MONDAY EDITION
ADDISON COUNTY
INDEPENDENT
Vol. 30 No. 25
Middlebury, Vermont
Monday, October 15, 2018
$1.00
Cerebral palsy not a bar to Spartan Race
• Town Hall Theater will broadcast “Samson et Dalila” from the Met. See Arts Beat on Page 10.
By PATTY THOMAS AND EVAN JOHNSON KILLINGTON — Killington Resort welcomed some of the world’s strongest obstacle course racers last month to compete in the Spartan Race, which tests the mental and physical strength of athletes with punishing climbs and grueling obstacles including heavy objects to carry, walls to climb and pits of fire to leap over. Covering the entire face of the mountain, the Killington course has long been hailed as the toughest in the entire circuit. On the starting line Sept. 15, was adaptive athlete Jason Davis, 40, of Pittsford. Born with cerebral palsy, a disorder that affects muscle tone, movement and motor skills, Davis took on the course with the support of Team Believe 923, a nationwide organization that provides accommodations, safety measures and equipment to adaptive athletes. Davis was upbeat when asked why he chose the toughest course (See Davis, Page 43)
Backyard birds provide insights • An evolutionary biologist will talk about what we can learn from avian species. See Page 29.
OV girls’ soccer faces key game
• A high-scoring junior led the Otters vs. Windsor on Friday as they hoped to reach .500. See Sports, Page 32.
Sullivan recalled as Salisbury’s ‘encyclopedia’
Color/no color
• Read about older neighbors who come to grips with aging in our Senior Lifestyles section on Pages 15-26.
44 Pages
Athlete beats life’s biggest obstacles
Duo sings in sensual opera
Seniors balance in so many ways
A BLANK SLATE white truck contrasts with a colorful tree as it rushes past in Weybridge Tuesday afternoon. Independent photo/Trent Campbell
Pulling strings in Bristol Artisan turns weather-beaten redwood into unique guitars By CHRISTOPHER ROSS BRISTOL — In 2012, when the University of Vermont dismantled its Centennial Field soccer bleachers, it sold off thousands of feet of weather-beaten redwood planks. Bristol luthier Micah Plante got the chance to pick through about 300 of those planks and selected just
eight. Now, slice by 3/32-inch slice and curve by curve, he’s turning the redwood into acoustic and electric guitars. Those guitars and several others, crafted from a variety of wood species and bearing their maker’s unique polar (See Plante, Page 34)
By JOHN FLOWERS SALISBURY — Whenever people in Salisbury are stumped on a historical fact about their town — whether it be the original location of an old barn or the location of a founding citizen’s grave — they have invariably turned to their human encyclopedia. “Ask Martha.” Tragically, Martha Sullivan, owner of one of the longest civic resumes in Addison County, will no longer be able to serve as the go-to source for all things Salisbury. Sullivan, 79, died unexpectedly on Tuesday, Oct. 9, just hours before that evening’s gathering of the town selectboard, a panel she chaired. The day before her death she was dutifully sitting at a computer at the town garage, checking on the status of federal aid for Salisbury’s losses from a recent storm. Her death leaves a sizable void (See Sullivan, Page 43)