MONDAY Â Â EDITION
ADDISON COUNTY
INDEPENDENT
Vol. 25 No. 9
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Middlebury, Vermont
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Monday, April 22, 2013
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32 Pages
75¢
ACSU  braces  for  big  drop  in  students )HZHU WHDFKHUV FRXUVHV LQ WKH RIÂżQJ By  JOHN  FLOWERS MIDDLEBURY  —  The  UD-Â3  school  board  has  begun  to  discuss  ways  of  streamlining  Middlebury  Union  high  and  middle  schools’ Â
dison  Central  Supervisory  Union  RIÂżFH LQGLFDWHV WKDW ZKLOH WKH VWDIÂżQJ SURJUDPV DQG IDFLOLWLHV LQ combined  total  enrollment  of  the  anticipation  of  a  student  body  that’s  ACSU’s  seven  elementary  schools  pegged  to  decline  substantially  dur- is  projected  to  remain  constant  at  ing  the  next  four  years. around  790  students  between  now  Information  provided  by  the  Ad- and  the  2016-Â2017  academic  year, Â
student  numbers  are  expected  to  de- cline  from  the  current  316  to  234,  or  26  percent,  at  MUMS,  and  from  the  current  601  to  545,  or  9  percent,  at  MUHS,  during  that  same  timeframe. It’s  sobering  information  for  (See  Declining  numbers,  Page  21)
Final  vote  nears  on  search  and  rescue  bill;Íž  local  family  heartened Â
Tigers baseball touches all bases ‡ 08+6 ZLOO IDFH &98 WKLV ZHHN DIWHU WKUHH FKDOOHQJLQJ JDPHV DW WKH HQG RI ODVW ZHHN 6HH 3DJH
Spring  harvest MIDDLEBURY  UNION  HIGH  School  senior  Kyle  Cota  harvests  lettuce  in  the  Hannaford  Career  Center  greenhouse  last  Friday  morning.  Career  Center  students  package  some  of  the  lettuce  for  sale  and  some  is  used  at  The  Onion,  the  school’s  in-Âhouse  restaurant. Independent  photo/Trent  Campbell
By  CINDY  HILL MONTPELIER  —  The  Vermont  Senate  Government  Operations  Committee  last  Wednesday  unani- mously  approved  the  Search  and  Rescue  Bill,  H.182,  clearing  the  way  for  its  passage  in  the  full  Sen- ate  as  early  as  this  week.  However,  the  Vermont  House  must  approve  amendments  made  by  the  Senate  committee  before  the  new  search  and  rescue  protocol  can  be  signed  into  law  by  the  governor. “It’s  been  a  long  haul,�  said  Kathy  Duclos  wearily  in  testimony  urging  the  committee  to  move  the  bill  for- ward.  The  Starksboro  woman  is  the  aunt  of  hiker  Levi  Duclos,  whose  death  last  winter  on  a  Ripton  hiking  trail  sparked  the  legislative  action.  “It’s  not  a  perfect  bill  and  there’s  plenty  about  it  I  don’t  like,�  she  con- tinued,  “but  I  think  it’s  the  best  we  (See  Search  bill,  Page  5)
Sugaring season sets records Perfect  freeze-Âthaw  keeps  sap  ÀRZLQJ QHWV ORWV RI IDQF\ V\UXS
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Âł:H KDG H[FHOOHQW Ă€DYRU IRU DOO JUDGHV ´ $XGHW said.  While  Audet  said  that  Ledge  Haven  Farm  normal- O\ ÂżQLVKHV WKH VHDVRQ ZLWK D VWUHWFK RI FRPPHUFLDO By  XIAN  CHIANG-ÂWAREN grade  syrup,  this  year  there  was  only  a  short  period  and  JOHN  S.  McCRIGHT where  Ledge  Haven  Farm  made  darker  syrup,  and  ADDISON  COUNTY  —  Last  year’s  maple  even  that  syrup  was  of  an  unusually  high  quality. sugaring  season  may  have  ranked  among  the  “That  in  itself  is  a  record,â€?  Audet  said  with  a  worst  in  recent  memory.  But  in  2013,  laugh.  Mother  Nature  delivered  in  spades. Up  in  Addison  County’s  higher  eleva- “We had “This  year  broke  all  records,â€?  said  tion  towns,  sugarmakers  started  the  season  excellent a  week  or  two  behind  the  sugaring  houses  Tom  Audet  of  Ledge  Haven  Farm  in  Or- well.  “In  quantity,  quality  and  length  of  à DYRU in  the  valley.  But  in  the  third  week  of  April,  season,  it  was  just  a  record  breaker.â€? IRU DOO they  were  still  going  strong. Like  Audet,  sugarmakers  across  the  JUDGHV Âľ At  the  Triple  T  Mapleworks  in  Shoreham  county  are  reporting  a  record  season. the  Patterson  family  last  week  was  clean- ³ 7RP Audet  said  he  usually  pulls  around  Audet ing  their  equipment  after  a  banner  year.  The  1,100  to  1,200  gallons  of  syrup  annually.  growing  business  bottled  170  gallons  of  This  year,  he  made  2,000.  In  recent  seasons,  the  syrup  last  year,  and,  after  nearly  tripling  their  num- Audets  have  been  done  sugaring  by  mid-ÂMarch.  ber  of  taps  this  year,  bottled  850  gallons  this  past  This  year,  despite  a  10-Âday  period  in  the  middle  season. of  March  when  sap  didn’t  run,  the  season  ran  for  “That  is  awesome,â€?  said  Michelle  Patterson.  “It  TANNER  BURNS,  6,  walks  away  from  his  family’s  Shoreham  sugarhouse  last  Friday  almost  eight  weeks  —  from  the  second  week  of  was  a  busy  season.â€? February  until  the  second  week  of  April. She  said  they  produced  a  lot  of  “fancyâ€?  syrup,  morning.  Most  area  sugarmakers  had  excel- lent  seasons. As  for  the  syrup  itself? Independent  photo/Trent  Campbell (See  Sugaring,  Page  21)