Seven Days, September 30, 2020

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ELECTION GUIDE INSIDE! V ER MON T’S INDE P ENDE NT V OIC E SEPTEMBER 30-OCTOBER 7, 2020 VOL.26 NO.1 SEVENDAYSVT.COM

A handy voters’ handbook

Molly Gray and Scott Milne compete for the lieutenant governor’s perch BY C O L IN F L AND E R S , PAGE 3 2

READERS RESPOND

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Charged feedback to “Battery Power”

TEST FLIGHT

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COVID-19 screening at BTV

WEATHER REPORT

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Jonathan Safran Foer on food, climate


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WEEK IN REVIEW SEPTEMBER 23-30, 2020 COMPILED BY SASHA GOLDSTEIN, MATTHEW ROY & ANDREA SUOZZO FILE: PAUL HEINTZ

THANKS

— BUT NO THANKS

emoji that DATA DIVE

Black, Indigeous and people of color in Vermont are getting COVID-19 at four times the rate of the white, non-Hispanic population, health department data show. Startling trend.

ALL ACADEMIC

VSEA executive director Steve Howard at a Statehouse press conference

Four state House candidates have declined endorsements from the Vermont State Employees’ Association, citing “harmful inconsistencies” in the union’s support of the Black Lives Matter movement. In an open letter published on Monday, the candidates expressed concern about what they saw as the union leadership’s lack of willingness to address state government’s “status quo culture” surrounding racial justice. “We are living through too important a racial awakening for organizations not to be called on to reflect on their internal actions and external positions,” the letter reads. It was signed by first-time state office seekers Taylor Small and Emma Mulvaney-Stanak — who are running as Progressive/Democrats in Winooski and Burlington, respectively — as well as incumbent Reps. Mari Cordes (D/P-Lincoln) and Selene Colburn (P-Burlington). VSEA represents more than 6,000 state government employees. That includes more than 100 law enforcement officials — Vermont State Police lieutenants among them — and those in the embattled Vermont corrections system. The House candidates cited two examples they said demonstrate how the union’s actions have not lived up to its public commitment to racial justice. In early June, the VSEA board of trustees released a statement saying that it “stands in solidarity” with the family of George Floyd, a Black man who was killed by Minneapolis police. But two weeks later, at a virtual hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee, police trainer and

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GOT THEIR BACKS

Vermont NAACP chapters said they will pay any citations issued to nonviolent protesters in Burlington’s Battery Park. Standing together.

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An influx of coronavirus refugees has changed the tiny Bennington County town of Winhall, the New York Times reports. Vermont’s pandemic population surge.

That’s the weight, in pounds, of a zucchini grown by Williamstown resident Ron Sholtz. The giant zuke is in the running for the world’s biggest, WCAX-TV reported.

TOPFIVE

MOST POPULAR ITEMS ON SEVENDAYSVT.COM

1. “How Black Lives Matter Protesters Occupied a Park, Captivated a City — and Got Some of What They Wanted” by Chelsea Edgar. A first-person account of the movement that has occupied Battery Park for more than a month. 2. “Protesters Round Up Copies of Seven Days for Evening Demonstration” by Courtney Lamdin. To express their disappointment with a Seven Days story about them, protesters took hundreds of copies to use as props in a protest. 3. “USDA Shifts Vermont Farmers to Families Contract to Boston Company” by Melissa Pasanen. The Enosburg Falls-based Abbey Group had gotten $13.9 million in government contracts since May through a program that targets food insecurity. 4. “With Farmhouse Out, Williston’s Finney Crossing Seeks Restaurant Tenant” by Sally Pollak. Developers are searching for another eatery to occupy a roughly 5,000-square-foot space in a building that will also house a new Healthy Living Market & Café. 5. “Bottom Line: How Chocolate Thunder Security Found New Ways to Keep People Safe” by Ken Picard. As concerts and parties got canceled, Mikey van Gulden pivoted his security company to a pandemic-era business model.

tweet of the week @jaycatvt Is it ok to scream “FOLIAGE!!!” in a crowded forest? #btv #vt FOLLOW US ON TWITTER @SEVENDAYSVT OUR TWEEPLE: SEVENDAYSVT.COM/TWITTER

WHAT’S KIND IN VERMONT COURTESY OF THE CHILDREN’S LITERACY FOUNDATION

A student in Richmond enjoying her new books

VSEA member Drew Bloom testified against the elimination of chokeholds in proposed police use-of-force legislation, which Gov. Phil Scott later signed into law. Although the union’s executive director, Steve Howard, attended the meeting, he did not speak up to say whether the union supported or opposed the proposed reform, according to the candidates. “We have to go beyond statements. We have to really connect the dots on what organizational leaders are saying,” said Mulvaney-Stanak, adding that the union still did not have an official stance on the proposed reforms when she reached out several weeks after the June hearing. “Silence is pretty powerful.” The candidates also pointed to a July virtual meeting of the legislature’s Working Vermonters Caucus. Though union trustees and rank-and-file members at the meeting expressed the need to confront racism within the state’s criminal justice system, multiple union members later used internal communication channels to “harass” a female board member who was supportive of the efforts, and VSEA leadership didn’t step in, MulvaneyStanak said. The candidates said their rejection of VSEA’s endorsement does not “diminish” their support for workers, unions and state employees. Howard, the union’s executive director, did not return a call for comment on Monday. Read Colin Flanders’ complete story at sevendaysvt.com.

Middlebury College has banned about two dozen students from campus for violating school COVID-19 prevention protocols. Tough lesson.

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BOOKED UP

Anyone with kids knows how difficult WFH life can be during a pandemic. But a local nonprofit has tried to make things a bit easier for families. Since March, the Waterbury Center-based Children’s Literacy Foundation has given away nearly 40,000 books to kids across Vermont and New Hampshire. The gesture is all the more important at a time when kids have been isolated and soaking up screen time, said Erika Nichols-Frazer, the foundation’s communications manager. “Our program partners have gotten really creative with it,” Nichols-Frazer said. “Some of them send books home in meal packages or

with other learning materials; others have done curbside pickup … So we’re making sure we’re still getting them books at this time, which is obviously more important than ever.” The foundation’s mission, according to its website, “is to inspire a love of reading and writing among low-income, at-risk, and rural children up to age 12.” Nichols-Frazer said the pandemic has made that a more urgent undertaking. Such groups of kids are the most likely to fall behind when they aren’t in school or are learning remotely. Earlier this month, the foundation launched its Year of the Book program and donated $25,000 to schools in Chelsea, Windsor, Danby and Clarendon, as well as J.J. Flynn Elementary School in Burlington. Each student at those schools will receive 10 new books they

may keep and will participate in virtual and in-person readings and workshops with local authors and illustrators. The school libraries, classrooms and even the local community libraries will each receive cash to buy new books, Nichols-Frazer said. Despite the pandemic, she said, a group of volunteers in the Waterbury area has continued to help put nameplate stickers in each book so the kids can personalize their reading materials. “It might sound small, but it’s an important thing for these kids to own books,” NicholsFrazer said. “A lot of the kids we work with don’t have their own books, and so having that little sticker in there that says ‘This is my book’ is kind of a special thing for them.” SASHA GOLDSTEIN

SEVEN DAYS SEPTEMBER 30-OCTOBER 7, 2020

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Celebrate the Charm of Vermont

WE THE VOTERS. / Pamela Polston, Paula Routly  Paula Routly   Cathy Resmer  

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NEWS & POLITICS  Matthew Roy   Sasha Goldstein   Candace Page   Derek Brouwer, Colin Flanders,

Paul Heintz, Courtney Lamdin, Kevin McCallum

ARTS & LIFE  Pamela Polston   Margot Harrison   Dan Bolles, Elizabeth M. Seyler   Jordan Adams   Kristen Ravin    Carolyn Fox   Jordan Barry, Chelsea Edgar,

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 &   Corey Grenier  &   Katie Hodges A D M I N I S T R AT I O N   Marcy Carton    Matt Weiner   Jeff Baron CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Luke Baynes, Justin Boland, Alex Brown, Chris Farnsworth, Rick Kisonak, Jacqueline Lawler, Amy Lilly, Bryan Parmelee, Jim Schley, Julia Shipley, Molly Zapp CONTRIBUTING ARTISTS Luke Awtry, Harry Bliss, James Buck, Rob Donnelly, Luke Eastman, Caleb Kenna, Sean Metcalf, Matt Mignanelli, Marc Nadel, Tim Newcomb, Oliver Parini, Sarah Priestap, Kim Scafuro, Michael Tonn, Jeb Wallace-Brodeur C I R C U L AT I O N : 3 5 , 0 0 0 Seven Days is published by Da Capo Publishing Inc. every Wednesday. It is distributed free of charge in greater Burlington, Middlebury, Montpelier, Northeast Kingdom, Stowe, the Mad River Valley, Rutland, St. Albans, St. Johnsbury, White River Junction and Plattsburgh, N.Y.

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FEEDback READER REACTION TO RECENT ARTICLES

HEAR OUR VOICES I am one of the “hundreds of white girls” described by Chelsea Edgar in her article on the Battery Park protest against the Burlington Police Department. Over the past month, I have joined for many nights of marching to city hall. I was disappointed that Edgar’s article avoided a rich discussion of why protesters such as myself have joined the movement, instead going to great lengths to defend what read as a tabloid-esque, albeit engrossing, piece. Edgar astutely argues that the job of journalists is to mold stories and quotes to create intrigue, but she ignores confronting the power that comes along with it. Furthermore, her claim that “the story became about not getting the story” rang empty: While the lack of communication from the protest’s leaders was indeed a theme of the article, in setting out to describe the protest she was inevitably going to form a picture of it for readers. What she ultimately described was a cult of ideologues, intent on isolating anyone who went against them, an image in stark contrast to the caring, open community fighting for deeply necessary changes that I’ve witnessed over the past few weeks. While the group is far from perfect, it’s an injustice to focus on the petty disagreements of such an admirable movement. Roxane Robin

BURLINGTON

I must ask: Did anyone edit the “How Black Lives Matter” story? Journalism may be changing, but this article is as much about the journalist as it is about any relevant journalism. Edgar gives herself a pat on the back in this article, quoting an interviewee as saying she asks “good fucking questions.” While unwilling to respect the statement and position of the leadership at Battery Park, Edgar is actually on their side. Isn’t Edgar the exceptional journalist they should let in? And shouldn’t we feel bad for Edgar when she informs us of how she’s been treated, as “an All Lives Matter

CORRECTION

Last week’s story entitled “Hot Air?” — about Gov. Phil Scott’s climate record — misstated the percentage of Vermont’s carbon emissions attributable to the transportation sector. It is nearly 45 percent.


FILE: JAMES BUCK

WEEK IN REVIEW

Protest leaders stomping out the flames after igniting a small pile of Seven Days newspapers

some combination of Blundstones, ironic tube socks and leg hair.” By saying “But,” this article suggests that it is wrong for such people to be protesting, based on their appearances. Simultaneously, this message shames Burlington residents based on their appearance and asserts a misogynistic stance about how women and others should appear in this society. That is disgusting, and Seven Days’ skewed coverage of our local racial injustice is even more disgusting. I could write all day INSIDE! about how disgusting this article is, but I’m sure you already know. Whether or not these statements are the true feelings of Seven Days, it shows how even our local news outlets are more concerned with views and monetary gain than they are with supporting our MEATING DEMAND community and civil rights. Clickbait appears to be the primary concern of Seven Days this year. As an individual and local business owner, I will never do business with Seven Days, and I do not plan to read anything from Seven Days again. I applaud those that burnt your stories in the night. I hope you consider your future actions in publishing such filth. OCTOBER 2020

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Grafton Getaway

An iconic inn with a storied porch

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Autumn Is for Apples

Five ways to enjoy a fruitfall fall

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High Spirits

Halloween sites and frights

WITH SUPPORT FROM

VERMONT’S INDEPENDE NT VOICE SEPTEMBER 23-30, 2020 VOL.25 NO.52 SEVENDAYS VT.COM

Editor’s Note

Vermonters’ guide to exploring Vermont

How Black Lives Matter protesters occupied a park, captivated a city — and got some of what they wanted

Last week’s cover story, “Battery Power,” about Burlington’s ongoing Black Lives Matter protests, got a strong reaction — especially from those directly involved. The day after it CLIMATE CHANGES was published, organizers of the monthlong occupation CLASS ACTION of Battery Park directed allies to round up copies of Seven Days from around town and bring them to the park. They defaced the papers and used them as props on their march down Battery Street to Main, lighting a small pile of them afire on the yellow centerline. The story also unleashed a torrent of emails and letters to the editor — the kind of feedback Seven Days welcomes and encourages. Some of them passionately objected to Chelsea Edgar’s characterization of the protesters and the power dynamics involved. This week’s issue contains about two-thirds of the letters we’ve received since last Thursday. See more on pages 20, 22 and 23. Edgar’s first-person account was based on weeks of reporting on a movement with a policy of refusing to speak to journalists. One of her primary sources within the group’s leadership, Anthony Marques, left the encampment. Despite Edgar’s repeated efforts, the women organizers declined to speak to her, so their voices were missing from the piece. As a result, quotes from the departing Marques went unchallenged. After the story was published, a leader of the group publicly alleged that he had threatened a Black woman organizer — an accusation Edgar would have included, had she been able to speak with the leaders. Knowing of those allegations would have justified including his criminal record in the story. Marques, who also goes by Anthony Bathalon, has been charged twice and convicted at least once for domestic assault. Edgar writes with voice and style. Regular readers of her work in Seven Days recognized her keen eye and sharp elbows in “Battery Power.” She used the same bold color palette to paint the young white women in the group as the squarejawed cameraman shooting for WCAX-TV. Read on. Scott’s erratic record

bitch”? Edgar clues us in to how much cooler she is than the “females of the TikTok demographic, dressed in black, sporting some combination of Blundstones, ironic tubes socks and leg hair” she so derisively mentions. The nerve of them, growing hair on their legs! Those mammals. While the leadership at Battery Park may not have given comment to journalists, surely journalists could still find something to write about? This article is more of a gossip column than it is informative news. Many portions are extraneous and do not move the story forward. Worse than that, they uphold racist and

BY CHELSEA EDGAR, PAGE 26

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on warming

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Teachers, staff on return

to school

sexist beliefs and power structures. A good exercise for Seven Days would be to go through the story line by line and highlight the sections that uphold racist and sexist beliefs. While Edgar wrote a bad story, those who edited and published it did far worse work. Kathleen Stutzman

HUNTINGTON

I am appalled at the language used in this article. For instance, the line: “But the vast majority were females of the TikTok demographic, dressed in black, sporting

Can Vermont producers

PAGE 40

keep up?

Cameron Scott BURLINGTON

Seven Days is the most thought-provoking news outlet in the state. If anyone is looking for a fair hearing in the public press, Seven Days is the place. For a civil rights movement trying to bring scrutiny onto injustice, decrying freedom of the press and freedom of speech is hypocrisy of the worst order. Book and newspaper burning is a tactic used by the worst of the totalitarian despots in world history. By participating in this travesty, the HEAR OUR VOICES

» P.20

SAY SOMETHING! Seven Days wants to publish your rants and raves. Your feedback must... • be 250 words or fewer; • respond to Seven Days content; • include your full name, town and a daytime phone number. Seven Days reserves the right to edit for accuracy, length and readability. Your submission options include: • sevendaysvt.com/feedback • feedback@sevendaysvt.com • Seven Days, P.O. Box 1164, Burlington, VT 05402-1164

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Can rapid COVID-19 tests at BTV ease fear of flying?

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Burlington’s Hula weathers the pandemic but faces one final permit challenge

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FROM THE PUBLISHER

Words’ Worth

Paula Routly

COURTESY OF MATT HEASLEY

Last week Seven Days’ Chelsea Edgar wrote just shy of 6,000 words about the Black Lives Matter activists who have spent the last month occupying Burlington’s Battery Park. In her first-person piece, “Battery Power,” she chronicled what she saw and heard over many days of reporting. This week Seven Days is devoting almost as much space to reader reactions to the story, which was summarily condemned by the protest organizers. Letters to the editor occupy four full pages of the paper. Published critics, who objected to Edgar’s tone and characterizations, outnumber proponents by roughly two to one. What remain unseen are dozens of private emails of support that we’ve received from readers, fellow journalists, business owners and fans since the story’s publication. You won’t read their words of encouragement, or be persuaded by their arguments, because many didn’t want their names in print — a requirement for sharing feedback in Seven Days. Why? They’re afraid that what’s happening to us could happen to them. The day after Seven Days hit the streets, a number of protesters removed hundreds of copies from our distribution racks in private businesses. They defaced them to use as protest signs. A few were shredded and set on fire. While they marched, protesters chanted “Fuck Seven Days” and “Chelsea ’bout to lose her job.” That was tame compared to the vitriol unleashed on social media. Our staffers endured personal attacks, graphic humiliations and bullying of every variety, including profanity and sexual harassment. Nothing prepares you for the indictment of a mob in the digital era and the subsequent online public stoning. Protecting free speech and the press from government interference was so important to the founders of this country, they codified it with the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. The law protects all speech, not just the speech we agree with. While the Burlington protesters exercised their rights — camping in a public park, assembling on a public street, protesting and posting on social media — we reassured jittery reporters, circulation drivers and other staffers who felt targeted by association. My guess is that all of them applaud the passion and empathize with the outrage that’s fueling the Battery Park encampment. Some are reporters who have worked hard to expose police misconduct and the actions of the officers the group is seeking to remove. There’s so much to be angry about in this moment, from the coronavirus pandemic’s outsize impact on communities of color to the lack of justice in the killing of Breonna Taylor, the Black woman shot by police in Louisville, Ky. We at Seven Days expect — and appreciate — criticism of our work. It affirms that our readers care deeply about our community and results in constructive discussions about our editorial approach and decision making, as Chelsea’s story has. But last week’s backlash feels more ominous. The protesters themselves have experienced extreme reactions from those who oppose them. We’ve seen vile racist comments directed against them on social media, often disturbingly personal, often anonymous. On September 1, Burlington police arrested a counterprotester who stood near the Want to help Seven Days through encampment for three days while openly carrying the pandemic? Become a Super Reader. an AR-15 rifle — illegally, as it turned out. Look for the “Give Now” buttons at the top of These kinds of intimidation and the sevendaysvt.com. Or send a check with your corresponding fear of retribution are threats address and contact info to: to our democracy and to civil society — SEVEN DAYS, C/O SUPER READERS unacceptable, no matter the cause. If people P.O. BOX 1164 don’t feel they can speak freely — or have BURLINGTON, VT 05402-1164 disagreements or ask questions or write a story For more information on making a financial — without being bullied and shamed, they’ll hold contribution to Seven Days, please contact their tongues. We’ll all be the lesser for it.

Protesters with copies of Seven Days at last Thursday’s demonstration in Burlington

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Middlebury College Faces Class-Action Suit Over Tuition Refunds B Y C OLIN F L A N DER S

A class-action lawsuit filed last week in U.S. District Court accuses Middlebury College of failing to adequately reimburse students sent home in the spring due to the coronavirus pandemic. The complaint says the college violated its contract with plaintiff Henry Mooers, of Norwell, Mass., and other students who paid for a semester’s worth of in-person learning and other services that they did not receive. Students who paid tuition expecting a “first-rate education and an on-campus, in person educational” experience were instead “provided a materially deficient and insufficient alternative,” the suit says. McCardell Bicentennial Hall at Middlebury College

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Burlington International Airport

Gate Check

Can rapid COVID-19 tests at BTV ease fear of flying? B Y DER EK B R O UWER

A

irline travelers will soon be able to undergo rapid coronavirus tests upon arrival at the Burlington International Airport. A new agreement will allow a local company to offer COVID-19 tests to paying customers on airport property. Anyone will be able to access the service, but it’s geared toward travelers, who will be able to get swabbed and learn results within a few hours, aviation director Gene Richards said. City officials hope the testing service will reduce the chance that visitors from other parts of the country unwittingly carry the virus into the state. “One of the highest risks to Vermonters is people coming and going from hot spots,” Richards said. “They are people that could potentially bring risk, and they also want to have this service.” It’s the biggest push yet in Vermont to provide access to newer, faster tests that public health experts increasingly see as powerful tools to prevent outbreaks and return to economic normalcy. But 12

the service doesn’t conform to Vermont Department of Health testing guidelines and cannot be used to replace required quarantine periods for travelers entering the state. As such, it is unlikely to boost the region’s ailing tourism numbers.

ONE OF THE HIGHEST RISKS TO VERMONTERS IS

PEOPLE COMING AND GOING FROM HOT SPOTS. GE NE R IC H AR D S

Garnet Transport Medicine, an Essex Junction-based company that provides nonemergency ambulance service, will operate in a small, unused building in an airport employee parking lot. The deal, approved last week by the Burlington City Council, promises the airport $2 for every test that Garnet administers.

SEVEN DAYS SEPTEMBER 30-OCTOBER 7, 2020

Within the next few weeks, Garnet plans to begin offering rapid antigen and polymerase chain reaction, or PCR, tests, CEO Ryan Ferris said. Antigen tests are the bigger draw, as they can be analyzed on-site and produce results in as little as 20 minutes. The company is one of a few in Vermont known to provide antigen tests. Since July, Garnet has used a mobile service to administer tests for private clients, including the Spot on the Dock restaurant in Burlington and Beta Technologies, a tech startup based at the airport that is developing electric aircraft. The airport site will be Garnet’s first stationary location and will be open to airline travelers, airport workers and the general public. Ferris said the company plans to advertise the service inside the terminal. In response to a written question, he did not disclose the specific cost for each test. GATE CHECK

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If a federal judge certifies the suit’s class-action status, it would cover all Middlebury students who were sent home in the spring, as well as those affected during “any other semester” in which COVID-19 forces classes online. That would be a broader class than that being sought in a similar lawsuit filed in April against the University of Vermont. The suit could have wideranging financial impacts if a spike in COVID-19 cases forced Middlebury to again shutter its campus. Not long after sending students home in March, Middlebury announced that it would refund room and board fees on a prorated basis at a total cost of $7.9 million, according to the Middlebury Campus newspaper. But it did not extend any similar offer for roughly $220 per semester “student activity fees” that the lawsuit claims are mainly used for services that were canceled due to the pandemic. Nor did it reimburse its 2,500 undergraduate students for the roughly $29,000-per-semester tuition, even though the online learning options offered to students in the final two months were “sub-par in practically every aspect” compared to the college’s traditional in-person learning, the lawsuit says. Students “have been deprived of the opportunity for collaborative learning and in-person dialogue, feedback, and critique,” the suit says, adding that most students were also not able to access libraries, laboratories, computer labs, and study rooms, which are “integral to a college education.” Contact: colin@sevendaysvt.com


Making Waves Burlington’s Hula weathers the pandemic but faces one final permit challenge

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Inside Building 50 on the Hula campus

T

he shores of Lake Champlain may be 5,000 miles and a world away from the Hawaii surf, but Russ Scully envisions his Hula office complex in Burlington as an equally enviable destination for tech-minded companies. A surfer-turned-entrepreneur, Scully has transformed the former Blodgett Oven factory on Lakeside Avenue into a nascent innovation hub for software developers, marketing firms and others. Tenants of the three-building, 1 5 0,0 0 0 - s q u a r e - f o o t campus have unimpeded views of the lake through glass walls and windows. They’ll have access to a fitness center, use cedar-paneled restrooms, and be just steps from the beach and bike path. “The three rules of real estate are location, location, location,” Scully said of Hula’s appeal. “That’s part of it, but I think we’ve done a good job of building a brand, where people know that we’re not just selling space — we’re trying to make an impact. We’re trying to grow the economy.” While the economic slowdown has emptied storefronts and office buildings across Vermont, Hula is almost fully leased. The first tenants moved into Building 44, a nine-suite office space, in August, and the rest will set up shop in October. Building 50, a mixture of traditional offices and coworking spaces, will be ready for occupancy before Thanksgiving, Scully said. But plans for Building 32, the smallest

of the three, are being challenged by a small group of neighbors who enjoy the view as much as Scully’s new tenants will. The residents have intervened in Hula’s quest for Act 250 approval to tear down the building and replace it with a taller one. The new building will block the view of the lake and the Adirondack Mountains that they have enjoyed for years, the intervenors say. “He’s going to monetize the sunset,” said Paul Wallace, who lives across the street from the project. “Money is going to rule … and some people are just going to suffer.” Scully, however, sees it differently. “Unfortunately, there’s gonna be a couple people who lose a little bit of view as part of this bigger vision,” he said. His plans for Hula started percolating in 2017, when he and his wife, Roxanne, purchased the former Blodgett Oven property for $14.3 million. The Scullys also operate the island-themed Spot and Spot on the Dock restaurants in Burlington. They opened the Burlington Surf Club, an outfit that rents paddleboards and other water sport equipment, at Hula in May 2018 as an extension of their Pine Street retail shop, WND&WVS. Hula was designed as an incubator for startups with good-paying jobs and the potential to grow in Vermont. Too often, Scully said, businesses leave the state when they can’t find investors here, so

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news Antigen tests are now widely used across the country. The federal government has sent millions of them to nursing homes, and some college football conferences have turned to the quick-result tests to salvage their seasons. Vermont’s experience with antigen tests has been colored by an unusual situation in Manchester, where a private clinic using them reported more than 60 coronavirus cases in July. The state health department tested the same patients — and 1,000 others — with the PCR method, but only four were positive, touching off a stillunresolved debate over what went wrong. Garnet uses tests made by Quidel, the same company that manufactured those at the center of the Manchester mix-up. Vermont is one of 15 states that do not count positive results from antigen tests as confirmed COVID-19 cases, according to an analysis by Kaiser Health News. State guidelines released in September recommend antigen testing only for people with symptoms, except in high-risk settings such as nursing homes. The Vermont Department of Health warns that the tests can “produce false positive results when disease prevalence is low.” Not all infectious disease experts agree with that limited approach. Stephen Kissler, a research fellow at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, said rapid antigen tests, while not quite as accurate as PCR tests, can help catch cases at the most contagious stage of infection. “I think the value of the antigen tests in places like airports is that, while imperfect, they will be able to help screen probably many people who come in and might be actively infectious,” he said. The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says air travel itself raises an individual’s risk of infection. “Most viruses and other germs do not spread easily on flights because of how air circulates and is filtered on airplanes,” current guidance states. “However, social distancing is difficult on crowded flights, and sitting within 6 feet of others, sometimes for hours, may increase your risk of getting COVID-19.” The risks from cross-state travel, especially through airports, are currently managed through quarantine mandates. Vermont requires that all visitors who arrive by plane sequester themselves for 14 days. They can shorten that time by taking a PCR test after seven days. Antigen tests alone may not be used to shorten the quarantine period, according to the health department. Quarantine rules have deterred some would-be travelers, including in Vermont, where its lowest-in-the-nation case rate 14

DEREK BROUWER

Gate Check « P.12

The airport building Garnet will use for testing

is otherwise a selling point. Only 12,782 passengers arrived at BTV in August, compared to 70,872 in the same month in 2019. The nationwide drop in ridership prompted an airline industry trade group to call last week for mass testing of airline passengers. “This industry will not recover until we can find an alternative to quarantine,” Alexandre de Juniac, CEO of the Interna-

THE COMPANY IS ONE OF A FEW IN VERMONT

KNOWN TO PROVIDE ANTIGEN TESTS. tional Air Transport Association, said at a September 22 media briefing. Hawaii is trying just that. Beginning next month, the state will waive its quarantine requirement for visitors who can show that they tested negative for COVID-19 within 72 hours of arrival. United Airlines announced last week that it will offer tests to passengers who fly from San Francisco to the island state, making it the first U.S. airline to do so, according to CBS News.

SEVEN DAYS SEPTEMBER 30-OCTOBER 7, 2020

For months, tourism-dependent companies in Vermont have been lobbying state officials to relax quarantine rules, according to Jeff Lawson, vice president of tourism and marketing for the Lake Champlain Chamber. “Our lodging sector in particular is just under siege at the moment,” he said. Gov. Phil Scott’s administration recently lifted hotel occupancy restrictions, but the state hasn’t budged on the quarantine mandate. “Until those are lifted and changed,” Lawson said, “any new approach to assessing and testing is a little bit moot in terms of people traveling to the state.” Burlington Mayor Miro Weinberger said in a statement that he “fully supports” the state’s current quarantine requirements. Garnet’s test site is “one potential tool to help catch positive cases that may be entering Vermont,” he said. So far, the plan has been developed without input from the Vermont Department of Health — though not for lack of trying, Ferris said. Garnet’s CEO said he emailed an overview of his plan to the state’s top health officials in early August. Ferris specifically asked whether someone could take the PCR test his company uses — a variant of the state’s version — to shorten quarantine. Ferris said he never heard back.

An uncoordinated approach between the state and the private company would surely have drawbacks. For instance, it’s not clear whether departing passengers who receive a positive antigen result would be barred from boarding. Visitors who test negative immediately upon arrival to Vermont, meanwhile, might take quarantine less seriously or be confused about what their results mean. And someone who is infected en route to BTV wouldn’t immediately test positive on arrival due to the incubation period for COVID-19. Ben Truman, a health department spokesperson, declined to comment on Garnet’s test site because the department doesn’t know details of the company’s plan. He said the state advises against solely using a one-time antigen test for asymptomatic people. Nonetheless, Richards, the aviation director, was sold on the idea after airport tenant Beta Technologies invited him to take one of its antigen tests. “The biggest thing is being a carrier and not knowing it,” he said. “It gave me great relief to know that I was not sick or a carrier.” Courtney Lamdin and Andrea Suozzo contributed reporting. Contact: derek@sevendaysvt.com


STATEHOUSE

Vermont Lawmakers Adjourn After a Long, Strange Session BY K E VI N MC C A L L UM

Vermont lawmakers wrapped up the longest legislative session in state history last Friday, adjourning after passing a $7.2 billion state budget and a handful of other last-minute bills to complete a frenetic final week of remote legislative maneuvering. The day capped an unprecedented session that forced lawmakers to scramble in March to figure out how to work remotely when the COVID-19 pandemic struck the state. They pivoted quickly from early legislative priorities to spend more than $1.25 billion in federal relief funds to support people who lost their jobs, boost pay for frontline workers, shelter the homeless, prop up struggling businesses and bail out the floundering state college system. Members of the Senate were the first to sign off, in midafternoon, having approved the budget bill and sent it back to the House.

Republican Gov. Phil Scott warmly praised legislators’ work. “I was proud of the way both the House and Senate regrouped, reorganized and found a way to conduct the work of the people outside the walls of the Statehouse,” Scott told senators before offering similar remarks last Friday evening to House members. House Speaker Mitzi Johnson (D-South Hero) called the session “one for the history books” that succeeded because “party affiliation largely dropped out of the equation” at key moments. “Thank you for working with respect for your colleagues, with integrity, and for working in a way that put your constituents and Vermonters first,” Johnson said before lowering her gavel. Lawmakers did have to resolve a few points of contention as the session wound down. Senators were miffed over what they perceived as last-minute brinksmanship by the House. One flash point involved a long-sought sales tax exemption for feminine hygiene products, commonly referred to as the “tampon tax.” The House removed the exemption from its tax bill, much to the consternation of senators who favored it, despite the $680,000 drop in sales tax revenue it would mean in such an uncertain budget environment.

Sen. Ann Cummings (D-Washington) said the late hour meant that the Senate Finance Committee had no time to restore the exemption in time for the House to agree to the change. “It’s been 100 years since women got the right to vote, and we can’t get a vote on this yet?” remarked Sen. Mark MacDonald (D-Orange). Another point of contention was a bill to reform the state’s seminal land use law, Act 250. The comprehensive effort to modernize the law for the next 50 years had been dramatically narrowed by the Senate to one that tackled just two issues — forest fragmentation and recreational trail networks. That frustrated House members who had worked on the broader bill for more than two years. Several representatives said what remained lacked the balance in the original bill that had been so hard to achieve. Rep. Randall Szott (D-Barnard) said he couldn’t support the final version because the Senate had “eviscerated” the bill. The Act 250 bill passed 93-56. It was unclear whether Scott, who opposes it, would sign it. Also on Scott’s desk: a compromise version of a retail marijuana bill that has been years in the making, sent last week for his potential signature. Lawmakers also voted

last week to override the governor’s veto of the Global Warming Solutions Act, intended to help the state meet goals to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Earlier in the session, in February, lawmakers voted to override his veto of a bill to raise the state’s minimum wage. Senate President Pro Tempore Tim Ashe (D/P-Chittenden) cited a number of other accomplishments of the session, including the passage of legislation to invest in criminal justice reform, clean rivers and lakes, weatherize homes, and protect children from lead in drinking water. Lawmakers’ speeches and goodbyes underscored the camaraderie that they enjoy in the Statehouse and how they’ve been missing that during the pandemic. Senate Minority Leader Joe Benning (R-Caledonia) and Majority Leader Becca Balint (D-Windham) both said they missed the Statehouse and their fellow lawmakers. Said Benning: “I think that at some point in the future we all just need to go out there and have a great big group hug, and then go have a good beer.” Disclosure: Tim Ashe is the domestic partner of Seven Days publisher and coeditor Paula Routly. Find our conflict-of-interest policy at sevendaysvt.com/disclosure. Contact: kevin@sevendaysvt.com

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news Making Waves « P.13 Hula created a $2 million venture capital fund, the Fund at Hula, to keep companies local. Hula tenants and other area businesses can pitch a group of local investors for backing. “The idea is [to] bring these companies in, help them raise money, nurture them, grow them, and then find a new home for them in and around Burlington,” Scully said. Rinse, repeat. The COVID-19 pandemic could have spelled trouble for Hula. Construction halted in late March, when Gov. Phil Scott ordered all nonessential businesses to close. Two prospective tenants pulled out after losing investors or the confidence to make a big move, according to Scully. Uncertainty descended on the commercial real estate market. In June, vacancies in Chittenden County office space increased to 9.3 percent, according to a report published by South Burlington real estate firm Allen, Brooks & Minor. Sales of office space have “remained stagnant,” the report says, noting that “future demand … remains unclear in the midst of the new recession.” Hula has found ways to beat the odds. Instead of insisting on deposits and signed leases, Hula helped prospective tenants apply for federal small business or Paycheck Protection Program loans. “It’s an art. It’s a dance,” Scully said. “Some tenants, they were anxious to get back to work.” Engineers at Benchmark Space Systems struggled to work remotely because the equipment they needed to build satellite propulsion systems was at their office. The company, founded by University of Vermont graduate Ryan McDevitt in 2017, had outgrown its 2,000-square-foot office in South Burlington. McDevitt had found a space twice that size at Hula, but when the pandemic hit, he wondered whether the move was still practical. Then he learned that Hula would be cleaning common spaces throughout the day and offering discounted COVID-19 tests every week. “That was what really pushed me to say, ‘OK, this is the right time. We’re gonna do it right now,’” he said. Benchmark moved into Building 44 in August and already plans to expand by another 1,000 square feet. McDevitt’s 17 employees can physically distance in their Hula suite, he said. The other eight work spaces in that building are filled, according to Scully, as Hula has found new tenants to replace those that backed out. They pay between $18 and $24 per square foot, which puts Hula’s rental rate at the top end for comparable office space in Chittenden County, 16

according to the Allen, Brooks & Minor report. Despite the industry slowdown, Scully has met his pre-pandemic goal to lease two-thirds of the campus by this fall. Among the tenants are Biocogniv, which makes artificial intelligence-powered diagnostic software for hospitals; 1% for the Planet, a group that raises funds for environmental nonprofits; and Sakon, which manages networks and cloud services for its clients. COVID-19 has hampered other plans, however. The 500-person event space at Building 50 is effectively unusable until

to Building 44 during construction, will occupy the first two floors in the new building. One other company will rent the top-floor suite, Scully said. On July 8, the Act 250 district commission issued Hula a draft permit, which gave property abutters 21 calendar days to request a hearing. A group of six Hula neighbors submitted their request just 41 hours before the deadline. Though the opponents raised several objections — that the taller building would create a “wind tunnel effect” and would “un-balance the historical nature and feel” of the neighborhood — the Act 250

Project consultant John Caulo outside of Building 32

HE IS GUIDED BY A LONG-TERM VISION FOR THIS PROPERTY. J O H N C AUL O

the state lifts crowd size limits. The calendar was booked with events — including Seven Days’ own Vermont Tech Jam in October — that were canceled or postponed, drying up an entire revenue stream. “We’re gonna get by,” Scully said. “We’re just gonna have to wait a little bit longer for the vision to be realized.” The permitting battle could delay the final piece of the project even longer. Hula applied for an Act 250 permit on July 1, asking for permission to demolish Building 32, a two-story office building, and replace it with a three-story structure. Galen Healthcare Solutions, an IT consulting firm that temporarily relocated

SEVEN DAYS SEPTEMBER 30-OCTOBER 7, 2020

commission agreed only to hear testimony on the traffic and aesthetic effects of the larger building. Peter Bingham bought his home at 51 Lakeside Avenue in the spring of 2018, nine months after Scully purchased the Hula property. Bingham was interested in the prospect of a tech campus next door, but he didn’t see renderings of Building 32 until this spring. “It gradually dawned on me that vistas on the street and that I cherish from my home … were going to be blocked by that taller building,” Bingham said. “The development shouldn’t just go on, unconscious of the consequences for the light and the feel in the neighborhood.” Wallace, Bingham’s next-door neighbor, agrees. Wallace said his wife used to call him a “Russ Scully fanboy” because he was so enamored with Hula. But the love spell was broken when Wallace saw the building’s proposed height. He worries that it will set a precedent for other buildings along the waterfront and complained

that his city councilor — Joan Shannon (D-South District), who lives on nearby Central Avenue — hasn’t raised any objections. Both he and Bingham question whether the additional story will really make or break the entire Hula project. They wonder why Scully can’t compromise. “I’m no longer a huge Scully fan,” Wallace said. For her part, Shannon noted that plans for the new building conform with the area’s zoning, which permits heights up to 45 feet. Building 32 would be about 34 feet tall. “I appreciate that nobody likes a taller building, and I share the sentiment, but I haven’t ever seen that argument prevail when a taller building is allowed,” she said. Project consultant John Caulo agreed, saying he predicts an Act 250 precedent known as the “Quechee test” will end the dispute in Scully’s favor. In 1981, an Upper Valley development known as Quechee Lakes won Act 250 approval to build 28 ridgeline condominiums. When developers installed skylights, wraparound decks and other unpermitted features, the Act 250 commission decided they’d created an “undue adverse impact on aesthetics” in the area and ordered the removal or mitigation of the design changes. A subsequent Environmental Board decision, later upheld by the Vermont Supreme Court, established a two-part test to prevent another Quechee Lakes fiasco. It asks: Does the proposed project negatively affect an area’s natural beauty, and is the impact excessive? Caulo said even if Act 250 finds that the extra height obstructs views, the Quechee test considers whether the developer has taken steps to blend the building with its surroundings. Hula has, Caulo said: The building was originally proposed as four stories, and Scully scaled it down to match the neighborhood’s character. That was before the neighbors even got involved, Caulo said. “He’s demonstrated, at least to me, that he’s not the type of guy that’s just going to try to make a quick buck. He is guided by a long-term vision for this property,” Caulo said of Scully. “That doesn’t mean that everybody has to agree with him.” Scully said he’ll accept whatever the Act 250 commission decides. If Hula prevails, crews could demolish the building before the year ends and begin construction in the spring. Does Scully think the new building will ruin the view? He paused for a moment, considering. “That’s a tough one,” he said. “There’s no way that everyone’s gonna come out happy.” Contact: courtney@sevendaysvt.com


LAW ENFORCEMENT

Weinberger Taps YMCA Chief to Lead Police ‘Transformation’ Effort ST O RY & P H O TO B Y D ER E K BR O UWER

Greater Burlington YMCA president and CEO Kyle Dodson will spearhead police reform efforts in the city as Mayor Miro Weinberger seeks to respond to sustained racial justice protests in Battery Park. Weinberger announced last Friday that he had Kyle Dodson appointed Dodson to a sixmonth role as director of police transformation, a new, temporary position that will lead the city’s work to “forge a new consensus on policing.” Dodson, a graduate of Harvard University and the University of Vermont, has helmed the YMCA since 2016 and previously served on the Burlington School Board. He will take a leave of absence from the nonprofit to assume the new city position. “Kyle is a tremendous leader,” Weinberger said during a press conference at Roosevelt Park in the Old North End. “I know he can do this work, and I’m grateful for him lending his considerable experience, skill and vision to oversee this work and make good on the promise of this moment.” Monthslong demonstrations aimed at the Burlington Police Department have only intensified. During the first wave, the Burlington City Council voted to cut the police force over time from 105 officers to 74. Protesters have camped at Battery Park for the last month, demanding the termination of three officers involved in controversial violent incidents. The council last week approved a separation agreement with one of them, Sgt. Jason Bellavance, that is worth more than $300,000. Dodson is tasked with overseeing a slate of recent council-created police review processes, in addition to finding new reforms. Dodson applauded the mayor for what he described as a “bold move.” Councilors were informed of the new position last Thursday night, President Max Tracy (P-Ward 2) said. Tracy said he was uncertain about precisely what Dodson was being hired to do. “It’s disappointing that we weren’t consulted before, because the council has been an important partner in this work,” he said. Acting Police Chief Jon Murad described the road ahead as a challenge to “transform public safety while keeping people safe.” Weinberger said Dodson will need to work with the department to enact reforms. The nationwide movement sparked by the police killings of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor offers a new opportunity to improve, Dodson said. “Something different is happening,” he

said. “The question is, can we transform it?” In addition to hiring Dodson, Weinberger announced other changes to police oversight. He issued an executive order that gives the mayor’s office more input on disciplinary decisions related to police use of force. The city charter gives sole authority over disciplinary decisions to the police chief. Weinberger supports changing the charter, which would require a ballot measure, but said last Friday’s order would provide a stopgap measure. The order requires the chief to consult with the mayor before disciplining an officer in instances when citizens are injured or that raise “significant public concern.” The mayor’s office will recommend a course of action to the chief. Weinberger did not immediately commit last Friday to making those recommendations public, saying he needed time to consider the question. He also announced four other actions: • Directing the city attorney to review the Burlington Police Officers’ Association contract and suggest points of future negotiation. • Asking the citizen police commission to quickly approve a new policy governing the public release of body camera footage by the end of October. Weinberger said the policy should require disclosure within 30 days of a sensitive incident. • Asking the city council to fund two “community service liaisons” within the police department who would respond to issues involving mental health, homelessness and opioids. • Reconsidering a practice of withholding investigatory records around police officer conduct. The review was prompted by a recent records request from VTDigger.org. Battery Park protesters have remained steadfast in their specific demand that all three Burlington Police Department officers be fired. Because the officers were already disciplined once, the city could face legal exposure if it terminated their employment now. Weinberger last Friday sought to shift the focus away from their specific demands in favor of more general reform. “I think what has made these protests so compelling to many Burlingtonians are the larger themes of racial justice,” he said. “It is there that I see real opportunity for common ground.” Contact: derek@sevendaysvt.com

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3/12/18 1:39 9/21/20 1:56 PM


news PHOTOS: JAMES BUCK

MEDIA

UVM Student Media Outlets Decry Changes to Adviser Position B Y KEN P ICARD

The editor of the Vermont Cynic, the University of Vermont’s student-run weekly newspaper, has condemned changes to its student media adviser position, alleging that the move, implemented without student leaders’ advice or consent, threatens the independence of UVM’s three media outlets. In a scathing editorial published September 22, Cynic editor in chief and UVM senior Sawyer Loftus called the administration’s changes “a disgusting administrative abuse of power.” In addition to providing advice to student journalists at the Cynic, the media adviser also offers guidance to WRUV 90.1 FM, the student-led campus radio station, and to UVMtv, the on-campus television network. The previous media adviser, Chris Evans, left UVM in July after 14 years to teach journalism at the University of

MEDIA

Protesters Round Up Copies of Seven Days for Evening Demonstration Hundreds of copies of Seven Days went missing from newsstands last Thursday after organizers upset with the paper’s coverage called for issues to be rounded up and brought to Burlington’s Battery Park. The call to action was a response to the paper’s cover story, “Battery Power,” published on September 23. The story, subtitled “How Black Lives Matter protesters occupied a park, captivated a city — and got some of what they wanted,” chronicled the movement that has spurred nightly protests at the park and city hall for more than a month. Protesters on Main Street in Burlington

Led by people of color and their allies, the protests have primarily demanded that three Burlington police officers accused of using excessive force be fired. Last Thursday’s demonstration, however, sought to lift up Black women as a counternarrative to Seven Days’ coverage. In her first-person account, writer Chelsea Edgar described her efforts to gain access to the protesters, many of whom refused to talk to the press. Former organizer Anthony Marques did speak to Edgar, and he criticized the femme leaders. After the story was published, activists flooded social media with calls to collect copies of Seven Days and bring them to the park. One online post urged allies to complain to the newspaper “about the misogynoir, racism, sexism and clear patriarchal content” in the story. Seven Days also received a flurry of letters to the editor, many of which appear in this issue. Last Thursday morning, circulation staff found that an abnormally large number

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of papers was missing from dozens of newsstands and racks in Burlington and Winooski, including at both City Market, Onion River Co-op locations. By evening, many of those papers were stacked on a long table in the park. Organizers asked participants to read Edgar’s story, then paint words on the newsprint that represent white supremacy and patriarchy. ”Fuck this,” one newspaper-turnedprotest sign read. “Your words are empty,” said another. The marchers proceeded down Battery Street with the papers held above their heads. They turned onto Main Street and marched up to the Black Lives Matter street mural, and then sat in the street. Organizers spoke about how Black, Indigenous and other women of color have been erased from narratives about activism. ”We are constantly looking for the next Malcolm X. We are constantly looking for the next Dr. King. They’re not coming,” Harmony Edosomwan said. “We have been the ones behind the scenes.” The group, clad in all black, erupted into applause and began chanting, “Black anger is powerful! Black women are angry, and they deserve to be!” One of the protest leaders then ignited a small pile of the newspapers, let them burn and stamped out the modest flame. Several others ripped their copies and added to the pile, chanting, “Chelsea ‘bout to lose her job.” The white men in the crowd then tossed the papers in a recycling bin in an act that protesters said symbolized dismantling white supremacy. Earlier in the day, Seven Days publisher Paula Routly issued a statement saying the paper stands by Edgar’s story. She said removing large numbers of papers from newsstands constitutes an obstruction of free speech. ”The individuals carrying out these retaliatory actions are exhibiting the very authoritarian behavior they are protesting,” she wrote.

SEVEN DAYS SEPTEMBER 30-OCTOBER 7, 2020

Contact: courtney@sevendaysvt.com

FILE: JAMES BUCK

BY C O U R TN E Y L A M D I N

participate and what content gets to be published.” The leadership at WRUV and UVMtv agreed. In a statement to the Cynic, Masterson wrote, “Associating our student-led and programmed radio station with an academic program will destroy the fabric of what WRUV is and will ultimately lead to the detriment of students.” Loftus was also dismayed that, as editor in chief, he was left out of the hiring process for Evans’ replacement. “We begged for weeks to meet with the Provost to explain why the specific changes to our adviser’s role would be ultimately detrimental not only to the student media organizations, but free speech and a free press as guaranteed under the U.S. Constitution,” Loftus wrote. However, in an email to Seven Days, Prelock challenged the students’ narrative, contending that, in fact, her office made 16 attempts between August 16 and September The University of Vermont campus 8 to meet with student leaders to discuss the new appointment, in some cases receiving no responses. Prelock noted that the appointment of Grosvenor, which had to be done internally due to UVM’s current hiring freeze, didn’t take place until after she had met with leaders of UVM’s Illinois. During Evans’ tenure, the advisory Student Government Association. role fell under UVM’s Department of “Our goal was always to talk with the Student Life, which oversees nearly 300 media leaders before we made this interim student clubs on the Burlington campus. appointment,” Prelock added, “but with the Like other cocurricular groups, the Cynic, students’ schedule, the summer planning WRUV and UVMtv are largely or entirely for return to campus during a pandemic, funded by student activity fees. this was unable to happen.” Last month, the administration Prelock also pushed back on the Cynic’s appointed Jenny Grosvenor, a former allegation that the administration’s goal journalist and currently a senior lecturer is to exert control over students’ editorial in the UVM College of Arts and Sciences, content, including, as Loftus claimed, that to fill Evans’ vacancy. As UVM provost it wants “prior review” of stories before Patricia Prelock explained in an email to they go to press. Seven Days, the college recently launched “I think the fact that The Cynic was a new minor in reporting and documentary able to publish the [editorial] is a proof of storytelling, so moving the adviser job concept that we honor their ability to tell into the college “support[s] our goal of their story as they perceive it,” she wrote. providing students with a more integrated For his part, Loftus emphasized that his academic experience, creating options grievances are not a reflection of his views for coursework to advance their skills in on Grosvenor, the new student media journalism.” adviser. Loftus said he’s disgusted by the But as Loftus pointed out in an interway he and fellow student reporters are view with Seven Days, none of the Cynic’s treated by the administration as “secondeditors are currently enrolled in that class journalists.” He characterized the minor. Neither is Katie Masterson, station relationship between the Cynic and manager of WRUV, nor Daisy Powers, stauniversity leadership as one of “extreme tion manager at UVMtv. Moreover, aligning distrust. the Cynic, the only one of the three media “I don’t really see how the university outlets that engages in traditional news can ask us to trust them,” he added, “when gathering, with a particular school or they very clearly don’t trust us.” academic program “leads to the possibility of greater restrictions as to who can Contact: ken@sevendaysvt.com


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ulie Goodall had run two businesses of her own — and been the “right arm” at several others — when she discovered her true calling: helping entrepreneurs. Prospective clients of her company, Genesis Consulting, come to her seeking advice. “‘Some of the most common questions are: Should I become an LLC? What kind of insurance should I have? Can you help me set up my bookkeeping?’” Goodall said. “And: ‘By the way, do you know a CPA?’” In fact, she does know a CPA. Part of Goodall’s service as a business consultant is connecting clients to the specialized services they need, from websites and IT, to marketing and logistics. Working out of a spotless office off Shelburne Road in South Burlington, she seems to do everything else: financial analysis, custom reporting, CFO services, budgeting and forecasting, even live classes on business and bookkeeping basics. Genesis itself offers a full-service virtual finance department, including accounts payable and receivable, payroll, reconciliations and reporting. Its diverse collection of clients includes Davis Studio, Quantum Leap Capital, Hinesburgh Public House and the Flying Pig Bookstore. A native of Georgia, Vt., Goodall, 39, grew up around spreadsheets and adding machines; her mother, Claire Shepard, was the chief financial officer for the city of Burlington, working there for more than four decades. Goodall’s first job, at 16, was in the city’s finance department. “I’m a numbers person and big-picture thinker,” said Goodall, now with two daughters of her own. She enjoys transforming the chaos of others into something orderly — maybe even color-coded. “For a long time I didn’t realize that was a skill.” When clients ask Goodall where to bank, she recommends Mascoma. Her own accounts are there because she likes that fact that the bank is a certified B-Corp, balancing people and profits to “make business a force for good.” But there are other selling points. “I want my clients to be treated well and I know they will be,” Goodall said. The team at Mascoma “are personable and kind. They’re not pressured to sell financial services my clients may not need. They are relationship-centric, and so am I.” One example: When the federal government rolled out the Paycheck Protection Program earlier this year, “before I could even determine if I was eligible, my rep from Mascoma called me. She was, like, ‘I noticed you didn’t apply for the PPP yet. Can I help you?’” Goodall has since become something of an expert on the program: She’s successfully helped a number of companies through the nerve-wracking process of applying for loan forgiveness. Once again, Mascoma impressed her. “They were one of the first banks that I’ve seen to offer the forgiveness application online with an e-signature,” Goodall said. Now she’s getting messages every day. “I hear you’re the PPP forgiveness application specialist,” she quoted from one recent voicemail, acknowledging it could be a reliable revenue stream over the next few months. But what might seem like good fortune and timing is the result of years of hard work. “When you do right by people, they stay with you,” she said. “And they tell their friends.”

* All credit requests subject to commercial underwriting standards established by Mascoma Bank.

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FEEDback

WEEK IN REVIEW

READER REACTION TO RECENT ARTICLES

Hear Our Voices « P.7 organizers bring discredit on their movement. They are shitting in their own nest. Bruce Wilkie DERBY LINE

The Vermont Journalism Alliance condemns the attempts to bully and intimidate Seven Days by some individuals involved in ongoing racial justice protests in Burlington. Hoarding and burning newspapers is an act of censorship. It is meant to strike fear in journalists covering the important public dialogue around racial justice and police brutality. We call on leaders of the Burlington protest to refrain from attempting to curtail the media’s constitutional freedoms as they fight for their own. We acknowledge the role media has played in systemic racism over the centuries, and our organizations are committed to breaking that cycle in our coverage. The Vermont Journalism Alliance

The alliance includes the following news organizations in radio, television, print and online media: the Valley News, Vermont Public Radio, Vermont Community Newspaper Group, VTDigger.org and WCAX-TV. Seven Days is also a member but did not assist in drafting the statement. Chelsea Edgar’s article on the BLM protests is blatant misogynoir. She discredits Black female/femme leadership and sides with a former encampment attendee/organizer who was a threat to the women/femmes of the Black Perspective, giving him a platform to further condemn the Black female/femme leadership. Edgar also is openly misogynistic within the first paragraph of her article, poking fun at the appearances of the girls/femmes who show up to support Black voices at nightly protests. This is incredibly immature and unprofessional. She expresses frustration with the movement’s refusal to speak with the media, when she does exactly what they fear in her article: twists their words and misrepresents them completely. This article should never have been published, as it is a threat to women/femmes, especially Black women/femmes. It is very embarrassing for both Edgar and Seven Days. This is highly inappropriate, destructive and overall terrible journalism. I will not support Seven Days due to the publishing of such an article. Alta Fox

BURLINGTON

20

Chelsea Edgar’s article was entertaining, illuminating and scary at the same time. Kudos to her and to Seven Days for having her back, as we all should. Reporters and a free press are the backbone of a successful democracy. I’m looking at you, North Korea, China, Syria and Iran. I’m not sure how long the Battery Street groupies would last pitching their tents and blocking traffic in P’yongyang. The statistics on reporters that are killed and harassed globally, for merely telling a story, are frightening. Edgar’s article came to my attention after VTDigger.org reported on the backlash. I had to share some of the more mindbending quotes with my partner. “This is more than a full-time job.” Really? Talk to an ICU nurse during a pandemic. And the white woman who reconciled her unease with the profane chants against the police by realizing it was her “white fragility speaking.” Such original slogans as “Oink! Oink! That’s the sound of the police!” should make any self-respecting 60-yearold uncomfortable. They may be police to you, but they are fathers, mothers, brothers, sisters, daughters and sons. In other words, humans. And you’re not in kindergarten anymore. So come up with something more profound and less profane. The one that was not funny at all was Harmony Edosomwan telling Edgar never to come back to a protest. Or telling the WCAX-TV reporter that he was “perpetuating white supremacy” for observing the protesters. OK, Kim Jong-un. That’s just censorship. It is illuminating, the extent to which the self-righteous are afraid of a free press. To quote a cis Black man, “A critical, independent and investigative press is the lifeblood of any democracy.” Well said, Nelson Mandela. Susan Manley

WILDER

You may have used the words “Battery Power” on the front page, but your cover story works to disempower protesters at every opportunity. Whether by flippantly referring to followers as “females of the TikTok demographic” or the “glee” of protesters watching a journalist being “ripped into” by Black leadership, the writer continuously revels in half-observations and condescending witticisms that seek to delegitimize the protest and its message. White supremacy is sustained by publicly centering the experience of those in power, as well as white experience, and meticulously documenting the perceived mistakes of those fighting for change. The article does both, centering a rebuffed journalist with far too little self-awareness about why protesters might distrust her. She offers instead what little interactions

SEVEN DAYS SEPTEMBER 30-OCTOBER 7, 2020

TIM NEWCOMB

she had, painting a picture that veers into the realm of racist, sexist and ageist stereotypes. Your paper frames the struggle for racial justice for the community, and this is what we get? You even close with an image of a squirrel carrying a Cheetos bag? I’ll grant that the image fits with the tone of the article — dismissive and cynical, suggesting that these protests are as disposable as anything else in the “dumpster fire” of our public discourse. I have more faith than this. The protesters’ demands for justice are valiant and powerful. I want better for Burlington, and so do they — and they are actually doing something about it. Seven Days, you had an opportunity to stand for something, and you instead stood for yourselves. Do better.

the encampment and protests — and that elevated the message of an abuser who has antagonized them and is not welcome among them. Paula Routly used her positionality as publisher of the paper to publish this spectacle and come running to the defense of her fellow white woman after Chelsea began receiving her well-earned barrage of criticism that comes unsurprisingly after one publishes an article nothing short of a crude, racist misrepresentation of the truth. Here was an opportunity for Seven Days to critically examine its wrongdoing and make steps toward positive change. Instead, Seven Days chose, yet again, to stand firmly against anti-racist progress and growth in our community.

Meg Reynolds

BURLINGTON

BURLINGTON

Teremy Garen

The people who have been protesting for a month now in Burlington’s Battery Park over Black Lives Matter issues have come close to discrediting themselves with their shocking confiscation, destruction and burning of vast numbers of the September 23 print issues of Seven Days. In order to comprehend how an allegedly progressive group could Leah Collier show such absolute contempt for free SHELBURNE speech, something must be said about the 20-year decline of support for free Seven Days is wrought with fragile white- speech among people who call themness from top to bottom. The truth can only selves progressives, documented in my be inconvenient when it is, in fact, the truth. article “How the Shadow University Chelsea Edgar chose to sit in her white Attack on First Amendment Defenders guilt and shame and publish an untruthful of Private Speech Paved the Way for the hit job that slandered the hard work and War Party’s Attack on Public Speech.” progress made by the Black women and femmes who have been tirelessly organizing HEAR OUR VOICES » P.22 What was the point of last week’s article by Chelsea Edgar? It read like a travel blog or a day-in-the-life on a high school sitcom. Was the reporter mad that they wouldn’t talk to her? Because it certainly didn’t seem like she was interested in pursuing responsible, impartial journalism. Rather than inform, it only stoked the flames.


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FEEDback READER REACTION TO RECENT ARTICLES

Hear Our Voices « P.20

Norman Arthur Fischer

Nina Menard

WOODSTOCK

It’s very disturbing that Chelsea Edgar’s BLM piece made it all the way through your organization. It’s horrifying. It’s so anti-Black, so dangerous, so condescending. Seven Days needs to make public amends for what it’s done. Of course folks don’t trust the media, because you all pull this racist trash in the world.

Chelsea Edgar’s “coverage” of the Battery Park encampment and protests is hardly journalistic. Edgar was given the opportunity to spread the message of an inspiring and impactful movement but chose instead to write a scattered story that reeks of condescension and misogyny. Battery Park is the best example of collective action, organization and togetherness Burlington has seen, yet Edgar’s words will only serve to affirm skeptics’ negative views of the protests. This is exactly why protesters refuse to interact with the press — and will continue to, thanks to Edgar’s apparent superiority complex and eagerness to disrespect Black women in print. Chelsea, the tongue-in-cheek comments about white “females” and their leg hair should be saved for your aspiring satire career at the Onion. Kelly Duggan

WINOOSKI

I am a fifth-generation Vermonter with a love for this state and its people. I also recognize its scars, including ongoing and frequently ignored racism. Oftentimes, the excuse for this ignorance of racism and racial bias is that “everyone is white,” so therefore we don’t need to address the mistreatment of our neighbors of color. Imagine my horror when I clicked on your article titled “How Black Lives Matter Protesters Occupied a Park, Captivated a City — and Got Some of What They Wanted,” which begins by stating that 22

Dana Steinhoff

WINOOSKI

I have recently read the article about the Battery Park protest written by Chelsea Edgar and felt compelled to let someone at Seven Days know how I felt about it. If I were Chelsea, I’d be incredibly embarrassed right now. The article she wrote was irresponsible and straight-up bad journalism. Beyond any of the atrocious content, my takeaway was that Chelsea writes several pages about how she has nothing interesting, informative or revelatory to say about the protest or anything happening

Marques, who claimed the Black women and femmes at the head of the movement were secretly hateful and exclusionist, and then spent the rest of the article making it clear how much she ended up agreeing with him. In her mind, she’s a freedom fighter, and the organizers are the ones trying to hold her down. She’s living up to the very expectation she’s trying to subvert — that journalists constantly twist the words of activists and distract from their true goals — and, apparently, it never crosses her mind. Not only is Edgar’s article biased and blatantly entitled in concept, it’s written in a way that puts in mind a whiny child. The people who agree with Chelsea are endowed with glowing descriptions; the people who don’t are “a white guy with thick eyebrows,” “a skinny, bespectacled 22-year old” and, in a particularly cringeworthy example, “females of the TikTok demographic, dressed in black, sporting

Emma Redden

BURLINGTON

Fisher is a retired professor of philosophy at Kent State University.

after night at Battery Park. Referring to women as “girls” is a long-standing subtle and pernicious tool to undermine the power and legitimacy of women. Was this the intention of Ms. Edgar? Language has power. Please don’t be careless.

FILE: JAMES BUCK

What I presented there fits in well with other scholars who oppose censorship of free speech in the alleged interest of diversity. True diversity does not need to generate attacks on free speech. Harvey Silverglate and Alan Charles Kors, creators of the website Foundation for Individual Rights in Education, have shown the absolute hostility to free speech of university speech codes, which have influenced the current anti-free-speech movement on college campuses and the current movement in Battery Park. Seven Days editor Paula Routly noted that the destruction of the papers is as authoritarian as the things this movement is criticizing. I would add the question: Why should progressives imitate the free-speech-hating Donald Trump? Their attack on Seven Days is as mean-spirited, idiotic and tyrannical as Trump’s attack on Black athletes who kneel during the national anthem.

the protest was “hundreds of white girls ... waiting to be told what to do.” Within the first line of this article, the author has minimized the issue of racism in Vermont and erased voices of color. Shockingly, the author has transformed an opportunity to raise awareness of violence — including in Vermont — against Black and brown bodies into a deeply misogynistic and ignorant article used to make fun of our community members. I am ashamed that Seven Days gave this author a platform. To all Vermonters and visitors of color: You are valued, your lives matter, and we won’t stop fighting for you.

BURLINGTON

I want to give Chelsea Edgar props for the excellently written first-person piece. It is unfortunate that not everyone lives in reality and took your truth and personal experiences in every way other than the way you intended. I am a 30-year-old woman of color in the Burlington area, and reading your article made me chuckle, nod my head in agreement several times, and exclaim in glee how bold, unbiased and honest your account was. I hope you don’t let the words of the “protesters” and their selfappointed leaders make you feel as though you did anything wrong, said something you shouldn’t have and, most importantly, that you are racist, simply because you put into words what I’m sure so many people are thinking but would never print. Not all people of color want to blame every white person for the injustices we have faced and continue to face. The emphasis of the movement should be on creating more opportunities for healthy dialogue. It keeps these much-needed conversations going, even if it’s uncomfortable. Thank you, and keep up the good writing! Codi Williams

WINOOSKI

There is no problem with the term “girls” when it refers to people younger than adulthood. However, Chelsea Edgar uses it in the first line of her piece on the Battery Park protests to describe the young women showing up as allies night

SEVEN DAYS SEPTEMBER 30-OCTOBER 7, 2020

Protesters outside Burlington City Hall

in Battery Park. That’s it; that’s the whole article. But, boy, does she write a novel about how little she has to contribute. Please ensure that she is reprimanded and perhaps attends a college-level journalism class, if for nothing but a refresher. Also, please take better care when publishing articles written by white people about people of color, because it must be done with tact, which Chelsea failed to do. Soshannah Block

BURLINGTON

I am disgusted by the inaccurate, biased and completely unprofessional reporting present in Chelsea Edgar’s article “Battery Power.” The sheer audacity of a white reporter casting herself as a persecuted bastion of democracy fighting against angry, irrational Black women and femmes is simply staggering. So, too, is the idea that when she was turned away, she decided to get her information from Anthony

some combination of Blundstones, ironic tube socks and leg hair.” I expect to see this kind of schlock on Breitbart, not Seven Days. Maybe I should have known better. Luca Socks

CABOT

In the largest protest movement in U.S. history, people across the country have organized to protest police violence against BIPOC people. The Battery Park encampment and nightly marches have raised this conversation in Burlington with renewed urgency. The work of these activists has been effective. In the words of the late congressman John Lewis, sometimes we need to “get into good trouble, necessary trouble” for long-needed changes to move forward. I was excited to see that Seven Days had chosen to cover this protest and hoped for a comprehensive exploration of the organizers’ demands and the historical context of these demands, both local and


national. But the very first paragraph set the tone for the article. Why begin with such dismissive comments about “girls” that diminished their intelligence and agency, instead focusing on their appearance? Why even begin by centering the experience of white people in this article about anti-racism activism? If those leading the protest refused to speak with a white reporter, why not try to understand the historical reasons for that reluctance? Why not gather information from the protesters’ public statements and social media posts, instead of primarily relying on the perspective of one man with what seems to be a clear grudge against the femme leaders? What a wasted opportunity for Seven Days to raise awareness about a critical issue of our times, to elevate the too-oftensilenced stories of BIPOC people, and to challenge white people to understand and believe the experiences of BIPOC people. Celia Cuddy

BURLINGTON

It was shocking and distressing to learn that people affiliated with the current Burlington protest thought it was somehow appropriate to confiscate copies of the current issue of Seven Days and burn them during another noisy downtown protest. The Vermont Press Association Executive Board has voted to condemn the juvenile acts by protesters. The VPA urges those responsible to spend some quality time learning about censorship, the First Amendment, and the right for the general public to enjoy the freedoms of the press and speech provided through Seven Days. The organizers are upset because Seven Days did its job. Not everybody is always happy with news reports. Every participant in a meeting or event has an opinion on the topic. In today’s world, many just want their point of view advanced. There is no dialogue, no compromise. It is only my way, not your way. The fact that reporter Chelsea Edgar spent several weeks visiting the site, conducting interviews and working on the story shows just how seriously she and Seven Days took the work. Edgar’s story is an accurate and compelling first-person account of life at Battery Park. By stealing and burning Seven Days, the protesters have shown a serious disregard for others. This form of censorship shall not be tolerated. Based on the ongoing misguided directions of a few protest leaders, it’s also likely they will direct their followers to write letters to the editor expressing displeasure with Seven Days. But the protesters need to know that Seven Days — with an incredible 25-year

history of public service — will be printing long after they leave Battery Park for the final time. Lisa Loomis

FAYSTON

COURTESY OF MATT HEASLEY

WEEK IN REVIEW

Loomis is the president of the Vermont Press Association and the editor and co-owner of the Valley Reporter in Waitsfield. Seven Days reporter Courtney Lamdin is on the VPA Executive Board, but she did not participate in the drafting or internal discussion of the above letter. Chelsea Edgar’s choice to open her frontpage, main-spread article covering the Battery Park protests with the phrase “hundreds of white girls ... mill[ing] around” took my breath away. I couldn’t believe this much-anticipated piece about the protests would choose to refer to college-age women as “girls” in the opening line. This unaccountably flippant tone and casual misogyny — not to mention misgendering — continues throughout the article, marring what otherwise manages at times to be a decent piece of journalism. The fact that Edgar demonstrates an ability to report in a thorough, neutral way and provides readers with much-needed facts and context makes it even more of a shame when, halfway through, the article turns into a kind of lazy exposé. In my opinion, this exposes Edgar’s immaturity as a journalist. If she wants to be edgy, she should write fiction. This was always going to be a hard piece to write, but it was important. People in this community are earnestly trying to form their opinions about whether to lend their support. Their willingness to engage is in the balance, and that engagement is crucial for the safety of our BIPOC neighbors. It’s a shame that, with this particular piece, the journalist entrusted with educating Seven Days’ readership chose to capitulate to her worse impulses as a writer — and that the editing staff failed to strike what was utterly gratuitous from the finished product. Grace Grundhauser

BURLINGTON

The “Battery Power” article published this week was one of the strangest articles I’ve ever read. Somehow the reporter managed to cover almost nothing about the protests and the larger context around them, and instead wrote a play-by-play of her own experience of feeling excluded by the activists. I understand it’s difficult to cover a movement whose organizers don’t want to speak directly to the press. However, that absolutely does not excuse this bizarre recounting of a reporter’s internalized sexism and racism from being written or published.

Protesters in Burlington

I was really excited to see the Battery Park protests highlighted on this week’s cover, since there’s so much to learn about the function of this protest and the complicated inner workings of city government. How change happens on a city scale can be confusing, and I know a lot of people have been looking for clarification from trusted news sources on what has been happening and not happening in Burlington among the community and city officials. Instead I got a reporter’s hot takes and judgments on individuals she’s met and, strangely, the grooming habits of young women. Frankly, I’m baffled that an editor reviewed and green-lit this article, but that’s likely because I’m a middle-class white woman who was socialized to believe that this society and its institutions are ultimately good. I’ve been reading and loving Seven Days from the beginning, and I’m so disappointed anyone there thought this piece was worthy of print.

then I’ve traveled around the country photographing protests. I enjoy talking to the people on the ground and getting to know the leaders of local organizations. I am a strong believer in the rights of the citizen. Usually it is the police I have to worry about trying to obstruct the press. Thursday night in Burlington, it was the protesters. As soon as I started shooting, my view was instantly obstructed by copies of Seven Days scrawled with markers. The message was clear: The press was not welcome. It’s concerning to see such a shunning of and disengagement with the media. It is precisely the kind of rhetoric the Trump presidency thrives upon. This attitude, whether consciously or not, has pervaded all aspects of American social life. The silent treatment is not effective in a street fight and, clearly, this movement is a fight for people’s lives. Silence, exclusivity and alienation only drive the cause into obscurity and nurture suspicion, turning away potential allies.

Lindsey Brand

ASBURY PARK, N.J.

DUXBURY

Driving up to Burlington last Thursday, I had no idea Seven Days had published “Battery Power” the day before. But by the end of that night, after having the paper shoved into my face and camera lens more than a dozen times, I felt I should check it out. The article was well written, detailing a movement still struggling to establish clear objectives and leadership, and uncertain how to clearly represent itself in a public forum. The pandemic put me, a professional sports photographer based in Asbury Park, N.J., temporarily out of work. In June, I started freelancing, covering protests in Trenton, N.J. One night ended in a riot, with looting and burning cop cars. Since

Matt Heasley

Seven Days should be ashamed that it let this article be published. This writing does nothing but misrepresent the Black femme leaders of the movement. This writing exemplifies why organizers dislike talking to media. I urge the writer and this publication to apologize to the individuals included in this article and the entire encampment community. Apologize for staging less important matters to readers instead of highlighting the Black Perspective’s greater effort, for villainizing Black femmes and for exploiting BIPOC invitations to admonish the writer’s own guilt. Thank you. Peace and love. Andrew Baker BURLINGTON

SEVEN DAYS SEPTEMBER 30-OCTOBER 7, 2020

23


lifelines

OBITUARIES, VOWS, CELEBRATIONS

OBITUARIES Thomas Harold McNeil OCTOBER 9, 1951SEPTEMBER 24, 2020 SOUTH HERO, VT.

Thomas H. McNeil, 68, died peacefully on Thursday, September 24, 2020, following a fearless battle with esophageal cancer. Thom was born on October 9, 1951, at the Clark Field AFB in the Philippine Islands, the son of Thomas and Janet (Rose) McNeil. He graduated from Central Catholic High School in 1969 and attended Northeastern University in Boston, Mass. Following college, Thom served in the U.S. Army. He had retired from the Lake Champlain Transportation Co., where he was an engineer. Thom always enjoyed maintaining his property and was passionate about caring for his beloved pets, who were also a big part of his family, as well as

working in his beautiful vegetable gardens. He is survived by his brothers Christopher and his wife, Camille, of Worthington, Ohio; Brian and his wife, Judy, of Loxahatchee, Fla.; and Michael and his wife, Jill, of Easton, Conn. He is also survived by his

sisters Mary Backer of Delaware; Erin and her husband, George Herring, of Norwalk, Conn.; and Laurie and her husband, Jac Citera, of Greenport, N.Y.; as well as many nieces and nephews; and his former wife, Annie Hemmingway. In addition to his father, Thom was predeceased by his mother, Janet McNeil, and sister Anne McLauglin. At Thom’s request, memorials in his memory may be made to Franklin County Animal Rescue, 30 Sunset Meadows, St. Albans, VT 05478 or to the Chittenden County Humane Society, 142 Kindness Ct., South Burlington, VT 05403. A time to celebrate Thom’s life was held on Sunday morning, September 27, 2020, at the Minor Funeral and Cremation Center in Milton. For those who’d wish, online condolences may be made to minorfh.com.

Wayne Erwin Martens 1935-2020 WILLISTON, VT.

Wayne Erwin Martens — actor, photographer, entrepreneur, and beloved father and grandfather — took his final bow on Friday, August 28, 2020, at the McClure Miller Respite House in Colchester, Vt. He was 84 years old. A resident of Williston since 2002, Martens was born in South Bend, Ind., in 1935, the second of four children. His parents, Erwin Martens and Bertha Marcuson Martens, led the family on a series of moves around the country — Wayne’s childhood favorite was Charlotte, N.C. — before finally settling in Detroit, Mich. While attending Redford High School, from which he graduated in 1953, Martens discovered what would become a lifelong passion for photography. Besides working for the school yearbook, he served as a

James Edgar Willard

Mark your family’s milestones in lifelines. sevendaysvt.com/lifelines 24

SEVEN DAYS SEPTEMBER 30-OCTOBER 7, 2020

DECEMBER 25, 1940SEPTEMBER 25, 2020 MONTGOMERY, VT. James Edgar Willard of Montgomery passed peacefully away on September 25, 2020, at St. Albans Healthcare and Rehabilitation after battling health problems. He was 79. James was born on Christmas 1940 in Morrisville to Keith and Ilene Willard. He grew up in Essex Junction with his three sisters. As a youth, he was popular, athletic and a member of the Silver Mitten’s boxing youth league, organized by the Essex police chief. He also delivered the

stock photographer for UPI. For a few years he attended classes at Wayne State University and Alma College — where he discovered his other lifelong passion, theater (not to mention an alma mater he would play on the piano for decades). From there, Martens embarked on a theatrical career. He produced, directed, acted and operated theaters in San Francisco, Detroit and New York. In 1966 and ‘67, he starred as Bellamy in the official national touring company of The Fantasticks. In 1968, a chance meeting changed the course of Martens’ life. Then a divorcé and single parent, raising a cognitively challenged young daughter and living in Brooklyn, he met dancer Lynne Walsh at a show in which they were both performing in the Catskills. Three years later, they married and had their first child. Two more would follow. Needing to amplify the young family’s income, Martens set acting aside and returned to photography. In 1972 he launched, with Lynne’s help, a custom black-and-white lab out of their Park Slope apartment, dubbing it Box One to avoid alerting authorities to the zoning violation. Quickly developing a strong reputation among professional photographers, the business soon outgrew the apartment. In 1979, it took occupation of expansive quarters in midtown Manhattan, where it remained

for nearly 20 years. During this time, Martens returned to offBroadway theater for a stint as creative director of the Harold Clurman Theatre, where he directed a well-received production of James Joyce’s Ulysses in Nighttown. After winding down Box One’s operations, he spent a couple of years writing and self-publishing From the Top, a conversational memoir of his life up to that point. Upon becoming a grandfather in 2002, Martens left New York City for the last time, moving to Williston, Vt., to be closer to, and provide help for, his daughter’s new family. There he returned once again, with gusto, to his love for theater, acting in numerous productions (including The Fantasticks, for which he revived his role as Bellamy in 2003) and realizing, in 2005, his long-held dream of starring as Willy Loman in a production, which he also directed, of Death of a Salesman. Above all, Martens was devoted — in his fiercely idiosyncratic, often entertaining, sometimes exasperating, but always deeply loving way — to his family. Predeceased by his first daughter Michelle, his sister Margaret and his brother Randall, he is survived by, among others, his brother Les; his wife, Lynne; his children, Matthew, Shannon Lashua and Christopher; and his two grandchildren, Jami and Emma Lashua.

Burlington Free Press and had one of the largest paper routes in the state. As a young man, he earned the nickname “Cyclone Jim,” competing in the 1960 Golden Gloves welterweight competition at Burlington’s Memorial Auditorium and earning the semifinalist Sportsmanship trophy after a hard-fought championship battle that was remembered for years later among local amateur boxing fans. James attended Johnson State Teachers College for a short time, then served six years in the Air Force Reserve. He was honorably discharged in 1967. He went on to become a successful salesman, and then manager of sales, for the Montgomery Schoolhouse, a renowned Vermont wooden toy business. He was always proud to show off the latest line of toys to his family and friends. As an individual, James had two sides: On the one hand, he was spirited and outgoing, enjoying life with his friends and loved ones, sharing his love of music through his wonderful

singing voice, and bringing laughter and warmth to family events; on the other hand, he treasured his solitude and artistic talents. For many years, he painted rustic Vermont and northern New England scenes, then gave most of those paintings away to family and friends. He spent much of his life in Montgomery, living quietly close to the woods and the streams in which he fished for trout. James fished, hunted and cross-country skied with his sons, teaching them an appreciation for a quieter way of living amid the beauty of Vermont. Their times together helped form the bond between a father and his sons. James is survived by his sons James John, David and Michael; his grandchildren James Paul, Eric, Nicole and Kayla; and his sisters Joyce Bergeron, Deanna Hayes and Gloria Leggett. A private graveside ceremony will be held at a future time. In lieu of a specific charity, the family suggests that donations be made to the charity of one’s choice.


READ, POST, SHARE + COMMENT: SEVENDAYSVT.COM/LIFELINES

Katharine Frankenthal McMillan

NOVEMBER 12, 1933SEPTEMBER 1, 2020 SOUTH BURLINGTON, VT. Katharine Frankenthal McMillan, 86, of South Burlington, Vt., died Tuesday, September 1, 2020. She was at Long Lake in Phelps, Wis. (“God’s country,” as she called it), the summer home of her family since 1920. She was surrounded by children, grandchildren and pets. She was born November 12, 1933, in Chicago, Ill., daughter of Dr. Lester Emmanuel Frankenthal Jr. and Katharine Anderson Frankenthal Sulzberger. Katharine, known as Penny for most of her life, attended elementary school in the Hyde Park (Chicago) schools but claimed she was moved to private school for bad behavior. She graduated from Hollins College with a BA in English in 1955.

Jean Lafayette Dean Jasman

OCTOBER 8, 1929-AUGUST 23, 2020 MONTPELIER, VT. Jean Lafayette Dean Jasman, 90, died August 23, 2020, at her home on Loomis Street in Montpelier, with family at her bedside, after a period of declining health. A Catholic Funeral Mass celebrating Jean’s life will be held on Saturday, October 3, 11 a.m., at St. Augustine’s Catholic Church in Montpelier. Calling hours will be Friday, October 2, 6 to 8 p.m., at Guare’s and Sons in Montpelier. Family and friends are encouraged to wear face masks and observe social distancing. Jean was born October 8, 1929, the daughter of Roland Sr. and Gladys (Ring) Lafayette of Waterbury, Vt. She attended schools in Waterbury, graduating from Waterbury High

In 1945, Penny was diagnosed with polio. She spent a year at the hospital in Warm Springs, Ga. She told stories of racing in wheelchairs down steep hills on the hospital grounds, unattended, exhilarated and unharmed. While she always had a limp (and then a cane, a walker and, finally, back to a wheelchair), she never let this interfere with an adventurous life. As a teen she learned to slalom waterski even while being told that one must learn to drop a ski first. In retirement, she loved to snowshoe near the cabin in Phelps. Penny met her husband, Bob, when they attended the same church in the South Side of Chicago. They were married in March 1957, in a decked-out gymnasium after St. Paul’s Hyde Park was destroyed by fire. Penny was a “cradle-to-grave” Episcopalian and volunteer, and the two went hand in hand as she volunteered for church groups and ministries. She enjoyed traveling on many medical missions to Haiti and the Dominican Republic. She was involved in the church wherever they lived, including St. John’s Flossmoor, Grace Church Hinsdale, St. Paul’s Peoria, and Christ Church San Pablo/ Jacksonville, Fla. She kept alive the spirit of her grandfather, an Episcopal priest and bishop, by organizing many years of weekly services at St. Aidan’s, the family chapel at Long Lake. She served on the board of

trustees of the Bishop Anderson House in Chicago. In addition to church, she was always active in the community. She volunteered at the Hinsdale Humane Society and was a Girl Scout leader for several years, leading camping and canoeing trips to the Boundary Waters and the Smoky Mountains, not to mention encouraging the sales of thousands of boxes of Girl Scout cookies. She packed up the family several times to follow Bob’s career in railroading. After moving from Chicago to Kansas City, back to Chicago and finally to Peoria, they opted to not return to Chicago when asked — and made Peoria their home for 20-plus years. They made lifelong friends there, particularly with a group from the cathedral known as the GOOFS (Grand Old Order of Flamingo Society). She was a board member at the Peoria Children’s Home (1979 to 1995) and was scuba-certified. She was a certified travel agent and owned Quality Travel, Inc., from 1987 to 2000. Bob and Penny traveled the world. They visited more Anglican cathedrals and rode more trains than anyone has a right to. One of her prized possessions was a cane (made by Bob from a tree tap root) that traveled with them to all seven continents. She even took an accidental swim in the Antarctic Ocean. They wanted to slow down and travel more in the U.S., but Bob’s

dementia interfered with those plans. She regretted not visiting more national parks. They loved Peoria but moved to Jacksonville for the weather, and reluctantly moved to Burlington to be near family. Mom loved needlepoint, but when she could no longer do that, she passed many hours with mystery novels, westerns, cribbage, sudoku and jigsaw puzzles. These hobbies kept her sharp as she was less and less able to get out and about. Even as she had less mobility, she insisted on volunteering at the annual Humane Society of Chittenden County’s rabies clinics. Penny had a quick wit and a sometimes sharp tongue, and she didn’t suffer fools. She was a lifelong Republican ... until 2016. She was relentlessly generous. Penny leaves two children, Stephen (Linda) and Susan (Becky Roberts); three grandchildren, Daniel, Nicholas and Ella McMillan; a brother, (Lester); two sisters-in-law, Jean and Ann; and many cousins, nieces, nephews and friends. She was predeceased by Bob, her devoted husband of 58 years; their son Mark; her brother Charlie; and many dear friends and cousins. A family memorial service (COVIDstyle) was held at St. Aidan’s, and final interment was in Phelps, Wis. The family requests that, in lieu of any flowers, a donation be made to Bishop Anderson House, 1653 W. Congress Pkwy., Chicago, IL 60612.

School in June 1947. She remained close to her Waterbury classmates all her life. During her lifetime, Jean was the town clerk in her hometown of Waterbury, worked at radio station WDEV and was the administrative assistant to Vermont speaker of the house Timothy O’Connor (1975 to 1980). Jean then worked for the Vermont House of Representatives as the Vermont House calendar clerk, keeping the daily House calendar meticulously for 31 years (1981 to 2012.) She retired from her Statehouse job in 2012 at age 82. She was a devoted member of St. Augustine’s Catholic Church in Montpelier and Catholic Daughters of America Chapter #976. She was a feisty, strong-willed woman who at the same time was kind and generous. Jean loved playing cribbage and Scrabble, handily beating people half her age at either game weeks before her death. In recent years, she was active at the Montpelier Senior Activity Center, participating in the Living Strong senior exercise class four times a week. In earlier years, she enjoyed traveling to Europe, Mexico and Brazil, as well as visiting many family members in California. Jean was the mother of three children: K. Scott Dean, who passed away in March 2007; Debra D. Thereault of Mexico; and C. Kenneth Dean of Montpelier. Jean married C.K. “Sonny” Dean, originally of Alburgh, Vt., on April 30, 1949, in Waterbury at

St. Andrews Catholic Church. At the time, he was comanager of Bailey’s Department Store in Waterbury and Montpelier locations, where both Jean and her mother, Gladys Lafayette, worked for many years. Later the couple moved to Franklin and Grand Isle counties and lived in Swanton, raising their family there. From 1962 to 1965, Jean was the administrative assistant to the CEO of Kerbs Hospital in St. Albans. Jean’s first husband passed away in April 1966. Upon returning to Waterbury, from 1966 to 1969, Jean was the administrative assistant to Al Moulton, development and community affairs commissioner, in the Philip Hoff administration. Subsequently, Jean became the bookkeeper at WDEV, 1969 to 1972, and was elected town clerk of Waterbury in 1972. Jean married Charles W. Jasman of Montpelier on October 14, 1972 , and the couple made their home on Loomis Street in Montpelier. Charlie Jasman passed away in August 1993. Survivors include her children, Ken Dean of Montpelier, Debra and Roland Thereault of Mexico, her daughter-in-law Susan Hunt of Townshend, Anna and William Crowther of Barre Town, Douglas and Vicki Jasman of Montpelier, Aime “Nick” and Cindy Jasman of Virginia, and Mary and Robert Rougeaux of Alabama; 16 grandchildren; 19 greatgrandchildren; her brother, Roland, and Irene Lafayette of Waterbury;

her brother-in-law Nicholas Doiron of Sacramento, Calif.; her brother-in-law Bob and Margie Dean of Campbell’s Bay of West Swanton; and many nieces and nephews from the Lafayette, Doiron, Dean and Jasman families Jean was predeceased by her husbands, her oldest son, her parents and her siblings: younger brother John Lafayette, who died in Vietnam in April 1966 while serving with the U.S. Army, and younger sister, Joyce Doiron of Sacramento, Calif. Jean was a wonderful person, a rare soul, and an excellent mother and grandmother to all her children. She had a remarkable life of giving and sharing, and she will be truly missed. We feel blessed having had her in our lives, guiding our steps. Even though she is no longer physically with us, her Eternal Spirit is very present to us each day. Jean was like that. And still is. The family wishes to thank the excellent staff and nurses from Central Vermont Home Health and Hospice during Jean’s hospice care at home, especially first-rate LNAs MaryAnn and Pam, and RNs Julie, Michelle and Casey. In lieu of flowers, please consider remembering Jean with a donation to Central Vermont Home Health and Hospice, 600 Granger Rd., Barre, VT 05641. Arrangements are by Guare & Sons Funeral Home. Online condolences can be made at guareandsons.com.

Gary Sisco

JUNE 27, 1954-SEPTEMBER 17, 2020 LEXINGTON, KY. Gary Sisco (June 27, 1954September 17, 2020) was a dedicated partner of 27 years to Bronwyn. “Crispo,” as he was known to friends, was a lifelong lover of music, horses, and the struggle to improve the human condition against the unrelenting oppressive forces of capitalism, totalitarianism and authoritarianism. Gary served in the Coast Guard in the 1970s, as a Loran tech on the isolated volcanic cratered hellscape of Iwo Jima. In the 1980s, he worked tirelessly as an activist, risking his life in Nicaragua to support the revolution and, upon his return, cofounding MACV (Material Aid Committee Vermont), sending material aid to the Nicaraguan military and the guerillas of El Salvador, fighting U.S.-backed terrorists. Crispo’s everyday commitment to the struggle for human dignity was wide-ranging and notable. He managed a homeless shelter and fought for public access to waterways and affordable housing. More recently, he was an outspoken supporter of democratic confederalism as practiced by the Kurdish YPG/YPJ. Gary was an anarchist and longtime friend and confidant of Murray Bookchin, as well as a voracious reader of scholarly genres, including political theory, history, the cosmos, religious writings and the natural world. In the ‘70s and ‘80s, he toured nationally as a musician with a number of two-fisted bar bands, including the Sensitivos, the Clamtones and 100 Proof. Sisco loved regaling all and sundry with tales of drunken excess and gunplay while on tour. He maintained a lifelong connection with and love of jazz, hosting a long-running radio program about the same, and even became ensconced in the Lexington death metal scene. All who knew Gary Sisco, a oneof-a-kind human being, will forever think of him most for having, without fail, the courage of his convictions and for his love of Brownyn. He will be missed by family, friends and a wide array of fellow travelers. Services are being held in people’s hearts worldwide. Support for Brownyn can be made through GoFundMe “Remember Gary Support Bronwyn Sisco.”

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arts news

Bridging the Gap

Town Hall Theater brings new traffic to Middlebury with innovative fundraiser Bridges 20/20 S TO RY & PHO TO S B Y AMY L ILLY

efforts to eliminate them from bidding after hearing positive feedback from locals. “The overwhelming sentiment is that people wish [the bridges] could stay in the community,” Mitchell said. Responding to residents’ enthusiasm, VERMONT INTEGRATED

will donate the estimated value of “Bridge-ette” to Town Hall Theater to keep it in place. A project of VIA architects ASHAR NELSON and JESSE GILLETTE, LOU NOP of NOP’S METALWORKS, and PC CONSTRUCTION in South Burlington, “Bridge-ette” takes the organic form of a tunnel made from thin, unevenly spaced horizontal branches covering arches shaped like whale’s ribs. Traversing this passageway filled with barred light patterns, viewers can peek through cutout windows to gaze at Otter Creek Falls and a flower garden. “Bridge-ette” will remain where it’s sited in Riverfront Park, within view of VIA’s offices in the Marble Works. It lies across the park from the aforementioned “Back to ARCHITECTURE

Lisa Mitchell in front of "Oona's Bridge" by Silver Maple Construction

B

ring home a bridge!” urges a label on an architectural creation installed on the grass in Middlebury Riverfront Park. Called “Back to the Future Bridge,” the beautifully crafted work resembles a small covered bridge with an interior builtin bench. It could be yours if you had, say, a brook in your yard and were willing to bid a minimum of $4,000. Five such creations dot the downtown area as part of Bridges 20/20, an imaginative auction project from Middlebury’s TOWN HALL THEATER. Conceived in January by then-board members LISA MITCHELL and ANDREA LANDSBERG (Mitchell became executive director in February), the project’s aim is not just to raise funds for the theater but to drive business to Middlebury’s downtown. The latter has been besieged by a threeyear construction project that reached a major milestone on September 21. The $71 million Bridge and Rail Project involved replacing two bridges, one on Main Street and one on Merchants Row, with a train tunnel that passes beneath the heart of the town — a staggering engineering feat. The last 10 weeks of construction were the worst: 26

All traffic was banned from the downtown area while crews worked around the clock. “Businesses were already bracing for this project when the pandemic happened,” said Mitchell, who showed a reporter around the bridges up for auction. “COVID has been a double whammy.” Until last week, for example, Middlebury College students were forbidden to leave campus.

THE PROJECT IS INTENDED NOT JUST TO RAISE FUNDS FOR THE THEATER

BUT TO DRIVE BUSINESS TO MIDDLEBURY’S DOWNTOWN.

Bridges 20/20 has been a success so far: Three bridges with confirmed buyers have been eliminated from bidding, and a fourth is nearly spoken for. Bidding on the fifth — “Back to the Future Bridge” — ends on October 10. Visitors can continue to see the bridges through October 16; a pleasant route recommended in flyers around town passes from the town green to Marble Works and (appropriately) across a footbridge to the edge of campus. The builders of two creations, “Bridgeette” and “Oona’s Bridge,” launched successful

SEVEN DAYS SEPTEMBER 30-OCTOBER 7, 2020

the Future Bridge,” by OAKLEY SMITH and KEVIN MCCLAIN of SMITH & MCCLAIN general contractors in Bristol and WILL WALLACE-GUSAKOV of GOOSEWING TIMBERWORKS in Lincoln. The other town favorite, “Oona’s Bridge,” will become permanent thanks to a crowdfunding campaign by its builders. Created by TIM STEELE, DREY WARD and SEAN FLYNN of SILVER MAPLE CONSTRUCTION in New Haven, the structure was originally designed by Steele in 2016 as a child’s fort for his daughter Una. Steele made two more over the following two years; one is now sited on the shore of

"Bridge-ette" by Vermont Integrated Architecture, Nop's Metalworks and PC Construction

Otter Creek beside the Stone Mill, an 1840 mill building and multiuse space that Silver Maple helped renovate in 2019. “Oona’s Bridge” is a mod little roundedrectangular pad with red trim that’s open on both ends. While children can walk right in, adults need to duck and sit. A pine ramp leads seamlessly to the pine-sheathed interior, and the exterior is weather-proofed with standing-seam metal roofing. A steel cable railing on the creek end permits safe views of the water, for which the whole structure serves as a frame. In a phone interview, Steele said he drew inspiration from an angular tiny house called the Wee House that was featured in several magazines. The curves he added came from midcentury design. “The challenge of the curves was fun; it’s easy to build corners as a carpenter,” Steele said. He learned carpentry at Silver Maple, which he joined 14 years ago, a year after its founding, but he hasn’t had much time for personal projects. “That’s my only fort,” he joked. Another bridge on display, “Bridge to the Outdoors,” resembles a lean-to accessed by two steep ramps. Sited behind the college’s


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ARCHITECTURE

Fleming staff reflect on the collection and our current moment

"Terra Caelum" by TruexCullins

Alexander Twilight Hall, the structure was designed and built by JED MALCOLM and his crew at SALAMANDER CONSTRUCTION in Middlebury. Children have found that “Bridge to the Outdoors” works well as a stage, Mitchell noted. Hoping to secure it, the Bridge School on Exchange Street launched a GoFundMe campaign for $3,000 and has raised more than a third of the amount from interested parents, according to Mitchell. “I think it’s likely [they’ll get it],” she said. “Their philosophy is rooted in the outdoors, and they have a really good theater program.” The creation closest to Town Hall Theater is more like a poetic interpretation of a bridge. With “Terra Caelum,” TRUEXCULLINS ARCHITECTURE + INTERIOR DESIGN

in Burlington aimed to “explode and deconstruct the facets of the traditional monolithic obelisk,” according to its submission materials. The structure, made of precisely spaced stacked lumber, leads viewers into the heart of an unwound vertical spire-like form. The view from the bench at its center is solely of earth and sky — hence its title. Art collectors FRANK and ELAINE ITTLEMAN have offered to buy the sculptural creation for $1,500, so Mitchell has eliminated it from bidding. The couple will site “Terra Caelum” at their outdoor LEMON FAIR SCULPTURE PARK in Shoreham. By phone, TruexCullins principal ROLF KIELMAN explained how “Terra Caelum”

came about. His colleague, architect JOSH CHAFE, was the “main author,” he noted, with assistance from himself, colleague and architect KEITH NELSON, and builder TOM LEBOEUF of the NORTHEAST CRAFTSMEN group. “We said, ‘Imagine yourself in the green, where you can see all sorts of vertical towers and spires — the Congregational Church [of Middlebury], the Town Hall Theater itself,’” Kielman said. “Josh said, ‘Let’s make something that links the earth and the heavens.’” The pattern of stacked wood, Kielman added, was inspired by stickering — the practice of air-drying stacked wood by leaving spaces between layers. The firm crowdfunded the cost of materials — about $1,000 — and built the structure in Kielman’s driveway. In a normal year, Town Hall Theater would bring about 20,000 people to Middlebury, Mitchell said, who would then eat in restaurants and visit stores. Now down to three employees — herself, artistic director DOUG ANDERSON and one facilities/ maintenance worker — the theater has managed an outsize effort to attract visitors in an exceptionally precarious time.

“The subject—most likely from one of Mexico’s indigenous groups—is daring you to look back at her. . . she’s staring the viewer down, demanding we reckon with prejudice and privilege.” —CYNTHIA CAGLE, guest services coordinator

The Fleming Museum of Art has reopened for the Fall 2020 season with a suite of protocols in place for your safety. No reservations are needed. Please visit https://www.uvm.edu/fleming/visiting for our COVID-19 Visiting Policies Thanks to a generous gift from the 1675 Foundation, admission is free this semester.

Manuel Álvarez Bravo (Mexican, 1902-2002), Margarita de Bonampak, printed 1977 (detail) Photograph on Agfa paper. Gift of Warren H. Bree in honor of Nancy A. Bree ’80 and Benjamin Aibel 1980.20.7 © Archivo Manuel Alvarez Bravo, S.C

Contact: lilly@sevendaysvt.com

INFO Bridges 20/20 is on display around Middlebury through October 16. Pick up a map at local stores or in the Jackson Gallery, Town Hall Theater (open by appointment). townhalltheater.org

61 Colchester Avenue, Burlington / Hours: Tues.–Sat. 10am-2pm WWW.FLEMINGMUSEUM.ORG

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9/23/20 9:49 AM


arts news

Practical Magic Emily Anderson offers her Bluebird Fairies in an app B Y M AR GA R ET GR AY SON

IMAGES COURTESY OF EMILY ANDERSON

MATTHEW THORSEN

Emily Anderson

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or years, EMILY ANDERSON has been a regular at the SOUTH END ART HOP with a table full of fairies. More specifically, Bluebird Fairies — a series of informal drawings of fairies with quirky, encouraging phrases written in their speech bubbles, available as prints or a deck of cards. “Fairy that lifts you up off the floor and points you toward the light,” reads one card. “Fairy of being what you eat,” says another. Anderson draws the fairies with her nondominant hand and treats them like a “less-intense tarot,” she said, to be used when she, or anyone, needs encouragement or an intention for the day. Along with decks of 63 fairy cards, Anderson has sold individual prints and held drawing classes. But at this year’s Art Hop, she was promoting something she actually created two years ago — an app called Fairy of the Day. With just a tap, any smartphone owner can see their day’s fairy or several fairies. Anderson, an artist and former puppeteer with BREAD AND PUPPET THEATER, started out drawing demons roughly 13 years ago. Unlike the fairies, her demons,

CULTURE

28

which she still draws, represent specific Anderson enjoyed watching people gripes and pains that have haunted her. respond to the fairies. She numbered “Demon who stuck the little seeds all them and had people choose a number over the back of my pantsuit” was one for their card and fairy of the day. This, she’d drawn on the day she met with she explained, eventually evolved into Seven Days for an interview. the deck of fairy cards. But every demon drawing also includes “I just started to accumulate so many a written antidote, a turn toward the posi- amazing conversations based on these 63 tive. Seeds on the back of a pantsuit, for fairies, which then just made me realize how example, become reminders of nature’s much people are needing that opportunity touch. to stop worrying and be compassionate for Originally, the demons were an exercise themselves, and to give themselves sort of for Anderson, an attempt to let go of the need a respite,” she said. “Even just having a little for perfection in her art and help process conversation is an incredible respite.” “the noise in my head,” she said. Before long, Anderson even met her now-husband she turned to drawat Art Hop when ing fairies, symbols he expressed interof the good things est in the fairies. in life. Fairy of the Day, “I was going she noted, was his suggestion. The through a huge app was designed transition in my life,” she said. “I by a r t i s t s a n d was always going programmers at through my cards SUNDAE MONTH , a E MILY AND E R S O N Ve r m o n t - b a s e d and being like, ‘Which ones are really speaking to me video game production studio, and right now?’” includes 37 new fairies that weren’t A friend saw them and insisted that in the original deck. Though the app she make prints, so Bluebird Fairies was finished in 2018, Anderson hasn’t made its Art Hop debut six years ago. promoted it widely until now. She tends

SEVEN DAYS SEPTEMBER 30-OCTOBER 7, 2020

PEOPLE ARE NEEDING THAT OPPORTUNITY TO STOP WORRYING

AND BE COMPASSIONATE FOR THEMSELVES.

to take her time when making business moves, she said. Anderson is inclined toward deep conversations, she mused, but thinks the lighthearted, messy nature of her fairy drawings keeps anything from getting too intense. For instance, the fairies all have what she calls “earnest eyebrows,” like a shallow U-shape. They’re essentially stick figures but really do look like they care about the viewer. While Anderson acknowledges that the app and card deck are inherently different experiences, she hopes each serves a purpose in the lives of Bluebird Fairies enthusiasts. The app might provide a fairy on demand when someone needs a quick boost but doesn’t have the time or space to get out a deck of fairy cards. Most importantly, she said, her fairies, whether digital or analog, are about connection — both with others and within oneself. “If anything, doing this has gotten me to believe in the magic of human beings,” she said. Contact: margaret@sevendaysvt.com

INFO Smartphone app stores sell Fairy of the Day for $1.99. Learn more at bluebirdfairies.com.


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No Place Like Home

COURTESY OF JAY KENNEDY

Filmmaker and musician John Fusco leads 2020 Vermont Arts Awards winners B Y DA N B O LLES

SH

M

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SY

OF

SE

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n the late 1980s, everyone said JOHN was crazy. His screenplay for Crossroads, a modest 1986 hit and eventual cult classic starring a fresh-off-The Karate Kid Ralph Macchio as a blues guitar prodigy, had made him a hot commodity in Hollywood. But, just as quickly as the young screenwriter’s star had risen, he soured on La-La Land. Longing for a lifestyle focused more on making art than selling it, he told his agent and colleagues he was moving to Vermont to write, of all things, a Western. “They told me it was career suicide,” Fusco said by phone recently from his Morristown home. “The Western had been dead for 20 years. But I’m the kind of writer where it’s got to come from a real place,” he continued, “and I need to be in a real place.” The move to the Green Mountains worked out OK for Fusco. There he wrote the 1988 Brat Pack vehicle Young Guns — which, while not a critical smash, became one of the highest-grossing Westerns of all time and spawned a 1990 sequel. FUSCO

ARTS

“My agent said, ‘Stay in Vermont,’” Fusco recalled. He did and hasn’t looked back since. Highlights of Fusco’s ensuing screenwriting career include the 1992 Val Kilmer hit Thunderheart; 2004’s Hidalgo, starring Viggo Ray Vega Mortensen; and 2016’s Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon: Sword of Destiny. He was the creator and showrunner of the popular Netflix series “Marco Polo,” which ran from 2014 to 2016, and wrote the 2019 Netflix film The Highwaymen, starring Kevin Costner and Woody Harrelson. Despite those international successes, a bit of recent local love has Fusco tickled. Last week, the VERMONT ARTS COUNCIL announced him as the recipient of the 2020 Governor’s Award for Excellence in the Arts. It’s the highest annual honor the state presents to an artist. “Vermont has been my creative base for really my entire career,” Fusco said. He called Vermont “a state of being” before adding that the Governor’s Award is “super meaningful and puts me on a roster of esteemed company.” That it does. Recent recipients have included singer and actor FRANÇOIS CLEMMONS in 2019, singer-songwriter GRACE POTTER in 2015, writer ARCHER MAYOR in 2012, writer JULIA ALVAREZ in 2011, and CIRCUS SMIRKUS founder ROB MERMIN in 2008. Other winners in the award’s 43-year history include playwright DAVID MAMET in 1988, novelist Bernard Malamud in 1979, and

BREAD AND PUPPET THEATER SCHUMANN in 1978.

founder

PETER

The 2020 Vermont Arts Awards, also given by the state arts council, offer equally fine company. Choreographer HANNAH DENNISON of Chelsea will receive the Walter Cerf Medal for Outstanding Achievement in the Arts. Kirby resident JODY FRIED, VERMONT CREATIVE NETWORK chair and executive director of St. Johnsbury’s CATAMOUNT ARTS, will receive the Margaret L. (Peggy) Kannenstine Award for Arts Advocacy. Multidisciplinary artist SHANTA LEE GANDER of Brattleboro will receive the Arthur Williams Award for Meritorious Service to the Arts. Trumpeter, educator and radio host RAY VEGA of South Burlington will receive the Ellen McCulloch-Lovell Award in Arts Education. “We are honored to recognize these five extraordinary individuals,” Vermont Arts Council executive director KAREN MITTELMAN said in a press release. “Each one of them has been a trailblazer in his or her own way. Their creativity moves, inspires and stretches us — as Vermonters and as human beings.” Even as the pandemic has ground most television and movie production to a halt, Fusco said he’s been busier than ever in recent months. “There’s still a big demand for writers because you have to keep material in the pipeline,” he explained. Among other projects in the works, a movie he penned and is producing will begin shooting in Hawaii next week. Fusco won’t be on set, due to COVID19-era restrictions on film productions. Though a trip to paradise isn’t in the cards, Fusco has plenty of ways to keep himself occupied at home. He’s a blues songwriter whose music career has gained

John Fusco

steam in recent years, most recently with the release of his well-received John the Revelator earlier this summer. On Saturday, October 10, Fusco will copresent the first annual Indigenous Peoples’ Day Rocks! concert on the Mayo Farm Event Fields in Stowe. The musical lineup features Grammy Award-winning Iroquois artist Joanne Shenandoah, local Nulhegan Abenaki folk singer and storyteller BRYAN BLANCHETTE, a ceremonial performance by NULHEGAN ABENAKI DRUM, and sets by Vermont blues rocker DAVE KELLER and by Fusco and Friends. DON STEVENS, chief of the Nulhegan Band of the Coosuk Abenaki Nation, will be on hand to bless the event. “Vermont is the coolest state in the country,” Fusco said, “and I’m pretty excited we’re getting to do some live music.” Contact: dan@sevendaysvt.com

INFO Learn more about the Vermont Arts Awards at vermontartscouncil.org. Indigenous Peoples’ Day Rocks!, Saturday, October 10, 4:30-6:30 p.m., Mayo Farm Event Fields in Stowe. $15. stowevibrancy.com

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WHISKEY TANGO FOXTROT BY KEN PICARD

I

f you’ve been on or near the University of Vermont campus recently, you’ve probably noticed the large drapery covering the hilltop water tower. What’s the reason for this condom-like sheath, and what hazards or annoyances is it protecting us from? According to Robert Goulding, spokesperson for Burlington’s Department of Public Works, the prophylactic measures are part of phase 2 of a rehabilitation project on the 500,000-gallon water storage tank. Begun in 2019, the project involves sandblasting away previous layers of paint, including the original primer put on the tank when it was built in 1954. Because paint from the 1950s contained lead, which can cause health problems ranging from stomachaches and irritability to seizures, birth defects and death, this phase of the work requires that the tank be covered in a containment system called “cabling and tenting.” A negative-pressure ventilation system whisks away lead dust. This phase of the project was slated to begin on August 3, with sandblasting and subsequent repainting anticipated to take about a month, but Goulding said the work is behind schedule. Low temperatures and high winds could further delay the project’s completion, perhaps until the winter. “During phase 1 of the project, we heard from some residents about noise impacts related to the mechanical equipment staged at the base of the tank site,” Goulding said. “We recognize more residents may be working from home currently. During phase 2, we are working with the contractor to implement cost-effective noise mitigation, such as the use of quieter equipment.” Tanks for the heads-up.

A

ndrew Pond of Burlington emailed us recently to ask about the impossible-to-read fine print that appears at the bottom of some television commercials, as well as about the fast-talking disclaimers tacked on the end of certain radio advertisements. “I think the worst offenders are car dealerships on the radio and law firms on TV,” Pond wrote. “WTF? How do they get away with this?” First, let’s explain why advertisers include disclaimers. “The disclaimers you hear in radio commercials and see as text on the TV screen are triggered by consumer truth-in-lending laws,” explained Wendy Mays, executive director of the Vermont Association of Broadcasters, in an email. “Disclaimer rules 30

JAMES BUCK

Why Is UVM’s Water Tower Under Wraps? Plus: Fast-Talking Radio Ads

The University of Vermont water tower

vary by industry, but those that tend to have them include automotive, pharmaceutical and mortgage lenders/brokers. There are also sponsorship disclaimers that broadcasters air for paid programming.” Fair enough. But if you think such visual and verbal asterisks follow the letter of the law but not the spirit, you’re not alone. In 2014, the Federal Trade Commission launched Operation Full Disclosure, which sent letters to more than 60 companies, including 20 of the country’s biggest advertisers, warning them about deceptive and misleading advertising, regardless of their use of disclaimers. Lesley Fair, a senior attorney with the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection, wrote an online primer for advertisers clarifying the FTC’s “clear and conspicuous” rule for legal disclosures. “Consumers shouldn’t have to scan an ad with a magnifying glass to pick up on material details of the deal.” Nor, Fair wrote, should they “have to be speed readers to grasp the message.” Fair dinged one advertiser for using an intricately embellished, all-caps font for its disclaimer. “That may be fine for the logo of a heavy metal band,” she wrote,

SEVEN DAYS SEPTEMBER 30-OCTOBER 7, 2020

“but it’s not a presentation designed to convey critical information to consumers.” Evidently, Fair loves her job. So what are the FTC’s requirements when it comes to disclaimers’ font, point size, and time on-screen and over the airwaves? “We get those questions all the time,” Fair wrote in her primer. “A disclosure is considered ‘clear and conspicuous’ if consumers notice it, read it and understand it. Do you really want the FTC staff dictating the specifics of your ad campaign?” she asked rhetorically. “We didn’t think so. “If you find yourself struggling with how to craft an effective disclosure,” she added, “why not take a step back and consider what the need for a disclosure may be telling you.” Ouch! In recent years, broadcasters have urged Congress and the relevant federal agencies to allow ads to include a web link instead, eliminating the need to jam verbiage into ads and making it easier for the public to read them at their leisure. “However, like many areas of law, the government has not yet caught up with the technology,” wrote Washington, D.C.-based Scott Flick, a communications

lawyer and partner in the firm Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman, by email. In Flick’s view, such federal mandates are largely useless to consumers and deprive local broadcast stations of revenue that supports their news and other operations. As he put it, “It’s hard to sell a 30-second radio spot [when] the advertiser knows it will have to fit its message into 15 seconds to leave time for the mandatory legal disclosures.” Yet the fast talk and fine print persist. There’s even a disclaimer generator website where users can enter their company’s info and get a disclaimer spat out in seconds. With no specific information about the business, disclaimergenerator.net concocted this one for Seven Days: “All the information on this website — sevendaysvt.com — is published in good faith and for general information purpose only. Seven Days does not make any warranties about the completeness, reliability and accuracy of this information.” If only it were that easy. Contact: ken@sevendaysvt.com

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


Fall for Vermont All Over Again!

STEPS FOR SOCIAL CHANGE

with Bia Diagnostics + Steps to End Domestic Violence

ALL OC

In this month’s Staytripper, find classic and creative autumnal activities that won’t leaf you disappointed.

ONG! TOBER L

FUEL UP Commit to acts of physical wellness that will energize + motivate you to sustain the work to end domestic violence. Start your journey on October 1st and accomplish something big on Saturday, October 24th.

FUNDRAISE

Ask your friends + family to sponsor your journey and join us for vritual wellness events to help us continue to provide free + confidential services to those affected by domestic violence. REGISTER & DONATE: www.stepsvt.org/steps-for-social-change

4t-Stepstoenddomesticviolence092320 1

PHOTO: CALEB KENNA

ur ! o o sors t u n yo spo nk us a Th nero ge

Start exploring at staytrippervt.com 9/21/20 8:26 AM

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obin Sumner arrived 10 minutes early, set up her lawn chair and waited for Molly Gray to speak. The 59-yearold drug and alcohol counselor had heard about the Richmond community forum through Gray’s campaign newsletter, which she signed up for while researching candidates. But unlike some of the 25 people fanned out around the stage that September evening, Sumner was not one of Gray’s avid supporters. “I wanted to see her in person,” Sumner said from behind a face mask that depicted Rosie the Riveter. “I wanted to hear what she had to say — now that she’s here.”

“Here” is the campaign to become Vermont’s next lieutenant governor, the most competitive statewide race this cycle. Gray, a 36-year-old prosecutor in the Vermont Attorney General’s Office, emerged from a crowded Democratic primary last month with a chance to become only the fourth woman ever to hold Vermont’s No. 2 office. Standing in her way is Scott Milne, a 61-year-old Republican from Pomfret who runs his family’s namesake travel agency and has twice before unsuccessfully campaigned for statewide office. Sumner knew little about either candidate. Her sister is a fan of Gray’s, and she was more familiar with Milne; his parents, who ran Milne Travel before him, hooked her up with some

BY C O L IN F L AND E R S

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SEVEN DAYS SEPTEMBER 30-OCTOBER 7, 2020

MARC NADEL

Molly Gray and Scott Milne compete for the lieutenant governor’s perch

“great deals” when she used to book trips as an undergraduate student, she said. Neither connection is strong enough to earn her vote. “I’m the type of Vermonter who usually votes people out, not in,” she explained. It is voters like Sumner, who have not made up their minds, that will likely sway the election. A recent poll conducted by Vermont Public Radio and Vermont PBS found that Gray holds a slim 35 to 31 percent advantage over Milne, within the poll’s 4 percent margin of error. In other


LUKE AWTRY

Molly Gray speaking in Richmond

THIS CAMPAIGN IS ABOUT MIRRORING BACK TO VERMONTERS THIS MOMENT THAT WE’RE IN

AND HOW WE CAN TRANSFORM OUR FUTURE TO MEET THOSE NEEDS. M O L LY GR AY

words, it is a virtual tie, suggesting that whichever candidate has more success wooing the undecided voters will prevail. Gray and Milne have vastly different visions for the next two years. Milne jumped into the race on May 28, months after the coronavirus pandemic struck, and says the next lieutenant governor must prioritize the survival of Vermont’s small businesses. He argues that only he has the experience necessary. “We have got to stabilize Main Street,” he told Seven Days earlier this month. Gray is thinking bigger. She says Vermont’s future hinges on solving its demographic crisis, a point she emphasizes by citing statistics that show deaths outpace births in a majority of counties. That, along with Vermont’s struggles in retaining young people, has made it one of the grayest states in the country.

To reverse this trend, Gray wants the state to invest in childcare, broadband expansions and paid family leave, arguing that those programs and services are the only way Vermont can “keep a generation home and bring a generation here.” “This campaign is about mirroring back to Vermonters this moment we’re in and how we can transform our future to meet those needs,” said Gray, who announced her candidacy in late January. Both candidates know they would have little power if elected, given that the lieutenant governor’s only real duties are to preside over the Vermont Senate as its president, cast rare tie-breaking votes, help determine legislators’ committee assignments, and step in if the governor is out of the state — or dies. But they also recognize that while the role lacks executive might, it provides invaluable exposure. The office may be a glorified soapbox, but it’s a tall one, and the lieutenant governor generally avoids blame for initiatives that fall short. It can also serve as a useful stepping-stone — just ask former LGs such as Gov. Phil Scott. For typical voters, however, picking whom to support is often a far less complex affair. Most want someone they agree with or, short of that, someone they can trust. For Sumner, the litmus test is simple. “I don’t need somebody just banging the gavel,” she said. “I really want stuff to get done.”

FARM TO STATEHOUSE?

Gray has been working on her campaign full time since taking an unpaid leave in May from the Attorney General’s Office. The pandemic has made traditional outreach efforts difficult, but she has managed to fill her schedule with business stops, honk-and-waves, and community forums. She did all three during one busy afternoon this month, zipping back and forth between Richmond and Waterbury. She brought her newly hired scheduler, Hazel Brewster, a 23-year-old University of Vermont graduate, and Samantha Sheehan, a 32-year-old who left her communications job at Vermont Businesses for Social Responsibility to run the campaign. Gray’s first stop of the afternoon was Conant’s Riverside Farms in Richmond. She hopped out of her car and slid into the passenger seat of a Bobcat 3400 utility terrain vehicle driven by Alison Kosakowski Conant, whose husband, Ransom, is a sixth-generation farmer. After securing this reporter in the Bobcat’s bed, they set off rumbling through the 1,000-acre farm, crossing West Main Street into an expansive field near Interstate 89 where gourds, squash and pumpkins grew. Gray was raised on her parents’ vegetable and dairy farm in Newbury and has made her rural upbringing a central theme of her campaign. She peppered her guide with questions about the Richmond farm operation and the broader dairy industry. “Round

bale or corn silage?” she asked as they rolled past a large red barn that had been renovated a few years ago with the help of state funding. “What do you think is the future of dairy?” she later asked, before steering the conversation toward internet access and childcare, two of her top priorities. The conversation was unlikely to win Gray any votes; Kosakowski Conant was backing Gray well before the tour. But it was part of the candidate’s effort to appeal to rural voters, whose voices she has promised to bring into Montpelier. “If the pandemic could show us anything, it’s that we are changing the way we access government,” she told Kosakowski Conant, referring to how legislative floor debates and committee hearings have been streamed online for the first time. Before heading out, Gray posed for a photo with Kosakowski Conant in front of the historic barn; the image was up on Gray’s Twitter feed by the time she had settled in for her next stop at SunCommon in Waterbury. There, she met with owners Duane Peterson and James Moore, who explained how they grew their business over the last decade into one of the largest community solar providers in Vermont. Gray jotted down notes in a turquoise journal and frequently asked questions about their business practices and how solar could become more accessible. Her attentiveness left an impression. “She’s just incredibly direct,” Moore told Seven Days after the meeting. “‘Tell me what’s going on and what are the issues.’ She wants to really understand and is curious, so that was neat to see. You don’t always see that in political candidates or elected officials who stop by here. They just want to talk rather than listen.” Inside SunCommon’s warehouse, Amy Lavery was waiting excitedly for Gray’s arrival. The 45-year-old warehouse assistant only knew Gray from her campaign commercials but wanted to see if she got that “shock” people feel when meeting someone they know from television. “She looks like we could have graduated together,” Lavery said, in a way that made it clear that was a good thing. As she toured the facility, Gray eventually spotted Lavery and her coworker. She introduced herself and asked Lavery to explain what she does. “This is what I’ve been waiting for!” Gray said as she heard about the nuts and bolts of the operation. Their interaction lasted only a few minutes, but it was enough for Lavery. “She’s got the energy to do it,” she said as Gray continued on her tour. “I mean, she just proved it to me here. SOAPBOX DERBY

SEVEN DAYS SEPTEMBER 30-OCTOBER 7, 2020

» P.34 33


Soapbox Derby « P.33 “I’m glad I haven’t done my mail-in ballot yet,” Lavery added. Gray was met with the same enthusiasm back in Richmond for a late afternoon sign-waving event, where several members of the UVM College Democrats joined in. “To see women in office, when we want to be in office at some point, is just so empowering,” said 18-year-old Maeve Donnelly. “Especially in Vermont,” added Sierra Hayes, an 18-year-old Waterbury native who noted the Green Mountain State’s spotty track record of electing women to the top levels of government.

“If they’re looking like they want to have dinner, I let them have dinner.” That ethos defined his two previous bids for office. In both his 2014 near-defeat of Democratic governor Peter Shumlin and his less competitive race against Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) two years later, Milne raised little money, held few events and operated with a skeleton crew of volunteers. Milne says he is following the same guiding principle this election, but recent developments show he senses real opportunity — and that he’s upped his campaign strategy.

WE’RE IN A PILE OF SHIT.

THIRD TIME’S THE CHARM?

34

YOU WANT SOME HELP GETTING THROUGH IT? I’M THE GUY. SCOTT MILNE

JEB WALLACE-BRODEUR

Milne comes from a long line of politicians. In 1938, his grandfather became the first Barre Republican since reconstruction to be elected to the legislature. A cousin was secretary of state. Both his parents served in the Vermont House. When he brings up his family, as he often does, Milne almost always mentions how his mother, a Republican, lost her House seat because she voted in favor of the groundbreaking bill to legalize samesex civil unions in 2000. Marion Milne supported the measure despite wide opposition from her constituents, a principled stand that would end her political career. “I will not be silenced by prejudice and fear,” she declared from the House floor. Her words would be remembered nearly two decades later during a ceremony on the Statehouse lawn commemorating the historic vote. Marion died just two months before the 2014 election. Her son keeps her old stone nameplate on his desk. Scott Milne fancies himself an oldfashioned, moderate Republican, cut from the same cloth as the late U.S. senator George Aiken and, more recently, Gov. Scott. He has called U.S. Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) his political lodestar. After reluctantly swearing off Donald Trump in 2016 following the release of the “grab them by the…” tape, Milne has continued to disavow his party’s president. He has said he plans to write in former Vermont governor Jim Douglas for the White House — the same choice he made in 2016. Despite his family’s political roots, Milne seems almost averse to the demands of a traditional campaign. In his mind, there are two types of politicians: those who will interrupt your dinner and those who won’t. He is proudly the latter. “If somebody looks at me like they want me to say hello, I say hello,” he explained.

And after Milne previously struggled to earn support from the national scene, at least one group is convinced he is a worthy cause. Last week, the Republican State Leadership Committee launched a $200,000 ad campaign on Milne’s behalf, calling him the partner that Scott needs to “get Vermont back to work.” The money instantly leveled the playing field, erasing the three-to-one fundraising advantage — $281,000 to $90,000 — that Gray had enjoyed thanks to a lengthy donor list featuring many business owners, renewable energy advocates, fellow attorneys and top Democratic officials.

For starters, Milne has surrounded himself with an ensemble of well-known Republicans with proven track records in Vermont. Sen. Corey Parent (R-Franklin), a rising star in the state GOP, is managing the campaign. Mike Donohue, the party’s former Chittenden County chair, is working as Milne’s press secretary. Jim Barnett, a former aide to governor Douglas and the late U.S. senator John McCain, is volunteering as a consultant. Milne has also received an enthusiastic endorsement from Scott. In a digital ad released shortly after the primary, the governor declared: “As we face new challenges and disruptions to our economy caused by this pandemic, we need someone with Scott’s experience as a problem solver and innovator in the lieutenant governor’s office.”

SEVEN DAYS SEPTEMBER 30-OCTOBER 7, 2020

“The expectation of success breeds success,” Douglas said, regarding why Milne seems to be getting broader support this time around. “People see him as a very credible candidate, so a lot more people are willing to devote some time and energy to his race.” Even Milne seems to view himself as a much stronger candidate now. Explaining his argument against Shumlin, whose second term had been crippled by a disastrous rollout of Vermont Health Connect, he said, “It was a referendum on: Are you sick of what’s going on? Give me a shot.” His message this time around? “We’re in a pile of shit. You want some help getting through it? I’m the guy,” he said. That was more or less the pitch former Barre City mayor Thom Lauzon made on Milne’s behalf earlier this month

after running into the candidate and this reporter during a walk down North Main Street. “I’d recognize that gaggly mother anywhere!” Lauzon said as a way of greeting Milne. He implored Seven Days to be nice to the candidate because “we’re gonna need people like this guy” — those who understand business — in the coming years. Indeed, Milne’s supporters consistently tout his business background as the main reason he would make the better LG, even though, beyond reforming Act 250 and several modest tax credit proposals, he has not really detailed how it is that he would help businesses survive. For example, asked at a recent debate whether he would support the state giving ailing businesses more financial assistance, Milne dodged the question, saying only that he believes there is a need for more funding from the federal government. He later told Seven Days that Milne Travel has not received any federal or state COVID-19 relief aid. Still, the very fact that Milne understands business seems good enough to his supporters. Lauzon, a real estate developer and trained accountant who, along with his wife, donated $4,160 to Milne’s campaign, said he is deeply concerned that the next two years could spell doom for many businesses that are hanging by a thread. “It’s just going to be a long winter,” he said to Milne, adding that his “optimistic” guess is that one in every six businesses will go under because of the virus. “And if it comes back—” Milne ventured. “Don’t even fucking say that,” Lauzon said, half joking. “Shut up. Say that again, I’ll slap you. “No, seriously,” he continued. “I don’t even know, I don’t even think — that would be so awful. I really try not to even think about it.” Milne, however, can’t help but think about a return of COVID-19. When he is not on the campaign, he is focused on his business, which has suffered mightily under the pandemic’s constraint. He sold the majority share of his travel agency to a national firm, Altour, in 2016 but remained on as president. While he has been through two economic downturns before — after the travel business came to a halt in the wake of 9/11, and then again during the 2009 recession — neither resulted in layoffs. The same can’t be said for the pandemic. His agency — which operates nine offices across Vermont, New Hampshire, New York and Maine — recently closed down a location in White River Junction. About a third of its 80 employees have taken a voluntary furlough, and the rest are working 30 hours a week.


Despite the hits, Milne doesn’t seem concerned that the agency will go under. In fact, he believes it will benefit in the long run, due largely to the fact that many others in the travel industry will not. “It’s not really the way you want to gain market share, but if you can survive through this, you can come out of it stronger than ever,” he said. The same could be true for so many other businesses around the state, he said. But first, they need to survive. “What kind of state we’re gonna be 10 years from now has a lot to do with what happens over the next two years,” Milne said.

VOTING FIGHTS

Two days after the August primary, more than a dozen Democrats gathered on the Statehouse lawn for a press conference meant to show that they had set aside any hard feelings from the campaign. The two gubernatorial candidates who lost to Lt. Gov. David Zuckerman seemed to have gotten the memo. Former education secretary Rebecca Holcombe and attorney Patrick Winburn took turns at the “unity” press conference stumping for the Progressive/Democrat. They described him as the best chance at furthering some of the Democratic priorities that Scott had vetoed during his four-year tenure and urged their supporters to rally behind him. “We were running a relay race,” Holcombe said, calling out to Winburn in the crowd. “And now we’re handing the baton to David.” If Gray’s competitors felt the same way, they didn’t show it. All three — Sen. Debbie Ingram (D-Chittenden), activist Brenda Siegel and Senate President Pro Tempore Tim Ashe (D/P-Chittenden) — spent more time talking about each other than their newly minted nominee, offering only the thinnest of congratulations. None endorsed Gray or urged their supporters to consider voting for her. “I want to congratulate Molly Gray on her win in the Democratic primary,” was all Siegel mustered before heaping praise on Ashe and Ingram for their years of service in the legislature. “I congratulate Molly Gray on winning the confidence of the majority of the members of our party and wish her the best in the general election,” Ingram said, only after thoroughly complimenting Siegel and Ashe. Ashe, whose dozen years in the Senate, including the last four as its leader, had made him the early favorite to succeed Zuckerman, offered the most convincing support for Gray. “[She] ran a fantastic campaign, earned the victory, and I want to congratulate her and wish her very

well going into the general election,” he said. It was no big surprise that, just two days after the bruising primary, the candidates were not shouting Gray’s name from the rooftops. The newcomer’s rapid ascent in the Democratic party had clearly rubbed some of her competitors the wrong way, making her the target of stinging criticisms during the final weeks before the primary. Ingram fueled questions about whether the 15 months when Gray lived in Switzerland between 2017 and 2018 made her ineligible to serve as lieutenant governor under a constitutional requirement that Vermont LGs must have “resided in this State four years next preceding the day of election.” She and Siegel also attacked Gray over her voting record after it was revealed that Gray had not cast ballots in the four national elections between 2008 and 2018. Yet it soon became clear that the lack of enthusiasm was a harbinger of the simmering discontent pockets of Democrats felt toward their nominee. Last week, that dissatisfaction burst into the open when Ingram declared she would finally endorse someone in the race: Milne. “I have been a lifelong Democrat, and I’m still a Democrat,” Ingram told reporters on the lawn of the First Unitarian Universalist Society of Burlington. “[But] I believe that Mr. Milne is the best person for this important position at this time.” According to Ingram, it was not Gray’s voting record or any specific policy difference but rather her lack of life experience that swayed her decision. “Although I am committed to supporting the advancement of women in our political system, the position of lieutenant governor is too important to decide solely on the basis of sex rather than the many other characteristics necessary for the job,” Ingram said. “In my opinion, Mr. Milne’s qualities in other respects matter more than electing a woman.” Ingram’s distaste with the primary’s result was no secret. A week afterward, she penned an op-ed in the Brattleboro Reformer that argued the media had unfairly anointed Gray and Ashe as the only two real contenders, overlooking her because she is a lesbian and Siegel because she is a low-income single mother. But her defection still shocked many Democrats. Some saw her decision as petty. Others called it a betrayal. Others still criticized her for engaging in the same type of gatekeeping that has long discouraged more women from seeking higher office. SOAPBOX DERBY

» P.36

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Soapbox Derby « P.35 On Twitter, Holcombe described feeling “mystisad.” “Mystification that Ingram did this and sadness that an elected woman leader’s tool of choice to take down another woman candidate is a sexist trope,” she wrote. While Ingram is the most notable prominent Democrat to publicly rebuke Gray, she is not the only member of the party to do so. Rep. Linda Joy Sullivan (D-Dorset), a moderate, announced last week that she, too, is backing Milne. The decision was less of a surprise: Sullivan unexpectedly broke ranks to vote against the effort to override Scott’s veto of a paid family leave bill earlier this year, effectively killing the top Democratic priority. Perhaps more significant are the reservations that some Democratic voters harbor about Gray’s candidacy due in large part to her voting record. Julie Cunningham, a lifelong Democrat who lives in Brattleboro, is executive director of Families First, a nonprofit organization that helps children with special needs and their families. As a Black woman, Cunningham said, she is “interested and invested” in seeing more women in politics. But while she believes that Gray is “very accomplished,” she said she “cannot stop thinking” about the votes Gray skipped. “Especially in light of everything that’s happening right now, and the passing of the honorable John Lewis, who called our right to vote sacred and the most important nonviolent action we can take,” she said of the late U.S. representative from Georgia. Cunningham took particular offense at Gray’s attempts to blame missing the 2016 election on the challenges of voting while abroad, given that “so many Black and brown people — marginalized people who have an incredibly difficult time voting” — still manage to do so. At a debate last week, Gray falsely claimed that she “proudly voted for Hillary Clinton in 2016 but was unable to have my vote counted because I was serving overseas.” Her campaign later clarified that she had misspoken and that her ballot was never cast. That someone with such a poor participation record now wants to fill the state’s No. 2 elected office has left Cunningham and her friends “scratching our heads,” she said. Cunningham has ruled out voting for Milne but may consider writing in someone else’s name, she said. Even some Democrats who plan to vote for Gray can’t seem to shake the frustration of her primary win. Mary Ellen Manock, who helps run Flip the Vote Champlain Valley, a group of 36

Molly Gray

activists that seeks to prop up Democratic candidates in swing states, said she was upset by how Gray came “waltzing in” with a poor voting record and questions about her residency status and defeated someone such as Ashe, who had spent a dozen years working to further Vermont issues. Gray had received the backing of top Vermont Democrats she had met while working for U.S. Rep. Peter Welch’s (D-Vt.) 2006 campaign, as well as from mega-donor Jane Stetson, longtime Leahy campaign manager Carolyn Dwyer, and a slew of current and former Leahy staffers. “It was just frustrating that the Democratic machine could make this happen,” Manock said. Manock went to Ashe after the primary and suggested he wage a write-in campaign. He demurred, but her frustrations remained, so much so that she would later vent about Gray in a letter to members

SEVEN DAYS SEPTEMBER 30-OCTOBER 7, 2020

of her women’s book club. Among them: Madeleine Kunin, Vermont’s only female governor and one of Gray’s mentors. Gray owned up to her lackluster voting record after it became public over the summer, saying in interviews that she was “not proud” of it. She told Seven Days that she should not be disqualified from holding elected office because of “mistakes” that she made in her twenties and said the only thing she can do at this point is to “be honest, acknowledge that no candidate is perfect — that’s my imperfection — and then work to try to get as many people excited and engaged in participating in our future as possible.” And recognizing that it would likely surface in her race with Milne, she preemptively brought it up at a solo press conference after the Democratic unity event and again acknowledged her lapse before calling on her opponent to run a race focused on the issues.

Milne’s campaign, however, delighted in twisting the knife after Gray hosted an event commemorating the centennial anniversary of women’s suffrage. “Suddenly, [Gray] thinks her vote is important enough that she should cast some of her first as our lieutenant governor and president of the Senate,” blasted Janet Metz, chair of the Vermont Republican Women’s Coalition, who was serving as Milne’s campaign coordinator at the time. “This is the epitome of privilege and entitlement. If you didn’t care enough to cast a ballot when it only counted for one person, don’t expect Vermont to reward you with the power to vote for the rest of us.” (Shortly after Metz released this statement, she left the campaign because, according to Milne, she disagreed with his public denunciation of President Trump.) Milne had initially kept a distance from the attacks, relying on his campaign manager to do his bidding. But he told Seven Days earlier this month that he believed Democrats who voted early for Gray, only to later learn about her voting record, are feeling “buyer’s remorse.” He then went on the offensive at a debate last week, asking her why voters should trust her to cast votes as their LG when she “hasn’t really taken ownership of voting.” “You don’t have a record of being an engaged citizen until you want to be an engaged lieutenant governor,” Milne said, while referring to himself as a “consistent voter.” A day later, a left-leaning super PAC shot back on Gray’s behalf, accusing Milne of lying about his own voting record. In a press release, the Alliance for a Better Vermont Fund attached a graphic that showed he missed votes in two presidential primaries (2008 and 2012) and four state primaries (2008, 2010, 2012 and 2018), as well as the 2010 general election. “After seeing the debate last night, I was very infuriated by the hypocrisy,” said Ashley Moore, executive director of the alliance. “I decided it would be a good time to essentially say, ‘Hey, this is the pot calling the kettle black.’” Milne’s campaign refuted some of Moore’s claims on Monday, disclosing an email from the Pomfret town clerk that said his electronic voting record did not tell the whole story. Rather, Clerk Becky Fielder wrote, a review of her office’s paper records showed that the Republican had actually voted in four of the seven elections that the PAC claimed he skipped. (She said she did not have any paper records for 2008.) Fielder addressed the email to Moore, Milne and Gray’s campaign. The clerk said she informed Moore last week that data was missing from the electronic records. But she said Moore declined an invitation


to come and sift through her office’s paper she viewed the climate crisis as one of the records for a fuller picture and instead “greatest job opportunities of our time,” one blasted out the attacks, which Fielder that needs to be met with the same urgency described as “misleading at best, border- that the state has afforded the pandemic. ing on blatant lies.” The clerk said she was “I think it means we invest in solar; speaking up because her “conscience” we invest in weatherization; we invest in could not allow her to stand idly by as workforce development that grants jobs inaccuracies “shape[d] the story.” from our schools into the businesses that “I am not taking a political side in are going to help us figure out climate sending you this email,” Fielder wrote. “I change,” she said. “The time to act is now.” am taking a moral stand.” Sumner stood up and asked the Reached Monday, Moore said the candidate about her other concern: town clerk had given her no indication mental health. “We’re not addressing that paper records existed after the what’s really going on here,” she said. 2008 election. And even though it now “Counselors can’t go out and visit clients appeared that her allegations were at due to the pandemic. Most people don’t least partially inaccurate, Moore stood have a phone or a computer to talk to by calling Milne an inconthe counselor. And I’m just sistent voter and said she wondering, what are your had no plans to rescind her thoughts?” press release. In fact, she Gray spoke for a few asserted, the attempts to minutes about how she clear Milne’s name show understood Vermont ’s that his campaign is “clearly mental health crisis was a upset that his inconsistent major issue, about how she record was exposed,” which hoped to use the lieutenant is why it is now “working to governor’s office to “demysdiscredit [our] group.” tify” mental health, to “make “Both campaigns have it part of the conversation.” referenced inconsistencies After the event, Gray approached Sumner and in their voting histories,” Moore said. “I think that it’s asked her to share what she time to move on now.” viewed as the greatest need. Milne disagreed. He The two spoke for a few called on Gray to “come MAEVE DONN E LLY minutes, then Gray made her clean” about her voting way through the crowd. record and “disassociate Reviewing Gray’s perforherself” from the super PAC, which he mance, Sumner said she tensed up as described as a “shady and dishonest the candidate launched into her answer organization.” about the climate. But she conceded that “Not only is Molly Gray lying about her Gray had a point: Renewable energy own voting record, but now she has her would lead to jobs, “which is what we supporters lying about mine,” he said in need.” a press release. “It doesn’t seem like it’s 100 percent On Monday, Gray’s campaign manager, her priority,” Sumner said. “So that Sheehan, declined to comment on the helped me out.” scuffle between Milne and the super PAC. And while Gray didn’t offer many She did the same when asked Milne’s concrete answers on mental health, record on Friday, before the town clerk’s Sumner did feel her “compassion” on the clarification, though she added, “We’ll let issue. Now that they had met, “I might others do the talking.” reach out and say, ‘Hey, listen, I spoke to you at the park, and I’m kind of curious: Have you given it any more thought?’” Asked whether Gray had managed to Sumner, the undecided Burlington voter, win her vote, Sumner said she hadn’t. But attended Gray’s community forum with a she hadn’t lost it, either. question on her mind. “If she’s going to be “I’ll just keeping watching what they so directed on climate, then I’m probably say,” she said, a promise she seemed likely not going to vote for her,” she said before to keep. Gray spoke. Sumner got her answer 30 minutes Disclosure: Tim Ashe is the domestic later. Asked by moderator Daniel Barlow partner of Seven Days publisher and about how she would tackle the climate coeditor Paula Routly. Find our conflictcrisis were she elected, Gray quipped, of-interest policy at sevendaysvt.com/ “How much time do we have?” disclosure. She then referenced her stop at SunCommon earlier in the day and said Contact: colin@sevendaysvt.com

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COURTESY OF RHONDA PERCY

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campy’s Country Store & Deli in West Charleston has been an integral part of Rhonda Percy’s life since long before she and her husband, Michael, bought the business. Percy held her wedding and baby showers in the white clapboard building, which was once the local grange hall. Her daughter, Kelsie Fletcher, started working there when she was just 15 and later lived in one of the store’s two upstairs apartments. These days, Fletcher, 32, manages the store that her parents bought nearly 13 years ago to transition out of dairy farming. But now, Percy said, she’s ready to sell the place. Like many people born and raised in West Charleston, an unincorporated village in the Town of Charleston in the Northeast Kingdom, Percy has childhood memories of going to the general store, which sits along Route 105 and abuts the Clyde River. There, her parents would get her buttercream candies, scooping them from a barrel and buying them in paper bags for a penny apiece. Before leaving on hunting trips, Percy’s father and brother often stopped in to buy oysters for stew from the store’s longtime proprietor, Irvin “Scampy” Dane. As Percy put it, “Everybody in town knew Scampy. Everybody.” Scampy Dane’s, as the store was commonly known (though it had varying names over the years), was the center of life in West Charleston for decades. Also the site of the town’s post office, it’s where

WHICH IS WEIRD. R H O ND A P E R C Y

locals still come to pick up their mail, buy coffee and visit with neighbors. Back in the day, Percy recalled, the store was stacked floor to ceiling with merchandise. Dane, a war veteran and lifelong bachelor whose employment at the store dates back at least to the 1940 census, walked the narrow canyons of goods and used a mechanical claw to pluck items from the top shelves. His antique grabber is still on display. After Scampy Dane died in April 1995 at age 87, his niece and nephew took over the store. They later sold it to Ernie and Donna Wright, who put in the deli counter and pizza oven and built the apartments upstairs, Percy said. When Percy and her husband bought the business in 2007, Percy asked the Dane family whether she could rename it in honor of its longtime proprietor. It’s been Scampy’s Country Store & Deli ever since. Scampy’s still has a “very loyal” clientele that includes local farmers and loggers, Percy said, many of whom come in when the store opens each morning at 6 a.m. It’s where the Charleston Elementary School buys pizzas for school parties and where the Charleston Volunteer Fire

Irvin “Scampy” Dane

Department gets oysters for its annual oyster supper fundraiser. Percy said she’s been trying to sell the business for months, but not because of the pandemic. Her mother has a terminal illness, she explained, and her granddaughter suffers from Apert syndrome, a rare genetic disorder that caused the bones in her skull, fingers and toes to fuse prematurely. At age 2, she’s already had three major surgeries and two minor ones, Percy said. “Kelsie was out for a year because of it, and it really hurt our business,” she added, describing her daughter as “the glue” that holds the store together.


When the pandemic hit in March, Percy recalled, business “dropped off to next to nothing.” Scampy’s shut down for three days each week to save money. Some of its eight employees volunteered to work fewer hours to help their colleagues who were more cash-strapped. “We’re a small town and a small staff,” Percy said, “and they do have each other’s best interests at heart.” In late spring, the Percys secured a small Paycheck Protection Program loan, the amount of which Rhonda declined to reveal. For a time, she and her husband offered meal deliveries on Friday and Saturday nights to try to drum up extra business, but the service proved impractical, so they dropped it. As business suffered and the store seemed increasingly unlikely to sell, Percy took it off the market. Then, over the summer, business picked up again. By July, Percy and Fletcher were seeing more out-of-state license plates than they ever had before, Percy said. As people flocked to Vermont for its wide-open spaces and lower number of COVID-19 cases, the deli counter remained hopping all summer. Fletcher increased her employees’ hours again. Pre-pandemic, Percy said, the store’s busy season usually ended as the Orleans County Fair began. But with the fair canceled this year, she said, customers kept coming in for pizzas, fries and Scampy’s specialty: steak-and-cheese grinders. Business hasn’t let up since. “Right now it’s awesome, which is weird,” added Percy, who now works full time in the administrative office of North Country Union High School in nearby Newport. The benefits are one reason she took that job. “Honestly, health insurance for a small business like [Scampy’s] would break us,” she said. Percy expects the store and deli to stay busy until the end of deer-hunting season in mid-December, when traffic typically drops off and the business scales back to winter hours. In the meantime, Percy plans to put the store back on the market in the next few weeks, hoping to get some nibbles. After years of dairy farming and running a general store, she’s ready to move on from the seven-days-a-week grind. “It’s time,” she said.

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INFO Bottom Line is a series on how Vermont businesses are faring during the pandemic. Got a tip? Email bottomline@sevendaysvt.com.

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8/3/20 2:48 PM


Meme Is Murder Book review: Meme, by Aaron Starmer Is Remote Learning Not Working For You or Your Student?

WE HAVE A

BY MARGO T H AR R IS O N

S

ome suspense novels are whodunits. Aaron Starmer’s new young-adult thriller, Meme, is a will-they-get-away-with-it. The novel opens with a confession of sorts: • Experienced, welcoming “We buried Cole Weston last night, on the instructors in a safe, clean and hundred acres behind Meeka’s house.” professional environment What follows is a murder scene that • Featuring individual instructional would be bleak and unsparing even for adult suites fiction, narrated in fragments by the killers. • One on one instruction In a small Vermont town, three high school • Instruction/tutoring in all major seniors lure a fourth into a car, ply him with disciplines liquor laced with fentanyl, and watch as he • Custom plans to meet the needs vomits and expires with his face in a mud of each student puddle. • Locally owned and managed It’s unthinkable — but, in the minds of narrators Logan, Grayson and Holly, it’s the only way to save their friend Meeka, who’s been the target of threats from Cole since she broke up with him. Given Cole’s deep online EDUCATIONANNEX.NET involvement in “red-pill, 802- 662- 4473 Pepe the Frog, alt-right bullshit,” Meeka’s friends took the threats seriously enough to make 8v-educationannex091620.indd 1 9/15/20 10:23 AM her ex disappear. But is this the perfect murder or just one more illustration of the adage about no honor among thieves? Waterbury resident Starmer is also the author of several middle-grade novels and a YA novel in which teens start spontaneously combusting. That book, Spontaneous, is the basis of a soon-to-be-released Paramount movie and exhibits the same dark humor that stands out in Meme. At one point, a character coins the term “memesturbatory.” Another sums up Cole’s Time to Harvest credentials as an online scammer: “He was We are fully stocked fluent in both English and lies. Plus, he was from Vermont, and people naturally trust with all types of people from Vermont.” Harvest supplies Leaning into the ambiguities of unreliScissors, Clippers, able narration, Starmer tells a tale in which no one can be trusted — not even people & Cutters, Trim Bins, from Vermont — everybody has an excuse, drying Racks, Cover and soulless online bots just might be the crops, And Hash Bags, only winners. The meme element enters the story 4 bag and 8 bag sets shortly after Cole leaves it. Meeka, Holly, Emeraldrose Logan and Grayson bury him in a Thule roof is open 11-3 tues-sat box, together with four phones on which Or call for appointments they’ve placed a video of all of them confess802-453-4797 11 MAIN ST BRISTOL ing to the crime. This clever precaution, Just come on down and checkout they hope, will stop any of them from having our supply AND Stay connected on second thoughts and going to the cops. facebook and instagram And it does seem pretty clever — until DONT FORGET OUR NOVELTY SEEDS a week later, when a screenshot from the AVAILABLE AT confession video goes viral. Before they EMERALDROSESEEDS.COM know it, the four friends’ tortured facial

SOLUTION

BOOKS

HARVEST HARVEST HARVEST

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FROM MEME “Are we evil?” Holly asked me last night as we drove away from the barn, the rocks from the dirt road clinging to the underside of my Hyundai. “No,” I said. “He was the evil one. Would you have rather it been Meeka? Or us? Or other people?” “Of course not. And I know, I know, I know we didn’t have a choice.” “That’s right.” “I know that.”

“I doubt I’ll sleep for days,” I said, flipping on the high beams just as something skittered into the woods in front of us. “I’m not happy about any of this.” “Are you crying?” Holly asked. “A little.” She was crying too. I could tell from the tremble in her voice. “This will always be a part of us,” she said. “But we’ll get over it,” I replied.


expressions have become a meme, with wags all over the world giving the image captions, such as “WHO FARTED?” But how did the video escape Cole’s final resting place? Who meme-ified it, and does that person intend to bring the four friends to justice or simply make them squirm? These are the questions that obsess our three narrators as they descend into a hell that is largely of their own making. In the tradition of thrillers such as Scott Smith’s A Simple Plan, the threat of being caught magnifies the criminals’ character flaws until it becomes a selffulfilling prophecy. Early on, Starmer uses first-person narration to put those flaws under a merciless microscope. Holly can win any game and think her way out of any problem — but sometimes she misses what’s right in front of her. Grayson prefers to be driven by animal instincts, but his instincts don’t always steer him true. And Logan, the most hapless of the three, judges others while harping on his own virtue. “Even though sometimes I slip, I’m naturally a selfless person,” he assures himself while scrambling to save his own skin. Those three strong character voices initially make Meme fun to read. As the story progresses, however, it gets harder to keep track of who’s speaking. Much of the middle is devoted to an online cat-and-mouse game that may or may not actually be a wild goose chase, with technical details and lengthy misdirections bogging down the narrative. During that long middle, Starmer takes the opportunity to meditate on meme culture, particularly on the plight of the people who unwittingly become meme fodder. At one point, Holly expresses skepticism about the idea that memes “are going to define my generation in the way that, I don’t know, shopping malls and ugly sweaters defined my parents’ generation.” In her view,

The only thing they all have in common is that they’re some sort of inside joke. The irony of a murder confession becoming a “joke” isn’t lost on the reader. The question of who engineered that transformation drives the story as the action speeds up again toward the climax. But readers may be stuck on a more basic question: How much do we care what happens to these kids? “You aren’t a murderer until you murder,” Logan reflects at one point. “Then that’s basically all you are.” Watching these characters struggle like fish on a hook can be entertaining, but it’s hard to feel sold on the justice of their vigilante action — or even on their motives, which are established in a few brief flashbacks. We don’t feel the characters’ rage against Cole or their frustration with the authorities whose help they might have sought to deal with him. As a result, it’s not easy to believe that these young people, all with so much to lose, would have resorted to murder. The book’s final “reveal” adds almost as many questions as it answers. Ultimately, Meme seems to sidestep the question of whether the cold-blooded murder of someone like Cole can ever be justified. (Two recent suspense novels that attack that question head-on, in a similar context of violence against women, are Mindy McGinnis’ YA novel The Female of the Species and Tana French’s The Witch Elm.) After that chilling opening scene, the horror of the act of killing recedes. What does come through in Meme, palpably, is the terror of having one’s secrets unexpectedly revealed online. While it may not make you root for its characters, Starmer’s novel will definitely make you check on the security of your cloud service. Whether trying to get away with murder or not, a person can’t be too careful.

LEANING INTO THE AMBIGUITIES OF UNRELIABLE NARRATION,

STARMER TELLS A TALE IN WHICH NO ONE CAN BE TRUSTED.

[M]ost kids are passing time when we share these things. We don’t really care. Barely any of these memes are actually funny. The majority don’t even make sense.

4t-outrightvt093020 1

9/29/20 8:41 AM

Contact: margot@sevendaysvt.com

INFO Meme by Aaron Starmer, Dutton Books for Young Readers, 288 pages. $17.99.

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9/18/20 2:21 PM


VERMONTING

BY SALLY POLLAK PHOTOS: SALLY POLLAK

Suburban Jaunt Strolls, paintings and peaches in Shelburne and Charlotte

HELLO, VERMONTING

T

he carousel isn’t running at SHELBURNE MUSEUM. The tool barn is locked up, and the Ticonderoga, bedecked with flags, is off-limits. The Mary Cassatt pastel of museum founder Electra Havemeyer Webb, which depicts her as a young girl sitting in her mother’s lap, is not on view. But, and it’s a big but, the roses are in bloom, water falls from a bronze figure in a flower garden, and the apple trees bear fruit. Beside a willow tree that weeps into a pond, visitors will find posted the Langston Hughes poem “In Time of Silver Rain.”

Even as Vermont opens up from the pandemic shutdown, Gov. Phil Scott still encourages residents to stay home as much as possible. And so now is a good time to explore our home state. Its diminutive size makes a multitude of short trips accessible, whether for a few hours, an overnight or a longer getaway. This series, running weekly through mid-October, presents curated excursions in every corner of Vermont, based on the experiences of Seven Days reporters. The idea is to patronize the state’s restaurants, retailers, attractions and outdoor adventures — after all, we want them to still be there when the pandemic is finally over. Happy traveling, and stay safe.

In time of silver rain The earth puts forth new life again, Green grasses grow And flowers lift their heads, And over all the plain The wonder spreads … About six miles south of our house, I found wonder at Shelburne Museum. More precisely, I refound it. I used to go to the museum with my daughter when she was young to ride the carousel and see the wooden toys. We brought a dog or two on the occasions when they were welcome. I made periodic pilgrimages to the Electra Havemeyer Webb Memorial Building to get my fix of Edouard Manet’s “The Grand Canal, Venice (Blue Venice).” In recent years, by contrast, I’ve driven past the museum too many times, noticing the repaintings of the entrance sign without making the turn to see more. That changed last week when I made a trip there the 42

SEVEN DAYS SEPTEMBER 30-OCTOBER 7, 2020

“Luxus Camera” by Peter Kirkiles in Shelburne Museum’s “At Scale” exhibition

central feature of a well-plotted jaunt to Shelburne and Charlotte. A daughter-in-law of William Seward Webb and Lila Vanderbilt Webb, the founders of Shelburne Farms, Electra Havemeyer Webb started Shelburne Museum in 1947. Cassatt’s 1895 pastel of Webb and her mother, Louisine Elder Havemeyer, is “the work around which the whole museum revolves,” executive director Thomas Denenberg told me in a phone conversation.

Lighthouse at Shelburne Museum

Havemeyer was an early collector of European art; her 1929 bequest to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, named for the family, is an important component of that museum’s collection. Her daughter would become a collector in her own right, with a distinct focus and interests. Webb amassed a collection vast in scope and number; it includes quilts, duck decoys, ceramics, carriages, tools, carousel figures, folk art and fine art. The objects and art are on exhibit in 39 buildings on the museum’s 45-acre campus. More than 20 gardens enhance and enliven the grounds. Museum admission costs $10 and currently requires an advance reservation for a three-hour time slot. When I arrived one morning last week, I shrugged off the offer of a downloadable map. “I’ve been here before.” The map, I was told by a masked woman at the check-in tent, would indicate which five of the 39 buildings were open. “But the outside’s open, right?” I asked. Yes, the full outdoors was open. I was almost relieved to learn that the museum had imposed a five-building limit when it reopened on July 30. The day was too beautiful to spend much time indoors, and five buildings is doable: In the past, I’ve left the museum thinking about how much I’d missed. Stepping onto the green expanse, lit by the late September sun, I felt like I had the whole place to myself. Denenberg mentioned that about 150 people a day visit the museum these days; in typical autumns, it’s around 800. “It’s wonderful for the people who can come,” he said.


Peaches and apples from Shelburne Orchards

Luka McKenzie eating his first apple at Shelburne Orchards, with parents Junior McKenzie and Sheena Barcomb

I walked to a grove of evergreens on a knoll and checked out a stone bench decorated with a makeshift sculpture of gourds. I wandered the grounds to see the neat sculptures of Peter Kirkiles. The buildings themselves became subjects worthy of extended view, independent of any consideration of the contents within: the handsome Dorset House, the crazy horseshoe-shaped Circus Building with its midpoint tunnel, the land-bound lighthouse and the cottage with fading zinnias in the walkway. From a blue Adirondack chair, I gazed at the Ticonderoga and thought about its history as a steam-powered vessel that traveled Lake Champlain and its contemporary use as a setting for weddings and naturalization ceremonies. Enough lazing around outside, I told myself. This is a museum — go look at some paintings. In the Webb Gallery, an Albert Bierstadt canvas, “The Burning Ship,” set the red-walled room aglow. Grandma Moses’ wintry scenes and Vermont landscapes by Charles Louis Heyde and James Hope warmed my heart — and sent me outside again. Still, I thought I should see at least two buildings of the allotted five. So I stopped in the gift shop and purchased a scarf.

A foghorn sounded, indicating the end of the visit. Before I left, I looked too long at the empty carousel. Then I drove to Charlotte for lunch at PHILO RIDGE FARM, a farm-to-table gem where you can dine on the patio or on Adirondack chairs on the hillside below. I found a chair, set my lunch in my lap — a superb roast beef sandwich and the best salad I’ve eaten in a long time — and listened to kids playing at Charlotte Central School recess across the way. The ingredients of my meal, from purple peppers to grass-fed beef, were raised on the farm. More food was on the agenda for the afternoon: apple picking at SHELBURNE ORCHARDS. The 6,000-tree orchard has lake views, peach trees that straddle the ShelburneCharlotte border, and a little distillery that produces house brandy and pommeau. This season, of course, things are different at the family-owned orchard. The open-air store is now a drive-through with service at your car door. Apple pickers prepay by the size of the bag and head to the trees. I bought a flat of peaches (so good!), sweet apple cider and doughnuts, and an empty bag to fill with $20 worth of McIntosh and Fuji apples. In the row of trees, I met a family of six from South Burlington who were also picking. “It’s a nice atmosphere,” said Sheena Barcomb, the mother. “It’s so soothing and quiet.” Except for a couple of swimming trips in the summer, this was her family’s first outing since the outbreak of the pandemic, Barcomb said. Her 8-month-old baby, Luka McKenzie, ate his first bite of apple at the orchard. His 6-year-old brother, Ethan Gooding, said he likes Spider-Man and, hence, climbing the apple trees. At the front of the store, I found Nick Cowles, owner of the orchard, hanging out and talking with customers. He told me that the new system is working, though it took some adjustment. “As soon as people are out in the orchard, it’s the same,” Cowles said. “Same apples, same trees, same orchard. It feels good.” And the same Cowles, who grew up at the orchard and lives there still. Long-haired and mask-clad, he rides around the orchard in his Gator and stops to talk with pickers.

Nick Cowles

Lunch at Philo Ridge Farm

IN THE AREA • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

BARKEATERS, barkeatersrestaurant.com THE BEARDED FROG, thebeardedfrog.com CUCINA ANTICA BISTRO, bistrocucinaantica.com THE FLYING PIG BOOKSTORE, flyingpigbooks.com FURCHGOTT SOURDIFFE, fsgallery.com HEART OF THE VILLAGE INN, heartofthevillage.com LA VILLA BISTRO, lavillabistro.com MOUNT PHILO INN, mtphiloinn.com OLD BRICK STORE, oldbrickstore.com PEG & TER’S, pegandters.com PHILO RIDGE FARM, philoridgefarm.com RUSTIC ROOTS, rusticrootsvt.com SHELBURNE FARMS, shelburnefarms.org SHELBURNE MUSEUM, shelburnemuseum.org VILLAGE WINE AND COFFEE, villagewineandcoffee.com

On my way home, I stopped at SHELBURNE FARMS for a walk — timing it at 30 minutes, the interval it would take the pizza I ordered at CUCINA ANTICA BISTRO to be ready. I’m a regular at Shelburne Farms, where walking and buying cheese at the nonprofit have long been two of my favorite things to do. It seemed fitting that a day that started at Shelburne Museum should end on the onetime estate of Electra Havemeyer Webb’s in-laws. After all, Webb might never have started the museum if she hadn’t needed a place to house a large collection of carriages that had been her father-in-law’s. Contact: sally@sevendaysvt.com SEVEN DAYS SEPTEMBER 30-OCTOBER 7, 2020

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food+drink

Animal Planet

Seven questions for Jonathan Safran Foer in advance of his UVM talk on diet and the climate crisis B Y M E L I SSA PASANEN

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mong the illustrative stories in Jonathan Safran Foer’s book We Are the Weather: Saving the Planet Begins at Breakfast is one about his grandmother, a Polish Jew who fled her village in 1942 as the Nazis pushed east. “Asked why she left,” Foer writes, “she would say, ‘I felt I had to do something.’” At several points in the 2019 book, the writer describes his own daydream “about going from house to house in my grandmother’s shtetl, grabbing the faces of those who would stay, and screaming, ‘You have to do something!’” More than three quarters of a century later, in the face of a radically different threat to human survival, We Are the Weather is Foer’s “scream” to all of us that we must do something to save ourselves from the climate crisis. He will share that message at the annual University of Vermont George D. Aiken Lecture on October 8, a virtual event that is free and open to the public. In addition to his acclaimed novels Everything Is Illuminated (2002) and Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close (2005), Foer, 43, has written two nonfiction best sellers addressing what we eat. Eating Animals (2009) scrutinized animal agriculture and the ethics of consuming living creatures. The book famously convinced actress Natalie Portman to become a vegan activist. We Are the Weather furthers the argument for not eating animal products, this time focusing on livestock agriculture’s contributions to the climate crisis. Foer summed up his argument in a New York Times opinion piece: “We cannot protect our environment while continuing to eat meat regularly ... Whether they become Whoppers or boutique grass-fed steaks, cows produce an enormous amount of greenhouse gas. If cows were

Jonathan Safran Foer

a country, they would be the thirdlargest greenhouse gas emitter in the world.” While he acknowledges that buying solar panels and hybrid cars makes us feel better, Foer marshals data to demonstrate that the four highest-impact actions individuals can take are eating a plant-based diet, avoiding air travel, living car-free and having fewer children. Of those, he suggests, a dietary shift is the most realistic for many Americans: “Everyone will eat a meal relatively soon.” Foer spoke (calmly, no screaming) with Seven Days from his home in Brooklyn about making change one meal at a time, sneaking fast-food burgers and why “we must either let some eating habits go or let the planet go.”

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SEVEN DAYS: Your book is subtitled “Saving the Planet Begins at Breakfast.” What’d you have for breakfast? JONATHAN SAFRAN FOER: Coffee with oat milk. I don’t really eat breakfast. SD: You’ve been vegetarian on and off since you were very young but have more recently been cutting back on all animal products. What made you feel being vegetarian was not enough? JSF: Nothing is exactly not enough, and nothing is exactly enough. We often rush to these binaries — like “I have to do everything, or I’m just going to do nothing.” I think there’s a real danger in that, because it can discourage

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SIDEdishes SERVING UP FOOD NEWS BY SAL LY PO LL AK

Laundry Redux NEW VERGENNES LAUNDRY OWNER WILL BRING BACK ORIGINAL TOUCHES

The new owner of

VERGENNES LAUNDRY is a longtime fan. The first time NADIA DOLE considered buying the café and wood-fired bakery at 247 Main Street in Vergennes was three years ago, the first time it went on the market. A photographer, writer and business owner, Dole fell in love with Vergennes Laundry as she covered it for magazines. It was the perfect place “to get fueled up” on drives from Vermont to her native Montréal, she said. But Dole, who lives with her family on a farm in Putney, ultimately decided the timing wasn’t right to purchase the bakery from JULIANNE and DIDIER MURAT, who started the business 10 years ago. Chef CHRISTIAN KRUSE bought the spot in the

fall of 2017 and renamed it Vergennes Laundry by CK. In December 2019, Kruse put the business up for sale; in March, he closed its doors. Now Dole is realizing her dream of owning Vergennes Laundry by purchasing its assets (name, equipment, furnishings and contents) from Kruse. She will return the bakery to its original name. “I walked away from it, and then here we are — which seems like a perfect time,” Dole, 48, said. “I’m removed from the expectations, and I can be myself. My aesthetic is very much minimalist, and my baking is French. So it’s the perfect fit.” Dole was referring to the standards and expectations set by the Murats. “They were so great at what they did,”

WINE BAR.

she said. “It was quite perfect to me.” The bakery will offer canelés, croissants, pastries, tarts, breads and cheese boards. Dole will also serve pizza. “My goal is to perfect my version of a pizza crust,” she said. Vergennes Laundry will house a small shop within the café that sells housemade mustards, kimchi and pesto, along with select grocery items, wine and home goods. The latter will be familiar to shoppers at Poëm, a Vergennes pop-up that Dole operated. Vergennes Laundry will open in November and offer takeout café/ bakery service and in-store retail shopping Wednesdays through Sundays, 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Attempts to reach Kruse by press time were not successful.

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EXPLORE VERMONT! When taking a drive in your home state to enjoy the beautiful colors, stop by and see us!

CONNECT Follow us for the latest food gossip! On Twitter: Sally Pollak: @vtpollak. On Instagram: Seven Days: @7deatsvt; Jordan Barry: @jordankbarry. FILE: MATTHEW THORSEN

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9/28/20 10:27 AM


Late-season hops harvest at Champlain Valley Hops

Fresh Hopportunities Reaping its second harvest, Champlain Valley Hops looks to brewers for creative collaboration BY J O R D AN BAR RY

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and Mosaic hops express-shipped from farms in the Pacific Northwest. These hops, by contrast, were harvested just a few hours earlier and driven 21 miles to the brewery by Max Licker, Champlain Valley Hops’ sales and marketing manager. The speed mattered because Bayer and head brewer Bob Grim were brewing a wet-hopped double IPA, a fleeting seasonal style only possible during the annual hop harvest. It’s optimal to use the hops on the day they’re picked to get the full impact of their fresh flavor and aroma. “There’s a very small time frame in the year when you can brew wet-hop beers, and it’s right now,” Grim said. “That’s what makes them so exciting. The hops come to us right out of the field and go straight into the brew.” The delivery of fresh hops is just a small part of Foam’s working relationship with Champlain Valley Hops, offering a sense of the impact that the hop farm’s cofounders, Peter Briggs and Julian Post, hope to have on the state’s beer industry. Briggs and Post purchased their

SEVEN DAYS SEPTEMBER 30-OCTOBER 7, 2020

PHOTOS: JAMES BUCK

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t Foam Brewers in Burlington, drinkers ask one question so frequently that the staff has turned it into a running joke: “Is that the hops?” The inquiry typically comes between sips of IPA as customers observe the end of the brewing process in the taproom’s seven-barrel brewhouse. The brewers patiently explain that what they’re actually seeing is not hops but spent grain left after the wort goes into a fermenter across the room. On a Wednesday afternoon in midSeptember, though, the mystery material filling the mash tun, or mixing vessel, actually was the hops. “We make that joke so often that one of the bar staff came over today and said, ‘Oh, is that the hops?’ thinking he was being funny,” brewer Josh Bayer said with a laugh. “In reality, that’s what it was.” To be exact, it was 200 pounds of fresh Chinook cones from Champlain Valley Hops in Starksboro, which was founded in 2018 and is now Vermont’s largest hop farm. In the past, Foam has had fresh Citra

Hops at Champlain Valley Hops


food+drink 240-acre former dairy farm in Starks- lived when he first became interested boro in April 2018. Sitting on hay bales in in the crop. a barn on the property last week, the two “I wondered why we didn’t grow recounted cold April days spent punch- them back here,” Briggs said. “It’s been ing holes in the ice to build trellises. That a century since Vermont has had a hops May, they planted their initial 18 acres yield on a significant scale.” of hop rhizomes, but they would need to Before joining Briggs to start their wait another year for the first harvest to commercial operation, Post worked for give the newly planted hops time to estab- University of Vermont Extension profeslish root systems. sor Heather Darby as a crop technician The pair had faced resistance from and manager of the hops research yard. neighbors during their first attempt Darby’s research conducted there has to start a hop yard, or commercial hop been crucial to the redevelopment of hop farm, in Charlotte, when the business was farming in the state, determining which called Mt. Philo Hops. But the Starksboro varieties to plant and how to ensure farm — a flat, sandy terrace with good that they thrive in Vermont’s growing drainage and access to water for irriga- conditions. tion from Lewis Creek — had everything This year’s second harvest at Chamhops need to flourish. plain Valley Hops of“In many ways, we fered a sign of the farm’s got lucky that we got a success. Beginning on August second chance to make that search [for land], 17, the harvest spanned because we really found roughly 40 days, with the ideal property here,” a team of 12 employPost said. ees working from 7 a.m. That first year in until 11 p.m. They picked Starksboro, Briggs and and processed 23,000 B OB GRIM Post shared the farm pounds of hops, a more with the dairy farmer who sold it to than fivefold increase over 2019. them. They were eager to plant, since “We expect that to double next year, hops take three years to reach maturity, and then it should go up even further and the dairy farmer thought he’d get a without having planted another plant,” better price for his cows at the end of the Briggs said. “At that scale, we should be a year, Post said. mature, sustainable operation.” “It was really fun, because we got to A key part of that operation — and ask him questions about the farm for a of Champlain Valley Hops’ business year and learn everything that he knew plan — is post-harvest processing. “If about the property — and we borrowed you grow hops, at the end of the season, his equipment, because he had a much you have a cone with a very short usable bigger tractor than we do,” he said. life,” Briggs said. The farm now has 27 acres in producBrewers get excited about wet-hopped tion and 10 more trellised and ready for beers during harvest, but they need hops planting. As harvest approached this fall, the rest of the year, too. To provide a bines of Cascade, Chinook, Centennial, consistent supply, farmers must dry hops Crystal, Magnum, Nugget and Willa- immediately after harvest and process mette spiraled skyward on the 18-foot them into a stable, pelletized state. trellises, along with newly planted Building a commercial processing Triumph. facility required sizable investments in “We picked those varieties of hops specialized machinery, but for Briggs and through a combination of their popu- Post, the cost was worth the risk. larity with brewers and their agronomic “Somebody had to be the first to build viability,” said Post, who is also the a commercial-scale processing operafarm manager. “Each of them is going tion,” Briggs said. to have unique characteristics based on When the farm’s production and Vermont’s terroir.” processing reach full capacity, at some Learning how Vermont hops compare point in the next few years, Post estimates with those grown in other major hop- that Champlain Valley Hops will be able producing regions is one exciting aspect to supply 5 to 10 percent of the total hops of reintroducing this historic crop to the used by Vermont’s breweries. state. In the 19th century, Vermont and Briggs and Post also hope to offer upstate New York were the center of hop processing to other farms, which would production in the U.S. Vermont’s lati- help lower the cost of entry for those tude, topography and climate resemble looking to make the leap into hop farmthose of some of the top hop-producing ing on a smaller scale. areas in the world, including Germany and the Czech Republic, where Briggs FRESH HOPPORTUNITIES » P.49

THE HOPS COME TO US RIGHT OUT OF THE FIELD

AND GO STRAIGHT INTO THE BREW.

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Animal Planet « P.44 people from making changes that are totally possible for them and that they want to make. People who are vegetarian are doing something quite amazing. People who reduce their meat consumption are doing something quite amazing. The reasons why one would choose to [eat no meat] are equally true for dairy — whether it’s animal cruelty, the amount of greenhouse-gas emissions produced, [or] what it’s doing to rural landscapes [and] to farming in America. The primary problem with livestock, when it comes to the environment, is the amount of methane they produce. If you imagine greenhouse gases as a blanket throughout the atmosphere, which prevents the heat from escaping into space, creating a kind of greenhouse [that traps warm air around the planet], methane is like a blanket 86 times as thick as carbon dioxide. There are facts that are in front of us, however inconvenient. We have to find a way to change our lives in response. SD: You eat vegan before 6 p.m. and then vegetarian for dinner. I did almost a month eating vegan and found it easier to plan and cook satisfying vegan dinners than to eat vegan during busy days when I’d normally grab yogurt and fruit or bread and cheese, or quickly cook eggs. What’s your biggest challenge? JSF: These are really tricky needles to thread, and each of us has a different schedule, different relationships, different personal history, different cravings, different bodies. A good starting point is respecting those differences. What you said is so true about [it] requiring thought. Harvard Medical School did a study that [found] it was $750 a year less expensive to eat vegetarian. It’s also uncontroversially at least as healthy; most people would argue that it’s healthier. But we do have habits, and we need to change them a little bit. That takes time. I used to be a beans-and-rice vegetarian. I’ve been trying to branch out. Last night I made a spinach pie with dill, parsley and eggs and ate it with roasted potatoes and farro. SD: In We Are the Weather, you confess that you occasionally grabbed fast-food burgers while traveling to promote Eating Animals. When you really crave meat, is there some magical tactic that helps?

JSF: I probably only did it a handful of times, but I thought it was important to talk about [it] to try to move away from the preciousness of a perfect identity, or maybe even from thinking about these things as identities. That can unfortunately distract us from the shared goal, which is to lessen the amount of destruction in the world. It’s pretty rare that I do [crave meat]. It’s mostly when I feel like I’m not participating in a social situation, like a celebratory barbecue or dinner at a friend’s house. But there are a lot of things we want in life. Oftentimes, there isn’t a magical substitute; I want something and I can’t have it, and that’s OK.

WE MUST EITHER LET SOME EATING HABITS GO

OR LET THE PLANET GO. J O NATH AN S AF R AN F O E R

SD: Much of Vermont’s meat and some dairy is raised in regenerative, pasture-based systems that support diversified, year-round local farms; provide an alternative to corporate agriculture; and contribute to a cultural and physical landscape that has significant value to the state. It’s hard to imagine Vermont without livestock agriculture, but you believe the climate crisis compels us to do so? JSF: There are certainly ways of producing animal products that are far, far less environmentally destructive and that can be a lasting piece of our food system. The enemy is not farmers, and the enemy is not animal agriculture. The enemies are two things. One clearly is factory farming, [which] is now responsible for 99.9 percent of the meat that’s eaten in the United States. When we talk about meat, we really are, for the most part, talking about factory farms. The other problem is overconsumption. We’re eating far more meat than we have at any point in the past. The most recent comprehensive analysis that I read of the relationship between food systems and the environment was published at the end of 2018 [in the journal Nature], and it said that people in America and the UK need to eat about 90 percent less meat and 60 percent less dairy. I’m

not a great believer in the idea that we’re all gonna become vegan, [but] the future will involve less meat. SD: Do you think that recent events like the pandemic-related shutdown of national meat processing plants and the West Coast wildfires will inspire more people to respond to your call for action? JSF: I hope so. Do I believe they will? I just don’t know. The problem is, by the time we get the evidence that we seem to need — not scientific evidence, but experiential evidence — it really will be too late. For people who live [near the wildfires], I imagine they’ll be really alarmed until a week or two after they pass, and then life has a way of just getting back to normal. Studies have found that [after] communities experience extreme weather events, they are less likely to believe in human-caused climate change; there are such strong incentives to disbelieve. It’s the American myth of “We’ll rebuild right where we were,” but there’s no resilience in the face of this. We are not more resilient than nature. We are not distinct from nature. I don’t know if humans are capable of learning that. SD: Your book details the collective sacrifices Americans made during World War II. You cite a slogan developed at the time to encourage carpooling: “When you ride alone, you ride with Hitler.” What about a slogan for addressing the climate crisis? JSF: Well, “We are the weather” isn’t terrible. [Chuckling] We don’t have the luxury of one clear enemy, and there isn’t a clear hero, and there isn’t a clear battlefield. It’s a story that’s not easily told [in terms] of good versus evil. This is much more us versus us. It’s too complicated for sloganeering. I wish it weren’t. This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity and length. Contact: pasanen@sevendaysvt.com

INFO George D. Aiken Lecture Series: An Evening With Jonathan Safran Foer, Thursday, October 8, 5 p.m. Free and open to the public; RSVP at learn.uvm.edu/aiken.

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JAMES BUCK

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Fresh Hopportunities « P.47 “Part of our ambition here is to act as a catalyst for a community of farms,” Briggs said. “Making the Champlain Valley the Napa Valley of hops would be a nice thing to do — and very consistent with the incredible job that’s been done in the brewing industry in Vermont.” In the meantime, the goal is to get their hops into the hands of brewers across the state. “We want a lot of different brewers to play with the hops,” Briggs said. “It’s taken us several years to get to this point, and it’ll take a couple more years of feedback from the brewers to figure out what really works and what consumers are interested in.” For that reason, experimentationprone breweries like Foam are ideal early adopters. So far this fall, the brewery has purchased 300 pounds of fresh Centennial hops for its canned Local Dork release; 100 pounds of wet Cascade for a House of Fermentology oak-barrel-aged beer; and deliveries of Cascade, Chinook, Nugget and Crystal for wet-hopped beers that will be on draft in Burlington. “Foam has such a great combination of brewing experience and creativity, and they’re really excited about incorporating what we have to offer,” Post said. “We’ve learned so much from them in terms of how we can work together to produce an interesting, unique beer.” “In addition to having their production brewery right down the road from us [in Hinesburg], their taproom in downtown Burlington is a great way for us to connect with the public,” Licker added.

“They’re so ingrained in the community, and they really care about communicating with the public and educating them about where the hops come from.” Working with local ingredients is a big part of the ethos at Foam, but the Champlain Valley Hops team is aware that just offering a locally grown product isn’t enough — it has to be a product that’s worthy of the brewery’s reputation. As Bayer unloaded the 200 pounds of fresh Chinook cones into the mash tun in Foam’s taproom, Grim gave it his stamp of approval. “We have amazing hops at our fingertips, right here,” Grim said. “We get to have face-to-face feedback, and I think it’s mutually beneficial for both parties.” The aroma of the hops filled the air, hinting at the green freshness they’d soon impart to the flavor of the beer. “It’s almost hard to describe,” Grim said. “It’s like when you walk out into a flowery field in the middle of summer — fruity, floral, maybe a little grassy. You’re basically trying to capture that hop in that moment, and that’s why it’s such an exciting time of year.” When the finished beer, Chinook Revue, hits the draft list in the last week of September, it’ll capture this moment in Vermont’s reemerging hops industry as an exciting harbinger of collaborations to come.

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GOT MUSIC NEWS? JORDAN@SEVENDAYSVT.COM

music+nightlife Personally, I think Lerman’s guitar and amp are haunted. Maybe the ghost of an angry rocker who once occupied the apartment is trying to jam along, but it’s out of phase with this dimension. (Lerman later confirmed by email that he never quite solved the issue.) Hey, speaking of A Box of Stars, be sure to take a listen to the band’s latest single, “Leviathan.” Released peakpandemic (aka April 2020) but recorded a year earlier, the tranquil tune is the antidote to the hell-on-earth that the last six months have been. I highly recommend joining the group and just scrolling endlessly. You’re likely to discover a lot of cutting-edge, off-theradar local music. You’ll find new ways to be creative, tips on strengthening your art and music nerds nerding out about the nerdiest music-nerd stuff.

DIY Burlington on Facebook

JORDAN ADAMS

S UNDbites

News and views on the local music + nightlife scene B Y J OR D A N A D A MS

Do It Yourself, Burlington I don’t think I’ve ever mentioned DIY Burlington in this column before, though I could be wrong. Perhaps I’ve made a passing reference to the Facebook group in some capacity or other. But I’ve never put a fine point on it, so here goes. If you’re looking to get involved with local music in pretty much any way, DIY Burlington is a great place to start. A message on the group’s landing page explains that “DIY Burlington is a coalition made up of DIY spaces, promoters, artists, and showgoers in Burlington, Vermont. This coalition is working to create and continuously revise a set of guidelines ... [that] aim to reduce the risk of partaking in DIY and foster personal growth alongside growth of DIY shows in our community.” The group’s standards indicate that assholery (a word Urban Dictionary defines as “actions or behavior consistent with being an asshole”) will not be tolerated, either in the group or at local shows. In other words, if you want to be part of the IRL and digital DIY communities, play nice. Users commonly go to the group for help hosting and setting up shows in basements, backyards and other nonvenue spaces. People ask questions they can’t answer on their own. For instance, say you can’t get a particular plug-in to

play nice with Logic Pro, or your favorite guitar keeps dropping out of tune. The denizens of DIY Burlington probably have some solutions for you. While perusing DIY Burlington this week, I came across a few posts I’ll share in this space, just to give you a sense of what to expect. Also, I found some stuff that was too good to scroll by without mentioning here. For instance, a track called “Adventura” by a group with the best band name I’ve seen all year, A JOHNNY CALLED QUEST, made its way into the feed this week. The song is pure mood: A slinky sax line hovers over brooding bass and shuffling beats in a tune full of foreboding. It follows a single released in July called “Transylvania Romance,” which is more spooky Halloween vibe than fun-in-the-sun summer jam. It’s vampire-rock at its most depraved. I have no idea who is in this band, because the members don pseudonyms in the info section on the Bandcamp page for “Transylvania Romance.” Hey, A Johnny Called Quest, let me know when you put out a record, because I want to hear it! People engage with DIY Burlington to spread awareness and share resources. One recent posting links to an episode of the Better Band Bureau podcast called “Do These Things Every Day | Forming Healthy Habits to Grow Your Music Career.” Among the recommended daily activities are practicing your instrument,

learning from artists that inspire you, posting content, working on the business of your music, staying in tune with music news and avoiding burnout. DIY Burlington members can also use the group to find gigs. Reps from local bars and restaurants, talent bookers, and event planners are known to look there to stock their show calendars and find last-minute fill-ins and additions. And lonely musicians often find complementary players to join for making new music. If you’re new in town, this is a good place to make connections, find rehearsal space and see what opportunities are available for live gigs in a pandemic economy. One of the most intriguing posts I’ve seen in the group came in June from MACAULAY LERMAN of dream-folk outfit A BOX OF STARS. “I recently moved into a new apartment … and am experiencing pretty severe noise issues with my amp, guitar and recording setup. I get a loud buzzing and rhythmic ticking noise that increases/ decreases when I shift my guitar position,” Lerman wrote, noting that the issue did not present itself when he played at a friend’s house down the street. Posters chimed in with helpful suggestions. Could a grounding wire have been disturbed in Lerman’s recent move? What if he turned off the lights in the room, especially any with a dimmer switch? Unplugged other appliances?

A Brief Reminder We’ve only got three months left in 2020, which means that if you’re planning to submit an album for review, please do so sooner rather than later. We never have enough time and space to review everything that gets submitted, and some things that are sent to us late in the year are likely to be reviewed in the first couple months of the new one. But I definitely want to see and hear everything you’ve been working on during this year of unprecedented change and upheaval. Send me an email with links to your work or a digital download, as well as production info, liner notes, song lyrics, album art, and anything else you think Seven Days should know about your latest release.

Listening In If I were a superhero, my superpower would be the ability to get songs stuck in other people’s heads. Here are five songs that have been stuck in my head this week. May they also get stuck in yours. JOBOXERS, “Just Got Lucky” ROBIN GIBB, “Boys Do Fall in Love” THE B-52S, “Ain’t It a Shame” SUICIDE, “Surrender” WIDE BOY AWAKE, “Slang Teacher”

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REVIEW this Osage Orange, Snake Skin Chants (SELF-RELEASED, DIGITAL)

“Limitations often produce the best results because imagination and determination can surpass any shortfall and determine the way forward — always.” Those were the words director Ridley Scott used in 2019 to praise the North Bergen High School drama club’s scrappy yet effective stage production of his breakthrough film, Alien. In other words, give it everything you’ve got, parameters be damned. After singer-songwriter Nick Varisano of Osage Orange broke his patella in a snowboarding accident, he couldn’t play analog instruments while recuperating, so

Benny Yurco, You Are My Dreams (PIAPTK RECORDINGS/LITTLE JAMAICA RECORDINGS, DIGITAL, LIMITED-EDITION VINYL)

The curse of being a great sideman is forever being best known for your main gig. Then again, there are worse problems to have, especially when your “main gig” is backing up Grace Potter. Benny Yurco, formerly of the Nocturnals and currently a member of Potter’s solo band, is a multi-instrumental wizard and an inventive musician. He’s also a fearlessly experimental audio engineer. All of these talents come together on his second solo LP, You Are My Dreams. It’s been a whopping eight years since the world was supposed to end in 2012. That was also the year Yurco dropped his

he shifted to synths and drum machines. His efforts to move forward despite his limitations resulted in a new album called Snake Skin Chants, which he recorded in Austin, Texas, with Roger Paul Mason, an old high school friend. Though the new album is cosmetically quite different from the dusty alt-folk heard on 2015’s Souvenir Regrets (Varisano recorded it without longtime bandmates Jeremy Gantz and Dave Carlson), it retains the same somber mood and inquisitive outlook while adding some new elements. According to Varisano, the wood of the Osage orange tree makes particularly good bows. A bowyer himself, he would know. He likens his tunes to arrows. If you’re so inclined, imagine them slicing through the air to vanquish foes and pierce hearts.

Varisano calls Snake Skin Chants “electric desert folklore,” an apt descriptor. It’s mysterious in design. Disorienting guitars, shrouded in filters and effects, dance like the aurora borealis over cracked earth. Synths glisten against a stark backdrop like galaxies of opalescent pinpricks on a black velvet backdrop. Varisano’s vocals are weary yet full of resolve. “All I Need” opens the record with a heaviness that lingers throughout. It trudges with purpose toward an urgent chorus, swaddled in textured electric guitars and synth tones. “Aster Mirror,” as well as the later track “Lay Down Your Head,” recall a bit of the Postal Service’s twee-tronica magic. Varisano’s voice isn’t cloying like Ben Gibbard’s, though he heavily processes his vocals on these tunes, adding a retrofuturistic vibe. I say “retro-futuristic”

because the tools that allow for that kind of vocal augmentation and distortion, novel in the late 20th century, are now so ubiquitous that we hardly notice them anymore. “Breaks Open Light” is a bit of an oddity for Osage Orange. The sevenminute instrumental track is pure electro soundscape, a sprawling web of synths twisting, blending, melding and unfurling in glossy sheets. As an exercise in operating within constraints, Snake Skin Chants is a rousing success. Viewed beyond its origin story, it’s also just a good record. Its catchy songs, such as the ’80s industrial-lite “Desert Winds” and whirlwind electro-pop tune “Pantone,” might not have come into existence if Varisano had been a little luckier that fateful day on the slopes. Listen to Snake Skin Chants on Spotify.

first solo project, presciently titled This Is a Future. Both albums are saturated with his love for good old reel-to-reel tape machines. The sound is warm, wild, sometimes gently out of tune and always alive in a way that modern plug-ins can imitate but never truly reproduce. From the opening riffs of the cool, catchy “Tulsi Time,” it’s easy to hear why Yurco’s so fixated on this vintage tech: It sounds like a transmission from another universe. That timeless groove never skips a beat for the rest of the album. It’s a restlessly creative ride, but it all fits together perfectly. Which is impressive, for a project that mashes dub rock and surf together with … well, “jazz” is too vague. Specifically, Yurco draws from the bright melodics of bossa nova and the skittering percussion of Afrobeat —

and, hot damn, it really works. He has carved out a sound that is distinctive and very much his own. Not that he did it all himself. Yurco tagged in some longtime collaborators and friends, including North Carolina’s Seth Kauffman, another one-man band/mad scientist type who works under the name Floating Action. (He’s got an incredible catalog, by the way — very funky and well worth your time.) Another prominent ingredient is Michael Nau, a prolific and Promethean artist with a long history of melting genre borders. He recorded his outstanding 2018 release Michael Nau & the Mighty Thread in Yurco’s Burlington apartment. To play drums and percussion, Yurco also drafted Nau’s bandmate Graeme Gibson, who mixed the album in his Los Angeles studio. That’s a lot of pedigree, but it all adds

up to an effortlessly organic sound. You Are My Dreams is a nonstop journey with songs washing into each other. Despite the laid-back aesthetic, there’s a real urgency to all of these grooves. Well, almost. “Love Me So” is a lazy river of bedroom pop over a slow King Tubby dubscape. And the magnificent “The Beacon” channels oldschool doo-wop into a psychedelic ballad that might just be the best song here. Yet this is not a “best song” kind of album. You Are My Dreams needs to be experienced holistically in one sitting, which I would recommend to anyone reading this. The record is no sideman solo indulgence. Sure, it’s whimsical and weird, but it’s also an extremely polished, top-quality product that will seduce you and convert you. You Are My Dreams is available at bennyyurco.bandcamp.com and piaptk.com.

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ur streaming entertainment options are overwhelming — and not always easy to sort through. This week: I’ve been seeing so much excited Twittering about Robert Pattinson that I broke down and watched 11:46 AMhim in this new Netflix release directed by Antonio Campos (Afterschool, Christine) and based on Donald Ray Pollock’s Southern gothic novel. Turns out there’s not a ton of R. Patz in this ensemble drama, but there are buckets of blood.

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Violence, religion and bad luck link two generations of people living in hardscrabble towns in Ohio and West Virginia. Willard (Bill Skarsgård) comes home from World War II with a head full of horrors and teaches his son to pray to a primitive cross he calls a “prayer log.” Hoping to bribe God into curing his wife’s 8:04 AM cancer, he “sacrifices” his son’s beloved dog, then dies by suicide shortly after his spouse succumbs. Left an orphan, Willard’s son, Arvin, grows up into Tom Holland, the fresh-faced kid who plays Spider-Man in the Marvel movies. He’s fiercely protective of his adopted sister — a second orphan, Lenora (Eliza Scanlen). Much like Arvin’s, her dad (Harry Melling) listened to very bad advice from the deity in his head. When pious Lenora crosses paths with a smoothtalking, hypocritical preacher (Pattinson), bad things befall her, too. Meanwhile, a married pair of serial killers, Carl and Sandy (Jason Clarke and Riley Keough), prowl lonely highways looking for prey. And an unscrupulous sheriff (Sebastian Stan) tries to solidify his hold over a small town.

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REVIEW

Will you like it?

The trailer for The Devil All the Time lured me with its echoes of the Coen brothers in their more “serious,” award-winning mode. It looked lengthy, impeccably filmed, immersive and a wee bit pretentious. And it’s all of those things, plus stuffed with so many juicy performances that it will leave you feeling like you’ve seen a “real” movie. Full of unhinged intensity, Melling jumps off the screen in his small role, just as he did in the Coens’ The Ballad of Buster Scruggs. Pattinson appears to be channeling

SEVEN DAYS SEPTEMBER 30-OCTOBER 7, 2020

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HIGHWAY TO HELL Holland learns the hazards of thumbing it in Campos’ violent period drama.

the oiliest of televangelists; his Tennessee accent is questionable but certainly memorable. Holland convincingly portrays a broken but not unbowed young man. And Keough brings tawdry panache to the role of Sandy, one of the few characters who’s allowed meaningful development. The thing is, if you’re familiar with the work of Cormac McCarthy and his ilk, you know exactly where this movie’s going. Pollock, whose folksy narration contributes the film’s only humorous note, seems wedded to the notion that truth lies in violence alone. “Only in the presence of death could he feel the presence of something like God,” the narrator tells us of Carl, while the sheriff opines that some people are “born just so they could be buried.” This circular, nihilist worldview, in which bloodshed continually begets bloodshed, is ultimately a little dull. What makes The Devil All the Time worthwhile anyway, besides the parade of star turns, is Campos’ grubby evocation of midcentury small-town life, aided by Lol Crawley’s cinematography. There are a few scenes in a seedy bar/ brothel that barely connect to the plot, but they occasion a shot of a mounted deer head so bizarrely sinister that it would fit right in to a David Lynch movie. The movie’s familiar themes may not cling to you, but its atmosphere does — like

a miasma of cigarette smoke mixed with the stink of fried food and a hint of blood.

If you like this, try...

• No Country for Old Men (2007; Starz, rentable): Joel and Ethan Coen’s dark Western based on McCarthy’s novel seems like a clear predecessor to The Devil All the Time. For a midwestern inflection, rent Fargo or watch the series inspired by it on Hulu. Or, for a dose of far-north nihilism, there’s Netflix’s uneven Hold the Dark. • Wise Blood (1979; HBO Max, Kanopy, Criterion Channel, rentable): Pollock’s work has been compared to Flannery O’Connor. The mistress of chilling short fiction plumbed the grotesqueries that a hunger for God can engender in her cult novel, brought to the screen by John Huston. • Coal Miner’s Daughter (1980; Peacock, rentable): For all the horror on display in The Devil All the Time, Crawley’s camera manages to find beauty in the new leaves budding around a shotgun shack. So does Michael Apted’s Oscarwinning Loretta Lynn biopic, whose sweeter yet not sanitized view of Southern poverty could make an excellent palate cleanser. MARGO T HARRI S O N


NEW IN THEATERS

UNHINGEDHH Caren Pistorius plays a woman unlucky enough to become the target of an unstable man (Russell Crowe) after a traffic encounter in this thriller from director Derrick Borte (American Dreamer). (90 min, R; Capitol Showplace, Essex Cinemas)

THE BURNT ORANGE HERESY: An art dealer gets more than he bargained for when he’s hired to steal a painting in this thriller starring Elizabeth Debicki, Donald Sutherland, Claes Bang and Mick Jagger. Giuseppe Capotondi (The Double Hour) directed. (99 min, R; Savoy Theater)

OLDER FILMS

THE CALL: In this fright flick set in 1987, an accident brings a group of friends to a home where evil lurks. Horror stalwarts Lin Shaye and Tobin Bell play the proprietors. Timothy Woodward Jr. directed. (Essex Cinemas)

BEETLEJUICE (Sunset Drive-In) DIRTY DANCING (Essex Cinemas Drive-In at the Mansfield Barn, Sat only) FRIDAY THE 13TH 40TH ANNIVERSARY (Essex Cinemas, Sun only)

A CALL TO SPY: This historical drama from Lydia Dean Pilcher (Radium Girls) follows Englishwomen trained as spies as they infiltrate Nazi Germany. With Sarah Megan Thomas, Stana Katic and Radhika Apte. (123 min, PG-13; Capitol Showplace)

HOCUS POCUS (Bethel Drive-In, Fri-Sun only; Essex Cinemas; Essex Cinemas Drive-In at the Mansfield Barn, Fri only; Fairlee Drive-In, Fri & Sat only; Sunset Drive-In)

POSSESSOR UNCUT: Brandon Cronenberg (yes, son of David) follows in the family business with this futuristic thriller about a corporation using brain implants to create assassins. Andrea Riseborough, Christopher Abbott and Jennifer Jason Leigh star. (103 min, NR; Essex Cinemas)

PHANTOM OF THE PARADISE (Sunset Drive-In) THE PURSUIT OF HAPPYNESS (Bijou Drive-In, Fri only) THE ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW (Sunset Drive-In)

NOW PLAYING

STAR WARS: EPISODE V — THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK (Capitol Showplace, Essex Cinemas)

BILL & TED FACE THE MUSICHHH1/2 The awesome dudes (Keanu Reeves and Alex Winter) from those ’80s/’90s comedies are older, but perhaps not wiser, in this belated sequel from Dean Parisot (Red 2). With Kristen Schaal. (88 min, PG-13; Capitol Showplace)

THE WOMAN WHO LOVES GIRAFFES (Savoy Theater, Sat only)

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OPEN THEATERS AND POP-UPS

THE BROKEN HEARTS GALLERYHHH A young woman recovers from a romantic split by starting a gallery devoted to memorabilia from broken relationships in this rom-com written and directed by Natalie Krinsky. Geraldine Viswanathan and Dacre Montgomery star. (108 min, PG-13; Essex Cinemas)

BETHEL DRIVE-IN: 36 Bethel Drive, Bethel, betheldrivein.com BIJOU DRIVE-IN: 157 Route 15, Morrisville; and Stafford Ave., Morrisville, 888-3293, bijou4.com

INFIDELHHH Jim Caviezel plays an American journalist kidnapped and jailed by the Iranian government in this action thriller from director Cyrus Nowrasteh (The Young Messiah). (107 min, R; Capitol Showplace, Essex Cinemas)

CAPITOL SHOWPLACE: 93 State St., Montpelier, 229-0343, fgbtheaters.com ESSEX CINEMAS & T-REX THEATER: 21 Essex Way, Suite 300, Essex, 879-6543, essexcinemas.com ESSEX CINEMAS DRIVE-IN AT THE MANSFIELD BARN: 3 Irish Farm Rd., Jericho, 879-6543, essexcinemas.com

ITH1/2 Half of Stephen King’s horror novel, about a gang of misfit kids fighting a monster that takes on the likeness of a creepy clown, comes to the big screen. Jaeden Lieberher, Jeremy Ray Taylor and Bill Skarsgård star. Andy Muschietti (Mama) directed. (135 min, R; reviewed by Rick Kisonak. 9/13/19. Sunset Drive-In)

FAIRLEE DRIVE-IN: 1809 Route 5 North, Fairlee, 333-9192, fairleedrivein.com THE SAVOY THEATER: 26 Main St., Montpelier, 229-0598, savoytheater.com

KAJILLIONAIREHHHH Miranda July (The Future) wrote and directed this unusual heist comedy about a con-artist couple (Debra Winger and Richard Jenkins) who have trained their daughter (Evan Rachel Wood) to follow in their footsteps. With Gina Rodriguez. (106 min, R; Essex Cinemas, Savoy Theater)

SUNSET DRIVE-IN: 155 Porters Point Rd., Colchester, 862-1800, sunsetdrivein.com

Elizabeth Debicki

THE NESTHHHH Sean Durkin (Martha Marcy May Marlene) wrote and directed this drama about a couple (Jude Law and Carrie Coon) who run into financial and personal trouble after relocating to an English manor house. (107 min, R; Capitol Showplace)

THE TIE DYE SHOP One of a kind items. From t-shirts to tablecloths, we’ve got you covered.

THE NEW MUTANTSHH In the last entry in the current X-Men film series, young mutants must use their abilities to escape from a secret facility. With Maisie Williams, Anya Taylor-Joy and Charlie Heaton. Josh Boone directed. (98 min, PG-13; Essex Cinemas) RBGHHH1/2 This documentary from directors Julie Cohen (American Veteran) and Betsy West explores the life and work of late U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. (98 min, PG; Savoy Theater)

TENETHH1/2 Christopher Nolan (Interstellar) brings us a new high-concept spectacular in which John David Washington plays a mysterious agent who appears to be fighting for the very nature of time and reality. With Elizabeth Debicki, Robert Pattinson and Kenneth Branagh. (150 min, PG-13; Capitol Showplace, Essex Cinemas, Sunset Drive-In)

SONY PICTURES

THE SECRETS WE KEEPHH1/2 In post-World War II suburbia, a woman takes drastic action against a neighbor she believes is a war criminal in this thriller from director Yuval Adler. Noomi Rapace and Joel Kinnaman star. (97 min, R; Capitol Showplace)

263 South Main Street • Alburgh, VT 10-4, M-Sa • 796.4694 • newdye.com 6h-tiedyeshop0720.indd 1

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classes

CLASS PLANS MAY CHANGE DUE TO THE PANDEMIC. PLEASE CHECK WITH ORGANIZERS IN ADVANCE.

THE FOLLOWING CLASS LISTINGS ARE PAID ADVERTISEMENTS. ANNOUNCE YOUR CLASS FOR AS LITTLE AS $16.75/WEEK (INCLUDES SIX PHOTOS AND UNLIMITED DESCRIPTION ONLINE). SUBMIT YOUR CLASS AD AT SEVENDAYSVT.COM/POSTCLASS.

ACCESS

150+ classes offered online or outside at CVUHS! Classes run Sep. 21-Jan 31. Sign up and read full descriptions at cvsdvt.ce.eleyo.com. ALPINE SKI AND SNOWBOARD TUNING: Learn the basics of tuning and waxing from veteran ski instructor and ski shop manager Doug Stewart. Doug explains how to make your equipment safe and ready for all snow conditions this winter. Hands-on opportunities to learn. All ages welcome. Class meets outside on the CVU grounds. Sign up online. Sat, Oct 3, 10 a.m.-noon. Location: ACCESS at CVU, 369 CVU Rd., Hinesburg. Info: ACCESS at CVU, Laura Howard, 482-7194, access@ cvsdvt.org, cvsdvt.ce.eleyo.com.

BATIK AND SILK PAINTING, ONLINE: Learn how to batik by applying wax as a resist to silk pieces, and then painting them to create elegant pieces of art. Experiment with techniques such as layering and using salt and sugar. Students create a variety of pieces while incorporating a specific technique, then design/create a final piece. Starts Tue., Oct. 13, 5:45-7:45 p.m., six sessions. Location: Zoom, online. Info: ACCESS at CVU, Laura Howard,

56

482-7194, access@cvsdvt.org, cvsdvt.ce.eleyo.com. BECOMING AMERICA, ONLINE: Explore the founding documents the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution, the history leading up to American independence, the philosophers, and the new sense of individual freedom that sent settlers to the New World and influenced the development of our constitution. Taught by Judy Eshelman and Rick Gordon. Starts Tue., Oct. 6, 6:30-8 p.m., 4 sessions. Location: Zoom, online. Info: ACCESS at CVU, Laura Howard, 482-7194, access@cvsdvt. org, cvsdvt.ce.eleyo.com. BUILD A CUSTOM SNOWBOARD, OUTSIDE: Spend the weekend with PowderJet and build your very own custom PowderJet snowboard using the CVU Workshop space. Choose a model and shape, and even create your own rad artwork for a custom topsheet. Leave with a totally one-of-a-kind snowboard that’s ready to ride! No fancy woodworking skills needed. Sat. & Sun., Oct. 10 & 11. Location: ACCESS at CVU, 369 CVU Rd., Hinesburg. Info: ACCESS at CVU, Laura Howard, 482-7194, access@cvsdvt.org, cvsdvt.ce.eleyo.com. DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY 101, ONLINE: Develop the foundations of a well-rounded photographer. Explore photography techniques, exposure, light management, and camera skills and settings. Learn about f-stops, shutter speeds and more on your camera! A Digital SLR camera (or equivalent) is required. Hours of prerecorded video lecture content plus fun photography assignments and live Zoom meetings. Starts Mon., Oct 5, 6-7:30 p.m., four sessions. Location: ACCESS at CVU, Zoom, online. Info: ACCESS at CVU, Laura Howard, 482-7194, access@cvsdvt.org, cvsdvt. ce.eleyo.com. PHOTOGRAPHY AND COMPUTERS: Online photography classes for all ages with Sean Beckett: Digital Photography 101, Mastering Photographic Composition, Digital Darkroom, and Photographic Critique. Online classes for all ages in computers and technology: Cybersecurity, Low-Cost CVU Computer Tech Help, Create a Webpage Using Simple Code, Database Programming and Design. Full descriptions online. Location: Online with ACCESS CVU. Info: Access CVU, Laura Howard, 4827194, access@cvsdvt.org, cvsdvt. ce.eleyo.com.

SEVEN DAYS SEPTEMBER 30-OCTOBER 7, 2020

martial arts

A History of Cocktails, c.1700-1918; A History of Cocktails — Prohibition Through the Depression; History of Cocktails — World War II ‘Till the Present. Starts Tue., Oct. 19, 7-8:30 p.m., three sessions. Choose one or take all three. Location: Zoom, online. Info: ACCESS at CVU, Laura Howard, 482-7194, access@cvsdvt.org, cvsdvt.ce.eleyo.com.

dance

PHOTOGRAPHY PORTFOLIO CRITIQUE, ONLINE: Improve as an artist and gain friendly, nuanced feedback on your work. Develop your artistic eye, build a robust vocabulary for examining photographic composition, then apply that knowledge to critiquing other photography portfolios. Submit a selection of your own photos to share for a group critique in our Zoom classroom. Starts Tue., Oct. 6, 6-7:30 p.m., two sessions. Location: Zoom, online. Info: ACCESS at CVU, Laura Howard, 482-7194, access@ cvsdvt.org, cvsdvt.ce.eleyo.com.

RESILIENT DANCING: ONLINE FALL DANCE CLASS SERIES: Presenting three new Zoom October classes: Composition for Teens; 3 Ways to Party: A Hip Hop and House Dance Experience; and Somatic Explorations and Art for Culture Shift. All classes are open level/ drop-in friendly. Email info@vermontdance.org for accessibility requests or to apply for a scholarship or group rate. Sep.-Dec. Cost: $10/person to drop in; $200/ person for unlimited class card. Location: Zoom, online. Info: VT Dance Alliance, Hanna Satterlee, 410-458-3672, info@vermont dance.org, vermontdance.org/ events.

language JAPANESE LANGUAGE CLASSES (FALL): The Japan America Society of Vermont (JASV) is offering a beginning Japanese language course online via Zoom. Main textbook: Japanese for Busy People I. Level 1 covers the first half of the book. Starting Mon., Oct. 5, 6:30-8 p.m. Cost: $160/ person for 10 90-minute weekly classes. Location: Zoom, online. Info: jasvlanguage@gmail.com, jasv.org/v2/language. LEARN SPANISH LIVE & ONLINE: Broaden your world. Learn Spanish online via live videoconferencing. High-quality, affordable instruction in the Spanish language for adults, students and children. Travelers lesson package. Our 14th year. Personal small group and individual instruction with a native speaker. See our website for complete information, or contact us for details. Location: Spanish in Waterbury Center, Waterbury Center. Info: 585-1025, spanishparavos@gmail.com, spanishwaterburycenter.com.

SHAKEN & STIRRED: HISTORY OF COCKTAILS: Learn the history of cocktails and how to make them from their medicinal origins in the late 17th century to the present. Three sessions. Choose one or all.

drumming DJEMBE & TAIKO: JOIN US!: Digital classes! (No classes on-site for now.) Taiko: Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. Djembe: Wednesday. Kids and Parents: Tuesday and Wednesday. Private digital conga lessons by appointment. Let’s prepare for a future drum gathering outdoors! Schedule/register online. Location: Taiko Space, 208 Flynn Ave., Suite 3G, Burlington. Info: 999-4255, burlingtontaiko.org.

VERMONT BRAZILIAN JIU-JITSU: Brazilian jiujitsu is a martial arts combat style based entirely on leverage and technique. Brazilian jiujitsu self-defense curriculum is taught to Navy SEALs, CIA, FBI, military police and special forces. No training experience required. Easy-to-learn techniques that could save your life! Classes for men, women and children. Students will learn realistic bully-proofing and self-defense life skills to avoid becoming victims and help them feel safe and secure. Our sole purpose is to help empower people by giving them realistic martial arts training practices they can carry with them throughout life. IBJJF and CBJJ certified black belt sixth-degree instructor under Carlson Gracie Sr.: teaching in Vermont, born and raised in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. A five-time Brazilian National Champion; International World Masters Champion and IBJJF World Masters Champion. Accept no Iimitations! Location: Vermont Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, 55 Leroy Rd., Williston. Info: 598-2839, julio@ bjjusa.com, vermontbjj.com.

yoga EVOLUTION YOGA: Come as you are and open your heart! Whether you are new to yoga or have been at it for years, you’ll find the support you need to awaken your practice. Livestream, recorded and outdoor classes. Practice with us in the park or on the Sailing Center dock, overlooking Lake Champlain and the scenic mountains. Enrich your practice with our Yoga for Life program or 200-hour Yoga Teacher Training for Health and Wellness Professionals. Single class: $015. 10-class pass: $120. $5 new student special. Flexible pricing, scholarships avail. Location: Evolution Yoga, 20 Kilburn St., Burlington. Info: 864-9642, evolutionvt.com.


COURTESY OF KELLY SCHULZE/MOUNTAIN DOG PHOTOGRAPHY

Humane

Society of Chittenden County

Rocco AGE/SEX: 4-year-old neutered male ARRIVAL DATE: June 12, 2020 REASON HERE: Didn’t do well with the other dog in his previous home. SUMMARY: Rocco is an extra-special pup looking for an extraspecial home and a family who understands his unique personality and needs. Rocco enjoys peace and quiet, lounging around with his people, and bouncing around with squeaky toys. He is generally uncomfortable with a lot of changes in his environment, loud noises and commotion, and new people coming and going. Rocco is a shy guy at first, but his silly side comes out (and his little nub tail starts wagging a million miles an hour!) once he knows you’re a trustworthy friend. He has made great progress during his time at HSCC and will continue to blossom with time, patience and a supportive environment. If your home sounds like it could be the right fit for this good boy, schedule a meeting with Rocco today!

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APARTMENTS, CONDOS & HOMES

on the road »

DID YOU KNOW?

CARS, TRUCKS, MOTORCYCLES

Rocco is a Pronature Pal, which means his adoption fee is sponsored by the kind people at Pronature Canada, plus he will go home with six months of free dog food and a $50 gift card from our pals at Pet Food Warehouse to help him get settled!

Sponsored by:

DOGS/CATS/KIDS: Rocco needs a home without other dogs. He has no experience living with cats. He has lived with a child.

NEW STUFF ONLINE EVERY DAY! PLACE YOUR ADS 24-7 AT SEVENDAYSVT.COM.

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CHILDCARE, HEALTH/ WELLNESS, PAINTING

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APPLIANCES, KID STUFF, ELECTRONICS, FURNITURE

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INSTRUCTION, CASTING, INSTRUMENTS FOR SALE

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NO SCAMS, ALL LOCAL, POSTINGS DAILY

SEVEN DAYS SEPTEMBER 30- OCTOBER 7, 2020

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CLASSIFIEDS on the road

RUST-FREE SUBARU LEGACY OUTBACK 1996 Subaru Legacy Outback. Ready for winter & to pass inspection. 260K miles, 5-speed. Timing belt, rear brakes, e-brakes & more recently done. Anthony, 279-6449.

CARS/TRUCKS 2004 FORD RANGER FOR SALE Ford Ranger Edge. 4-liter engine, 52K miles, mint interior. Needs body work. Great project or parts vehicle. For more info, call Steve at 434-2348. CASH FOR CARS! We buy all cars! Junk, high-end, totaled: It doesn’t matter. Get free towing & same-day cash. Newer models, too. Call 1-866-5359689. (AAN CAN) DODGE CAB & BED LINER Hunter-green Dodge cab w/ windows, good condition, $500. Black bed liner that came off a Dodge Dakota, $125. Call Shirley at 999-5343.

We Pick Up & Pay For Junk Automobiles!

Route 15, Hardwick

BURLINGTON

802-472-5100

Avid sports fan in his 80s seeking housemate to cook 3-4 evening meals/wk & be available for daytime transportation. $250/mo. Private BA. No pets/smoking.

friendly, garage parking. Income restrictions apply. 802-655-1810, sm-allmetals060811.indd 7/20/15 1 5:02 PM keenscrossing.com.

SHOREHAM

FOR RENT 3-BR NOW, 2-BR SOON, BURLINGTON Roomy 3-BR, now, 1st floor, prime location, Burlington. Roomy 2- & 3-BR will be avail. soon, great location, 2nd floor. Burlington. Call Joe at 802-318-8916 or Jackie at 802-238-0004. AFFORDABLE 2-BR APT. AVAIL. At Keen’s Crossing. 2-BR: $1,266/mo., heat & HW incl. Open floor plan, fully applianced kitchen, fi tness center, pet

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

print deadline: Mondays at 4:30 p.m. post ads online 24/7 at: sevendaysvt.com/classifieds questions? classifieds@sevendaysvt.com 865-1020 x10

3842 Dorset Ln., Williston

housing

appt. appointment apt. apartment BA bathroom BR bedroom DR dining room DW dishwasher HDWD hardwood HW hot water LR living room NS no smoking OBO or best offer refs. references sec. dep. security deposit W/D washer & dryer

display service ads: $25/$45 homeworks: $45 (40 words, photos, logo) fsbos: $45 (2 weeks, 30 words, photo) jobs: michelle@sevendaysvt.com, 865-1020 x21

Homeshares

802-793-9133

CLASSIFIEDS KEY

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housing ads: $25 (25 words) legals: 52¢/word buy this stuff: free online services: $12 (25 words)

BURLINGTON Single room, Hill Section, on bus line. No cooking. Linens furnished. 862-2389. No pets. KEEN’S CROSSING IS NOW LEASING! 1-BR, $1,054/mo.; 2-BR, $1,266/mo.; 3-BR, $1,397/mo. Spacious interiors, fully applianced kitchen, fi tness center, heat & HW incl. Income restrictions apply. 802-655-1810, keenscrossing.com. PINECREST AT ESSEX 9 Joshua Way, Essex Jct. Independent senior living for those 55+ years. 1-BR avail. now, $1,240/mo. incl. utils. & parking garage. NS/ pets. 802-872-9197 or rae@fullcirclevt.com. TAFT FARM SENIOR LIVING COMMUNITY 10 Tyler Way, Williston, independent senior living. Newly remodeled 1-BR unit on the ground floor, w/ restricted view avail., $1,095/mo. incl. utils. & cable. NS/pets. Must be 55+ years of age. cintry@fullcirclevt. com, 802-879-3333. TAFT FARM SENIOR LIVING COMMUNITY 10 Tyler Way, Williston, independent senior living. Newly remodeled 1-BR unit on the main floor avail., $1,185/ mo. incl. utils. & cable. NS/pets. Must be 55+ years of age. cintry@ fullcirclevt.com or 802-879-3333.

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

SEVEN DAYS SEPTEMBER 30-OCTOBER 7, 2020

Share a home w/ a kind senior man. No rent in exchange for evening meal prep & light help around the house. No smoking. Private BA.

WARREN Share condo w/ professional woman & her pets. Minimal rent in exchange for housekeeping, pet care & occas. transportation. Furnished BR, private BA. No smoking.

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

HOUSEMATES

Homeshare-temp2.indd 1

NEED A ROOMMATE? Roommates.com will help you find your perfect match today! (AAN CAN) ROOMMATE NEEDED Artist seeking roommate in beautiful, spacious 2nd-floor apt. near lake. $900/ mo. gives you 2 rooms. W/D on-site. Must respect cats. No dogs. NS in house. Avail Oct. 1. Email ellis.pk@ yahoo.com, subject line: “Apartment.” Leave name & phone number. I will get back to you same day. TRAVELING COMPANION WANTED I would like to see the U.S. using an RV or motor home w/ the possibility of relocating. For more info, call Gerhard: 802-503-7922.

OFFICE/ COMMERCIAL OFFICE/RETAIL SPACE AT MAIN STREET LANDING on Burlington’s waterfront. Beautiful, healthy, affordable spaces for your business. Visit mainstreetlanding.com & click on space avail. Melinda, 864-7999.

services

AUTO DONATE YOUR CAR TO CHARITY Receive maximum value of write-off for your taxes. Running or not! All conditions accepted. Free pickup. Call for details. 855-978-0215. (AAN CAN)

BIZ OPPS BECOME A PUBLISHED AUTHOR! We edit, print & distribute your work internationally. We do the work; you reap the rewards! Call for a free Author’s Submission Kit: 844-511-1836. (AAN CAN)

EDUCATION TRAIN ONLINE TO DO MEDICAL BILLING! Become a medical office professional online at CTI! Get trained, certified & ready to work in months. Call 866-243-5931. Mon.-Fri., 8 a.m.-6 p.m. (AAN CAN)

FINANCIAL/LEGAL AUTO INSURANCE Starting at $49/mo.! Call for your fee rate comparison to see how much you can save. Call

855-569-1909. (AAN CAN)

Mon.-Fri., 9 a.m.-5 9/25/20 12:15p.m. PM ET. (AAN CAN)

BOY SCOUT COMPENSATION FUND Anyone who was inappropriately touched by a Scout leader deserves justice & financial compensation! Victims may be eligible for a significant cash settlement. Time to file is limited. Call now. 844-896-8216. (AAN CAN)

HEALTH/ WELLNESS

NEED IRS RELIEF? $10K-125K+. Get fresh start or forgiveness. Call 1-877-258-2890 Mon.-Fri., 7 a.m.-5 p.m. PST. (AAN CAN) OVER $10K IN DEBT? Be debt-free in 24-48 mos. Pay a fraction of what you owe. A+ BBB rated. Call National Debt Relief: 877-590-1202. (AAN CAN) SAVE BIG ON HOME INSURANCE! Compare 20 A-rated insurances companies. Get a quote within mins. Average savings of $444/year! Call 844-712-6153! Mon.-Fri., 8 a.m.-8 p.m. Central. (AAN CAN) SERIOUSLY INJURED in an auto accident? Let us fight for you! Our network has recovered millions for clients. Call today for a free consultation. 1-866-9912581. (AAN CAN) STRUGGLING W/ YOUR PRIVATE STUDENT LOAN PAYMENT? New relief programs can reduce your payments. Learn your options. Good credit not necessary. Call the Helpline: 888-670-5631.

GENTLE TOUCH MASSAGE Specializing in deep tissue, reflexology, sports massage, Swedish & relaxation massage for men. Practicing massage therapy for over 14 years. Gregg, gentletouchvt.com, motman@ymail.com, 802-234-8000 (call/ text). Milton. HEARING AIDS! Buy 1 & get 1 free! High-quality rechargeable Nano hearing aids priced 90% less than competitors. Nearly invisible. 45-day money-back guarantee! 1-833-585-1117. (AAN CAN) PSYCHIC COUNSELING Psychic counseling, channeling w/ Bernice Kelman, Underhill. 30+ years’ experience. Also energy healing, chakra balancing, Reiki, rebirthing, other lives, classes, more. 802-899-3542, kelman.b@juno.com. VIRTUAL TAROT READINGS Looking for deeper meaning in your life? Feeling unsatisfied w/ the lack of balance & disconnection of the modern world? Connect w/ your inner, sacred self. Schedule a virtual tarot reading & kick-start your personal & spiritual evolution. 802-881-8976, tarotwitherika@ outlook.com

buy this stuff

FURNITURE FOUR TWIN BEDS & BEDDING Beds & bedding in good condition. Frames & corner table to serve 2 beds. $200 for beds, bedding & frames. $50 for table. Email vthsl@ comcast.net to arrange for pickup in Essex Junction.

HOUSEHOLD ITEMS LIKE NEW TREADMILL Don’t risk going to the gym. Create your own in-house! Livestrong LS9.9T treadmill for sale. $250. Like new. 802-864-9388.

MISCELLANEOUS ATTENTION, VIAGRA & CIALIS USERS! A cheaper alternative to high drugstore prices! 50-pill special: $99 + free shipping! 100% guaranteed. Call now: 888-531-1192. (AAN CAN)

PETS CORGI PUPPIES FOR SALE AKC registered & almost ready to go to their new home. Contact Cate for more information. Call, but no text to 802-439-6146, or visit our Facebook page, Milk Thistle Farm, for pictures.

music

INSTRUCTION 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

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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.

4-

11+

7+ 7+

216x 3÷

3-

18x 12-

3-

5+

2-

4-

Show and tell. Sudoku

9 3 4 9 8 7 5 3 7 2 3 6 4 8 1 2 5 8

1-

6

CALCOKU

Difficulty - Hard

BY JOSH REYNOLDS

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

3

SUDOKU

Difficulty: Medium

BY JOSH REYNOLDS

DIFFICULTY THIS WEEK: HHH

DIFFICULTY THIS WEEK: HHH

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.

5

2

6

1

4

1

5

2

6

3

6

1

3

4

2

4

6

1

3

5

2

3

4

5

1

8 7 1 9 4 3 6 5 2 2 P.614 9 8 6 5 7 1 3 ANSWERS ON H = MODERATE HH = CHALLENGING HHH = HOO, BOY! 5 6 3 2 7 1 9 4 8 7 1 5 4 2 9 8 3 6 4 8 2 5 3 6 1 7 9 ANALGESIC APPEAL ANSWERS ON P. 61 » 9 3 6 7 1 8 5 2 4 1 2 4 6 8 7 3 9 5 3 5 8 1 9 2 4 6 7 6 9 7 3 5 4 2 8 1

3

4

crossword 3 4 5 2 6 1

There’s no limit to ad length online.

Fresh. Filtered. Free.

2 4 4

No. 656

Extra! Extra!

What’s that

buzz?

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

1/13/14 1:45 PM

5

2

6

SEVEN DAYS SEPTEMBER 30-OCTOBER 7, 2020

59


+13462487799 or +16699006833 or +12532158782

Public Auto Auction Every Friday @ 9AM Register from 7:30AM

298 J Brown Dr., Williston, VT 802-878-9200  800-474-6132

music [CONTINUED] 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.

WANTED: Your Unused Vehicles Consign YOURS Today!

Market Refrigeration & Display Fixtures

Online: Wed., Oct. 7 @ 6PM 329 Harvest Lane, Williston, VT Preview: Fri., Oct. 2 from 11AM-1PM

A great lineup of well-maintained market refrigeration and display fixtures to add to your existing or upcoming business!

Former 6-Unit Apartment Building Thursday, October 15 @ 11AM Register from 10AM

2572 VT-15, Cambridge, VT Preview: Thur., Oct. 1 from 11AM-1PM

Former 6-unit apartment building with one unit occupied, and other five in need of rehab. Property close to Smuggler’s Notch and Burlington. 0.43± acre parcel. Owner says present offers.

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. HARMONICA LESSONS W/ ARI Online harmonica lessons! All ages & skill levels welcome. 1st lesson just $20. Avail. for workshops, too. Pocketmusic. musicteachershelper. com, 201-565-4793, ari.erlbaum@gmail.com.

STUDIO/ REHEARSAL REHEARSAL SPACE Safe & sanitary music/ creative spaces avail. by the hour in the heart of the South End art district. Monthly arrangements avail., as well. Tailored for music but can be multipurpose. info@ burlingtonmusicdojo. com, 802-540-0321.

Foreclosure: 2BR/1BA Condo Chittenden County

Thursday, October 22 @ 11AM 100 Kennedy Dr., Unit 6, S. Burlington, VT Open House: Fri., Oct. 2 from 1-3PM

Turn key 790±SF, 2BR/1BA ground level condo. Located in Manor Woods. Enjoy amenities including an outdoor pool, walking trails, laundry facilities, and assigned carport. Fresh remodel.

BURLINGTON DEVELOPMENT REVIEW BOARD TUESDAY, OCTOBER 20, 2020, 5:00 PM PUBLIC HEARING NOTICE REMOTE MEETING Zoom: https://us02web. zoom.us/j/86710891787 ?pwd=YVF0TjAzNkF6bk hFalZndVFHUTZFdz09

60

Telephone: +13126266799 or +19292056099 or +13017158592 or

SEVEN DAYS SEPTEMBER 30-OCTOBER 7, 2020

4v-hirchakbrothers093020 1

2. 21-0291SD; 90 Cottage Grove (RL, Ward 4N) Marc and Jessica Valin Combined preliminary/final plat review of 2-lot subdivision. 3. 21-0319CU; 77-79 Buell Street (RH, Ward 8E) Ellis McArdle. Establish bed and breakfast use. 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.

CHAMPLAIN VALLEY SCHOOL DISTRICT (CHARLOTTE, HINESBURG, SHELBURNE, ST. GEORGE AND WILLISTON) CHILD FIND NOTICE Champlain Valley School District is required by federal law to locate, identify and evaluate all children with

Champlain Valley School District schools conduct Kindergarten screening each spring, but parents may call to make an appointment to discuss their concerns at any time. As the school district of residence, CVSD has the responsibility to identify and provide services to any child with special needs who may require special education and related services in order to access and benefi t from public education. If you have, or know of any CVSD resident who has a child with a disability under the age of 21 or a child who attends a private school located in Charlotte, Hinesburg, Shelburne, St. George or Williston, Vermont, we would like to hear from you. Sometimes parents are unaware that special education services are available to their children. Please contact the School Principal (Charlotte Central School – 425-2771, Hinesburg Community School – 482-2106, Shelburne Community School – 985-3331, Williston Central/Allen Brook Schools – 8782762) or the Director of Student Support Services, Meagan Roy at 383-1234 or mroy@ cvsdvt.org.

CITY OF BURLINGTON IN THE YEAR TWO THOUSAND TWENTY AN ORDINANCE IN RELATION TO BURLINGTON CODE OF ORDINANCES – SOLID WASTE - INCREASING THE SOLID WASTE GENERATION TAX FOR FISCAL YEAR 2021 ORDINANCE 6.05 Sponsor: Bd. of Finance; Department of Public Works Public Hearing Dates: _ First reading: _ Referred to: _ Rules suspended and placed in all stages of passage: 09/14/20 Second reading: _ Action: __ Date: 09/14/20 Signed by Mayor: 09/21/20 Published: 09/30/20 Effective: 10/21/20

* Material stricken out deleted. ** Material underlined added.

NOTICE OF SALE NOTICE OF SELF STORAGE LEIN SALE FORT ETHAN ALLEN MINI STORAGE 120 HEGEMAN AVE. COLCHESTER VT. 05446 802-654-7779 Notice is hereby given that the contents of the following units will be sold to the public by sealed bid. The sale is being held to collect unpaid fees, late charges and expenses of the sale. Linda Dyer unit 112 A.R. Bader unit 113 Helen Tehune unit 13

It is hereby ordained by the City Council of the City of Burlington as follows:

Deb Delisle unit 28

That Chapter 14, Solid Waste, of the Code of Ordinances of the City of Burlington be and hereby is amended by amending Sec. 14 Solid Waste Generation Tax, thereof to read as follows:

Donald Nicoles unti 147

Section 14-14. Solid waste generation tax. As written.

Units will be opened for viewing and all bids will opened after showings. Contents of each unit will be sold to highest bidder. The winning bidder must remove all contents. We reserve the right to reject any bid.

Taxes Imposed: As written. The tax shall be imposed, retroactive to July 1, 2020, upon solid waste haulers and collectors at the rate of four dollars and twenty cents ($4.20) eightyfour cents ($4.84) per month per residential dwelling unit served in Burlington. As written. (III)—(XIV) As written.

TRUSTEE OF THE ROBERT E. WARD LIVING TRUST; MANOR WOODS ASSOCIATION. Defendants

Jean Micheal Duga unit 27

Storage unit sale will take place on October 16th, 2020. beginning at 10am at Fort Ethan Allen Mini Storage, 120 Hegeman Ave., Colchester,Vt. 05446

By virtue and in execution of the Power of Sale contained in a certain mortgage given by Andrew S. Ward, Trustee of the Robert E. Ward Living Trust, to People’s United Bank, N. A., dated July 28, 2016 and recorded on August 15, 2016 in Volume 1336 at pages 330-338 of the South Burlington Land Records, of which mortgage the undersigned is the present holder; and for breach of the conditions of said mortgages and for the purpose of foreclosing the same, the mortgaged premises will be sold all and singular as a whole at Public Auction at 11:00 A.M. on Thursday October 22, 2020 at 100 Kennedy Drive, Unit 6, South Burlington, Vermont. To Wit: Being all the lands and premises conveyed to Robert E. Ward, Trustee of the Robert E. Ward Living Trust dated November 25, 2008, by Warranty Deed of Robert E. Ward dated November 25, 2008 and recorded on November 26, 2008 in Volume 829 at pages 381-382 of the South Burlington Land Records. Terms of Sale:

STATE OF VERMONT SUPERIOR COURT CIVIL DIVISION CHITTENDEN UNIT DOCKET NO. 6668-19 CNCV PEOPLE’S UNITED BANK, N. A. Plaintiff v. ANDREW S. WARD,

Purchaser at the sale shall pay cash or certified funds, or produce a commitment letter from a bank or mortgage company or other lender licensed to do business in the State of Vermont at the time of the sale for the amount of the winning bid. In any case

List your properties here and online for only $45/week. Submit your listings by Mondays at noon.

Webinar ID: 867 1089 1787 Password: 842557

THCAuction.com 800-634-7653

1. 21-0287CA/CU; 119 Spruce Street (RL, Ward 6S) Chris Khamnei. Demolish garage and replace with garden shed. Siding alteration. Remove and replace one window.

disabilities. The process of locating, identifying and evaluating children with disabilities is known as child find.

9/28/20 9:53 AM

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

6/6/16 4:30 PM


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-OF-WAY 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 former town highway right-ofway from the property at 417 Crossett Hill Road. The portion of the

FROM P.59

1

6

4

3

5

1

2

5

right-of-way 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.

thinking.

wheeling.

styling.

for all.

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 discontinuing the +/-600-foot portion of the right-of-way for Crossett Hill Road (Town Highway #4), it will be so ordered.

8 18x 2 5 7 24 19 1 3 6

7 4 6 1 8 3 2 5 9

FROM P.59

3

Dated at Duxbury, Vermont, this 4 th day of September, 2020. /s/ Mari Pratt, Selectboard Vice-Chair

LEGALS »

5

4v-free-colors.indd 1 No. 656

6

2

2

6

6

1 9 3 5 2 6 4 8 7

9 8 12 4 5+ 5 7 6 1 3 7+

SEVEN DAYS SEPTEMBER 30-OCTOBER 7, 2020

4-

4

11+

1 4 6 7 223 1 8 9 5

3 5 1 9 6 8 7 2 4

2

5

6

1

3

4

4 6 7 39 8 41 5 3 4 2

3

5 2 1 3 4 8 3 3 ÷6 7 9 2 4 9 - Hard 5 Difficulty 6 7 8 1

7+

2 3-

216x

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

3

Calcoku

4

Difficulty: Medium

PUZZLE ANSWERS

5

To wit:

3

MORTGAGEE’S NOTICE

The mortgagor is entitled to redeem the premises at any time prior to the sale by paying the full amount due under the mortgage,

DATED : September 11, 2020

1

OCCUPANTS OF: 217 Merchant Street, Barre VT

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

Other terms to be announced at the sale.

6

CHARLOTTE R. O’HARA

Charlotte O’Hara is the same person as Charlotte R. O’Hara.

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.

including the costs and expenses of the sale.

4

v.

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.

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.

6

STATE OF VERMONT VERMONT SUPERIOR COURT WASHINGTON UNIT, CIVIL DIVISION DOCKET NO: 617-11-18 WNCV SELENE FINANCE LP

It being lands and premises commonly known as 217 Merchant Street, Barre, VT

Reference is hereby made to the above instruments and to the records and references contained therein in further aid of this description.

1

PEOPLE’S UNITED BANK, N.A. By: Gordon C. Gebauer, Esq Attorney for Plaintiff

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.

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.

5

Dated at Essex Junction, Vermont this 16th day of September, 2020.

Attachment to Mortgage Deed to People’s United Bank from Charlotte R. O’Hara (f/k/a Charlotte Pickett) dated June 15, 2015

encumbrances previously extinguished by the Marketable Record Title Act, Chapter 5, Subchapter 7, Title 27, Vermont Statutes Annotated.

4

Other terms to be announced at the sale, or inquire at Gordon C. Gebauer, Esq., 4 Park Street, Suite 201, Essex Junction, VT 05452. 802-871-5482

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,

SCHEDULE A

3

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.

OF FORECLOSURE SALE OF REAL PROPERTY UNDER 12 V.S.A. sec 4952 et seq.

2

the winning bidder shall be required to produce $10,000.00 (ten thousand dollars) cash or certified funds at the close of the auction as the deposit against the sale. The property will be sold subject to all unpaid property taxes and town/village assessments, if any. The sale will be subject to Confirmation Order of the Superior Court, Chittenden Unit, Civil Division.

61 6/12/12 3:25 PM


0 1 2

Page 4 An Ordinance in Relation to

may be requested to remove the parking requirement based upon the change in regulation. This does not apply to permits containing public parking provided in exchange for an Article 4 Development Bonus (See Sec. 4.4.1(d)(5)(A)). For those permits, the public parking provided shall be maintained.

COMPREHENSIVE DEVELOPMENT ORDINANCE – Minimum Parking Requirements ZA #20-04

Page 6 An Ordinance in Relation to

______________________________________________________________

64 65

COMPREHENSIVE DEVELOPMENT ORDINANCE – Minimum Parking Requirements ZA #20-04

Page 7 An Ordinance in Relation to

Table 8.1.8-1 Minimum Off-Street Parking Requirements Neighborhood Districts

1

10

Single Family detached and Duplex

2

2

10

Adjusted for development with inclusionary housing units per Sec. 8.1.8(c).

Assisted Living

Per Dwelling Unit except as noted 0.5

0.5

3

0.4

1

0.75

0.5

Boarding House (per two (2) beds)

1

0.75

0.5

Community House

1

0.75

0.5

Convalescent Home (per four (4) beds)

1

1

10

Dormitory (per two (2) beds)

1

1

10

Emergency Shelter

0

0

0

Group Home (per two (2) beds)

1

1

10

Historic Inn (per room, in addition to single-family residence)

1

0.75

Sorority & Fraternity (per two (2) beds)

1

1

2 plus 1/bay

2 plus 1/bay0

2

2

10

Bakery

2.5

2.5

10

Bank, Credit Union

2.5

2

10

Bar/Tavern

4

3

None0

Beauty/Barber Shop (per station/chair)

1

1

None0 None0

1

None0

2

10

Boat Sales/Rental

2

2

10

Boat Storage

3

2

10

Bowling Alley (per lane)

3

2

10

0.5

Building Material Sales

3.3

2.5

10

10

Café (per four (4) seats)

1

None0

None0

Camp Ground (per camping space)

1

1

10

Car Wash (stacking spaces per wash bay)

4

4

40

None0

None0

None0

1

1

None0

Club, Membership

3.3

2.5

10

Community Center

3.3

2.5

10

Community Garden (per ten (10) plots)

1

1

None0

Conference Center

3

2

10

2.5

2

20

3

2

10

None0

None0

2

1

0

2.5

1.5

10

1

1

0

Bicycle Sales/Repair

Cemetery Cinema (per four (4) seats)

None0

Animal Hospitals/Veterinarian Office

3

2

10

Appliance & Furniture Sales/Service

2.5

1

10

Aquarium

1.3

1

10

Auction Houses

2 plus 1/bay

1

Sec. 8.1.4 Existing Structures As written.

COMPREHENSIVE DEVELOPMENT ORDINANCE – Minimum Parking Requirements ZA #20-04

Automobile Repair/Service

2

Animal Grooming (per grooming station)

COMPREHENSIVE DEVELOPMENT ORDINANCE – Minimum Parking Requirements ZA #20-04

10 2 plus 1/bay0

1

Agricultural Use

Page 10 Art Gallery/Studio An Ordinance in Relation to

1.5 2 plus 1/bay

2.5

Map 8.1.3 -1 Parking Districts

Page 9 An Ordinance in Relation to

2.5 2 plus 1/bay

Boat Repair/Service

Adult Day Care (per two (2) employees)

Animal Boarding/Kennel/Shelter

Multimodal Mixed-Use Downtown Districts

Billiard Parlor (per game table)

Per 1,000 square feet of gross floor area (gfa) except as noted 1 1 10

Amusement Arcade

Shared Use Districts

Automobile Body Shop

Automobile Sales – New & Used

Bed and Breakfast (per room, in addition to singlefamily residence)

NON-RESIDENTIAL USES

Page 8 An Ordinance in Relation to

Neighborhood Districts Automobile & Marine Parts Sales

2

RESIDENTIAL USES - SPECIAL1

70

Multimodal Mixed-Use Downtown Districts

Multi-unit attached dwelling units, studio units or 1-bedroom dwelling unit. 1.

66 67 68 69

Table 8.1.8-1 Minimum Off-Street Parking Requirements Shared Use Districts

Per Dwelling Unit except as noted

RESIDENTIAL USES1

COMPREHENSIVE DEVELOPMENT ORDINANCE – Minimum Parking Requirements ZA #20-04

Contractor Yard (per 1,000 gfa of office space) Convenience Store

Page 11

Convention Center An Ordinance

in Relation to

3.3 2.5 10 COMPREHENSIVE DEVELOPMENT ORDINANCE – Courthouse 3.3 2.5 10 Minimum Parking Requirements Crematory (per FTE employee) ZA #20-04

n/a 3 20 COMPREHENSIVE DEVELOPMENT ORDINANCE – Minimum Parking Requirements n/a 3.3 20 ZA #20-04 1

1

10

Table 8.1.8-1 Minimum Off-Street Parking Requirements

Table 8.1.8-1 Minimum Off-Street Parking Requirements Neighborhood Districts Crisis Counseling Center

Table 8.1.8-1 Minimum Off-Street Parking Requirements Shared Use Districts

Multimodal Mixed-Use Downtown Districts

4

3

10

None0

None0

1 drop-off0

1 plus 1 dropoff per 5 children

1 plus 1 dropoff per 5 children

2 drop-off0

1 plus 1 dropoff per 5 children

1 plus 1 dropoff per 5 children

10

Dental Lab

2

1

None0

Distribution Center (per 3,000 gfa)

1

0.75

0.75

Dry Cleaning Plant

1.3

1

10

Dry Cleaning Service

2.5

2

20

Film Studio

3.3

2.5

10

2

2

10

1.3, plus 3 per 1,000 gfa devoted to patron use

1, plus 2 per 1,000 gfa devoted to patron use

10

Fuel Service Station (per employee/shift)

1

1

10

Funeral Home (per four (4) seats)

1

1

10

Garden Supply Store (per 1,000 gfa of retail area.)

3

2

10

General Merchandise/Retail

3

2

None0

Grocery Store

3

2

None0

Hazardous Waste Collection/Disposal (per two (2) employees on the largest shift)

1

1

Health Club

3

2

10

Health Studio

2

1

None0

Daycare - Home (6 children or less) Daycare - Large (Over 20 children) (per two (2) employees) Daycare - Small (20 children or less) (per two (2) employees)

Fire Station (per apparatus) Food & Beverage Processing

n/a0

Hospitals (per patient bed)

2

2

20

Hostel (per two (2) beds)

0.5

0.5

None0

Hotel/Motel (per room)

1

0.75

0.75

Laundromats (per washing machine)

1

1

None0

1.3

1

None0

Library Lumber Yard (per 1,000 gfa of retail area.)

[CONTINUED] CITY OF BURLINGTON IN THE YEAR TWO THOUSAND TWENTY AN ORDINANCE IN RELATION TO COMPREHENSIVE DEVELOPMENT ORDINANCE – MINIMUM PARKING REQUIREMENTS ZA #20-04 ORDINANCE 6.04 Sponsor: Office of City Planning, Planning Commission, Ordinance Committee Public Hearing Dates: 09/14/20 First reading: 07/13/20 Referred to: Ordinance Committee Rules suspended and placed in all stages of passage: _ Second reading:

62

3

2

10

09/14/20 Action: adopted Date: 09/14/20 Signed by Mayor: 09/21/20 Published: 09/30/20 Effective: 10/21/20 Published: 09/30/20 Effective: 10/21/20 It is hereby Ordained by the City Council of the City of Burlington as follows: That Appendix A, Comprehensive Development Ordinance, of the Code of Ordinances of the City of Burlington, Article 8: Parking, Part 1: General Requirements, be and hereby is amended by amending Sections 8.1.3, Parking Districts, Map 8.1.3-1, Parking Districts, 8.1.6, Existing Structures: Exemption in Downtown District, 8.1.8, Minimum Off-Street Parking Requirements, Table 8.1.8-1 Minimum Off-Street Parking Requirements, 8.1.9, Maximum Parking Spaces, 8.1.10, Off-Street Loading Requirements, 8.1.11, Parking Dimensional

Table 8.1.8-1 Minimum Off-Street Parking Requirements

Neighborhood Districts

Shared Use Districts

Multimodal Mixed-Use Downtown Districts

Manufacturing-Light

1.3, plus 3 per 1,000 gfa devoted to patron use.

1.3, plus 2 per 1,000 gfa devoted to patron use.

10

Manufacturing

1.3, plus 3 per 1,000 gfa devoted to patron use.

1.3, plus 2 per 1,000 gfa devoted to patron use.

10

0.5

0.5

0.5

2

1

None0

Marina (per berth) Medical Lab Museum

Public Works Yard/Garage Radio & TV Studio Rail Equip. Storage & Repair Recording Studio Recreational Facility - Indoor (per four (4) seats) Recreational Facility - Outdoor (per playing field)

1.3

1

10

Office - General

2

2

20

Office - Medical, Dental

3

2

10

Recreational Vehicle Sales – New and Used

Office – Technical

2

2

20

Recycling Center - Large above 2,000 gfa

Open Air Markets

None0

None0

None0

Recycling Center - Small 2,000 gfa or less

1

10

Recreational Facility - Outdoor Commercial

Operations Center - Taxi (per three (3) employees)

1

Operations Center - Truck/Bus (per 3,000 gfa)

1

0.75

0.75

Park (per playing area)

5

None0

None0

Restaurant – Take-Out

Parking Garage – Private

None0

None0

None0

Salon/Spa

Parking Lot – Private

None0

None0

None0

School - Secondary (per Classroom)

Performing Arts Center (per four (4) seats)

1

1

None0

Performing Arts Studio

1

None0

None0

2.5

1

None0

Pet Store Pharmacy

3

2

10

2.5

1

None0

1

1

None0

Police Station

2.5

2

20

Post Office

1.3

1

10

2

2

None0

1.3

1

10

2

2

None0

1 per 200 gfa of public

1 per 200 gfa of public

None0

Photo Studio Photography Lab

Post Office - Local Printing Plant Printing Shop Public Transit Terminal

Requirements, Table 8.1.11-1, Minimum Parking Dimensions, 8.1.12, Limitations, Location, Use of Facilities, 8.1.13, Parking for Disabled Persons, 8.1.14 Stacked and Tandem Parking Restrictions, 8.1.15 Waivers from Parking Requirements/Parking Management Plans, and adding Section 8.1.16 Transportation Demand Management, thereto to read as follows: ARTICLE 8: PARKING PART 1: GENERAL REQUIREMENTS Sec. 8.1.1 Purpose As written. Sec. 8.1.2 Applicability As written. Sec. 8.1.3 Parking Districts The demand for parking is highly dependent on the context within which a given use or structure is located. Factors such as proximity to other related uses, availability of public transportation, the density of land uses,

SEVEN DAYS SEPTEMBER 30-OCTOBER 7, 2020

and the ability to share parking with nearby uses are all factors which influence the demand for individual and dedicated onff-site parking. For the purposes of this Article, the following three (3) Parking Districts as illustrated in Map 8.1.3-1 are hereby created: (a) Neighborhood Parking District: This parking district establishes the baseline of parking requirements throughout the city where the demand for onff-site parking is largely dependent on the needs and characteristics of an individual site or land use. (b) Shared Use Parking District: This parking district reduces the requirements from the baseline standards recognizing that opportunities exist to share parking demand between related nearby land uses, and that travel to and between these uses may not

Research Lab Restaurant

School - Primary (per Classroom) School – Preschool Large (over 20 children) (per two (2) employees School – Preschool Small (up to 20 children) (per two (2) employees School - Trade/Professional School, - Post-Secondary Solid Waste Facility - Incinerator, Landfill, Transfer Station Tailor Shop Vehicle Salvage Warehouse

be strictly automobile dependent. (c) Downtown Multimodal Mixed-Use Parking District: This parking district further reduces eliminates the minimum on-site parking requirements from the baseline standards of Sec. 8.1.8 recognizing that the opportunity for extensive sharing of parking demand between nearby mixed land uses; occurs; that a majority of makes travel to and between proximate land uses is largely independent from an automobile; and that an array of non-vehicular transportation modes, public parking facilities, and frequent transit service greatly reduces the need for independent on-site parking for individual land uses. This Parking District includes all properties in the following Zoning Districts: (a) Downtown Core (FD6) (b) Downtown Center (FD5)

Neighborhood Districts

Shared Use Districts

waiting space

waiting space

None0

None0

Multimodal Mixed-Use Downtown Districts None0

Warehouse - Self Storage Facility

Neighborhood Districts

Shared Use Districts

Multimodal Mixed-Use Downtown Districts

1 per resident manager, plus 1 per 100 leasable storage spaces

1 per resident manager, plus 1 per 100 leasable storage spaces

1 per resident manager, plus 1 per 100 leasable storage spaces0

2

2

20

None0

None0

None0

1.3

1

10

Warehouse - Retail

3.3

2.5

2.50

1

1

0.5

Wholesale Sales

1.3

1

10

1

1

10

15

10

Larger of 1 per 4 seats or 15 per playing field

Larger of 1 per 4 seats or 10 per playing field

Worship, Place of (per four (4) seats)

None0 1 per 6 seats0

101 102 103

2

2

10

None0

None0

None0

104 105 106 107

Sec. 8.1.9 Maximum On-Site Parking Spaces The total number of off-street parking spaces provided in all any parking districts shall not be more than

(h) College to of spaces required shallfornot apply toParking any District of for any given 125% of the Street minimum number the Neighborhood use as required in Table 8.1.89-1 below. In no case shall the maximum number of required spaces be less None0 None0 None0 South Williams Street the following: than one (1) per unit of measurement (beds, units, 1000 gross sqft, etc.) for the use. 2.5 2 20 (i)Table Pine Street (a) The creation of 8.1.9-1 Maximum Off-Street Parking Requirements 4 3 None0 Neighborhood District Shared Use District Multimodal Mixed-Use District permanently affordable (j) Saint Paul Street 4 3 None0 125% of the minimum number of spaces 100% of the minimum number of spaces 100% of the minimum number of inclusionary housing 4 4 20 required for the Neighborhood Parking required for the Neighborhood Parking spaces required for the Shared Parking (k) District Shelburne Street for any given use as required in District for any givensatisfying use as required in District for any given use as required in 7 5 20 units the Table 8.1.8-1 Table 8.1.8-1 Table 8.1.8-1 With respect to permits 1.5 1.5 1.50 applicable provisions 108 1 plus 1 drop1 plus 1 dropissued with parking 1 plus 1 per of Article 9 Part off per 5 off per 5 109 (a) Exemptions: The following shall reduce not be included in the maximum number of allowable 5 children0 requirements in this children children 110 spaces required by this section: 1 - Inclusionary Housing 1 plus 1 drop1 plus 1 droppriorSpaces provided 111 Parking 1. District Structured Parking: within the footprint a structure containing one or more (see Sec. 9.1.10ofIncome off per 5 off per 5 10 112 to the other uses, including rooftop, at-grade, or below grade spaces shall not be counted towards the children children effective date Eligibility Sec. 113 maximum, provided the floor area dedicated to parkingand is less than 50%9.1.11 of the total gross floor area 5 3 10 of the amendment to 114 of the structure; Calculating Rents and 2 2 20 minimum 115 eliminate 21. Public Parking: Spaces provided and available for use by the public shall not be counted towards Selling 116 maximum. Such spaces shall be available to the Prices); public at a minimum of nights and weekends, and None0 None0 None0 onsitethe parking, an 117 be signed or marked accordingly; (b) The adaptive reuse 2 1 None0 administrative permit and/or substantial None0 None0 None0 amendment may be 0.5 0.35 0.35 rehabilitation of a requested to remove building listed on the parking requirethe State or National (c) Downtown ment based upon the Register of Historic Waterfront – Public change in regulation. Places; and Trust (DW-PT) This does not apply (c) The creation of an to permits containing (d) Neighborhood Accessory Dwelling public parking provided Activity Center (NAC) Unit subject to the in exchange for an (e) Neighborhood Mixed provisions of Sec. 5.4.5. Article 4 Development Use (NMU) Bonus (See Sec. 4.4.1(d) Sec. 8.1.7 Non(f) NAC – Riverside conforming Residential (5)(A)). For those (NAC-R) permits, the public Structure As written. (g) NAC – Cambrian parking provided shall Sec. 8.1.8 Minimum Rise (NAC-CR) be maintained. Off-Street Parking With the exception Sec. 8.1.4 Existing Requirements of those properties Structures As written. A minimum number subject to Part 3 of off-street Pparking Sec. 8.1.5 Existing Institutional Parking spaces for all uses and Structures-Change or Management Plans, structures shall be Expansion of Use As this Parking District provided in accordance written. also includes all with Table 8.1.8-1 below. Sec. 8.1.6 Existing properties with Structures: Affordable (a) Where a use is not street frontage on Housing and Historic listed no requirement is the following major designated and the use Buildings Exemption in thoroughfares to a Downtown District is not comparable to maximum depth of 200 any of the listed uses, Any nonresidential ft.: the minimum parking use within a structure (a) North Avenue requirements shall be lawfully in existence from Battery Park to determined by the DRB prior to January 1, Plattsburg Avenue upon recommendation 2007 in any Downtown (b) Colchester Avenue by the administrative Parking District shall (c) Pearl Street officer based upon a be exempt from the determination that (d) North Winooski requirements of this the use is substanAvenue Article when applying tially equivalent in use, for a change to any (e) Riverside Avenue nature, and impact to a other nonresidential from North Winooski listed use the capacity use. Regardless of Avenue to Colchester of the facility and its location, the Minimum Avenue associated uses. Off-Street Parking (f) Battery Street (b) When the Requirements found (g) Main Street calculation yields a under Sec. 8.1.8 below


The total number of off-street parking spaces provided in all any parking districts shall not be more than 125% of the minimum number of spaces required for the Neighborhood Parking District for any given use as required in Table 8.1.89-1 below. In no case shall the maximum number of required spaces be less than one (1) per unit of measurement (beds, units, 1000 gross sqft, etc.) for the use.

104 105 106 107

fractional number of required spaces, the number of spaces shall be rounded to the nearest whole number. (c) The minimum off-street parking requirement for a 108 development with in109 clusionary housing 110 units provided on site shall be reduced 111 by the percentage 112 of inclusionary units 113 required by Article 9. 114 (Example: A 100115 unit residential development with a 116 requirement of 15% 117 inclusionary units shall provide minimum offstreet parking based on 85 dwelling units.) Sec. 8.1.9 Maximum On-Site Parking Spaces The total number of off-street parking spaces provided in all any parking districts shall not be more than 125% of the minimum number of spaces required for the Neighborhood Parking District for any given use as required in Table 8.1.89-1 below. In no case shall the maximum number of required spaces be less than one (1) per unit of measurement (beds, units, 1000 gross sqft, etc.) for the use. (a) Exemptions: The following shall reduce not be included in the maximum number of allowable spaces required by this section: 1. Structured Parking: Spaces 156 provided within the 157 footprint of a structure 158 containing one or more163 164 other uses, including 159 rooftop, at-grade, or 160 below grade spaces 161 shall not be counted 162 towards the maximum, provided the floor area dedicated to parking is less than 50% of the total gross floor area of the structure; 21. Public Parking: Spaces provided and available for use by the public shall not be counted towards the maximum. Such spaces shall be available to the public at a minimum of nights165 and weekends, and 166 be signed or marked 167 accordingly; 168 Carpool, 32. 169 Vanpool, and Car-Share Parking: 170 Spaces dedicated for vehicles participating 171 in a carpool, vanpool, 172 or car-share program 173 shall not be counted towards the maximum.174 175 Such spaces shall be reserved for such 176 use, and be signed or 177 marked accordingly; 178 and, 179 Alternative 180 43. Fueled Vehicle Parking.181 Parking spaces dedicated for vehicles 182 operating on primarily 183 alternative fuels includ184 ing but not limited to

Table 8.1.9-1 Maximum Off-Street Parking Requirements District Page Neighborhood 13 An Ordinance in Relation to 125% of the minimum number of spaces required for the Neighborhood Parking District for any given use as required in Table 8.1.8-1

Shared Use District

Multimodal Mixed-Use District

COMPREHENSIVE ORDINANCE – of 100% of the minimum numberDEVELOPMENT of spaces 100% of the minimum number required for theParking Neighborhood Parking spaces required for the Shared Parking Minimum Requirements District for any given use as required in District for any given use as required in ZA #20-04 Table 8.1.8-1 Table 8.1.8-1

(a) The Parking following shall reduce not be included in the maximum number of allowable Table Exemptions: 8.1.11-1 Minimum Dimensions spaces required by this section: 1. Structured Parking: within theVertical footprint ofWidth a structure containing or more Space Spaces Width provided Space Length of Length of oneMinimum Angle of Parking other uses, Space including rooftop, at-grade, or below Clearance grade spaces Angled shall not beAngled counted towards the (A) of (B)of Back-Up Type (C) (Stall maximum, provided theSpace floor area dedicated 50% of theSpace total gross floor area Space to parking is less than Space Length and Aisle) of the structure;

Standard Cars 21. Public Parking: Spaces provided and available for use by the public shall not be counted towards

the maximum. Such spaces shall be available to the public at a minimum of nights and weekends, and

Parallel Parking 89.0’ be signed or marked accordingly;

2218.0’

7.5’

-

-

-

Angle2

9.0’1

2018.0’

7.5’

12.7’

20.5’

15.0’

60° Angle2

9.0’1

2018.0’

7.5’

10.4’

21.8’

18.0’

90° Angle2

9.0’1

2018.0’

7.5’

9.0’

20.0’

24.0’

45°

Aisle width (one-way)

10’

Aisle width (two-way)

20’

Compact3

Cars

Compact spaces must be clearly identified with pavement marking and signage.

Parallel Parking

8.07.5’

2015.0’

6.8’

-

-

-

45° Angle2

8.0’

1816.0’

6.8’

11.2’

18.3’

13.0’

60° Angle2

8.0’

1816.0’

6.8’

9.2’

19.8’

15.0’

90° Angle2

8.0’

1816.0’

6.8’

8.0’

18.0’

20.0’

Tandem

9.0’

36’

7.5’

4’

8.0’

6.8’

Scooter/Motorcycle Aisle Width (D) Aisle width (one-way)

12’ 14’ for 60O angled spaces 90O angled spaces not permitted

Aisle width (two-way)

7.5’ Parking Requirements 23’ for 90OMinimum angled spaces

7.5’

Page 14 An Ordinance in Relation20’ to

COMPREHENSIVE DEVELOPMENT ORDINANCE –

1

ZA #20-04

The minimum stall width may be reduced to 8.5’ for spaces dedicated to residential uses. Angled spaces may be either head-in or back-in. 3 The overall proportion of compact spaces may not exceed 50%. 2

D

A

B

D

A

B

Illustration 8.1.11-A - Parking Dimensions

electric, natural gas, of Sec 8.1.15 with the for additional parking supportive use in the and hydrogen shall not following additional cannot reasonably be future. Sec. 8.1.12 Limitations, Location, Use of Facilities be counted towards the requirements: met through provision Sec. 8.1.10 Off-Street maximum. Such spaces of on-street parking A. The Loading Requirements. shall be reserved for or shared parking with applicant requesting Outside of the (a) Off-Site parking facilities: such use and be signed adjacent or nearby the waiver shall also Downtown Multimodal and/or the space uses;parking facilities may be located on another Except for single and two-family dwellings, required provide: Mixed-Use Parking painted with (ii) The zoning districte parcelthe of words land. The off-site parking area shall be within the same as the use it serves (i) a peak District, every struc“Alternative proposed development or isFueled in a zoninge district that allowsstudy parking lots or parking garages as primary Principal uses. demand parking ture constructed after Vehicles Parking Only.” that serves any demonstrates that its use located zoninge district shall not be located within a for two similar outside uses ina residential the effective date of Waiver of 54. design and intended the area; and, residential zoneing district. Off-site parking spaces shall be subject to the site plan design standards this ordinance and used Maximum uses willof continue for non-residential of Parking Article 6: Part 2.(ii)The maximum Section to 8.1.9 apply. Off-site parkinguse a TDMparking limitations Limitations. Parking support high levels of shall provide sufficient Plan pursuant to the facilities shallinbe as follows: excess of the maximum existing or planned space for the unloading requirements of Sec. 1. Neighborhood Parking District: No more thantransit 50% ofand thepedestrian total required off-street parking from parking limitation and loading of vehicles. 8.1.16. of this section, or a8.1.8-1 shall be provided at a distance greater activity; and, Table than 600 feet from theTh use it is intended to e adequacy of any B. Th e request for one parking serve. For residential uses, a minimum of 1 space be provided on-site. (iii)per unit shall The site proposed loading areas following additional space where none plan indicates where be considered review criteria shall be 2. Downtown and Shared Uuse Parking Districts: Any off-site parking shallshall be provided withinas would otherwise be additional parking can of the plan addressed regarding 1,000 feet of the use it is intended to serve unless such parking is providedpart as part of asite Parking permitted, may be be redeveloped to a and traffic circulation Management pursuant to Sec. 8.1.15 approved the DRB.transit waived by the DRB pur- Planhow: moreby intensive review. Such loading (i) The need theThe provisions areas shall have access 185 suant to 3. distance from the off-site parking to the associated use shall be measured in walking distance 186 187 188

along a sidewalk or other pedestrian path separated from street traffic from the nearest parking space to the principle pedestrian entrance to the building housing the use. Such off-site parking shall not reduce the required parking for any other use utilizing the property on which it is located

to a public alley or a public street in such a way to minimize conflicts with the circulation of other vehicles and pedestrians, be screened from public view, and provide safe and effective access to the city’s street network. Sec. 8.1.11 Parking Dimensional Requirements The following standards in Table 8.1.11-1 below shall be used applicable in all Parking Districts to ensure safe, adequate, and convenient access and circulation. These standards shall be adhered to except in situations where a lesser standard is deemed necessary by the DRB after consultation with the city engineer due to site topography, location of existing or proposed structures, lot configuration, and/ or the need to preserve pervious lot coverage for on-site stormwater management, existing trees, and mature vegetation. Mechanical access parking shall be exempt from the dimensional requirements of this section. Sec. 8.1.12 Limitations, Location, Use of Facilities (a) Off-Site parking facilities: Except for single and two-family dwellings, required parking facilities may be located on another parcel of land. The off-site parking area shall be within the same zoning districte as the use it serves or is in a zoninge district that allows parking lots or parking garages as primary Principal uses. Parking that serves any use located outside a residential zoninge district shall not be located within a residential zoneing district. Off-site parking spaces shall be subject to the site plan design standards of Article 6: Part 2. The maximum parking limitations of Section 8.1.9 apply. Off-site parking facilities shall be as follows: 1. Neighborhood Parking District: No more than 50% of the total required off-street parking from Table 8.1.8-1 shall be provided at a distance greater than 600 feet from the use it is intended to serve. For residential uses, a minimum of 1 space per unit shall be provided on-site. 2. Downtown and Shared Uuse Parking Districts: Any off-site parking shall be provided within 1,000 feet of the use it is intended to serve

unless such parking is provided as part of a Parking Management Plan pursuant to Sec. 8.1.15 approved by the DRB. 3. The distance from the off-site parking to the associated use shall be measured in walking distance along a sidewalk or other pedestrian path separated from street traffic from the nearest parking space to the principle pedestrian entrance to the building housing the use. Such off-site parking shall not reduce the required parking for any other use utilizing the property on which it is located unless such shared use is approved by the development review board per Sec. 8.1.15 (b). The right to use the off-site parking to meet the minimum parking requirements of Sec. 8.1.8 must be guaranteed for the duration of the use as evidenced by a deed, or easement, lease, or similar written instrument as approved by the City Attorney and recorded in the Burlington land records. Use of off-site parking for parking spaces in excess of the minimum parking requirements of Sec. 8.1.8 may be secured by lease or similar written instrument. (b) Downtown Street Level Setback: In order to maintain an active streetscape, any off-street parking occupying street level frontage in the Downtown Parking District shall be setback from the front property line in order to reserve street-level frontage for pedestrian-oriented uses. (cb) Front Yard Parking Restricted: Required parking in all residential zoning districts shall not be located in a required front yard setback area abutting a public street, except alleys. This prohibition extends from the edge of the public right-ofway into the required front yard setback for the entire width of the property with the exception of a single access drive no more than eighteen feet (18’) or less in width. The provisions of this subsection shall not be applicable during such times as when the winter parking ban pursuant to Section 20-56 of the Code of Ordinances is in effect. Where parking is provided outside the front yard setback, but either partially or entirely between the principle structure and the street, such parking

shall be screened to the extent practicable from view from the public street. (dc) Shared Parking in Neighborhood Parking Districts: In the event that a mix of uses occupy a single structure or parcel of land located in a Neighborhood or Shared Use Parking District, the total requirement for off-street parking shall be the sum for all individual uses unless it can be shown that the peak parking demands are offset and spaces can be shared (for example: retail and residential, or theater and office uses) as evidenced by a shared parking analysis utilizing the most current edition of the Urban Land Institute’s Shared Parking Report, the ITE’s Shared Parking Guidelines, or other comparable and industry-recognized publications. In such cases the parking required must at least meet the requirements for Shared Use Districts. (ed) Single Story Structures in Shared Use Districts: In the event that a single story structure is proposed to be located in a Shared Use District, the total requirements for off-street parking shall be calculated as for a Neighborhood Parking District. This provision does not apply to single story structures existing and occupied as of the effective date of this ordinance. Joint Use of (fe) Facilities: The required parking for two (2) or more uses, structures, or parcels may be combined in a single parking facility if it can be shown by the applicant to the satisfaction of the DRB that the use of the joint facility does not materially overlap with other dedicated parking in such facility, and provided that the proposed use is evidenced by a irrevocable deed, lease, contract, reciprocal easement, or similar written instrument establishing the joint use acceptable to the city attorney. Availability (gf) of Facilities: Required parking pursuant to this Article shall be available for parking of operable passenger vehicles used by residents, customers and employees only, and shall not be used for the storage or display of vehicles or materials.

SEVEN DAYS SEPTEMBER 30-OCTOBER 7, 2020

LEGALS » 63


Minimum Parking Requirements ZA #20-04 264 minimum or maximum spaces continue to apply for stacked parking.

[CONTINUED] The distribution of parking spaces for any and all individual uses will be required to be arranged in such a way as to ensure optimal access and use by the patrons of such use(s). (h) Compact Car Parking: Compact parking spaces may be used in parking structures or lots. Up to fi fteen (15%) percent of the total parking spaces in a parking garage may be designated for compact cars. Such spaces shall be signed or the space painted with the words “Compact Car Only.” Sec. 8.1.13 Parking for Disabled Persons Parking spaces for disabled persons in all Parking Districts shall comply with current the Americans with Disabilities Act guidelines and shall be at least eight feet (8’) wide with an adjacent access aisle at least fi ve feet (5’) wide. Parking access aisles shall be part of an accessible route to the building or facility entrance. Accessible parking spaces shall be designated as reserved for the disabled by a sign showing the symbol of accessibility. Painting of the paved area for the dedicated parking spaces alone shall not be sufficient as the sole means of identifying these spaces. Sec. 8.1.14 Stacked and Tandem Parking Restrictions Except as otherwise provided below, all parking facilities in all Parking Districts shall be designed so that each motor vehicle may proceed to and from the parking space provided for it without the moving of any other motor vehicle. The requirements for minimum or maximum spaces continue to apply for stacked and Tandem parking. (a) Stacked or valet parking may be allowed if an attendant is present to move vehicles. If stacked parking is used for required parking spaces, a written guarantee must be filed with the City ensuring that an attendant will always be present when the lot is in operation. The requirements for

64

(b) Applicability: A Transportation Demand Management Program shall be required for all projects located in the Multimodal Mixed Use Parking District (see Sec. 8.1.3(c)), and involving any one or more of the following:

(b) Tandem Parking may shall be allowed for all dwelling units Normal (whether attached or detached). Each dwelling unit may have a pair of tandem parking Tandem spaces, however any Dwelling Units: pair of tandem parking Creation of ten (10) spaces shall not serve or more dwelling more than one dwelling units unit single family deNon-residential Stacked tached dwelling units, or Mixed Use accessory apartments, Development 265 dwelling units, duplex proposed development, methods to increase parking use of those A building footprint and. Tandem parking and proposes an the use of mass transit, spaces. of eight thousand 266 Sec. 8.1.15 Waivers from Parking Requirements/ Parking Management Plans shall also be allowed for alternative that more car pool, van pool, or The Parking (8,000) s.f. or more; dedicated employeeeffectively meets the non-auto modes of Management Plan or, the creation of (a) Parkingintent Waivers only267 parking where of this Article. A travel; must demonstrate fi fteen thousand signed as such. In no Parkingof Management Implementation a thistoArticle the satisfaction (15,000) s.f. 268 The total number parking spaces C.required pursuantofto may be of reduced modified toorthe case shall more than 4 Plan shall include, but car-share program; the DRB thatcan making moreserved of gross 269 spacesextent that the applicant can demonstrate that the proposed development be adequately byfloor a parking (2 pairs) not be limited to: spaces available to area. D. Development or in total 270 be provided moreinefficient approach that more effectively satisfies the intent of this Article and the goals of the (1) A calculation of off-site users does not use of a system using tandem one lot. 271 on anymunicipal development plan to reduceoffsite dependence the single-passenger automobile. the parking spaces negatively affect their parking on and/or (c ) Transportation 2. required pursuant to ability for onsite users shuttles; and, Demand Management 272 Any waiver granted for a residential use shall not exceed fifty percent (50%) of the required number of (c) Stacked parking Table 8.1.8-1(1) , and to park due to either: E. Implementation of (TDM) Program: A shall be allowedparking for 273 spaces for the adaptive reuse of a historic building pursuant to Sec. 5.4.8 which may be Sec. except 8.1.9 regarding 1. Th ere being an public transit subscripTDM Program shall single-family detached excess of onsite 274 waived by asparking much maximums as one hundred percent (100%). Any waiver granted for a non-residential use may be tions for employees. include each of the dwelling units and where applicable. spaces beyond that following elements at a 275 as much as ninety percent (90%) except that a waiver for ground floor retail uses in any Form or Mixed (5) An Accessory Dwelling A narrative that necessary to satisfy minimum: analysis percent and narrative 276with no requireUse district (2) may be as much as one hundred (100%). Waivers shall onlyofbe granted by the DRB, Units outlines how the the requirements pursuant Sec. 8.1.9 of Sec. 3.2.7 (a)7. a. Outreach and ment 277for an attendant or by the administrative officer pursuant to thetoprovisions proposed Parking Sec. 8.1.8; and/or, regarding waivers of Education: to be present. Management Plan The spaces are to be parking In order to addresses be considered for ca waiver, themaximums applicant shall 2. submit a Parking Management Plan that i. Designation of Sec.278 8.1.15 the specifi made available during where a Transportation 279 from Parking specifies why the ofparking requirements of applicable. Sec. 8.1.8 or Sec. 8.1.9 are not applicable or appropriate for Waivers needs the proposed off-peak hours of the Prior to any approval Coordinator who Requirements/ Parking development, and and moreproposes 280 the proposed development, an alternative that more effectively meets the intent of this onsite and/or required the DRB pursuant directly, or indirectly Management Plans effectively satisfies thePlanby users. to: 281 Article. A Parking Management shall but not be limited to this include, section, the through membership intent of this Article (a) Parking Waivers Parking spaces being means by which the in a Transportation and the of the spaces (1)ofA calculation ofgoals the parking required pursuant to Table 8.1.8-1, and Sec. 8.1.9 regarding The282 total number made available to offParking Management Management Municipal Development parking 283 spaces reparking maximums where applicable. site users may be made Plan will be guaranteed Association, shall be Plan. quired pursuant to this available: and enforceable over responsible for each of 284 may be reduced (2) A narrative that outlines how the proposed Parking Management Plan addresses the specific needs of (3) An analysis of the Article the long term, such as - Either with or without the following: anticipated parking modifi 285ed to the extent the proposed development, and more effectively satisfies the intent of this Article and the goals of a contract, easement, a fee; 1. Preparing and demand for the that286 the applicant can the Municipal or other means, and Development Plan. For transient use by presenting informaproposed development. demonstrate that the whether the city the general public; tional and educational Suchof anthe analysis shall parking proposed 287 development (3) An analysis anticipated demand for to thethe proposed development. Such an analysisregarding shall should be a party and/or, materials include, but is not can be adequately management contract 288 include, but is not limited to: available TDM strateBy lease, provided the limited to: served by a more or easement, shall be gies to all tenants and term of any lease does efficient approach A. Information specifymade acceptable to the employees; not exceed one (1) year. that more effectively ing the proposed city attorney. 2. Organizing and hostPrior to any approval satisfies the intent of number of employees, (b) Shared Parking for ing an annual meeting by the DRB pursuant to this Article and the customers, visitors, Off-Site Use for all tenants and this section, the means goals of the municipal clients, shifts, and Onsite parking spaces employees to present by which the pParking development plan to deliveries; may be made available and discuss available pPlan mManagement reduce dependence on B. Anticipated parking for use by off-site users TDM strategies, and will be guaranteed and the single-passenger demand by time of day subject to review and opportunities for enforceable over the automobile. and/or demand by use; approval of a Parking increased use and long term, such as a Any waiver granted for C. Anticipated parking Management Plan by participation; contract, easement, a residential use shall utilizing shared spaces the DRB. or other means, and 3. Preparation and not exceed fi fty percent or dual use based on a whether the city The A Parking dissemination of an (50%) of the required shared parking analysis Management Plan should be a party to the annual travel survey number of parking utilizing current for Shared Parking management contract of all tenants and spaces except for the industry publications; for Off-Site Use must or easement, shall be employees; and, adaptive reuse of a D. Availability and include the following: made acceptable to the historic building pursu4. Record-keeping and frequency of public city attorney. 1. A calculation of the ant to Sec. 5.4.8 which annual reporting to the transit service within a parking spaces required Sec. 8.1.16 may be waived by as City of all TDM actividistance of 800-feet. pursuant to Table Transportation much as one hundred ties offered and rates of E. A reduction in 8.1.8-1 and a calculation Demand Management percent (100%). . Any participation (including vehicle ownership of those parking spaces waiver granted for a parking utilization if (a) Purpose: This in connection with to be shared for off-site non-residential use applicable). section requires the housing occupancy, parking use. may be as much as implementation of b. TDM Strategies: In ownership, or type; and, ninety percent (90%) 2. Information specifya Transportation addition to compliance F. Any other informaexcept that a waiver for ing the actual onsite Demand Management with the on-site Bicycle tion established by the ground floor retail uses demand for required (TDM) Program for Parking requirements administrative officer in any Form or Mixed parking by day, time of certain projects found in Article 8, as may be necessary to Use district may be as day, and by use and also for the purpose of Part 2, the following understand the current much as one hundred information specifying advancing the goals of TDM strategies shall and projected parking percent (100%). when and how much the City’s land use and also be included at a demand. Waivers shall only be parking would be made transportation plans, minimum for a period granted by the DRB, or available to off-site and promoting public (4) Such a plan shall of 10 years from receipt by the administrative users. health, safety, welfare, identify strategies that of a Certificate of officer pursuant to the and protection of the the applicant will use Occupancy as follows: 3. A narrative that provisions of Sec. 3.2.7 environment by: to reduce or manage outlines how the (a)7. the demand for parking proposed pParking - Reducing parking i. GMT Transit passes into the future which In order to be mManagement pPlan demand; shall be provided to all may include but are not considered for a will allow for shared - Reducing car tenants and employees limited to: waiver, the applicant use of required parking ownership; for free for the first shall submit a Parking spaces with off-site A. A telecommuting year of occupancy or Reducing vehicle Management Plan users; how it will enable program; employment, and at miles traveled (VMT) that specifies why the continued availability B. Participation in a minimum discount and congestion; and parking requirements of required parking a Transportation of 50% for every year Increasing transit use of Sec. 8.1.8 or Sec. spaces pursuant to Management thereafter; and, and non-motorized 8.1.9 are not applicable Table 8.1.8-1 while also Association including ii. A car share travel; or appropriate for the affording off-site

SEVEN DAYS SEPTEMBER 30-OCTOBER 7, 2020

membership shall be made available to all tenants and employees for free for the first two years of occupancy or employment, and at a minimum discount of 50% for every year thereafter; or, iii. In lieu of i and ii above, maintain an ongoing and active membership in a Transportation Management Association (TMA) that offers equivalent TDM strategies or better. c. Parking Management: Where on-site or off-site parking is also made available: i. Conduct parking utilization studies at least annually; ii. With the exception of permanently affordable housing units, the cost of parking shall be un-bundled from all residential and non-residential leases and deeds and made available at a market rate; iii. Where parking spaces are made available to off-site users, parking spaces may be made available by a renewable lease, provided the term of any lease does not exceed one (1) year; and iv. Priority parking spaces - located in closest proximity to a primary building entrance and/or public street frontage - shall be made available for each of the following: 1. Handicapped spaces; 2. Bicycles, scooters, and motorcycle spaces; 3. Car-share: where 1 space must be offered for every 20 residential units, not to exceed a total of 5 spaces, subject to an agreement with a car-share provider; and 4. Carpool and/or Vanpool vehicles: where more than 20 spaces are available for non-residential uses. In such cases, 5 spaces or 5% of the parking spaces on site, whichever is less, must be reserved for carpool/vanpool use before 9:00 AM on weekdays. d. TDM Agreement: Each TDM Plan shall include a signed commitment to and

acknowledgement of each of the following on a form provided by the Administrative Officer: i. Commitment to ongoing implementation of the TDM requirements as set forth above; ii. Acknowledgement that the project has no claim to the ongoing availability of nearby on-street public parking, and that, as is the case with other onstreet public parking, the City retains the right to charge for or remove such on-street parking at any time; iii. Acknowledgement that failure to maintain transportation demand management as required above is a violation of this ordinance, and understanding that, pursuant to Sec. 2.7.8 of this ordinance, no zoning permit or certificate of occupancy may be granted until any such violation has been remedied; and iv. Commitment to notify any subsequent owners and tenants in writing of their obligations under this section as part of any purchase and sale and/ or lease agreements. Review and Enforcement: The Administrative Officer shall be responsible for determining compliance with the TDM Program requirements as set forth above, and ongoing implementation shall be included as a condition of any discretionary or administrative permit required for development subject to the conditions of this Section. Failure to maintain a TDM Program as required above shall be a violation of this ordinance, and pursuant to Sec. 2.7.8 of this ordinance no zoning permit or certificate of occupancy may be granted without a TDM Program in effect. Guidelines regarding compliance with these TDM requirements shall be developed and provided to applicants by the Administrative Officer. ** Material stricken out deleted. *** Material underlined added.

Say you saw it in... sevendaysvt.com


SHOP SAVVY AND KEEP VERMONT STRONG.

Shopping from home? Take a break from the big guys and support local first. Vermont merchants have faced mandatory store closures and other challenges during the COVID-19 pandemic. Even as some open back up, others operate online only. All need your support.

WITH GENEROUS SUPPORT FROM:

PICTURED: COMMON DEER, 210 COLLEGE ST., BURLINGTON, COMMONDEERVT.COM (JAMES BUCK)

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Visit the Register for all the info on area shopkeepers who are selling their products online for local delivery or curbside pickup. Browse by categories ranging from jewelry to electronics, outdoor gear to apparel. Whether you need something for yourself or that perfect gift for a loved one, shop savvy and keep Vermont strong. SHOP T HE R EGIS T E R .C OM SEVEN DAYS SEPTEMBER 30-OCTOBER 7, 2020

65

9/1/20 12:57 PM


66 SEPTEMBER 30-OCTOBER 7, 2020

ATTENTION RECRUITERS: POST YOUR JOBS AT: PRINT DEADLINE: FOR RATES & INFO:

JOBS.SEVENDAYSVT.COM/POST-A-JOB NOON ON MONDAYS (INCLUDING HOLIDAYS) MICHELLE BROWN, 802-865-1020 X21, MICHELLE@SEVENDAYSVT.COM

YOUR TRUSTED LOCAL SOURCE. JOBS.SEVENDAYSVT.COM Licensed Clinical Social Worker 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

Burlington Area

To find out more information regarding openings at Bolton Valley Resort, visit our website to apply online. Email resume to: HR@boltonvalley.com. boltonvalley.com/about-us/employment-andmountain-host-program

Hiring Now!

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CARING PEOPLE WANTED

BOLTON VALLEY RESORT HIRING ALL SEASONAL POSITIONS! LIFT OPERATIONS MANAGER – YEAR ROUND POSITION

9/8/20 2h-BoltonValleyResort093020.indd 12:40 PM 1

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 12:20 PM scheduling, currently available. $13-$17.50/hour depending on experience. No heavy lifting.

9/25/20

Apply online at: homeinstead.com/483 Or call: 802.860.4663

ENVIRONMENTAL SERVICE WORKER

Immediate openings Full-time and flexible part-time schedules Days, early evenings, & weekend shifts

Sign On Bonus - Up to $2,000 with a starting salary of $15 an hour.

Manufacturing Call Center Warehouse

Apply in person 210 East Main Street, Richmond, VT

LEARN MORE & APPLY: uvmmed.hn/sevendays 4t-Harringtons092320.indd 1

Director of Operations

9/18/204t-UVMMedCenter093020.indd 3:34 PM 1

SHARED LIVING PROVIDER Howard Center is seeking a Shared Living Provider for a female client in her 30s. The client is actively involved in Special Olympics and community self-advocacy, and has two part-time jobs. The ideal provider will: be able to provide clear boundaries and clinical support; help the client develop independent living skills; be a single female or couple; and have no children and no other clients in the home (pets are okay). A home on or near a bus line is preferred. Compensation includes a generous tax-free annual stipend, monthly room and board payments, and a respite budget. For more information or to request an application, please contact Patrick Fraser at patfraser@howardcenter.org or 802-871-2902.

4t-HowardCenter092320.indd 1

2/24/20 1:02 PM Communications Production Manager

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Responsible for the cleaning of all areas of the facility with the exception of the OR. Must know how to handle cleaning issues or know the appropriate resources available to solve the specific problem.

9/25/20

The Town of St. Albans seeks an engaging, collaborative, and dynamic person to serve as the Director of Operations and Special Projects. This position will assist in the preparing, execution, and monitoring of the operating and capital budgets, perform technical, administrative, and regulatory work to ensure compliance with the Town’s planning process, and perform leadership, administrative, and managerial functions to support the smooth day-to-day operation of the Town. Project Manager skills will be tested in this fast paced environment. A detailed job description is available at stalbanstown.com. To apply, please send a cover letter, resume and three references to: Town of St. Albans Town Manager, P.O. Box 37, St. Albans Bay, VT. 05481 or by email to j.gray@stalbanstown.com. Applications must be received by October 16th.

9/22/204t-TownofStAlbans093020.indd 1:18 PM 1

Vermont Humanities is searching for a creative, talented, and effective communications professional who can work independently to manage graphic design projects, print publications, email communications, fundraising materials, and media relations outreach. This person 12:36 PM will also serve as a key partner in maintaining and enhancing the Vermont Humanities website, contributing to our vibrant social media presence, and developing audiovisual productions. Vermont Humanities is committed to using a diversity, equity, inclusion, and access lens to meet its mission. Applicants are encouraged to include information in their cover letter on how they can contribute to this vision. Resume, cover letter, and portfolio link to jobs@vermonthumanities.org by October 11th.

1 9/25/20 3v-VTHumanities093020.indd 12:28 PM

9/29/20 9:32 AM


FOLLOW US ON TWITTER @SEVENDAYSJOBS, SUBSCRIBE TO RSS, OR BROWSE POSTS ON YOUR PHONE AT JOBS.SEVENDAYSVT.COM

DRIVE FOR

NEW JOBS POSTED DAILY! JOBS.SEVENDAYSVT.COM

67 SEPTEMBER 30-OCTOBER 7, 2020

• Full benefits package • Generous vacation policy • Competitive pay

Our manufacturing facility in gardening Georgia, VT is growing! We’re America’s leading web-based company based in We are looking seasonal and year-round Burlington, Vermont! Wefor arefull-time, a 100% employee-owned company and an award-winning and nationally recognized socially responsible business. PRODUCTION/WAREHOUSE WORKERS

• Huge discount on product

FULL- AND PART-TIME OPPORTUNITIES

• Own shares of the company

to manufacture our high-quality garden-related products. Find out more at our Hire Up Session:

Wednesday, September 30, 1:30 p.m.

Come to our job fair! • Full benefitson-site package

Online shopping continues to grow! Also, now hiring for Saturday/Sunday shifts.

We offer:

• Generous vacation policy th Saturday, September 19 from 9 am - 11 am • Competitive pay • Huge discount on product Arrowhead • Own shares104A of the companyIndustrial Park Building 110, Georgia, VT Register today: http://bit.ly/HireUpGardeners

Job security. Driving experience preferred but not essential. Must be 21 and have good driving record. Now hiring non-drivers/ helpers for the holiday season.

Please go to our careers page at gardeners.com/careers and apply online! 2v-FedEX092320.indd 1

1 9/17/204t-GardenersSupply092320.indd 11:39 AM

9/21/20Untitled-15 7:09 PM 1

9/21/20 6:49 PM

JOIN OUR GARDEN CENTER TEA

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9/10/20 9:13 AM

CARPENTER Chores & More, LLC is looking for a member to join our team working on various construction and home remodeling projects, wages based on experience. Looking for eager candidates who are willing to work hard and who want to learn. Customer service and attention to detail are required for the type of projects we manage. Please contact David Matot at choresandmorevt@gmail.com to learn more.

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Natural Medicine clinic seeking dynamic and personable individual for scheduling, billing, filling prescriptions, helping with patient flow. 20-30 hours/ week. Experience with quickbooks and phlebotomy helpful. Knowledge of or experience with naturopathic medicine and/or acupuncture also helpful. Send resumes to: drchrishollis@yahoo.com

2v-ResonantMedicine093020.indd 1

BUSINESS ANALYST Full

Now Hiring for several FULL & PART time positions across total store, including our Center Store/Grocery department. Several supervisory positions available! Apply online at Hannaford.com/Careers or contact your local Hannaford Supermarket today!

HOUSING SUPPORT/ SASH COORDINATOR

9/28/204t-Hannaford092320.indd 2:28 PM 1

MEDICAL OFFICE FRONT DESK STAFF

We have an opening at our Williston Garden Ce We’re looking for a reliable and quick learner wh is enthusiastic, outgoing, upbeat (no matter wh a flexible, team-oriented person that thrives in a busy and dynamic environment! Ability to work weekends is a must. This is a full-time, year-roun Time and benefit eligible position.

9/21/20

schedules, supply ordering, A BA at PCC combines the skills of a Business Analyst,system reporting invoice processing. Youand will assist and coordin Project Manager, Scrum Master, Product Owner, with multiple departments including HR and Quality Analyst, gathering information from multiple Marketing. Our ideal candidate will have a str sources to understand how our clients work, what working knowledge of MSthey Office including care about, and how we can help them. Often working Outlook, Word and Excel; excellent customer directly with clients, PCC’s BAsservice, research, organize, team building & liste communication, prioritize, and shepherd new features through our skills. team-based development process. In addition to aredeveloping 100% employee-owned defining business requirementsWe and scope and a Certifie Corporation. We offer strong cultural value 10:19 AMstatements, PCC’s BAs facilitate the design, development, wagesTeams and outstanding benefi and testing work within our Agile competitive Development (including a tremendous discount!). and ensure effective communication between team Interested? Please go to our careers page a members, across teams, and with all key stakeholders. Ifand apply onlin www.gardeners.com/careers this appeals to you and you have the skills we’re looking for, we’d love to hear from you!

The Winooski Housing Authority is seeking a fulltime Housing Support/SASH Coordinator. The primary role is to support residents in four elderly housing properties in their abilities to remain in their unit successfully. In addition there will also be Property Management responsibilities. The ideal candidate will have the ability to work effectively as part of a team with professionalism and confidentiality. The position requires good customer service, communication and organizational skills, positive and professional demeanor and attention to detail. Applicant must have a Bachelor’s degree (B.A.) from a four-year college or university; or one to two years related experience and/or training; or equivalent combination of education and experience. Winooski Housing Authority offers an excellent benefits package including, health, dental, eyecare, and retirement, as well as generous paid time off. Starting salary is based on experience. Please send resume and cover letter, dhergenrother@winooskihousing.org. No phone calls please. E.O.E.

9/25/204t-WinooskiHousingAuthoritySASH093020.indd 3:30 PM 1

PCC, a private, Winooski-based healthcare IT Benefit ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT: You will prov Corporation, seeks a full timeexceptional Businessservice Analyst to inbound ph by (BA) managing join our growing team. calls and e-mail. You will also manage employ

While the pandemic continues, we will conduct televideo interviews for 7DPrint_GardenCntrYR_Admin.indd this position. Once our office is 1 fully open, we expect the Business Analyst position to be onsite at our Winooski office. As a Benefit Corporation, PCC fosters a friendly, casual, hardworking environment that values our employees, clients, community, and the environment. We offer competitive benefits as well as some uncommon perks. To learn more about PCC and this position, please visit our website pcc.com/careers. Position open until filled.

6t-PCC093020.indd 1 9/28/20 4:09 PM

No phone calls, please. AA/EOE.

9/28/20 2:31 PM


68

ATTENTION RECRUITERS:

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

SEPTEMBER 30-OCTOBER 7, 2020

LEGISLATIVE FISCAL ANALYST

REGIONAL COORDINATOR SOUTHEAST VERMONT Building Bright Futures (BBF) is seeking a part-time Regional Coordinator to support the Building Bright Futures regional early childhood council in Southeast Vermont serving the Brattleboro AHS district which includes much of Windham County. BBF Regional Councils bring together a diverse group of community members who are committed to children and families to identify gaps, share best practices, strategize, and support response to community issues Wake Robin, in partnership withRegional Vermont MedEd, is create happy to through their regional action plans. councils also community engagement opportunities to foster positive change for announce our next LNA training program. young children. Councils advise the BBF State Advisory Council (SAC) on localRobin issues,ranks needs,among and bright to strengthen both local and Wake thespots top 100 nursing homes in the statewide systems of care, health, and education.

The Vermont Legislative Joint Fiscal Office is accepting applications for a Legislative Fiscal Analyst. The person will provide support and research to legislators on a variety of fiscal issues, including transportation revenue and spending, related environmental issues, and other relevant matters. Job description be found at ljfo.vermont.gov/misc/jfo-job-2020.pdf. Resumes will be reviewed starting on October 16, with the position open until filled. 3h-VTLegislativeJointFiscalOffice092320.indd 1

9/18/20 1:51 PM

LNA TRAINING

Wake Robin is happy to announce our next LNA training program. country; an award reflecting our excellent staff and facility. We Wake Robin ranks among the top 100 nursing homes in the country; an award To apply please submit your resume, cover letter and provide training work8thopportunities consistent with Wake reflecting our excellent staff and facility. We provide training and work opportunities three references byand October at 5:00pm to kmobbs@ buildingbrightfutures.org. Position is open until filled.Our trainees will Robin’s unique brand of resident-centered care. consistent with Wake Robin’s unique brand of resident-centered care. Our trainees will have the opportunity to work for us while taking classes, for a have the opportunity to work for us while taking classes, for a unique blend of training unique blend of training and hands-on experience in the9/25/20 areas1:11 PMand hands-on experience in the areas of assistance with activities of daily living, light 4t-BuildingBrightFutures093020.indd 1 of assistance with activities of daily living, light housekeeping, housekeeping, and dietary coaching. and dietary coaching. If you have at least two years’ experience in caregiving, and wish to grow your skills among If you have at least 2-years experience in caregiving, and wish to the best, it’s time to begin your career as an LNA. Contact us. grow your among the best, its time to begin your career as 100%skills EMPLOYEE-OWNED 100% EMPLOYEE-OWNED Interested candidates can apply online at Wakerobin.com or email a resume with cover letter to: EMPLOYEE-OWNED an LNA,100% contact us. HR@wakerobin.com. Wake Robin is an equal opportunity employer. 5h-WakeRobinLNAtraining093020.indd 1

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

ASSESSMENT ADMINISTRATOR

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

9/29/20 11:47 AM

Seeking motivated individuals to proctor in-school assessment sessions with 4th- and 8th-grade students for the National Assessment of Educational Progress. Must be available to work January 25 –March 5, 2021. Paid training, paid time and mileage reimbursement for local driving, and weekly paychecks. This is a part-time, temporary position. For more information, visit workNAEP.com and provide your name and email. We will contact you with a link to our online application when it is available. Online applications are now being accepted. Questions? Email:NAEPrecruit@westat.com. Protecting the health and safety of our employees and survey participants is a top priority for Westat. Based on recommendations from the CDC and other public health authorities, we require staff protect and monitor their health while working on their assignment, which may include the use of personal protective equipment, regular testing for COVID-19 or other screening activities.The data collection window may be extended due to weather or other delays. EOE Minorities/Females/Protected Veterans/Disabled

5/18/20 2:26 PM 5/18/20 2:26 PM 5/18/20 2:26 PM

9/8/20 5v-Westat081220.indd 10:16 AM 1

Operations Support We are seeking a full-time, yearround Operations Support person for our therapeutic program for adolescents and young adults located in Waitsfield. The ideal candidate is an adaptable team player with a positive attitude who is willing to work both indoors and outdoors performing a variety of tasks associated with the logistics of running our program. Tasks including food packing and rationing, gear outfitting, transportation and facilities maintenance. Candidates must be willing to work weekends and occasional evenings. A clean and valid driver’s license is required. Competitive salary and comprehensive benefits offered. Benefits include health, dental, vision and accident insurance, an employee assistance program and a SIMPLE IRA. To apply please visit truenorthwilderness.com/careers

17/7/20 2:12 PM 8/11/203v-TrueNorthWildernessProgram070820.indd 2:52 PM


FOLLOW US ON TWITTER @SEVENDAYSJOBS, SUBSCRIBE TO RSS, OR BROWSE POSTS ON YOUR PHONE AT JOBS.SEVENDAYSVT.COM

NEW JOBS POSTED DAILY! JOBS.SEVENDAYSVT.COM

69 SEPTEMBER 30-OCTOBER 7, 2020

MULTIPLE POSITIONS OPEN Northeastern Vermont Regional Hospital (NVRH) has a variety of openings available, including RNs, LNAs, Ultrasound Technologist, Echocardiographer and Sr. Multi-Modality Technologist. NVRH also has Administrative Positions, Information Services, Food Service and Environmental Services openings. Full-time, part-time and per diem positions available. For more information or to apply, please visit nvrh.org/careers.

100% EMPLOYEEOWNED

7t-Downstreet093020.indd 1

9/28/20 12:22 PM

SEASONAL DRIVERS IN STOWE AND SUGARBUSH GMT provides transportation services every ski season for the Stowe and Sugarbush ski resorts. The service begins in November and runs through early April, with up to 40 hours a week available. A Commercial Driver’s License (CDL) with Passenger and Air Brake endorsements are preferred, but GMT is willing to train the right candidate to receive their permit (over $3000 value). A clean driving record, a DOT medical physical and a pre-employment drug screen are required.

Retail Development Manager:

We are looking for a dynamic and experienced individual to assist us with our retail acquisition strategy. This person will be building relationships with garden center owners and others in the industry, developing our pipeline of Retail acquisition prospects, negotiating acquisitions, and exploring development of new stores in strong markets where there are no acquisition opportunities. While understanding retail and location demographics and data, this position will fully vet and recommend exciting opportunities to expand our locations. Our ideal candidate will have ten years of retail development, financials, and management experience and have the ability to work independently and be self-directed. This is an exciting job that requires creative negotiating skills and presenting win/win solutions. The ideal candidate will be willing to travel as needed to find and present exciting prospects.

Benefits of this position are: All Seasonal drivers receive a free season ski pass to either Stowe Mountain or Sugarbush resort, so when you’re not trucking up the mountain you can be carving down it. With the legendary front four in Stowe, or Sugarbush’s three mountains, there is something for all levels. Did we mention the back country skiing? It’s some of the best around! • Competitive Hourly Rate • Free CDL License Training (over $3,000 value) • Free Season Ski Pass, End of Season Bonus - based on hours worked To apply for this position: greenmountaintransit.applicantstack.com/x/openings For information call, 802-540-2536, or visit our website: ridegmt.com/careers GMT encourages job applications from all qualified people, regardless of a person’s criminal record; providing qualified applicants the opportunity to explain a criminal record when applying. There are specific positions within the organization designated as safety sensitive, where a criminal conviction may cause the candidate to be deemed ineligible for hire in that position, regardless of the circumstances.

GMT IS AN EQUAL OPPORTUNITY EMPLOYER AND COMMITTED TO A DIVERSE WORKFORCE. 7t-GreenMtnTransitSEASONAL092320.indd 1

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!

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

9/21/20 9:44 AM 6t-GardenersSupply072220.indd 1

9/25/20 4:16 PM


ATTENTION RECRUITERS:

70

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

SEPTEMBER 30-OCTOBER 7, 2020

WHERE YOU AND YOUR WORK MATTER...

DISTRICT-WIDE EDUCATION TECHNOLOGY ADMINISTRATOR

BUILDING CONSTRUCTION AND CONTRACT TECHNICIAN – MONTPELIER

Seeking a self-starter to provide technical and contractual support to the Design and Construction Division. Duties include generating architectural, engineering, and services contracts and change orders. Position creates and assembles specifications and other related project documents for bidding. Ideal candidate will be able to correctly interpret and process large amounts of data, have an understanding of the nomenclature and trade terminology, and be familiar with contracting procedures. For more information, contact Joe Aja at joe.aja@vermont. gov or 802-828-5694. Department: Buildings and General Services. Status: Full Time. Job ID #8442. Application Deadline: October 4, 2020.

BUSINESS APPLICATION SUPPOR T SPECIALIS T – MONTPELIER

The Agency of Commerce and Community Development seeks a Business Application Support Specialist with a passion for Vermont, community and economic development, and excellent communication skills. The ideal candidate will have experience administering or using grants management systems and identifying better ways to use technology to do a job. Applicants with experience using Salesforce and Microsoft SharePoint would be especially well-suited for this work. For more information, contact kathy.thayergoselin@vermont.gov. Department: Commerce & Community Development. Status: Full Time. Job ID #9482. Application deadline: October 8, 2020.

Learn more at: careers.vermont.gov

The State of Vermont is an Equal Opportunity Employer

5h-VTDeptHumanResources093020.indd 1

9/25/20 4:16 PM

HARWOOD UNIFIED UNION SCHOOL DISTRICT is seeking a District-wide Education Technology Administrator for our school district in central Vermont, serving approximately 1,920 PK-12 students. The successful candidate will be a licensed administrator with solid experience with technology hardware, software, and learning applications. This position will provide leadership in achieving and maintaining high technology integration into teaching and learning throughout all educational settings to support teachers in instruction. The Education Technology Administrator is also responsible for overseeing all of the district’s computer infrastructure and must have some experience with networking, hardware and devices. This position will supervise the technology staff throughout the district. This role will create and coordinate procedures for integrating technology with curriculum and instruction. This job requires excellent communication, organizational, and managerial skills. Interested candidates must submit a letter of interest, resume, copy of transcripts, and 3 letters of reference via SchoolSpring.com.

REGISTRAR:

For more information, please contact Shannon Lessley at slessley@huusd.org. E.O.E.

Full Time; Benefits eligible; $61,600 annually

Goddard College seeks a resourceful, systems-savvy academic leader to direct and manage student records, registration, academic records systems, data management functions, and ensure appropriate reporting to state and federal agencies. The Registrar shall support the College’s mission, strategic planning, and social justice and inclusion commitments. This position partners with other leaders, on strategies to evolve the College 5v-Harwood091620.indd 1 9/14/20 understanding of student learning outcomes, student progress, and related data systems. Data management skills are essential, particularly in complex data analysis, data software use, data systems planning and Happy Health (formerly Gideon Health) is currently evaluation. Qualified candidates will hold an earned graduate degree; have cultural competence, and relevant seeking to fill several temporary hourly positions to higher education, supervisory, and budget management experience, computer literacy and technical aptitudes. support lab-based data collection on

SEVERAL TEMPORARY POSTIONS

human subjects for several research studies conducted in collaboration with the University of Vermont.

HUMAN RESOURCES ADMINISTRATOR: Full Time; Benefits eligible; $38,000-$43,000 per year.

Oversees employee benefits, payroll, recruitment, compliance administration, and ensures that the general activities of the department function smoothly. Additional responsibilities include new & returning employee paperwork and orientations, drafting letters of appointment, intranet site maintenance, and serving on related committees. Qualified candidates will have a minimum of an AA/AS/BA in human resources management, or a closely related field and a minimum of 3 years of administrative experience (preferably in Human Resources), possess professionalism and the ability to maintain confidentiality, excellent verbal, written, and presentation skills, advanced skills in the Microsoft Office Suite, Google Suite, and ADP WorkforceNow. Familiarity with general Human Resources laws and principles, an ability to research, interpret, and ensure compliance with all applicable state and federal employment laws.

Applicants should be available and willing to work between 25-40 hours per week for roughly six to seven weeks between early October through Friday November 20th, with some non-traditional hours expected. The ideal candidate will be a detail-oriented individual with experience in lab-based data collection on human subjects, and will be comfortable and able to instrument subjects with a variety of wearable devices. Please note that candidates must adhere to statewide and campus-wide COVID-19 precautions during the employment period.

INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY SUPPORT SPECIALIST: Full Time, Temporary, $17/hour.

The first one to two weeks of employment will involve training, shadowing, and preliminary testing of the research protocols. After the training period, the researcher will be expected to conduct research protocols autonomously with supervision from Happy Health research staff members.

Provides support and instruction for the use of intranet and technology resources, works with the IT staff to ensure the optimal functioning of the College’s IT services. This positon also acts as the focal point for managing end-user devices (laptops and PCs) and has primary responsibility for updating and maintaining the IT Asset Tracking system. Minimum Qualifications: Bachelor’s degree, or a combination of education and experience from which comparable skills are acquired. Able to effectively manage time and work independently with minimal supervision, strong working knowledge of desktop applications and learning technologies, strong working knowledge of computer systems, networking, and software. This position is a swing shift position requiring the IT Support Specialist to work irregular hours including evenings and weekends during student residencies.

If you are interested in this position, please send your resume and a letter of interest to Zoe Adams at zoe@happy.ai, or reach out with any questions that you may have.

For further information, please visit: goddard.edu/about-goddard/employment-opportunities 9t-GoddardCollege092320.indd 1

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NEW JOBS POSTED DAILY! JOBS.SEVENDAYSVT.COM

71 SEPTEMBER 30-OCTOBER 7, 2020

Is currently seeking:

DR Power Equipment now hiring Call Center Representatives

Supported Housing Staff - Evening Shift

to join our South Burlington team!

https://bit.ly/3lKmXWZ

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!

Warming Shelter Support - Temporary Positions https://bit.ly/2ZLD25g

APPLY TODAY FOR ONE OF OUR OPPORTUNITIES:

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

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All people share a powerful need for the basic necessities of a good life and a place that understands that good health starts with a caring touch and a kind word. Since 1971, the Community Health Centers of Burlington (CHCB) has provided access to high quality health care regardless of financial status or life circumstance. We strive to improve the health of all within the communities we serve in an environment that conveys respect, offers support, and encourages people to be actively involved in their own health care. Our positive, mission-minded staff make CHCB a great place to work!

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

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

ACCOUNTING MANAGER

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9/14/20

CHCB is an innovative Federally Qualified Health Center with eight sites throughout Chittenden County and southern Grand Isle County. We are an Equal Opportunity Employer and are especially interested in candidates who can contribute to the diversity and excellence of the organization. We offer a generous benefits package to eligible employees and a 10:58 AM competitive minimum hourly wage for entry-level positions.

Appletree Bay Property Management is looking for a fulltime Accounting Manager to join its Organization to make a meaningful impact to the Organization’s long-term success and continued growth. The Accounting Manager will be responsible for maintaining the books for multiple rental properties, homeowners associations, and the Organization’s books. KEY RESPONSIBILITIES INCLUDE:

PATIENT ACCOUNTS REPRESENTATIVE II DENTAL BILLING Essential Duties We are looking for an energetic, team player to join our billing staff. This position is responsible for overseeing the complete revenue cycle for assigned categories, ensuring that the days in accounts receivable stay within set guidelines. If you are someone who likes the challenge of claims processing and thrives in the ever changing world of medical billing, come join our team, this job is for you!

Basic Qualifications

• Processing payments (ACH and check) from renters and home owner association members.

• High School Diploma plus 3 years’ (or Associate’s Degree & one year) experience in Medical Billing Management • Minimum one year experience with third party insurance billing • Familiarity/experience with third party insurance billing

• Prepare payables and bank reconciliations • Prepare weekly reports for management review and approval

Medical Assistant

• Prepare monthly financial statements • Respond to client inquires in a timely manner.

Essential Duties

• Prepare and file annual Forms 1099. • Ability to work in an environment with changing priorities on a daily basis • Assist management to close the books at year-end and integrate with the Organization’s external accounting firm for year-end tax preparation

Community Health Centers of Burlington is seeking multiple Medical Assistants to join the team! Medical Assistants are responsible for facilitating patient care and flow, thorough and accurate patient documentation and for performing as a contributing member of the team!

Basic Qualifications Education: • High School Graduate with vocational training in or ability to be trained as a Medical Assistant.

PREFERRED EXPERIENCE: • Several years of bookkeeping experience working in a fast-paced organization, managing the expectations of multiple constituents where priorities can change frequently. • Prior working experience of Peachtree and cloud-based accounting software, or the ability to learn accounting software/systems quickly. • Committed to continuing education and process improvement. If these attributes appeal to you, please submit your resume to Bradd@appletreebay.com. We offer a competitive salary and benefits based on experience and skill.

• Prior Medical Assistant experience highly preferred.

Skills & Abilities: • Ability to acquire knowledge of medical terminology and standardized testing procedures. • BLS Certified. • Must possess or be willing to acquire clinical and organizational skills. • Must work accurately and efficiently in a fast paced environment. • Ability to seek out appropriate resources to problem solve effectively. • Willing to work with a variety to ethnic and socioeconomic groups with various special needs. To apply for this position, please send a resume and cover letter to: HR@CHCB.org The Human Resources Department will contact applicants who have been chosen to continue through the applicant selection process. Learn More! See our Website at chcb.org/careers/positions-available. 10v-CommHealthCenterBurlington093020.indd 1

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ATTENTION RECRUITERS:

72

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

SEPTEMBER 30-OCTOBER 7, 2020

F.W. Webb, New England’s largest wholesale distributor of plumbing, heating, HVAC and industrial supplies has the following openings at its Williston, VT location:

CONTROLLER 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

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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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• Inside Sales Representative • Counter Person Both positions require a high level of customer service and exceptional follow through. Industry experience preferred. F.W. Webb offers a comprehensive benefits package, 401(k) and profit sharing. Please send resumes to: General Manager F.W. Webb Company 80 Park Avenue Williston, VT 05495 bry@fwwebb.com EOE

Visit us at: www.fwwebb.com

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9/25/20 4:30 PM

SECOND SHIFT MECHANIC

ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR OF ADMISSIONS Vermont College of Fine Arts welcomes applications for an Associate Director of Admissions position. This is a full-time, administrative, recruitment position reporting to the Vice President for Student Services.

Responsibilities include: representing VCFA to prospective students and organizations, and working to engage, communicate with, and manage inquiries into VCFA graduate arts programs. The associate director facilitates prospective students through the application process. Successful candidates will have: • Demonstrated aptitude for exceptional customer service and sales work • Bachelor’s degree and experience in higher education, admissions, or sales • An appreciation for, interest in, and curiosity about the arts and arts education • Strong technology orientation; experience with Google Apps, MS Office Suite, social media as well as the ability to learn and effectively use database systems • The position may include limited travel during the year

Green Mountain Transit is seeking to hire careerfocused Mechanics. Our mission is rooted in ensuring a safe, stable, and comfortable work environment for employees and providing safe, convenient, accessible, innovative, and sustainable public transportation for the community. We have an exciting opportunity for individuals who would like to be part of an expert team. GMT's team of mechanics maintains a fleet of approximately 100 buses, and perform preventative and corrective maintenance on all GMT systems, equipment and shop facilities. We are seeking experienced Mechanics (diesel preferred), who are eager to learn and own their own tools. A CDL-B with passenger endorsement is required, and GMT is to train the right candidate to receive their CDL with proper endorsements at no charge (over $3000 value) Compensation is based on experience: hourly rate ranges from $15.25 - $24.61. Other compensation includes a generous benefits package, $1,100.00 annual tool allowance & GMT provided uniforms and safety shoes. GMT Mechanics are members of Teamsters Local 597. Benefits: GMT offers all full-time employees a competitive salary and exceptional benefits, paid premiums for health, dental, and vision: for both the employee and his/her family members and generous time off. Publication: Size: 3.83” x 3.46” Notes: Seven Days 60771-60771 Job# 60771 • GMT offers 100% paid premium forIO#: health, dental, vision and prescription plans. Mechanical: mbb Proofreader:

• GMT offers short-term disability. 100% of the premium is paid by GMT.

• GMT pays 100% of the premium for a $50,000 life insurance/accidental death and disability insurance.

Candidates are encouraged to consult VCFA’s website to acquaint themselves with our programs, distinctive academic schedule, learning processes and educational philosophy. A full job description available at: vcfa.edu/about/jobs-at-vcfa.

• GMT offers great time off. Each new employee receives 8.67 hours every two weeks.

To apply send the following to vcfacareers@vcfa.edu:

For information call, 802-540-2536, or visit our website: ridegmt.com/careers

• Cover Letter • Resume • Statement on Diversity, Equity & Inclusion, outlining your professional skills, accomplishments, experience, and willingness to engage in activities to enhance diversity, equity, and inclusion. For full consideration, submit application by October 9, 2020. Position will remain open until filled.

• Free CDL License Training (over $3,000 value) To apply for this position: greenmountaintransit.applicantstack.com/x/openings GMT encourages job applications from all qualified people, regardless of a person’s criminal record; providing qualified applicants the opportunity to explain a criminal record when applying. There are specific positions within the organization designated as safety sensitive, where a criminal conviction may cause the candidate to be deemed ineligible for hire in that position, regardless of the circumstances.

GMT IS AN EQUAL OPPORTUNITY EMPLOYER AND COMMITTED TO A DIVERSE WORKFORCE. 9t-GreenMtnTransitMECHANIC092320.indd 1

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9/18/20 2:25 PM

b/w


FOLLOW US ON TWITTER @SEVENDAYSJOBS, SUBSCRIBE TO RSS, OR BROWSE POSTS ON YOUR PHONE AT JOBS.SEVENDAYSVT.COM

NEW JOBS POSTED DAILY! JOBS.SEVENDAYSVT.COM

73 SEPTEMBER 30-OCTOBER 7, 2020

WAIT STAFF - Full Time Breakfast/Lunch, 6:00 am – 2:30 pm This is a perfect opportunity for individuals who are interested in a start in the health care field. Similar to a PCA or caregiver role, our wait staff in skilled nursing play an important role in the dining experience for our residents. Wake Robin offers an excellent compensation and benefits package and an opportunity to build strong relationships with staff and residents in a dynamic community setting. Interested candidates please send resume and cover letter to HR@wakerobin.com or visit our website, wakerobin.com, to complete an application. E.O.E. SW-WakeRobinBREAKFAST093020.indd 1

9/29/20 1:31 PM

FULL TIME DINING ROOM SERVER

Do you enjoy serving but are tired of working restaurant schedules? The Converse Home, an assisted living community in downtown Burlington, is looking for a Full Time Dining Room Server to join our established team of fun and caring people. Work for our not-for-profit organization and get to know our wonderful residents. We have availability all days and all shifts. Excellent benefits including a regular schedule, a competitive salary, and medical, dental, and paid vacation time. The right person for this job will be responsible and outgoing, a quick learner and enjoy working with an aging population. You must be able to pass a criminal background check. Please visit conversehome.com to learn more about our community.

REGISTER NOW

AT WWW.CCV.EDU OR You may fill out an application on our website under “Careers,” orAT THE CCV LOCATION email David@conversehome.com NEAREST YOU 4t-ConverseHome093020.indd 1

Northern Lights at CCV is Hiring!

9/29/20 11:49 AM

Senior DIRECTOR OF STUDENT Administrative SUPPORT SERVICES Assistant (Location flexible wiwthin CCV Academic Centers)

PART-TIME AND FULL-TIME POSITIONS AVAILABLE ESSEX WESTFORD SCHOOL DISTRICT Are you committed to serving your community? Do you enjoy working with school-aged children? Our Essex Westford School District is seeking friendly, committed and responsible individuals to fill a variety of part-time positions in our school district. Some of the key positions are outlined below:

WE ARE SEEKING CANDIDATES FOR THE FOLLOWING POSITIONS: • Food Service Workers (Job ID 3359695) – Pays $15.13/hour, 4 to 5 hours/day • Cafeteria Coordinator (Job ID 3358218) – Pays $16.07/hour, 5.75 hours/day • Bus Aides (Job ID 3361872) – Pays $18.00/hour, approximately 2 hour shifts AM and/or PM • Bus or Minivan Drivers (Job ID 3358227) – Pays $18 to $20/hour • Lunch/Playground Supervisors (Job ID 3346827) – Pays $16.07/hour, 3 hours/day mid-day • Crossing Guards (Job ID 3243119) – Pays $23.60/hour, one hour shifts before and/ or after school • Substitute Teachers and Paraeducators (Job ID 3332237) – Pays $126/day

WE ALSO HAVE A VARIETY OF FULL-TIME POSITONS AVAILABLE INCLUDING:

We’re an excellent communicator with a leadership for We seek an looking energetic andfor resourceful leader to provide administrative and programmatic the federally funded demeanor, TRIO/Student Support Services program which targets low income, generation welcoming strong organizational skills, andfirst the college students. Five years’ experience in higher education or related field, with Master’s degree in ability work collaboratively self-managed team. The relevant area to required. Expertise in management ofin staffa, budgets and grant projects. Flexible hours and statewide travel are required. fast-paced duties handled in this position require flexibility, To view the complete posting and apply: strong computer skills, solid decision-making abilities, a ccv.edu/learn-about-ccv/employment/ positive attitude, and a willingness to adapt and change. Experience: Associate’s degree and of experience CCV encourages applications from candidates who refl ect ourtwo diverseyears student population. CCV is an EOE/ ADA compliant employer; auxiliary aids and services are available upon request to individuals with with Vermont’s disabilities. early childhood systems preferred; some social CVAA is an Equal Opportunity Employer media and/or communications experience a plus.

Records Specialist III The Record Specialist III performs professional and key administrative and operational functions and provides exceptional customer service for Northern Lights at CCV. This position is responsible for processing documentation, including preparing, reviewing, and updating documents and evaluating and entering data. Experience: Associate’s degree in business or other appropriate discipline and two years’ directly related experience.

• COVID-19 Cleaning Support (Job ID 3346140) – Pays $15.40/hour, 8 hours/day • COVID-19 Response Assistants (Job ID 3324404) – Pays $18.00/hour, up to 8 hours/ day • Web Management Specialist (Job ID 3359889) – Pays $19.50 to $21.60/hour, up to 8 hours/day • Mainstream Instructional Assistants (Job ID 33636844, 3360926, 3354617) – Pays $16.07/hour, 6.5 to 7.5 hours/day • Classroom Instructional Assistant – Elementary (Job ID 3359689, 3346838) – Pays $16.07/hour, 6.5 to 7.5 hrs/day • School Bus Driver (Job ID 3367304) – Pays $20/hour ($18/hour for driving the minivan), up to 8 hours/day EWSD is committed to building a culturally diverse and inclusive environment. If you are committed to the success of all students but do not meet all qualifications in the job description, you are still encouraged to apply. For a full list of positions, please visit ewsd.org/jobs. For more information or to apply, please visit schoolspring.com and enter the job ID of the position you are interested in as outlined above, or mail cover letter and resume to:

Essex Westford School District - Human Resource Department 51 Park Street, Essex Jct., VT 05452.

View the full postings and apply at: ccv.edu/learn-aboutccv/employment

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9/25/20 1:02 PM


ATTENTION RECRUITERS:

74

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

SEPTEMBER 30-OCTOBER 7, 2020

Commercial Roofers

Full-time, year-round employment. Good benefits. Experience in installing Epdm, Tpo, Pvc roofing. EOE/M/F/VET/Disability employer. Pay negotiable with experience.

COMPOST OPERATOR

Black Dirt Farm in Greensboro Bend is hiring a Compost Operator. This is a multifaceted role and has two main responsibilities: 1.) operating our compost collection operation two days a week, and 2.) producing compost on 8/4/20 2:59 PMthe farm. BDF is a diversified farm in Vermont's Northeast Kingdom. At Black Dirt Farm we believe thriving as a farm means The Programming Librarian cultivating a diverse, inclusive, develops & plans programming and equitable workplace where for our community online and individuals can flourish and grow. in person (when this becomes

Apply in person at: A.C. Hathorne Co. 252 Avenue C Williston, VT 802-862-6473

MASTER ELECTRICIAN, LICENSED GAS TECH/ PLUMBER, & CARPENTER

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Smugglers' Notch Resort is ERVATIONIST seeking a master electrician,

Resort is seeking a sales-minded licensed gas technician/ who possesses the skills to sell vacation plumber, & carpenter to join ges via inbound and outbound phone our Award-Winning team. online web chats in a positive and office environment. The successful For the right candidate be courteous,these self-motivated and can be year-round, ull-time position with a mix of day, full-time positions. e weekend shifts. Sales commissions wages earned. Typing skills and friendly To apply: smuggs.com/jobs t. Great resort benefits!

or call 1-888-754-7684 for more information. t www.smuggs.com/jobs 54-7684

Resort

te 108S 5464 eoe

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Programming Librarian

The Executive Director will build on a 38-year history of immersing young Vermonters from all income levels & regions in high-impact learning opportunities that stimulate their personal growth and expand career aspirations. We’re looking for exceptional collaboration & communication skills, six years of experience or equivalent leading people and workplace culture, proven fundraising, and financial management skills. Job description at giv.org/jobs. Send cover letter & resume to EDsearch@giv.org by Oct. 9th. NO PHONE CALLS, PLEASE.

Applications are invited for a part-time Public Safety Officer. This position requires the ability to deal with a wide range of individuals, often under stressful or emergency situations. A successful candidate will demonstrate the ability to work effectively in a college environment seeking a balance between education and enforcement in the performance of duties. Maintaining a safe campus includes the performance of routine services, response to incidents and emergencies, and completion of necessary documentation and follow up. Schedule is rotating and includes nights, weekends and holidays. Benefits: Eligible for paid-time-off accrual as outlined in the employee handbook. This hourly, part-time position is not eligible for regular College provided fringe benefits.

9/29/20 1:00 PM

DISPATCHER/SWITCHBOARD OPERATOR (PER-DIEM)

carpentercarse.org/ were-hiring 1

Applications are invited for a per-diem Dispatcher/Switchboard Operator for Public Safety/Fire & Rescue Departments at Saint Michael’s College to dispatch radio calls and operate the College switchboard. This person will be responsible for answering all incoming calls, including all emergency calls received for SMC campus and the surrounding community, and directing calls to the appropriate party quickly, accurately, and professionally. Dispatch, switchboard, and emergency services experience desirable, but we will provide training for a motivated and dependable person with demonstrated aptitude.

9/28/20 12:30 PM

Maintenance Technician

Winooski Housing Authority, a progressive owner, manager and developer of affordable housing, seeks a highly 2v-FredsEnergy093020.indd motivated Maintenance Technician to join our team. Experience in general facilities maintenance a plus. Must possess a valid driver’s license, an acceptable literacy level and be willing to be a part of the on-call rotation. Competitive starting salary with a generous benefits package. Please send your resume to Debbie at dhergenrother@ winooskihousing.org, or mail in (stop in for an application) to WHA, 83 Barlow Street, Winooski, VT 05404. Attn: Debbie. E.O.E.

For full job description and to apply online go to: smcvt.interviewexchange.com.

1

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Part Time

possible). This position is 20For a full job description visit: For full job description and to apply online go to: 25 hours a week and includes blackdirtfarm.com/employment. smcvt.interviewexchange.com. two evenings and one Saturday per month. Priority deadline is October 16. Preferred 9/25/204t-StMikesPUBLICsafety093020.indd 1:33 PM 1 Qualifications: a college 2v-BlackDirtFarm093020.indd 1 degree, and previous library, educational or programming experience is helpful. Adaptability, care and kindness are our leading values as an organization.

9/18/202v-Carpenter-CarseLibrary093020.indd 12:31 PM EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

Help expand the personal growth & career horizons of young Vermonters! If you enjoy working with multiple teams, wearing different management hats, and have a passion for learning, YOU might be GIV’s next leader.

PUBLIC SAFETY OFFICER

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1 9/29/20 4t-StMikesDISPATCH093020.indd 11:37 AM

9/29/20 2:13 PM

9/11/20 3:32 PM


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NEW JOBS POSTED DAILY! JOBS.SEVENDAYSVT.COM

75 SEPTEMBER 30-OCTOBER 7, 2020

WAIT STAFF - Part Time Food Runner in our Elegant Main Dining Room, 4:00-8:30 pm This position is great for anyone with the time and drive to begin their working experience, or for professionals who wish to supplement their current career endeavors. Join our fun and dynamic team of wait staff and get to know the residents who make Wake Robin the wonderful community that it is. Wake Robin offers an excellent compensation and benefits package and an opportunity to build strong relationships with staff and residents in a dynamic community setting. Interested candidates please send resume and cover letter to HR@wakerobin.com or visit our website, wakerobin.com, to complete an application. E.O.E. SW-WakeRobinFOODrunner093020.indd 1

9/29/20 1:39 PM

SENIOR ACCOUNTANT

WASTE REDUCTION PROGRAM MANAGER The Rutland County Solid Waste District (RCSWD) seeks a passionate and highly organized self-starter with exceptional planning, project management, and communications skills to serve as RCSWD’s Program Manager. This position will work closely with the outreach coordinator to coordinate all phases of assigned programs in areas such as community and business materials management, education and community outreach, research, grant management, and technical assistance. This is a full-time, salary position based in our office in Rutland, Vermont. We support best management practices for solid waste management and resource recovery in communities; build capacity in the recycling and composting industries; advocate for better policies; and provide technical assistance to individuals, businesses, educational institutions, and 17 regional municipal town stakeholders. The ideal candidate will be a creative problem-solver motivated to create solutions for maximizing the benefits of resource recovery. This role requires excellent communication skills and the ability to convey complex ideas into clear and compelling reports, articles, proposals, and presentations; and an ability to lead with a passion for working collaboratively with State agencies, and people from all walks of life to promote waste reduction and sustainability. Total Compensation Package: Benefits: RCSWD offers medical, vision, and life insurance; retirement benefits after one full year of employment; paid vacation, holidays, and flextime; continuous learning opportunities with trainings and conferences; and a great work-life balance! How to Apply: For job details: rcswd.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/ Waste-Reduction-Program-Manager-AD-.pdf Please email your cover letter, resume, and one writing sample to Mark S. Shea, District Manager at mshea@rcswd.com. Applications will be accepted before October 16, 2020, or until position is filled. RCSWD is an Equal Opportunity Employer

Union Bank, a full service community bank headquartered in Morrisville, VT, is dedicated to providing superior banking and financial services. As a local Vermont business, we offer challenging and rewarding career opportunities. We are seeking an experienced Senior Accountant for a full-time position. RESIDENTIAL MORTGAGE Remote working options may be available with a home base at one of our LOAN ASSISTANT branch locations. This position includes the following responsibilities: We are seeking a full time Residential Mortgage Loan

Assistant for our level growing South Burlington Loan Offi ce. • Preparing or reviewing Bank and holding company consolidated This individual will be responsible for performing a vareconciliations, schedules, internal, external and regulatory reports. riety of administrative duties to provide loan origina-

• The quarterly preparation, review and filing Call Report tion and documentation support forof ourthe Mortgage Loan with the FDIC and the financialOffi statements the SEC (10-Qs, 10-Ks, other cers. Other with responsibilities include overseeing the SEC filings). completion andrequirements accuracy of loan process• Ensure compliance with SOX anddocuments, manage the certification process. ing loans and ensuring proper loan documentation in-

• Preparation or cluding review input of various monthly quarterly internal Management of information andand preparing all related and Board reports. loan documents, follow up on verifications and credit reports, preparation of loans for underwriting, as well • Assist with the budget process and analysis of actual results compared to budget. as commitment letters, notes, and other loan documen-

• Prepare or review various subsidiary reconciliations and the federal tation and setother up, assisting customers with advances on home construction lines and providing all other loan and state tax analysis. support needed. Requirements include excellent writ-

• Review, analysis, communication and implementation of GAAP, SEC and ten and oral communication, and a minimum of 2 years regulatory pronouncements as assigned. of prior residential loan experience with a familiarity of secondary market mortgage loan products is preferable

A Bachelor’s degree in Accounting or Finance is required. CPA or CPA candidate and but not required. Attention to detail, strong organizafinancial institution experience is desirable. Experience with financial application tional skills, and the ability to multi-task are essential. software and the ability to work independently are essential. Required traits include being detail oriented, analytical, organized, deadline oriented and efficient. Excellent verbal and written communication skills are critical for success, as is the ability to interact with various levels at the Bank or external organization. Union Bank offers wages, a comprehensive Salary will be commensurate withcompetitive experience. Union Bank also offers benefi ts package, training for professional developa comprehensive benefits program for full time employees, including ment, strong advancement potential, stable hours and comprehensive medical and dental insurance, fully paid life and disability a supportive work environment. Qualified applications insurance, paid vacation and sick leave and a robust 401(k) plan with generous may apply with a cover letter, resume, professional refcompany matching. To be considered for this position, please submit a cover erences and salary requirements to: letter, resume,references and salary requirements to:

PO Box 667

Human ResourcesMorrisville, - Union Bank, P.O. Box 667 Human VT 05661-0667 Morrisville, Vermont 05661 – 0667 Resources careers@unionbankvt.com careers@unionbankvt.com Member FDIC 10v-UnionBank093020.indd 1

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Equal Housing Lender

Equal Opportunity Employer

Residential Mortgage Loan Assistant - LPO Seven Days, 3.83 x 7

9/28/20 3:39 PM


fun stuff

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SEVEN DAYS SEPTEMBER 30-OCTOBER 7, 2020


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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 OCTOBER 1-7

Meditate on what it means to be the imperial boss and supreme monarch of your own fate.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): “The basic principle of spiritual life is that our problems become the very place to discover wisdom and love.” Buddhist teacher Jack Kornfield made that brilliant observation. It’s always worth meditating on, but it’s an especially potent message for you during the first three weeks of October 2020. In my view, now is a highly favorable time for you to extract uplifting lessons by dealing forthrightly with your knottiest dilemmas. I suspect that these lessons could prove useful for the rest of your long life.

LIBRA

(SEPT. 23-OCT. 22):

In her high school yearbook, Libraborn Sigourney Weaver arranged to have this caption beneath her official photo: “Please, God, please, don’t let me be normal!” Since then, she has had a long and acclaimed career as an actor in movies. ScreenPrism.com calls her a pioneer of female action heroes. Among her many exotic roles: a fierce warrior who defeats monstrous aliens; an exobiologist working with Indigenous people on the moon of a distant planet in the 22nd century; and a naturalist who lives with mountain gorillas in Rwanda. If you have ever had comparable fantasies about transcending normalcy, Libra, now would be a good time to indulge those fantasies — and begin cooking up plans to make them come true.

ARIES (March 21-April 19): “I am, indeed, a king, because I know how to rule myself,” wrote 16th-century author Pietro Aretino. By January 2021, Aries, I would love for you to have earned the right to make a similar statement: “I am, indeed, a royal sovereign, because I know how to rule myself.” Here’s the most important point: The robust power and clout you have the potential to summon has nothing to do with power and clout over other people — only over yourself. Homework:

GEMINI (May 21-June 20): “My business is to

love,” wrote poet Emily Dickinson. I invite you to adopt this motto for the next three weeks. It’s an excellent time to intensify your commitment to expressing compassion, empathy and tenderness. To do so will not only bring healing to certain allies who need it; it will also make you smarter. I mean that literally. Your actual intelligence will expand and deepen as you look for and capitalize on opportunities to bestow blessings. (P.S. Dickinson also wrote, “My business is to sing.” I recommend you experiment with that mandate, as well.)

CANCER (June 21-July 22): “I’m the diamond in the dirt, that ain’t been found,” sings Cancerian rapper Curtis Jackson, also known as 50 Cent. “I’m the underground king and I ain’t been crowned,” he adds. My reading of the astrological omens suggests that a phenomenon like that is going on in your life right now. There’s something unknown about you that deserves and needs to be known. You’re not getting the full credit and acknowledgment you’ve earned through your soulful accomplishments. I hereby authorize you to take action! Address this oversight. Rise up and correct it. LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): The author bell hooks (who doesn’t capitalize her name) has spent years as a professor in American universities. Adaptability has been a key strategy in her efforts to educate her students. She writes, “One of the things that we must do as teachers is twirl around and around, and find out

what works with the situation that we’re in.” That’s excellent advice for you right now — in whatever field you’re in. Old reliable formulas are irrelevant, in my astrological opinion. Strategies that have guided you in the past may not apply to the current scenarios. Your best bet is to twirl around and around as you experiment to find out what works.

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): “Your relationship with yourself sets the tone for every other relationship you have,” says motivational speaker Robert Holden. Hallelujah and amen! Ain’t that the truth! Which is why it’s so crucial to periodically take a thorough inventory of your relationship with yourself. And guess what, Virgo: Now would be a perfect time to do so. Even more than that: During your inventory, if you discover ways in which you treat yourself unkindly or carelessly, you can generate tremendous healing energy by working to fix the glitches. The coming weeks could bring pivotal transformations in your bonds with others if you’re brave enough to make pivotal transformations in your bonds with yourself. SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): Scorpio-born Prince Charles has been heir to the British throne for 68 years. That’s an eternity to be patiently on hold for his big chance to serve as king. His mother, Queen Elizabeth, just keeps going on and on, living her very long life, ensuring that Charles remains second-incommand. But I suspect that many Scorpios who have been awaiting their turn will finally graduate to the next step in the coming weeks and months. Will Charles be one of them? Will you? To increase your chances, here’s a tip: Meditate on how to be of even greater devotion to the ideals you love to serve. SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): Inventor

Buckminster Fuller was a visionary who loved to imagine ideas and objects no one had ever dreamed of before. One of his mottoes was, “There is nothing in a caterpillar that tells you it’s going to be a butterfly.” I recommend that you spend quality time in the coming weeks meditating on butterfly-like things you’d love to have as part of your future — things that may resemble caterpillars in the early going. Your

homework is to envision three such innovations that could be in your world by October 1, 2021.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): During World War II, Hollywood filmmakers decided it would be a good idea to create stories based on graphic current events: for example, American Marines waging pitched battles against Japanese soldiers on South Pacific islands. But audiences were cool to that approach. They preferred comedies and musicals with “no message, no mission, no misfortune.” In the coming weeks, I advise you to resist any temptation you might have to engage in a similar disregard of current events. In my opinion, your mental health requires that you be extra discerning and well-informed about politics — and so does the future of your personal destiny. AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): “Pretending

is imagined possibility,” observes actor Meryl Streep. “Pretending is a very valuable life skill, and we do it all the time.” In other words, fantasizing about events that may never happen is just one way we use our mind’s eye. We also wield our imaginations to envision scenarios that we actually want to create in our real lives. In fact, that’s the first step in actualizing those scenarios: to play around with picturing them, to pretend they will one day be a literal part of our world. The coming weeks will be an excellent time for you to supercharge the generative aspect of your imagination. I encourage you to be especially vivid and intense as you visualize in detail the future you want.

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): “My own soul must

be a bright invisible green,” wrote author and philosopher Henry David Thoreau. Novelist Tom Robbins suggested that we visualize the soul as “a cross between a wolf howl, a photon, and a dribble of dark molasses.” Nobel Prize-winning poet Wislawa Szymborska observed, “Joy and sorrow aren’t two different feelings” for the soul. Poet Emily Dickinson thought that the soul “should always stand ajar” — just in case an ecstatic experience or rousing epiphany might be lurking in the vicinity. In the coming weeks, Pisces, I invite you to enjoy your own lively meditations on the nature of your soul. You’re in a phase when such an exploration can yield interesting results.

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SEVEN DAYS SEPTEMBER 30-OCTOBER 7, 2020

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9/29/20 2:41 PM


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

Respond to these people online: dating.sevendaysvt.com WOMEN seeking... INDESCRIBABLY UNIQUE I am a weekend warrior who hikes, backpacks, kayaks and bicycles in the summer and cross-country skis and snowshoes in the winter. I enjoy swing dancing, concerts and sharing homecooked meals. I am an avid reader, good conversationalist and loyal friend. Looking for my soul mate but will be simply delighted with a new activity partner. Beshert, 67, seeking: M, l NEW IN TOWN, REACHING OUT First off, you’re probably wondering why I only posted the back of my head in the photograph. It is just because I want to be careful in a public forum. I’m outrageously fun but can also be very reserved. If we talk and I trust you, I will send you photos. You won’t be disappointed. Seeking friendship or serious relationship. NewHere, 43, seeking: M, l FUNNY, ACTIVE ACTIVIST AND ADVENTURIST Recently moved to Vermont from D.C. Would like to meet people for social/ political activism, hiking, hanging out and socializing. Always up for new adventures, like discussing world events. Am compassionate, enjoy outdoor activities. I’m nonjudgmental and appreciate the same in others. I’ve been involved in activism around racial equity, health care and disability rights ... but don’t take myself too seriously! AnnieCA, 67, seeking: M, l

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W = Women M = Men TW = Trans women TM = Trans men Q = Genderqueer people NBP = Nonbinary people NC = Gender nonconformists Cp = Couples Gp = Groups

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INTUITIVE, CREATIVE, A GOOD LISTENER! I’m a good person who enjoys good food to eat, good wine to drink, good books to read, good stories to share and good friends to spend time with. I have been called the “Quick of Wit.” My friends say that I am funny, caring, creative, sometimes edgy, and that I not only tell good stories, I write them! Sentient, 66, seeking: M, l WALKING PARTNER WANTED Hi, I’m Nogah. I live in downtown Montpelier. I’m looking for a friend and walking partner for the fall/winter. We’ll see where things go. I have a kind and big heart. Truth be told, I am also a bit neurotic. Pescatarians, vegetarians and vegans only. You should also be environmentally conservative and humble. NogahB, 39, seeking: M, l KIND HEART Loyal, kind, shy initially, love a good conversation, funny. Decided it’s time to explore all options that could lead to a loving, supportive relationship. Romantic but don’t need over-the-top gestures of love. Love my family, family gatherings, cooking/baking, traveling, a car ride to nowhere and a trip to Ireland! Love rugby, and favorite place is Lake Willoughby! Slaintesusan9, 58, seeking: M SUNNY, HAPPY AND FUN I love sharing fun things with a partner. I love sailing and the beach in the summer and skiing and skating in the winter. I love playing almost all sports except hunting. I also love theater, dance and music. Looking for someone who enjoys the same and is laid-back and not too serious. snowflake12 , 49, 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 Conversation starter: “There is somethin wonderfully bold and liberating about saying yes to our entire imperfect and messy life.” (Tara Brach) Walk and talk? 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

SEVEN DAYS SEPTEMBER 30-OCTOBER 7, 2020

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- to 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

MEN seeking... THE ONE I am a good-looking and somewhat athletic guy looking for kinda the same. Intelligent, informed and adventurous. Really just looking for a Sunday lover for now. Let’s talk about it, and if I trust you, I’ll share contact info and pics. mountintop, 53, seeking: M LOVING, HUMOR, ADVENTUROUS, TRAVELER, AWAKE There is no box; little of what we’ e been told is true. I have carved out a unique, fun, non-cookie-cutter-type life that involves amazing travel adventures, many forms of employment, and an amazing network of friends and family all over the world. I lost my love to ovarian cancer fi e years ago. Hope to find a magical l ve connection again. ComeDanceWithMe, 55, seeking: W, l EMOTIONALLY AVAILABLE Funny, open-minded guy with lots of love (and I’m not necessarily talking about sex) seeking liberal, openminded, somewhat kinky woman with any body type. I’m interested in your mind, mainly. Intelligence, as long as it’s not pretentious, is a huge turn-on. Communication is of paramount importance to me, so please be a good communicator. Ilovemyview, 68, seeking: W, l

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, self-supported individual who doesn’t fit into any classificati totally. 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 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 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

COUPLES seeking... COUPLE SEEKS FRIENDS AND FUN We are a busy couple that is looking to meet incredible and like-minded single males or couples to share our off time with and play with us. Discreet, honest and fun — request the same from you. Message us. Let’s get to know each other, have some fun and see where this goes! Swizzle73, 47, seeking: M, Cp COUPLE SEEKING GUY OR GIRL We are very open and honest. Clean, safe and totally discreet. We are looking for a man with a big dick or a woman who wants to try new adult things with a couple. We want to role-play and try some kink. Newboytoyvt, 50, seeking: M, W, TM, Cp

COUNTRY BOY I like being outdoors. Like hiking and mountain bikes. ARTIC878, 50, seeking: W

CUTE COUPLE LOOKING FOR FUN 33-y/o couple looking for female friend or couple. Mojovt, 33, seeking: W, Cp, l

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

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 fulfill 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 five 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 GREEN MOUNTAIN FUNTOWN Adventurous, educated, attractive couple married 14 years interested in meeting others for some wine, conversation, potential exploration and safe fun. She is 42 y/o, 5’11, dirty blond hair. He is 43 y/o, 5’10, brown hair. Seeking Cp or W. ViridisMontis, 43, seeking: Cp

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

MOUNT ABE WITH OLLIE I was hiking with a good friend, and you, your buddy and dog Ollie were doing the same. We passed each other at least four times, counting on the road afterward, and exchanged big (masked) smiles. Probably you’re just naturally generous with smiles, but it’s worth asking if you’d like to go on a hike together? When: Saturday, September 26, 2020. Where: Mount Abe. You: Man. Me: Woman. #915155

MANDY, CHARLOTTE BRICK STORE Hey there. I get coffee sometimes on my work break. Over the course of the winter, your smile, friendliness and very cute face have put you in my mind far more times than I have gotten coffee. I’d love to know you. When: Saturday, August 1, 2020. Where: Brick Store. You: Woman. Me: Man. #915150

SCARED AT SAXON HILL You scared me at Saxon Hill. You were walking, and I was on my bike. We joked about you scaring me. I would enjoy joking about this some more. Hope to see you there again. When: Saturday, September 26, 2020. Where: Saxon Hill. You: Woman. Me: Man. #915154 GREAT LEGS ON A SATURDAY You were parked in the VNA parking lot. Had to come around and see those legs again in that black dress. You were getting ready to go to a function. Would love to see those legs again. What function were you going to, and what type of car were you driving? (To know it’s you.) When: Saturday, September 26, 2020. Where: Colchester. You: Woman. Me: Man. #915153 JIM AND HIS HARLEY DAVIDSON Over six years ago, closeness developed between you and me at our church on Williston Road. Ironically, we see each other again years later in Cumberland Farms on Riverside (you were working at U-Haul at that time) — only to cross paths again in front of the bank. Did God answer you this time? When: Saturday, June 20, 2020. Where: on his motorcycle. You: Man. Me: Woman. #915152

BURNT ROCK MOUNTAIN You were out enjoying a picture-perfect day on the trail with Lainey, and we crossed paths a few times. After you helped me with some directions in the parking lot, we went our separate ways, but I haven’t been able to shake your beautiful smile. I’ve never I-Spied anyone before, but figured, “Why not?” Join me for a hike sometime? When: Saturday, September 19, 2020. Where: North Fayston. You: Woman. Me: Man. #915149 NEK BOUNDARIES Passed by each other several times hiking on a beautiful sunny Sunday. Would like to go on a hike with you next time, and we can debate the extents of the Northeast Kingdom. Hopefully talk about lots of other things, as well, and see more foliage. When: Sunday, September 20, 2020. Where: on the trail. You: Woman. Me: Man. #915148 BIKER WOMAN IN DANVILLE I saw you biking, and we spoke a few times on the trail and at the road where you got off. Let’s ride together sometime! You pedal pretty fast. When: Saturday, September 5, 2020. Where: West Danville. You: Woman. Me: Man. #915147 BLUE HAIR I saw you with your blue hair and thought you’d match my purple hair nicely. When: Friday, September 18, 2020. Where: the co-op. You: Man. Me: Woman. #915146

Ask REVEREND ˛˝˙

Irreverent counsel on life’s conundrums

Dear Reverend,

˜ e woman I’m currently dating wants me to help fulfill her rape fantasy. I’m all for getting a little wild, but I’m a gentle guy and I’m not comfortable with the idea of acting out sexual violence. I’m also a lot bigger than she is, and I’m worried I might accidentally hurt her. How can I give her what she wants without feeling like an asshole?

Mr. Nice Guy (MALE, 28)

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. ° anks for the friendly wave. When: ˜ ursday, 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, ° e 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. ° en 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 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

Dear Mr. Nice Guy,

“Consensual rape” might be the biggest oxymoron in the universe. Obviously, rape is a crime, and no one actually wants to be attacked this way. But forced sex is a very common erotic fantasy. If you were raised right, it’s no surprise the idea rubs you the wrong way. Perhaps it would make you feel better if you didn’t refer to it as a “rape fantasy” but rather considered it good oldfashioned dominant/ submissive play.˝ You should never do anything sexual that makes you truly uncomfortable.

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

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

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 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

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 Thank 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 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 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

If it’s really not something you’re down with, your lady friend should understand. However, it sounds like you might be willing to give it a shot. You can start out slow and learn what she likes and get to know her — and your — limits. limits.˝ There’s a great piece on the Slut Lessons website

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. This 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

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 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. There were geese. When: Saturday, July 25, 2020. Where: Burlington-Colchester bridge. You: Man. Me: Man. #915106

that covers pretty much everything you need to know about this sort of thing.˝Go to slutlessons.wordpress. com and search “Rape Fantasy: How to Carry It Out Safely.” Before getting started, it’s very important that you two agree on a safe word. Make it something more unique than “no” or “stop,” and make it memorable. If either of you feels that things are going too far, use it. You may also want to have a nonverbal gesture. If either of you uses the safe word or gesture, the action comes to a halt, no questions asked. Good luck and God bless,

The Reverend What’s your problem?

Send it to asktherev@sevendaysvt.com.

SEVEN DAYS SEPTEMBER 30-OCTOBER 7, 2020

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SWF, 37, seeking M for some casual fun, no strings attached. I just got out of an LTR, and I’ve forgotten how it feels to be physically and sexually alive. Can you remind me? Creative meetups and play a must. #L1443 Very unique lady in early 70s seeks male. I’m a people person and very active. Love to cook, garden, read and watch good movies. Very friendly with a lot of empathy. I love to walk and the outdoors. Looking for someone who enjoys the same. #L1442 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 Attractive SWM, 51, living around the Burlington area. Seeking a curvaceous female for some casual fun with no strings attached. All it takes is some good chemistry... #L1447 I’m a mid-aged male seeking a M or F any age or gender. Wonderful youth, caring person. Male, 5’9, 147. Older mid-aged loves long-distance running, writing, literature, poetry, drawing, folk and jazz. Looking for a great friendship for hikes, walks, talks. Best to all. #L1446 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 a single female, mid60s, seeking a male for companionship and adventure. Retired educator who loves kayaking, swimming, skiing and travel. Well read. Life is short; let’s have fun. #L1445 Staff researcher at UVM on biostatistics. 29-y/o Chinese male. INFJ personality. Seeking a female of similar age for longterm relationship. Love is kind. Love is patient. May we all stay healthy and be happy. #L1444 I’m a petite blonde. Healthy, active SWF seeking a kind, honest SWM for conversation, walks, dinners and short trips. 70 to 80. #L1438

HOW TO REPLY TO THESE LOVE LETTERS: Seal your reply — including your preferred contact info — inside an envelope. Write your penpal’s box number on the outside of that envelope and place it inside another envelope with payment. Responses for Love Letters must begin with the #L box number. MAIL TO: Seven Days Love Letters

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(made out to “Seven Days”) in the outer envelope. To send unlimited replies for only $15/month, call us at 802-865-1020, ext. 10 for a membership (credit accepted).

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SEVEN DAYS SEPTEMBER 30-OCTOBER 7, 2020

I’m a man, 30, seeking a woman. Math-brained, tall, working. Seeking long-term relationship and date for Thanksgiving. #L1437 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

Internet-Free Dating!

Reply to these messages with real, honest-to-goodness letters. DETAILS BELOW. 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 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

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 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

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 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

Describe yourself and who you’re looking for in 40 words below:

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THIS FORM IS FOR LOVE LETTERS ONLY. Messages for the Personals and I-Spy sections must be submitted online at dating.sevendaysvt.com.


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