Seven Days, September 16, 2020 by Seven Days

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V ERM ONT ’S INDEP E NDE NT V OIC E SEPTEMBER 16-23, 2020 VOL.25 NO.51 SEVENDAYSVT.COM

Fall issue

The pandemic presents an uncertain future and long odds for Vermont’s performing arts

SHOW STOPPER BY D AN BOLLE S, PAGE 30

HANDS ON

PAGE 18

Pols ponder cops’ use of force

DISSENTING OPINION

PAGE 24

Former U.S. diplomat pens new book

SUPER HERO

PAGE 46

Islands farmers market thrives

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WEEK IN REVIEW SEPTEMBER 9-16, 2020 COMPILED BY SASHA GOLDSTEIN & ANDREA SUOZZO FILE: JAMES BUCK

NEVER FORGET

Black Lives Matter protesters in downtown Burlington

Officials embedded plaques in a Burlington sidewalk to memorialize the 19th-century enslavement of two Black Vermonters. They lived here, too.

COUNTING CASES

A Duxbury middle school was the first to close temporarily after two students tested positive for the coronavirus. And the semester’s only just begun...

OPEN AND SHUT In response to a complaint filed by Seven Days last week, Burlington city councilors on Monday acknowledged that they violated the state’s open meeting law by inviting protest organizers into an executive session to discuss police personnel. Councilors voted 9-3 to find themselves at fault. Councilors Jack Hanson (P-East District), Zoraya Hightower (P-Ward 1) and Ali Dieng (I-Ward 7) voted that no violation had occured. The paper argued that while the law allows people “whose information is needed” to join closed-door sessions, the protesters didn’t demonstrate that they had confidential information about three cops who’ve been accused of excessive force. “In hindsight, most reasonable people would look at what we heard and not feel like that was the kind of information that falls under that kind of privilege and that should be kept from the public,” said Councilor Joan Shannon (D-South District), who voted against the executive session last week. “It should be no shame on this body to admit wrong.” The paper would have had the option to take the matter to court had councilors decided no violation had occurred. The council has 14 days to decide how to right the wrong, though members proposed doing so at their next meeting on Monday, September 21.

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GIVING TOGETHER A group of local women says it’s found a way to make philanthropy a social endeavor — even amid the pandemic. Barbara Keller created a Chittenden County chapter of 100+ Women Who Care in January. Described as a “charitable giving circle,” the group plans to gather four times a year, when its members will donate $100 each to a nonprofit organization of their choice. It’s a GoFundMe page come to life, with cocktails and small talk — virtually, for the time being.

COURTESY OF ERIN BARNABY

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Councilors called the September 8 special meeting in response to protesters’ demands that the city fire Sgt. Jason Bellavance and Officers Cory Campbell and Joseph Corrow. Hanson, who originally invited the protesters behind closed doors, had argued that their viewpoints would be valuable to the council’s private deliberations. The protesters, who didn’t identify themselves with their full names and who weren’t visible on the virtual video meeting, agreed that sharing their comments would “be best done in a private dialogue.” The council then split the executive session into two parts: one with the organizers and the other to hear legal advice from City Attorney Eileen Blackwood. The decision to go behind closed doors with members of the public drew sharp rebukes from Councilors Chip Mason (D-Ward 5), Franklin Paulino (D-North District) and Shannon. Councilor Brian Pine (P-Ward 3), who voted last week to enter the executive session, said on Monday that Mason had convinced him that “we need to essentially acknowledge the mistake. “In the end, the most important thing here is to maintain the trust of the public,” Pine continued. “This is just one of those instances where I believe our job is to hold ourselves to a very high standard.” Read reporter Courtney Lamdin’s full story at sevendaysvt.com.

DRIED OUT

Thomas Dairy, a fifth-generation Rutland farm, will soon close after 99 years because of a drop in sales amid the pandemic. Another corona casualty.

the Vermont House approved last Friday. The Senate has now taken it up.

TOPFIVE

Online Now

The pandemic presents an uncertain future and long odds for Vermont’s performing arts BY DAN BOLLES, PAGE 30

ARTS NEWS 22 Showing Up

NEWS & POLITICS 11 From the Publisher A Modest Proposal

Act 250 reform fizzles in a session restrained by COVID-19

Relapse in Recovery

As Vermont gained an upper hand on the pandemic, its opioid epidemic worsened

Forcing the Issue

Vermont legislature looks to limit police use of force

Burlington’s Architecture + Design Film Series opens its new season with a socially distanced waterfront gathering

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You’ve Got Mail Global Warning

FALL 2020

Former diplomat Elizabeth Shackelford portrays broken U.S. foreign policy in The Dissent Channel

Resistance Is Útil

Book review: Resistencia: Poems of Protest and Revolution, edited by Mark Eisner and Tina Escaja

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INSIDE

Fall issue

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Nancy Baker and Brian Flynn Elizabeth and Richard Bernstein Basha Brody and Martha Abbott Michael and Stella Bukanc Diana Carminati and Roz Grossman David Coen and Sandy Berbeco Eric and Karen Corbman The Dinkin Kass Family Mindy Evnin Joseph and Cathy Frank BG (Ret) H.Michael and Cheryl Goldstein David and Judy Hershberg Joy Jaffe Mark and Judy Kaplan Kasper/Pomerantz Family Diana and Bret Kernoff Josh, Kathryn, Annie, Daniel and Abe Kernoff Harvey Klein and Debra Cohen Klein Liz Kleinberg and Mike Kanarick and family Deborah Kutzko and Beth Mintz Deborah Lashman The Libson Family Michael and Marjorie Lipson Nathaniel Lew and Jason Lorber Drs. Martin and Barbara LeWinter Barbara McGrew and Fred Childs Bill Miller The Panitch/Hecht Family Mallory & Marcia Parker David and Holly Pasackow Elsie and Allan Paul Rob, Ingrid and Molly Pels Samuel Press Barbara Rippa and Marvin Glickstein David Rome and Diane Rippa Judy Rosenstreich Michael and Leah Rosenthal Carol and Jeff Rubman Michael Schaal and Judy Breitmeyer Lila Shapero and Wayne Senville Solomon Family Kay Stambler and Stan Greenberg Frank and Sherry Star Mark Stoler The Tam / Klein Family Suzi Wizowaty Rick and Linda Wolfish Michael and Martha Wool and family

We are frightened, God, Worried for our loved ones, Worried for our world. Helpless and confused, We turn to You Seeking comfort, faith and hope. Teach us God, to turn our panic into patience, And our fear into acts of kindness and support. Our strong must watch out for our weak, Our young must take care of our old. Help each one of us to do our part to halt the spread of this virus Send strength and courage to the doctors and nurses In the frontlines of this battle, Fortify them with the full force of their healing powers. Send wisdom and insight to the scientists Working day and night across the world to discover healing treatments. Bless their efforts, God. Fill our leaders with the wisdom and the courage To choose wisely and act quickly. Help us, God, to see that we are one world, One people A good & sweet year for us all. Who will rise above this pandemic together. Send us health God, Watch over us, Grace us with Your love, Bless us with Your healing light. Hear us God, Heal us God, Amen.

We are a diverse and inclusive Jewish Community where everyone is welcome.

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SEVEN DAYS SEPTEMBER 16-23, 2020

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FROM THE PUBLISHER

COURTESY OF LIZA VOLL PHOTOGRAPHY

The Show-You State

In a normal year, this is the week we’d publish Seven Days’ annual Performing Arts Preview, a look ahead at what arts presenters have in store for Vermont audiences this season. Sadly, most of the series — shows for which you buy tickets in advance — have been canceled because large indoor gatherings aren’t advisable during the coronavirus pandemic. Six months into the public health crisis, assistant arts editor Dan Bolles takes the temperature of Vermont’s cultural sector and considers the economic impact on the businesses it supports. There’s some good news… Before I covered the state’s arts ecosystem, I worked in it. My first job out of college was at Burlington’s Flynn Theatre, which in 1983 was just beginning its renovation from an art-deco vaudeville movie house to a world-class performing arts center. The only office space in the theater was the size of an accessible restroom — big enough for two desks and a copier. A small group of us used an office on College Street, above where Sherpa Kitchen is now. As a full-time intern, I worked in marketing, membership and education — each of which has since become a separate department. I got a crash course in arts administration that has served me well as a journalist and business owner. I watched as the stage went from hosting mostly rental bookings to one proudly hosting the Flynn’s own season. And I saw Burlington transform from a sad commercial crossroad to a vibrant cultural destination where people wanted to be. While the Church Street Marketplace set the scene, the Flynn brought business to its retail shops, bars and restaurants. Out-of-towners coming in for a show would make a night of it. It took a while for merchants to realize they should staff up on show nights, even midweek. The first annual Burlington Discover Jazz Festival, in the summer of 1984, dispelled any lingering doubts about the positive impact of this cultural activity on the downtown. The Flynn’s success attracted more artists, too, who flocked to the Queen City looking to perform their work. Pretty soon we had FlynnSpace and the performing arts center at Main Street Landing. Visual artists got on board, too, launching the South End Art Hop in 1993. Towns outside of Burlington saw the benefits and also worked to create, or revive, a cultural niche. Some of them had their own version of the Flynn — a glorious venue that had fallen into disrepair over the decades. The Barre Opera House started hosting shows in the early ’80s “in spite of the dingy walls, broken windows, lack of proper seats and heating,” according to the venue’s website. The Vergennes and Haskell opera houses were back in business by 1997. Renovations at the Chandler Center for the Arts in Randolph started in 1972 and continued for decades. Jay Craven didn’t have a building when he first started Catamount Arts in St. Johnsbury, but the aims of his itinerant performing arts series were the same wherever he presented shows: to create “ever more vibrant downtown areas” and “moments of shared community, and the goal of exposing individuals — who might not otherwise have the chance — to world-class cultural events more commonly booked in large cities,” reads the mission statement of Catamount’s successor nonprofit, Kingdom County Productions. This is the environment that spawned Seven Days. With our performing arts backgrounds — cofounder Pamela Polston’s as a Interested in becoming a Super Reader? singer in a rock band, mine as a would-have-been ballet dancer Look for the “Give Now” buttons at the top of — the two of us were eager to explore Vermont’s cultural riches sevendaysvt.com. Or send a check with your and share our findings with readers. In 25 years, the staff of the address and contact info to: paper we created has never run out of artists, musicians, actors, SEVEN DAYS, C/O SUPER READERS P.O. BOX 1164 dancers and impresarios to write about. BURLINGTON, VT 05402-1164 Those folks are up against a huge challenge this year — in which planning is almost impossible — but we have faith that For more information on making a financial their creations will be worthy of your support and Seven Days contribution to Seven Days, please contact Corey coverage. Grenier:

Paula Routly

The Flynn in Burlington

VOICEMAIL: 802-865-1020, EXT. 36 EMAIL: SUPERREADERS@SEVENDAYSVT.COM

SEVEN DAYS SEPTEMBER 16-23, 2020

news

MORE INSIDE

CASH BAIL OUT IN CHITTENDEN COUNTY PAGE 15

HEALTH

LAWMAKERS EXAMINE RULES FOR COPS PAGE 16

TIM NEWCOMB

Fauci Praises Vermont’s Pandemic Response, Urges Vigilance B Y K EV IN M C C A LLU M

The nation’s top infectious disease official praised Vermont’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic but urged residents to remain vigilant as children go back to school and cooler weather sends more people indoors. Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, appeared via live video feed at Gov. Phil Scott’s Tuesday press conference and said he wished he “could bottle” Vermont’s recipe for success and communicate it effectively to other states.

ENVIRONMENT

A Modest Proposal Act 250 reform fizzles in a session constrained by COVID-19 B Y K E VI N MCCA LLUM

n ambitious three-year effort to overhaul Act 250, Vermont’s signature land-use law, is petering out with little to show for it — leaving advocates, lawmakers and administration officials worried that they’ve missed a chance to modernize the 50-year-old law for the 21st century. Most recently, a Senate committee abandoned efforts to write a bill that would include both stricter regulations sought by environmental groups and new exemptions from the law that businesses and housing advocates hoped would spur development in downtowns and village centers. Instead, the Natural Resources and Energy Committee pared the reform bill down to a handful of changes intended to protect large forest blocks and wildlife corridors. The measure would also suspend Act 250 jurisdiction over existing trail networks until clearer rules can be written. The committee passed the rewrite last week, but its path forward is unclear. If 12

SEVEN DAYS SEPTEMBER 16-23, 2020

approved by the full Senate, the House, which struggled for a year to craft its own bill, would still need to agree. Officials in Gov. Phil Scott’s administration have withdrawn all support. “I don’t think this one gets across the finish line, to be honest with you,” Sen. Corey Parent (R-Franklin) told his colleagues before voting against the bill in committee. The Agency of Natural Resources is also opposed, not because of what’s in it, but because of what isn’t, Secretary Julie Moore said. “If I had to sum up my feelings in a word, it’s disappointed,” Moore said in an interview. “We had an opportunity to think about exactly what values Act 250 brings and what the opportunities are to improve it and ready it for the next 50 years, and this is where we’ve landed.” Since 1970, Act 250 has required large residential and commercial developments to show that they won’t unduly harm the natural environment or overburden community services. Supporters say the

law and its network of nine decisionmaking citizen commissions has been instrumental in protecting Vermont from shoddy development. Critics have long accused the law of constraining growth because the project review process is sometimes long and costly, with an unpredictable outcome. In 2017, amid mounting concern that the law is ill-equipped to address the climate crisis and other new, more complex environmental threats, the legislature formed the Commission on Act 250. The six-member panel of lawmakers spent more than a year holding public hearings around the state and drafting dozens of recommended changes. Its final report proposed a major overhaul of the law to address forces never envisioned in 1970, including the regulation of greenhouse gas emissions, preparing river corridors for increased flooding, focusing development in downtowns and restricting ridgeline development. A MODEST PROPOSAL

» P.14

Gov. Phil Scott and Dr. Anthony Fauci

“Please, you’ve done so well; don’t let your guard down,” Fauci said. “This virus is a formidable foe — you give it an opportunity to reemerge its ugly head, whether you are in the beautiful rural areas of Vermont or the middle of Manhattan or the Bronx, the virus is going to take advantage of that.” Fauci, a highly regarded member of the White House Coronavirus Task Force, praised state leaders for their “prudent” response to the virus. Such leadership, combined with the possibility of a vaccine in coming months, made Fauci optimistic that the nation “would be in good shape” in 2021. “I believe strongly that if we do what you have been doing in Vermont in the rest of the country … we can not only get through the fall and the winter but can come out on the other end better off than we went in,” he said. Fauci, who noted he was on his way to the White House on Tuesday afternoon, fielded a handful of questions from reporters about the state’s response to date, the opportunities to reopen the economy further, the safety of vaccines, and President Donald Trump’s response to the pandemic. Fauci noted that while Vermont is “very different” from other places with higher infection rates, the differences can’t all be attributed to the state’s very low population density. The rates are a sign that the preventative measures the state has implemented, including aggressive contact tracing when outbreaks emerge, have played a major role in that success. Contact: kevin@sevendaysvt.com

Relapse in Recovery

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As Vermont gained an upper hand on the pandemic, its opioid epidemic worsened BY DEREK BROUWER

hortly after receiving her federal stimulus check, a Rutland County woman fatally overdosed. Another woman, in Chittenden County, relapsed and died after more than a year of sobriety. In Orange County, prosecutors allege that two people sold fentanyl-laced heroin to a 29-year-old man who’d been battling addiction for many years. He, too, died. These are just a few of the dozens of Vermonters lost to the opioid epidemic through the first seven months of 2020, a worrisome toll that appears to be a collateral consequence of the COVID-19 pandemic. Between March, when the virus reached Vermont, and July, the most recent month for which preliminary data is available, 61 people died from accidental or undetermined opioid overdoses, most involving fentanyl. That’s 27 more than during the same five-month period in 2019, Vermont Department of Health data show. The increase mirrors a national trend but is particularly disheartening in Vermont, which managed to reduce fatal overdoses in 2019 for the first time since 2014. The state is on track to see as many as 140 such deaths in 2020, health department Deputy Commissioner Kelly Dougherty said, a milestone that would

make 2020 the deadliest year on record for overdoses. The initial figures appear to confirm what state health officials and providers spanning the state’s “hub and spoke” treatment system feared as the pandemic arrived: that social isolation, service limitations and economic hardships might worsen the existing opioid epidemic. “When the shutdown happened, all of the people who work in the substanceuse division of the Department of Health, that was where their minds immediately went,” Dougherty said. The case surge has not been confined to any one corner of the state. Through July, Rutland County had already matched its 2019 death toll of 11; Windsor surpassed last year’s 13 deaths. Orange County had no deaths in 2019 but has four so far this year. Chittenden County, with 14 deaths, has nearly topped last year’s total, prompting Burlington city councilors to revive an effort to open an overdose prevention facility. On Monday, the council unanimously passed a measure to study whether it’s possible to create such a site. The resolution

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» P.18

As of July, Vermont Opioid Overdose Deaths Are Up 36 Percent Over 2019

SOURCE: VERMONT DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH, GRAPHIC: ANDREA SUOZZO

Cumulative overdose deaths 120 March 2020: Gov. Phil Scott declares pandemic state of emergency in Vermont 2020 82 deaths

2019 60 deaths

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SEVEN DAYS SEPTEMBER 16-23, 2020

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news A Modest Proposal « P.12

SEVEN DAYS SEPTEMBER 16-23, 2020

The problems with Act 250 reform predate COVID-19, according to John Brabant, a lobbyist who represents Vermonters for a Clean Environment. Brabant accused Shupe’s organization and the administration of sowing distrust by meeting privately in 2019 to try to cut a deal on a package that included the elimination of the citizen-based district commissions that make many Act 250 decisions. The backlash from those who felt blindsided caused the deal to collapse, Brabant said.

TIM NEWCOMB

Regardless of the fate of the pareddown bill, Moore now fears that any momentum for a broader reform effort has irrevocably stalled. Asked about the bill on Tuesday, Scott said he was “a bit discouraged” by where it had landed but expressed hope that some progress could still be made. “I don’t believe that the latest version of the Senate bill is all that we had hoped for,” Scott said. Others share their concern. The yearlong effort to successfully get a comprehensive reform bill through the House was a “heavy lift” that may be hard to muster again anytime soon, Brian Shupe, executive director of the Vermont Natural Resources Council, acknowledged. “Whether they have the stomach for repeating that effort, I don’t know,” Shupe said of lawmakers. His organization still supports the narrowly tailored bill as an important step toward resolving conflicts that have festered for years. The fragmentation of Vermont’s forests by development, for instance, threatens the many benefits provided by intact woodlands. The bill would require that developers “avoid, minimize or mitigate” subdivision and land uses that break up forestland. It is widely believed that chopping up forests into smaller and smaller parcels reduces wildlife habit, threatening water quality and making timber production more difficult. Agricultural, forestry and timber businesses would be exempt from review. Similarly, recreational trails in rural areas have become important tourist destinations, but careful analysis of their impact on forests and wildlife is needed, Shupe said. With a pandemic roiling the state, Shupe acknowledges that lawmakers have more pressing issues on their plates. “It’s hard to take a long-term land-use development policy and say it’s as much of a priority as short-term crisis management is,” Shupe said. Sen. Chris Bray (D-Addison), chair of the Natural Resources and Energy Committee, said he knows it will be challenging to revisit an issue that has consumed three years of legislative time. “This is like asking someone who has just run a marathon if they’re ready to run a marathon tomorrow,” he said. The broader attempt to reimagine Act 250 failed, legislators say, because of the

law’s complexity, the passions it evokes and the many time-consuming questions stirred up by the proposed changes. With a law as important to the state’s identity as Act 250 — which he often describes as part of the state’s DNA — Bray said he prefers to be very cautious when enacting changes. Critics of the law will always be louder than supporters, Bray said, and lawmakers need to separate anecdotes about individual cases from systemic problems that require legislative intervention. “I think a measure of conservativism and taking a ‘first do no harm’ approach is really appropriate for something as

fundamental as our land-use laws,” Bray said. But that deliberative approach proved challenging for a far-flung legislature that has been meeting virtually during an unprecedented crisis. Sen. John Rodgers (D-Essex/Orleans), for example, argued strenuously that lawmakers should focus solely on addressing the COVID-19 pandemic and avoid issues as complex and consequential as Act 250. A member of the natural resources panel, he argued that many of the early reform proposals would have disproportionately affected rural areas such as his, where poor internet service leaves people least able to participate in Zoom-based legislative hearings. After Rodgers missed a committee vote in June, he blasted the committee’s process, saying it lacked transparency and failed to be inclusive of a broad set of viewpoints, charges other committee members denied. While there are equity issues with the remote legislation process, Shupe said that, on balance, he thinks internet-based hearings actually increase transparency and public participation. “You go on Zoom, and sometimes you see 25, 30 people watching. You could never fit that many people into the committee room,” he said.

I DON’T THINK THIS ONE GETS ACROSS THE FINISH LINE, TO BE HONEST WITH YOU. S E N. C O R E Y PAR E N T

The House passed a broad reform package preserving the commissions. But that version lacked administration support, so Bray sought to narrow the scope of a bill he also found unwieldy. Brabant said the final bill accomplishes little and his group can’t support it because passage would only delude people into thinking real progress had been made. He urged the committee not to even call the bill Act 250 reform, suggesting they instead rename it a “forests, wildlife habitat and trail protection bill.” “That way it doesn’t distract from an effort next session to really work on making Act 250 better,” Brabant told the committee. Groups that build and maintain recreational trail networks also expressed frustration. For years they have faced uncertainty about whether and when

they must obtain Act 250 permits before building new trails. The Senate measure now includes an 18-month moratorium on requiring such Act 250 permits while an Agency of Natural Resources report about new rules is developed for the 2021 legislative session. The Vermont Trails Alliance supports that provision but is frustrated that it has been held hostage by the larger political process, said Warren Coleman, the group’s lobbyist. “There’s widespread support for the recreational trails legislation, but it has been used as a leverage point for everyone involved,” Coleman said. Such “political games” aren’t appreciated by people just trying to solve problems, he said. “They don’t understand why issues aren’t resolved on their own merits,” Coleman said. While narrowing the bill down to just its leastcontroversial elements might seem like a good compromise, Moore, the natural resources secretary, argued that such a piecemeal approach is undesirable. Exempting downtowns from Act 250 review — which was central to the original reform bill — was extraordinarily important because it would help focus development in those areas and take pressure off development in the state’s rural areas, she said. Similarly, tighter restrictions on subdivision of forests may affect the long-range financial health of forest property owners, Moore said. That’s why the administration proposed exempting forest products businesses from such reviews. Doing so would make it more likely that owners of forestland could keep their properties as working forests and relieve the financial pressure to subdivide, she said. Bray said he appreciates the need to craft legislation that balances competing interests but also thinks focusing on clear solutions to specific problems is a smarter approach. Toward the end, he said, it wasn’t clear whether exempting 215 areas of the state — 23 downtowns, six growth areas and 186 village centers — from any Act 250 review would solve more problems than it might create. While he knows some are weary of the subject, Bray said he was actually encouraged by the passion people showed for Act 250 and the state it has helped shape. “If people are tired, everyone should take a break, refresh themselves, reprioritize their interests and come back with good heart next January,” Bray said. Contact: kevin@sevendaysvt.com

FILE: OLIVER PARINI

Sarah George

LAW ENFORCEMENT

State’s Attorney Sarah George to End Cash Bail in Chittenden County BY PAUL H E I N TZ

The top prosecutor in Vermont’s most populous county will no longer seek to hold on bail those awaiting trial for criminal offenses. In a new policy she intends to release this week, Chittenden County State’s Attorney Sarah George instructs her deputies to refrain from asking the court to set bail as a condition of release. “Imposing cash bail penalizes individuals based on their financial status rather than on their flight or public safety risk,” she writes, calling the system discriminatory and counterproductive. Courts typically impose bail — an amount of money one must post in order to be released from custody — in order to ensure that defendants show up at trial. But according to George, the system is fundamentally unfair because it allows the wealthy to go free while others remain incarcerated. “We’re holding poor people in jail and completely destabilizing their lives and the lives of their families to put them in a place that is always violent and dangerous and prone to create more trauma and harm,” she said in an interview. “It’s just appalling.” George’s office will continue to request that those accused of violent crimes be held without bail when they pose a threat to public safety, she said. And because judges make the final decision about whether to impose bail, the court could continue to do so even if George and her deputies decline to request it. Progressive prosecutors have worked for years to reform the cash bail system and reduce its use, but George appears to be only the second in the country to unilaterally cease to seek bail. The first, San Francisco District Attorney Chesa Boudin, advised George on the new policy and hailed her decision to follow suit.

“I’m really excited that Vermont is leading the pack along with San Francisco, from coast to coast,” he told Seven Days on Tuesday. “Pretty soon, we’re gonna see these policies everywhere in between.” In addition to ending the practice going forward, George has been seeking to release the roughly 20 defendants that had previously been held on bail. As of this week, she said, none was being held solely for lack of bail at the request of her office, though some remained incarcerated because they also faced charges in other counties. According to the Department of Corrections, 329 people statewide are currently incarcerated pretrial. That number includes those held on bail, those held without bail and others. George said her office began moving toward the new policy at the start of the year and doubled down when COVID-19 reached Vermont, citing “the incredible risk” of transmission in the state’s correctional facilities. She said it has not resulted in defendants failing to show up in court. “The posting of bail is not actually the carrot everybody has always hoped or thought it to be,” she said. Sara Puls, a public defender who works in Chittenden County, called George’s new policy “bold.” She noted that all of the pretrial detainees George’s office has been seeking to release are represented by public defenders, suggesting that they have few resources at their disposal. Puls called cash bail a “completely classist, racist” system. “There’s just enormous disruption that pretrial bail can bring to someone’s life,” Puls said. “If they can’t afford to pay it, they can lose their job; they can lose their housing; they can lose their kids; they can lose their relationships.” George’s decision will only affect defendants in Chittenden County, but she hopes that the legislature will consider ending cash bail throughout the state. Given that Vermont currently pays a private prison company to lodge roughly 220 inmates at a Mississippi facility, she believes that decreasing the prison population is the fiscally prudent thing to do. “It could save a lot of money and bring our out-of-state prisoners home,” she said. Contact: paul@sevendaysvt.com

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SEVEN DAYS SEPTEMBER 16-23, 2020

3/24/20 9/1/20 12:57 4:49 PM PM

news

Forcing the Issue Vermont legislature looks to limit police use of force

BY PAU L H E I N T Z

SEVEN DAYS SEPTEMBER 16-23, 2020

STATEHOUSE

FILE: JAMES BUCK

or weeks, social justice activists have occupied Burlington’s Battery Park and marched in the streets in an effort to reform the city’s police department. Though part of a national movement reinvigorated by the killing of George Floyd by Minneapolis police officers, Burlington’s protests have had a hyper-local aim: the firing of three Queen City officers accused of using excessive force. At the same time, state lawmakers have been engaged in an under-the-radar debate that could have far broader and deeper ramifications for policing in Vermont. At issue is whether to enact in state law some of the toughest restrictions in the country on the use of force by police officers. “What we’re doing is trying to ensure that law enforcement is accountable to the residents of Vermont when they use force,” said Rep. Martin LaLonde (D-South Burlington), a member of the House Judiciary Committee and an architect of the proposal. The state’s roughly 70 law enforcement agencies — ranging from tiny town police departments to the Vermont State Police — are currently guided by a patchwork of internal use-of-force policies shaped by court decisions, local governments and national experts. According to some legislators, that system has sown confusion and failed to achieve accountability when officers violate those policies. “I think the problem is that Vermonters have lost trust and confidence in law enforcement — that Vermonters don’t know what the standards are,” said Rep. Maxine Grad (D-Moretown), who chairs the House Judiciary Committee. Use of deadly force is hardly rare in the state. In 2019 alone, according to a report by the Vermont State Police, its officers shot suspects in five separate incidents. Even leading law enforcement officials agree that the time has come for uniform standards. “We shouldn’t have 200 different versions of how to use force,” said Public Safety Commissioner Michael Schirling, who oversees the state police and previously served as chief of the Burlington Police Department. “We should have one.” What that single version would look like — and who should be charged with writing it — is a matter of considerable dispute. Even before Floyd’s death in May, Schirling had been arguing that law enforcement representatives, working with community members, should draft a model use-offorce policy that could be deployed throughout Vermont. In order to encourage local police departments to adopt it, the state would withhold funding and technical support from those that did not. But after Floyd, an unarmed Black man, was killed by a Minneapolis officer who kneeled on his neck, Vermont lawmakers felt pressure to take action of their own. In June, the legislature passed a bill, S.219, that banned the use of choke holds by law enforcement and required state police to wear body cameras. Gov. Phil Scott later signed it into law. The Senate also passed S.119, which would allow officers to use lethal force only against those who posed “an imminent threat of death or serious bodily injury” to the

officer or somebody else, or to apprehend a fleeing suspect who posed a similar risk. When the legislature reconvened late last month for a brief session to address the state budget, the House Judiciary Committee took up S.119. LaLonde proposed expanding it to cover not just lethal force but all force deployed by police officers. “If we’re going to put standards in use of force, let’s not stop with use of deadly force,” he said. LaLonde’s proposal would limit officers to using “only the force objectively reasonable, necessary and proportional” to do their jobs. They would be required to attempt to de-escalate confrontations and take into consideration whether a factor beyond a subject’s control — such as a mental health crisis, medical condition or language barrier — was contributing to their conduct. An officer’s decision to use force would be evaluated after the fact based on “the totality of circumstances,” not just the seconds or minutes preceding its use. The proposal would also amend the state’s antiquated — and, LaLonde argues, probably unconstitutional — “justifiable homicide” statute, which protects officers who kill people in the line of duty. Wilda White, a Poultney attorney and psychiatric survivor who chairs the Vermont Mental Health Crisis Response Commission, supports LaLonde’s proposal. She believes that, if implemented, it could help defuse confrontations between officers and people experiencing mental health crises, who make up a disproportionate percentage of those killed by police in Vermont. White points to the case of Ralph “Phil” Grenon, a 76-year-old with paranoid schizophrenia who was fatally shot by Burlington police in 2016. After receiving reports

Protesters in front of the Burlington Police Department

of threatening behavior, officers entered his apartment, saw that he was carrying a knife and fired a Taser at him. Over the course of a four-hour standoff, they fired pepper balls into the bathroom in which he had barricaded himself and, in a final attempt to subdue him, fired a Taser at him a second time. That prompted Grenon to move toward the officers with two knives, leading an officer to shoot him six times. A two-year investigation of the incident completed this year by White’s commission found that police “did not take into account how Mr. Grenon’s mental illness affected his ability to comply with their commands or how his mental state might affect his reaction to pepper balls or Tasers.” The report also found that, “Given his mental state, each of their incursions likely heightened Mr. Grenon’s sense that he was under attack.” A minority report written by White and another commissioner found that the officers had violated eight different departmental policies. “The Burlington Police Department had all the policies necessary to keep Phil Grenon alive. They simply did not follow them,” White said in an interview. “With a statute, there’d be more of an impetus to follow the law. Easy to ignore the policy, harder to ignore the law.” In testimony last week before the House Judiciary Committee, Attorney General T.J. Donovan also cited the Grenon case as a reason to establish a statewide use-offorce policy. At the time of Grenon’s death, Donovan was serving as Chittenden County state’s attorney. He and then-attorney general Bill Sorrell found that the officers’ actions were justified under the law. One reason for that conclusion, Donovan told lawmakers, was that the current standard only considers the

L OA N

moments before lethal force is deployed — not, say, the four hours leading up to it. “If we had a ‘necessary’ standard and a ‘totality of circumstances’ standard, I’m not sure you’d go into that apartment,” he said, adding, “Public safety wasn’t at risk in this case. Mr. Grenon was in his house by himself.” In an interview, Donovan said he supports aspects of both the House and Senate versions of the bill, arguing that the legislature should “set the bar high” for police conduct. But like other law enforcement officials, he said he believes that the legislature should avoid

VERMONTERS HAVE LOST

TRUST AND CONFIDENCE IN LAW ENFORCEMENT. R E P. M AXINE G RAD

being too prescriptive and allow others to “put the meat on the bones in policy development.” Schirling, who is Scott’s top public safety official, strongly opposes both versions of the bill. Other law enforcement leaders — including Col. Matthew Birmingham, director of the Vermont State Police, and the chiefs of the South Burlington and Montpelier police departments — have also raised concerns about the legislation in recent testimony. Speaking to the Senate Judiciary Committee last week, Schirling warned that putting use-of-force standards in statute would prevent the “iterative evolution” of such standards over time. Even more concerning, he argued, is that it could take years for the courts to interpret the new language in the law, making it more difficult to train officers and exposing their departments to “organized extortion” by plaintiffs’ attorneys who might sue them. “It will do the opposite of what we’re trying to achieve, which is clarity and consistency and accountability,” Schirling said. “It will create ambiguity, confusion and not lead to consistent outcomes, because we literally will not know how to interpret it for years.” Sen. Phil Baruth (D/P-Chittenden) took exception to the dig at the plaintiffs’ bar, calling it “a very, very serious charge,” and told Schirling he sounded like a chemical company spewing “hyperbolic assertions” in order to avoid regulation and oversight. “Your comments strike me as a kind of full-throated defense of the status quo,

even though you use the word ‘modernization’ a lot,” Baruth said in committee. “I don’t think it’s a crazy idea to say that force — particularly deadly force — should be proportional.” When Schirling doubled down on his arguments, Baruth brought up the Battery Park protesters and said that at least one of the officers facing their wrath, who used nonlethal force, should have been prosecuted, as well as fired. “Why don’t individuals in Vermont and other states get prosecuted, and if they do, why aren’t they successfully prosecuted?” he asked. “It’s because the robust system that you’re defending isn’t working, and so that’s why the legislature has been called upon to step in.” Even as the legislature deliberates over S.119, the Scott administration is moving forward on its own. In an executive order issued last month, the governor called on Schirling, executive director of racial equity Xusana Davis and others to draft a statewide model use-of-force policy by the end of this month. Criminal justice reformers are skeptical that any policy crafted by those who would be regulated by it will do the trick. “We’re at a moment where the public has lost faith in law enforcement’s ability to police themselves,” said Falko Schilling, a lobbyist for the American Civil Liberties Union of Vermont. Whether lawmakers will reach agreement in the remaining weeks of the condensed legislative session remains to be seen. The House Judiciary Committee is scheduled to vote on the measure later this week. But even if the full House signs off on it, the Senate would also need to approve it. “I’m concerned about the amount of time we’ll have to respond to the changes they make,” said Sen. Dick Sears (D-Bennington), who chairs the Senate Judiciary Committee. “I worry also that, given Schirling’s comments, the governor would veto the bill anyway.” Sears’ colleague on the committee, Sen. Joe Benning (R-Caledonia), said he found the debate important but was concerned that the House proposal was “not yet ready for prime time.” According to Schirling, it’s too soon to say whether Scott would actually veto the bill. And though he doesn’t agree with the legislature’s current approach, the commissioner said he’s not opposed to the discussion. “In a strange way, we really do appreciate the focus on improving what we’re doing,” he said. Contact: paul@sevendaysvt.com

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news Relapse in Recovery « P.13 directs the city attorney to conduct a legal analysis and the city opioid policy manager to draft a project plan. Their reports are due back in November and December, respectively. “There was a period where we were seeing declines in fatalities — significant ones,” Council President Max Tracy (P-Ward 2) said before the meeting. “But that trend has, unfortunately, reversed in very troubling ways.” Multiple factors have likely contributed to the spike, providers say. Users who inject heroin alone are at higher risk because now it’s even less likely a loved one or someone else might be around to administer the overdose-reversal drug naloxone, branded as Narcan. Officials suspect the dangerous practice of using alone may have increased during monthslong lockdowns. It’s not just deaths that have increased, either. The proportion of nonfatal overdoses among all emergency room visits was twice as high in June as in the same month in 2019, according to the health department. Additionally, there are signs that fewer people sought treatment, either because it wasn’t available or the individual chose to stop going. Similarly, providers say more people in recovery seem to be relapsing. Some of those found it difficult to take advantage of recovery services in the age of social distancing. “Everything is still kind of limited,” said Tracie Hauck, executive director of Turning Point Center of Rutland, which provides recovery coaching. “It’s going to wear on people that are maybe in the early stages of recovery.” The Rutland County woman who died was well known to Hauck’s center. She had struggled with her recovery, Hauck said, and may have spent some of her federal COVID-19 stimulus check on drugs but seemed to be “in a good place” before fatally overdosing in the spring. Throughout the spring and summer, the center struggled to maintain relationships with clients and help them keep their recovery on track. Hauck canceled in-person group sessions but determined that virtual substitutes weren’t effective in many circumstances. The center does a lot of work with prisoners, for example, who couldn’t convene for a group Zoom meeting. Instead, a recovery coach began writing letters to incarcerated clients. “Some people I was doing coaching for prior to COVID-19, they didn’t want to continue coaching because they didn’t want to do it over the phone; they didn’t want to do it by Zoom,” Hauck said. “You 18

SEVEN DAYS SEPTEMBER 16-23, 2020

Fatal Opioid Overdoses by Vermont County

January through July of each year

2019

2020

Windsor

Chittenden

Franklin

Caledonia

Orange

Bennington

Orleans

Lamoille

Addison

Grand Isle

Essex

Rutland Washington Windham

Vermont

*State totals include two deaths in 2019 and one in 2020 that were not assigned a county of residence. SOURCE: VERMONT DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH, GRAPHIC: ANDREA SUOZZO

feel like your hands are tied and there’s no known as secondary distribution. The other way to help them.” organization was able to continue reaching The needle exchange in Rutland, one most clients largely by using its mobile van of three operated by Vermont CARES, program, which accounted for more than has given out many more half of its 739 client interclean syringes, naloxactions in Rutland County one doses and fentanyl over the last year. testing strips in the last Still, those pandemic12 months than during era interactions were brief the prior year, accordand physically distanced, ing to data the nonprofit which provided less JAC K IE C O R BAL LY provided. The amount of opportunity to reinforce naloxone distributed at tips about safe practices the Rutland site has more than doubled. or to strengthen personal relationships. Yet the number of clients and site visits “For the first couple of months, we has dipped slightly. didn’t let people in the office,” Vezina said. Associate director Theresa Vezina said “They had to call from outside the door. the numbers suggest that clients are taking The privacy and confidentiality piece was extra supplies to give to friends, a practice totally gone.”

IF YOU’RE DEALING,

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During that time, drug users may have been especially vulnerable to predatory dealers. The same anxieties that have driven up alcohol sales across the state during the pandemic can prompt those with substance-use disorder to relapse. Meanwhile, the criminal justice system slowed, meaning dealers caught for distributing heroin were sometimes given citations with distant court dates, said Jackie Corbally, the outgoing opioid policy manager for the City of Burlington. “If you’re dealing, this is paradise for you,” she said. Some hotels that were repurposed as emergency housing have become treacherous environments for residents battling addiction. The close proximity to other users can make it hard to abstain and provides a particularly convenient market for dealers. The state now pays providers, including Turning Point, to distribute harm-reduction bags containing naloxone and resource brochures to the hotels. Hauck’s team drops off 250 bags each month in Rutland County, she said. In this destabilized situation, fewer people have sought help from a University of Vermont Medical Center program that invites emergency department walk-ins to enroll in medication-assisted treatment. The grant-funded, low-barrier program was regularly seeing a dozen or more new enrollees every month before COVID-19 struck. Only one person signed up in all of April, May and June — and that person did not follow up, a hospital spokesperson said. Roz Bidad, program manager for emergency medicine research, noted that overall emergency room visits have also dropped significantly and that an “overabundance of caution” about the virus could be dissuading some from seeking treatment. The program saw a slight improvement in the last two months: six new sign-ups. Another promising sign: Overdose deaths in June and July were actually down slightly from 2019 levels, according to the health department. At Monday night’s city council meeting, Burlington Mayor Miro Weinberger said he sees policing as another underutilized gateway to treatment. He recently proposed hiring two social workers for the embattled Burlington Police Department, a pitch he tied to the epidemic. Those workers’ duties, the mayor said, could include contacting people whom responding officers screen for opioid-use disorder. “If we expanded the number of social workers at the police department, we might be able to follow up with more of these people and get more of them into life-saving treatment,” he explained. Contact: derek@sevendaysvt.com

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wen Milne had never helmed a boat before becoming the fourth executive director of the Lake Champlain Community Sailing Center, in June 2017. The nonprofit’s new headquarters was under construction, but he was working in the old one, which lacked a bathroom that could accommodate his wheelchair. Worse, the 41-year-old quickly learned that the organization he had been hired to lead was facing an event that could leave them “staring down the barrel of a potential bankruptcy.” Milne and his colleagues believed the financing was solid for the $5.75 million building — until they got the bad news that the sailing center did not qualify for tax credits slated to fund the final construction payment of $1.7 million. Milne either had to raise that sum or, per the builder’s contract, start paying 12 percent interest on it in two months, when the project was completed. “It was a gut punch,” said Milne who raised $400,000 in short order. Another $400,000 came in the form of pledges, but the organization still needed a $1.3 million loan. Despite its 23-year history, and generous backers such as the late Tony Pomerleau and Jim Crook, the sailing center wasn’t in a strong borrowing position. Two banks and a credit union turned Milne down before he approached Mascoma Bank. The board convened for an on-site meeting, during which Milne explained the goals of the sailing center, including its commitment to accessibility. “The Bank helped us with a commercial mortgage on the building at a rate that would bring the sailing center’s annual debt service from a potential $200,000 to a manageable $34,000,” said Milne. They didn’t see it as “the dollars and cents of a loan,” Milne said of the 121-year old mutual savings bank that was in the process of becoming a “Certified B” Corporation at the time. “It was about saving important, critical parts of a community.” Then another problem arose. The appraisal on the beautiful new building came in at zero, because of the public trust doctrine on the Burlington’s waterfront. Milne had to scramble — again — to prove the center could have another potential use. Mascoma was patient. “They said: If you can get this appraisal reversed or turned around, the deal is still good. We’re still interested in this project,” Milne said. “They really got it. They knew how to use banking as a tool for helping organizations keep going.” Since then, the relocated Lake Champlain Community Sailing Center has enjoyed pretty smooth sailing. Although the pandemic put an end to some programs, many initiatives have continued without interruption. Two weeks ago, Milne organized a flotilla concert that raised $57,000 for the center’s waterfront docking system. Boats came from all around to hear the music of local bands on a warm summer night. Mascoma was one of the event’s dozen-plus sponsors. Milne has been learning to sail since he took the executive director job; it was a condition of his hiring. He said getting out on the water, where you are focused on “the wind, the waves and the sail,” eased the stress of those first months. “It’s right there, in our back yard,” Milne said of Lake Champlain. Now, so too is Mascoma Bank.

SEVEN DAYS SEPTEMBER 16-23, 2020

9/15/20 1:32 PM

lifelines

OBITUARIES, VOWS, CELEBRATIONS

OBITUARIES Dian Patricia Kendrick

NOVEMBER 3, 1938- NOVEMBER 17, 2019 BURLINGTON, VT. Dian Patricia Kendrick was born on November 3, 1938, in Bangor, Wales, and died on November 17, 2019, in Burlington, Vt. Dian devoted her life to feminism, spirituality and charity. She was president of the Vermont National Organization for Women during the struggle to pass the Equal Rights Amendment to the U.S. Constitution when the state was the last to be considering it during the 1980s. Her final big project was coordinating an exhibit and series of programs for the Burlington Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom during Women’s History Month in 2008. Raised as an Anglican, she was also attracted by the concepts of karma, reincarnation and the release from suffering in Hinduism and Buddhism. A hereditary psychic, she was blessed with tarot-reading skills and precognitive dreams. Much of her life was spent in service to others, from using her professional

Mark Prent DECEMBER 23, 1947SEPTEMBER 2, 2020 ST. ALBANS, VT.

skills as a journalist to produce nonprofit publications to making sure everyone in her neighborhood who needed free holiday meals was signed up in time. Among her editorial credits were the Suburban Record serving the Washington, D.C., area and the Commonwomon feminist paper out of Burlington. She is survived by her children Dian Mueller and Brian Mueller; grandchildren Audrey Hodge, Karen Hall,

Stephanie Kendrick, Anthony Mueller and Mike Mueller; great-grandchildren Ashley Hodge, Amber Brockway, Kayla Hodge and Scott Hall; siblings Rosalie Kendrick Dumas, Robert Purdum and Christine Sakay; and numerous nieces and nephews. She was predeceased by husband, Robert Mueller, and son Mark Mueller. Please email dian.firebearer @gmail.com for memorial details.

Henry Stevenson Beaird

APRIL 18, 2015-AUGUST 20, 2020 BURLINGTON, VT. Henry Stevenson Beaird, of Burlington, Vt., died recently in a drowning accident. We are devastated to lose our sweet boy. Henry was happiness itself. He was innocent, joyful, curious, funny, fast, talkative, creative and kind. Born at the University of Vermont Medical Center, he was proud to be the only member of the family who could claim to be a “true Vermonter.” Possessing a hardy constitution, he often refused to wear his winter jacket as a toddler, despite his parents’ many pleas. Henry was eager to start kindergarten at C.P. Smith Elementary School this fall. Previously, he went to preschool at the downtown YMCA and the Burlington Forest School. He loved his teachers, got engrossed in art projects, and delighted in climbing trees, rocks and trails. When the paths weren’t snowy, he often biked to school and enjoyed racing along the Burlington bike path or the Route 127 trail. Henry loved vehicles, both in stories and in life. He spent hours playing with his extensive toy truck collection, loading mulch, sand or rocks into the beds

On Wednesday, September 2, 2020, Mark Prent, worldrenowned artist, teacher, and loving husband and father, passed away after a brief illness at the age of 72. He is survived by his wife, Sue, and his son, Jesse. Mark was born on December 23, 1947, in Lodz, Poland, to Carl and Maria (Markowski) Prent. In 1948, the family immigrated to Montréal, Québec, where Mark grew up and received a bachelor of fine arts degree from Sir George Williams University (now Concordia University). Mark later took a teaching position at the university while pursuing his own artistic career. In 1983, he and his wife, Sue, moved to St. Albans, Vt., where they raised their son, Jesse, and ran a molding and casting company, Pink House Studios. Mark first took the art world by storm in the 1970s, and he never let up. His hyper-realistic sculptures

enchanted and challenged viewers with their beauty, provocation and dark humor. Mark intended his sculptures to be narratives, and it was his desire that viewers of his work use their imaginations to “fill in the blanks” of these narratives with their own experience and interior thoughts. He was a perfectionist and innovator of his craft, building an extraordinary body of work over 50 years and exhibiting in high-profile galleries around the world. His work was shown alongside artists such as H.R. Giger, Guillermo del Toro and David Cronenberg. Despite his tireless work ethic, Mark was always generous with his time, offering invaluable mentorship to his students at Concordia University and detailed technical support to his clients. Outside of art and work, Mark was a devoted husband, father and friend — a man with seemingly boundless energy who was always ready with a few stories to intrigue and entertain guests around the dinner table.

IN MEMORIAM of the dump trucks, and then dumping the cargo into piles. He systematically raced all his Matchbox cars to determine which was fastest. In our family car, he would often slip into the driver’s seat, push every button on the dashboard, and then grab the wheel and go for an imaginary journey. We also spent many memorable hours with Henry outdoors, which he loved exploring. He normally hiked, biked and skied out front, going all out, leaving us breathless. In our minds, we will forever

SEVEN DAYS SEPTEMBER 16-23, 2020

see him up ahead of us, zipping along, his jacket flapping in the wind, exploring just one more trail. Henry is survived by his mother, Lucy McClellan; father, Joe Beaird; and sister, Eleanor Beaird. He also leaves behind many cousins, aunts and uncles, and grandparents. A memorial for Henry was held August 28. To honor and spread Henry’s love of biking, please direct contributions in his name to the Old Spokes Home, 331 North Winooski Ave., Burlington, VT 05401.

Gordon Clifford Gilfilian

1935-2020 ESSEX JUNCTION, VT. Gordon Clifford Gilfilian, 85, beloved husband of Sue Firman, passed away peacefully on August 27, 2020, after a long illness. Private services are planned. Please visit awrfh.com to view further information and share your memories.

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Edward M. Hanley

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OCTOBER 11, 1931-SEPTEMBER 11, 2020 HOT SPRINGS VILLAGE, ARK. Edward M. Hanley, of Hot Springs Village, Ark., passed away on September 11, 2020. He was 88. “Eddie,” as he was known to most of his family, was the youngest of 11 children born to Mary and John Hanley in Framingham, Mass. His parents both emigrated from Galway, Ireland, and met in Boston. Ed was born during the Depression and, like all his siblings before him, worked to contribute to the household. He often recalled, not always fondly, that the children in the family managed a neighborhood paper route for more than 30 years. Of 11 brothers and sisters, Ed was the only one to venture far from home to live and work. After serving in the U.S. Army during the Korean War, he moved with his friend Paul Rinaldo to Flint, Mich., where he met the love of his life and his future wife, Marie DiGenova. They married in 1958. Ed completed his undergraduate work in Flint at the University of Michigan and went on to earn a PhD in behavioral psychology at the University of Kansas. Along the way, Ed and Marie lived, worked and studied in Arizona, Wyoming and Kansas before settling in Burlington, Vt., where Ed eventually became a professor at the University of Vermont. Along the way, they had two children: Erin and Sean. Ed was a devoted teacher in the College of Education at UVM, where he taught aspiring classroom teachers who would go on to work mainly with students with significant behavioral and emotional challenges. Full of good humor, he was well liked and respected by students and colleagues who gravitated to his warmth and wit. He received hundreds of thank-you letters from students over the years, telling him about their lives and first teaching jobs, how they were applying what he had taught them in their own classrooms, how well prepared they felt to meet those new challenges, and thanking him for his support, advice, encouragement and understanding. Outside of work, Ed was a man of many interests and talents. Among his hobbies were fly-fishing, pool playing, lapidary work, stained glass, silversmithing, woodworking, close-up magic, woodcarving and golf. After retiring, Ed and Marie moved to Hot Springs, Ark., where they made many dear friends. Ed was a gentle, easygoing man. Long and lanky, he’ll be remembered for his teasing Irish wit and the light in his

We’re here to help. Our obituary and in memoriam services are affordable, accessible and handled with personal care. eye. His grandchildren and nieces and nephews will recall being mystified by his magic tricks. We’ll picture him at the craps table — or with a racing form in his hand, on the golf course or crouched over the pool table. In early days, he would have had a beer in his hand and a cigarette hanging from his mouth. In later years, he shed both those habits, accomplishments of which he was justifiably proud. He loved his children deeply, and his wife even more so. He was quick to say “I love you.” A thoughtful listener and a good and loyal friend, he will be dearly missed. Ed was predeceased by his parents and all of his siblings: Hank, Jackie, Billy, Dickie, Jimmy, Kathleen, Red, Rosie, Rita and Mary. He leaves his wife of 62 years, Marie Hanley of Hot Springs Village, Ark.; his children, Erin Hanley (husband David Weinstein) of Burlington, Vt., and Sean Hanley (wife Christine Hanley) of Acton, Mass.; and his grandchildren Luke, Charina and Maggie Hanley; along with many nieces and nephews. No public services are planned at this time, and the family will gather for a memorial at a future date. Ed elected to donate his body to scientific research, which is fitting, because, as he said, “This way, I’ll still be teaching.” Remembrances and condolences may be offered through Hot Springs Funeral Home at hotspringsfh.com.

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SEVEN DAYS SEPTEMBER 16-23, 2020

9/12/19 3:05 PM

arts news

Showing Up

Burlington’s Architecture + Design Film Series opens its new season with a socially distanced waterfront gathering

he free ARCHITECTURE + DESIGN FILM SERIES in Burlington, now in its eighth year, might seem to have less to lose from social distancing than most arts events: All the films can be viewed online instead of at Burlington City Hall Auditorium. Yet the series’ pre-pandemic strength lay as much in bringing people together for good conversation and free pizza as in its carefully curated films. Founders LYNDA MCINTYRE, ANDREW CHARDAIN and KAREN FROST often arranged special appearances by the locally based children, colleagues, students or clients of the famous architects or landscape designers featured in the films. All that disappeared when the series had to go online for last season’s final two films. For the opening film of fall 2020, however, the trio of organizers has managed to restore community togetherness. Viewers will congregate — safely, of course — at Water Works Park in Burlington on September 23 for a live show by local hip-hop group A2VT followed by a screening of The Music of Strangers: Yo-Yo Ma and the Silk Road Ensemble. McIntyre explained the choice of film by phone: “We wanted to start our series

POETRY

You’ve Got Mail If you’ve received an unsolicited bit of verse in the mail within the past few months, consider yourself cosmically lucky. When MARY RUEFLE became Vermont’s ninth poet laureate last fall, she decided to select 1,000 Vermonters at random from county phone books and send them a poem. In early spring, she began mailing poems from her home in Bennington. To date, more than 150 people in all 14 counties have received a poem, either photocopied from a book or typed by someone else; Ruefle, a technology ascetic, does not own a computer. Ruefle picks her recipients using a proprietary dowsing method, a private game of conscious association and instinct. “I can’t quite explain it,” she said. “A name

SEVEN DAYS SEPTEMBER 16-23, 2020

PHOTOS COURTESY OF ARCHITECTURE + DESIGN FILM SERIES

B Y AMY LI LLY

FILM

Yo-Yo Ma in The Music of Strangers

will just hit me. I do use my eyes. I do not use my finger. I do not just point at a spot on the page.” She chooses people who remind her of someone she knows — her sister is Cathy, so a Cathy might leap out at her from the sea of names — or who strike her, for any number of ineffable reasons, as needing that particular poem at that particular moment. To a single person, she might send a poem about loneliness; to a couple, a poem about marriage. In the spring, she mailed quarantine-appropriate verses by the Japanese poet Issa. (Example: “Napped half the day; / no one / punished me!”) This summer, when the police killing of George Floyd sparked a nationwide reckoning with racism, Ruefle sent “The Idea of Ancestry,” by Etheridge Knight, to a handful of people who share the surname Knight. In August, she mailed several copies of “Vespers (End of August)” by Louise Glück, Vermont’s poet laureate from 1994 to 1998.

with joy, because this has been a difficult time for people.” The Music of Strangers documents how the famous cellist brought together top musicians from Italy, Turkey, Central Asia, China and Mongolia with expertise in their cultures’ music to form a multicultural ensemble. “The movie is about ... how musical language touches the spirit of all people around the world,” McIntyre said. While “a lot of the musicians [in the film] are displaced people leading not easy lives,” she added, a major message of the film is hope. That put her in mind of A2VT, a group she recently saw perform in Montpelier whose name means “Africa to Vermont.” Its members came to Burlington as refugees from Somalia, Tanzania, Burundi and other African countries. The catchy songs they write, in as many as eight languages, fuse their native musical roots with Western pop and hip-hop. “They like to hype it up and get people on their feet,” said A2VT’s producer-manager, DAVID COOPER. Of A2VT’s 10 members, three or four usually perform at a time, dancing and vocalizing over an instrumental track.

striking up a correspondence is not the Sometimes, Ruefle sends poems to a point; her goal, Ruefle explained, is to few people who live on the same street. bestow a moment of weird provi(“Who knows,” she said in a M A T F T O VA L E E SY NT I UR T dence. “I know some of these are recent interview with the NE CO going to people who don’t VERMONT ARTS COUNCIL. give a shit, and they’ll end “Maybe they know up in the trash. Out of each other. Maybe 150 people, I believe they socialize.”) that two or three Given that might have gotten Ruefle’s recipient the right poem at pool consists entirely of the right time.” listed landline But every users, her audigame has its rules. ence almost “People will beg certainly skews me to send them older. “I don’t a poem, and I tell think I’m hitting them no,” she said. anyone under the Serendipity does not, age of 40,” she said under any circumwith a sigh. “Oh, well.” stances, take requests. Mary Ruefle She doesn’t include C H E LS E A E DG A R a return address, because

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Cooper has been with the group since American Institute of Architects — a man its founding in 2008 by SAID BULLE (stage who designed for the rich and famous yet name: Jilib) and GEORGE MNYONGE (Pogi), was often denied entry to the very buildings then in their late teens. A2VT now have he had created. two albums and several music videos “This film is particularly relevant to on YouTube. Among them are “Qoor this moment in time,” Frost wrote in an Ingkaat,” filmed in the same spot where email. “In speaking with the director, they’ll perform before the A+D movie; I learned this film was 10 years in the and the fun early-pandemic song “Dirty making, yet it could not have arrived on Hands,” filmed at Rhino Foods, where one the scene at a more noteworthy time. of the singers works. Hollywood’s Architect provides a transThe outdoor setting parent example of insidious institutional of Water Works Park racism that we must all learn to recoghas plenty of room nize, understand and for socially distanced overcome.” dancing and, well, The season limited conversawill end with tion. Forty seatNeutra — Survival ing pods 15 feet Through Design Design, apart (bring your about the Austrian own chairs or American architect blankets) will be Richard Neutra, marked by orange designer of the flags, according Kaufmann House to BURLINGTON in Palm Springs, CITY ARTS festiCalif. The curaval and event tors scheduled director ZACH this film last because “We’re WILLIAMSON. With a maximum of six all really modernpeople to a pod, ists,” McIntyre Image from The Music of Strangers the showing can quipped. accommodate up to 150 people. But architect There’s no rain date, Williamson noted, Chardain, who works at Birdseye, a design because the film will also be shown online. and building firm in Richmond, wrote in Viewers can check BCA’s Instagram or an email that he’s most excited about the Facebook page by 3 p.m. that day to learn opening film. whether the live show is on. “Yo-Yo Ma talks about the ‘edge Like The Music of Strangers, the rest effect,’” he explained. “In ... ecology, of the season’s eight films — all showing this is the point at which two ecosysonline — were chosen and scheduled tems meet and where most new life “based on what we think the community forms are created. His creation of the might emotionally need,” McIntyre said. Silk Road Ensemble was a sort of paralOne of her favorites on the roster lel to this, but for music. This resonates is Aggie, showing in November, about with me,” Chardain continued, because art patron and collector Agnes Gund, “exploring creative solutions to diffiwho has quietly used her collection and cult problems requires the coming sales of its works to fund art programs together of people with wide-ranging for New York City schoolchildren and a levels of knowledge, experience and program aimed at reducing mass incar- backgrounds. ceration. Her family is also behind the “Also,” he added, “the energy in this film Gund Institute for Environment at the is great and will mark a wonderful beginUniversity of Vermont. ning to this season at a time when we all “I like people who use whatever they could use some joy.” have in service of humanity,” McIntyre said — a sentiment she finds especially relevant Contact: lilly@sevendaysvt.com during the pandemic. “A lot of people are suffering financially, emotionally.” INFO Frost, who co-owns Vermont Eco- Architecture + Design Film Series season Floors in Charlotte, looks forward to launch, Wednesday, September 23, Water Hollywood’s Architect: The Paul R. Williams Works Park, Burlington. Gates open 6 Story in January. The film examines p.m.; A2VT perform 6:30 p.m.; The Music the career of the first African American of Strangers: Yo-Yo Ma and the Silk Road architect (1894-1980) to be admitted to the Ensemble, 7 p.m. Free. adfilmseries.org

Alexander Twilight Day in Vermont Celebrate All Week With Fun, History, and Distinguished Guests! SCHEDULE OF EVENTS: SEPTEMBER 20: Concurrent Resolution Reading and Historic Marker Dedication (View Online or On Local Television) SEPTEMBER 21: New Trail and Museum Events (ALL DAY: In-Person with Masks and Social Distancing) SEPTEMBER 22: Community Voice (View Online or On Local Television) September 23: Alexander Twilight Day (View Online or On Local Television) FIND DETAILS ONLINE: OLDSTONEHOUSEMUSEUM.ORG A warm thank you to our state leaders for making this day possible! U.S. Representative Peter Welch Vermont State Representatives: Vicki Strong of Albany Lynn Batchelor of Derby Mark Higley of Lowell Paul Lefebvre of Newark Michael Marcotte of Coventry

Woodman Page of Newport City Brian Smith of Derby Samuel Young of Greensboro Vermont State Senators: John Rodgers Robert Starr

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9/8/20 1:21 PM

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SEVEN DAYS SEPTEMBER 16-23, 2020

9/11/20 4:23 PM

BOOKS

arts news

Global Warning Former diplomat Elizabeth Shackelford portrays broken U.S. foreign policy in The Dissent Channel B Y DA N B O LLES

n 2017, ELIZABETH SHACKELFORD did what everyone has dreamed of doing at one time or another: She told her boss to take this job and shove it. As it happened, she worked for one of the most powerful men in America: then-U.S. secretary of state Rex Tillerson. So when the decorated diplomat quit, she caused a bit of a stir. In her resignation letter to Tillerson, which went viral, Shackelford excoriated the secretary and Donald Trump’s administration for their failure to “demonstrate a commitment to promoting and defending human rights and democracy.” She lamented what she described as the “marginalization” and “gutting” of the U.S. Department of State and urged Tillerson to “stem the bleeding” by “showing leadership and commitment to our people, our mission, and our mandate as the foreign policy arm of the United States. “If you are unable to do so effectively within this Administration,” she wrote, “I humbly recommend you follow me out the door.” In her new book, The Dissent Channel: American Diplomacy in a Dishonest Age, Shackelford reveals that the problems plaguing the state department under Trump are hardly new. Through vivid personal stories of her 2013 experiences in South Sudan, she depicts a government agency in startling disarray. Her keen and empathetic eye brings into sharp relief the disastrous consequences of derelict foreign policy against the brutal backdrop of a fledgling, war-torn country. On Wednesday, September 23, Shackelford will be a featured speaker at the Engage the World 2020 virtual conference, presented by the VERMONT COUNCIL ON WORLD AFFAIRS. Seven Days spoke with her by phone from her home in Rochester, Vt. SEVEN DAYS: There’s a surprising amount of humor in the book, and a lot of personality comes through in your writing. Given the dire subject 24

SEVEN DAYS SEPTEMBER 16-23, 2020

matter, how did you strike that balance? ELIZABETH SHACKELFORD: You kind of get used to it, being posted in places where serious, dire things are happening. You have to let humor come in in places, or you’ll really just lose your mind. From the start I wanted the book to be something that was readable and interesting for a broad audience. You can write 300 pages easily on the horrific things that were happening in South Sudan, but it wouldn’t do a lot of good if you can’t really paint the picture and pull people in. SD: What attracted you to South Sudan? ES: I really was looking for a challenge and for a place where U.S. foreign policy could really make a difference. South Sudan seemed to offer this opportunity for really wielding our foreign policy and development tools to a really positive end in a country that’s seen a lot of violence. But it turned out a little differently. SD: A lot of people will probably be drawn to the Trump angle, and it’s easy to point to policy under President Trump, or lack thereof. But your book makes the case that this [problem] was systemic long before he took office. ES: I feel strongly that just addressing the failings and misguided approach of the Trump administration is not gonna get us back to a positive foreign policy, because the trajectory of it has been off for a very long time. I didn’t resign under the Obama administration because I felt that at least the underlying goals that the state department had were still the ones that our leadership was pushing for. The difference under the Trump administration is that those goals changed. Even the state department mission statement changed. But I do think it’s important to explain, particularly now, [that] going back to the status quo before 2016 is not going to be enough

Elizabeth Shackelford

to improve the efficacy of the U.S.’s role in the world. SD: What are some of the things that you think would help move U.S. foreign policy back in the right direction? ES: A huge part of it is shifting back to a civilian focus. The military has been taking the lead on our foreign policy for two decades now. You can tell that from budgeting alone. The state department and USAID funding combined is less than Lockheed Martin’s annual budget from the U.S. government — or roughly on par. But it’s also the position of civilian leadership at the table. The White House is still very driven by military weight. The politicization of our foreign policy has also become a problem. Presidential administrations work on, at best, a fouryear vision. And the state department, with every administration, is staffed more and more by political appointees who are aligned with that same timeline. So reducing the number of political appointees and putting more influence and control back in the hands of career foreign affairs professionals would be a big step. SD: I’ve heard from people in the state department that when Trump was elected, a lot of people were asking themselves if they should abandon ship or stay on, because they felt

like they were the only sane people left. Did you experience that type of quandary? ES: Every day. On the day of the election, I was in Mogadishu, and we were having the first election watch party in Mogadishu in 25 years. This is a big soft-power tool that we use: We use our own democracy as a centerpiece to demonstrate how democracy works, a peaceful change of power. But you’re a civil servant, you’re apolitical and you keep a straight face. But throughout the year, as things continued to happen that seemed to undermine what we were doing in Somalia, where I was based at the time, and what we thought was in the best interest of our foreign policy there, every day you ask yourself: “Am I able to do more good by staying than going?” This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity and length. Contact: dan@sevendaysvt.com

INFO The Dissent Channel: American Diplomacy in a Dishonest Age by Elizabeth Shackelford, PublicAffairs, 304 pages. $29. Elizabeth Shackelford speaks at the Vermont Council on World Affairs’ Engage the World 2020 virtual conference on Wednesday, September 23, 10:15 a.m. $10-30. vcwa.org

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Resistance Is Útil

Book review: Resistencia: Poems of Protest and Revolution, edited by Mark Eisner and Tina Escaja

BOOKS

B Y B EN JA MI N A LESH IRE

s protests against police brutality and white supremacy swarm city streets across the country, Americans are relearning the vocabulary of resistance that led to the Civil Rights Act and the end of the Vietnam War — not to mention women’s suffrage and laws against children working in factories. Will widespread social gains be won from the latest mass uprisings? Belief in Martin Luther King Jr.’s statement that “the arc of the moral universe is long but it bends toward justice” implies that a society won’t endlessly tolerate violence toward its citizens. Already, movements to partially defund police departments and transfer funding to social workers, mental health and addiction resources have won victories in major U.S. cities and, to a smaller extent, in Burlington. And yet, the struggle against systemic injustice is far from over. How fitting, then, that a poetic manual for resistance has arrived. Resistencia: Poems of Protest and Revolution is a bilingual anthology of poets representing every Latin American country, including those in the Caribbean. Such a diverse selection resists an easy description, yet the poems here are united against imperialism, oppression, greed and violence. From 20th-century icons to rousing new voices, the poets within Resistencia’s pages go beyond the American poetic tradition of “bearing witness” to actively participating in the fight for justice, in some cases even living and dying as freedom fighters. Coeditors Mark Eisner, a writer, translator, and documentary filmmaker, and TINA ESCAJA, a University of Vermont professor of Spanish, have assembled an all-star team of translators, including Saint Michael’s College distinguished scholar-in-residence KRISTIN DYKSTRA (winner of the 2020 PEN Award for Poetry in Translation), former U.S. poet laureate Juan Felipe Herrera, and Jack Hirschman (famously the Doors front man Jim Morrison’s professor at University of California, Los Angeles, until he was fired for encouraging his students to evade the draft). In her moving introduction to the anthology, Vermont novelist and Middlebury College writer-in-residence emerita JULIA ALVAREZ notes its radical inclusiveness: In addition to Spanish, Resistencia includes poems originally composed in Maya Kaqchikel (Guatemala), Kreyòl (Haiti), Quechuan (Peru), Miskito (Nicaragua), Mapudungun (Chile), French (Martinique) and Portuguese (Brazil). Alvarez eloquently sums up the sacrifices some of these authors have made in their fight for justice, which go far beyond the literary: “On one read-through I marked the margins of the index with a small cross for every writer who had been murdered, tortured, exiled, or had succumbed to despair and suicide. The page looked like a cemetery. But

turn to the pages themselves, and the poets are resurrected, their voices defiant, alive, presente!” Editing as an act of resurrection is an apt way to describe the publication of this volume, though some of the contributors are still living, such as Nicaraguan feminist and Sandinista Gioconda Belli. Her instructional poem “Huelga” (“Strike”) feels especially relevant, as an academic strike in the U.S. fails to gain steam. The final stanza reads, “A strike where it is forbidden to breathe / where silence is born / so you can hear the footsteps / of the tyrant as he walks away.” Readers may recognize a handful of names in Resistencia (Pablo Neruda, Aimé Césaire), but most will likely be unfamiliar. In addition to lauded literary heroes of their respective countries, some contributors are young poets breaking new ground, such as Guatemalan writer, anarchist and feminist rapper Rebeca Lane. (Her translator, Carolina de Robertis, recommends watching her YouTube videos while reading “Poesía venenosa” (“Poisonous Poetry”). The richness of Latin American poetry is abundantly evident in Resistencia — there could be similar anthologies for every country represented. At 238 pages, it isn’t an exhaustive encyclopedia meant to adorn coffee tables but a book you could shove into your back pocket on the way to a protest. Many lines, such as Roque Dalton’s “Acta” (“Act”) are meant to be read through a megaphone: “In the name of those who have nothing but / hunger exploitation disease / a thirst for justice and water / persecution and condemnations / loneliness abandonment oppression and death / I accuse private property / of depriving us of everything.” Escaja knows a thing or two about resistance, as well as breaking new ground: She’s the founder of Destructivismo, a movement initiated at the grave of Chilean poet Vincente Huidobro. Her 2016 Manual destructivista declares, “the Destructivist destroys / poetry in its censored shapes / obsolete complicities / canonical restrictions / demystifies it, dismembers it, bites it, tears it / turns it to toilet paper / to origami” (translated by Dykstra). Escaja is widely known in the exciting terrain of hypertext and digital poetry; her experimental work encompasses everything from poetry robots built at Burlington maker space GENERATOR to outdoor performances using sheep with words painted on them. Escaja and Eisner’s anthology is also something of a poetic history lesson: The oppression that the book’s writers cite was often a result of U.S. foreign policy, such as the Central Intelligence Agency-sponsored coups in Chile and Guatemala. The extent of the devastation wreaked by the CIA becomes less abstract, more personal in the

contributors’ notes. Raúl Zurita, for example, wrote that he was detained on the first day of Pinochet’s coup and tortured aboard a crowded prison ship for six weeks. Of significance is how Resistencia broadens the word “America,” pluralizing it as “the Americas.” After all, the United States isn’t the only nation in the hemisphere. If it’s easy to forget that there is another South beyond our own, Uruguayan poet Mario Benedetti provides a reminder in “El sur también existe” (“The South Also Exists”), which Eisner translates as: with its French horn and its Swedish academy its American sauce and its English wrenches with all its missiles and its encyclopedias its intergalactic war and its opulent brutality with all its laurels it is the north that commands but way down here close to the roots is where memory omits no memories and there are those who are ready to resurrect themselves and there are those who are ready to go out of their way and so together they achieve what was an impossibility that the whole world might know that the south also exists Bilingual editions, especially of poetry, are immensely rewarding for bilingual speakers. Translation can’t re-create a poem without changing it slightly, so examining those differences is part of the fun. Seeing the original and its English interpretation on facing pages has a similar effect as contrapuntal poetry — that is, a poem written with two distinct halves on either side of the page, which can be read three different ways: left, right, and then as one. Even readers with just a year of high school Spanish can experience this sensation. For example, Eisner renders Benedetti’s line, “pero aquí abajo abajo” as “but way down here.” This translation communicates the essence of the words in a readable way but loses some of the poetic wordplay of the original: It’s easy to see that “abajo abajo” refers to what’s underneath the underneath. Resistencia’s dream team of translators has spectacularly rendered this polyglot volume into a vibrant whole while also making it approachable for newcomers to Latin American literature. As a poetic primer in the language and tradition of protest, it is essential.

INFO Resistencia: Poems of Protest and Revolution, edited by Mark Eisner and Tina Escaja, Tin House Books, 260 pages. $18.95. SEVEN DAYS SEPTEMBER 16-23, 2020

WHISKEY TANGO FOXTROT BY KEN PICARD

Why Are More Trains Rolling Along the Burlington Waterfront?

SEVEN DAYS SEPTEMBER 16-23, 2020

KIRSTEN THOMPSON

f you’ve heard more train whistles than usual blowing in Burlington in the last few months, you’re definitely not alone. At least four Seven Days readers emailed us this summer to ask why there seemed to be heavier-than-normal rail traffic on the waterfront. Though three of the people who wrote in were merely curious, one Burlington woman sounded off about being awakened repeatedly by train horns at downtown crossings. For some, the lonesome moan of a diesel locomotive invokes nostalgia for the golden age of railroading. For others, it makes them blow their stack. So if the sound of freight trains isn’t your thing, there is a light at the end of the tunnel — once the tunnel is finished, that is. Selden Houghton is president of Vermont Rail System, the parent company of five railroads in Vermont and New York. VRS operates more than 350 miles of track and hauls more than 25,000 freight cars each year. Many of those boxcars, tankers and hoppers reach the end of the line in the Burlington rail yard, transporting everything from road salt to home heating oil. As Houghton explained, Burlingtonians would have noticed an uptick in rail activity starting on July 13, when the state closed its western corridor main line running north-south through Addison County. The 10-week closure has allowed the Vermont Agency of Transportation to replace two dilapidated, century-old train bridges in Middlebury with a new, 360-foot-long concrete tunnel running beneath the downtown. The Middlebury Bridge & Rail Project, now in its third year, is part of a longstanding effort by the state to increase its freight capacity on that line, as the old train bridges didn’t have enough vertical clearance to accommodate the modern, double-stack railcars. The work is also being done to allow for the return of passenger rail service into Burlington. As Seven Days’ Courtney Lamdin reported last November, the state was awarded a $10 million grant in 2015 to upgrade the rail lines between Rutland and Burlington, which will soon connect the Queen City to the Big Apple and points south. Starting in 2021, Amtrak’s Ethan Allen Express, which currently ends in Rutland, will extend to its new terminus at Burlington’s Union Station, with additional stops in Middlebury and Vergennes. With the bridge and tunnel construction under way all summer in Middlebury,

Rail yard on the Burlington waterfront

Houghton said that VRS has had to detour its freight trains in a circuitous path: Those headed southbound out of Burlington actually begin by going northeast through Essex, then east across the state, then south through Bellows Falls before heading northwest into Rutland. According to VTrans, the 10-week closure is chugging along right on schedule and is expected to wrap up by September 21. Once that tunnel opens, the train whistles should quiet down a bit. Meanwhile, a new project is picking up steam on the Burlington waterfront. As Houghton explained, the bike path between King and College streets will close soon, as prep work begins on the new Amtrak station platform. There, the bike path will be shifted slightly to the west, eliminating the need for cyclists and pedestrians to cross the tracks twice. In the process, the rails will be shifted slightly to the east in order to

accommodate the new bike path route and to straighten an existing curve in the tracks at King Street. “The heavy lifting is going to start in 2021,” Houghton added. “We hope to have the main line track in its new position before the ground freezes.” If the added train noise derailed any of your enjoyment of the lake this summer, Houghton pointed out that the volume of traffic would have been even heavier were it not for COVID-19. This is the first year in recent memory that the Green Mountain Railroad hasn’t run any passenger service, including its popular dinner train out of Union Station. Houghton declined to say how much freight service declined since the start of the pandemic, and because the railroads are regulated at the federal level, VTrans doesn’t track those figures. But according to a June report from the management consulting firm McKinsey & Company,

railroad freight volume nationwide is down 20 percent this year compared to what it was in 2019. Some of the reasons behind that decline are obvious. As Houghton noted, much of the gasoline that’s sold in Chittenden County comes in by rail before being picked up by distributors and trucked to local gas stations. “Demand has changed. A lot more people are working from home, and there’s a lot less tourism this year,” he said. “It’s definitely had a ripple effect on some of the freight traffic.” A “ripple effect”? As railroad metaphors go, that one doesn’t quite make the grade. Contact: ken@sevendaysvt.com

INFO Got a Vermont head-scratcher that has you stumped? Ask us! wtf@sevendaysvt.com.

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9/15/20

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jobs.sevendaysvt.com/hire-up SEVEN DAYS SEPTEMBER 16-23, 2020

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An Open Letter from a concerned mother...

Can Marijuana Use Lead to Suicidal Ideation in Some Adolescents? By Laura Stack Highlands Ranch, CO September 6, 2020 The evidence-based negative effects of cannabis on adolescents are many and varied, especially for young people, and we’ve covered them numerous times in previous blogs. But today, I want to discuss openly a very sensitive topic: THC as it relates to adolescent suicidal ideation and suicide. TRIGGER WARNING: METHODS OF SUICIDE MENTIONED. On August 30, 2018, I received a very chilling text from Johnny, who was two weeks into his freshman year at Colorado State University (CSU). I was reassuring him that it was normal to feel worried about making new friends, and he replied, “Is it normal to think about killing yourself every day?” That text started the worst 14 months of my life that ended with the worst day of my life on November 20, 2019, when Johnny completed suicide. Our grief and questions continue today. We disenrolled him from CSU, where he had received the highest scholarship for academic performance in high school (4.0), and admitted him to a mental hospital, where they held him for 72 hours. He told me he had “been dabbing for two weeks non-stop” with his roommate, who had moved to Colorado from Minnesota just to use marijuana. We knew he had experimented with marijuana since it was legalized in Colorado when he was 14, but now we really started to learn about “dabs” and how potent it is compared to the grass we had as teenagers. During visiting hours at the hospital, Johnny told me he would just kill himself anyway when they let him out. We begged the hospital not to release Johnny, but he lied to them and told them he wasn’t suicidal, so they released him anyway. Several days later, when we had to go to CSU to retrieve his items from the dorm, he tried to hang himself in his bedroom closet at our house. He called me on the phone and told me he had just tried to kill himself. I kept him on the phone while calling the police on John’s phone. Thankfully, the police blocked him on our street while he was attempting to drive off and took him to the hospital, and then he was re-admitted to the mental hospital. Two weeks later, the marijuana had worn off in his body, and he no longer felt suicidal. The discharge paperwork said he was suffering from “THC Abuse Severe.”

that marijuana’s effect can be more immediate from a recent study illustrating the likelihood of suicidal thoughts increased on the days when an adolescent uses marijuana. After four months at home, the marijuana had worn off in his mind, and he recovered. We were all so hopeful when he said he said he wanted to try again to go to college. We enrolled him at a different university this time, the University of Northern Colorado (UNC) in Greeley. He started off well, but sadly he gravitated toward the marijuana culture and started using again. This time, it caused a psychotic break, and Johnny claimed UNC was secretly an FBI base, and he was wanted for being a terrorist. Since he was 18, the University wouldn’t keep us in the loop. Shockingly, even after he told his Resident Advisor (RA) he felt suicidal (she told me so in a Facebook message after he died), they didn’t call the police. They simply moved him to a different dorm because he thought his room was bugged. It took significant maneuvering, but we finally got him admitted to a different mental hospital.

(Side note here parents—make sure to get a medical or durable power of attorney and a HIPAA authorization for your children before they leave for college, so you can help them in these instances. UNC wasn’t prepared to handle Cannabis-Induced Psychosis (CIP) and did the wrong things, the most egregious of which was not calling the police and/or having him admitted to a mental hospital.)

So, yes, if you doubt it, it’s true that people can feel suicidal after using marijuana, especially at a young age, using high-THC products like dabs in high frequency. I know because it happened to my son. An independent study came up with a nearly 7-fold elevation in risk in suicidal tendencies in adolescents who use marijuana. At the least, part of the risk for suicide may be exerted through the mental disorders that marijuana triggers, particularly psychotic disorders and depression. But another corrected for a prior history of mood disorders, including depression and risk of suicide attempt, and concluded that marijuana elevated risk of suicide 7.5-fold. There is also evidence

Five weeks before he died, to his credit, he made a valiant effort to stop using marijuana. We know he had stopped using marijuana, because his toxicology report showed NO THC in his system. We know from his texts that he used October 13, and he died on November 20. Sadly, it was too late for him. Four days before his death, he wrote in his journal the mob was after him and everybody knew everything about him, so his delusions were still very apparent.

SEVEN DAYS SEPTEMBER 16-23, 2020

Fast forward, Johnny didn’t stop using. Eventually, after repeated CIP incidents, the psychosis didn’t go away when he stopped using, and it triggered schizophrenia. After countless doctors, medicines, treatments, programs—someday I’ll detail everything we tried in a book—he stopped taking the antipsychotics he now needed to get his brain under control (a common part of the illness).

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Three days before his death, he held me tightly and told me, “You were right all along. You told me marijuana would hurt my brain, and it’s ruined my mind and my life. I’m sorry, and I love you.” We just couldn’t watch him 24/7. In a final impulsive act of delusion and paranoia, he jumped from a 6-story building. Johnny is now in the presence of our Lord and free from his pain, which is the only thing that gives me comfort from my sense of failure from my inability to prevent it. John and I will always struggle with the hundreds of decision points that led up to this and wonder if we could have changed the outcome. I share this (long) story with you, because Johnny became just ONE of the EIGHTY youths in Colorado ages 15-19 who died by suicide in 2019. According to the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, in 2019, SUICIDE WAS THE #1 CAUSE OF DEATH for adolescents 10-19. In Colorado, the THC positive toxicology screens in youth aged 15-19 have consistently increased over the past several years (while such data was being collected by the Colorado Department of Health), such that it became the leading drug found in suicide victims of that age range (32% were positive by 2017, about 1.5-fold higher than the average monthly use rate for that age group in Colorado). Marijuana is the most prevalent substance found in completed teen suicide in Colorado (it USED to be alcohol followed by marijuana, but that trend reversed in 2012, coinciding with legalization in CO), and percentage of youth suicides with marijuana on board has steadily increased since then. This is no coincidence. We want the world to know Johnny isn’t just a statistic—there is a reason Johnny died—and it is marijuana. Johnny didn’t have any delusion before marijuana. Johnny’s marijuana use led to changes in his brain development, which led to mental illness, which led to suicide. So, while it’s rare to die from an acute overdose of THC, we know for a fact that long-term cannabis use can result in thoughts of suicide and suicide itself, evidenced by our beautiful boy.

THE HARSH PROOF Upon my request, Christine L. Miller, Ph.D., kindly wrote a white paper just for Johnny’s Ambassadors in September 2020 on “Applying the Bradford Hill Criteria for Causation to the Relationship Between Marijuana Use and Suicidal Behavior.” Dr. Miller has researched the causes of psychosis for 30+ years in the academic setting, publishing 33 papers in peer-reviewed journals. Her specialty is molecular neuroscience, i.e. the study of molecular influences on brain function. She has acted as a reviewer for several journals, including the Journal of Neuroscience, Biological Psychiatry, Schizophrenia Bulletin, and Bipolar Disorders. Dr. Miller holds a B.S. degree in Biology from M.I.T. and a Ph.D. in Pharmacology from the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center. Her research has considered the abovementioned studies and more, using the rigorous Bradford Hill Criteria to link cannabis use and suicidal behavior. As Miller explains,

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Paid Advertisement “In 1965, Sir Bradford Hill developed a set of tests designed to elucidate causal relationships in epidemiology. These criteria have subsequently become accepted as important standards for epidemiological

and clinical science.”

There are nine Bradford Hill Criteria: 1.

Demonstration of a strong association between the causative agent and the outcome.

Consistency of the findings across research sites and methodologies.

Demonstration of specificity of the causative agent in terms of the outcomes it produces (not applicable in this illustration)

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Demonstration of the appropriate temporal sequence so that the causative agent occurs prior to the outcome.

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Demonstration of a biological gradient, in which more of the causative agent leads to a poorer outcome.

Demonstration of a biologic rationale, such that it makes sense that the suspected agent causes the outcome.

Coherence of the findings, such that the causation argument is in agreement with what we already know.

Experimental evidence.

Evidence from analogous conditions (not applicable in this illustration)

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Miller concludes that all but #4 in the above list of relevant criteria are satisfied by the research results on marijuana use and suicidal behavior. (For that single criterion, not enough evidence has been presented to prove an appropriate temporal sequence, though Miller points out that the data is “strongly suggestive.”) Ultimately, she makes it clear that the weight of the current evidence: “Should be regarded as strong enough to elicit widespread public health warnings about the suspected role of marijuana use in precipitating suicidal behaviors, since the mandate of the relevant authorities is to err on the side of protecting public health rather than to establish scientific certainty beyond a shadow of a doubt.” That’s as close to a ringing declaration that marijuana use can lead to suicidal ideation and suicide as we have thus far, and I have little doubt that, within the next few years, that link will be proven beyond a scientific doubt. By then, we will have lost of generation of young people. How long did it take for them to make the connection between tobacco use and death?

AN OUNCE OF PREVENTION The time is now. Pandora’s box has been opened. The bottom line is that young, developing brains CAN’T COPE WITH THE DEMANDS OF TODAY’S HIGH-THC MARIJUANA. A teen’s judgment is already impaired by puberty, as much as they might like to think otherwise. Their decision-making abilities aren’t the best, and they may assume that just because something is legal, it isn’t dangerous to their health. The media and pot industry makes everything sound so safe. But anything can be abused, and substances like cannabis and alcohol have hidden dangers that adolescents may not know or fully understand.

As a society, we do make some efforts in schools and in the media to discourage teen substance abuse. I’m not sure, however, that we do enough to make it clear that teens should not touch some substances that are legal for adults—not just for legal reasons, but because of biological effects that are much worse for young people, whose brains and bodies are still developing. Why don’t kids play with rattlesnakes? We teach them they are dangerous from an early age, and kids develop a healthy fear of rattlesnakes. The SAME THING must be done with marijuana, so children have a healthy fear of what it can do to them. They need to know that suicidal ideation is just one of the horrible side effects of marijuana use, and some young users are especially susceptible, and it could be them.

1ST Annual JOHNNY’S AMBASSADORS

#STOPDABBING WALK S a ve th e L i ve s o f Ou r You th !

JOHNNY’S

AMBASSADORS

We aim to educate parents and teens about the dangers of high THC marijuana on the developing adolescent mind. We want to raise awareness of those impacted by addiction and get all teens to #StopDabbing (dab is a high-potency marijuana).

1ST Annual Virtual Walk Sept. 20, 2020 On September 20, we’ll walk for Suicide Prevention Month in honor of Johnny Stack and all our loved ones gone too soon. If your life has been touched by YOUTH SUBSTANCE ABUSE, MENTAL ILLNESS, OR SUICIDE, please join us!

JOIN OUR COMMUNITY!

Participation is free. To register and/or pledge a suggested $25 donation to help reduce substance misuse: https://preview.tinyurl.com/Vermontwalk Read the Research here: https://johnnysambassadors.org/suicidal-ideation/ Consider CREATING OR PARTICIPATING ON A TEAM. Just walk with us in your neighborhood with friends or family. Take a photo and share it using #StopDabbing, on facebook at www.facebook.com/BetterVermont/ or on twitter @physiciansvt

To learn more about Johnny’s Ambassadors:

https://johnnysambassadors.org/fundraisers Physicians Families & Friends Inc.

Physicians, Families & Friends Inc. is a physician-led non-profit grassroots organization that educates on the science of prevention to improve public health and prevent substance misuse while supporting individuals, families, and communities.

Johnny’s Ambassadors seeks to educate parents and teens about the dangerous impact of today’s high-THC marijuana on adolescent brain development and suicide. We don’t want this to happen to another young person and need to sound the alarm! We are doing all we can do develop a new online curriculum we hope to take half a million teens and parents through our program in the next three years, while simultaneously trying to raise enough money to stay just ahead of our development. We could really use your financial support raising funds during Suicide Prevention Week, Sept. 6-12 and beyond. It’s up to US, as parents, grandparents, caretakers, teachers, doctors, older siblings, and YOUTH THEMSELVES to make a sincere, strong effort to discourage adolescent cannabis use. Even then, sometimes it’s not enough, and our Johnny is lost to this poison forever. Several people have written to me since the inception of Johnny’s Ambassadors and sadly reported “Your story is now my story.” It could be your child, your grandchild, your niece or nephew. If they are using, please tell them to stop using marijuana NOW. If they aren’t using, talk to them about never starting. The brain continues to form until the late 20s we know now. We must spread the word about what pot really can do to kids (and indeed to some adults, but youth are our mission). I don’t want to see any other families damaged by the suicidal effects of marijuana use. If you or someone you love need help immediately, call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Laura Stack founded the non-profit Johnny’s Ambassadors to educate parents & teens about the dangers of high THC marijuana on the developing adolescent mind after the death of her son, Johnny Stack, from suicide. Johnny suffered from substance abuse, mental illness, and suicide ideation, which he attributed directly to his use of high potency marijuana. This Message Paid for by: Physicians, Families & Friends, Inc., PO Box 4521, Burlington, VT 05408

SEVEN DAYS SEPTEMBER 16-23, 2020

9/15/20 5:25 PM

SHOW STOPPER The pandemic presents an uncertain future and long odds for Vermont’s performing arts FILE: LUKE AWTRY

Hurly Burly with KeruBo in Burlington’s Smalley Park

athleen Kanz had a great idea. The Montpelier comedian was prepping for a Labor Day weekend standup showcase at the Reynolds House, a Barre inn with an events hall large enough to accommodate a socially distanced crowd. The Kanzproduced show, “It’s Safe to Laugh,” also featured Vermont comic Tina Friml. It would be Kanz’s first performance in front of a live, in-person audience in nearly six months. In the weeks leading up to the event, she’d had the Diana Ross song “Reach Out and Touch (Somebody’s Hand)” stuck in her head. Kanz planned to open by inviting the audience to sing an adaptation of the lyrics. She imagined it as an icebreaker to ease an anxious crowd, many of whom would be attending their first show in 30

SEVEN DAYS SEPTEMBER 16-23, 2020

person since the coronavirus pandemic struck Vermont in March. “I thought, Let’s all sing this together at the beginning of the show and start with the word ‘don’t,’” Kanz explained. “‘Don’t reach out and touch somebody’s hand, / Make this room a safer place, if you can.’’’ Though he agreed the gag was funny, innkeeper Jeffrey Tuper-Giles nixed the sing-along. “He said, ‘You know, we can’t have people singing,’” Kanz recalled. “I’d completely forgotten.” The veteran comic, who’s produced comedy shows in Vermont for more than a decade, could be forgiven for overlooking that particular bit of pandemic-era protocol. After all, the world is a very different place from the one where Kanz played her last show in late February. That’s especially true for performers like her,

as well as organizers and patrons of the performing arts. The coronavirus has devastated industries of all kinds, throughout the U.S. and around the world. But some would argue that few sectors have been as profoundly damaged as the performing arts. For art forms that by their very nature require people to gather en masse, often in enclosed venues, a virus that spreads best when people share space is … well, it’s not good. In mid-March, well before Gov. Phil Scott’s executive order directed Vermonters to “Stay Home, Stay Safe,” local performing arts organizations of all sizes began canceling their programming, and many wiped out entire seasons overnight. A flicker of hope survived that summer festivals and other live events might be salvageable. By April, though, the grim

B Y D A N B O L L ES

reality had set in: The pandemic wasn’t going away, and remaining event calendars were all but erased. According to estimates from the National Independent Venue Association, about 95 percent of live events have been canceled across the U.S. since April. Now, at the traditional start of the new performing arts season, the looming threat of winter makes that number look unlikely to improve for a while. “Performing arts venues were the first to close when the pandemic hit,” Vermont Arts Council executive director Karen Mittelman said, “and they will be the last to reopen.” Even when they do — in spring 2021, by the sunniest projections — it’s impossible to say how many arts organizations will be left standing or what the performing arts landscape in Vermont will look like. “The national numbers say that a quarter to a third of our arts organizations are not going to be here a year from now,” Mittelman said. The predictions for closures in the performing arts sector are even grimmer — about 45 percent, she said. While restaurants, schools and other institutions have started to reopen with at least some hope of an eventual return to normalcy, optimism in the performing arts is harder to find — though it exists if you know where to look. “No one who runs a theater would be in this business if they weren’t tremendously optimistic at heart,” Mittelman said. “Are they afraid? Yes, they’re really afraid. They’re staring winter in the face in Vermont when they don’t know where their revenue is going to come from.” Despite emptied coffers, she added, the performing arts community is flush with a different sort of capital, one that could light a way through the darkness: creativity. “They have been incredibly creative at trying to keep their audiences engaged, find new business models that are going to work in this crazy COVID environment, and figure out how to navigate through all this uncertainty,” Mittelman said. Whether livestreaming events and educational offerings or trying

FULL STREAM AHEAD

Vermont arts organizations of all sizes have adapted to the era of face masks and social distancing. Or not. Some small outfits, such as the Off Center for the Dramatic Arts, have folded up shop until things blow over. The Burlington theater nonprofit left its space in July and “will wait patiently offstage for the cue to start our next act,” a message on its website announced. Most theaters that have remained operational have done so with skeleton

COURTESY OF ANNA COLLITON

outside-the-black-box approaches to in-person shows, Vermont’s performing arts community has shown itself resilient. Modest successes, such as Kanz’s comedy show, offer some small proof that audiences will show up for indoor live performances, albeit with reduced capacity. According to Kanz, the crowd that attended “It’s Safe to Laugh” was “delighted” — and safe. The showcase will return on a monthly basis until at least December. Recent indoor shows at the Chandler Center for the Arts in Randolph and a smattering of other venues have reportedly gone smoothly, too. Northern Stage in White River Junction is planning a production of Stephanie Everett’s one-woman play It’s Fine, I’m Fine this fall that will mark the first in-person theatrical performance in the country approved by the Actors’ Equity Association since the pandemic started. Forty-four masked and distanced audience members will be allowed in the 240-seat Barrette Center for the Arts for each performance. In the music scene, South Burlington nightclub Higher Ground is likely to remain closed until next spring at the earliest, but it has produced a successful series of drive-in concerts at the Champlain Valley Exposition in Essex Junction. In downtown Burlington, Nectar’s is one of a handful of venues to offer music indoors and has also begun staging outdoor concerts in its back alley, with bands playing on the roof. How and whether the performing arts sector survives the bleak months ahead will depend on many factors, not least of which is the course of the pandemic itself. Performers’ and organizers’ creativity and resilience — two things over which they actually have some control — will be crucial. (Of course, as most will tell you, a little help from Uncle Sam wouldn’t hurt.) Though theater marquees remain blank, Vermont’s performing arts scene does show signs of life.

Hey St. Johnsbury! #Getdowntown!

Saturday, September 26, 11:15 a.m., various St. Johnsbury locations. Free.

When you think of Vermont’s unique downtown districts, what do you imagine? Maybe it’s the mouthwatering aroma of a locally sourced burger, or the feel of a craft brew on your tongue. Perhaps you hear the sweet strains of live music by one of the state’s many gifted songsters, or picture picking out the perfect item from a little boutique. Catamount Arts, the Town of St. Johnsbury and their partners team up to offer familiar downtown attractions — including performing artists — in a physically distanced format. The second installment of Hey St. Johnsbury! #Getdowntown (the first was September 12) draws locals outdoors for live entertainment, food trucks and shopping spread throughout various open-air locations. Circus artist Troy Wunderle, Burlington spoken-word poet Rajnii Eddins and regional fiddler EMERALD RAE (pictured) lend their talents. Folks hopping from performer to performer can splurge on sidewalk shopping along the way. One of the day’s highlights is the Three Rivers Trailhead Center grand opening, preceded by a 13.4-mile gravel ride departing from the center. The course gains 1,271 feet in elevation and treats riders to spectacular views. Visit catamountarts.org for the full schedule of events for this civic celebration that’s bound to boost morale for area residents. K R I S T E N RAVI N

crews. The Flynn in Burlington laid off or furloughed 12 employees. Other organizations around the state report similar cutbacks, and many now rely on one or two full-time employees and a handful of part-time staffers or volunteers. It doesn’t take a full production staff to livestream events or air past shows, as many organizations have been doing. The Hopkins Center for the Arts at Dartmouth College in Hanover, N.H., for example, streamed events through its

spring and summer terms with encouraging results. “It’s a fine place for experimentation,” Hop director Mary Lou Aleskie said of livestreaming, noting that student shows and works in progress have been received particularly well. “No one expects anything to be perfect,” she added. Presenting events unbound by brickand-mortar facilities has also expanded the Hop’s reach and given access to new audiences. That includes both far-flung

members of the school’s international community and people whose physical or financial conditions might prevent them from attending performances in person. Later this month, the Hop will roll out “Weeks of Welcome,” a streaming kickoff to its 2020-21 performing arts season. Among the exclusive virtual offerings are a fireside chat with the host of “The Daily Show With Trevor Noah,” an event with Dartmouth alum and CNN reporter Jake Tapper, and a musical collaboration of Chris Thile and Aoife O’Donovan. Not everyone has gone the streaming route, however. Take the state’s most prominent arts organization, the Flynn. In June, with the annual Burlington Discover Jazz Festival shelved, the venue produced a virtual alternative, the Burlington ReDiscover Jazz Festival, which featured a mix of livestreamed artist interviews and rebroadcasts of performances from previous fests. Beyond that, the organization has eschewed streaming — so far. “We may rethink that strategy this winter,” acknowledged Steve MacQueen, the Flynn’s artistic director. Instead, the Flynn has focused its energy and hopes on the 2021 jazz fest, while producing smaller outdoor events in this summer and fall. These include a handful of upcoming performances at Shelburne Museum and a new pop-up concert series featuring local artists of color called Hurly Burly, under the Burlington Discover Jazz Festival banner. To keep crowds a safe size, the time and location of each Hurly Burly show is announced day-of on social media. “I’ve never hoped for a small crowd before, so that was weird,” MacQueen said. Hurly Burly is a copresentation of the Flynn, the jazz fest and the University of Vermont’s Lane Series. Lane Series director Natalie Neuert said that, like the Flynn, her organization initially resisted streaming. “It used to be that live performance was the respite from our computers,” she said. “People are exhausted from looking at their screens.” But, after exploring the possibility of producing in-person shows on campus, and even having one plan approved, the Lane Series leadership decided to shift to a streaming model for five events this season. Some of those will feature curated content recorded elsewhere. Others will be beamed live from the UVM Recital Hall, possibly with audience members from UVM. Once the students return home at Thanksgiving — they won’t be back until

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Show Stopper « P.31 the following semester — the shows might be open to the general public. “We’ve always been strictly about live performance,” Neuert said. “This is a new world for us.”

ALL THE WORLD’S A STAGE

It’s not just a new world for presenters. The pandemic has forced performers of all kinds to reevaluate their artistic processes, the ways in which they connect to their audiences and, in some cases, their very relationship to their art. Many musicians have migrated online to streaming concerts. The Vermont Comedy Club in Burlington has built a robust following for its online comedy offerings, and its improv and talk/variety shows have found a particularly strong niche. But not every artistic medium translates as well to the virtual stage. Every summer for the past decadeplus, the Vermont Shakespeare Festival has staged open-air productions of Shakespeare plays around the state. Though outdoor events are now relatively feasible, the festival’s organizers opted in April not to go ahead with their 2020 production, The Merry Wives of Windsor. Instead, the festival has pivoted, to use pandemic parlance, to an offbeat new performance model: Shakespeare to You, with the tagline Bringing the Bard to Your Yard. Throughout the summer, the company’s actors have staged some 70 intimate mini performances in the yards, driveways and back decks of Shakespeare fans throughout the Green Mountains. Once they even performed in the middle of someone’s field, making the most of the natural resources of “fair Vermont, where we lay our scene.” On the VSF website, patrons can choose from a variety of classic Shakespeare scenes, sonnets and monologues — think “Shakespeare’s Greatest Hits.” Actors show up at a prearranged time and place and get their Hamlet on — or As You Like It, or Romeo and Juliet, or whatever. “We wanted to find a way to respond to the isolation of the pandemic and the lack of connection we were all experiencing,” VSF cofounder and co-artistic director Jena Necrason said. “We’re missing that spark of a person-to-person connection.” Necrason, who is also an actor, explained that Shakespeare to You has an improvisational element that both performers and crowd enjoy. “It’s been a really meaningful performance experience,” she said. “Being in the outdoor space of someone’s home, there’s sort of an intimacy that transcends the 32

SEVEN DAYS SEPTEMBER 16-23, 2020

Lyric Theatre presents New Leaf: An Outdoor Musical Cabaret

Saturdays, September 26 and October, 5 p.m., Trapp Family Lodge, Stowe; Sunday, September 27, 2 p.m., Snow Farm Vineyard, South Hero; and Sunday, October 4, 2 p.m., Burlington City Hall steps. Free. lyrictheatrevt.org

Is it possible to view the extraordinary events of 2020 through a positive lens? The folks at Lyric Theatre think so. As the world collapsed into chaos in the spring, the community theater company sprang into action to help those in need. The beleaguered group, grappling with an unprecedented postponement of its performance of Matilda, quickly pivoted to churning out face coverings for the city of Burlington, producing about 24,000 masks and counting. With that kind of positivity, change and hopefulness in mind, the group presents New Leaf: An Outdoor Musical Cabaret. The show is composed of selections from popular Broadway musicals, spanning old favorites such as The Sound of Music to neo-classics such as Rent to newer works including Fun Home and Hadestown. Under the supervision of artistic director Pearl Guerriere and musical director ANDRIANA CHOBOT, new faces and Lyric veterans come together for a show that brings light to dark times. JO R D A N ADAMS

usual performance format with a larger crowd.” Still, some facets of Shakespeare to You have taken some getting used to. “As performers, we all have our processes — warming up backstage, getting dressed in the dressing room,” Necrason said. “For this, you’re warming up in your car.” Shakespeare to You is free, though the VSF does accept donations. Necrason has chosen not to monetize the program because she sees a different form of value in it. “It’s a great opportunity to get more exposure with folks who may not have known about us before,” she explained. “What we hope is the outcome is that next summer these folks will come see our show.” The Merry Wives of Windsor was well into rehearsals when the pandemic hit in March, and VSF plans to remount it in 2021. In the meantime, Necrason and the VSF board are also exploring ways to do Shakespeare to You through the winter — Valentine’s Day sonnet, anyone? The

company now offers Zoom and phone versions of the program and has been approached by schools, including a college in India, to perform for students. “We are not doing what we love in the way that we normally do it,” Necrason said. “You feel really underwater when you’re not able to perform.”

‘DO THE MATH’

In August, the Vermont Arts Council published findings from a Brookings Institute study called “Lost Art: Measuring COVID-19’s devastating impact on America’s creative economy.” Vermont ranked as the sixth hardest-hit state in the country, with losses between April and July of more than 8,000 jobs and $215 million in sales. Those figures include a variety of creative organizations, not just the performing arts. But the pandemic has especially severe immediate and longterm repercussions for that sector. “The creative sector in Vermont accounts for a larger share of employment than [in] other places, so the impact

is greater,” Mittelman, the VAC director, explained. Further imperiling the sector is the fact that Vermont’s arts organizations tend to be small; most operated on razorthin margins before COVID-19. “We’re not talking about the Met[ropolitan Opera] and Lincoln Center,” Mittelman said. “We’re talking about small- and medium-sized organizations that don’t have the cash reserves, the large donor bases or endowments [of large organizations].” The potential economic fallout of a crippled arts sector goes well beyond those organizations themselves. Vermont Creative Network chair Jody Fried noted that, in rural areas that are trying to attract tourists and a younger workforce, the arts serve as economic drivers. People who come to a small town to take in a show usually spend money on other things while they’re there. “We have economic data that shows it’s roughly 25 bucks per person that someone spends in addition to their ticket price if they’re a Vermont resident,” Fried said. For tourists, that number doubles. “So, if you figure all of the performing arts that normally take place just in the summer months not taking place, and then the events that are happening being reduced in size, the economic impact is huge,” he continued. Fried is also executive director of Catamount Arts, which is based in St. Johnsbury and produces events all over the Northeast Kingdom. He pointed to its reduced season as an example of how significantly the pandemic has kneecapped the arts. Pre-pandemic, Catamount Arts had 33 summer shows booked on stages throughout the NEK, which is about average. In the past three summers, those shows have accounted for $5.5 million in revenue, Fried said, and averaged anywhere from 700 to 1,200 attendees per event. This summer, Catamount Arts focused on a drive-in events series at the Northern Vermont University campuses in Lyndonville and Johnson, alternating between movies and concerts. Crowds at the 20 events were limited to 150 people. “Do the math,” Fried said, before adding it up himself: 150 people times 20 events equals 3,000 attendees this summer, compared with a pre-pandemic average of 30,000 attendees — a 90 percent reduction. And that’s just one organization in rural Vermont. Fried suggested that impact can be extrapolated to communities across the state. “The arts are a huge economic driver in rural communities,” he said. “If you look throughout the country at rural communities that are thriving, one consistent thread that you’ll find is that they have a thriving

arts and cultural organizations as part of the $96 million economic recovery package. The help was welcome. But, with projected losses in the performing arts of up to $50 million, according to Fried, it was also a drop in the bucket. “There is still so much more need, because the loss is so great,” he said. MacQueen, the Flynn artistic director, projected that his organization would be able to survive without producing shows for up to three years, thanks to its sizable endowment and other factors. But most performing arts organizations in Vermont don’t have those resources. Especially for organizations that have a lot of overhead, such as a theater to maintain, Fried said, “this winter is going to be a very challenging time for live performing arts.” SHOW STOPPER

OPEN Wed-Sat • Heated Patio Seating • KTB To-Go Dinner Pickup

Vermont Student Essay Competition Honor a person or group in your community by sharing a story of modern day “rescue.” CASH PRIZES! For grades 4-12: 3 Prize levels for each of 4 grade categories. Entry deadline: EXTENDED! 11/10/20

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COURTESY OF HEIDI REYNOLDS

creative sector. You can go town by town throughout Vermont, and the heart and soul of a community is usually some form of the creative sector.” Because of limitations on crowd size — 150 outside, 75 indoors — performing arts organizations are particularly constrained in how they can operate and how much revenue they can take in. “There’s [currently] almost no way to do what we do in a way that can be monetized to the point where it can be done in a self-sustaining way,” Fried said. He noted that other traditional revenue streams for arts organizations, such as donations and sponsorships, have slowed to a trickle because money is tight everywhere. “Without support, it’s going to be very hard to maintain over the long haul,” Fried said. In July, the state announced that it would distribute $5 million to nonprofit

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EQUAL HOUSING OPPORTUNITY All real estate advertising in this newspaper is subject to the Federal Fair Housing Act of 1968 and similar Vermont statutes which make it illegal to advertise any preference, limitations, or discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, age, marital status, handicap, presence of minor children in the family or receipt of public assistance, or an intention to make any such preference, limitation or a discrimination. The newspaper will not knowingly accept any advertising for real estate, which is in violation of the law. Our

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readers are hereby informed that all dwellings advertised in this newspaper are available on an equal opportunity basis. Any home seeker who feels he or she has encountered discrimination should contact: HUD Office of Fair Housing 10 Causeway St., Boston, MA 02222-1092 (617) 565-5309 — OR — Vermont Human Rights Commission 14-16 Baldwin St. Montpelier, VT 05633-0633 1-800-416-2010 hrc@vermont.gov

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SEVEN DAYS SEPTEMBER 16-23, 2020 6v-thomashirchak091620 1

9/14/20 9:16 AM

Calcoku SEVENDAYSVT.COM/CLASSIFIEDS »

Using the enclosed math operations as a guide, fill the grid using the numbers 1 - 6 only once in each row and column.

72x

2÷

25+

13+

Show and tell. Sudoku

numbers 1-9 only once in each row, column and 3 x 3 box.

7 3 5

7+ 8+

Open 24/7/365.

View and post up to Post & browse ads Complete the following puzzle by using the 6 photos per ad online. at your convenience.

2 3

48x

9 5 2

4 1 3

6 4-

CALCOKU

1 4 8

3 5 8

6 Difficulty - Hard

BY JOSH REYNOLDS

DIFFICULTY THIS WEEK: HHH

9 8 2

No. 654

SUDOKU

Difficulty: Medium

BY JOSH REYNOLDS

DIFFICULTY THIS WEEK: HH

Fill the grid using the numbers 1-6, only once in each row and column. The numbers in each heavily outlined “cage” must combine to produce the target number in the top corner, using the mathematical operation indicated. A onebox cage should be filled in with the target number in the top corner. A number can be repeated within a cage as long as it is not the same row or column.

Place a number in the empty boxes in such a way that each row across, each column down and each 9-box square contains all of the numbers one to nine. The same numbers cannot be repeated in a row or column.

ANSWERS ON P. 61 H = MODERATE HH = CHALLENGING HHH = HOO, BOY!

8 1 6 7 4 9 5 2 3 COUNTY EXTENSION ANSWERS ON P. 61 2 » 3 8 9 5 4 1 6 7 3 7 1 4 8 5 6 9 2

crossword 6 5 2 3 4 1

5 2 9 6 8 3 4 7 1

4 8 6 7 1 9 2 3 5

3 1 7 5 2 4 6 9 8

7 3 8 9 6 2 5 1 4

2 5 1 4 3 8 9 6 7

9 6 4 1 7 5 8 2 3

Extra! Extra! There’s no limit to ad length online.

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Find out what’s percolating today. Sign up to receive our house blend of local news headlines served up in one convenient email by Seven Days.

SEVENDAYSVT.COM/DAILY7 8v-daily7-coffee.indd 1

SEVEN DAYS SEPTEMBER 16-23, 2020

1/13/14 1:45 PM

FIND UP-TO-DATE REAL ESTATE LISTINGS, RENTALS AND OPEN HOUSES AT SEVENDAYSVT.COM/CLASSIFIEDS

FITCH HILL INN

HYDE PARK | 258 FITCH HILL ROAD | #4689209

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HW-Beach091620.indd 1

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Dedicated teacher; refs, results. Andy Greene, 802-658-2462, guitboy75@hotmail. com, andysmountain music.com. BASS, GUITAR, DRUMS, VOICE LESSONS & MORE Remote music lessons are an amazing way to spend time at home! Learn guitar, bass, piano, voice, violin, drums, flute, sax, trumpet, production & beyond w/ pro local instructors from the Burlington Music Dojo on Pine St. All levels & styles are welcome, incl. absolute beginners. Come share in the music! burlington musicdojo.com, info@burlington musicdojo.com. GUITAR INSTRUCTION Berklee graduate w/ 30 years’ teaching experience offers lessons in guitar, music theory, music technology, ear training. Individualized, step-by-step approach. All ages, styles, levels. Rick Belford, 864-7195, rickb@rickbelford.com.

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SEVEN DAYS SEPTEMBER 16-23, 2020

Call or email Katie Hodges today to get started: 865-1020 x10, homeworks@sevendaysvt.com Commission of an issue Untitled-25 1

9/14/20 10:15 AM

ACT 250 NOTICE MINOR APPLICATION #4C0436-6G 10 V.S.A. §§ 6001 - 6093 On September 3, 2020, BVR, LLC, also known as Bolton Valley Resort, 4302 Bolton Access Road, Bolton, VT 05477 filed application number 4C0436-6G for a project generally described as construction of a 2,760 sf, two-story addition to the existing Timberline Lodge to contain an ADA bathroom, elevator, mechanical storage area and meeting room, and the construction of exterior walkways and stormwater infrastructure. The project is located at 3220 Bolton Valley Access Road in Bolton, Vermont. The District 4 Environmental Commission is reviewing this application under Act 250 Rule 51—Minor Applications. A copy of the application and proposed permit are available for review at the office listed below. The application and a draft permit may also be viewed on the Natural Resources Board’s web site (http://nrb. vermont.gov) by clicking on “Act 250 Database” and entering the project number “4C0436-6G.” No hearing will be held and a permit may be issued unless, on or before October 2, 2020, a person notifies the

or issues requiring the presentation of evidence at a hearing, or the Commission sets the matter for a hearing on its own motion. Any person as defined in 10 V.S.A. § 6085(c)(1) may request a hearing. Any hearing request must be in writing to the address below, must state the criteria or sub-criteria at issue, why a hearing is required and what additional evidence will be presented at the hearing. Any hearing request by an adjoining property owner or other person eligible for party status under 10 V.S.A. § 6085(c)(1)(E) must include a petition for party status under the Act 250 Rules. Prior to submitting a request for a hearing, please contact the district coordinator at the telephone number listed below for more information. Prior to convening a hearing, the Commission must determine that substantive issues requiring a hearing have been raised. Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law may not be prepared unless the Commission holds a public hearing. If you feel that any of the District Commission members listed on the attached Certificate of Service under “For Your Information” may have a conflict of interest, or if there is any other reason a member should be disqualified from sitting on this case, please contact the District Coordinator as soon as possible, and by no later than October 2, 2020.

If you have a disability for which you need accommodation in order to participate in this process (including participating in a public hearing, if one is held), please notify us as soon as possible, in order to allow us as much time as possible to accommodate your needs. Parties entitled to participate are the Municipality, the Municipal Planning Commission, the Regional Planning Commission, affected state agencies, and adjoining property owners and other persons to the extent that they have a particularized interest that may be affected by the proposed project under the Act 250 criteria. Non-party participants may also be allowed under 10 V.S.A. Section 6085(c)(5). Dated at Essex Junction, Vermont this 10th day of September, 2020. By: /s/Rachel Lomonaco Rachel Lomonaco, District Coordinator 111 West Street Essex Junction, VT 05452 802-879-5658 Rachel.Lomonaco@ vermont.gov

ACT 250 NOTICE MINOR APPLICATION #4C0608-33 10 V.S.A. §§ 6001 - 6093 On August 21, 2020, Eurowest Retail Partners, LTD, PO Box 8567, Essex, VT 05451 filed application number 4C0608-33 for a project generally described as construction of a 20,500 sf building addition to the northern side of Building 1 at

the Essex Experience to be used as an arts center, construction of two outdoor courtyard areas and realignment of the access road between Buildings 1 and 4. The project is located at 21 Essex Way in Essex, Vermont. The application was deemed complete on September 4, 2020 after the receipt of supplemental evidence. The District 4 Environmental Commission is reviewing this application under Act 250 Rule 51—Minor Applications. A copy of the application and proposed permit are available for review at the office listed below. The application and a draft permit may also be viewed on the Natural Resources Board’s web site (http://nrb. vermont.gov) by clicking on “Act 250 Database” and entering the project number “4C0608-33.” No hearing will be held and a permit may be issued unless, on or before October 2, 2020, a person notifies the Commission of an issue or issues requiring the presentation of evidence at a hearing, or the Commission sets the matter for a hearing on its own motion. Any person as defined in 10 V.S.A. § 6085(c)(1) may request a hearing. Any hearing request must be in writing to the address below, must state the criteria or sub-criteria at issue, why a hearing is required and what additional evidence will be presented at the hearing. Any hearing request by an adjoining property owner or other

person eligible for party status under 10 V.S.A. § 6085(c)(1)(E) must include a petition for party status under the Act 250 Rules. Prior to submitting a request for a hearing, please contact the district coordinator at the telephone number listed below for more information. Prior to convening a hearing, the Commission must determine that substantive issues requiring a hearing have been raised. Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law may not be prepared unless the Commission holds a public hearing. If you feel that any of the District Commission members listed on the attached Certificate of Service under “For Your Information” may have a conflict of interest, or if there is any other reason a member should be disqualified from sitting on this case, please contact the District Coordinator as soon as possible, and by no later than October 2, 2020. If you have a disability for which you need accommodation in order to participate in this process (including participating in a public hearing, if one is held), please notify us as soon as possible, in order to allow us as much time as possible to accommodate your needs. Parties entitled to participate are the Municipality, the Municipal Planning Commission, the Regional Planning Commission, affected state agencies, and

adjoining 6/6/16 property 4:30ownPM ers and other persons to the extent that they have a particularized interest that may be affected by the proposed project under the Act 250 criteria. Non-party participants may also be allowed under 10 V.S.A. Section 6085(c)(5). Dated at Essex Junction, Vermont this 10th day of September, 2020. By: /s/Rachel Lomonaco Rachel Lomonaco, District Coordinator 111 West Street Essex Junction, VT 05452 802-879-5658 Rachel.Lomonaco@ vermont.gov

ACT 250 NOTICE MINOR APPLICATION #4C13152 10 V.S.A. §§ 6001 - 6093 On August 26, 2020, John Evans, NorthRidge - Williston, LLC, and Blackrock Construction, LLC filed application number 4C1315-2 for a project generally described as the construction of Phase II of the North Ridge Development which includes the construction 18 residential units including 14 singlefamily homes on Lots #5-14 and Lots #19-22 and two duplexes on Lot #26. Phase II also includes construction of a portion of Chloe Drive, construction of supporting utility infrastructure, and the merging of Lots #23 and #26, so that Lot #26 is 22.705 acres in size. The project is located on Chloe Drive in Williston, Vermont. The District 4 Environmental

Show and tell.

View and post up to 6 photos per ad online. need accommodation in order to participate in this process (including participating in a public hearing, if one is held), please notify us as soon as possible, in order to allow us as much time as possible to accommodate your needs. Parties entitled to participate are the Municipality, the Municipal Planning Commission, the Regional Planning Commission, affected state agencies, and adjoining property owners and other persons to the extent that they have a particularized interest that may be affected by the proposed project under the Act 250 criteria. Non-party participants may also be allowed under 10 V.S.A. Section 6085(c)(5).

Homeshares BURLINGTON

Share lovely home w/ lively woman in her 80s who enjoys walking her dog & following politics. Share some meals, walks & provide help around the house. No add’l pets. Private BA. $300/mo. Familiarity w/ memory loss preferred.

FLETCHER Delightful, travelled senior gentleman sharing his rural home in exchange for help w/ meals, laundry, errands, & property maintenance. Private BA. $200/mo.

NORTHFIELD Enjoy 2-bedroom, private BA in lovely home supporting woman in her 60s w/ morning check-in, evening meal & reminders. No rent. Experience w/memory loss a plus. Shared kitchen.

Finding you just the right housemate for over 35 years! Call 863-5625 or visit HomeShareVermont.org for an application. Interview, refs, bg check req. EHO

unless the Commission holds a public hearing. If you feel that any of the District Commission members listed on the attached Certificate of Service under “For Your Information” may have a conflict of interest, or if there is any other reason a member should be disqualified from sitting on this case, please contact the District Coordinator as soon as possible, and by no later than October 2, 2020. If you have a disability for which you

BURLINGTON DEVELOPMENT REVIEW BOARD TUESDAY, OCTOBER 6, 2020, 5:00 PM PUBLIC HEARING NOTICE REMOTE MEETING: Zoom: https://us02web. zoom.us/j/87842883 086?pwd=aWlpSHJad DE3dFlIODU4L2pESUd jQT09. Webinar ID: 87842883086.

FROM P.59

4 8 7 15 2 9 4-1 3 24 6 72x

1 6 4 9 213+ 3 3 8 5 4 6 7 7 1 8 5 9 2 2-

FROM P.59

3 2 6 4 5 5 5+ 2 4-9 6 8 7+ 3 4 6x 7 1

4 3 5 1 2 4 3 8 1 68+ 7 7 5 1 2 9 4 2 6 3 9 5 8 2÷

7 2 9 7+ 3 5 6 48x 8 1 4 9 4 1 6 3 7 42 8 5 5 9 8 8+ 1 6 2 4 Difficulty 7 - 3Hard 6

Using the enclosed math operations as a guide, fill the grid using the numbers 1 - 6 only once in each row and column.

Calcoku

PUZZLE ANSWERS

No hearing will be held and a permit may be issued unless, on or before October 2, 2020,

a person notifies the Commission of an issue or issues requiring the presentation of evidence at a hearing, or the Commission sets the matter for a hearing on its own motion. Any person as defined in 10 V.S.A. § 6085(c)(1) may request a hearing. Any hearing request must be in writing to the address below, must state the criteria or sub-criteria at issue, why a hearing is required and what additional evidence will be presented at the hearing. Any hearing request by an adjoining property owner or other

Commission is reviewing this application under Act 250 Rule 51—Minor Applications. A copy of the application and proposed permit are available for review at the office listed below. The application and a draft permit may also be viewed on the Natural Resources Board’s web site (http://nrb. vermont.gov) by clicking on “Act 250 Database” and entering the project number “4C1315-2.”

9/14/20 12:00 PM

Homeshare-temp2.indd 1

Dated at Essex Junction, Vermont this 10th day of September, 2020. By: /s/Rachel Lomonaco Rachel Lomonaco, District Coordinator 111 West Street Essex Junction, VT 05452 802-879-5658 rachel.lomonaco@ vermont.gov

SEVENDAYSVT.COM/CLASSIFIEDS

Open 24/7/365. Post & browse ads at your convenience. Password: 842557. Telephone: +13126266799 or +19292056099 or +13017158592 or +13462487799 or +16699006833 or +12532158782. 1. 21-0180AP; 15-17 Monroe Street (RH, Ward 3C) Melissa Lafayette Appealing administrative decision regarding shed dormer roof height. Plans may be viewed upon request by contacting the Department of Permitting & Inspections between the hours of 8:00 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. Participation in the DRB proceeding is a prerequisite to the right to take any subsequent appeal. Please note that ANYTHING submitted to the Zoning office is considered public and cannot be kept confidential. This may not be the final order in which items will be heard. Please view final Agenda, at www. burlingtonvt.gov/dpi/ drb/agendas or the office notice board, one week before the hearing for the order in which items will be heard.

CITY OF BURLINGTON IN THE YEAR TWO THOUSAND TWENTY AN ORDINANCE IN RELATION TO BURLINGTON CODE OF ORDINANCES - HOUSING— ENFORCEMENT AND PENALTIES ORDINANCE 6.03 Sponsor: Ordinance Committee Public Hearing Dates: __ First reading: 09/09/19 Referred to: Ordinance Committee Rules suspended and placed in all stages of passage: Second reading: 08/24/20 Action: adopted Date: 08/24/20 Signed by Mayor: 09/08/20 Published: 09/16/20 Effective: 10/07/20 It is hereby Ordained by the City Council of the City of Burlington as follows: That Chapter 18, Housing, of the Code of Ordinances of the City of Burlington be and hereby is amended by amending Sec. 18-31, Enforcement and penalties, thereof to read as follows: 18-31 Enforcement and penalties. (a) The penalty for violation of this chapter,

unless otherwise provided, is as follows: (1) Civil offense. Any person found to be in violation of Article III, Minimum Standards, shall be deemed to have committed a civil ordinance violation which shall be punishable by a fine of one hundred dollars ($100.00). The waiver fine shall be seventyfive dollars ($75.00). A violation of Article III also is hereby declared to be a nuisance and subject to abatement upon a finding of violation by the court. The enforcement officer or inspector, in addition to the above penalty and nuisance abatement provisions, may seek the enforcement of any order issued regarding a violation of Article III, pursuant to subsection (b) of this section. (A) The first violation of a provision in Article II, Administration and Enforcement, with the exception of sections 18-29 and 18-29a, or Article III, Minimum Standards, by a person shall be deemed to be a civil ordinance offense punishable by a civil fine of one hundred dollars ($100.00), the waiver penalty for which shall be seventy five dollars ($75.00). This penalty may also be waived and a warning issued, at the discretion of the enforcement officer, upon a finding that the person had no prior knowledge or reasonable basis to know of the violation prior to the finding of violation by the enforcement officer. The enforcement officer may also seek the enforcement of any order issued regarding a violation of Article III, pursuant to subsection (b) of this section or any other remedy within the jurisdiction of the court. (B) If a person has been found (any appeal having been fully adjudicated), to have committed a first violation of a provision in Article II, Administration and Enforcement, with the exception of sections 18-29 and 18-29a, or Article III, Minimum Standards, and has been issued an order by the enforcement officer to correct that violation, then the failure to correct the violation and bring the property into compliance with the standards within the time ordered by the officer shall be deemed to be a second violation of the applicable minimum standard. A

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second violation for the same property shall be a civil ordinance offense punishable by a civil fine of two hundred dollars ($200.00), the waiver penalty for which shall be one hundred and fifty dollars ($150.00). The enforcement officer may also seek the enforcement of any order issued regarding a violation of Article III, pursuant to subsection (b) of this section, or any other remedy within the jurisdiction of the court. (2) Criminal offense. (A) Any person found in violation of any provision in Articles II, Administration and Enforcement, sections 18-29 and 18-29a, and IV, Housing Discrimination, and/or who fails to comply with an order of the enforcement officer for a violation of minimum housing standards shall be deemed to have committed a criminal offense which shall be punishable by a fine of not less than two hundred dollars ($200.00) and not more than five hundred dollars ($500.00) and/or by imprisonment for not more than thirty (30) days. The enforcement officer may also seek the enforcement of any order issued regarding a violation of Articles II and IV pursuant to subsection (b) of this section or any other remedy within the jurisdiction of the court. Each days failure to comply with an order of the enforcement officer or inspector shall constitute a separate offense. (B) If a person has been found (any appeal having been fully adjudicated), to have committed a second violation of a provision in Article III, Minimum Standards, and has been issued an order by the enforcement officer to correct the violation, then the failure to correct the violation in the time required by the order on the second violation and bring the property into compliance with the standards shall be deemed to be a third violation of the applicable minimum standard. The third violation for the same property shall be a criminal ordinance offense which shall be punishable by a fine of not less than two hundred dollars ($200.00) and not more than five hundred dollars ($500.00) and/

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cause to be sold to the highest bidder at Public Auction at 108 Folsom Hill Road, Marshfield, Vermont, at 10:00 a.m. on the 30th day of September, 2020, all and singular the premises described in said Mortgage.

[CONTINUED] or by imprisonment for not more than thirty (30) days. (3) Nuisance abatement and continuing offenses. Such A violation of chapter 18, articles II-IV also is hereby declared to be a nuisance and subject to abatement upon a finding of violation by the court. The enforcement officer or inspector may, in addition to the above penalty and nuisance abatement provisions, may seek the enforcement of any order issued regarding such violation, pursuant to subsection (b) of this section. Each day’s violation of articles II-IV shall constitute a separate offense. (b) As written. * Material stricken out deleted. ** Material underlined added.

STATE OF VERMONT SUPERIOR COURT CIVIL DIVISION WASHINGTON UNIT DOCKET NO. 181-3-16 NORTHCOUNTRY FEDERAL CREDIT UNION, Plaintiff, v. JOHN NICHOLAS LECOUNTE ANDERSON and OCCUPANTS residing at 108 Folsom Hill Road, Marshfield, Vermont, Defendant. NOTICE OF PUBLIC SALE By virtue of the Judgment Order, Decree of Foreclosure and Order for Public Sale entered on July 19, 2019, and in execution of the Power of Sale contained in a certain Mortgage given by John Nicholas LeCounte Anderson, dated July 10, 2015, and recorded in Book 94 at Pages 402-415 of the Town of Marshfield Land Records, which Mortgage NorthCountry Federal Credit Union is the present holder, for breach of the conditions of said Mortgage and for the purpose of foreclosing the same, the undersigned will

The property is known as 108 Folsom Hill Road, Marshfield, Vermont. The real estate is described in the aforesaid Mortgage is as follows: Being all and the same land and premises conveyed to John Nicholas LeCounte Anderson by Warranty Deed of Greg A. Breer dated July 10, 2015 and recorded in Volume 94 at Pages 399-401 of the Town of Marshfield Land Records. Being a part of the same land and premises conveyed to Greg A. Breer by Quitclaim Deed of Irene L. Breer f/k/a Irene Rogers dated May 15, 2009 and recorded in Book 83, Page 126 of the Town of Marshfield Land Records. Being further described as a parcel said to contain 2.01 acres together with improvements thereon and rights appurtenant thereto designated and commonly known as 108 Folsom Hill Road, Marshfield, Vermont and depicted as Parcel Lot #2 on a survey entitled “Subdivision of Land of Greg Breer Folsom Hill Road, Marshfield, Vermont” dated April 2015, prepared by Richard W. Bell, L.S. and recorded in the Town of Marshfield Records. Reference is hereby made to the aforementioned instruments, the records thereof and the references therein contained, all in further aid of this description. The description of the property contained in the Mortgage shall control in the event of a typographical error in this Notice. TERMS OF SALE: The sale will be held at 108 Folsom Hill Road, Marshfield, Vermont. The property shall be sold AS IS, WITH ALL FAULTS, WITH NO REPRESENTATIONS OR WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, subject to all easements, rightsof-way, covenants, permits, reservations and restrictions of record, title defects, unforeclosed liens,

SEVEN DAYS SEPTEMBER 16-23, 2020

environmental hazards, unpaid real estate taxes (delinquent and current), current and delinquent assessments in favor of homeowners associations, if any, and municipal liens, to the highest bidder for cash. At the sale, the successful bidder, other than the Mortgagee, shall pay $10,000 down (non-refundable) in cash or bank treasurer check (or a combination thereof). The deposit must be increased to at least 10% of the successful bid within fi ve (5) calendar days of the public sale by an additional payment in cash or by bank treasurer’s check. The successful bidder shall execute a Purchase and Sale Agreement requiring payment of the balance of the purchase price within ten (10) days of entry of the court order confirming the sale. Before being permitted to bid at the sale, bidder shall display to the auctioneer proof of the ability to comply with these requirements. The successful bidder, other than the Mortgagee, must sign a NO CONTINGENCY Purchase and Sale Agreement satisfactory to Mortgagee at the sale. Title will be transferred by the Order Confirming Sale. The person holding the sale may, for good cause, postpone the sale for a period of up to thirty (30) days, from time to time, until it is completed, giving notice of such adjournment and specifying the new date by public proclamation at the time and place appointed for the sale, or by posting notice of the adjournment in a conspicuous place at the location of the sale. Notice of the new sale date shall also be sent by first class mail, postage prepaid, to the Mortgagor at the Mortgagor’s last known address, at least fi ve (5) days before the new sale date. The public sale may be adjourned for a period of time in excess of thirty (30) days by agreement of the Mortgagor and Mortgagee or by order of the court. Other terms to be announced at the sale or contact Ward Law, P.C., 3069 Williston Road, South Burlington, Vermont 05403; (802)863-0307. The record owner is entitled to redeem the premises at any time prior to the sale

by paying the full amount due under the Judgment Order, Decree of Foreclosure and Order of Public Sale dated July 18, 2019, and entered on July 19, 2019, including the costs and expenses of sale. Dated at Bridport, Vermont this 20 th day of August, 2020. WARD LAW, PC, Attorneys for Plaintiff, By: /s/ Cynthia R. Amrhein Cynthia R. Amrhein, Esq. 3069 Williston Road South Burlington, VT 05403 (802) 863-0307

STATE OF VERMONT VERMONT SUPERIOR COURT LAMOILLE UNIT, CIVIL DIVISION DOCKET NO: 39-3-18 LECV NATIONSTAR MORTGAGE LLC D/B/A MR. COOPER v. LANA L FALES, JAKE S. FALES, FORD MOTOR CREDIT COMPANY LLC D/B/A MAZDA AMERICAN CREDIT, EQUABLE ASCENT FINANCIAL, LLC AND GREEN MOUNTAIN BUREAU, LLC OCCUPANTS OF: 5491 Route 100, Hyde Park VT MORTGAGEE’S NOTICE OF FORECLOSURE SALE OF REAL PROPERTY UNDER 12 V.S.A. sec 4952 et seq. In accordance with the Judgment Order and Decree of Foreclosure entered January 29, 2019, in the above captioned action brought to foreclose that certain mortgage given by Lana L Fales and Jake S. Fales to Universal Mortgage Corporation, dated September 25, 2006 and recorded in Book 124 Page 285 of the land records of the Town of Hyde Park, of which mortgage the Plaintiff is the present holder by virtue of the following Assignments of Mortgage: (1) Assignment of Mortgage from Universal Mortgage Corporation to Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems, Inc. dated September 27, 2006 and recorded in Book 125 Page 387; (2) Assignment of Mortgage from Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems, Inc. to Countrywide Home Loans, Inc. dated August 13, 2014 and recorded in Book 147 Page

319; (3) Assignment of Mortgage from Countrywide Home Loans, Inc. to Countrywide Home Loans Servicing, LP dated December 24, 2008 and recorded in Book 131 Page 457; and (4) Assignment of Mortgage from Countrywide Home Loans, Inc. to Nationstar Mortgage, LLC dated December 27, 2016 and recorded in Book 164 Page 116, all of the land records of the Town of Hyde Park, for breach of the conditions of said mortgage and for the purpose of foreclosing the same will be sold at Public Auction at 5491 Route 100, Hyde Park, Vermont on September 29, 2020 at 10:00 AM all and singular the premises described in said mortgage, To wit: Being all and the same land and premises conveyed to Jacob S. Fales and Lana L. Fales by the Warranty Deed of Lindsey H. Reynolds, on or about even date herewith, to be recorded in Book __ at Pages _ of the Hyde Park Land Records, being further descried as follows: Being all and the same land and premises and driveway in common conveyed to Lindsey H. Reynolds by the Warranty Deed of Phillip A. Hamel and Connie W. Hamel dated October 31, 2005 and of record in Book 120 at Page 175 of the Hyde Park Land Records. Being further described as all and the same land and premises conveyed to Philip A. Hamel and Connie W. Hamel by the Limited Warranty Deed of NationsCredit Home Equity Services, dated August 8, 2000 and recorded in Book 93 at Pages 10-11 of the Hyde Park Land Records. Reference is hereby made to the above instruments and to the records and references contained therein in further aid of this description. Terms of sale: Said premises will be sold and conveyed subject to all liens, encumbrances, unpaid taxes, tax titles, municipal liens and assessments, if any, which take precedence over the said mortgage above described. TEN THOUSAND ($10,000.00) Dollars of the purchase price

must be paid by a certified check, bank treasurer’s or cashier’s check at the time and place of the sale by the purchaser. The balance of the purchase price shall be paid by a certified check, bank treasurer’s or cashier’s check within sixty (60) days after the date of sale. The mortgagor is entitled to redeem the premises at any time prior to the sale by paying the full amount due under the mortgage, including the costs and expenses of the sale. Other terms to be announced at the sale. DATED: July 30, 2020 By: _/s/ Rachel K. Ljunggren, Rachel K. Ljunggren, Esq. Bendett and McHugh, PC 270 Farmington Ave., Ste. 151 Farmington, CT 06032

STATE OF VERMONT VERMONT SUPERIOR COURT WASHINGTON UNIT, CIVIL DIVISION DOCKET NO: 53-1-17 WNCV MTGLQ INVESTORS, LP v. JOELL J. MARTEL AKA JOELL MARTEL AND KRISTINE E. MARTEL AKA KRISTINE MARTEL OCCUPANTS OF: 18 Winter Meadow, Barre VT MORTGAGEE’S NOTICE OF FORECLOSURE SALE OF REAL PROPERTY UNDER 12 V.S.A. sec 4952 et seq. In accordance with the Judgment Order and Decree of Foreclosure entered August 19, 2019 , in the above captioned action brought to foreclose that certain mortgage given by Joell J. Martel and Kristine E. Martel to Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems, Inc., as nominee for First Horizon Home Loan Corporation, dated November 28, 2005 and recorded in Book 227 Page 606 of the land records of the City of Barre, of which mortgage the Plaintiff is the present holder, by virtue of the following Assignments of Mortgage: (1) Assignment of Mortgage from Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems, Inc., as nominee for First Horizon Home Loan Corporation to MetLife Home Loans, a division of MetLife Bank, N.A.

dated October 23, 2008 and recorded in Book 249 Page 688; (2) Assignment of Mortgage from Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems, Inc., solely as nominee for First Horizon Home Loan Corporation to MetLife Home Loans, a division of MetLife Bank, N.A. dated November 17, 2011 and recorded in Book 267 Page 885; (3) Assignment of Mortgage from MetLife Bank, National Association, also known as MetLife Home Loans, a Division of MetLife Bank, N.A.to JPMorgan Chase Bank, National Association dated May 1, 2013 and recorded in Book 276 page 876: (4) Assignment of Mortgage from JPMorgan Chase Bank, National Association to Federal National Mortgage Corporation dated January 7, 2015 and recorded in Book 285 Page 918 and (5) Assignment of Mortgage from Federal National Mortgage Corporation to MTGLQ Investors dated February 11, 2019 and recorded in Book 346 Page 102 all of the land records of the City of Barre for breach of the conditions of said mortgage and for the purpose of foreclosing the same will be sold at Public Auction at 18 Winter Meadow, Barre, Vermont on September 29, 2020 at 10:00 AM all and singular the premises described in said mortgage, To wit: Being all and the same lands and premises conveyed to Joell J. Martel and Kristine E. Martel by Warranty Deed from Kevin G. Moore, Sr. and Tammy M. Moore, of even date about to be recorded. Being all of the same land and premises conveyed to Kevin G. Moore, Sr. and Tammy M. Moore by Warranty Deed from Paul W. Howard and Constance M. Howard dated November 12, 1999, and recorded November 16, 1999, in Book 178, Page 306 of the City of Barre Land Records. It being all of the same land and premises conveyed to Paul W. Howard and Constance M. Howard by Warranty Deed from Donald R. Seaver and Linda Seaver Devereaux, dated July 22, 1993 and recorded in the Barre City, Vermont Land

Records in Book 152 at Page 507. It being all of the same land and premises conveyed to Donald R. Seaver. and Linda Seaver Devereaux, tenants in common, by Warranty Deed of First Vermont Bank & Trust Company, Trustee of Ardith M. Seaver Trust, which deed is dated November 23, 1992 and recorded on December 16, 1992 in Book 150 at Pages 149-50 of the Barre City, Vermont Land Records, It being all of the same land and premises as were decreed to First Vermont Bank & Trust Company, Trustee of the Ardith M. Seaver Trust, by Decree of Partial Distribution of the Probate Court, District of Washington in the Estate of Ardith M. Seaver, dated November 3, 1992 and recorded in Book 150 at Page 147 of the Barre City, Vermont Land Records. The subject land and premises are commonly known as being located at 18 Winter Meadow, Barre City, Vermont. This conveyance is made subject to and with the benefi t of any utility easements, springs rights, easements for ingress and egress, and rights incidental to each of the same as may appear more particularly of record, provided that this paragraph shall not reinstate any such encumbrances previously extinguished by the Marketable Record Title Act, Chapter 5, Subchapter 7, Title 27, Vermont Statutes Annotated. Reference may be had to the above –mentioned deeds and to their records and to all prior deeds and their records in the City of Barre, Vermont Land Records for a more complete and particular description of the herein conveyed land and premises. Reference is hereby made to the above instruments and to the records and references contained therein in further aid of this description. Terms of sale: Said premises will be sold and conveyed subject to all liens, encumbrances, unpaid taxes, tax titles, municipal liens and assessments, if any, which take precedence over the

SEVENDAYSVT.COM/CLASSIFIEDS said mortgage above described. TEN THOUSAND ($10,000.00) Dollars of the purchase price must be paid by a certified check, bank treasurer’s or cashier’s check at the time and place of the sale by the purchaser. The balance of the purchase price shall be paid by a certified check, bank treasurer’s or cashier’s check within sixty (60) days after the date of sale. The mortgagor is entitled to redeem the premises at any time prior to the sale by paying the full amount due under the mortgage, including the costs and expenses of the sale. Other terms to be announced at the sale. DATED: August 20, 2020 By: /s/ Rachel K. Ljunggren Rachel K. Ljunggren, Esq. Bendett and McHugh, PC 270 Farmington Ave., Ste. 151 Farmington, CT 06032

STATE OF VERMONT VERMONT SUPERIOR COURT WASHINGTON UNIT, CIVIL DIVISION DOCKET NO: 617-11-18 WNCV SELENE FINANCE LP v. CHARLOTTE R. O’HARA OCCUPANTS OF: 217 Merchant Street, Barre VT MORTGAGEE’S NOTICE OF FORECLOSURE SALE OF REAL PROPERTY UNDER 12 V.S.A. sec 4952 et seq. In accordance with the Judgment Order and Decree of Foreclosure entered December 10, 2019 , in the above captioned action brought to foreclose that certain mortgage given by Charlotte R. O’Hara f/k/a Charlotte Pickett to Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems, Inc., as nominee for People’s United Bank, National Association, dated June 15, 2015 and recorded in Book 288 Page 156 of the land records of the City of Barre, of which mortgage the Plaintiff is the present holder, by virtue of the following Assignments

of Mortgage: (1) Assignment of Mortgage from Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems, Inc., as nominee for People’s United Bank, National Association to U.S. Bank National Association dated June 15, 2017 and recorded in Book 321 Page 69 and (2) Assignment of Mortgage from U.S. Bank National Association to Selene Finance, LP dated March 27, 2019 and recorded in Book 347 Page 107, both of the land records of the City of Barre for breach of the conditions of said mortgage and for the purpose of foreclosing the same will be sold at Public Auction at 217 Merchant Street, Barre, Vermont on October 13, 2020 at 10:00 AM all and singular the premises described in said mortgage, To wit: SCHEDULE A Attachment to Mortgage Deed to People’s United Bank from Charlotte R. O’Hara (f/k/a Charlotte Pickett) dated June 15, 2015 Being all of the same lands and premises conveyed to Charlotte Pickett (n/k/a Charlotte R. O’Hara) by Quit Claim Deed from Frank W. Bailey, individually and Craig A. Gable and Debra A. Gable, Trustees of the James W. Gable Revocable Trust U/A July 12, 1982 which Quit Claim deed is dated September 6, 2005 and recorded on September 30, 2005 in Book 225 at Page 988 of the City of Barre, VT Land Records. It being lands and premises commonly known as 217 Merchant Street, Barre, VT Charlotte Pickett is now known as Charlotte O’Hara as noted in a name change affidavit dated September 7, 2006 and recorded in the Barre City Land Records in Book 234 Page 130. Charlotte O’Hara is the same person as Charlotte R. O’Hara. This conveyance is subject to and with the benefit of any utility

easements, springs rights, easements for ingress and egress, and rights incidental to each of the same as may appear on the aforesaid map and as may appear more particularly of record, provided that this paragraph shall not reinstate any such encumbrances previously extinguished by the Marketable Record Title Act, Chapter 5, Subchapter 7, Title 27, Vermont Statutes Annotated. Reference may be had to the abovementioned deeds and to their records and to all prior deeds and their records in the City of Bane, Vermont Land Records for a more complete and particular description of the herein conveyed land and premises. Reference is hereby made to the above instruments and to the records and references contained therein in further aid of this description. Terms of sale: Said premises will be sold and conveyed subject to all liens, encumbrances, unpaid taxes, tax titles, municipal liens and assessments, if any, which take precedence over the said mortgage above described. TEN THOUSAND ($10,000.00) Dollars of the purchase price must be paid by a certified check, bank treasurer’s or cashier’s check at the time and place of the sale by the purchaser. The balance of the purchase price shall be paid by a certified check, bank treasurer’s or cashier’s check within sixty (60) days after the date of sale. The mortgagor is entitled to redeem the premises at any time prior to the sale by paying the full amount due under the mortgage, including the costs and expenses of the sale. Other terms to be announced at the sale. DATED : September 11, 2020 By: /S/Rachel K. Ljunggren, Esq. Rachel K. Ljunggren, Esq.

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STATE OF VERMONT VERMONT SUPERIOR COURT WINDSOR UNIT, CIVIL DIVISION DOCKET NO: 266-6-18 WRCV U.S. BANK TRUST NATIONAL ASSOCIATION AS TRUSTEE OF THE AMERICAN HOMEOWNER PRESERVATION TRUST SERIES 2015A+ v. DIANA HAYNES OCCUPANTS OF: 39 South Street, Woodstock VT MORTGAGEE’S NOTICE OF FORECLOSURE SALE OF REAL PROPERTY UNDER 12 V.S.A. sec 4952 et seq. In accordance with the Judgment Order and Decree of Foreclosure entered October 18, 2019, in the above captioned action brought to foreclose that certain mortgage given by Diana Haynes to CitiFinancial, Inc., dated October 31, 2007 and recorded in Book 207 Page 704 of the land records of the Town of Woodstock, of which mortgage the Plaintiff is the present holder, by virtue of the following Assignments of Mortgage: (1) Assignment of Mortgage from CFNA Receivables (MD), Inc. f/k/a CitiFinancial, Inc. to CitiFinancial Servicing, LLC, dated August 21, 2015 and recorded in Book 252 Page 96; (2) Assignment of Mortgage from CitiFinancial Servicing, LLC to Wilmington Savings Fund Society, FSB, as Trustee of Stanwich Mortgage Loan Trust A dated February 27, 2018 and recorded in Book 263 Page 496; and (3) Assignment of Mortgage from Wilmington Savings Fund Society, FSB, as Trustee of Stanwich Mortgage Loan Trust A to U.S. Bank Trust National Association as Trustee of the American Homeowner Preservation Trust Series 2015A+ dated November 30, 2018 and

recorded in Book 267 Page 225, all of the land records of the Town of Woodstock for breach of the conditions of said mortgage and for the purpose of foreclosing the same will be sold at Public Auction at 39 South Street, Woodstock, Vermont on October 2, 2020 at 10:00 AM all and singular the premises described in said mortgage, To wit: ALL THAT CERTAIN PARCEL OF LAND IN TOWN OF WOODSTOCK, WINDSOR COUNTY, STATE OF VT, AS MORE FULLY DESCRIBED IN BOOK 133 PAGE 43 ID#23.55.22, BEING KNOWN AND DESIGNATED AS ALL AND THE SAME LANDS AND PREMISES CONVEYED TO MORGAN JOSEPH HAYNES BY QUIT CLAIM DEED OF NANCY E: MOLL HAYNES DATED JUNE 8, 1989 AND RECORDED ON JUNE 8, 1989 AT BOOK 97, PAGES 10-12 OF THE WOODSTOCK LAND RECORDS AND CORRECTIVE QUIT CLAIM DEED OF NANCY E. MOLL HAYNES ABOUT TO BE RECORDED. AND BEING MORE PARTICULARLY DESCRIBED AS A METES AND BOUNDS PROPERTY. LESS AND EXCEPT THE ABOVE PROPERTY FROM DIANA HAYNES TO RAYMOND RACICOT, DATED 07/12/2005 AND RECORDED ON 07/12/2005 IN BOOK 192, PAGE 306. BEING THE SAME FEE SIMPLE PROPERTY CONVEYED BY WARRANTY DEED FROM MORGAN JOSEPH HAYNES TO DIANA HAYNES SOLE OWNER, DATED 08/24/1998 RECORDED ON 09/17/1998 IN BOOK 133, PAGE 43 IN WINDSOR COUNTY RECORDS, STATE OF VT, Reference is hereby made to the above instruments and to the records and references contained therein in further aid of this description. Terms of sale: Said premises will be sold and conveyed subject to all liens, encumbrances, unpaid taxes, tax titles, municipal

Post & browse ads at your convenience. liens and assessments, if any, which take precedence over the said mortgage above described. TEN THOUSAND ($10,000.00) Dollars of the purchase price must be paid by a certified check, bank treasurer’s or cashier’s check at the time and place of the sale by the purchaser. The balance of the purchase price shall be paid by a certified check, bank treasurer’s or cashier’s check within sixty (60) days after the date of sale. The mortgagor is entitled to redeem the premises at any time prior to the sale by paying the full amount due under the mortgage, including the costs and expenses of the sale. Other terms to be announced at the sale. DATED: August 24, 2020 By: /S/Rachel K. Ljunggren, Esq. Rachel K. Ljunggren, Esq. Bendett and McHugh, PC 270 Farmington Ave., Ste. 151 Farmington, CT 06032

TOWN OF DUXBURY NOTICE OF EXAMINATION OF PREMISES AND PUBLIC HEARING FOR DISCONTINUANCE OF A +/-600-FOOT PORTION OF THE RIGHT-OFWAY FOR CROSSETT HILL ROAD (TOWN HIGHWAY #4) Pursuant to the requirements of Title 19, Chapter 7 of the Vermont Statutes Annotated, the Town of Duxbury Selectboard will conduct an examination of the premises on Monday, October 12, 2020, at 9:00 A.M., and a public hearing on Tuesday, October 13, 2020, at 6:00 P.M. to consider the discontinuance of a +/-600-foot portion of the right-of-way for Crossett Hill Road (Town Highay # 4), which is a Class 3 town highway. In September 1999, the Crossett Hill Road right-of-way was relocated to the south, and shortly thereafter, it was opened for travel in its current location; however, the Town never discontinued the

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former town highway right-of-way from the property at 417 Crossett Hill Road. The portion of the right-ofway to be discontinued is U-shaped and three rods (49.5 feet) wide. It is shown as “Existing Easement Across Wilsons’ To Be Abandoned (3 Rod R.O.W.)” on a survey entitled, “Survey of Relocated Highway Easement – Town of Duxbury – Crossett Hill Road ‘Wilson Corner Improvements,’” dated August 1999, prepared by Charles Grenier, Consulting Engineer, P.C., and recorded in Map Book 4, Page 36 of the Town of Duxbury Land Records. All interested parties are hereby notified to meet for the following: 1. An inspection of the premises at 9:00 AM on October 12, 2020, at 417 Crossett Hill Road, Duxbury, Vermont, at the property of the Sharon H. Wilson Living Trust. 2. A public hearing following the inspection of the premises at 6:00 PM on October 13, 2020, at the Municipal Meeting Room, 5421 Route 100, Duxbury, Vermont, to receive testimony from all persons abutting, owning or interested in the matter of discontinuing this +/600-foot portion of the right-of-way for Crossett Hill Road (Town Highway #4). Persons wishing to comment, provide testimony or give evidence regarding the proposal may do so in person during the hearing, or by filing their comments, in writing, prior to the hearing. For those who wish to attend the public hearing electronically, a Zoom meeting link will be provided on the Selectboard’s Agenda for the October 13 th Selectboard meeting, on or about October 9 th. If you have questions regarding this matter, please contact Selectboard Vice-Chair Mari Pratt at 802-279-6470. If, after examining the premises and hearing from any and all interested persons, the Selectboard judges that the public good, necessity and convenience of the inhabitants of the Town of Duxbury warrants

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discontinuing the +/-600-foot portion of the right-of-way for Crossett Hill Road (Town Highway #4), it will be so ordered. Dated at Duxbury, Vermont, this 4 th day of September, 2020. /s/ Mari Pratt, Selectboard Vice-Chair

TOWN OF ESSEX ZONING BOARD OF ADJUSTMENT PUBLIC HEARING Municipal Conference Room. 81 Main Street, Essex Jct., VT. October 1, 2020 - 6:00 PM. COVID-19 UPDATE: Due to the COVID-19 / coronavirus pandemic, this meeting will be held remotely and recorded via Microsoft Stream. Join via Microsoft Teams at https:// tinyurl.com/ESSEXZBA. Depending on your browser, you may need to call in for audio (below). Join via conference call (audio only): (802) 377-3784 | Conference ID: 480347627#. Public wifi is available at the Essex municipal offices, libraries, and hotspots listed here: https://publicservice. vermont.gov/content/ public-wifi-hotspotsvermont. 1. Election of Officers 2. Conditional Use: E O F Outlets LLC is proposing a light manufacturing use for a pottery workshop & 20 seat wine bar located at 19 Essex Way in the MXD-PUD & B-DC Zones. Tax Map 92, Parcel 2-4. 3. Variance: Craig Pellerin is proposing an allowance for his newly built garage that was constructed inside the setbacks for property located at 12 Kimberly Drive in the R2 District. Tax Map 69, Parcel 17-9. 4. Minutes: September 3, 2020 Note: Visit our website at www.essexvt.org if you have questions or call 802-878-1343.

SEVEN DAYS SEPTEMBER 16-23, 2020

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9/11/20

HIRING EXPERIENCED CARPENTER Red House Building is looking to expand their team of craftspeople with a skilled carpenter. Applicants must have: » At least 5 years of full-time homebuilding/renovation experience » Maintain a valid driver’s license.

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR Northeast Employment and Training Organization, Inc.(NETO) is seeking an Executive Director to lead an established non-profit organization. The Executive 3:22 PMDirector manages and oversees the functions, operations and programs of the Agency with an emphasis on delivery of weatherization and comprehensive energy services to qualified households in the Northeast Kingdom of Vermont. Qualified applicants possess the ability to lead an agency consisting of 20 – 30 employees; direct, plan, implement and evaluate organization systems and procedures related to weatherization program; responsible for financial management and data processing systems; coordinates all components of the organization; chief liaison between the Office of Economic Opportunity and other program-related organizations.

Our ideal candidate would possess the following qualities: » Good communication and sense of teamwork » Professionalism » Attention to detail » Strong organizational skills. Hourly wage will depend upon the applicant’s skill level/experience. Generous benefits package.

Please visit our website to learn more about our team at redhousebuilding.com and send resumes to jeremy@redhousebuilding.com

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6/1/20 8:43 PM

It’s good to remember the value of community.

Qualified applicants should have a minimum of three years’ supervisory experience with multiple employees. Applicant must have demonstrated knowledge in the fields of construction, energy efficiency and/or weatherization. Experience in Non-Profit business practices and applications beneficial, but not mandatory. The Executive Director reports directly to the Board of Directors and shares responsibilities with the Assistant Executive Director.

Whether you’re just starting your Nursing career or looking for an environment that supports your nursing career, now is the time. We’d love to welcome you!

STAFF NURSE (LPN OR RN) Full-Time Nights Wake Robin seeks health care staff who are licensed in Vermont to work collaboratively to provide high quality care in a fast paced residential and long-term care environment, while maintaining a strong sense of “home.” We offer an opportunity to build strong relationships with staff and residents in a dynamic community setting. We continue to offer generous shift differentials: Nights $4.50/hour, Evenings $2.50/hour & weekends $1.55. Wake Robin offers an excellent compensation and benefits package. Interested candidates can send their resumes to hr@wakerobin.com or fill out an application at wakerobin.com/employment. E.O.E.

NETO is an Equal Opportunity Employer offering competitive benefits that include Medical, Dental and Supplemental Insurance Products, 403B, Vacation, Sick Leave and Paid Holidays. Starting Salary range is $58,000 to $65,000.To apply, please submit a Cover Letter, Resume and three Letters of Professional/Business References to: NETO Board of Directors, PO Box 584, Newport, VT 05855. Deadline to submit resume is October 15, 2020.

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9/11/20 3:12 PM

NEW JOBS POSTED DAILY! JOBS.SEVENDAYSVT.COM

WORDPRESS

• Full benefits package

WEB DEVELOPER/ DESIGNER

• Generous vacation policy

The IT Department at VCFA is a small team that is dedicated to offering the best media and information experiences to students, faculty, and staff. The systems and tools that our team manages play a critical role in the operation of every MFA program at the College with their unique events and media needs. We are looking for an experienced WordPress Developer/Designer to join our IT team. The right candidate will be responsible for both backend and front-end development and design of Program, Staff, Alumnx, and Student sites as well as VCFA.edu main site. Common tasks include:

• Huge discount on product

• Competitive pay • Own shares of the company

65 SEPTEMBER 16-23, 2020

Our manufacturing facility in Georgia, VT is growing! We are looking for full-time, seasonal and year-round

PRODUCTION/WAREHOUSE WORKERS to manufacture our high-quality garden-related products.

Come to our on-site job fair! Saturday, September 19th from 9 am - 11 am 104A Arrowhead Industrial Park Building 110, Georgia, VT

• Establishing and guiding a website’s architecture • Managing all technical aspects of the WordPress • Good understanding of front-end technologies, including HTML5, CSS3, JavaScript, jQuery • Ability to understand CSS changes and their ramifications to ensure consistent style across platforms and browsers Approximately one-quarter of your time will also be dedicated to audio/video support for the week-long, intensive MFA program residencies that are the backbone of VCFA’s innovative delivery model for higher education in the arts. You will support student & faculty lectures, gallery installations, musical performances, film screenings & more.

Please go to our careers page at gardeners.com/careers and apply online! SERAC_7D_5H_91020.indd 1 5h-GardenersSupply091620.indd 1

9/11/20 9/10/20 10:50 9:13 AM

CARING PEOPLE WANTED

MULTIPLE POSITIONS OPEN

Burlington Area

Northeastern Vermont Regional Hospital (NVRH) has a variety of openings available, Email resume and cover letter to Peter Timpone, Director of including RNs, LNAs, IT, at peter.timpone@vcfa.edu. Ultrasound Technologist, Echocardiographer and Sr. Multi-Modality Technologist. 5v-VTCollegeFineArts091620.indd 1 9/11/20 12:44 PM NVRH also has Administrative Positions, Information Services, Food Service and Environmental Services openings.

Home Instead Senior Care, a provider of personal care services to seniors in their homes, is seeking friendly and dependable people. CAREGivers assist seniors with daily living activities. P/T & F/T positions available. 12 hours/week minimum, flexible scheduling, currently available. $13-$17.50/hour depending on experience. No heavy lifting. Apply online at: homeinstead.com/483 Or call: 802.860.4663

Full-time, part-time and per diem positions available. For more information or to apply, please visit nvrh.org/careers.

WE ARE HIRING… HELEN PORTER REHABILITATION AND NURSING Helen Porter Rehabilitation and Nursing, in Middlebury, is a secure residence where loved ones are assured of skilled nursing care and assistance with daily living and where privacy is honored and individuality respected.

• Education & Infection Control Manager • Unit

Nurse Manager – Post Acute

Sign-on bonus $7,500 • Unit

Nurse Supervisor Helen Porter

To learn more about these positions and to apply go to: uvmhealth.wd1.myworkdayjobs.com/porter.

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CLERICAL/ ADMINISTRATIVE

Jasper Hill Is Hiring in Greensboro

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(Job Code #20015)

The Vermont Judiciary in now hiring full-time, limited service positions funded through 12/31/20. They offer full benefits including healthcare, sick leave, holidays and paid time off in Burlington, St. Johnsbury, Newport and Bennington. Approximately 5 Docket Clerk B positions, which will specialize in customer service, records keeping and data entry involving one or more docket areas. High school degree and 2 or more years of clerical work required. Starting pay at $17.11 per hour. Go to vermontjudiciary.org/employmentopportunities/staff-openings for more details and to complete application.

These positions are open until filled. Equal opportunity employer.

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2/24/20 1:02 PM

Come work in your own backyard producing Award-Winning Milk and Cheese! Hiring for our Creameries, Aging Facility and Packaging Lines. Join our growing team and receive a competitive benefits package, Health Insurance, PTO, 401k and lots of delicious cheese. jasperhillfarm.com/ employment Please submit completed application or resume and three references to: work@jasperhillfarm.com

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9/11/20 11:13 AM

ATTENTION RECRUITERS:

POST YOUR JOBS AT JOBS.SEVENDAYSVT.COM FOR FAST RESULTS, OR CONTACT MICHELLE BROWN: MICHELLE@SEVENDAYSVT.COM

SEPTEMBER 16-23, 2020

Full-time Nanny Needed Seven Either Days one full-time or two Issue: 9-16-20 part-time nannies needed for 3.83 twin 20-month 5v x 5.25 old girls in South Burlington. Looking for $459 print online someone whoand will focus on the

GRANT WRITER CVOEO has 52 years of working for a more just society and is committed to developing best practices in the field of community action. Working under the direction of the Executive Director and closely with CVOEO’s development team, the Grant Writer is responsible for grant writing and reporting with public agencies, private foundations and corporations -- writing proposals for both unrestricted operating revenue and restricted projects and for submitting timely and accurate reports for grant funded projects. The Grant Writer will work with CVOEO’s program directors to assist them in funding and growing CVOEO programs through grant fund development. If you have a Bachelor’s degree in business or human services plus 2-4 years’ related experience with grant writing and funding; experience with non-profit grant writing; excellent verbal and written communication skills - bilingual abilities are a plus; we’d like to hear from you! This is a 40 hours/week position. To learn more about this position, please visit www.cvoeo.org/careers. We offer an excellent benefit package including medical, dental and vision insurance, generous vacation and sick leave, a retirement plan and discounted gym membership. To apply, please submit a cover letter and resume by e-mail to: GrantWriter2020@cvoeo.org. The review of applications begins immediately and will continue until suitable candidates are found. CVOEO is an Equal Opportunity Employer. Applications from women, veterans and people from diverse racial, ethnic, and cultural backgrounds are encouraged to apply.

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educational and experiential aspects of learning through play. Covid safety a must. nannyapp20@gmail.com

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR Burlington, VT

Submit application materials via: www.imsearch.com/7608. The Kelly Brush Foundation is an equal opportunity employer and encourages people of all backgrounds to apply for this position.

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CONTROLLER

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The Kelly Brush Foundation (KBF) is seeking an executive director to serve as an organizational leader, strategist, fundraiser, and marketer to advance the KBF’s standing as a national leader in promoting active lifestyles for the Spinal Cord Injury community. This leader will report to a committed board of 10 directors and will oversee a dedicated staff of four in programming, development, marketing, and operations/administration.

9/14/20 12:05 PM

Responsible for all financial reports and records for a local non-profit in So. Burlington. Bachelor’s Degree or equivalent in business related field. Minimum of two years’ experience in related position. Supervisory experience and knowledge of computer systems and databases needed. Send resume, references and salary requirements to: Vermont Association for the Blind and Visually Impaired, 60 Kimball Avenue, So. Burlington, VT 05403 E.O.E.

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9/14/20 11:50 AM

9/11/20 3:36 PM

NEW JOBS POSTED DAILY! JOBS.SEVENDAYSVT.COM

RESTAURANT MANAGER

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR Jewish Communities of Vermont is recruiting an Executive Director to work with our Board of Directors to achieve the vision and strategies of the organization. JCVT is a non-denominational organization that seeks to strengthen existing Jewish organizations in Vermont and to encourage new outlets for all Jewish Vermonters by facilitating connection and innovation. For full description, or to apply, contact ed@jcvt.org.

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9/14/20 5:45 PM

Legal Secretary

67 SEPTEMBER 16-23, 2020

American Flatbread Middlebury Hearth is planning for our future! We’re hiring a Restaurant Manager to lead and support our incredibly hard working team, while continuing to drive our standard of excellence in customer service and quality of food and beverage. If you have experience offering stellar customer service, possess great communication skills, work well with a team, know how to motivate others and have an interest in delicious, local and organic food, please forward your resume to Danielle@americanflatbread.com.

Gallagher, Flynn & Company is a growing professional services firm providing clients with tax, audit, and business consulting services. Are you hoping to join a solid team in a professional, friendly office environment in either our South Burlington, VT or Lebanon, NH locations?

TAX PREPARERS (SEASONAL) We are seeking temporary professionals to help with our 1040 practice from January to April. Although not necessary, candidates would ideally have individual tax return preparation experience or have accounting, tax or financial services backgrounds. Up-to-date technical training will be provided. This position will be about 40 hours per week (based on your availability).

We offer a positive and respectful work environment, competitive salary and vacation package, retirement plan and other benefits. Please, only serious candidates interested in making a long term commitment and ability to work nights and weekends. EOE.

ALL CANDIDATES FOR THESE POSITIONS WILL POSSESS:

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7/31/20 3:02 PM

• Solid communication, mathematical and computer skills • Flexibility, team attitude and attention to detail Interested candidates should e-mail their resume to

Legal Secretary sought for busy Jennifer Jeffrey at jjeffrey@gfc.com. While we appreciate law practice in Burlington, all interest in this outstanding opportunity, only candidates Vermont for McCormick, who most closely align with our search will be contacted. Fitzpatrick, Kasper & Burchard PC. Seeking someone who can multi-task, but still have an attention for detail. 5v-GallagherFlynn091620.indd 1 9/14/20 Must also have good people skills in order to deal with multiple clientele, attorneys, paralegals and staff.

WEB MANAGEMENT SPECIALIST ESSEX WESTFORD SCHOOL DISTRICT

Competitive salary and great benefits available. Please send resume to

kjk@mc-fitz.com.

FULL TIME NIGHT POSITION

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9/14/20 4:50 PM

in Home Health Care Seeking caring individual to provide assistance to our special needs son in our South Hero home. Care includes administering meds, personal care, and monitoring. Quiet lakeside home with separate suite. Low COVID-19 risk. CDC and Vermont Health guidelines followed.

Do you have experience managing websites with a background in communication? The Essex Westford School District is seeking a full-time, 12-month Web Management Specialist to design, develop, and maintain state of the art web communications package for our District that is web friendly, user friendly, and ADA compliant that can be used as an effective and efficient communication tool with parents, students, employees, and community members. Also be able to bring sight and sound together in order to tell a cohesive story through the creation of video projects for the District. EWSD is committed to building a culturally diverse and inclusive environment. Successful candidates must be committed to working effectively with diverse community populations and expected to strengthen such capacity if hired.

Competitive rates & paid training.

Position pays $19.50 to $21.60/hour depending on experience. Excellent benefits available including family medical and dental insurance; life insurance; a retirement plan with up to 6% employer contribution; tuition reimbursement; and paid leaves.

Send resumes to: dpierson79@comcast.net.

For consideration, please apply electronically through schoolspring.com (Job ID 3359889).

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AFTERSCHOOL AND SCHOOL-AGE HUBS

ARE HIRING!

10:49 AM

Statewide, dozens of Vermont’s new hubs that will serve school-age children on remote learning days need qualified staff to supervise K-6 students while they learn remotely and play. Positions are short-term, full-time or part-time, and you can begin immediately. Jobs are inperson, and employers carefully follow COVID-19 health and safety protocols. These positions are perfect for those who are interested in making a difference in their community. Afterschool and school-age hubs staff will be a critical part of Vermont’s COVID-19 relief response, giving elementary school students support while they learn virtually and parents support so they can work. There are available jobs for anyone who has experience working with youth, and are a great opportunity for those who are currently in high school or college, as well as high school and college graduates who are taking a gap year or looking for flexible employment. Applicants should like working with kids. You should be energetic and responsible, have diverse skills, and able to pass a background check. Visit VermontAfterschool.org/Recruit to easily indicate your interest in applying for an open position near you.

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9/8/20 12:30 PM

ATTENTION RECRUITERS:

POST YOUR JOBS AT JOBS.SEVENDAYSVT.COM FOR FAST RESULTS, OR CONTACT MICHELLE BROWN: MICHELLE@SEVENDAYSVT.COM

SEPTEMBER 16-23, 2020

Executive Director The Executive Director for the Cornell Cooperative Extension Association of Essex County represents and is accountable to the Association Board of Directors and the Director of the Cornell Cooperative Extension System. The Executive Director is expected to be an effective leader, helping to develop and project a compelling and contemporary vision for extension programming to stakeholders, both internal and external. The Executive Director must be engaged with decision makers both locally and at Cornell in order to be effective. This position is a full-time exempt position - 100% FTE. The minimum starting salary for this position is $73,000.00 annually commensurate with experience. This position, based on eligibility, offers a comprehensive benefit package, to include: health and dental insurance, retirement, vacation, sick and personal leave. Visit the application link to read the full job description and for more application information. Individuals who bring a diverse perspective and are supportive of diversity are strongly encouraged to apply. http://bit.ly/CornellExecDir

PUBLIC WORKS SUPERVISOR/HIGHWAY FOREMAN 9/7/20 FULL-TIME EQUIPMENT OPERATOR

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The Town of Johnson Public Works Department is currently seeking a qualified candidate for a full-time Public Works Supervisor/Highway Foreman and a fulltime Equipment Operator. Successful candidates will demonstrate an eagerness to develop their professional skills and apply current best practices. The Town of Johnson offers a competitive wage and benefits package.

Invest in Yourself. Train for your career in healthcare today!

9/11/20 3:32 PM

PROGRAM FEATURES: ➢ Dedicated student support ➢ Guaranteed employment *

Candidates must be eligible to work in the U.S., at least 18 years of age, must have a valid Commercial Driver’s License (with at least a Class B endorsement). Applicants must be able to operate heavy equipment in all weather conditions, follow all appropriate safety procedures, work outdoors, and perform a variety of physically demanding tasks. The Town of Johnson is an EOE. All applicants will be considered for employment without attention to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, veteran, or disability status. For more information and to send cover letter and resume: Town of Johnson - ATTN: Brian Story 293 Lower Main West, Johnson, VT 05656 Or email: jadministrator@townofjohnson.com.

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9/15/20

DR Power Equipment now hiring Call Center Representatives to join our South Burlington team!

Looking to take your customer service and sales experience to the next level? Searching for a new opportunity at a fun and dynamic company? We have the job for you! APPLY TODAY FOR ONE OF OUR OPPORTUNITIES:

• Customer Service Representative • Product & Customer Service Representative • Call Center Sales Representative

➢ Starting wage of $15.45 with potential to earn $16.24 after one year

TRAIN TO BE A PHLEBOTOMIST GUARANTEED JOB IN 8 WEEKS* Work for Vermont’s Largest Employer! Over the past twenty years, Vermont HITEC educated and employed over 1,600 individuals in the healthcare, information technology, advanced manufacturing, and business services fields. We are accepting applications for our latest healthcare program. The program offers eight weeks of Phlebotomy training at no cost and immediate employment and 8:48 AM apprenticeship as a Phlebotomist with the UVM Medical Center (up to 8 positions) upon successful completion. 3Enrollment in a Registered Apprenticeship 3Up to 8 full-time positions available 3Guaranteed starting wages with shift differential (where applicable) 3 Performance-based increases 3Full benefits, including health, dental, paid vacation, 401k, and more 3No cost for qualified VT residents * Employment guaranteed upon successful completion of the 8-week program.

PERKS: Paid Training * Paid Time Off * Product Discounts * And More!

To apply and for details visit: drpower. com/careers Questions? Email: jobs@drpower.com

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5h-Centerpoint091620.indd 1 1:54 PM

The ITAR Program (Information Technology Apprenticeship Readiness) is a partnership of:

➢ Performance-based salary increases ➢ National Certification as a Phlebotomy Technician JOB FEATURES: ➢ Work for Vermont’s largest employer ➢ Direct patient care ➢ Team environment ➢ Rewarding work ➢ High-growth occupation ➢ Day shifts available

LEARN MORE APPLY ONLINE

vthitec.org DEADLINE FOR FALL 2020 SESSION: SEPTEMBER 20, 2020

The ITAR Program is funded in part by a grant from the Vermont and U.S. Dept. of Labor. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment with regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, age, disablity, genetics political affiliation or belief.

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SHARED LIVING PROVIDER Howard Center is seeking a Shared Living Provider for a woman in her 50s who enjoys crocheting, reading, writing, and watching TV. The ideal provider(s) will be female, or a couple with no children in the house. Pets are welcome. The provider needs to be able to provide 24-hour support in the home, as this individual has significant behavioral needs and cannot be left alone. The provider will work with a team of clinical staff to provide support. Compensation includes a taxfree annual stipend of $75,000, room and board payments, and a generous respite budget. For more information or to request an application, please contact Patrick Fraser at patfraser@howardcenter.org or 802-871-2902.

9/1/20 3:41 PM

Zoning Administrator The Town is accepting applications for a full time Zoning Administrator. This position is responsible for administering the Town’s Zoning Bylaws, assisting the public with permit applications, and supporting the Development Review Board, which includes attending evening meetings. A detailed job description can be found on our website at stalbanstown.com. 2h-TownofStAlbans091620.indd 1

NEW JOBS POSTED DAILY! JOBS.SEVENDAYSVT.COM

69 SEPTEMBER 16-23, 2020

OPERATIONS SUPPORT ASSOCIATE VT-HEC is a highly successful non-profit that for over 20 years has been providing professional development to educators and others who work to benefit Vermont’s children and youth.

PHARMACY TECHNICIAN CERTIFIED - OUTPATIENT

This part-time position will be our primary customer service liaison, providing support for registration, billing, and general inquiries regarding our workshops and courses. Additional responsibilities include helping to coordinate our live and virtual events, providing communication and support leading up to/ during/post events, and keeping consistent business hours (email and phone). This position will have the opportunity to telecommute, but some office hours will be required.

Sign on bonus - Up to $3,000 within a year of employment

The Pharmacy Technician performs those duties which do not require the professional training of a pharmacist. Duties include, but aren’t limited to, filling prescriptions, providing excellent customer service, updating patient records, cleaning, inventory management, dealing with insurance companies & completing tasks as assigned.

Full job description: vthec.org (Look under “About Us”)

LEARN MORE & APPLY: uvmmed.hn/sevendays

VT-HEC is an Equal Opportunity Employer.

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9/14/20 9:19 AM

Looking for a new position with a well-established member-owned financial institution? Then explore the available opportunities at New England Federal Credit Union!

100% EMPLOYEE-OWNED 100% EMPLOYEE-OWNED 100% EMPLOYEE-OWNED

Consumer Loan Processor Supports the Originator by being responsible for the timely processing and closing of the consumer loan. The support consists of processing, preparing closing funds and performing quality control when the loan closes.

Join Join the the team team at at Gardener’s Gardener’s Supply! Supply!

We have immediate openings in Call team at Gardener’s WeJoin havethe immediate openings in our our Supply! Call Center! Center! We have immediate openings in our Call Center! We We are are looking looking for for part-time part-time and and full-time, full-time, We are looking for part-time and full-time, seasonal SALES & SERVICE SPECIALISTS seasonal SALES & SERVICE SPECIALISTS to to seasonalexceptional SALES & SERVICE SPECIALISTS to provide customer service to provide exceptional customer service to our our provide exceptional customer service to our customers over the phone at our Call Center customers over the phone at our Call Center customersBurlington, over the phone at our Call Center located located in in Burlington, VT. VT. located in Burlington, VT. We We offer: offer: We offer: •• Very Very flexible flexible scheduling scheduling •• Very flexible scheduling Competitive • Competitive pay pay •• Competitive pay Huge discount • Huge discount on on product product •• Huge discount onand product Amazing culture • Amazing culture and the the best best co-workers co-workers •• Amazing culture and the best co-workers Positions thru the month of December • Positions thru the month of December • Positions thru the month of December We are are 100% 100% employee-owned employee-owned and and aa We We are B100% employee-owned a Certified Corporation. Please go goand to our our Certified B Corporation. Please to Certified B Corporation. Please go to our careers page at www.gardeners.com/careers www.gardeners.com/careers careers page at careers page at www.gardeners.com/careers and apply apply online! online! and and apply online! CCC_051820.indd 1 CCC_051820.indd 1 6t-GardenersSupply090920.indd 1 CCC_051820.indd 1

Mortgage Loan Processor Responsible for obtaining the necessary information to process and complete mortgage loan files. The role verifies all documentation for accuracy and completeness while ensuring that the documents are prepared and finalized in compliance with policy and procedures.

Mortgage Loan Assistant Supports the Originator by providing administrative services throughout the mortgage loan process. Handles daily phone and e-mail volume in a timely manner, schedules appointments and provides borrowers with accurate information and required documentation.

Loan Specialist Handles the administrative servicing aspect of direct, indirect, education, home equity and line of credit loans. Position is responsible for accurate system set-up, maintenance, various transaction processing and research associated with the loan.

Member Service Representative Works with our members to understand their financial position, offer information about the product/service that may best suit their need and then assist them through account opening within the branch. For more detail and qualifications associated with each position and to apply, please visit the career page at

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9/8/20 10:16 AM

nefcu.com

EOE/AA 9/14/20 10:25 AM

ATTENTION RECRUITERS:

POST YOUR JOBS AT JOBS.SEVENDAYSVT.COM FOR FAST RESULTS, OR CONTACT MICHELLE BROWN: MICHELLE@SEVENDAYSVT.COM

SEPTEMBER 16-23, 2020

Champlain Community Services is a distinguished developmental services provider agency with a strong emphasis on self-determination values and employee and consumer satisfaction.

Seven Days Issue: 9/16 Due: 9/14 by 11am Size: 1.86 x 5.25 Cost: $233.75 (with 1 week onlin

Engaging minds that change the world

At CCS you will find a comprehensive benefits package, including paid time off, retirement match and affordable health insurance, and a supportive team of professionals. In addition to these benefits, CCS has been voted as one of the Best Places to Work for the second year in a row in 2020. Join us! We would love to have you as part of our team.

INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY PROFESSIONAL Combine your joy of computer systems and your desire to improve the lives of others in this exciting new position. In this position you will provide I.T. support, oversee the electronic health records system and ensure all systems are up to date and working smoothly. Experience and/or certifications in a variety of information technology systems required. Send your resume and cover letter to Brent Hewey, bhewey@ccs-vt.org.

UVM Bookstore Fall & Holiday Help Come join the team at the Catamount Store at 46 Church Street during our busy Fall and Holiday seasons. This full-time temporary position will assist with stocking, straightening, and merchandising the sales ﬂoor, running a cash register at one of our two retail locations, and the daily processing and shipping of online orders. The ideal candidate will be comfortable working both independently and as part of a team, have strong organizational and customer service skills, be very detail oriented, and have both weekend and weekday availability.

SHARED LIVING PROVIDER

Howard Center is seeking a Shared Living Provider for a man in his 30s who enjoys super hero movies, puzzles, boating, and pizza. The ideal provider(s) will have a male in the household and no children living in the home full-time – this individual must be supervised when interacting with children. Pets are okay. The provider needs to be comfortable supporting this individual with personal care, hygiene, managing emotions, and working to include the individual as a roommate in the household. Twenty-four hour support in the home is required. Compensation includes a tax-free annual stipend of $26,000, room and board payments, and a generous respite budget. For more information or to request an application, please contact Patrick Fraser at patfraser@howardcenter.org or 802-871-2902.

The University is especially interested in candidates who can contribute to the diversity of the institution and can deliver 4t-HowardCenter091620.indd 1 high quality service to the UVM Bookstore operation. Applicants can apply by submitting a cover letter, resume, and references to Brendan Andrews by email (Brendan. Peterson Quality Malt is seeking Andrews@uvm.edu). This is a a night shift employee to temporary position, and not eligible monitor our equipment, roast for UVM beneﬁts. Application and mill grains, and help with review will begin immediately.

VIRTUAL ACTIVITIES COORDINATOR This temporary position acts as a facilitator of virtual activities for individuals to ensure they have a variety of options to stay connected to services and staff. The scope of the Virtual Activities Coordinator encompasses the values of the agency to promote the ability for everyone to participate and belong in our community. Send resume and cover letter to Karen Ciechanowicz, staff@ccs-vt.org.

The University of Vermont is an Equal Opportunity/Afﬁrmative Action Employer.

facility cleaning. We will provide on the job training. vermontmalt.com/jobs.

9/11/20 1:26 PM

Medical Assistant

Seeking full time experienced medical assistant to join our busy OB/GYN practice 1 9/8/20 1:30 PM clinical team. Experience in 5v-ChamplainCommServices091620.indd 1 9/15/203v-Graystone091620.indd 9:02 AM 1 9/14/20 1t-PetersonQualityMalt090920.indd 11:29 AM women’s health is preferred but not required. Looking Feeding Chittenden has a new opportunity for someone that can work for the right individual! accurately and efficiently in As the largest direct service emergency food provider in Vermont, a fast paced environment. Feeding Chittenden serves over 12,000 people each year. The position requires The Access Coordinator will coordinate activities in the Food competency in taking vitals, Access Center, organizing groceries and packaged foods, to HARWOOD UNIFIED UNION SCHOOL DISTRICT phlebotomy, immunization be prepared for delivery through on site methods and delivery; is seeking a District-wide Education Technology Administrator administration, assisting work with the Warehouse Coordinator to inventory food and with for our school district in central Vermont, serving approximately Distribution Coordinator to upload pre-order system; coordinate with medical procedures and 1,920 PK-12 students. The successful candidate will be a administrative duties that measure programmatic progress and medical intake. Candidate licensed administrator with solid experience with technology outcomes with online ordering; oversee pre-orders and supervise should also be comfortable hardware, software, and learning applications. This position volunteers to assist in preparing orders. with EMR systems, medical will provide leadership in achieving and maintaining high We’re looking for a highly motivated individual with a passion for terminology, and general technology integration into teaching and learning throughout mobilizing support for hunger relief. Successful candidates will computer skills. all educational settings to support teachers in instruction. The have an Associate’s Degree in business or human services which Education Technology Administrator is also responsible for include 2-4 years’ related experience; familiarity with services of Looking for an individual other community social services and their eligibility requirements; overseeing all of the district’s computer infrastructure and must with good interpersonal and strong organizational skills; basic administrative and supervisory have some experience with networking, hardware and devices. communication skills, who skills; excellent verbal and written communication skills required This position will supervise the technology staff throughout understands the importance - bilingual abilities are a plus; and the ability to interact pleasantly the district. This role will create and coordinate procedures for of providing quality and effectively with the public, staff, and volunteers. integrating technology with curriculum and instruction. This customer service and has Feeding Chittenden is a program of the job requires excellent communication, organizational, and a willingness to be flexible Champlain Valley Office of Economic managerial skills. with duties in order to meet Opportunity. We offer competitive pay the needs of the patients Interested candidates must submit a letter of interest, resume, copy and a great benefit package! Please send and the clinic. Interested of transcripts, and 3 letters of reference via SchoolSpring.com. a cover letter, and resume by email to: candidates should send a FCAccessCoord@cvoeo.org. To learn For more information, please contact Shannon Lessley at cover letter and resume to more about this position, please visit slessley@huusd.org. E.O.E. cvoeo.org/careers. CVOEO is an E.O.E. jobs@maitriobgyn.com. CCS-VT.ORG

E.O.E.

ACCESS COORDINATOR

DISTRICT-WIDE EDUCATION TECHNOLOGY ADMINISTRATOR

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NEW JOBS POSTED DAILY! JOBS.SEVENDAYSVT.COM

Licensed Clinical Social Worker

GREENTOP FARM IS HIRING! Seasonal Harvest and Warehouse Crew Wanted September thru November. Weekday and Weekend shifts available. Looking for motivated, hard workers to join our team in Lamoille County! Email us at greentopfarmllc@gmail.com.

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71 SEPTEMBER 16-23, 2020

WORK WITH YOUTH at the Northlands Job Corps Center in Vergennes, VT. Work one or two, 6-7 hour shifts each week (your choice). $50.00/hour. Please contact Dan W. Hauben ASAP for more information. Thank you! Office: 888-552-1660, Cell: 714-552-6697 omnimed1@verizon.net

8/14/20 3:03 PM

NorthCountry is Hiring!

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9/8/20 12:40 PM

Join the team Gallup ranks in the top 3% worldwide for employee engagement!

Member Advocate I (Chittenden County, Central Vermont)

100% EMPLOYEEOWNED

Provide world-class service face-to-face, over the phone, and in writing. Your typical day will include processing transactions for accountholders, opening accounts, and providing accurate information about our products and services. One to three years of similar or related experience is required, as well as a high level of maturity and confidentiality. This position requires some Saturday shifts.

Join the team at Gardener’s Supply Company We’re America’s leading web-based gardening company based in Burlington, Vermont! We are a 100% employee-owned company and an award winning and nationally recognized socially responsible business. We work hard AND offer a fun place to work including BBQs, staff parties, employee garden plots and much more! We also offer strong cultural values, competitive wages and outstanding benefits!

Member Advocate IV (Chittenden County) In addition to providing world-class service face-to-face, over the phone, and in writing, you’ll help homebuyers secure financing. Use your proven knowledge of mortgage lending to make the process as easy as possible for our members. Demonstrate confidence, find solutions, and communicate clearly with people who have varying levels of homebuying experience. Three to five years of mortgage lending experience is required. This position requires some Saturday shifts.

Dropship Coordinator: This person will be responsible for managing the operations of the dropship program for all dropship products and vendors across all product categories. The DC will utilize the dropship web application, AX12, and Microsoft Office tools to successfully support the current assortment and vendor network as well as position it for growth. Our ideal candidate will have a Bachelor’s degree in business or similar discipline or equivalent job experience; 3-5 yrs of relevant experience in inventory control, ecommerce fulfillment, shipping to major retailers, and vendor integrated system order management; and proficient in Microsoft Suite, especially Excel.

NorthCountry offers competitive pay, opportunity for advancement, and a generous benefit program. n Paid holidays & paid time off

n 401(k) with employer contribution up to 10%

n Medical, dental & vision insurance

n Employee training

n Life insurance

n Wellness program

eCommerce Site Merchandiser: This person will be responsible for delivering an outstanding online shopping experience by ensuring customers easily find and buy the desired products through the development of sound, data-driven merchandising strategies, with a laser-focus on maximizing conversion. Our ideal candidate will have a Bachelor’s Degree in Marketing, Business Administration or related field required; a min of 3 yrs of experience in online marketing, online retail or merchandising; working knowledge of Google Suite and Microsoft Office programs; and excellent project management, communication, analytical, and problem-solving skills.

We would love to hear from you! All positions listed here are full-time. Tell us about yourself at NorthCountryFederalCreditUnion.appone.com. NorthCountry is an equal opportunity employer.

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Interested? Please go to our careers page at www.gardeners.com/careers and apply online!

Federally insured by NCUA

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9/14/20 1:38 PM

fun stuff

RACHEL LINDSAY

SEVEN DAYS SEPTEMBER 16-23, 2020

CALCOKU & SUDOKU (P.59) CROSSWORD (P.59)

HARRY BLISS & STEVE MARTIN

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SALES & SERVICE

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SEVEN DAYS SEPTEMBER 16-23, 2020

9/15/20 9:23 AM

fun stuff RYAN RIDDLE

Making it is not :( Keep this newspaper free for all. Join the Seven Days Super Readers at sevendaysvt.com/super-readers or call us at 802-864-5684.

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Have a deep, dark fear of your own? Submit it to cartoonist Fran Krause at deep-dark-fears.tumblr.com, and you may see your neurosis illustrated in these pages.

FREE WILL ASTROLOGY BY ROB BREZSNY REAL SEPTEMBER 17-23

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): “There are no ordinary feelings,” says poet Dean Young. “Just as there are no ordinary spring days or kicked over cans of paint.” That’s always true, but it will be especially true for you in the coming weeks. I suspect you will be host to a wealth of interesting, unique and profound feelings. They might be a bit overwhelming at times, but I think they will mostly provide rich opportunities for your soul to grow deeper and stronger and more resilient.

VIRGO

(AUG. 23-SEPT. 22):

“At the necessary moment, going naked will be your most convincing disguise,” writes poet Dobby Gibson. As I apply his witty statement to your life, I’ll interpret it metaphorically. My sense is that you could really use the kind of “disguise” he’s talking about. What I mean is that you would benefit by appearing to be different from what people expect of you. You can gain key advantages by shifting the image you present to the world — by expressing a part of your identity that is not usually obvious. And I think the best way to do that is to “go naked” — that is, be candid and transparent and vulnerable about your core truths.

ARIES (March 21-April 19): In one of your past

lives, maybe you were a Neanderthal midwife in what’s now southern France. In another incarnation, you may have been a 17th-century Guarani shaman who shared your knowledge about local plants with an Italian Jesuit missionary in what’s now Uruguay. All the powers and aptitudes you perfected in those and other previous ages could prove helpful as you cultivate your genius in the coming weeks. Just kidding! Cancel my previous speculations. For you Aries folks, past achievements are often of secondary importance as you create your future. In fact, your mandate is usually to transcend the old days and old ways. It may be better not to imitate or rely on old stories, no matter how dazzling. This will be especially true in the coming weeks.

GEMINI (May 21-June 20): “There should be

a science of discontent,” said novelist Frank Herbert. “People need hard times and oppression to develop psychic muscles.” I partially agree with that observation, but I also think it’s a gratuitous cliché that’s not at all absolute. In fact, our culture is under the spell of a mass delusion that tempts us to believe “no pain, no gain” is the supreme learning principle. I’d like to see the development of a robust science of contentment: how fascination and freedom and generosity can build psychic muscles. You’ll be a good candidate to study that subject in the coming weeks.

CANCER (June 21-July 22): Cancerian songwriter Mathangi Arulpragasam is better known by her stage name M.I.A. She has accomplished a lot in her 45 years on the planet, having been nominated for three Grammy Awards and an Academy Award. Esquire magazine named her the 75th most influential person of the 21st century. One key to her success is the fact that she formulated a clear master plan many years ago and has used it to guide her decisions. In her song “Matangi,” she refers to it: “If you’re gonna be me, you need a manifesto / If you ain’t got one, you better get one presto.” I bring this to your attention, Cancerian, because the coming weeks will be an excellent time to formulate (or reformulate) your life manifesto and master plan. LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): “If you’re not invited to the party, throw your own,” declares singer and actress Diahann Carroll. In the coming weeks, I urge you Leos to use that advice as a metaphor in every way you can imagine. For example, if you’re not getting the love

you want from a certain someone, give it to yourself. If no one hands you the opportunity you need, hand it to yourself. If you wish people would tell you what you want to hear, but they’re not saying it, tell yourself what you want to hear. It’s a time when you need to go beyond mere self-sufficiency. Be selfgratifying, self-rewarding, self-acknowledging.

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): Libran playwright Wendy Wasserstein wrote, “Every year I resolve to be a little less the me I know and leave a little room for the me I could be. Every year I make a note not to feel left behind by my friends and family who have managed to change far more than I.” I recommend Wasserstein’s practice to you, dear Libra. The coming weeks will be an excellent time to launch this ritual as an annual tradition. For best results, write it out as a vow. I mean take a pen and paper and compose a solemn pledge, then sign it on the bottom to seal your determination. SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): “I may not lead

the most dramatic life,” confesses singersongwriter Rufus Wainwright, “but in my brain it’s War and Peace every day.” He was referencing Leo Tolstoy’s sprawling, exuberant 1,200page novel War and Peace, which features stories about five families who lived through Napoléon’s invasion of Russia in the 19th century. I’m guessing that these days your fantasy life may also be filled with epic fairy tales and heroic sagas and tear-jerking myths. Is there a problem with that? Not necessarily. It could be quite entertaining and educational. I do recommend that you keep your actual life a little calmer and saner, however.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): “I rejoice

to live in such a splendidly disturbing time!” said author Helen Keller (1880-1968). She was a smart activist who worked hard in behalf of women’s equality, labor rights, anti-militarism and socialism. Was she being sarcastic in saying she loved being alive during a time of upheaval? Not at all. She derived excitement and vigor from critiquing injustice. Her lust for life soared as she lent her considerable energy to making life on Earth more enjoyable for more people. I invite you to consider adopting

her attitude in the coming weeks. It’s a good time to experiment with generating the personal power that becomes available by taking practical action on behalf of your high ideals.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): You know what perfectionists are: people who obsessively strive to finesse every last detail, polishing and honing so compulsively that they risk sucking all the soul out of the finished product. In contrast to them, I propose that we identify a different class of humans known as “imperfectionists.” They understand that a ferocious drive for utter purity can make things sterile and ugly. They resolve to cultivate excellence while at the same time they understand that irregularities and eccentricities may infuse their work with beauty. I hope you’ll act like an imperfectionist in the coming weeks, Capricorn. AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): “Everything

good I’ve ever gotten in life, I only got because I gave something else up,” writes author Elizabeth Gilbert. To that melodramatic declaration, I say, “Really? Everything? I don’t believe you.” And yet I do think she has a point. On some occasions, the most effective strategy for bringing good new influences into our lives is to sacrifice an influence or habit or pattern we’re attached to. And often the thing that needs to be sacrificed is comfortable or consoling or mildly pleasurable. I suspect that the coming weeks will offer you one of these opportunities, Aquarius.

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): “I and me are always too deeply in conversation,” confessed philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche. I wonder why he said “too deeply” and not just “deeply.” Did he mean his dialogues with himself distracted him from important matters in the world outside of his imagination? Was he implying that he got so consumed while conducting his selfinterviews that he lost his bearings and forgot what his goals were? With these cautions in mind, Pisces, I invite you to dive into an intense but spacious communion with yourself. Make this a delightful and illuminating conference, not a raging debate or a debilitating argument.

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SEVEN DAYS SEPTEMBER 16-23, 2020

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VIVACIOUS IN VERMONT Looking to meet a guy who is active and fit, likes good food and con ersation, and is up to date with 21st-century technology. I have lived in many different places — overseas, upstate New York, and Austin, Texas — and I am here in Vermont to stay. I am quintessentially feminine, although with limits: not all pink all the time. VinVermont, 54, seeking: M, l OUTDOORSY AND ACTIVE I enjoy being active in all of Vermont’s seasons, adventurous and spontaneous travel, gardening, home projects, outdoor recreation, good food, and small concerts. Am also content with museums or the New Yorker and a front porch. Raise animals for my freezer. Am a loyal friend. NEK. I am looking for a close companion and am open to all that entails. NEK026, 58, seeking: M, l AUTUMN LIGHT A prize is waiting for the first man wh distracts me from my work laptop! Hard-driving heath care professional. Independent- yet yearning for someone to appreciate this adventurous, intelligent, physically fit woman. If ou know what INFJ means, you qualify for bonus points. Healthy mind/body/ soul? Straight to the top ten list. All messages answered. I challenge you to convince me! Hope, 63, seeking: M, l AFFECTIONATE, ENTHUSIASTIC, DYNAMIC SINGLE MOM I make friends like the rest of Vermont is buying Subarus. I’ll make you laugh, solve problems together and be forever loyal. I’m a sucker for muscular thighs, thoughtfulness and looking good in a T-shirt. Sex is an important part of a relationship with me. I’m intelligent, self-employed, ambitious and highly moral. I’m fat by American standards and active. Elastic_Heart, 45, seeking: M, TM TRYING SOMETHING NEW I love kinky play. Enjoy MMF and MFF threesomes. Looking for a woman for some discreet play. Newly bi-curious. Looking for a fun friend to explore kinks with. vtkinkygirl, 44, seeking: W CUCKOO ABOUT ADVENTURES I’m just looking for a new friend. I’m somewhat new to the area and would like to find someone who likes to talk hike, or do anything that doesn’t involve going to the bar or lots of drinking! NDrootsNYbuds, 37, seeking: M, l HERE’S TO SECOND CHANCES Widowed, fit, fun, financi ly secure WF with serious BDSM/kinky fantasies that I want/ need to explore. Looking to find 50- t 60-y/o male with experience in the much less vanilla side of sex for dating and/or LTR. bestisyettobe, 53, seeking: M, l CREATIVE, EMPATHIC, KIND I am a curious, sensitive and intuitive woman who is creative and smart. I love excellent conversation, the outdoors, travel and good food! I’m a spiritual seeker and writer; mostly night owl. Looking for deep connection, independence and laughter in someone who values doing their inner work. SoulTraveler, 50, seeking: M, l

SEVEN DAYS SEPTEMBER 16-23, 2020

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MEN seeking... KINKY OUTDOORSMAN EASY TO PLEASE I’m looking for a woman to rock my socks off — and I like to wear ‘em tall! Do you like to wear jeans? Hey, me too! I love watching the sunrise, going camping and hiking, and eating ass on the reg. What are you into? Hit me up. I might not be worth it, but I promise to pay. Swingdaddychaddy, 26, seeking: W, Cp, Gp, l ALAN ALDA CLONE LIKES BUTT Looking for a regular friend to be with me and my partner. Age is a number; I am looking for an old soul in a healthy body. I have been told (recently) that I am a good teacher for helping guys get pleasure from the ass. But I can cook, too, and love to feed my friends. Besame mucho. pierofrancesca, 62, seeking: M UNORDINARY, AVERAGE GUY I’m all the things you want in a man, plus some. ;) More count y than city for sure. I’m a hardworking, selfsupported individual who doesn’t fit into any classification tota ly. I’d love to meet an intelligent, honest, loyal, attractive and sexy woman with a great sense of humor to spend my life with. Itshim, 46, seeking: W, l COUNTRY, WORKER, ADVENTURER My life sure has been an adventure! Vermont-born and -raised. Looking for a woman who might enjoy a day on the kayaks, a night out dancing or a good old-fashioned movie night. timberjack240, 59, seeking: W, l

DOWN-TO-EARTH COUNTRY SOUL I’m down-to-earth with a good sense of humor/wit. Hands-on dad. I enjoy everything outdoors — hiking, gardening, animals, barbecuing, summer at the lake. I enjoy cooking and projects around the home. I’m open-minded, open to trying new things and adventures. Enjoy a good balance between an evening out and a nice meal home with a movie. Countrysoul, 45, seeking: W, l HANDSOME, HAPPY AND LOYAL I like honesty and righteousness. I am fair and understanding and love to converse. raznik, 58, seeking: W, Cp CAREGIVER Most of what I would have to say is in the questionnaire. Grampie, 73, seeking: W, l HORNY BI-CURIOUS MAN Now is the time. I’ve been thinking about this too long, and it’s time for something new. I’ve dabbled and greatly enjoyed MMF threesomes. It’s time to explore this new side of my sexuality. Looking for a gay or bi male to navigate my exploration. Time4somethingNew, 44, seeking: M CARING, FUN-LOVING, FUNNY, IRREVERENT LAWYER I love spending as much time outside as possible — sailing, biking, live music, outdoor dining and enjoying all Vermont has to offer. I have been in the area for almost 30 years and have a wonderful group of friends. Now thinking about winter travel to somewhere a bit less gray. Looking for interesting conversations, sharing time in the outdoors and travel. SunMountainsFriends, 64, seeking: W, l HARDWORKING, NIGHT LIFE, HONEST I’m 55, looking for adventure with a friend with benefits. orking for the future for financial independence Woodbury55vt, 53, seeking: M, W SPOIL MY PARTNER I am a very fit lifelong passable closete cross-dressing cougar, non op trans woman seeking a discreet, fit, kin partner to spoil rotten. I have much to give and love to please my mate first and foremost. Ha e very private home and love to entertain. Looking for trustworthy partner for fun to start, maybe more. Susan123, 55, seeking: M, W TIME FLIES Newly retired, not so newly single. Used to be OK with the patient method of meeting people spontaneously, but during these unusual times that has become almost impossible. I would really like to meet someone who enjoys traveling or just hanging out. A good conversationalist is a must. Someone informed and open-minded. Spontaneous nature and adventurous are wonderful qualities. Strangetimes, 57, seeking: W P/E RATIO I enjoy spontaneous travel, reading biographies, learning new things, new places, daily exercise, bike riding, the gym, movies and your company. I am seeking a funny, educated woman with a successful career and/or financia security who shares some of the above characteristics. OAAG, 63, seeking: W, l GOOD-LOOKING BI Just looking for a friend-with-benefit situation. Must be discreet. OK-looking and fun-loving. Mright, 44, seeking: M, Cp PANDEMIC REAPPRAISAL Inquisitive bi guy, 68, in a reflecti e period actively exploring cinema before 1970, music before 1964, Zen and American noir also. FWB possibilities beyond limiting dualities. And you? NotTooOldToExplore, 68, seeking: M, l

COUPLES seeking... HELP US BRANCH OUT We are a couple of over 30 years. We love to spend time together, enjoying good food, good beer/wine and good company. We enjoy the outdoors, camping, hiking, skiing. Looking for other couples to become friends with that can help us explore and branch out. We love each other very deeply and want to share that love with others. CentralVTCpl, 54, seeking: Cp, Gp LOOKING FOR SOMEONE AMAZING We are a couple in an open relationship seeking a bi male, gay male or couple to join us in kinky play. Cuckholds, DP, etc. Are you a playmate (or playmates) who are open to safe, sane and crazy experiences. Lets fulfi l each others fantasies. We’ll try anything twice! We are two clean, professional adults. Discretion given and expected. vtfuncouple, 44, seeking: M, Cp EXPERIENCE SOMETHING NEW We are a loving couple of over fi e years. Love to play and try new things. Spend free time at the ledges. Looking for people to play with. Perhaps dinner, night out and maybe breakfast in the morning. Looking for open-minded men, women or couples who enjoy fun times and new experiences. 2newAdventurers, 52, seeking: M, W, Cp, Gp OPEN-MINDED ROLE-PLAY We are an open-minded couple looking for others. Must be discreet. Please let us know your interests. If you are a male replying, you must be bi or bicurious. VTroleplaying, 47, seeking: W ATTRACTIVE MARRIED COUPLE Attractive, caring and honest married couple looking to meet a female for fun times both in and out of the bedroom. She is bi-curious; he is straight. We are very easygoing and fun to be around. Will share a photo once we communicate. Let’s see what happens. VTcouple4fun, 49, seeking: W SEASONED, REASONED, FRIENDSHIP AND CONVERSATION Older couple seeks new friends to enjoy honest conversation. Couples, women, or men. We are not seeking benefits though we are open to discussion if all are inspired. We’d love to meet and converse over a nice meal. We love warmth and open people. Our place has a hot tub for cold winters, and we have a massage table. Seasoned, 70, seeking: M, W, Cp, Gp, l

TRANS WOMEN seeking... BE MY CUDDLE BUDDY? Cute 50-y/o vegan straight-edge polyam ace enby trans girl. Love my parallel polyam primary nesting partner, so I’m looking for a part-time snuggle buddy for walks and talks and handholding and kissing and romance! I fall in love really easily! I’m half in love with you already just because you’re reading this! Anyone but cis guys. EnbyTransgirl, 51, seeking: W, TM, TW, Q, NBP, l GENEROUS, OPEN, EASYGOING Warm, giving trans female with an abundance of yum to share (and already sharing it with lovers) seeks ecstatic connection for playtimes, connections, copulations, exploration and generally wonderful occasional times together. Clear communication, a willingness to venture into the whole self of you is wanted. Possibilities are wide-ranging: three, four, explorations, dreaming up an adventure are on the list! DoubleUp, 63, seeking: M, Cp, l

i SPY

If you’ve been spied, go online to contact your admirer!

dating.sevendaysvt.com

MONTPELIER DOMINO’S You were picking up pizza while I was waiting for mine. You had red hair and a fun personality. Your name may have been Margo. How about a pizza with me sometime? When: Friday, September 11, 2020. Where: Montpelier. You: Woman. Me: Man. #915145 PA TEACHER ON STEPS Sorry to stare as I went by on the motorcycle; you seemed so familiar. Thanks for the friendly wave. When: Thursday, September 3, 2020. Where: PA. You: Woman. Me: Man. #915144 TIMBER JACK 240 Liked your smile. Love to dance. Interested. When: Saturday, September 5, 2020. Where: on Seven Days. You: Man. Me: Woman. #915143 SHAVED HEAD CO-OP CUTIE You caught my eye with your sick outsider style at the co-op. You said you liked my outfit. Wanna chat about weird feminist art and music over coffee sometime? Signed, The Freak With the Yellow Crocs. When: Wednesday, September 2, 2020. Where: Middlebury co-op. You: Nonbinary person. Me: Woman. #915141 GREAT NORTHERN I saw you wearing a partially unbuttoned cut-off flannel, fuzzy trapper hat and sandals with dirty socks. You were drinking a matcha latte and playing Pictionary. We locked eyes. It felt like we were suddenly on a train car, flying down the tracks. I would like to sit across from you and join your Pictionary game. When: Wednesday, January 3, 2018. Where: Great Northern. You: Woman. Me: Woman. #915140

LOCKING EYES AT DUNKS You had a black shirt with blue writing on the front, black leggings. Your eyes found mine pulling into the gas station; you were going to your car. Then you came back as I was holding the door. Again, those eyes. Again in line while I was waiting for coffee. Let’s connect again? Maybe at the gas station for coffee. When: Tuesday, September 1, 2020. Where: Dunkin’ in Williston. You: Woman. Me: Man. #915139 COCHRAN’S PARKING LOT You were enthusiastically supportive of your buddy after mountain biking. I liked your bright blue biking shorts and infectious pep and passion. I smiled as I walked by in my blue flowered tank and white sunglasses. As I drove away in my Crosstrek, we smiled again. Want to smile together over a beer or coffee? When: Saturday, August 15, 2020. Where: Cochran’s. You: Man. Me: Woman. #915138 DUNKIN’ DRIVE-THRU I didn’t see you, but you were a car ahead and paid for my drink because, said the cashier, “She thinks you’re cute,” which totally made my day (not least because my order was not cheap)! Thanks so much — I was so happy! When: Saturday, August 22, 2020. Where: Colchester. You: Woman. Me: Woman. #915137 JAKE AT TJ’S We talked about swimming holes and the unbearable lightness of being 32. You make the mask mandate look good! I know it’s part of the gig to connect with shoppers, but I enjoyed our convo, and if you did, too, I’d love to meet up for more. When: Friday, August 21, 2020. Where: Trader Joe’s. You: Man. Me: Woman. #915135

SAXON HILL You: orange shirt. Me: orange bike. We crossed paths at Saxon Saturday morning. Would enjoy hearing from you. When: Saturday, August 22, 2020. Where: Saxon Hill. You: Woman. Me: Man. #915134 FLYNN HARLEM DANCE COMPANY ˜ ere was a man at the Flynn’s Harlem Dance, November/December. After the performance, I waited in the outer lobby for friends. When they appeared, he noticed me. When leaving, his eyes watched mine. I liked that. If you are that man, please get in touch. You wore a light gray tweed coat and a distinctive cap. Describe the cap. I’ll know it’s you. When: Sunday, December 1, 2019. Where: Flynn ˜ eater. You: Man. Me: Woman. #915133 FRIEND OF A FRIEND, WINOOSKI I met you last night outside Monkey House — you’re a friend of a friend I was meeting for drinks. I sensed your energy and was attracted to it, and to your kind brown eyes. We were with your two friends, so I didn’t want to say anything to make anyone uncomfortable. All I know is your first name, Weston. When: Friday, August 14, 2020. Where: Monkey House, Winooski. You: Man. Me: Woman. #915131 I STAND WITH PLANNED PARENTHOOD You were doing some balancing on your head (and some not) with an “I Stand With Planned Parenthood” tattoo on your ... cheek. I was playing Spikeball nearby; your friend returned the ball to me. I was probably getting hit by the ball as I was distracted by you. Talk reproductive rights over distanced drinks? I’ll get a matching tattoo... When: Friday, August 14, 2020. Where: North Beach, evening. You: Woman. Me: Man. #915130 NORTH BURLINGTON DREADED BRANDY In late February we sat next to each other and chatted on an early morning flight to D.C. You were headed to KC for work. You: dreads, beautiful, smart, computer person. I would love to continue our talk over coffee or a drink or a walk by the lake. When: Saturday, February 22, 2020. Where: Burlington flight to D.C. You: Man. Me: Man. #915128

Ask REVEREND Dear Positively Petrified, ˛˝˙

Irreverent counsel on life’s conundrums

Dear Reverend,

I had unprotected sex once with a friend, then I heard that he is HIV-positive. I am worried, but I’m also afraid of getting a test. Is it possible that I could be infected?

Positively Petrified (MALE, 30)

I understand you’re in a scary situation, but you know what’s scarier? Being unaware that you’re infected and possibly spreading the virus to another partner. You need to put your game face on and get tested. Being HIV-positive isn’t a death sentence these days. Should you fi ﬁnd out that you are positive, there are treatments available that can help you stay healthy and live life to its fullest. Not to mention, you may very well test negative — and what a relief that would be!

FOUR_SEASONS Well, Miss Four_Seasons, you have been spied today on here. Your proﬁle has caught my attention, and I am interested in knowing more about you. I am open to any ideas or thoughts that you have. When: Monday, August 17, 2020. Where: Seven Days. You: Woman. Me: Man. #915132 ...WAFFLES... My World At Large feels too big without you in it. A warrior’s broken Valkyrie heart ... Your Queen is trying — the resistance makes me no better than a pawn. I’d Follow You Into ˜ e Dark, if you’d love yourself enough. It’s All So Incredibly Loud, Green Eyes. Remember that the Revolution is in your Mind. ˜ is is my last iSpy. When: Monday, August 3, 2020. Where: at ˜ e End Of ˜ e F***ing World. You: Man. Me: Woman. #915124

ITALIAN RACE BIKE, BURLINGTON-COLCHESTER BRIDGE Wow, talking to you made my day! Wouldn’t mind meeting you again. When: Monday, July 27, 2020. Where: Burlington bike path. You: Woman. Me: Man. #915109 RAIL TRAIL ˜ ank you to the good-looking guy from CACR who ﬂashed me a handsome smile while saying hello and also for petting my dog. It made my day! When: Wednesday, July 22, 2020. Where: LVRT, Jeffersonville. You: Man. Me: Woman. #915108

TRACTOR SUPPLY IN MONTPELIER We were both looking for mower belts. Tried to help you ﬁgure out which one. You knew it was a Craftsman but didn’t know the model number. And the book didn’t even list part numbers for Craftsman! I tried to help, had to let you head off to customer service. Should have asked for your number. Kicking myself now. When: Wednesday, August 5, 2020. Where: Montpelier Tractor Supply. You: Woman. Me: Man. #915120

LAKE CARMI I saw a blond woman in a rowing boat in rough waters in a black-and-white bathing suit keeping in great physical shape. I was ﬁshing. Too bad we couldn’t have been closer. Certainly would like to get to know her. I wonder if she has a camp on the lake. I have been renting at Sunnybank Lodge this month. When: Sunday, July 26, 2020. Where: Lake Carmi. You: Woman. Me: Man. #915107

RT.7 DELI REDHEAD It was around 4. You were wearing an Army green tank top. You headed south on 7 toward Shelburne. When: Wednesday, July 29, 2020. Where: Rt.7 Deli, Shelburne Rd. You: Woman. Me: Man. #915119

A BRIDGE TOO FAR? Bike path bridge between Burlington and Colchester. You: on bike. Me: walking with a M/F couple. You appeared interested. I was. ˜ ere were geese. When: Saturday, July 25, 2020. Where: Burlington-Colchester bridge. You: Man. Me: Man. #915106

CANADA EX Chatted brieﬂy as you were walking your Portuguese/spaniel mix pup. I was eating lunch with my neighbor, a bit sweaty from working. Would love to join you for a dog walk and chat more. Haven’t seen you walk by again. When: Sunday, July 12, 2020. Where: near North St. You: Woman. Me: Man. #915115 TELL ME SOMETHING Anne, I know you didn’t pick me all those months ago. I know why you didn’t, but all I want is another shot. You make me feel like no one has before. ˜ is is me asking you to pick me, pick us, because you’re the closest thing to magic I’ve ever found. When: Sunday, July 28, 2019. Where: Switchback brewery. You: Woman. Me: Man. #915112

Modern HIV testing is much quicker and easier than it once was. Vermont CARES offers free tests that give initial results ˜ e in 20 minutes. Th organization has been around since 1986, and its reputation is outstanding. ˜ ere are offi ofﬁces Th in Burlington, Montpelier, Rutland

WHEN WE WERE FOXES... Love, I wonder why are we in this quagmire? I wish I had remained wild like you; free. Every day I wait for you to come home to me, me alone; to stay. Please ﬁnd me again in our next lives. I’ll still be your vixen in moonlight awaiting your kisses sweet. Pull my hair and bite my neck so I know. When: Tuesday, July 28, 2020. Where: Plattsburgh. You: Man. Me: Woman. #915110

WALK BY ME DAILY ALMOST You: female, and name starts with a C. You always say hi with a smile. You live up the street from me, and we know each other through my work (North Ave. area). I feel like you have that cartoon bubble over your head that is saying more, lol. I’m down if you are. Just ask, and I will play. When: Wednesday, July 22, 2020. Where: North Ave. area. You: Woman. Me: Man. #915103

and St. Johnsbury. Call to make an appointment as soon as possible — right now would be great. Here’s the number: 800-649-2437. If you test positive, Vermont CARES can help you access the resources and support you may require. If you test negative, its staff can provide you with information on how to stay that way. Hopefully, the outcome is the latter. Please know that I am sending you all the courageous energy and good vibes I can muster. If you are so inclined, drop me a line to let me know how it goes. Good luck and God bless,

The Reverend What’s your problem?

Send it to asktherev@sevendaysvt.com. SEVEN DAYS SEPTEMBER 16-23, 2020

54-y/o educated SWF seeks SM for friendship, possible LTR. Enjoy walks, hiking, camping, good food, art, movies, travel, occasional concerts and gardening. I lean politically left and am environmentally conscious. Seeking M to have fun with, enjoy activities and conversation. Ideally you’re compassionate, emotionally intelligent, capable of healthy communication, responsible, and have a good sense of humor and adventure. #L1436

I’m a GM looking for guys seeking fun and adventure in mid-Vermont. No text/email. Hope to hear from you. #L1441 I’m 42-y/o looking for someone who can start and show me the way to a new life sexually. Looking to start with someone experienced. #L1440 Petite, attractive WF, 39, seeks bright, fit WM, 30 to 50, for friendship and lasting love. Politically liberal, personally conservative, homebody and globe-trotter. Loves cats, books, laughter and vegetarian food. Observing social distancing, so any friendship will evolve slowly. #L1429

I’m a GM, 62, seeking a GM 45 to 65. Bright, bearish build with bookish interests. Still growing spiritually. Love to walk, hike, write — always learning. Looking for pen pals. Please write and share your passions in life. #L1439 I’m a petite blonde. Healthy, active SWF seeking a kind, honest SWM for conversation, walks, dinners and short trips. 70 to 80. #L1438 I’m a man, 30, seeking a woman. Math-brained, tall, working. Seeking long-term relationship and date for Thanksgiving. #L1437

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PUBLISH YOUR MESSAGE ON THIS PAGE!

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Interested readers will send you letters in the mail. No internet required! SEVEN DAYS SEPTEMBER 16-23, 2020

I’m a 58-y/o SWF seeking a 55- to 63-y/o SM. I enjoy all seasons outside, hiking, biking, skiing, riding, kayaking, gardening. Looking for someone to share good food and good books and travel. NEK. #L1435 Artistic/intellectual SWM, 68, possessing a wide range of metaphysical interests, seeks female companion for conversations, viewing good cinema, listening to classical music and taking walks in scenic places. A passion for literature, cats and/or the sea is a plus. I’m genuine, curious, creative and considerate. You are unique. I appreciate your response. #L1433 I’m a 61-y/o female seeking a male 58 to 62. I have had vivid dreams of someone named Mark. 58 to 62 y/o, tall, gray hair, kindhearted, active, honest. NEK. #L1431

Internet-Free Dating!

Reply to these messages with real, honest-to-goodness letters. DETAILS BELOW. I’m a bi-curious male seeking Bobby. I see your ad in the Personals, and I would love to hear from you. I can only text or call. I’m shy but a good listener. Open-minded and nonjudgmental. Contact me. #L1432 I’m a 59-y/o GWM seeking out new guys for friendship and camaraderie! Outgoing, fun-loving and gregarious. Varied interests. Open to new social ventures. Value intimate conversations and close friendships. Let’s get together! #L1430 Me: man — successful, innovative, liberal — just finalizing several years of R&D; preparing to introduce my findings internationally; ISO long-term companion/ helpmate/lover. You: woman — friendly, intelligent, empathetic, adventurous; enjoy challenges, travel, sex. Driver’s license, passport required. All replies answered — USPS only. #L1428

SWF in NEK, mid-60s, seeking SM. I am tall with striking auburn hair. Good health. Average build. Lying in a hammock watching the love of nature and the nature of love. Wanting to expand on the intimacy of another willing to partake in gradual knowing of each other. Someone of intelligence, interested in arts, science, hand-powered tools, nature, or surprise me. Living the life off the grid, in more ways than one. My skills and time spent are in furniture and chair repair, weaving, maintenance of household. Bicycling, kayaking, crosscountry skiing, snowshoeing, gardens. All reasonable responses will be answered. #L1426 I’m a bi-curious male seeking a guy for summer fun, maybe more. Seeking age group 18 to 35. Need a guy to teach me the ropes. Really eager to try a lollipop, if you know what I mean. Write, please. #L1425

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