MONDAY Â Â EDITION
ADDISON COUNTY
INDEPENDENT
Vol. 25 No. 37
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Health center bags $812K grant
Middlebury, Vermont
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Monday, November 11, 2013
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48 Pages
75¢
Farmers need labor, seek immigration reform (GLWRUÂśV QRWH 7KLV LV WKH ÂżUVW LQ D two-Âpart  series  on  Vermont  agricul- ture  and  immigration  reform. By  ZACH  DESPART NEW  HAVEN  —  Addison  Coun- ty  dairy  farmers  talking  last  week  with  Congressman  Peter  Welch  said  a  new  immigration  bill  is  vital  to  meeting  their  labor  needs,  as  farms  increasingly  rely  on  immigrant  workers.
“One  of  the  quickest  ways  to  kill  the  dairy  industry  is  to  have  no  la- bor,â€?  said  Bob  Foster  of  Foster  Brothers  Farm  in  Middlebury.  “It’s  a  24/7  job.â€? Though  the  vast  majority  of  for- eign  agricultural  laborers  work  on  dairies,  there  is  no  temporary  visa  program  for  dairy  laborers.  There- fore,  foreign  workers  have  to  ob- tain  permanent  resident  status  to Â
legally  work  on  a  dairy  farms. “It’s  most  important  for  us  that  dairy  be  a  legal  category  for  tempo- rary  workers,â€?  said  Clark  Hinsdale  of  Nordic  Farm  in  Charlotte,  who  is  also  president  of  the  Vermont  Farm  Bureau.  “It’s  legal  for  apple  and  vegetable  pickers,  but  not  for  dairy  workers  year  round.â€? Welch,  a  Vermont  Democrat,  said  at  the  Nov.  4  meeting  at  Phoe-Â
nix  Feeds  and  Nutrition  in  New  Haven  that  he  believed  a  new  im- migration  bill  could  be  passed,  though  he  acknowledged  that  hy- per-Âpartisanship  in  Congress  has  ground  both  the  House  and  Senate  to  a  halt. “Even  Congress  is  embarrassed  by  how  few  things  get  done,â€?  Welch  said. (See  Immigration,  Page  6)
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HOPE gathers food for winter and the holidays By  JOHN  FLOWERS MIDDLEBURY  —  Helping  Over- come  Poverty’s  Effects  (HOPE)  is  working  overtime  to  make  sure  hun- gry  Addison  County  residents  have  enough  to  eat  through  the  holiday  season. 7KH QRQSURÂżW RUJDQL]DWLRQ KDV been  working  with  local  volunteers,  farmers  and  the  Vermont  Food  Bank Â
to  assemble  more  than  400  holiday  food  boxes  to  make  sure  people  with  bare  larders  have  a  special  meal  on  either  Thanksgiving  or  Christmas.  But  looking  beyond  that,  HOPE  is  seeking  to  re-Âstock  its  food  shelf  in  an  effort  to  help  carry  folks  through  the  cold  months  ahead,  when  resi- dents’  incomes  will  be  severely  (See  HOPE,  Page  46)
Labor  board  to  review  Porter  nurses’  union  vote By  JOHN  FLOWERS MIDDLEBURY  —  The  Nation- al  Labor  Relations  Board  (NLRB)  will  be  asked  to  hold  a  hearing  to  reconcile  16  challenged  ballots  that  could  determine  whether  Por- ter  Medical  Center’s  nurses  form  a  union. An  impressive  146  of  PMC’s  150  nurses  turned  out  on  Thurs-Â
day,  Nov.  7,  to  cast  ballots  on  whether  to  form  a  union  under  the  Vermont  Federation  of  Nurses  and  Health  Professionals. In  voting  on  Thursday  night,  72  Registered  Nurses  cast  ballots  to  approve  the  union  petition,  with  58  opposed.  But  there  were  also  16  ballots  cast  that  were  challenged  (See  Porter  nurses,  Page  40)