The Charlotte News | April 24, 2014

The Charlotte News VOLUME LVI NUMBER 18

THE VOICE OF THE TOWN

THURSDAY, APRIL 24, 2014

Charlotte Rescue License Restricted for 3 Months Suspension the result of ambulance drug storage and documentation issues.

No misconduct suspected.

Brett Sigurdson

PHOTO BY NANCY WOOD

THE CHARLOTTE NEWS

Selectboard Chair Lane Morrison (left) talks with Mike Cook (center) and Dave Nichols at Monday’s special Selectboard meeting at the CVFRS Fire Hall.

Under Cloud of Rescue Suspension, Selectboard, CVFRS Hold Annual Meeting John Hammer THE CHARLOTTE NEWS The Selectboard held a special meeting in the fire station with the board of the Charlotte Volunteer Fire and Rescue Service (CVFRS) on April 21. The meeting was scheduled primarily to allow for the discussion of the first quarterly financial report established by the newly signed Memorandum of Agreement.

As Selectboard chair, Lane Morrison, pointed out, “This was an opportunity to show

and appreciate all the good work that is done over here.”

The meeting began with a discussion of the finances in both a standard profit and loss format and in the new unified format that breaks out all the funding sources available to the CVFRS. The report contained a comprehensive summary of the operating account budget against the actual amounts expended, an internal tracking sheet of patient billing, a detailed budget vs. actuals table and the unified accounting sheets.

These documents are avail-

able at: http://bit.ly/1ficatt and become effective March 31, 2014.

The end of March marks the 75 percent point in the fiscal year, and total expenditures have only reached 63.35 percent. Most of this underspend comes from the vacancy in the professional daytime firefighter position.

Rob Mullin, a firefighter with 25 years experience, will fill the position on May 5.

The comprehensive Profit

Annual Meeting

continued on page 22

John Hammer Roads and highway-associated matters took up much of the Selectboard meeting on April 14.

High on the list of actions accomplished was the amendment of the Motor Vehicle and Traffic Regulation Ordinance setting a 45 mph speed limit on Spear Street north from the Hinesburg Road intersection to the Shelburne line. In another action, a new curb cut was approved for the Beatrice M. Dike Trust at 3015 Guinea

Rescue continued on page 4

Get Involved in Green Up Day May 3–4 Joe Gallagher

Selectboard Takes Action on Roads, Begins Town Salary Study THE CHARLOTTE NEWS

Charlotte Rescue Service’s paramedic-level license has been suspended for three months due to storage and documentation issues with medications the organization keeps in its ambulances, a move that impedes—though doesn’t prohibit—its ability to provide rescue care.

The move to suspend CVFRS’s paramedic-level license came as a result of a surprise inspection of the organization’s ambulances on March 25 by three board members of Vermont EMS District 3, which oversees first responders for parts of Grand Isle, Chittenden and Addison counties. During the visit, the inspectors took issue with the safes being locked and accessed with a key rather than an electronic keypad. Also, the inspectors found one of CVFRS’s three paramedics, its newest, incon-

sistently kept a daily log of the narcotics.

In a memo to the town, Charlotte Fire and Rescue Service corporate president David McNally, said the suspension doled out on April 10 by Vermont EMS District 3 medical director Dr. Laurel Plante is not due to missing narcotics or controlled substances, nor is it connected to a lack of quality of care. Rather, McNally maintains that it extends from a misunderstanding of District 3’s narcotics storage policy.

As part of CVFRS’s paramedic operation plan, which describes an EMS provider’s services, Rescue stated its policy would be to keep its controlled substances in a “locked box,” though the manner of lock was not specified, McNally explained in an interview. This plan was approved by District 3. McNally also noted Rescue was unclear that any standard regarding keyed versus elec-

Road. This will serve two proposed building lots. The sixth annual Lund Ride for Children received approval to hold its event on Charlotte roads Sunday morning, June 1.

The possibility of redesigning the Route 7 access road to the Charlotte Park and Wildlife Refuge took up a lot of discussion. The current easement is too close to the proposed house relocation site for the Varney farmhouse. The potential buyer has been hamstrung by conflicting encumbrances that were attached with the establishment of the park. The

Selectboard agreed to study the issue further with the potential buyer and seller meeting with Selectboard member Charles Russell to work out the details.

The potential buyer has stated he has planas for restoring both the house and barn that will greatly enhance the Route 7 landscape.

With respect to highways, Road Commissioner Jr Lewis outlined his hopes for repaving this summer. Prime candidates for resurfacing are approxi-

Selectboard

continued on page 11

CONTRIBUTOR This year marks the 44th anniversary of Green Up Day, which began in April 1970 and continues today as a unique Vermont tradition. Green Up Day brings out thousands of volunteers throughout the state to remove litter and trash from our roadways, waterways and public places.

This year Green Up Day will occur on Saturday, May 3, and Sunday, May 4. This unique tradition helps us practice stewardship on a local level. It’s really simple: come to the Quonset hut at Charlotte Central School on Saturday from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. or Sunday from 9 a.m. to noon, select a road to clean, grab a bag, go out and collect trash and litter and then return it to the Quonset hut.

To help us track the roads we’re covering, jump on the Charlotte town website at charlottevt.org, and click on the “Green Up Day” link at the top right hand corner. There you can sign up for a road in advance. If you’d like to pick up your bags prior to Green Up Day, they are available at the Town Hall, the Old Brick Store or Spear’s Corner Store.

We urge everyone to practice safety first on Green Up Day: • Wear durable, sturdy shoes, gloves and a hat, and apply sun protection. Wear bright or light covered clothing and long sleeves

Green Up Day continued on page 8

Now is the best time to invest in solar.

To schedule a free site evaluation, call us at (802) 872-9600 or visit www.allsuntrackers.com

The Charlotte News

Commentary The Problems with H.883 The Charlotte News PublishEd by and for CharlottErs sinCE 1958 The CharloTTe News is a nonprofit community-based newspaper dedicated to informing townspeople of current events and issues. It serves as a forum for the free exchange of views of town residents and celebrates the people, places and happenings that make the Town of Charlotte unique.

Contributions in the form of articles, press releases and photographs pertaining to Charlotte-related people and events are accepted and encouraged from all townspeople and interested individuals. For submission guidelines and deadlines, please visit our website or contact the editor at news@charlottenewsvt.com.

The CharloTTe News is published in Charlotte by The Charlotte News, Inc., a Vermont domestic 501(c)4 nonprofit corporation. Distribution is made every other Thursday to all households and businesses in Charlotte and to selected outlets in Shelburne, Hinesburg, North Ferrisburgh, Ferrisburgh and Vergennes. It relies on the generous financial contributions of its readers, subscriptions and advertising revenue to sustain its operations. oN The weB aT:

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What follows may seem harsh.

The Vermont education institution—which for this purpose includes the governor, a voting majority of the Legislature, the secretary of education, the Agency of Education, the State School Board and the Vermont School Board Association—is living in an alternate reality. This parallel universe of peculiar logic 1) denies established fact, 2) allows the institution to almost completely ignore the existence of the overwhelmingly negative response of the electorate the Legislature is supposed to serve, 3) permits an alarming distrust of and lack of confidence in the electorate by the elected, 4) does not allow the Legislature to actually name the thing it is proposing, and 5) enables the people who dwell in it to question who owns the school buildings.

First, years ago, during the reigns of both Commissioner Cates and Commissioner Mills, the state itself acknowledged that consolidation would provide no significant cost savings. During the Regional Educational District (RED) debacle—a huge waste of time and money—not only was this lack of benefit confirmed, but, additionally, the people made it clear that they weren’t interested in any case. The state’s response? What it couldn’t get the people to do voluntarily it would impose on them.

Second, the governor doesn’t get it. The Legislature doesn’t get it. The secretary of education—you get the idea. What the people want is to elect boards of people who they know and whose judgment they trust to administer the affairs of their local schools.

The people want these boards to be empowered to make definitive decisions on the cost and quality of education.

Third, the state’s insistence on eliminating meaningful local control reveals a mindset that appears repeatedly at the state and federal level: we (the elected) are smarter than you (the electorate). The statement thus made— that people at the local level cannot grasp educational philosophy and make appropriate decisions—is not only arrogant and offensive but has proven itself to be phenomenally expensive.

My elementary school principal was Mr. Bittenbender (who knows what his first name was, other than” Mr.” or “sir”?). I got to know him pretty well.

One of his favorite expressions was, “If you can’t explain it you don’t understand it.”

Odds are that, if there are issues the electorate finds confusing, it’s because the state has failed to provide a cogent, succinct and convincing explanation. Meaning that the state is grasping at straws and cannot explain what it, itself, does not understand.

Fourth, as incredible as this may seem, the spin on H.883 is that this is not consolidation. Reducing the number of school boards to 55 and compelling (or assigning) membership is not consolidation? What drug are these people using?

Fifth, a discussion of building ownership? This may be the most incredibly bizarre aspect of the entire bill. Anyone who even thinks that there could be a conversation about whether the people of Charlotte own the building upon which they’ve spent so much money (with more coming) is either demented

or conniving. The purpose of such a discussion is to ensure—once the state or regional boards begin to close schools—that the state won’t owe anybody any money. Be clear about this: consolidation invariably leads to school closings. Every piece of research shows this. Charlotters—keep in mind that we’re the smallest school in the Chittenden South Supervisory Union.

A separate word about the Vermont School Board Association (VSBA): I’ve attended every annual conference for the last 22 years. It has been interesting—and alarming—to watch the machinery of this organization be co-opted by the post-Act 60 mindset.

In the current case the VSBA made fanfare of declaring that a group of board members representing 29 boards had banded together to encourage the Legislature to consider (yet again) governance.

Twenty-nine boards? There are 272 school boards in Vermont. Board members representing 29 (heavily over-weighted with the aforementioned post-Act 60 mindset) is a lot less than significant in any positive sense. Its significance is in the alarming reality of a system being manipulated by a particular variety of ideologues. The VSBA at this point represents almost no one other than a cadre of philosophically likeminded board members.

It’s interesting to note that the VSBA shares a building with the Superintendants Association. Trust me: the Superintendants Association has very little affinity for the concept of local control.

The Vermont education establishment has become a tunnel-visioned, self-serving behemoth that is only becoming bigger, more expensive and more selfserving.

The Legislature, dispossessed of any actual solutions, has progressed from floundering around and doing things (the RED proposal) in order to appear to be doing something to imposing meaningless and expensive reform on the electorate. School governance is not the source of our cost problems (as opposed to elected governance, which is a huge part of the problem). I’ve made it clear that I believe that Charlotte should reduce to one administrator—and we should. But the source of our—and everyone else’s—financial headaches is at heart 30 years of increasing mandates, reduction of local boards’ ability to make critical decisions, uncontrolled labor costs and the emergence of a self-contained educational apparatus that is in almost no way subject to meaningful control by the electorate. It is government by administrative fiat of appointed functionaries. What we’re about to get is a decade of politically correct megaboards basing decisions on state-generated data spun to appear educationally convincing.

It is important to note that local control does not guarantee cost or quality control. Towns that elect profligate or un-insightful boards will suffer. However, under H.883 everyone will pay the price. The acceleration of costs since the state began to take over control of education beginning with Act 60 has dwarfed the increases under the old foundation formula, which was much more subject to local control.

Clyde Baldwin, Member CCS School Board

PUBLIC MEETINGS Selectboard Regular Meetings are usually at 7 p.m. in the Town Hall on the second and fourth Mondays of each month. Sometimes they begin earlier; check online at charlottevt.org or with the Town Clerk (425-3071). Chair: Lane Morrison (4252495), Matthew Krasnow (922-2153), Ellie Russell (425-5276), Charles Russell (425-4757), Fritz Tegatz (425-5564). CCS School Board Regular Meetings are usually at 6:30 p.m. at CVU on the third Tuesday of each month. Chair Kristin Wright (425-5105), Clyde Baldwin (425-3366), Susan

Nostrand (425-4999), Erik Beal (425-2140), Mark McDermott (425-4860). Planning Commission Regular Meetings are usually at 7 p.m. in the Town Hall on the first and third Thursdays of each month. Chair Jeffrey McDonald (425-4429), Vice Chair Peter Joslin, Gerald Bouchard, Paul Landler, Linda Radimer, Donna Stearns, Marty Illick.

Committee meetings are listed on the town website.

Check times and agendas online or by phone; for the town: charlottevt.org, Town Hall, 425-3071 or 4253533; for CCS: ccsvt.us, CSSU office, 383-1234.

The Charlotte News • April 24, 2014 • 3

Letters Legislature diverting too much funding from education I read with great interest Nancy Wood’s piece on the state education property tax in the April 10 issue.

Nancy is one of the few people in Vermont who understands Act 60 (outside of school business offices and the Tax Department).

The article mentions what I believe is the major driver of our high education property tax: excessive diversion of General Fund income and sales tax revenues to purposes other than K-12 education. As Nancy points out, legislative education funding schemes have failed for decades because when times get tough and not enough Federal money comes in, the Legislature always underfunds local education. There is nothing new under the sun; Act 60 is simply the latest victim.

The problem actually arises from fundamental policy decisions about how to divide up the General Fund revenue pie.

Vermont, under both Republican and Democratic regimes, has historically spent proportionally more money on social services, health (including insurance) and environment and less on education, roads and police. Our per- capita General Fund spending on K–12 education and higher education is among the lowest in the nation. No amount of cost cutting is going to offset this lack of state funding for local education.

What can be done? Efforts could be made to effect small incremental changes as the House Appropriations Committee drafts the state budget.

This would not be easy and would produce an onslaught of lobbying from losers. Enactment of an education income tax has been tried before and is not likely to happen because Vermont, with an already high income tax, does not want to become number one nation-

Got Something to Say? The Charlotte News accepts all signed letters pertaining to issues of local and national interest. Letters must be 300 words or fewer, include your full name and town, and reach us by the appropriate deadline. Writers will only have letters published once every four weeks.

The Charlotte News reserves the right to edit for style and length. Your submission options are news@charlottenewsvt.com or The Charlotte News, P.O. Box 251, Charlotte, VT 05445. All opinions expressed in Letters and Commentaries are those of the writers and not of The Charlotte News, which is published as an independent, nonprofit, unbiased community service and forum.

On the cover The osprey have reTurned To Their nesT in CharloTTe. phoTo by Chris Falk.

Next issue deadlines nexT issue daTe: Thurs., May 8 ConTribuTions: Mon., april 28 by 5 p.M. leTTers: Mon., May 5, by 10 a.M.

ally. And Act 60 is already an ingenious hybrid income-property tax disguised as a property tax.

Realistically, unless Vermont can miraculously come up with a major new revenue source, education property taxes are going to stay high.

Ed Amidon Popple Dungeon Road

Thanks for great Senior Center performance I was in the audience at the Senior Center when CVU high school students performed on April 9. What a treat!

Under the masterful guidance of their teacher, Carl Recchia, the Women’s Chorus and the Men’s Chorus gave us an hour of sheer delight. And did it on their own time, since it was a half-day for students at CVU, and these kids could have been out enjoying the sunny afternoon.

I want the students to know that I was the old lady in the second row who never stopped grinning—yes, enjoying the wonderful music—and just reveling in the sight as well as the sound of this remarkable group of young people. The great rapport between Carl Recchia and his students was also a delight.

Susan Ohanian Charlotte

Grateful for 90th Birthday Celebration Thank you! Thank you!

Words are never going to express how I feel about my special day. I was overwhelmed by the outpouring of love that happened that day.

Friends, relatives, neighbors—people from near and far who made the effort to stop by to chat, visit and say “hello.”

I will live that special day for years, I hope, to come.

Many thanks to all who took time to make this day so very special. A special thanks to my children, Joe, June, Vic, Wanda, Mary, Dick and Betty, who took it upon themselves to make this day happen and so very extraordinary.

Shirley Bean Bean Road SHARE YOUR MILESTONES ••• Births Awards Recognitions Marriages Engagements Anniversaries Retirements Deaths ••• email: news@charlotte newsvt.com

Town Bites

by Edd Merritt

According to an article in the April 17 Burlington Free Press, Bity Bean owner Doug Hartwell said he left Peak Pitch not only with a Nub Board from Vew-Do Balance Boards but with a chance to create business opportunities with several investors. Hartwell has attended the last two Peak Pitches, and, because of the event’s opportunity for him to make numerous connections, plans to continue in future years.

Habitat for Humanity welcomes the Culver family to Charlotte April 12 saw the dedication of the

Eight02 recording session opens new doors It’s been a whirlwind few months for local jazz-fusion band Eight02 and Lukas Adler, its Charlotte-based drummer. In February, the quartet spent four days in Los Angeles recording new material with keyboardist Jeff Lorber and bassist Jimmy Haslip, two legends in the genre. “Not only did they help produce three new Members of the Culver family pose for a picture at the ded- songs for us,” said ication of their home, which was built by Green Mountain Adler, “but they played on them Habitat for Humanity on Albert’s Way. also, which was a beautiful surprise second Green Mountain Habitat for and indicative that they felt the mateHumanity home on Albert’s Way in rial was good enough for their names East Charlotte. Three generations of to be attached to it as players as well.” the Culver family will live there, and Adler adds the collaboration brought all were on hand for the dedication the band’s playing to another level. along with approximately 30 others, He’s not the only who feels this many of whom had helped the Culvers way. Eight02 is currently in the midst construct the project. The other half of of negotiations with record labels the duplex will be dedicated later this that have expressed interest in the spring. band. Locals will have a chance to hear Eight02’s sound at the Shelburne Bity Bean piques interests at Peak Museum’s Pizzagalli Center on April Pitch 25 from 5–7 p.m.

Last month the ninth annual Peak Pitch ski event was held at Sugarbush Charlotters complete Boston Resort in Warren. The idea has been Marathon to mix pleasurable skiing with fund Congratulations to Carlie Krolick raising. This year Mike Kiernan of and Christine Kogut who both Weybridge and Middlebury College finished the Boston Marathon in under led it. The focus is on entrepreneurial 4 hours on Monday. leadership in Vermont, and Charlotte’s Bity Bean Child Carriers was one of the pitch-off winners.

Get involved in town Government!

The Selectboard is looking for interested citizens to fill the following vacancies: Community Safety Committee—5 vacancie- terms ending in 2015 & 2016 West Charlotte Village Wastewater System Committee—5 vacancies Conservation Commission—2 vacancies with a term ending in April 2018 Charlotte Park & Wildlife Refuge Oversight Committee—1 vacancy Interested applicants should email, call or stop by the office for more information.

Dean Bloch, Town Administrator Charlotte Town Office P.O. Box 119 Charlotte, VT 05445 E-mail: dean@townofcharlotte.com Phone: 425-3533

Keep up with BreaKing news

4 • April 24, 2014 • The

Charlotte News

Rescue continued from page 1 tronic locks had changed, as nothing had been communicated to them from the district. “We want to be fully compliant with the district,� said McNally, “but we want to get a clear idea when policies have changed. We thought we had a clear system in place, but it turns out that, according to District 3, we did not.�

CVFRS acted quickly to address the District 3 board’s concerns at its March 25 meeting. Within the first week CVFRS removed the safe keys from its paramedics and installed a computercoded system in each ambulance. The organization has also addressed the policy regarding the narcotics log check with its new paramedic.

During the three-month suspension, the District 3 board has also asked CVFRS to update its paramedic operation plan, something it is currently undertaking with the help of the organization’s advisory board, specifically member Dr. Ruth Uphold. CVFRS is also conducting its own internal investigation into how it could have overlooked a change in lock policy. The organization hopes to meet with the state’s EMS organization to discuss the ruling, though McNally noted the threemonth suspension is firm.

While the suspension is in place, CVFRS paramedics will operate at an

Advanced EMT level, which means they cannot intubate a patient, manually operate a defibrillator or administer pain medications. McNally said there has alreadly been one hospital transport in which EMTs could not use pain medication for a person who needed it. If a more serious situation were to occur, McNally said Rescue could ask for additional support or resources from surrounding EMS organizations.

Beyond these restraints, Rescue will be able to provide the basic and advanced life support intervention it is trained to do. “In short, CVRS will still be able to provide emergency services at a level equal to or greater than our surrounding communities,� McNally wrote in the memo.

This is not the only administrative issue Rescue is dealing with at the moment. According to McNally, CVRS is under a “conditional license� until June 30 due to deficiencies in the quality of its post-response documentation. Called CQI, the documentation is required of EMTs after each ambulance transport to ensure they are following standard procedures. It also serves as a legal document if needed.

Plante, District 3’s medical director, did not feel all of CVRS’s EMTs were filling the CQI documentation as well as they could. As part of the conditional license, Rescue is working to improve its documentation for Dr. Plante.

This isn’t the first time CVFRS has been put on a conditional license, said McNally, and is not uncommon when rescue services need to improve something. Most recently, Rescue was put

CVFRS Corporate President Dave McNally (left) at Monday’s Selectboard meeting at the Fire Hall, where Rescue’s suspension took up much of the meeting. under conditional licensure when its ambulance had maintenance issues a few years ago.

Given the turmoil surrounding CVFRS this past year, McNally recognizes that some may cry foul at another perceived instance of poor communication and substandard reporting, which harkens back to issues surrounding a Fire & Rescue audit two years ago. But he notes the issues that spawned the suspension and conditional license are being vigorously addressed. “We’re not trying to hide anything,�

said McNally. “We want to separate opinions from facts and policies in dealing with the district board. I would hope the people would have the process to work through so both sides of the story come out.� “We’re taking this suspension very seriously,� he added. “We view this as a recoverable situation. I think we can demonstrate to them compliance and improvement on these issues, and I’m confident that we can reach the paramedic level of service.�

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The Charlotte News • April 24, 2014 • 5

Legislative Report

by Representative Mike Yantachka

Focusing on Water Quality For more than two decades, Vermont has worked to clean up its lakes, streams and rivers with various degrees of success. Gone are the days when sewage and industrial effluents were discharged directly into streams and rivers. Yet, we still have much further to go to prevent conditions that lead to toxic algae blooms in lakes and ponds and to high nitrogen levels in the Connecticut River that result in oxygen depleted dead zones in Long Island Sound.

One measure of water quality is the amount of nutrients (i.e. phosphates and nitrogen compounds) in a body of water that contribute to algae growth.

Limits on these nutrients are set by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to ensure that water quality is maintained at an acceptable level. This limit is called the total maximum daily load, or TMDL. Despite the state’s reaching one-third of the TMDL goal in less than 10 years, in 2011 the EPA revoked approval of the initial TMDL plan for Lake Champlain because of ongoing problems such as the algae blooms. Vermont had until the end of March this year to submit a new plan, and the Vermont Department of Environmental Conservation (VDEC) did so.

VDEC issued a report documenting the sources of the nutrients flowing into Lake Champlain. The report showed that about three percent of the nutrients are coming from municipal sewagetreatment facilities, about ten percent from impervious surfaces such as roads and parking lots, another ten percent from developed land, about 20 percent from river and stream bank erosion during significant storm events and about 40 percent from agricultural operations.

VDEC proposed a 20-year implementation plan with an estimated cost of $150 million. In order to accomplish these goals, legislative action is also needed.

Last week, the House passed H.586 to address improving the quality of the state’s waters in a comprehensive manner. Much of the responsibility and cost for meeting the new EPA TMDL may fall on Vermont’s farmers, who likely will be subject to additional requirements under the accepted agricultural practices (AAPs) and other agricultural water quality rules.

Although the AAP rules were adopted in 1995, the Legislature found a general lack of awareness in the “small farm” community about the AAPs. The bill directs the Vermont Agency of Agri-

Sweet Charity

culture, Food and Markets to educate small-farm operators in the state about the requirements of the AAPs. This will include identifying cost-effective strategies, best management practices and conservation practices of cover cropping, grassed waterways, manure drag lines and injection, no-till production and contour plowing. It also establishes a small-farm certification program to ensure compliance with AAPs. While additional state and federal assistance—including technical and financial assistance to encourage small farms to adopt and implement nutrient management plans—is necessary to help bring farms into compliance, funding mechanisms were removed from the bill by amendments proposed by the Ways and Means Committee. A quarter-percent increase in the rooms and meals tax and a one-percent increase in the automobile rental tax were stripped from the bill that came out of the Fish, Wildlife and Water Resources Committee. The bill now recommends establishing financing mechanisms between now and January 15, 2015, to implement the provisions of the bill.

The bill is now in the hands of the Senate. Like the Shorelands Protection bill, H.526, which was passed by the House last year, modified by the Senate and sent to a conference committee to work out the differences, H.586 is likely to be amended before final passage. If differences cannot be worked out before the end of the session in May, the bill will die and will have to be reintroduced next year as a new bill.

In the meantime, nutrients will continue to flow into Lake Champlain, and we will continue to see toxic algae blooms.

On a lighter note, the Charlotte Whale has a new companion. The Charlotte Whale was designated as the State Fossil in 1993 and is housed at the Perkins Geology Museum at UVM. A bill passed last week redesignated the Charlotte Whale as the State Marine Fossil and named the Mount Holly Wooly Mammoth as the State Terrestrial Fossil. The mammoth is on display at the Mount Holly Historical Society Museum.

I continue to welcome your thoughts and questions and can be reached by phone (802-425-3960) or by email (myantachka.dfa@gmail.com), and you can find my website at MikeYantachka. com.

Trails Committee Meets Fundraising Goal for Link Trail Margaret Russell Contributor The Trails Committee is very pleased to announce the completion of fundraising efforts for the first phase of the Charlotte Town Link Trail. We will finish building the Cohousing Trail this summer.

This section of the trail will end at the planned Route 7 underpass and lead to the Melissa and Trevor Mack Trail near Lower Town Trail Road.

A portion of the Town Link Trail that is currently Community support grass will be improved with gravel this summer. for this project has been extraordinary. We have been making steady progand Trevor Mack Trail to Mount Philo. ress for the last three years because We have already begun the engineering of the generous contributions of many studies and preliminary planning on Charlotters, in addition to receiving this portion of the Town Link Trail. two substantial grants from the VerThe Trails Committee wants to thank mont Recreation Trails Program. everyone who supported the Town Link For an overview of the Town Link Trail and helped make this effort a sucTrail project, go to charlottetrailsvt.org. cess. See you on the trail this spring!

Portions of the trail are complete and open for use. For a detailed map of the Margaret Russell is co-chair of Chartrail visit trailfinder.info. lotte’s Trails Committee.

Our next efforts will be the planning and permitting of the section along State Park Road connecting the Melissa

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6 • April 24, 2014 • The

Charlotte News

Chapter two:

Charlotte’s Web Brett Sigurdson

THE CHARLOTTE NEWS

Note: This article is a continuation of the second installment of Charlotte’s Web published in the March 28 issue of the News.

It’s just before 11 a.m. at the Charlotte Senior Center, and there’s a low-key buzz throughout the building. In the kitchen, volunteers slice bread, stir pots of North Country bean soup and set out plates for the day’s meal. In the opposite wing of the building, a yoga class is in session behind closed doors. In the center of it all is Activities Director Mary Recchia, who at this moment is the fulcrum around which the center moves, addressing questions from a seemingly endless line of visitors and volunteers with quickness and grace.

By the time the clock strikes 11:30 a.m., the quiet dining room begins to fill up with seniors—many regulars—who greet each other with waves and smiles. Many of them eagerly acknowledge Recchia as she sits in the back of the room addressing a reporter’s questions. She smiles.

“People who come here, they find a community,” [in town] said Recchia.

“They see people from church, from school, et cetera. It’s such a melting pot.

It’s so rich in the building.”

The liveliness on this morning is nothing new at the Senior Center, which has become a central hub of activity in Charlotte. With its two weekly lunches and many monthly classes and presentations, and as a de facto meeting place for community functions, the Charlotte Senior Center has become an essential part of town life in its 12 years.

But it wasn’t always going to be this way. When it opened in 2002, the center was slow to see turnout. Larry Hamilton and Joan Weed, both enjoying the warm weather on the center’s porch after lunch,

recalled how they didn’t think they’d frequent the center when it opened.

“We weren’t bingo players,” joked Hamilton.

Charlie Lotz didn’t either. “I never thought it would work,” he said, then added, “But there sure are a lot of old people here.”

They’re not the only ones who have grown to see the center as a focal point of their lives. Since Recchia took over in 2004, programming has expanded to meet a rising desire for activities, classes and discussions. There are now 30 different offerings a month, with activities every day, serving up to 250 people a week when it’s slow and upward of 500 when it’s busy.

“Everybody you want to know comes here at some time during the week,” said Mary. “What’s going on? What’s happening? This is the place to be.”

––––––––– The Charlotte Senior Center today is a metaphor as much as it is a community hub. The most popular place in Charlotte is a place for the town’s biggest demographic, those 55 and older. Its popularity could also be a harbinger, for if the aging trend continues, coupled with the small growth of younger generations, Charlotte may need to provide more places for its seniors.

As noted in the previous installment of this series, Charlotte is experiencing a potentially alarming demographic shift seen elsewhere in Vermont: an expanding aging population and relatively lackluster in-migration of younger generations.

Charlotte’s average age has grown by nearly five years since 2000—from 39.2 to 44.8—the year the last major revisions of the Town Plan began. This is due to anemic growth for millennials and Gen Xers while the growth of those ages 45 and older has risen, with the biggest gains in growth coming from those 65 and over.

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This trend is not isolated to Charlotte, however. In its 2013 ECOS Annual Report, the Chittenden County Regional Planning Comission (CCRPC) noted that, in the last two years, the percentage of population over the age of 65 in the county increased by two percent while those 18 and under decreased by the same amount.

In fact, statewide the age-65-and-older demographic is the only one that is growing, noted Art Woolf, associate professor of economics at UVM, in an op-ed published last year in the Free Press, something that could have implications for the state’s tax base as well as state services.

According to Sharon Murray, a community planning consultant who has worked with the Planning Commission on the Town Plan, Charlotte’s aging population will warrant the town’s consideration of more senior services.

“This suggests the town should think about options for providing needed services locally,” she said, “for example, by continuing to support the Charlotte Senior Center, the VNA [Visiting Nurses Association] and other in-home care providers. The demand for local emergency medical services, and alternative transportation, will likely also increase.”

The town may have to consider more space for burials, too, she added.

Regina Mahony, a senior planner with Chittenden County Regional Planning, explained that the organization is trying to encourage planning in the county that takes into consideration senior housing and transportation options for the aging population countywide. But given Charlotte’s rural nature and low density, neither of these may be feasible options for the town.

“There will be a need for nursing-type facilities,” said Mahony of senior housing. “We have those needs in the county.

But how appropriate is it for Charlotte, considering the distance to medical services? Then transportation becomes an issue.”

Recchia is already seeing a growing need for services. She said the center

often receives calls from seniors who need transportation, social services, even computer help. If she can, she’ll help them out, but she never knows if the caller receives it. “We cannot be everything to all people here,” said Recchia.

What the center does offer, though, is a chance to meet other people—neighbors and friends—who can possibly lend a hand for those aging on their own.

“We’re here for you to develop a community for yourself, so when you stop driving and you need a ride you’ve developed a community who will help you in that effort,” said Recchia.

Sometimes she hears about housing, which is an important enough issue that the center has offered classes and presentations on it.

“It’s a big deal for them to leave Charlotte and go into senior housing, because they grew up here, volunteered here, watched children grow up here,” she said. “Yet, they can’t get around very easily here.”

––––––––– Housing. It’s top among several issues that unites the young and the old in Charlotte, for its cost is keeping the young from moving in and its upkeep may keep the aging from staying. And if there’s any magic bullet that will help address Charlotte’s demographic issues, it might be more development.

“There just needs to be more housing and that will help the whole scenario,” said Mahony.

It’s an issue the Planning Commission has been talking about, said Town Planning and Zoning Administrator Jeannine McCrumb recently. She points to Harrington Village, a 22-acre, mixedincome housing development currently under construction along Route 7 in Shelburne as an example of the kind of senior and affordable housing that could benefit Charlotte, though such a project would likely not be at the same density, she said.

Yet, there could be at least three potential issues with such a project in Charlotte.

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The Charlotte News First, the location. According to a 2006 study on the potential of affordable housing in Charlotte prepared by LandVest, Charlotte’s best place for a senior or affordable housing project—given the density of such a project and proximity to services— is near the West Village. Yet, septic capabilities, as well as the rural nature of the town, would likely limit the size of such a project to 25 units, a number close to being uneconomical to construct and manage, according to the report.

Another issue, raised by Mahony, is a post-baby boom bubble and potential demographic shift that could eventually create a lack of need for elderly housing, something compounded by a growing trend toward aging in place.

Finally, do Charlotters even want senior or affordable housing projects? Given many residents’ strong desire to protect rural nature, building such a large-scale project could see opposition. There are other reasons, too, said Woolf.

“I don’t know if Charlotte’s tax base, or taxpayers, would support expending tax dollars for older people, especially given that most are wealthier than average in Vermont, so any cost is most likely going to be borne by Charlotte taxpayers and not by the state,” he said.

Another option the CCRPC mentioned as potentially helpful for meeting the housing needs of seniors and younger generations is more accessory dwellings, such as apartments. This is something Charlotte is actually quite progressive with, said McCrumb. However, given the cost of Charlotte’s real estate, this may still be too costly for the average middleto lower-middle-class renter.

The town could also work with organizations like the Champlain Housing Trust, Habitat for Humanity and other organizations to encourage more affordable housing in Charlotte.

A final consideration is the services that come with new housing developments, said McCrumb, though this comes with a caveat. “When you think of affordable housing,” she said, “what are the services that come with that? Public transportation? That might not be something Charlotte wants to do.”

––––––––– If housing is something seniors and 20- and 30-somethings want to see in Charlotte, they also want to see more places to go. According to the Charlotte News’ Town Plan survey, a striking majority of respondents 55 and older cited a desire for a more active and lively West Village area. While a total of 95 people responded to the survey—certainly not a mandate by any stretch—their responses do open a window into the thoughts and concerns of

Charlotters across the age spectrum, and what they want is more local business and ways to safely walk to them.

In response to a question of what Charlotters would like to see in town, roughly 50 percent of respondents ages 55 and over mentioned a desire for more

––––––––– One Charlotter considering all this is Bonnie Christie. As she sits at a table in her house just a few yards from Greenbush Road in the West Village, the whoosh of an occasional car ever so briefly overtakes her words. A member of the Community

Bonnie Christie and her dog, Brownie, outside her home on Greenbush Road. small businesses in Charlotte and a livelier village area, including a restaurant, pub, pharmacy, grocery store and specialty stores. Compare this with 73 percent of those 45 and younger who want the same thing.

One respondent wrote he or she would like to see “responsible growth in commercial business, which will provide people who live here the opportunity to shop here for food, gas, etc. As a community we conserve and protect the environment while we spew emissions to drive to Shelburne or Vergennes for groceries, fuel, gas, bank, pharmacy, etc.”

Similarly, roughly 30 percent of respondents 55 and over recorded a desire for more walking paths and bike paths in Charlotte, including sidewalks in the West Village, compared with ten percent of those 45 and younger.

While McCrumb recognizes the desire for a more walkable West Village, these things come at a cost, she said, including the initial investment and perpetual upkeep. What’s more, how many businesses would come and how many people would use it?

“Sure, these would make the community more vibrant,” she said. “If you build that, though, would people come? Who knows?”

Safety Committee, Christie has been a proponent of safer roads for walking in Charlotte. Today, her mind is on her neighbors. As she walked to the Old Brick Store for a cup of coffee, she told a reporter about her neighbors, who they were, when they moved in, how they’ve built a little community that helps each other out. It’s one of her favorite parts about living in the village.

As she talks at her table, this sense of community and how to maintain it undergirds her thoughts of aging in Charlotte.

Christie has lived in Charlotte for 23 years and been involved in numerous projects and served on many committees. Like many who took the survey, Christie longs for a more walkable, bikeable Charlotte, a more business-oriented village area where she can purchase groceries or prescriptions or dine. She wants to see a place where people can gather, a place like the Town Green or a park, a place for farmers markets and events. In short, a destination.

“The library and Senior Center are such popular places because they’re destinations,” said Christie, citing feedback the library board—she’s its current chair— received for its strategic plan. “There’s always something going on at those places. I know people want that.”

And while she sees development in

Charlotte as helping to create a sense of community for young and old, a place to connect the “disconnected satellites,” she also sees it as something that would help her be able to live here as she ages.

“I think seniors get so isolated,” she said. “It’s hard to get out, it’s hard to be mobile. [Charlotte] is not the kind of place where you can stroll by and say ‘hi.’

There’s loneliness for many seniors.”

She’s been thinking a lot about aging in her own home lately. She heats with wood, and the process of stacking logs and carrying them inside gets less appealing. There’s water in her basement that she’s currently pumping out. These are not things she wants to deal with forever.

“It’s harder when you’re older, especially when you’re single, to do general maintenance stuff,” she said. “You just want to be able to let go of leaky windows, damaged roofs. I think that’s why these retirement communities are so popular.”

As she considers her future, Christie is less and less certain she’ll stay in Charlotte; it would be easier to move to an area where she could more easily access the services she desires.

“It would be great if people were more open-minded about stuff,” she said. “I just feel we have so far to go before we have a livable community. As you get older you wonder if it’s worth pushing and pushing and pushing when I could be in another town enjoying the benefits of someone who’s done that. Why not?”

Yet, Christie laments the thought of leaving Charlotte, of no longer sitting on the library board or seeing the fruits of her efforts with the CSC. “It’s nice to age in your own community,” said Christie.

“You know the issues, the people. It’s sad that you have to leave your own community. But at a certain point in your life you have to be more pragmatic, have to think about yourself. There are years when you can’t give as much to people as you could when you’re younger.”

––––––––– Back at the Senior Center, the Monday Munch is still in full swing. Just before departing for a meeting about upcoming summer kayak trips, Recchia talks about an 89-year-old Charlotter who relishes her lunches at the center because the sense of community it fosters is vital to her. In fact, as a member of the committee that helped build the Senior Center she, in a sense, built a place for herself to find community. She was one of the 120 volunteers who attended a recent dinner to celebrate the volunteers who have made the center a place of their own.

“As I like to say, that’s the entry

Web continued on page 8

The Charlotte News

Too Many Planted Trees in Charlotte? No Way! Larry Hamilton Contributor There is no question that there are some downsides to planted trees on our house lots and along our highways and byways. Trees planted near our homes or other structures eventually get tall enough that, were they to blow over or snap off, they might cause damage.

This aspect should be of guidance in choosing a location in which to plant and also in choosing species that are wind-sturdy and not prone to brittleness in branches (like Chinese elm or silver maple). Leaves in rain gutters are also a consideration. Some species do drop large pieces of vegetative matter that may not appeal to some folks: leaves (catalpa, Norway maple), seedpods (catalpa, honey locust) or fruit.

Trees planted along our roads can block views of the land or waterscape if planted in the wrong place. With advanced age and senescence or infection, falling limbs or even entire trees can block transportation or even drop onto vehicles.

But as we approach Arbor Day on May 2, let us look at the benefits side.

There is almost universal agreement that trees are beautiful. All cultures, all religions have venerated special trees,

ranging from the Tree of Life and the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, to the sacred Boh tree, the Druids’ oaks, the Great Tree of Peace and so on. The golden fall needles of the larch, the flaming red of the red maple, the spring blossoms of the black locust, the lovely vase shape of the American elm, the spires of the balsam—each species has some visual asset that charms us.

As such they enhance the visual quality of our property, our public greens and roadsides. ous tree can provide cooling shade to a house or shelter in summer without blocking winter solar warming. This can reduce air conditioning use. Conversely, a few evergreens on the north or northwest side of a structure can mitigate winter’s cold. Trees may screen harsh scenery or soften the hardness of masonry, metal or glass.

CHARLOTTE ARBOR DAY DECLARATION Whereas trees in the Town of Charlotte contribute significantly to the beauty of our landscape; And recognizing moreover that trees provide many valuable environmental services such as shade in summer, carbon fixation, oxygen production, soil erosion reduction, more favorable groundwater recharge, and habitat for many forms of other plant and animal life; And also noting that our aging shade tree population is succumbing to increasing pest damage and storm damage causing loss or disfigurement; And whereas new tree planting is not compensating for these losses; Therefore, the Charlotte Town Selectboard, recognizing that it is a good and worthy thing for residents to plant trees for the benefit of present and future generations, hereby: Declares May 2, 2014 to be designated as Charlotte Arbor Day and encourages tree planting; and It notes with pleasure that there will be Arbor Day celebrations at Charlotte Central School on May 2, and a continuation of roadside tree planting on Roscoe Road along Lewis Creek, and new planting at other locations,

promoting feelings of relaxation and

And it encourages other residents to plant and care for trees at this time.

ridden people recover more quickly if there are trees in their viewscapes. mental services and benefits. Tree roots hold soil in place and increase water infiltration, thus improving the quality of our surface water resources. Their

Approved: Selectboard Members , April 14, 2014

canopy leaves take carbon dioxide from the air, reducing greenhouse gas, and produce oxygen for us to breathe. These leaves are also filter traps for particulate matter in the air—dust, ash, smoke, pollen. Rain then washes these to the ground. They provide habitat elements for a great many birds and small mammals, and their fruit or seeds (e.g. acorns) nourish many more, plus some of the big mammals This Arbor Day or later in spring while there is adequate soil moisture, you could plant one or a few trees on your property.

Property values can be increased by as much as ten percent over treeless properties. Plant a tree to honor a relative on some achievement.

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Web continued from page 1 Recchia.

She surveys the room, waving again at someone who is finding a seat and, as she does so, recalls of $500,000 to build the center.

“This was Walter’s dream, to have a place for people to gather, to do meaningful things,”

here for all these people”

Residen t ia l C a re

T E R R A C E ,

Larry Hamilton is Charlotte’s volunteer tree warden.

Charlotte without it,” she added.

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802-989-7500 EastViewMiddlebury.com

Independent Liv ing

many of the benefits.

The town will continue in a modest way to enhance our roadsides this spring by replacing failed or damaged trees and planting a few new ones. And, at CCS’s annual Arbor Day celebration, two new trees will be added to the schoolyard’s shady covering of 42, thanks once again to Charlie Proutt and Horsford’s Nursery.

Also your tree warden calls attention to a tree planting webinar from UVM Extension: “Tree Selection and Planting Site Assessment” on April 24 from noon to 1 p.m.

Do you need help deciding what tree to plant and where to plant it?

This webinar, led by Warren Spinner, Burlington city arborist, will help you choose the right tree for the right place. ing, choosing and purchasing trees and will learn what to consider about the planting site before the tree goes into the ground. Your future tree (and you) will be glad that you attended! For more info, visit http://bit.ly/1jKxhZs.

!

M e m or y C a re

M I D D L E B U R Y ,

V E R M O N T

together to improve the community, to create a place where young and old can gather and meet. A destination.

Given the demographic trends

currently affecting Charlotte— not to mention the areas of common ground between the old and the young, the biggest demographic in Charlotte and the smallest—one can’t help but wonder if Charlotters can summon a similar creativity and foresight to make meaningful changes for the young and old to stay here.

What do you think the biggest issues are for Charlotte’s young and old? Post your thoughts on the Charlotte News’s special Town Plan 2015 website at charlottestownplan.wordpress.com.

There, you’ll also be able to view the results of our survey, read the current Town Plan and soon see drafts of the 2015 Town Plan.

Stay tuned for more Charlotte’s Web articles in upcoming issues.

The Charlotte News • April 24, 2014 • 9

Music Fills CCS at Small Ensemble Concert

Waldorf to Host ‘Kidpower’ Workshops May 10

News from CVU GOOD NEWS CVU is launching its 50th anniversary celebration at this year’s commencement exercises on June 13 by inviting all CVU alumni, students, teachers, staff and administrators to walk with the school’s 50th graduating class. An alumni reception will follow the ceremony.

For questions, or to RSVP, email cvu1965@gmail.com, call 482-7111 or visit the event’s Facebook page. To read an historical overview of the school, “CVU Turns 50: A Legacy of Innovation, Leadership and Community,” visit http://bit.ly/1kSkQvQ. Last week, science teacher Mike Burris was honored as a Project IGNITE teacher for 2014. Each year Vita-Learn and the Vermont Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development recognize a new cadre of Vermont educators who exemplify innovative and transformative instructional practices.

CVU finished its 2013-14 Scholars Bowl season on Saturday, March 30, as league semi-finalists. CVU has reached at least the “Final Four” of the Vermont league playoffs nine times in the last 13

PHOTO BY KARYN LUNDE

Sixth-grade saxophonists perform a cool version of the James Bond Theme at CCS’s small ensembles concert on Wednesday, April 16. They are (from left) Isabelle Mittelstadt, Maryn Askew and Peter Hyams on tenor saxophones and Alden Randall, Gus Lunde, Edie Wright and Olivia Hagios on alto saxophones.

The show featured musical talent from students in 5th, 6th, 7th and 8th grades. Under the direction of Jenny Cianciola, chorus and general music teacher, and Andy Smith, instrumental music teacher, students had the opportunity to showcase their musical talents for family and friends.

years. Eight students performed admirably in the playoffs Saturday: seniors Bennett Cazayoux (Charlotte), Ian Campbell (Shelburne), Fiona Higgins (Charlotte), Owen Hudson (Williston), Brendan Murphy (Charlotte) and Peter Roy (Hinesburg), as well as juniors Charles Yarwood (Hinesburg) and Brandon Tieso (Charlotte). These and our other players are to be commended for their hard work and excellent play this year, making them excellent representatives of the fine education you all provide for them here at CVU. The CVU Junior Iron Chef team had a great showing on Saturday. The team won with its recipe for flat-bread tacos.

Ninth graders Emily Gagnon (Shelburne), David Roy (Hinesburg), Kaitlyn Kaplan (Williston), Morgan Schnell (Charlotte) and Emma Spitzer (Williston) all participated.

CHARLOTTE CVU SCHOOL BOARD REPRESENTATIVES Lorna Jimerson—ljimerso@wcvt.com Marilyn Richardson—mkrichardson@ gmail.com

The Lake Champlain Waldorf School will host “Kidpower” workshops for children ages three to five and six to 12 on May 10 at its high school campus on Ferry Road in Charlotte. Kidpower is a nonprofit safety education organization, endorsed by mental health professionals, lawenforcement officials, educators and parents.

A “Starting Strong with Kidpower” workshop for children ages three to five will center on people safety skills.

Using storytelling, puppets and interactive role plays, this 50-minute workshop will introduce simple but powerful skills to handle unkind words, checking before touching something unsafe, moving away from someone doing unsafe things—such as throwing sand or playing too roughly, and getting help from you effectively, even when you are busy. A few simple but powerful skills help kids notice, stop and get help with potential safety problems like these and many others.

The workshop begins at 11 a.m.

The cost per student and accompanying adult is $30, which includes a workbook.

For children ages six–12 and their parents, a Kidpower Safety Workshop will run from 1–5 p.m. In this upbeat workshop, children learn assertiveness and boundary-setting skills they can use right away to feel safer and more confident at home, on the playground and out and about in the world—-as well as emergency-only physical selfdefense skills. Adults are coached in how to practice these skills with their children.

The cost per child and accompanying adult is $100.

Scholarship and payment plans are available for both workshops. Class sizes are limited, and preregistration is required. For more information or to register, contact Laura Slesar at KidpowerVermont@gmail.com or 425KIDS.

10 • April 24, 2014 • The

Charlotte News

Odyssey of the Mind Team on Its Way to Finals CCS Compost Sale on Team holding fundraisers on Green Up Day, online Green Up Day What’s in Iowa? Lots of pig farms, wheat fields and the University of Iowa, where the Odyssey of the Mind World Finals are held.

From May 28 to June 1, 20,000 national and international students will meet to present their problem solutions, live on campus and meet people from around the world.

CCS is lucky to have a team that qualified this year and that plans to represent Charlotte and Vermont in a positive, fun and creative way.

Fundraising efforts to send seven fourth graders and three coaches to the competition are now underway.

Consider making a small donation CCS students on the winning Odyssey of the Mind team are (from left) to help this group reach its goal.

The team is hoping to raise Aidan Devine, Emmett LaChapelle, Chloe Silverman, Riley Bagnato, $12,500 to support travel and hotel Chris Haigney, Sam Holmes and Malinn Sigler. costs. Through a Fundly site (fundly.com/ccstoiowa), the team has drive a vehicle—without adult assistance—that would already raised over $7,300 of its goal. The online cam- complete required tasks in order to pass a “driver’s paign ends Wednesday, April 30. test.” The vehicle had to use one propulsion system to Look ahead to Green Up Day on May 3 for a seven- go forward and then travel in reverse using a different family garage sale on Hinesburg Road for another propulsion system. fundraiser.

The team came in second place at the Vermont The seven team members have been working on Odyssey of the Mind competition on March 22. their Odyssey of the Mind problem since November Follow its progress on Facebook at facebook.com/ 2013. Their problem required them to design, build and greensubmarinevt.

Need compost? Please buy your bulk compost at CCS’s third annual compost sale on Saturday, May 3, from 9 a.m. to noon in the CCS west parking lot, near the Quonset hut.

Champlain Valley Compost Co., a Charlotte-based producer, is generously donating compost for the sale.

Proceeds go to the CCS 4Rs Committee (reduce, reuse, recycle, rot) to finish the new compost shed near the school gardens.

Please order and pay for the amount you need by Thursday, May 1. Order forms are available on the CCS homepage (ccsvt.us).

Bring your five-, 20- or 33-gallon cans to the school—volunteer shovel labor will be provided. Prices are $2 per five-gallon can, $8 per 20-gallon can and $12 per 33-gallon can. Receipts for prepayment are your ticket for compost pick-up on May 3.

How much do you need? For a variety of reasons, compost should be applied to achieve a minimum 80-percent dilution rate—apply one inch of compost for every four inches soil. When using compost as “nutritive mulch,” an application rate of no more than one to two inches deep is recommended.

For further guidance, visit Champlain Valley Compost’s website: cvcompost.com/compostfaq.php.

Compost is a fabulous Mother’s Day gift—for your mom and for Mother Earth.

CVU Craft Fair for Access Program May 3

and pants to protect from ticks and other insects.

• Team up to Green Up. Work with partners or teams.

• Avoid overexertion. Take breaks. Drink water.

• To ensure the safety of children, adult supervisors should always be present.

There are three other great events in which you can participate on Green Up Day at the Quonset hut at Charlotte Central School: • E-cycling: drop off electronic devices such as computers and their components, phones, TVs, VCRs and small kitchen appliances such as microwaves.

• Compost sale: buy compost to support Charlotte Central School.

• Seed library: Pick up some seeds to plant and then share next year, via Charlotte’s Seed Library.

Contact me at 734-2854 or by email at joegallaghervt@gmail.com with questions or ideas to make Green Up Day a great success.

Eighty Vermont crafters will be showing their handiwork at CVU on May 3 from 9 a.m.–4 p.m. as part of a fundraising event to support the Access community education program.

“Lots of neighbors encouraged me to start this new show,” comments Eddie Krasnow, co-director of Access. “Finally able to do it, I now want to encourage everyone to come on out to support our local cre-

ative talent. In the process, people will be adding to what we can offer at Access.”

The show features wood turners, fiber artists, fine artists, specialty foods, jewelers, potters, glass artists and more filling the large gym.

Parking and entry are free, and the CVU café will be open all day for breakfast and lunch specialties.

Access this year will offer over 400 classes to anyone interested in

learning. These classes are held on the CVU campus throughout the school year. Participants so far this year have ranged from two years old to 92.

“All this is only possible with the gracious support of the CSSU and CVU community,” said Krasnow. “I am glad to be a part of this dynamic program.”

Green Up Day

continued from page 1

Joe Gallagher is Charlotte’s Green Up Day coordinator.

The Charlotte News

Comedy Night to Benefit the Charlotte, Shelburne PTOs May 9 Back by popular demand, the Vermont Comedy Divas are sponsoring a comedy show to benefit the Charlotte and Shelburne PTOs. The event will be held at the Old Lantern in Charlotte on Friday, May 9, at 7:30 p.m.

The show will feature local divas Josie Leavitt, Tracie Spencer, Autumn Engroff Spencer and Sue Schmidt.

The show was such a hit last year that everyone involved agreed to do it again. Leavitt, owner of the Flying Pig Book Store and one of the creators of the event, explained, “I wanted to do the comedy show

again this year because working with both the Shelburne and Charlotte PTOs on a fundraiser was so much fun and so successful last year it just made sense. And to be part of a joint fundraiser for both schools means a lot to me living in Charlotte and having the store in Shelburne. These kids mean so much to me, and it’s great to help support the work of both PTOs.” This is an adult-only event. Tickets are $20 and can be purchased online at eventbrite.com/e/a-night-ofcomedy-tickets-6632962369, at the Flying Pig bookstore or at the door on the night of the event.

LCA Hosts Program on Invasive Species

range across endangered species policy, marine mammals, and biodiversity and human health. He has made presentations all over the country and is author of Listed: Dispatches from America’s Endangered Species Act, winner of a 2012 Rachel Carson Environment Book Award, and Whale. He also heads a public online forum, “Eat the Invaders.”

At the event, learn about some of the invasive species in the area and how to thwart them—and perhaps even eat them! Everyone is welcome. The event is free; donations to support the Meeting House restoration project are welcome. Refreshments will be served.

The Meeting House is on VT Route 116 in Starksboro village. Parking is available in the town center parking lot.

The Lewis Creek Association, in conjunction with the Starksboro Historical Society, Conservation Commission and public library, will host conservation biologist Joe Roman, who will present his lively illustrated program “Eat the Invaders: Fighting Invasive Species One Bite at a Time” at the Starksboro Village Meeting House on Friday, April 25, at 7 p.m.

Roman, a Monkton resident, is research assistant professor at UVM’s Rubenstein School of Environment and Natural Resources. His research interests

Selectboard continued from page 1 mate half-mile stretches of Greenbush Road south from the railroad underpass and from the Mack Farm. He also wishes to smooth the grade crossing on Thompson’s Point Road. If a grant of $155,000 is received from the state, Lewis envisions possibly repaving Dorset Street south from the Shelburne line to where paving presently ends (about 1 ¼ miles). He also would like to repave a short half-mile stretch east on Hinesburg Road from Baptist Corners and one-third mile south on Mt. Philo Road from Pease Mountain Road.

May 2 was proclaimed Arbor Day for this year. There will be a ceremony at CCS and continued planting of roadside trees on Roscoe Road along Lewis Creek. The proclamation encourages all Charlotters to plant and care for trees.

In an action reflecting discussion on the floor of Town Meeting regarding town employee salaries, the board

voted to increase the number of approved hours for the chair of the listers and the recreation coordinator from 20 to 22 hours a week. This required changing the position of recreation coordinator from a salaried to an hourly status. In this vein, Selectboard member Ellie Russell distributed a draft table of salary pay steps modeled after a system employed in Richmond. The board agreed to hold a warned working meeting within a few days to discuss a salary development plan for Charlotte. It is hoped that rapid progress might be made on regularizing pay and allowances so that equitable raises might be given reflecting longevity and accretion of duties in position.

Action was taken to publish and distribute a request for proposal covering work on the Town Green. The work will improve drainage and prepare a site for the placement of the WWII Veterans Memorial in front of Town Hall.

Charlotter Marion Paris was appointed to a two-year term on the Chittenden Unit for Special Investigations (CUSI) Policy Board, where she will take up the role of chair. The mission of the CUSI is to investigate and take action on reports of abuse of children in Chittenden County.

Howe Shares Charlotte Whale Tale at Senior Center Jeff Howe, author of How Do You Get a Whale in Vermont? The Unlikely Story of Vermont’s Official State Fossil, which centers on the Charlotte whale, gave a presentation to a packed Senior Center on April 13. As he discussed the book and the tale of the whale, Howe also discussed a movement to make the Mt. Holly mammoth tooth and tusk the state terrestrial fossil, which, in fact, did happen. See this issues’s Legislative Report on page 5.

Raina Donahue, chair of the board of the Charlotte Children’s Center, discussed with the Selectboard the necessity for increasing septic for the center. Currently capacity is limited to 38 children. In order to increase its support of the town’s children the center has to find additional septic capacity. Donahue came to discuss the feasibility of connecting to the town’s waste water system.

The Selectboard supported the request and sent Donahue back to study the center’s ability to increase its own capacity and determine any excess that it might require from the town. When this has been done the Selectboard would establish a group to draw up an ordinance to establish procedures for hooking up. The Town’s West Village wastewater capacities and recommendations for expansion are covered in a comprehensive report issued in a September 2011 study.

The Selectboard reviewed a draft paper establishing a Community Safety Committee and came up with numerous changes. The paper will be further reviewed and steps taken to recruit members to the committee.

The next regular Selectboard meeting will be held on April 28.

Home & Garden Home

&

Garden

A ‘Hot Box’ How-To How seeds, manure and a little ingenuity can kick-start early-season growing Dave Quickel Contributor shelburne bay plaza 2989 shelburne rd r 985.9909 alittlesomethingvt.com A Little Something (Gifts)

I

t all started because I hate using propane.

I’d just as soon not burn any more of it than need be. But every spring when it was time to start all of my early-season seedlings, I followed the path of most commercial vegetable farmers: fire up the propane heater in the greenhouse to start the seedlings. It’s easy enough after all—the heater is there, the tanks have fuel, there are plenty of tables and space, and it’s just a matter of lighting that pilot light and diving in.

But it pained me each and every year. Heating a big plastic bubble (which is essentially what a greenhouse is) and listening to that heater kick on every few minutes is no fun and quite expensive. A few years ago I found an alternative, the manure hot box.

The hot box was exactly what I had been searching for. Not only could it be created entirely from locally sourced items, but it cost very little, produced no emissions and was reli-

able 24/7. And last but not least, when it’s no longer heating season I can dismantle the system and re-use the building blocks. All in all, a completely superior way to start my seedlings!

I knew I was onto something good when my neighbor Yvan Plouffe stopped by. I mentioned my system and his eyes lit up. “Lit chaud!” is what I believe he exclaimed, although my French is a little shaky. He said it was a version of what his father used to do every spring in order to cheat the cold and get a bit of the garden started before the elements were willing to allow it. He looked on approvingly.

The basic idea is beautifully simple: capture the heat generated by the composting of fresh manure and contain it in an area where you can place trays of seedlings. Cover it at night and on cold days to keep the heat in, and open it up when the sun is shining. Water as needed and—voila!—nearly free heat that then yields somewhat composted manure that can easily be spread around the area for fertility when it’s all said and done.

The container is built from bales of hay that can then be used for mulch. The cover is a piece of heavy plastic kept off the plants by light metal hoops. Retired windows can be used, but beware of the lead paint on old ones. The main thing is to create a dead space so the plants aren’t touching the cover. On cold nights the frost will burn anything touching the top.

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The Charlotte News Now, I do this in a greenhouse, but it doesn’t neces- manure into the box, filling it nearly to the top. If it’s sarily require one if you don’t have that many plants dry, water may need to be added. You can usually to start. The hot box can be created in a protected spot tell what the appropriate moisture level is if you dig in the yard or garden and function just the same. into the pile and study the consistency of the hot core.

Here’s how I do it: Step one is to acquire fresh That’s what you want to create/maintain. horse manure. It needs to be fresh (like within the last Once the manure is loaded in, I rake it flat and put week or two) to deliver the most extended hit of heat some narrow boards across the top to keep the trays for the least effort. There are lots of local sources for of seedlings from resting right on the manure. It’s this; most large stables pay to have it removed and no biggie if they do initially, but eventually the roots are happy to see you load up your pick-up or trash may grow through the bottom of your trays and conbarrels. I’ve worked tinue down into the with Mindy down at manure, needing to Steeple Ridge and be separated later. now just have whole Then push in the roll-off dumpsters bent wires to supdelivered to get port the cover. me the amount I Now it’s time to want. I have to pay seed some trays and to have it trucked put the system to here, but 35 yards work. We start our of manure for $100 greenhouse tomais pretty reasonable toes and onions like and fills the industhis in late March. trial-sized hot boxes As more trays of I’m building at this early season crops point. are started, the Next, I buy some box is expanded to bails of mulch hay. accommodate them.

Sometimes you can The heat from the find them free for composting manure the taking, but I rises up and creates never plan that far a perfect bottom ahead and instead heat for the seedjust get them from lings. The temperamy neighbors ture will start out Steve Denton or quite hot down in Dave Nichols. Get the pile (like 120 enough to build a degrees) and will single-layer wall. cool gradually over Bales are put on the course of the edge for maximum next two to three height. Wheelbarweeks. I monitor Eli Quickel helps prepare the Hot Box for spring growing. row or dump the the heat with a meat

rapp, REALTOR® vonTrapp.com 343-4591

The finished box with seeded trays placed on top.

thermometer. More heat can be generated at any point by loading more manure in or even just mixing what is already there.

I usually find the initial shot to be enough to get me to the point where I need the larger space of the greenhouse to contain the volume of seedlings I have, but we’re talking several thousand plants at this point.

Then we pull the bales off the side and take them to mulch the strawberries, which are just returning to life. The manure, which is now partially composted is spread out evenly over the remainder of the greenhouse and tilled in.

This system has worked pretty darn well for me over the years. Not only do I save $300 a week in propane, but I get reliability and re-use to boot!

Dave Quickel runs Stony Loam Farm in East Charlotte. For more information, visit stonyloamfarm.com.

14 • April 24, 2014 • The Charlotte News

Bringing Light to Shade Having trouble filling a shady spot in your garden? Follow these tips.

Joan Weed Contributor Nearly every gardener who has a bit of space more than likely has a problem area called “dry shade.”

It is one of the most difficult spots to tame and make full and lush, but it is possible.

Usually a lack of light and a tangle of roots are involved along with the dryness.

Light doesn’t mean only direct sunlight.

It can bounce off of lightcolored buildings or fences.

It can come in filtered from A newly planted trimming the canopy upward. shade strip in early I strongly spring (above). The encourage same strip after a “limbing up” or few months (right). trimming lower branches. Right off you will have helped your plants to succeed.

As for the roots, if the trees or shrubs are well established you can remove some of the feeder roots to dig your holes. As a matter of fact, it’s nearly impossible to plant without damaging some roots. The soil will likely need some amending, but don’t consider dumping too much soil or compost under tree canopies as you may bury the feeder roots too deeply.

Add a few inches of good compost to the hole and surrounding area. Until your new plants are well established you will need to water more than usual for perennial plants.

Now for the choice of plants. You can’t expect to have a colorful display of blooms, but you will be able to have some color. The first colors of the season should come from bulbs and perhaps spring ephemerals. This is the perfect environment for them—moist soil and bright sun before the trees leaf out and dry conditions while they are dormant in summer. A few other shade perennials that offer early interesting colors are pulmonaria, trillium, viola, convallaria (lily of the valley), helleborus, galium (sweet woodruff), primula, Dutch iris or iris reticulata, mertensia (Virginia bluebells) and dicentra (bleeding heart).

As the spring flowers fade, ferns, hostas, polygonatum (Solomon’s seal), smilacina and epimediums will emerge to fill in the bare ground the ephemerals have left.

None of the above blooms are knockyour-socks-off visions, but subtlety is okay too. Personally, as I age as a gardener, I appreciate more and more texture, shape and various shades of green. Yes, green is a color!

In my own garden, there was a long strip of dry, root-bound, very shady

ground. I tried the usual—buy nice, expensive plants, dig a hole, amend it and try to remember to keep it watered.

Things didn’t make it. Some did—but nothing you’d write home about. Then we made the startling decision to remove a long row of Norway maple saplings of various ages, leaving the three mother trees to guard some of the shade. Oh my!

That garden exploded by just letting in light. The moisture available was no longer being sucked up by the tangle of trees.

The other thing that eventually made this a special garden was the addition of understory plants—shrubs. We added hollies (Ilex merserveae), kalmia (mountain laurel), viburnum, rhododendron and sambucus ‘Black Lace’ (elderberry). Dwarf varieties might be considered. A few didn’t thrive, but most did with careful attention the first few seasons. A few other spots of summer color are Asiatic lilies, lobelia cardinalis (needs extra water), sidalcia (mini hollyhock), digitalis grandiflora, geranium, tricyrtus. Don’t forget that hostas bloom in many shades.

My favorite hosta

blooms are white, waxy, fragrant ‘Aphrodite’ or ‘Venus’ blossoms.

I will admit it was not easy digging those first holes—lots of stones and roots had to go. But it certainly has been worth the effort. Also, the cost of plants is quite often a consideration. The project does not need to be completed all in one sweep. As a matter of fact, you will benefit by doing it in stages and observing what is working and what is not. Once the plants become established, you can count on them returning year after year. Occasionally replacements are needed. I try to plant a few new bulbs each year. Daffodils, snowdrops, muscari (grape hyacinth) and some tulips are reliable returnees.

Most tulips peter out after a few seasons, but we have a couple that came with our house in 1996 and still bloom every year. So tulips, alliums and lilies are bulbs that I keep adding; by keeping the same color palette, they blend in nicely in case you can’t remember where last year’s ‘Queen of the Night’ actually is planted.

No one ever said gardening is easy, but for dedicated plant people it is exciting to succeed where once it seemed an impossibility.

Joan Weed is a master gardener. She lives in Charlotte.

Little Green Thumbs

physically active outside, learning from mentors, long-term planning and rewards, environmental health, teamwork, learning where food comes from, getting to know plants intimately, community service and more. Often we are rewarded with delicious produce, but never forget about all of Tips for gardening with kids the other benefits and rewards of gardening with kids.

Tai Dinnan Have plants that look good, smell Contributor good and feel good. Flowers make the garden an inviting place for humans and Gardening with kids provides adults pollinators. Herbs can be picked for tastwith countless learning experiences. This ing and smelling throughout the growing is part of the joy of working outside in nat- season. Having furry, smooth, prickly and ural places with children. However, it can ridged leaves helps students experience the also provide barriers and hurdles if you are garden and build comfortable relationships a parent or teacher who already has a lot with plants before they are asked to try eaton your mind. Here are a few key tips to ing new flavors and textures. smooth the bumps in your path to growing Try varieties with fun features: mulan amazing garden with your children. ticolored carrots, giant pumpkins, or Have enough tools for everyone. bite-size tomatoes. I Nothing invites always plant familiar destructive behavior plants. I also love addor disinterest more ing in some unfamiliar than idle hands with ones (like kohlrabi), nothing to do. Being bite-size ones (cherry able to jump right tomatoes, peppers, into a physical task cucumbers, carrots without too much and more), giant ones talking and listening (pumpkins and sunis what makes garflowers) and multicoldening fun—espeored varieties (chard, cially for kids who carrots, string beans, aren’t succeeding in tomatoes and more). A school. Take advangarden should be a fun, tage of this and make safe, beautiful place for sure everyone has discovery, experimenthe tool they need tation and learning the to get right to work. flavors you love.

If you’re working Campers in Dinnan’s 2011 “Spring Get involved and with a limited bud- into Action” April vacation camp learn more. Along get, you may need in Somerville, Mass., volunteer at with Monkton teacher to split into smaller Gaining Ground Farm. and garden guru Stacy groups so that you Carter, I’ll be offering don’t need a lot of a new garden-themed every type of tool. day camp at CCS this year for 1st–5th Don’t worry too much about straight graders. Campers will play and work with lines or an orderly garden. It is impor- friends to deepen knowledge and boost tant to give clear planting instructions, excitement about vegetables, fruits, seeds, to practice following directions from the pollination, decomposition and garden back of a seed packet and to learn how ecosystems. They’ll become animal lovers to handle plants without hurting them. It after a walking field trip to visit sheep at is also important, however, for adults to nearby Fifth Fence Farm. let kids take it from there. Lines might be Each afternoon they will transform into wiggly. Seeds might be planted too deep chefs to prepare a daily snack using ingreor not deep enough. A seedling might get dients just harvested from the garden. broken. However, some plants will grow And, of course we’ll all save some energy and students can say: “I did that!” and for playing on the playground, creating really mean it. Buy a few extra seedlings garden-themed art, exploring the base of and seeds to allow for some loss and to Pease Mountain and making discoveries in ensure a bountiful garden. and out of the gardens. For more informaTreat everything as a learning experi- tion or to register for Green Thumbs Sumence—there are no failures. If a row of seeds doesn’t come up, ask why. Were seeds planted too deep? Was it too cold? Did anything eat the seeds or young sprouts? This is the perfect scientific mystery that prompts kids to practice all of those standards they are working to “achieve” in the classroom.

If a snail eats all the rainbow chard, talk about the garden’s role in an ecosystem or food chain. Learn about snails! If food goes missing, talk about how we could help our community’s hungry families plant their own gardens. Don’t like the taste of the plant you worked so hard to grow this summer? Think about flavors you do like and start planning for next year Let kids have decision-making power.

When gardening, there are so many opportunities for students to be empowered.

Which varieties should we grow? Where Watering spring flowers at the Somerville should things get planted? Should there be Community Growing Center. flowers too? If you have room, it’s great to give kids their own small space next to the family’s larger production garden. If mer Camp, visit charlottevt.org and click they lose interest, that’s fine. If not, the on “Recreation” or email Tai and Stacy at possibilities are endless. You can learn a ccsgreenthumbs@gmail.com. lot about your children as you watch their gardens grow and evolve over the season. Tai originally crafted these tips for a post Don’t worry about production. This on her Growing Stories blog. Check it out is especially true with younger children. at http//:growingstories.wordpress.com/.

Gardening with kids should be about being

The Charlotte News

OutDoors

by Elizabeth Bassett

Signs of Spring Ah, April. One day raking in shirtsleeves, the next day hunkering by the woodstove as snow tumbles down.

I keep a garden journal of sorts. Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m really conscientious in March. Every tiny sign of spring thrills me and I rush to record it: first crocus on March 9 in 2011 and on March 11 in 2002 and 2010, first snowdrops on March 10, 2011. Even as my heart leads toward spring, I also record the final joys of winter. Remember the Town Meeting Day snow storm of 2001, when wind whipped 30 fresh inches of snow into frothy drifts that kept school closed for two days?

The third week of March more reliably yields blooms: in 1998 one lone yellow crocus appeared on March 18 (against our south-facing foundation), and in 2010 iris reticulata bloomed on St. Patrickâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Day. In 2004 I planted peas on March 30!

Peepers and killdeer are solid signs of spring. While robins can appear at any time during the winter, and this year neighbors spotted a half dozen bluebirds in their crab apple trees in February, you will not hear peepers in February or spot a killdeer until late March or early April. My earliest notation of both is the fourth week of March. This year I spotted my first killdeer on April 6. It flapped its wings and squawked as it paraded across the mud.

Signs of spring in Charlotte and elsewhere: run. Commuters and birders know that the ferry traveled through an open lane across the closed lake all winter. With the ice breaking up, huge masses of thick ice floated at will on the waterâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;

not safe for the ferry. Within a few days most of the ice on the lake had melted. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Tiny green seedlings are growing in graduated from Champlain College and has a full-time job at the HowardCenter,

easy 13-mile loop, a 33-mile route of moderate difficulty and a challenging 60-mile ride that includes 6,000 feet of climbing. The rides begin near Montpelier and feature food and rest stops and patrols for safety and mechanical challenges. More information is at centralvtcyclingtour.org or 802-498-0079.

Proceeds benefit the Cross-Vermont Trail, a 90-mile greenway across the state from the Champlain Valley to the Connecticut River.

your gardens ready.

Bikers, bikers everywhere.

Remember (both riders and drivers) that bikers have rights on the road. They also bear the responsibility to ride single file when there is traffic or impaired get on a road bike for Vermontâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s visibility and to obey stop signs and Gran Fondo (vermontgranfondo.com) traffic lights. on June 14. This ride traverses four Green Mountain Club (greenmountainclub.org) offers low-elevation of climbing. For the fainter of heartâ&#x20AC;&#x201D; outings while and lungâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;there muddy trails are two shorter dry out. Sheri versions, Medio Ah, April. One day Larsen will lead Fondo and the a 3.5-mile wildPiccolo Fondo. raking in shirtflower hike on UVMSunday, April H o r t i c u l tural sleeves, the next 27, at Niquette Farm (uvm. day hunkering by edu/~hortfarm), a 97-acre haven the woodstove a range of workshops including tain Drive in as snow tumbles SOLO Wilderness First Aid, is used for agridown.

End-to-Enderâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s cultural research Workshop for and instruction those contemfor UVM classes plating a long distance hike, Ultralight as well as for gardening groups and professional plant organizations. More courses for those interested in helping than 700 kinds of ornamental trees and to maintain Vermontâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Long Trail. shrubs grow alongside one of the largGreen Up Day, May 3 and 4. Joe est known mature ornamental crabapple collections in the Northeast. Upcoming John Quinney in organizing Charlotteâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s events include a Pruners Workshop on annual assault on roadside junk. Over April 26, the Art of Hedges on May 7, the years volunteers have collected as a May 10 Workday at the Farm, and on much as three tons of roadside trash May 14, Take a Walk on the Wild Side, an interactive tour of the Hort Farm to Up folks are warning volunteers about learn about abundant edible and medicithe risk of tick-borne Lyme disease nal plants that are generally considered with some tips: wear light-colored pants weeds. and tuck them into boots or socks. shelburFind more information at Information nemuseum.org) hosts Family Day: Spring Fest on Sunday, May 11. Enjoy org/wp/wpcontent/uploads/2013/08/ the museumâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s 400 lilacs, garden talks ticksmart2014.jpg. and tours, a student art exhibition and more. Lois McClure has made it posthis out: the Central Vermont Cycling sible for Vermont residents to visit Tour on June 22. A fully supported ride on some of the stateâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s most beautiful become a member and visit as often as and quiet dirt roads, the tour offers an you wish.

two violet-hued hepatica flowers opening on Mt. Philo! â&#x20AC;&#x201C;â&#x20AC;&#x201C;â&#x20AC;&#x201C;â&#x20AC;&#x201C; In his 2005 book, Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children from Nature-Deficit Disorder, child advocacy expert Richard Louv connects the rise in obesity, attention-deficit disorder and depression to a lack of nature and the outdoors in young lives. A cohort of children are coming of age with little experience in nature. If you remember chasing tadpoles, whittling swords, searching for jack-in-the-pulpits (and, yes, getting poison ivy), make sure to share that joy with a child in the coming months.

Share some outdoor pleasures with your kids or your grandkids: green shoots poke through the soil itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s like a babyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s first cry. And weeding is still weeks away. walk to unwind from the day and listen to the peepers. pay attention you may see the babies fledge.

Champlain Valley, the lake and the Adirondacks. Forget watching National darkness of next autumn. Look at where we live!

Elizabeth Bassett is the author of Nature Walks in Northwest Vermont and the Champlain Valley, available at area businesses.

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old who are comfortable in a storytime setting. Please call or email the library to sign up: 425-3864 or charlottelibraryvt@ gmail.com.

CVFRS Helps Celebrate Week of the Young Child at Library

Library Knitters, Wednesday, April 30, 5:30–7 p.m. Join us to knit, chat and compare fiber notes; bring a project or we can provide needles and wool to get you started.

Seed Library Sign-up at Green Up Day, Saturday, May 3. Stop by and pick up your seeds after you drop off your trash at the Quonset hut on Green Up Day. We have a terrific selection of seeds for starting or direct planting.

by Margaret Woodruff 6 x 6 Challenge: It’s not too late to jump into our 6 x 6 Charlotte Challenge: read six books in six weeks. So far, we’ve got folks from all over town and would love to add you and your family, too.

A future fire chief? A Charlotte youngster tries on some fire gear at a recent reading event at the Charlotte Library in which members of Charlotte Volunteer Fire & Rescue service, including Fire Chief Chris Davis, read to children as part of the Charlotte Children’s Center’s celebration of the Week of the Young Child. Not only did the many young attendees get a story, they received safety tips and got a visit from Sparky, who showed them how to stop, drop and roll.

Photo by Chea Waters Evans

Choose Privacy Week, May 1–7: “A national public awareness campaign that seeks to deepen public awareness of personal privacy rights and what libraries can offer to help individuals learn, think critically and make informed choices about their privacy.

Here at the Charlotte Library, we strive to maintain your privacy in all aspects of library services. Our public computers are wiped clean every night so that no information is left on the drives or in the histories. Our circulation policy safeguards against revealing checkout details to unauthorized people. And we are boosting our collection of information- literacy resources. As the ALA states, “Privacy has long been a cornerstone of library services in America and a right that librarians defend every day.”

Getting Ready for Camp: An Intro to Sailing, Knot-Tying and More! Tuesday, May 6, 6:30 p.m. Heading off the camp this summer? Or spending time on the water? Get ready for the season with this fun, interactive program for the whole family. Presented by the Charlotte Library, the Pierson Library and the Community Sailing Center, this event takes place at the Shelburne Town Hall.

Library Knitters, Wednesday May 14, 5:30–7 p.m. Join us to knit, chat and compare fiber notes; bring a project or we can provide needles and wool to get you started.

Memoir/Memory, Wednesday, May 14, 7 p.m. Jessica Hendry Nelson’s searing new book, If Only You People Could Follow Directions, was named best debut book by the Indies Introduce New Voices program and the January 2014 Indies Next List by the American Booksellers’ Association. She joins us to share her thoughts and inspirations as a writer and a reader in this Local Literature session for May.

Upcoming at the library Arduino Club, Monday April 28, 3:15– 5 p.m. Break out the boards and see what you can create using Arduino circuitry and real-time engineering help from our IBM consultant. For grades 6 to 8. Please call or email the library to sign up: 425-3864 or charlottelibraryvt@gmail.com.

Lunchbox Storytime for Preschoolers, April 30 and May 7 and 14 12:151:15 p.m. Spring has sprung and we’re exploring underground, in the air and everywhere. For children 3 to 5 years

Library Contact Information Hours Mon, Wed: 10 a.m.-–7 p.m.

Tues, Thurs, Fri: 10 a.m.-–5 p.m.

Sat: 9 a.m.-–2 p.m.

Phone 425-3864 Email charlottelibraryvt@gmail. com

The Charlotte News

Charlotte Senior Center

The Café Menu

by Mary Recchia, Activities Coordinator This after-lunch gathering provides a regular time for listening, reading, writing and discussing this wonderful form of literary expression. Whether a favorite poem you have written, a book of poetry you enjoy, a literary journal or a poem from Poets.org, pack a poem in your pocket and join Jim as he guides a wonderful afternoon of poetry reading.

No fee.

–––– A new session of living strong in Vermont with Margery Rutherford and Dorrice Hammer begins Tuesday and Friday mornings from 11 a.m.–noon.

May 6 through July 25, two days a week.

This program helps maintain independence by increasing strength, muscle mass and bone density using hand and ankle weights. Balance exercises enhance agility and decrease the likelihood of falls, while flexibility exercises increase joint mobility and reduce the risk of injury. The weight-bearing exercises are done seated and standing behind the back of a chair. These are particularly effective for osteoarthritis sufferers, who benefit from increased pain-free range of motion.

New participants can stop by the Center to pick up a doctor’s consent form. Registration required. Fee: onetime suggested donation of $48 for new participant.

comfortably in retirement, bequeathing, creating a workspace for projects and managing paperwork. She also talks about the psychological benefits of letting go. Handouts will list information on local resources, and Deb will finish with a Q & A session.

May 7: Flying Blind with novelist Don Mitchell Don Mitchell is a novelist, essayist and sometime screenwriter whose most recent book, Flying Blind, ruminates on the nature of authority, the purview of the state and the value of inhabiting one’s niche. As a former professor at Middlebury College, Don is a great speaker—entertaining, informative and moving. He reveals much about our inner and outer landscape in this perfectly paced and skilled story of place.

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 30: Chile rellenos casserole, southwest bean salad, homemade dessert MONDAY, MAY 5: Chef's choice, salad, homemade dessert WEDNESDAY, MAY 7: Turkey croquettes, mashed cauliflower, birthday cake & ice cream

Senior LunCheonS are held every Wednesday at noon.

Reservations are necessary in advance and can be made by calling the Senior Center at 4256345. A $4 donation is requested. Reservations are not required

Photo by tim mccullough

On Thursday, April 24, from 1-3:30 p.m. during our regularly scheduled play reading we plan to watch the movie version of the play we read in January, Lovers and Other Strangers,

by Renee Taylor and Joseph Bologna.

All are welcome. A sign- up sheet for our next read on May 29 is at the host desk. Hope you can join us as a participant or listener as we continue to broaden our exposure to this rich and poignant form of literature.

–––– The first of our spring road hikes with Marty Morrissey will be on Tuesday, April 29, to Ripton. We will start at the Skylight Pond trailhead and head north on USFS Rd. 89 to the Natural Turnpike for a couple of miles. We can return the same way or leave a car ahead. Please meet at the Center 10 minutes prior to our 9 a.m. departure with water, good hiking or walking shoes and a snack or lunch.

On Tuesday, May 6, we head to Nashville (Jericho). Registration required.

No fee.

–––– Pastel painting with Shirley ReidThompson begins Thursdays from 1– 3:30 p.m. May 1, 8, 15 and 22.

Our emphasis will be on pastel painting techniques. Color theory will be explained and used in your paintings.

We will work from real-life set-ups, except for one afternoon when we will use photographs. We can do mixed media, watercolor and pastel if you want. If requested we can do individual contrast composition with color layering. Special help for beginners is available. All levels of skill are welcome.

Call Shirley (860-0666) for a materials list. Registration required. Limit 10.

Fee: $100.

–––– The last poetry reading of the season with Jim Lovejoy will be on Monday, May 5, from 1–3 p.m.

MONDAY, APRIL 28: Chicken with dumpling soup, kale salad, garlic and multigrain bread, fruit

LoCaLLy Led LeCTureS, PerforManCeS and SPeCiaL evenTS Please join us Wednesday afternoon beginning at 1 p.m. No registration or fee.

April 30: Downsizing: The Process and Benefits, with Deb Fleischman, professional organizer. Deb is an animated speaker and uses humor throughout her presentation to talk about all the various incarnations of downsizing: large home to small condo, living

For the first time ever, a recent Monday Munch at the Charlotte Senior Center was provided by an all-male team: (from left) Jim Hyde, Gordon Brown, Tim McCullough, Mike Lynch and Lane Morrison.

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18 • April 24, 2014 • The Charlotte News

SPORTS Nordic skiers gain all-star status The snow is finally gone, the boots are in the closet, and the state’s Nordic coaches have named their all-star skiers for high school women and men.

Both CVU teams have names on the Division I list.

The first team for women includes Redhawk top runner Autumn Eastman, Charlotte’s Callie Braun and Williston’s Rachel Slimovitch. Callie’s younger sister Tatum received honorable mention.

On the men’s side, three Redhawks were recognized on the first team: Thomas Clayton, Charlie Maitland and Cooper Wilsey.

by Edd Merritt

Both tennis teams stand one and one Falling to perhaps the number-one team in the state, South Burlington, CVU women came back against Burlington to even their mark. Kathy Joseph, last year’s state champion as a freshman, won both of her number-one singles matches in impressive fashion, but the Rebels prevailed 5-2 in the opening

Runners and tossers start track and field season CVU women carried a definite Charlotte flavor to their early track win over Lamoille, Hazen and Enosburg. The top three finishers, led by Haliana Burhans, followed by Sadie Otley and Naomi Burhans at 100 meters, were all from town. Sadie also finished second at 200 meters. Sophia Gorman won the 1,500meter run as did Carly Alpert the 300-meter hurdles. Maddie Tieso cleared four feet, six inches to win the high jump and also placed second in the triple jump. Maeve Higgins went 13 feet, 6.5 inches in winning the long jump, and Morgan Magoon followed her in third place.

On the men’s side of the ledger, Richard Mackenzie Buckman scoops a forehand against South Tegatz tossed the shot 39 feet to defeat two Burlington in a CVU loss. from Lamoille Union. Evan Trus at 400 meters and Jake Kahn in the 100-meter hurdles placed third in their events.

CVU loss. Charlotte’s Mackenzie Kingston, this year’s team captain, and her doubles partner, Maia Lacrosse travels far and near for victories Bertrand, lost in three tight sets 6-7, 6-4, 10-8.

While the CVU men’s lacrosse team’s last two The women swept Burlington 6-1 four days later, wins have been in New Hampshire and Maine, the winning all five singles matches and one of two women have stayed in Chittenden County for their doubles. victory salute. The women evened their record at The men also lost their first match to South 1-1 with an 8-6 win over Colchester behind Molly Burlington by an identical score as the women, Dunphy’s five-goal output. despite Charlotte’s Nathan Comai slicing a 6-4, 6-1 With the DiParlo brothers leading the way, victory and Will Walker and partner collecting a CVU men replayed last year’s state championship two-set win, 6-4, 6-1. Ethan Leonard, a fifth-seeded game against Essex at UVM’s field, and the result freshman singles player from Charlotte, lost his remained in the Redhawk’s favor 16-2. Charlotte’s match 6-0, 6-3. In a following 4-3 team win over the Elliot Mitchell added two goals, Noah Kiernan and Seahorses at Leddy Park, Comai pressed hard but Kyle Jaunich one apiece. Traveling to Hanover, lost in three sets 6-4, 5-7, 10-6.

N.H., to take on one of the Granite State’s top teams, Dylan Schaefer’s three goals combined with Softball and baseball take it on the chin Hoyt McCuin’s three assists and one goal led the The season opened in tough fashion for CVU’s Redhawks to a 10-6 victory. Mitchell added a single baseball team as it lost to South Burlington 11-4. goal to the winning margin. Maine’s Cape Elizabeth The Rebels scored four times in the fourth inning, High School was CVU’s next stop where familiar then added another five in the fifth to assure the names again graced the score sheet. Matt Palmer victory. headed the way with a hat trick plus an assist.

The Redhawk softballers may wish to erase the Co-captains Nevin DiParlo and Alex Bulla scored early innings in their game against the Rebels. A twice, and Mitchell, McCuin and Griffin DiParlo 20-run second inning headed South Burlington once apiece, as CVU topped their hosts 11-4. toward a rout, which ended 29-9 in its favor.

Rec News

by Kristin Hartley Spring has sprung—let’s get outside and recreate!

The tennis nets are now up at the town courts. It’s time to get your rackets out and hit the courts. Heads up, we will be adding pickle ball lines to one of our courts this spring for all those pickle ball players.

OUTDOOR SPRING PROGRAMMING Lacrosse season has finally arrived. Our field should be playable soon, and your coaches will keep you posted as to your start date. The practice schedule is listed below.

Afterschool tennis begins May 5 and will take place Mondays and Fridays. We are lucky to have Kylie deGroot running our program again this year at the Town Beach. Kylie is a knowledgeable instructor and has a great staff to work with.

This program is almost full, but we will keep a waiting list.

Afterschool golf program is now full. Sorry!

Kindergarten soccer is now being offered Wednesdays after school from 3-4:15 p.m. beginning May 7. This is a great opportunity to get outside and play with your friends.

We have one remaining indoor spring program. Afterschool percussion classes with Andrew Gagnon will continue at CCS on Friday afternoons. Andrew works with children from 1st to 8th grades and provides private and semiprivate lessons for children interested in learning to play the drums or fine-tuning the skills they already have.

SUMMER CAMPS Summer camp information available to date is now posted on the town website, but keep checking for new additions.

Our summer begins June 16-20 with a week of free, onehour tennis instruction at the annual Tim Serrell tennis clinic for Charlotte children in grades 1 through 8. This clinic is led

by Amy deGroot, a PTR professional instructor with a huge tennis resume. I hope you are able to take advantage of this opportunity! There is a class size limit, so sign up soon.

The following week, June 23-27, Amy will be offering a tennis camp in Charlotte for 10-14 year olds, a great way to continue working on your tennis. Amy will also be holding camp for 6-7 year olds and 8-11 year olds July 7-11 at the Shelburne Davis Park courts. Registration for this week needs to be done through Shelburne Recreation. We are very excited about our new offering: a Green Thumbs Gardening Camp to be run by Tai Dinnan and Stacy Carter. This camp is for 1st through 5th graders. These two young women are amazing at what they do. This camp is a keeper.

This summer we are hosting three soccer camps: the British Challenger Camp, the TetraBrazil Challenger Camp and the Voltage Soccer Camp. All to be run at CCS—no commute!

The Recreation Department has added Golf Camp at Cedar Knoll to be taught by Barry Churchill, a master of the game.

This camp is limited to four people ages 8-15, August 4-7.

The Town of Charlotte is partnering with the Community Sailing Center in Burlington to hold a summer sailing camp.

Come learn the lifelong sport of sailing with your friends, July 21-25.

Horseback riding is a popular sport in Charlotte, and we now have three weeks of camp throughout the summer where your children can learn to ride or have fun honing their skills.

The camps take place at the Livery Horse Farm in Hinesburg.

Track and field is being offered again this summer. We join with our sister towns Hinesburg and Williston on Mondays and Wednesdays, from June 16 to July 24, from 6:157:45 p.m. Great coaches, great experience!

ADULT PROGRAMMING Adult early morning boot camp is back! A new session begins May 6 and will take place Tuesdays and Thursdays at 6 a.m. at CCS. Last but not least we are adding a new beginner adult biking series to be run by Karyn Lewis. Get that old bike out of storage, come join your neighbors and enjoy one of the best places in Vermont to bike. There will be Thursday sessions at 6 p.m. beginning May 8 and Saturday sessions at 9 a.m. beginning May10.

Registration forms for all programs and more information can be found on our town website, charlottevt.org, or here at the Charlotte Town Offices. If you have questions please email me at recreation@townofcharlotte.com.

As always there are full and partial scholarships available for all recreation programs. Contact me at recreation@ townofcharlotte.com or 425-6129, ext. 204.

The Charlotte News • April 24, 2014 • 19 ON THE ROLLING STONE HEROIN-SYRUP REFERENCE

Syrup Flows for Charlotte Sugarmakers CONTRIBUTOR Steam curling out of sugarhouse chimneys and a 2014 crop moving through store shelves indicate that sugarmakers around town have been busy boiling this spring. We caught up with Jim Wells of Old Carriage Sugarwoods, Pat LeClair of Limekiln Road and Dave Allen of Maple in Vermont to ask how the 2014 sugaring season went for their businesses.

ABOUT THE PRODUCERS Wells moved to Vermont in the 1970s to attend St. Michael’s College, but it took until 1998 for him to tap his first trees. He started boiling sap from 13 taps. “I didn’t know much about it, but I kind of got hooked,” he said. Over the next 16 years he went through two reverse osmosis machines and two sugarhouses, and his operation grew to 1,400 taps.

LeClair sugared as a kid, but his childhood dream was to scale up. Today, he makes syrup with friend, Steve Denton, and son Trevor, and at 1,050 taps they are still considered small in the syrup industry.

Allen grew up in Brattleboro and boiled syrup with his family as a child.

Each spring, he remembers accompanying his father, a farm machinery dealer, to customers’ farms, where they would almost always have a maple syrup operation. This season, Allen’s brother flew in from California for the season, and Allen’s wife, Jane, helps out. “It’s kind of a family affair,” he said.

THIS SEASON’S PRODUCTION This year Wells’ production was less than last year, but more than the 2012 season. The uncharacteristically cold March caused him to boil for only two days during the month, but he’s happy with the syrup that he has produced in April.

Like Wells, LeClair and Denton’s syrup production is significantly down from 2012, at only 98 gallons this year, though they hoped to boil one last time mid-April before officially hanging it up for the season.

Predictably for Allen, this season is down from last season but better than the 2012 spring, when the record heat on March 18 caused considerable “off-flavors” in all the syrup produced after that.

The 2013 season was a record-breaking year, Allen said, and he’s tasting the syrup often to determine when to stop boiling.

WHAT HOOKED YOU ON SUGARING? For Wells, producing syrup is a yearround endeavor, from splitting wood and checking lines to making maple cream, maple sugar and maple candy in the kitchen when he’s not boiling. This immersion in syrup production drew him in—he loved being in the woods and creating a

good product.

The transformation from sap to a culinary product is part of what attracted LeClair to sugaring as a child, and it is still what captivates him. “Just to see the change from a sweet liquid to something that’s really delicious to use on food,” he said.

“Sugaring is a great transition from winter to spring,” Allen said. “You set the taps in the dead of winter, and when you’re done sugaring it’s spring.”

ON TECHNOLOGICAL ADVANCEMENTS

“I love my R.O. (reverse osmosis machine),” Wells said. “It saves me so much work. There’s no way I could be down there by myself without an RO.” Wells got his first R.O. a few years ago and upgraded to a bigger one shortly after. He also moved from a bucket system to pipelines, which flow directly into his sugarhouse.

LeClair completed a new sugarhouse at his home on Limekiln Road in Char- Pat LeClair’s new sugarhouse on Limekiln Road. lotte, where he has his tank and evaporator. Like Wells, LeClair uses wood for fuel and says some customers can DAVE ALLEN’S MAPLE ON THE NEW GRADING SYSTEM detect a smokiness in the syrup, which WALNUT PIE RECIPE Wells is using the new kit for grading they appreciate. LeClair collects sap from three orchards around town and syrup and said he’ll gradually start using Ingredients: has buckets and pipelines set up at his the new labels over the next year. He said 3 eggs sugarhouse so visitors can see both the he’s grateful to say goodbye to the “Grade 2 Tbs butter old-fashioned way and the new way of B” label, which was often confusing to 2 cups dark syrup consumers. “Vermont Grade B is really collecting sap.

1/2 cup chopped walnuts The biggest advancement in the sugar- good syrup, but from a marketing stand1 cup quick-cooking oats ing process for Allen has also been the point it looked like an inferior product.” addition of a reverse osmosis machine, The new grading system labels all grades Instructions: which he started using around 10 years “Grade A” and adds descriptive language Beat eggs. ago. “Instead of boiling sap at two- to highlight the qualities, such as Grade Melt butter and stir into eggs. percent sugar concentration, you start at A: Dark Color with Robust Flavor Allen can see the benefit of the new 15 to 16 percent,” Allen said. This saves Combine syrup, walnuts and oats. grading system but isn’t looking forward a lot on fuel costs. Growing up, Allen Mix all ingredients together, pour boiled over wood; today he uses oil to to changing all his labels. Overall, he into a nine-inch, unbaked pie shell, agrees that the descriptive language on fuel his evaporator. and bake at 350 for one hour. the label will be more consumer friendly.

PHOTO BY MICHAEL HAULENBEEK

Vera Simon-Nobes

“I don’t read Rolling Stone, but I think the opiate problem in Vermont is a big problem, and it’s unfortunate that they chose maple syrup to expose that,” Wells said. “It’s unfortunate, but I’m not going to lose any sleep over it.”

“We do have a problem with heroin, there’s no doubt about it,” LeClair said, “but I thought [the maple can illustration] was pretty low taste.”

Allen suggests that it’s “kind of cruel for the writer to do that [to an industry],” but adds, “What’s that expression: there’s no such thing as bad publicity?”

FAVORITE MAPLE RECIPES Wells couldn’t choose one recipe or a favorite dish to add syrup to, but that isn’t an indication of his commitment to the product. “I love it,” he said. “We eat it right out of the jar and the bottle. I usemaple syrup every day.”

LeClair said maple baked beans are a favorite recipe in his house. Beans are soaked overnight, then simmered in the crockpot with syrup until soft and sweet.

Maple-glazed chicken was a close second.

Allen’s maple-walnut pie, a Vermont version of pecan pie, is his favorite recipe. With two cups of syrup, butter and chopped walnuts, it’s a dessert for the ages.

ON THEIR MARKETS Wells sells directly to consumers through his website (oldecarriage sugarwoods.com) and has accounts at a local market. His syrup is certified organic by Vermont Organic Farmers, a decision that he said was largely consumer driven.

“I don’t know if my sales are higher for it, but people want to see organic.”

LeClair and Denton sell their syrup by word of mouth, but that doesn’t mean their sales are restricted to Charlotte or even Vermont. “Last year we shipped syrup to Israel, California, Texas,” to name a few places. LeClair welcomes the public at his sugarhouse, a post-and beam structure that was completed in early spring, 2014.

Much of Allen’s syrup goes to Lake Champlain Chocolates as well as to a few stores in the Shelburne-Charlotte area. He also sells on his website, mapleinvermont.com.

20 • April 24, 2014 • The Charlotte News

Talk More, Prescribe Less A psychiatrist’s journey to a new way of treating psychosis Dr. Sandra Steingard CONTRIBUTOR I have spent 30 years as a psychiatrist treating people who are psychotic. Sometimes these patients lead quiet lives. But, not uncommonly, the voices in their heads get them into trouble. In many cases, this is a frightening experience for both the people I see and those who love them.

About 60 years ago, a group of drugs was discovered that appeared to quiet the voices, improve clarity of thought and lessen the preoccupation with delusional beliefs.

Over time, experts concluded that people who experience psychosis should in most instances remain

on antipsychotics indefinitely.

The problem with “indefinitely” is that these drugs have many troubling side effects. But the belief—my belief—was that this was the unfortunate price we paid to help people who were suffering.

However, over the past 15 years, my attitude has shifted. It began when I saw what happened as newer drugs were marketed. Like many of my colleagues, I awaited these new drugs with enthusiasm, hoping that they would have fewer terrible side effects. Leading psychiatrists who had worked on the development of the drugs said that they were not only less likely to cause the neurological problems associated with the older drugs but were also more effective.

Quickly, though, I started to notice that their benefits were being inflated and their side effects minimized. I found that the hype associated with these drugs did not always match the basic evidence in the journals and certainly did not match my own clinical experience. I grew dismayed and frankly angry because I felt my patients and I had been misled and that leaders in my field had profited from this.

Yet as recently as three years ago, I still thought that prescribing antipsychotic drugs was necessary. After all, a good number of my patients ended up in the hospital or, worse, the police station, when they stopped taking their medications. I did not think I had any other option than to continue to employ

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my now well-honed powers of persuasion to convince them to stay on their drugs.

And then I read Robert Whitaker’s Anatomy of an Epidemic, in which he looked at the studies of long-term outcomes. What he found surprised me and many of my colleagues. Although it is very hard to do a definitive study that follows people for many years, the research suggested that, over time, the people who remain on these drugs do worse than those who stop using them. Those who remained on the drug were less likely to return to work or develop meaningful relationships. Of equal concern, it appeared that brain shrinkage— thought initially to be due to the illness itself—was in fact caused by the drugs.

Even when monkeys took these drugs for a period of months, their brains shrank.

If Whitaker was right, everything I had been doing for 20 years was wrong. Many psychiatrists have accused him of cherrypicking the data or distorting the findings of the studies. I decided I needed to do my own research; after all, Whitaker is neither a psychiatrist nor a clinician. I have spent much of my time rereading the articles and studies he cites, looking for others, talking to colleagues and reading as much criticism of his work as I can find.

And what I concluded is that Whitaker is probably right.

In this context, a blog post by Thomas Insel, the director of the National Institute of Mental Health, received much attention earlier this year. After reviewing

recent research, he concluded, “For some people, remaining on medication longterm might impede a full return to wellness. For others, discontinuing medication can be disastrous.”

People have asked me how this research has impacted my life and my practice. In fact, the turning point for me was in reading Anatomy of an Epidemic. Since then, I have become associated with a large group of people trying to influence the paradigms that guide current practice. I blog on Whitaker’s website madinamerica. com, and I am on the board of the Foundation for Excellence in Mental Health Care (mentalhealthexcellence.org), which was formed to support research into alternative kinds of treatments and supports that are not currently being funded elsewhere. I am fortunate to be employed by HowardCenter, which has been unwavering in its support of my activities and research.

But most important—and really the point of this—is that I discuss all of this with my patients and their families. After all, it’s their lives and their bodies that we are trying to preserve.

This is a briefer version of a column Dr. Steingard had published in the Washington Post on December 9, 2013. To read the original column, visit the Washington Post’s website. Dr. Steingard is the medical director of mental health and substance abuse services at the Howard Center in Burlington. She lives in Charlotte.

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The Charlotte News

Construction on New Waldorf Campus Begins The Lake Champlain Waldorf School is thrilled to announce that construction is underway for the transformation of the former Morgan Horse Museum in Shelburne into the new campus for its high school.

At a ceremonial groundbreaking on Monday, April 7, faculty, staff, grandparents and parents offered words of gratitude for the support of the community and shared their hopes for the future of the high school.

“This is a momentous occasion,” remarked Michele Starr, the school’s first teacher and a national leader in Waldorf education. “You have far exceeded the vision the founding families had over 30 years ago.”

The Lake Champlain Waldorf School started as a small preschool in 1984 in the basement of Trinity Church in Shelburne and has grown to serve nearly 300 students from 29 towns in Vermont and New York.

“This day is the result of years of campus planning and visioning,” said Josh Simonds of Shelburne, president of the Board of Trustees. “We are immensely grateful to our school community and to the town of Shelburne, and are honored to now have the opportunity to steward this stunningly beautiful property.”

In 2001 the Lake Champlain Waldorf School opened a high school in Charlotte, and enrollment has been increasing steadily. “We are graduating our tenth high school class in a couple of months,” said Pam Graham of Charlotte, the school’s admissions director.

“Families move here from all over the country to attend our school, and our international exchange program is growing. Quite simply, we are bursting at the seams.”

Thanks to the dedication of a small group of parents and grandparents who lent the initial capital, the school was able to purchase the property when it was on the market in 2012. Since that time, the school has been running a capital campaign to raise funds for the renovation of the Bostwick Road property, as well as for future expanMembers of the Lake Champlain Waldorf School community celebrate the groundbreaking for sion of the grade school, a new high school on Bostwick Road. They are (front, from left) Trina Webster, Lauren-Glenn which is located on Turtle Davitian, Maureen Wheeler, Brenda Bisbee, Josh Simonds, David Pill, (middle) Avis Krag, Lane in Shelburne, less than two miles from the future Johanne Schwendler, Pam Graham, Michelle Starr, (back) Lisa Espenshade, Danielle Drogalis, Jeff Davis and Jon Lamb. high school.

“We worked quickly to meet the need of our expanding pro- ing will be the student common room to enjoy it at the level of high art, but grams,” explained Lisa Espenshade of which will take advantage of the wonder- we also create it every day. This new Shelburne, the school’s director of devel- ful western view of the Adirondacks, a campus for our school is set in a beautiopment. “Our community has raised over multi-use performance space and a com- ful landscape, is architecturally imbued $2,292,000 towards our initial goal of mercial kitchen for the school’s local and with aesthetics, and is in close proximity to Shelburne Museum. There is so much $2,350,000 for the combined projects. organic hot lunch program.

Award-winning Pill-Maharam Archipossibility for meeting our students in Now we are in the final leg of our public tects of Charlotte designed the new high deeper ways in this new space.” Concampaign. It is exciting and inspiring.” school building, and DEW Construction struction is expected to be completed in The new high school campus, located of Williston is the general contractor of the fall of 2014. on a bus line, will have almost twice “I’m so excited for this new amazthe space of the current school and will the project.

“Beauty and reverence for nature are ing space for my last two years of high feature large, light-filled classrooms and central pillars of Waldorf education,” school,” said sophomore Faith Thompdedicated spaces for practical and visual explains Abigail Diehl-Noble, a teacher son of Charlotte.

“What is already a great arts, foreign languages, math and science in the 7th through 9th grades.

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Annual Meeting continued from page 1

and Loss sheets show income at $470,753 or 76 percent of budget while expenses are at $410,964 or 66 percent of budget. Any overages were easily explained away. The building maintenance line is a bit complex, as it was not fully funded by operational funds but came from the Barrows Fund. The net result is that there is an excess of $59,789. Much of this can be explained away by the absence of the daytime firefighter.

With respect to the unified budget, there were two funds that came under discussion. Expenditures from the Barrows Fund are generally used for nonoperating expenses falling â&#x20AC;&#x153;outside the capital budget plan.â&#x20AC;? These might include such special expenditures as uniform items bought to support the morale of the volunteers. The $7,132 noted under the Barrows Fund expenditures went directly into the expenses to pay for ice and snow guards over the entrances and renovation of the internal water system that suffered severely from the sulfur intrusion problem so common in west village wells.

The Tower Fund covers income and expenses of the communications tower owned by CVFRS on Pease Mountain. It was built in 1986 by Radio Station WIZN and donated to CVFRS. Fire & Rescue uses it for primary radio communications and leases it out for cell tower use for a rental fee.

To sum the finances up, Dave McNally, the president of the CVFRS corporate board stated, â&#x20AC;&#x153;To date weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re in good shape. We are in no desperate need to get more resources.â&#x20AC;?

The transfer of vehicle ownership from the town to the CVFRS is still in the process of completion.

Nancy Wood, elected town auditor, encouraged both the Selectboard and CVFRS board to complete the transfer before the end of the fiscal year so that the books can finally be closed on the matter.

One hour into the meeting the Selectboard took up the question of a three-month suspension of CVFRSâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s paramedic-level license by Vermont EMS District 3 (for more on this, see the story on the page 1).

Discussion on the suspension went from some persons being very upset to those who advocated conciliation between the district officials and the CVFRS. Those who were most disturbed felt that because the announced infractions seemed to be administrative in nature and not threatening to life, the public was to suffer by being deprived of an important service. As

Peter Carreiro put it, â&#x20AC;&#x153;It seems like we are being set as an exampleâ&#x20AC;Ś A three-month suspension for what seems like everything else is in order. Shouldnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t we as a town expect more? â&#x20AC;Ś We have a town paying for a paramedic service that [EMS 3] said is qualified.

Yes, there was this one incident where you needed a keypad. Nothingâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s missing. And weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re going to go without paramedic service for three months?â&#x20AC;?

Others, including Dr. Ruth Uphold, an advisory board member who will work with Rescue on improving its operating plan, took a position that there had to be much clearer communications with the leadership of EMS 3. Dr. Upholdâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s noted this gave CVFRS an â&#x20AC;&#x153;opportunity to improve the operations here [as well as the] need to clearly understand what we are doing here,â&#x20AC;? a sentiment echoed by members of the Selectboard and CVFRS leadership.

The impact of a six-month conditional license handed down on the CVFRS in January by EMS 3 was not explicitly brought up in this meeting. When questioned by Stephen Brooks at the end of the meeting, CVFRS members did not go into depth regarding the reasons for the conditional license, which, according to a memo to the town from McNally, was due to post-transportation documentation being below the district's medical director's standard.

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NOTICE OF AMENDMENT TO TOWN OF CHARLOTTE MOTOR VEHICLE AND TRAFFIC REGULATION ORDINANCE The Selectboard of the Town of Charlotte does hereby ordain: Pursuant to 23 V.S.A. §1007 and 24 V.S.A. §1976, the Motor Vehicle and Traffic Regulation Ordinance adopted September 22, 1980, and as amended September 11, 2000, February 11, 2002, June 15, 2009, April 11, 2011, November 14, 2011, and April 22, 2013, is hereby amended as follows: Section 1(E)(5) of said Ordinance is added so that Section 1(E) states as follows: (E) A maximum speed of forty-five (45) miles per hour: 1. On Greenbush Road from the intersection with Lake Road extending northerly to the Charlotte/Shelburne Town Line.

2. On Greenbush Road from a point that is 0.8 miles south of the Greenbush Road intersection with Route F-5 (Ferry Road), extending southerly to the Charlotte/Ferrisburg Town Line.

3. On Mount Philo Road from a point that is 0.2 miles north of the intersection with State Park Road,

extending northerly to the Charlotte/ Shelburne Town Line.

4. On Hinesburg Road from its intersection with Spear Street, extending easterly to the Charlotte/ Hinesburg Town Line.

5. On Spear Street from the intersection with Hinesburg Road, extending northerly to the Charlotte/ Shelburne Town Line.

2014.

Adopted this 14th day of April,

CHARLOTTE SELECTBOARD This Amendment to the Town of Charlotte Motor Vehicle and Traffic Regulation Ordinance shall become effective on June 13, 2014 [60 days after adoption], unless a petition signed by not less than 5% of the qualified voters of the Town requesting a town meeting vote on the question of disapproving the amendment is filed with the Town Clerk or Selectboard on or before May 28, 2014 [44 days after adoption]. The full text of the Town of Charlotte Motor Vehicle and Traffic Regulation Ordinance may be viewed at the Town Clerkâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s office.

For more information, contact: Dean Bloch, Town Administrator, Charlotte Town Hall, 159 Ferry Road, PO Box 119, Charlotte, VT 05445, (802) 425-3701. Also see: www.charlottevt.org.

The Charlotte News • April 24, 2014 • 23

Around Town Falls in space that was home to the Frog Hollow Vermont State Craft Center until four years ago.

Ethan’s work is part of the gallery’s expansion.

Congratulations to Briana and Andrew Volk of Portland, Maine, on the birth of their daughter, Oona Mae, on March 29. Andrew is the son of Tim and Mary Volk of Charlotte. to Adriane Post and Paul Dwyer, who announced their engagement and are planning an October wedding. The two met as students at Oberlin College’s Musical Conservatory. Adriane is the daughter of Kathleen and Peter Post of Charlotte. Paul grew up in Munich, Germany. They currently live in Brooklyn, N.Y., and collaborate in many musical ensembles. to Madeline Haydock, a fourth grade student at CCS, and to Quinn Boardman, a sixth grade student at CCS, whose writings were selected for publication in two issues of the Burlington Free Press under the heading of the Young Writers Project. Madeline’s piece, titled “Planting the Garden,” appeared on April 18. She responded to a writing challenge sponsored by the Vermont Community Garden Network, which asked students to write about school gardens. Madeline says she “can’t wait for spring!” when the school garden will not only produce beauty, but food as well.

Quinn’s response was to the prompt, “Fear: what’s your biggest fear?” Well, it turns out that Quinn’s greatest fear is not snakes or spiders or his house catching on fire. It is “Basketball.” And, guess when?

Yes, when he is playing, carrying the ball, hearing the screams of teammates, letting fly and hearing the swoosh of the net, feeling very proud of himself until he discovers, what? You will have to read it in the Free Press’s April 11 issue to find out. to Ethan Bond-Watts, Charlotte glass sculptor, whose hanging mobiles appear in Middlebury’s Edgewater Gallery, which stands above Otter Creek

Classifieds The Charlotte News Classifieds: Reach your friends and neighbors for only $7 per issue (payment must be sent before issue date).

Please limit your ad to 35 words or fewer.

Send to The Charlotte News Classifieds, P.O. Box 251, Charlotte, VT 05445 or email your ad to ads@charlottenewsvt.com.

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to Michael Wool, attorney with Langrock Sperry & Wool, LLP, whose firm was awarded recertification in Meritas, a global alliance of independent business law firms offering clients access to quality legal expertise around the globe. Membership in Meritas requires recertification every three years. Wool’s firm has been a member since 1993. to Peter Morrison, a career Naval Officer, on being selected to the rank of Captain. He has completed over 20 years active duty as an F14 Fighter pilot and now works in the Pentagon for the Chief of Naval Operations in Budget and Planning. Peter is the son of Judith Peitscher and Lane Morrison. to Isa Kaplan, a student at Charlotte Central School who was one of six students from the greater Burlington area whose musical compositions were performed by professional musicians in Ludlow under the auspices of Music-COMP. OPUS 28, as the performance is called, will take place Wednesday, April 30, at Ludlow Town Hall Auditorium at 6:30 p.m.

Sympathy is extended to family and friends of Ralph Morris Thomas of Charlotte who passed away April 7 at the age of 90. He and his wife, Carol Carpenter-Thomas, resided in Charlotte for over 30 years. He retired from IBM in 1981. His surviving family includes his wife, Carol, and stepsons David and Donald Carpenter of Charlotte with their wives Brenda and Jude. The family asks that, in lieu of flowers, donations in his memory

be made to the Lyric Theatre by contacting it at (802) 658-1484 or online at director@lyrictheatrevt.org. is extended to family and friends of Leah L. Shepard of Port Charlotte, Fla., who passed away April 6 at the age of 96. Her surviving family includes her daughter, Marion Chartrand, of Charlotte and Marion’s husband, Donald. The family asks that, in lieu of flowers, memorial donations be made to Tide Well Hospice, 1144 Veronica Street, Port Charlotte, FL 33952. is extended to family and friends of Bernard Lisman of Fort Myers, Fla., and Burlington, Vt., who passed away April 18 at the age of 96. His surviving family includes his nephew Carl Lisman of Charlotte.

The family asks that donations in his name be made to any of the organizations he supported, such as the Sara Holbrook Community Center, the Vermont Boys and Girls Club, the Vermont-New Hampshire Red Cross Blood Center, Vermont Law School, the International Academy of Trial Lawyers, the Vermont Trial Lawyers Association and the American Heart Association. is extended to family and friends of John Hollenbach of Shelburne who passed away April 4 at the age of 69. Upon earning a masters degree in architecture from Harvard in 1973, John came to Charlotte to work with landscape architect Dan Kiley. Adversely affected by the oil embargo and a subsequent business slump, Hollenbach left Kiley in 1974 and began work as a builder. He headed several firms that did both design and construction of commercial and residential business in this area. In 2000 he and his wife, Beth, moved overseas where he put his skills to work on numerous educational projects. The family asks that donations be made in his memory to the Green Mountain Club or to Green Mountain Habitat for Humanity.

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Rotary Helps Celebrate Senior Center Volunteers On Friday, April 11, a volunteer crew of Rotarians were the service and clean-up crew at the Charlotte Senior Center’s volunteer dinner.

They are (front, from left) Michael Clapp and Carole Obuchowski, (back row) Linda Gilbert, Denny Bowen, Tod Whitaker, Bill Deming and Dave Jonah. “Service Above Self” is the motto of Rotary, and the many service projects members of the Charlotte Shelburne Rotary Club do each year are an opportunity for meeting and helping their neighbors and fulfilling their commitment to their community.