tum Au n Car C are
MONDAY Â Â EDITION
ADDISON COUNTY
INDEPENDENT
Vol. 28 No. 27
Middlebury, Vermont
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Monday, October 10, 2016
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48 Pages
$1.00
3RUWHU SODQV DI¿OLDWLRQ ZLWK 890+1 Get your wheels ready • Ice and salt will soon be on the roads. Read about prepping your car for winter in our special section on Pages 21-28.
Church looks for power from above • Father Royer hopes to zero out St. Peter’s electric bill with solar panels on the parish hall of the city church. See Page 3.
Boards  of  local  hospital  &  UVM  Health  Net  agree  unanimously  to  pursue  pact By  JOHN  FLOWERS MIDDLEBURY  —  The  Porter  Medical  Cen- ter  Board  of  Directors  and  the  University  of  Ver- mont  Health  Network  Board  of  Trustees  have  voted  unanimously  to  sign  a  non-Âbinding  “let- ter  of  intentâ€?  to  formally  negotiate  terms  under  which  PMC  would  join  the  University  of  Vermont  +HDOWK 1HWZRUN 890+1 DV DQ DIÂżOLDWH The  Oct.  5  action  by  both  boards  follows  an  in- depth  exploration  by  the  PMC  community  on  the  SURV DQG FRQV RI DIÂżOLDWLRQ ZLWK 890+1
The  partnership  would  end  Porter’s  91  years  of  operational  autonomy,  but  net  the  hospital  long- WHUP ÂżQDQFLDO VWDELOLW\ VKDUHG UHVRXUFHV DQG some  major  capital  upgrades.  PMC  has  weathered  a  stormy  past  few  years,  marked  by  some  layoffs,  a  razor-Âthin  budget  and  the  controversial,  brief  tenure  of  its  former  CEO,  Lynn  Boggs. The  University  of  Vermont  Health  Network  al- ready  includes  the  University  of  Vermont  Medical  Center  (formerly  known  as  Fletcher  Allen  Health  Care);Íž  Alice  Hyde  Medical  Center  in  Malone,  N.Y.;Íž  Central  Vermont  Medical  Center  in  Ber- lin,  Vt.;Íž  Champlain  Valley  Physicians  Hospital  in  Plattsburgh,  N.Y.;Íž  and  Elizabethtown  (N.Y.)  Community  Hospital.  It  boasted  a  combined  6HH 3RUWHU 3DJH 30)
.QLI¿Q QDPHG Porter’s  CEO By  JOHN  FLOWERS MIDDLEBURY  —  It  was  in  March  that  Dr.  )UHG .QLI¿Q DJUHHG WR DVVXPH ZKDW ZDV WKHQ WKH unenviable  hot  seat  as  Porter  Medical  Center’s  interim  CEO.  Porter  employees  and  the  greater  community  were  up  in  arms  about  recent  layoffs,  ¿QDQFLDO SUREOHPV SK\VLFLDQ GHIHFWLRQV DQG WKH controversial  tenure  of  Lynn  Boggs,  who  had  just  resigned. What  a  difference  seven  months  can  make. .QLI¿Q GXULQJ KLV EULHI VWLQW DV 3RUWHUœV WRS 6HH .QLI¿Q 3DJH 48)
Commodores clash with Eagles • Both Mount Abraham soccer teams hosted Vergennes this weekend. See what happened in Sports, Pages 18-20.
Children map out town’s future • Students at Cornwall School contributed to a map that shows what they value in town. See Page 2.
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Students take a bow for marvelous masks By  JOHN  FLOWERS MIDDLEBURY  â&#x20AC;&#x201D;  More  than  a  half-Âdozen  Mary  Hogan  Elementary  School  sixth-Âgraders  will  magically  transform  into  a  variety  of  colorful,  whimsical  creatures  as  part  of  the  Opera  Company  of  Middleburyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s  staging  of  the  much-Âcelebrated  â&#x20AC;&#x153;The  Magic  Fluteâ&#x20AC;?  at  the  Town  Hall  The-Â
ater  this  Thursday  through  Saturday. It  will  indeed  be  a  string  of  cre- DWLYH ³¿UVWV´ IRU WKH FKLOGUHQ 7KH Magic  Flute  will  mark  their  debuts  LQ DQ RSHUD $QG LW ZLOO EH WKH ÂżUVW time  they  will  have  designed  their  own  attire  for  an  on-Âstage  perfor- mance. Thanks  to  the  tutelage  of  Mary Â
Hogan  art  teacher  Alyce  Schermer- horn,  paraprofessional  RenĂŠ  Ursitti  and  design  tech  Lisa  Rader,  the  stu- dents  will  be  wearing  six  fantastical  masks  that  they  and  some  of  their  sixth-Âgrade  colleagues  painstak- ingly  fashioned  out  of  paper  machĂŠ,  spray  paint,  glue  and  such  objects  as  feathers,  glitter,  pipe  cleaners, Â
fabric,  duct  tape,  buttons,  foam,  egg  cartons,  cardboard,  computer  parts  and  balloons. Mary  Hogan  students  have  actu- ally  been  making  masks  for  at  least  two  decades.  Schermerhorn  has  made  it  a  regular,  annual  project  for  her  older  students.  The  masks  have  6HH 0DJLF )OXWH 3DJH 30)