in the cold, thrilled
to be outside enjoying the conviviality. After they finish skating,
they stay downtown for a hot chocolate or a hot toddy and browse
the local shops.

by Morgan W. Brown, Montpelier

large by any means. The damage done requires much more, including publicly pledging never to do it again.

There is also something else of equal critical importance to be

meaningfully addressed by both Shumlin and the state legislature,
however, and that is to make it a high priority to find and allocate
state funding with which to continue ongoing suicide prevention efforts.
This demands proper leadership in the form of stepping up to ensure state funding is in
place, once federal monies run out on July 31, in order to fully fund what the Vermont
Suicide Prevention Center and its dedicated partners have been doing in these regards
up to now. It is my understanding that the dollar amount being requested is $750,000.
Beyond the shattering impact experienced by loved ones, friends, or school or work colleagues when someone takes their own life, it needs to be kept in mind about how there
are many others who are impacted as well, including emergency first responders, medical
personnel and the like.
In addition, whether it be an attempted or completed act of suicide that takes place, there
are also numerous financial impacts and costs that occur at individual, family and societal levels to be considered. The fact is that suicide prevention works. The precious lives
saved by suicide prevention efforts are certainly worth this type of financial investment
and commitment by the state.

by Kim McKee, Nate Hausman and Mariah Quinn, Montpelier

Opinion

Its not a reality yet, but thats the vision of the Put a Rink On It Committee, a group of
Montpelier residents who have proposed a wintertime ice rink on the lawn of the State
House. Emphasizing the cultural, community, and economic benefits of the rink, the
group has circulated a detailed proposal to local elected officials and business leaders,
garnering widespread support.
"I love this idea," said Montpelier's Mayor, John Hollar. "The State House lawn is one of
the prime open spaces in our downtown, and it would be great to give residents another
reason to get outside during the winter. The city is open to exploring a partnership with
the state to help address any liability or other concerns."
The ice rink idea was the brainchild of Kim McKee and Nate Hausman, two young
Montpelier residents who saw the lawn as a blank slate best filled with ice to skate on.

In a proposal that has received the support of the mayor, the Put a
Rink On It Committee laid out the practical framework of the ice
rink, a portable structure that would be in place from December to
March, and would ideally be funded through grants and business
and community donations. The committee has had productive talks
about the proposal with the Montpelier Alive Design Committee,
the Montpelier Recreation Department and the Central Vermont Memorial Civic Center.
The proposal has hit a roadblock: The states Building and General Services Department
regarding liability coverage and the effect on the grass. The Montpelier city officials have
indicated a willingness to work with the committee to address liability concerns, and
the committee believes part of the funds raised for the rink could be set aside for grass
renewal if necessary, though similar rinks have shown the impact on the lawn would be
minimal.
Backed by local officials and the public, the committee plans to revisit the issue with the
department in the coming months. In the meantime, the committee is circulating a petition to capture local community support. The petition is online at: https://adjunctaction.
wufoo.com/forms/support-putting-an-ice-rink-in-downtown-montpelier/

M AY 21 J U N E 3 , 2 015 PAG E 2 5

T H E B R I D G E

Editors Note by Nat Frothingham

Here in the immediate aftermath of the just-ended 2015 session of the Vermont Legislature are two quite different appraisals one from Gov. Shumlin and the other from House Minority
Leader Don Turner of what did or did not happen at the State House this year and what this means for Vermont.
The legislature wound up its 2015 session at about an hour before midnight on May 16.
The governors statement was posted online on May 16 and Rep. Turners statement was circulated with the media on May 18.
When I compared the governors statement with the House minority leaders statement I had to wonder.
Were they present at the same event? Were they looking out at the state from the same window? Were they wearing the same pair of glasses or no glasses at all?
I was quickly reminded of a first paragraph that British novelist and social critic Charles Dickens wrote to set the stage for his Tale of Two Cities, his novel set in London and Paris before
and during the French Revolution.
It was the best of times, declared Dickens. It was the worst of times, was his further judgment. It was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness.
For two assessments of the session just ended, please see Gov. Shumlins statement below and House Minority Leader Don Turner on the previous page.

Progress in Vermont
by Gov. Peter Shumlin
We convened the legislative session in January with the goal of making this economy work for every single Vermonter and resolving the
challenges that undermine our quality of life. It was an agenda focused on jobs, quality of life, our environment, and making Vermont
a place that works for everyone, not just those who are already doing
well. Five months later, we have taken great steps toward that goal.

Opinion

We started by passing legislation to bring long-needed resources and tools to clean up

Vermonts waterways, including Lake Champlain. Our rivers, lakes and streams are more
than just a part of our everyday life; they help drive economic activity in this state and define who we are as Vermonters. Thanks to the action of the legislature this year, that will
remain true for generations to come. The pollution affecting Lake Champlain and other
waterways has been generations in the making, and it wont be cleaned up overnight. But
we now have the plan and resources to make sure our kids and grandkids continue to
enjoy our beautiful waters.
If there was one issue that Vermonters told us they wanted action on this session, it was

school spending and property taxes. Vermonts education system is

one of the most important aspects of our democracy. But as we have
seen student counts continue to drop to the point where we have
an average of 4.7 staff to every one student, educational quality has
suffered and costs have grown beyond Vermonters ability to pay.
By working together, we passed a once-in-a-generation reform bill
that will give our kids higher quality education and bend the cost curve, bringing badlyneeded property tax relief to Vermonters.

We also took a giant step forward by charting a cleaner, greener energy future for our
state. The legislation passed this year will change the way we do energy in Vermont.
Utilities will now be in the businesses of helping customers use new technologies to use
less energy, not more. By helping Vermonters to make energy efficient upgrades to their
homes and promoting more community-scale renewable energy projects, we will add
1,000 jobs to a clean energy economy that already supports 15,000 jobs, cut our greenhouse gas emissions by 15 million metric tons, and save Vermonters a net of $390 million
on their fuel and energy bills.
At a time when Vermonts unemployment
rate is the sixth lowest in America and our
businesses have thousands of job openings, were continuing to invest in economic development. Thoughtful changes
to the Vermonts premier economic development incentive program will help
us ensure job growth is spread across the
state. And were unleashing more capital
for startup business and helping first-time
homebuyers get into a home.
We also took concrete steps to help working Vermonters get ahead and protect
those Vermonters who need us most with
Child Savings Accounts that will help
every kid in this state get a jump start on
saving for college. Vermonters will no longer be victimized by rent-to-own schemes
that target the most vulnerable among us.
And weve strengthened the states ability
to protect our children from abuse and
neglect with a comprehensive child safety
bill.
Lastly, we came into this session knowing we had to make the difficult decisions
to match Montpeliers spending with the
growth rate in our economy and close a
$113 million budget gap. The budget is
more than just a dollar figure; it provides
critical resources to our communities,
helping us protect our environment and
our most vulnerable. But of all the tough
things we did together, crafting an acceptable budget was the most difficult. I appreciate that in the last few days we made
additional cuts and came up with a sensible
revenue solution to help put Vermont on a
fiscally strong foundation for the future.
The fact that we did it without raising income, sales, and rooms and meals tax rates
or removing the ability to deduct charitable giving and major medical expenses is
good Vermont common sense.
I am so proud and privileged to serve as
governor of this great state. This legislative
session we faced the major challenges of
our state head on. Our job is not done, but
the progress we have made will help ensure
that we make progress towards an economy
that works for every single Vermonter.

PAG E 26 M AY 21 J U N E 3 , 2 015

Letters
Renewable Energy Not
Cutting Carbon nor Slowing
Global Warming
Editor:
Once again some legislators want us all to
pay a carbon tax so Vermont can lead the
way in carbon reduction. Missing from this
rhetoric is the fact that Vermont once DID
lead the way: When Vermont Yankee was operating, we had the lowest carbon emissions
per capita for electricity production.
Then Vermont Yankees power contract expired in March 2012 and the plant closed
in December 2014. Vermont went from enjoying a healthy, affordable, steady diet of
low-cost, carbon-free power to a brownish
mixture of nuclear, hydro, natural gas, coal
and oil power, with a garnish of in-state renewable. Research shows that in-state renewable power has grown by just six percent of
the total power load since March 2012. That
six percent solution is really no solution
at all climate-wise, because the renewable
industry sells its renewable energy credits to
out-of-state gas, coal and oil power producers
so they can keep pouring smoke into the air
and look more green than they actually are.
If you think the Vermont renewable power
industry is leading the way, ask yourself,

THE BRIDGE

leading the way where? And for whom?

Carbon taxes and renewable energy credits
are just one struggling industrys attempt to
get state government to rescue them from
having a financially weak product by handing them their competition money. Real carbon reduction will come when New England
energy planners prioritize existing high-volume, low-carbon generators like hydro and
nuclear. Until then, we will just add tiny
amounts of renewable power every year while
burning more and more fossil fuels. This
is not a problem solver for global warming
or for fixing the out-of-control spending in
Montpelier.
George Clain
Barre

Come to the Coop

Community Meeting
Editor:
With more than 7,000 member-owners,
the Hunger Mountain Coop is among the
largest food cooperatives in New England.
Cooperative grocery stores are in a time of
change throughout the country, and the
Hunger Mountain Coop Council, the coops governing board of directors, invites the
community to Meal and Meeting to learn
more. The meeting will include a presentation on The New Competitive Landscape
for Food Co-ops, and a discussion of potential bylaw changes regarding member-owner
decision-making. The meal will be catered
by The co-ops kitchen. This event will be

held on Monday, June 1, beginning at 5:30

p.m. at the Montpelier Senior Activity Center, 58 Barre St. The event is free of charge
and all are welcome. RSVPs are requested;
reserve your seat today by emailing info@
hungermountain.coop or calling 802-2238000 extension 202. We hope to see many
new faces on June 1
Sylvia Fagin
Hunger Mountain Coop Council Member

Thank You for Supporting the

Film Festival
Editor:
To the Friends of the Green Mountain Film
Festival We would like to thank you for
supporting and attending this years 18th
festival. Your support, attendance and enthusiasm were very appreciated and wonderful
for the staff, interns, volunteers and Focus on
Film board to witness.
In addition, we want to thank all of our volunteers. Without all of your dedication, hard
work and help, this festival wouldnt exist.
The entire festival staff enjoyed working with
each and every one of you and hope that you
will return to volunteer next year.
And finally, we need to thank all of the
businesses in downtown Montpelier and the
surrounding areas. Thank you for all of your
support we love sharing our audience
with you!
We had a lot of fun planning the program
for the festival, and have appreciated reading

SPIFFING UP THE DIGS Lloyd Franks of Lloyd Franks Trucking, left, Mark A. Smith, a contractor, and Rebecca Elgood, customer for a different project, talked recently while a stair-building
project went forward at a house at 54 East State Street. Photo by Dot Helling.

all of your comments about the individual

films, guests, and your overall experience.
The Audience Award for the 2015 Green
Mountain Film Festival was When the
Ocean Met the Sky! We are excited that
this years award goes to fellow Montpelierite Lukas Huffman. The second and third
place votes went to Song of the Sea and
The Road Within. Thank you to everyone
who voted for their favorite film. Due to the
festivals success this year, we are planning on
showing a few films this summer. Details are
forthcoming, so keep your eye out for new
programming. If anyone would like more information about the festival or volunteering
please contact us: gmffestival@gmail.com.
Rachelle Murphy
Executive director,
Green Mountain Film Festival

What Do You Think?

Read something that you would like to
respond to? We welcome your letters
and opinion pieces. Letters must
be fewer than 300 words. Opinion
pieces should not exceed 600 words.
The Bridge reserves the right to edit
and cut pieces. Send your piece to:
editorial@montpelierbridge.com.
Deadline for the next issue is
May 29.

THE GIFT OF GREEN Larry Gilbert (pictured

here), and his wife Ann from the Syldana Farm in East
Montpelier, recently contributed Kellogg-Hubbard
squash seedlings for sale at $5 apiece to benefit the
Kellogg-Hubbard Library. Photo by Michael Jermyn.

T H E B R I D G E

M AY 21 J U N E 3 , 2 015 PAG E 27

PAG E 2 8 M AY 21 J U N E 3 , 2 015

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