MONDAY EDITION
ADDISON COUNTY
INDEPENDENT
Vol. 29 No. 33
Middlebury, Vermont
Monday, December 4, 2017
• An advent tradition returns to Middlebury next Sunday. Read about it in Arts Beat on Pages 10-13.
ERICA MORRELL, A postdoctoral fellow in sociology at Middlebury College, far right, and her senior students Emma Shumway, left, Jennifer Ayer, Matthew MacKay and Isabel Wyer have authored a report that details the charitable food efforts in Addison County and how those efforts could be affected by Vermont’s new recycling and composting law.
• A Vermont family recognizes the accomplishments of those striving to become new Americans. See Page 23.
32 Pages
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Route 7 in Ferrisburgh eyed for big solar array
Sing seasonal lessons, carols
New immigrants offered new hope
Independent photo/Trent Campbell
Students help local food efforts Ideas offered to fight hunger in our county
By JOHN FLOWERS MIDDLEBURY — Addison County businesses, institutions and individuals could play a larger role in donating food to low-income residents if there were more storage space, transportation options and publicity about the need for such contributions, according to a recent
study of the local food system completed by a group of Middlebury College students. The report, which will soon be delivered to the Addison County Hunger Council, also hints at a potential upcoming spike in food donations due to Vermont’s Act 148. That universal recycling and compost law requires all Vermont households and businesses to have diverted their food scraps from the state’s waste stream by July 1, 2020.
Advocates for low-income residents are hoping much of that unused food can be diverted to folks now going hungry. The new report is the product of more than two months of research by four Middlebury students under the leadership of educator Erica Morrell. The senior students — Jennifer Ayer, Emma Shumway, Isabel Wyer and Matthew MacKay — are part of Morrell’s class, (See Food, Page 18)
By ANDY KIRKALDY FERRISBURGH — Green Mountain Power and groSolar are expected early this month to file jointly to the Vermont Public Utility Commission for a Certificate of Public Good that would allow the companies to install a 4.99-megawatt solar array on a 40-acre parcel that lies at the junction of Route 7 and Greenbush Road in Ferrisburgh. GroSolar originally proposed the array, now called the GMP MicroGrid-Ferrisburgh Project. If the Public Utilities Commission approves the project, the array would be 800 feet west of the state highway at its closest point, be among the state’s largest, and could power the equivalent of about 1,300 homes. When GMP came aboard this fall it also added a Tesla battery “micro-grid” to the plan, one that company officials said can store eight megawatt hours of power. GMP spokesperson Kristin Carlson said the battery installation would be similar to the one that GMP is proposing to add to its already built 4.99-megawatt array in Panton. According to GMP’s Oct. 17 notice of intent to file for its Certificate of Public Good (CPG) the array’s solar power will charge the battery storage (See Ferrisburgh, Page 22)
Second-floor upgrade on tap at sports center Camels skate on Panther home ice • Panther women’s hockey looked to bounce back from two losses when they hosted Connecticut. See the results in Sports, Pages 20-21.
By JOHN FLOWERS MIDDLEBURY — Stewards of Middlebury’s Memorial Sports Center have embarked on a new fund drive that would result in the long-awaited completion of the second floor of the 24-year-old community recreational facility that has served as the much-used home for Addison County ice hockey programs. Specifically, boosters of the Memorial Sports Center, or MSC, want to raise $350,000 for a project that would, among other things, create a heated viewing area, elevator access and public restrooms for the top floor of the sports center. “Now is the time to complete the center and make it a point of civic pride,” reads a fundraising letter signed by campaign leaders Devin McLaughlin, Dave Donahue and iconic Middlebury College hockey coaches Bill Beaney and Bill Mandigo. That letter was sent out last month to more than (See Sports center, Page 31)
SUPPORTERS OF THE Memorial Sports Center in Middlebury are seeking $350,000 to complete second-floor expansion plans. A mural by Thatcher Littlefield currently spans the planned second-floor glass viewing area.
Independent photo/Trent Campbell