MONDAY Â Â EDITION
ADDISON COUNTY
INDEPENDENT
Vol. 27 No. 12
Bristol Beat ‡ 5HDG DERXW WKH WRZQZLGH \DUG VDOH 5RXWH UHSDLUV DQG PRUH IURP WKH ÀYH WRZQ DUHD RQ 3DJHV
Mt. Abe principal takes a new job
Middlebury, Vermont
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Ideas  sought  to  reduce  impacts  of  tunnel  project By  JOHN  FLOWERS MIDDLEBURY  —  Middlebury  RI¿FLDOV ODVW ZHHN LGHQWL¿HG QH[W April  as  the  start-Âup  time  for  the  es- timated  $50  million  reconstruction  of  the  community’s  two  downtown  rail  overpasses,  a  project  they  again  stressed  would  be  messy,  noisy  and  inconvenient  during  up  to  three  years  of  work  that  will  ultimately  yield  additional  green  space  near Â
St.  Stephen’s  Episcopal  Church  and  a  concrete  tunnel  that  will  someday  accommodate  double-Âstack  train  cars. Bill  Finger,  local  manager  of  the  project,  told  a  group  of  downtown  merchants,  property  owners  and  citizens  assembled  at  the  munici- pal  gym  on  June  3  that  he  expects  work  to  proceed  at  a  clip  of  around  (See  Middlebury,  Page  7)
Monday, June 8, 2015
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36 Pages
75¢
College  nears  deal  to  conserve  Battell  lands By  JOHN  FLOWERS RIPTON  —  Middlebury  Col- lege,  the  Vermont  Land  Trust  and  the  U.S.  Forest  Service  are  SXWWLQJ WKH ¿QDO WRXFKHV RQ DQ intricate  deal  that  will  allow  the  institution  to  consolidate  and  permanently  conserve  approxi- mately  2,100  acres  of  land  in  and  around  the  college’s  Bread  Loaf Â
campus  in  Ripton. College  President  Ron  Li- ebowitz  touched  upon  the  deal  last  week  as  part  of  an  exclusive  interview  with  the  Addison  Inde- pendent  that  focused  on  the  town- gown  relationship  during  his  11  years  as  the  institution’s  top  administrator.  The  conversation  (See  Forest,  Page  35)
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‘Farms’ bike ride to take new route ‡ 2UJDQL]HUV RI WKH 7RXU GH )DUPV VDLG WKH PLOH ULGH ZLOO VWDUW LQ %ULVWRO WKLV \HDU 6HH 3DJH
MONKTON  CENTRAL  SCHOOL  sixth-Âgraders  Quincy  Cook,  center,  and  Stang  Chantawan  demonstrate  their  computer  hooked  up  to  a  pickle  to  VFKRROPDWH (OLVH 3DUNHU GXULQJ WKH VFKRRO¶V ³0DNHU )DLUH´ ODVW 7KXUVGD\ DIWHUQRRQ 7KH VFKRRO¶V ¿IWK DQG VL[WK JUDGH VWXGHQWV KDYH HPEUDFHG WKH ³PDNHU PRYHPHQW´ DQG HYHU VLQFH WKHQ WKH IDOO FODVVURRP VSDFH KDV EHHQ GHYRWHG WR LQGHSHQGHQW H[SHULPHQWDWLRQ DQG FUHDWLRQ ,QGHSHQGHQW SKRWR 7UHQW &DPSEHOO
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Students put ‘maker’ spin on science ³+DYH \RX HYHU VHHQ D PDUVKPDOORZ À\"´ KH asked. Outside  on  the  pavement,  he  and  his  team  scrambled  to  ready  their  contraption.  Using  a  bicycle  pump,  a  length  of  PVC  tubing  and  lots  By  EVAN  JOHNSON MONKTON  —  Fifth-Âgrader  George  Collette’s  of  tape,  they  used  air  pressure  from  the  pump  to  entreaty  to  come  see  the  science  experiment  wait- launch  marshmallows,  as  well  as  their  favorite  ing  outside  the  Monkton  Central  School  gymna- projectiles  —  wadded  tissues  soaked  in  water.  ³7KH\¶UH EDVLFDOO\ JLDQW VSLWEDOOV ´ VDLG WHDP- sium  this  past  Thursday  afternoon  was  hard  to  mate  Christofer  Wolak. turn  down.
Monkton grade-schoolers favor hands-on approach
,Q DGGLWLRQ WR EHLQJ JUHDW IXQ IRU D JDQJ RI ¿IWK JUDGH ER\V WKH HQGHDYRU KDG D VFLHQWL¿F FRPSR- nent.  The  cannon,  as  indicated  by  a  nearby  hand- drawn  chart,  was  a  working  demonstration  of  Sir  Isaac  Newton’s  three  laws  of  physics.  For  them,  the  fun  was  designing  and  then  test- ing  their  marshmallow/spitball  gun.  The  fact  that  they  learned  about  science  was  incidental.  6FLHQFH E\ GLVFRYHU\ LV D SUDFWLFH WKDW ¿IWK (See  Monkton  kids,  Page  22)