Bristol youth enjoys baseball diplomacy By GAEN MURPHREE BRISTOL — “What our players and what the Cuban players ... did in those six days did more for government relations between our two countries than has been done in the last 40 years by the governments,” Little League baseball coach Jim Carter said. Carter, retired University of Vermont baseball coach and grandfather of Bristol 12-year-old Carter Monks, was referring to the trip that he, Monks and 10 other Vermont Little League baseball players made to Cuba last week. “That’s pretty dramatic for me to say that, but they were so well
received it was just unbelievable,” Carter said. The Vermont team — composed of players from Bristol, Burlington, Essex Junction and Shelburne (including one female athlete, Anna Jenemann of Burlington) — traveled with four coaches, including Carter as head coach, and 14 accompanying parents and siblings on a tour sponsored by the Burlington-based Cuban American Friendship Society. They spent their April spring break in Havana, learning about Cuba’s intense passion for baseball, seeing cultural and historic sights, getting to meet some of Cuba’s (See Ball players, Page 14A)
AMERICAN AND CUBAN youth baseball players, including Bristol’s Carter Monks, and their coaches hold flags representing their respective homelands during a Vermont baseball tour of the island nation last week.
Photo courtesy of Alexandre Silberman/cubabaseballtrip.wordpress.com
ADDISON COUNTY
INDEPENDENT Vol. 70 No. 17
Middlebury, Vermont
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Thursday, April 28, 2016 ◆ 64 Pages
Lawsuit over rail bridges up in air
Bristol looks for a new elementary principal
Group seeks more details from VTrans By JOHN FLOWERS terials disposal plan, and details of MIDDLEBURY — Middlebury blasting that might occur during the selectboard members on Tuesday replacement of the Main Street and said they are satisfied with the Ver- Merchants Row rail bridges. mont Agency of Transportation’s VTrans on April 25 completed a latest update and assessment of the six-page response to Langrock’s letupcoming downtown rail bridges ter. The town’s Local Project Manconstruction project, but agement Team — reaffected property ownferred to as the LPMT ers want more informa- “I’ve been very in town documents — tion and remain poised happy with the reviewed the VTrans into take legal action if it progress we formation late last week, is not forthcoming. then drafted a letter to have made, Through their attor- particularly Langrock that the selectney, Peter Langrock, the unanimously enduring the past board coalition of downtown dorsed on Tuesday. property owners in an two weeks.” That letter — signed — Donna by selectboard ChairApril 11 letter made a Donahue man Brian Carpenter — total of 18 questions and information requests of states in part: the town and VTrans. “While the final resolution of Requested information included some aspects of the construction the anticipated dates and durations project are still in the process of beof street closures, the contractors’ ing worked out — the treatment of insurance information, plans show- storm water post-construction is a ing any project drainage discharge good example of this — the LPMT point and the associated state dis- believes that this process has brought (See Middlebury, Page 16A) charge permit, a contaminated ma-
By GAEN MURPHREE BRISTOL — The search is under way for a new principal at Bristol Elementary School, and Addison Northeast Supervisory Union Assistant Superintendent Catrina DiNapoli, who is spearheading the search, said nearly 20 applicants have applied for the position. Current Bristol Elementary Principal Sandy Jump notified Interim Superintendent Armando Vilaseca in March that she would be retiring effective on July 1. “We very much appreciate the work that Sandy’s done,” said Bristol School Board Chair Elin Melchior. “She came to the school during some difficult times, and we very much appreciate her work over the past three years. We wish her the best in her retirement.” The search for the new principal began shortly before the BES board accepted Jump’s resignation at its April 11 meeting. DiNapoli outlined the timeline for the search, which school officials described as “aggressive due to the time of year.” In an email to the Independent, DiNapoli reported that she had formed a committee made up of a board member, community members, fac(See Bristol, Page 16A)
Speech contest revived after half-century hiatus
By the way After a strong finish at the 2016 Vermont-NEA Scholars’ Bowl State Finals, the Middlebury Union High School Scholars’ Bowl team this Saturday will compete in the National Academic Quiz Tournaments’ Small School National Championship Tournament in suburban Chicago. This national competition will test their knowledge of history, science, literature, fine arts, geography, the social sciences, current events and more areas of study. The MUHS team, coached by Perry Lessing, will consist of Josh Bechhoefer, Dace Eaton, Henry Ganey, Ronan Howlett and Elias Wyncoop. Good luck! Middlebury Safe Routes is organizing a second annual “Kelly Boe Memorial Bike Ride” for Monday, May 2, to raise money for a scholarship fund in honor of Boe, a Middle(See By the way, Page 7A)
Index Obituaries ................................ 6A Classifieds ....................... 6B-10B Service Directory .............. 7B-8B Entertainment ........................ 12A Community Calendar ...... 8A-10A Sports ................................ 1B-4B
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Hitting the note CHRISTOPHER ROSS REHEARSES his role as Miles Gloriosus during a dress rehearsal Tuesday night of the Middlebury Community Players’ production of “A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum.” The show opens April 28 at the Town Hall Theater. For more photos and showtimes see Page 13A. Independent photo/Trent Campbell
By JOHN FLOWERS MIDDLEBURY — The year was 1825. John Quincy Adams had just been sworn in as the sixth U.S. president, and the Erie Canal had just opened. And at Middlebury College, the first annual “Parker Merrill Speech Competition,” a contest designed to help undergraduates excel at public speaking, was held. The competition — founded by Middlebury’s first professor, Frederick Hall, and named in honor of a benefactor and a former college pastor — was for decades held in the Congregational Church of Middlebury and emerged as one of the most popular town-gown events, according to Dana Yeaton, renowned local playwright and visiting assistant professor of theater at the college. Area orchestras were invited to perform in between as many as 16 student speeches, which in the early
days tended to be borrowed from the texts of literary and political icons. During the 1940s, competitors began writing their own speeches. “It was a big cultural event,” Yeaton said. But in 1965, the speechifying came to an abrupt and mysterious end. Perhaps the students of that era felt more inclined to do their talking at demonstrations against the escalation of the Vietnam War and in favor of the Civil Rights movement. Either way, the Parker Merrill Speech Competition went on what would become a half-century hiatus. That hiatus ends this Friday, April 29, at 7:30 p.m. in the college’s Dana Auditorium. That’s when six student finalists in a revived competition will deliver speeches of up to six minutes, embracing a common theme: “True (See Tradition, Page 16A)
College students make Cuba mercy mission with surfboards By DAVID FUCHS my face — that I became a believer. By my “Are you bringing your board?” spoiled West Coast standards, this was crazy It was January and I was in California, pack- … and I loved it. ing up my car to drive back to Middlebury So, I guess it shouldn’t have come as such College in Vermont when I read a surprise when, just seven weeks that text from my friend and fellow later, Christian caught me in passIn five days, wild man Christian Johansen. ing and suggested in half a sentence What? Was I bringing my surf- somehow, we that our newly founded Middlebury board to Vermont, a landlocked had gone from College Surf Club lead a surf-serstate, in the middle of winter? Was completely in vice trip to Cuba. he out of his mind? What? the dark to I resisted. He insisted. And sure completely in “We’ll talk later,” he said and enough, a month later, we were at rushed off to class. I got a text that the tip of Long Island clad head-to- the loop. night telling me he had booked his toe in neoprene, marching across ticket. I tried to call, but his phone the snow to the Atlantic with surfboards in hand. was dead … so I took a deep breath and a leap I had always known Christian, a New Hamp- of faith, and booked mine. shire native and senior Feb at Middlebury Col- A QUICK HISTORY OF lege, to be a bit of a dreamer, but it was out SURFING IN CUBA there — bobbing in the chop with 20-degree On the map, Cuba doesn’t fit the mold of gusts of wind whipping across my back and an a surfer’s paradise. At the edge of the Carib(See Surfing in Cuba, Page 18A) ear-to-ear smile stretched involuntarily across
CHRISTIAN JOHANSEN, LEFT, Lucas Onetti and David Fuchs finish a winter surfing session near Montauk, N.Y., which prompted the Middlebury College friends to travel to Cuba recently to try to deliver surfing gear to underground surfers there. Courtesy photo