The Charlotte News | Sept. 12, 2013

The Charlotte News Volume lVI Number 03

The VoICe of The TowN

Thursday, sepTember 12, 2013

Mt. Philo Named VSP ‘Park of the Year’

The staff at Mt. Philo State Park—the Southwest region’s Park of the Year— are (front, from left) Sue Schermerhorn, John Frigault, Katelin Emerson, (back) Kim Frigault and Emily Thurber. Catherine Ross is not pictured.

Selectboard Discusses View Corridor on Route 7 At Monday evening’s Selectboard meeting, the board took a tour of Route 7 compliments of Winslow Ladue, who recorded video of the view corridor along the road.

The presentation coincided with the Selectboard’s discussion of a work plan for Charlotte Park & Wildlife Refuge, which is situated on land in a view corridor of Lake Champlain and the Adirondacks, as well as for a copse of trees in the town’s right of way and on land near Horsford’s Garden and Nursery that also blocks a view of the lake.

The discussion largely centered around whether the view should take precedence over the animals that use the trees as habitat and around the best way

to take down the trees.

Stephen Brooks, a proponent of improving the view corridor, reiterated the message he has shared with the Selectboard for the last four years: that a central caveat of the land donated to Charlotte by Steven C. Rockefeller in the late 1990s was that it be maintained with the view of the landscape in mind.

Despite this, trees have been planted and allowed to crown, obstructing the view corridor, said Brooks.

Jenny Cole, a member of the Charlotte Park and Wildlife Oversight Committee, said she wasn’t opposed to taking down

Sarah, Smiles

stant throughout the footage that shows her waving at the camera enthusiastically on the beach, making funny faces, spending time with family, all of it played out to a resonant rendition of Hall & Oats’s “Sarah Smile,” performed

by Vermonter John Gailmor.

For Ted, the video tribute to his beloved wife, who died in 2010 of glioblastoma multiforme, or GBM, the most aggressive kind of brain cancer, is the kind of emotional, idiosyncratic creation not unlike the playful style of architecture he has practiced as an architect, a style that has infused his home at Ten Stones, the planned community in Charlotte he co-founded with Sarah and two others.

On Thursday, Sept. 19, Ted will hold a benefit that will meld his creative eye with laughter as he presents the third “Comedy on the Brain” fundraiser at

There have been many tears shed since Ted Montgomery lost his wife to cancer in 2010. Next week’s “Comedy on the Brain” benefit will capture a special part of their relationship: laughter.

Brett Sigurdson The CharloTTe News Ted Montgomery posted a video to YouTube two years to the day of his wife Sarah’s death. It opens with Sarah smiling widely at the camera under a large decorated top hat. She spins around in the snow, hamming it up for the camera, dancing. It’s a whimsical performance, one made all the more magnetic by that smile.

It’s fitting that such an image opens the video, for her smile is the one con-

Selectboard

continued on page 5

Sarah

continued on page 18

The staff at one of Charlotte’s most treasured landmarks has been recognized statewide. Last week, employees of Mt. Philo State Park were given a prestigious Park of the Year award for Vermont State Parks’ (VSP) Southwest region.

According to Park Ranger John Frigault, Mt. Philo had the highest attendance increase in the state at 61 percent as well as the fourth highest overall visitation out of all 52 state parks.

But more than for numbers, Mt. Philo’s staff received the recognition for their stewardship of the park.

According to VSP, the criteria for the award include a staff that displays outstanding hospitality to all park visitors, concessioners and contractors, well-maintained buildings, grounds and campsites, and an operation that goes “beyond the normal call of duty.”

In an email, Frigault expressed admiration for his “hardworking team” this season.

“They are thrilled with the award,” he said.

Other state parks receiving Park of the Year awards for their respective regions are Little River State Park (Northeast), Niquette Bay State Park (Northwest) and Molly Stark State Park (Southeast).

Fixing the Past for the Future For Cemetery Commissioner Stephen Brooks, tending the town’s cemeteries is about preserving the town’s history. And he’s willing to get creative to do it.

Brett Sigurdson The CharloTTe News

landscape archeologist. He enjoys history and especially the treasure hunt of uncovering it locally. And he clearly relishes his role as a chair of the Cemetery Commission, a post he has been elected to the last three years. The evidence is not only in the passion he has for the town’s history but in the work he’s doing to preserve it: cleaning up cemeteries and repairing their gravestones.

On a recent tour ostensibly meant to highlight the Charlotte cemeteries under his purview, Stephen Brooks, the chair of the town’s Cemetery Commission, spent the first hour and a half driving slowly along Greenbush Road and Route 7 explaining how variances in the landscape—a deep ditch here, a copse of trees there—subtly reveal a Charlotte of Cemetery generations past, a time when Church Hill continued on page 10 Road was the highway and country roads interrupted the area’s original land grants.

As he drives, Brooks talks with a low voice in a deliberate, articulate manner.

At times his voice lifts, especially when he aims to make a point or when he’s on a roll.

And, man, can he roll.

A list of things he’ll discuss with equal relish and apparent mastery: French-Canadian architecture, locust trees, the Vermont Geological Overthrust Belt, Monkton shale, the difference in geology between the Adirondacks and the Green Mountains and Vermont town gossip.

Brooks calls this Stephen Brooks, Charlotte’s Cemetery Commissioner, “reading the land- explains how the commission’s staff are fixing damscape,” and he consid- aged tombstones at the Quinlan-Sherman Cemetery in ers himself a forensic East Charlotte.

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The Charlotte News

Commentary CVFRS’s Budget Surplus: Who Should Own It? 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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A plain reading of the formative and governing bylaws respecting any town’s independent fire and rescue organization will reveal its mission and purpose: to provide fire and rescue services. As it should, the town supports this mission. Trouble is, Charlotte Volunteer Fire & Rescue Service (CVFRS) historically fails to demonstrate responsible financial judgment in handling and accounting for funds provided by Charlotte taxpayers.

Currently, the Town of Charlotte Selectboard members are struggling with the content and terms of a written contract with CVFRS for the provision of fire and rescue services to the town. They refer to it simply as a “Memorandum of Understanding.” No draft language has been agreed upon, though CVFRS stated a target date was August 30, 2013.

This “Memorandum of Understanding” concept was one of the recommendations from Batchelder & Associates at the conclusion of its June 30, 2012, audit last year. In my almost 20 years of serving our town, I have never heard of a town anywhere in Vermont willing to embrace the type of nonsense this document contains.

The subject document was discussed at the August 12 Selectboard meeting and in an article in The Citizen, published August 15. In the back-and-forth draft agreement, a paragraph appeared recently, stating that CVFRS would keep any surplus that they might have in their budget at the end of any fiscal year. As town treasurer, I asked the Selectboard members at that meeting why they would ever think it appropriate for CVFRS to keep its budget surplus at the end of the year. Why wouldn’t any unexpended funds be returned to the taxpayers? What possible reason is there for a “cushion” for CVFRS? The Town of Charlotte supports CVFRS with what outside observers characterize as an extremely generous budget for yearly operations and capital expenses.

I am ready to disburse funds every year on July 1. I asked to hear from each Selectboard member as to their reasoning, but only silence was forthcoming, with the exception of Chair Charles Russell, who was clearly irritated by my question. He stated, as quoted in the August 15 Citizen, “[T]he 15 percent cushion was the high end of a recommendation by Vermont League of Cities and Towns. The statewide organization recommended giving fire and rescue a cushion of between five and 15 percent for its operating reserve fund.”

This statement is false. VLCT’s recommendation was that when a municipality is setting a tax rate, a good policy is to reserve 5 to 15 percent of its operating budget before returning any surplus to the taxpayer. For example, if the town’s general fund balance is $250,000 and its budget is $3,000,000, it would retain $150,000

for the town and return $100,000 to the taxpayers, if the target was to retain five percent of the budget.

This is a policy recommendation for a municipality; it has nothing to do with CVFRS. In fact, when I specifically asked VLCT the question, this was the reply: “If the expenditures of fire and rescue are less than anticipated, it is the town that would be retaining the surplus by not expending more than actual expenditures from the town appropriation. If it were an actual department in town, the surplus would still be retained by the town as a whole, not an individual department.”

Even though CVFRS now again has control of all of its accounting (the operating account and all of its “special” funds), there is no financial agreement in place between the town and CVFRS. That agreement should have been in place before any accounting was transferred back to CVFRS, although neither the Selectboard nor CVFRS agreed with my opinion.

The town should be receiving monthly financial statements, bank statements and patient billing/paramedic intercept deposit statements for CVFRS’s operating account as well as financials for its special funds. This was also an auditor’s recommendation last year. To date, no such information has come across to the south side of Ferry Road.

Selectboard Chair Charles Russell decided that CVFRS should keep all of its patient billing/paramedic intercept revenue, estimated at $110,000 for this year.

The town budget we voted last Meeting Day had the patient billing revenue coming to the town general fund, and a town appropriation of $618,650 was allotted for CVFRS. Charles Russell wants CVFRS to keep the $110,000 and the town’s appropriation to CVFRS to be decreased to $508,650. He assumed CVFRS would agree to that. Once again, no agreement is in place, and yet there has been no patient billing/intercept revenue paid over to the Town of Charlotte from CVFRS. At this time a year ago, I had deposited about $19,000 of patient billing revenue into the town’s general fund.

As your town treasurer, I remain legally obligated to provide CVFRS with the $618,650 appropriated by the voters.

We are likely to find ourselves watching the consequences as though a train wreck in slow motion. This “Memorandum of Understanding” is fiscally irresponsible and will create an even greater burden for the taxpayers of Charlotte. How great of a burden are you willing to bear?

Mary A. Mead Clerk/Treasurer Town of Charlotte

CVFRS, Town Relationship Needs Trust, Not Suspicion This letter is written in response to some of the issues raised in Mary Mead’s letter to the Charlotte News and the Citizen.

Since joining the Selectboard in March I have had the privilege and pleasure of representing the Selectboard as a voting member on the Charlotte Fire and Rescue Corporate Board (CVFRS). CVFRS is a separate nonprofit corporation, independent from the town. I have found the CVFRS board members to be extremely responsible, competent and intelligent. Each is highly dedicated to the Town of Charlotte and CVFRS. Over the past year and a half CVFRS has been subject to ongoing accusations of mismanagement and suspicion of fraud by a small group of townspeople. An expensive and detailed audit revealed no fraud, yet an unfounded level of distrust remains.

I have been working closely with Dave McNally, CVFRS president; John Snow, CVFRS vice president;

Mark McDermott, CVFRS community representative on the CVFRS board; Charles Russell, chair of the Charlotte Selectboard; and Joe McLean, attorney for the Town of Charlotte, to put together a memorandum of agreement (MOA) between the Town of Charlotte and CVFRS. This has been a very cooperative and constructive process in which we have sought to formalize an agreement about the nature and extent of services that CVFRS will provide to the town and to develop methodologies that will serve to provide transparency with regard to the financial operations of CVFRS. The goal of the Selectboard and CVFRS is to assure that the considerable amount of taxpayer money provided for CVFRS operating expenses is spent wisely and appropriately toward the provision of CVFRS services. A draft of the MOA is posted on the town website. Your response to its contents is welcomed.

The MOA is still a draft, but most of the document is solidly agreed

upon by both parties. CVFRS is fully supportive of openly sharing their essential financial information on a regular basis. There has been considerable discussion as to how to best manage the town’s annual appropriation, which supports operating costs of CVFRS. The committee unanimously agreed the responsibility for management of this appropriation belongs to CVFRS. As an incentive we agreed that if CVFRS were to have a surplus at the end of the fiscal year they would keep that surplus up to a cap of five to 15 percent of its operating budget. The exact percent has not yet been agreed upon.

The MOA specifies that the surplus dollars be used for CVFRS operating expenses. CVFRS would also have to manage any deficit, with a cap of five to 15 percent, before the town would step in to discuss further financial support. This arrangement

Russell

continued on next page

The Charlotte News

News from The News The staff and board of directors of the Charlotte News would like to extend their gratitude to Wendy Bratt and Tom Powell, who hosted a party on Saturday, Sept.

7, in honor of the paper and our Thrive@55 campaign. We had great fun meeting new people, enjoying food and drink, listening to live music and sharing the mission of the newspaper.

Thanks to everyone who attended.

Hosting a party is one

of several ways you can help the News reach its goal of raising $55,000 in honor of our 55th anniversary. You can also donate online at http://bit.ly/12QEnEv or by sending a donation to Box 251, Charlotte, VT 05445.

The money we raise will

Help us Thrive @55

$55,000 Our Goal

$15,759 Raised So Far

be used to provide a foundation for sustainable growth at the News now and into the future. In an age where newspapers are shrinking from a decline in advertising revenue, your donations will help us keep independent, tied to the only thing that matters: providing the news and views of Charlotte. It will give us the means to provide a bigger paper and provide more content through more contributors.

Your investment in the News is about an investment in the community. We appreciate your support.

Brett Sigurdson (center) talks about the Charlotte News’s nonprofit mission at a party in honor of the paper’s Thrive @55 fundraising campaign.

Board members and staff such as (from left) John Hammer, Kathy Luce and Linda Williamson were also on hand at the party.

Commentary Selectboard Chair Responds to Mead’s Comments

Russell continued from previous page provides a disincentive for CVFRS to spend the entire appropriation and an incentive not to have a deficit.

On Aug. 12. the Selectboard approved the concept that CVFRS patient billing revenue would remain with CVFRS and that the town appropriation would be reduced by $110,000 for a total appropriation of $508,650 instead of the original $618,650, with a legal written agreement to follow.

It makes little sense for that revenue to go to the town and then come back to CVFRS as part of the town appropriation.

It was a recommendation of the professional auditors that this be changed, and it is good business practice to do so. If CVFRS keeps its own revenue they then have an incentive to increase that revenue and they run the risk if the revenue target is not met. The appropriation to CVFRS approved at future town meetings would be the CVFRS budgeted expenses less CVFRS budgeted revenue.

Both the town and CVFRS are seeking an open and trusting relationship that strengthens CVFRS and its ability to provide fire and rescue services to the town.

I have great respect for the CVFRS leadership and for all of the volunteers who spend hours of their own time, not only in the provision of services but also in countless hours of training and in managing the business of their nonprofit corporation, whose sole purpose is providing public safety services to the town.

Mutual trust is called for, not ongoing mistrust and suspicion.

Ellie Russell Member Charlotte Selectboard

The following is an attempt to untangle the web that was woven in a recent letter to the editor by Charlotte’s Town Clerk and Treasurer Mary Mead.

The Charlotte Selectboard is not struggling with drafting the Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) between the town and Charlotte Volunteer Fire and Rescue Services (CVFRS). It is Mary Mead along with a few other members of the public who are struggling with our decision to look out for the best interests of the taxpayers in drafting this legal document.

There are two key concepts that the Selectboard has agreed to implement that will put the incentives to save tax dollars in the hands of those making the early decision to spend money.

First is the decision made at our Aug. 12 meeting to have the town appropriation to CVFRS reduced by the budgeted amount of its patient billing revenue of $110,000. Until that decision was made, the town was at risk for any lower than expected revenue due to the unpredictability of billable calls in any fiscal year.

The incentives are now in the right place.

CVFRS has a direct interest in maximizing the billing revenue. This decision has been discussed with CVFRS at several Selectboard meetings, and they have indicated support for the concept of retaining their income.

Second is in the draft MOA with CVFRS that would have CVFRS “own their deficit and their surplus” up to some level between 5 and 15 percent of their budget. I would note that Mary left out the CVFRS “owning their deficit” part of the equation in her letter. This incentive for CVFRS to spend wisely is the key part of potentially saving tax dollars.

There are two other clarifications related to Mary’s claims about the decision for CVFRS to retain some of the budgeted town appropriation. First, I didn’t go back to the tape of the meeting to see if I was accurately quoted by The Citizen, but my point about the statement of the

Vermont League of Cities and Town (VLCT) financial consultant, about the town’s need to have a dedicated contingency or buffer, was not that CVFRS should therefore have the same policy but was that it was good business practice for any organization.

Lastly, Mary left out both the question and part of the answer in her email exchange with the VLCT representative. What she should have asked is if it was appropriate for the town to have an agreement with CVFRS where they would own their deficit and surplus up to some level. Here is the complete email exchange between Mary and William Hall of VLCT. Mary’s question to William Hall at VLCT: Good afternoon- I believe this question was already asked of you by our Selectboard Assistant, Dean Bloch, but I need the answer as well. When the town is setting the tax rate each year, we are looking at our fund balance form (sic) the fiscal year that has just ended to see where we’re at-surplus, deficit, whatever it is.

I thought that a good rule of thumb for municipalities when you’re considering how much if any, surplus you are going to return to the taxpayers, is to reserve between 5 & 15% of your operating budget before giving back a surplus. In other words, If your fund balance was 250,000 and your budget is $3,000,000-keeping 5% is on the low side which would be $150,000 which would give you $100,000 to return to the taxpayers as a surplus.

Am I looking at this correctly? The Town funds our Fire & Rescue department from our municipal budget-just like all of the other department in town-they get a small revenue from patient billing but the town gives them their funding. Anyways, the Selectboard has said in a public meeting that your recommendation meant that Fire & Rescue should retain their surplus, up to 15% instead of those unexpended funds being returned to the town as part

of our surplus (like all other town funded department), to return to the taxpayer.

It just does not make sense to me, and I don’t think that’s what you said although I don’t have the e-mail. Can you clarify anything for me please? Thanks—Mary Mead William Hall’s response: Hi Mary, Yes, you have interpreted the recommendations for retaining a portion of the surplus – 5% to 15% is the general rule.

But I would not have made any remarks at all about the fire and rescue. If I recall, they are a separate organization? If so, I would not have offered an opinion about their operations. If the expenditures of fire and rescue are less than anticipated, it is the town that would be retaining the surplus, by not expending more that (sic) actual expenditures from the town appropriation. If it were an actual department of the town, the surplus would still be retained by the town as a whole, not the individual department.

Finally and most interestingly, Mary has shown by her own actions why a buffer is necessary. Many years ago when Ker Walker was the CVFRS president and the town was allocating its appropriation in equal quarterly payments, Ker identified a surplus of $20,000 in CVFRS’s budget at the end of the year and asked Mary if he should write her a check for the amount.

Her response was, “No, you will need that money to pay your bills for the start of the new fiscal year.”

The fiscal year starts in July and taxes don’t start coming in until August after the tax rate has been set.

Enough said.

Charles Russell Chair Charlotte Selectboard

Correction On the cover: StudentS exit CVu during the firSt week of ClaSSeS. Photo by emma Slater

Next issue deadlines ContributionS: thurSday, SePtember 19, by 5 P.m. letterS: monday, SePtember 23, by 10 a.m. next PubliCation date: thurSday, SePtember 26

In the last edition of the News, we mistakenly listed the cost of Wendy Bratt and Ginny Sassaman’s six-week happiness study seminar as $250. The cost is actually $150. We apologize for the error and any misunderstanding it may have caused.

The Charlotte News

A Reptilian Rescue

Record Ridership Raises $300K for Kelly Brush Foundation A cyclist smiles after passing through the Holmes Creek Covered Bridge in Charlotte along the 100-mile Kelly Brush Century Ride route Sept. 7. A record number of riders participated in Vermont’s largest charity ride, the Kelly Brush Century Ride powered by VBT Bicycle and Walking Vacations, helping to set a fundraising record for the ride on Saturday. Over 750 cyclists, including 40 Charlotte residents and 25 handcyclists, started spinning from the Middlebury College campus in Middlebury on a cool day perfect for riding through the scenic and rolling hills of the Champlain Valley. Riding in teams or individually, the cyclists raised more than $300,000 for adaptive athletes and ski racing safety. Brush is a Charlotte resident who, with her family, started the Kelly Brush Foundation in 2006. Funds raised through the ride support the Kelly Brush Foundation’s mission to conquer the challenges of paralysis through love of sport by helping athletes with spinal cord injuries purchase specialized sports equipment. The foundation has awarded more than 60 grants for adaptive equipment, including adaptive gear for skiing, cycling, bowling, rowing and even horse carriage racing. For information visit the foundation’s web site, kellybrushfoundation.org.

It may not have been his most harrowing rescue call, but Al Lambert, an EMT-P with Charlotte Fire & Rescue Service, no doubt saved the shells of 14 or so young snapping turtles that emerged from the vegetation near the Fire Hall along busy Ferry Road. Before Lambert released them into the safety of a nearby pond, he took a few pictures of this “reptilian rescue.” If they could talk instead of snap, the turtles would no doubt offer their thanks.

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The Charlotte News

Selectboard continued from page 1 trees, but it has to be done in the right way. As some of the areas in question are on slopes, removing trees could potentially cause erosion. Sue Smith, another member of the committee, noted she had invited a Chittenden County forester to tour the land and offer advice about sustainably altering the landscape.

The Selectboard will revisit the issue at a later date, though it did move forward with pursuing the removal of the trees near Horsfords.

department by a third party. But CVFRS Corporate President Dave McNally said it’s about more than the money.

“This would be a goodwill gesture on behalf of the Town of Charlotte to support rebuilding of another town’s fire and rescue apparatus,” he said.

The money from the sale will be deposited in CVFRS’s capital reserve fund.

Finally, while it’s only two months into the 2013-2014 fiscal year, the Selectboard and CVFRS discussed preparing for the 2014-2015 fiscal year; the organization will be presenting its preliminary budget for discussion in December.

Other business

Fire & Rescue to keep patient billing with formal agreement Ed Sulva, CVFRS corporate treasurer, told the board that CVFRS had agreed to sign a legal document that states that it will keep patient billing instead of the town, which has acted as an intermediary between CVFRS and its billing agent.

The agreement will be a separate document from the Memorandum of Agreement that both parties are currently hashing out. Chair Charles Russell noted the patient-billing agreement will be signed at the next meeting.

CVFRS also reported it would be selling its heavy rescue truck to the Albany, Vt., fire department in the wake of an arson fire that cost it much of its equipment. CVFRS will sell the vehicle for $15,000, a price that was in the range of a recommendation given to the

In other business, the Selectboard Blow & Cote, Inc. for repair of the pier supporting Bridge #31 on Dorset Street.

The bid price is $92,025 plus $6,000 for six days of traffic control for the completion of the project, for a total of $98,025.

Zimmerman to build a walking bridge on the Cowboy Lewis trail along Ferry Road, a project that will stand as his Eagle Scout and CVU Grad Challenge projects. He hopes to begin construction immediately and finish before snow falls.

Abby’s Agenda to Play THT Cabaret Sept. 12 Charlotte-based trio Abby’s Agenda will open a new cabaret season at Middlebury’s Town Hall Theater on Thursday, Sept. 12. Abby Sheldon-Dean sings familiar and not-so-familiar jazz standards, Tom Waits covers, and more, backed by husband Jim Sheldon-Dean on Fender bass and Jeff Salisbury on drums.

The concert will feature the same smooth, impeccable jazz and sparkling vocals captured on the trio’s 2012 album That Was Then, which featured standards such as “Orange Colored Sky,” “Frankie & Johnny,” and “Mean to Me,” as well as the original tune, “Careful in the Kitchen.”

Tickets for all THT Cabaret performances are $10 and may be purchased at townhalltheater.org, by calling 382-9222 or at the box office Monday through Saturday from noon to 5 p.m.

For more on Abbey’s Agenda, visit the band’s website, abbeysagenda.com.

SMArt Flicks:

UP

town planner/zoning administrator and discussed the position’s salary.

See the colorful and whimsical film “Up” followed by an art activity and snacks in the new Pizzagalli Center for Art and Education.

5-8 p.m., Friday, September 20 Free with Museum admission.

Museum Members and children under age 5 are free.

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The Charlotte News

Charlotte CROP Hunger Walk Sept. 29

H

Merchants Bank Donates to New Fields Jeanne Albertson, manager at Merchants Bank in Hinesburg, presents a $5,000 check to Charlotters Cole Boffa (left) and Maverick Lowery, who represented the CSSU Buccaneers youth football team. The money will be used for athletic fields at the proposed Bissonnette Family Recreation Area in Hinesburg.

elp fight hunger one step at a time with the Charlotte CROP Hunger Walk, which will be held on Sunday, Sept. 29.

This year Charlotte and some 2,000 cities and towns nationwide are joining together in interfaith community CROP Hunger Walks around the theme “Ending hunger one step at a time.”

Looking to make a difference in these trying times, the Charlotte CROP Hunger Walk has set a goal of 50 walkers and hopes to raise $2,500 to help stop hunger and poverty here in our community and around the world, through self-help initiatives. A portion of the funds raised here in Charlotte will go to the Charlotte Food Shelf.

Last year, nearly 30 walkers raised more than $2,145 in their locally organized CROP Hunger Walk.

This year’s walk will start at the Congregational Church at 11:30 a.m. and proceed to Charlotte Central School and return. There will be light refreshments, homemade soup and cookies, and a small celebration at the conclusion in the church vestry.

Many of the CROP walkers will be wearing T-shirts proclaiming their solidarity with the millions of neighbors around the world who have to walk to live—as well as with the millions served by local food pantries, food banks and meal sites here in the U.S. These local ministries share in the funds raised by CROP Hunger Walks.

The Charlotte CROP Hunger Walk offers a way for children to learn how malnutrition and hunger affect kids who aren’t as fortunate. An online interactive survival scenario has been created that asks the reader to make a series of tough choices. You can try it out at http://hunger.cwsglobal.org/decisions/index. htm.

The event presents a way for youth to begin taking action about hunger issues here in Charlotte and around the world. The walk is 1.5 miles long, easily manageable for young children.

The Charlotte event will include members of the Charlotte Congregational Church Sunday School, Our Lady of Mount Carmel Sunday School, CVU High School students, Waldorf and CCS grade school students and Charlotte Food Shelf volunteers.

For more information about the Charlotte CROP Hunger Walk, contact Krista Scheele, 561-374-0811, krista9@mac.com

From the Listers Office: Data Collection and Inspection 2013 The town data collector is currently in the field, inspecting properties in quadrant one, which onecomprises all roads north of Ferry Road and west of Ethan Allen Highway (Route 7). The areas currently being inspected include Greenbush Road, Route 7, Patton Woods, Ten Stones Circle and Eastry Court.

Postcards will be mailed out a week or two ahead of the property inspection; these inspections will take place on Fridays. If no one is at home when the data collector arrives, a card will be left to let you know he was there. If the inspector needs to get into your house or has a question, a card will be left at your house asking you to call the listers office. If you have any questions about the process, please call the office at 425-3855.

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The Charlotte News Conservation Currents

Charlotte Conservation Currents In Defense of Weeds Roel Boumans Contributor We are now at the height of the growing season, and the garden seems to need endless weeding. It dawned on me a while ago that I had read an article written in the early 1900s arguing the benefits of weeds. Trying to find that article again using Google, I came across many more writers who were making that same point: weeds are there for a reason.

Weeds are well adapted to the soil conditions in which they grow and are active in changing those soils. For example, weeds break up hardpan. Their long taproots are able to dig deep and pick up nutrients otherwise unavailable to less deep-rooted plants. They are refuges for insect pest populations and their predators, which can prevent detrimental pest outbreaks. But even more important is their ability to reveal information about the properties of our soils, particularly their nutritional status, pH and presence of hardpan.

Understanding your weeds will save you from buying those soil-testing kits, for weeds can tell you much more than

those kits ever will. Weeds will indicate what your best crop could be next year.

They will indicate which garden varieties to choose: varieties that adapt to the same soil needs as the weed. And if you don’t want those weeds there, they will also give you a clue as to what you can do to change the soil characteristics or, alternatively, what species to plant for a chance to outcompete them.

And then there are those weeds that we try to manage as a town. The more famous ones would be the European frogbit in Town Farm Bay, buckthorn and, of course, wild parsnip. Although heroic efforts are being organized to eradicate these plants from our landscape, I don’t know if we really understand what these plants are trying to tell us or if the methods we are using are the right ones. So again I used Google to find out.

life. Because not much else is known about European frog-bit, it appears to me that we could use some original research to evaluate what it is actually telling us and how much we are willing to invest to try to eliminate this plant

Buckthorn Buckthorn is a shrub or small tree growing to 20 feet and is native to North Africa, Asia and Europe. It was introduced to North America as an ornamental shrub for fencerows and wildlife habitat. The problem with buckthorn is that it has a wide habitat tolerance, a rapid growth rate and an extensive root system. It produces abundant flowers and fruits throughout the growing season.

European Frog-bit Many bird species relish buckEuropean frog-bit is originally from thorn berries. The berries contain Switzerland, brought to Canada inten- a chemical that acts as a laxa- Wild parsnip is a weed that contains a chemitionally for use at an arboretum in 1932. tive. The defecation by the birds cal that causes blistering when it comes in From Canada it spread to the United ensures the spread of the seeds. contact with skin that is then exposed to sunStates in the 1980s. It is a free-floating Although seedlings of buck- light. It is commonly found along roadsides plant that thrives in open marsh habi- thorn invade apparently stable and in abandoned fields. tat and quiet backwaters, forming dense habitats, they grow most sucfloating colonies. Mats of frog- bit can cessfully where there is ample become so thick that boat traffic can be light and exposed soil. Bucklematic to humans. This plant contains affected, which is not an issue in Town thorn invasions are indicators Farm Bay. Frog-bit interferes with the of thinned or grazed woods, woodland a chemical that causes a severe rash growth of other aquatic plants and the edges and other disturbances of mature and blistering when skin exposed to the movement of big fish and diving ducks. forest, like openings created by windfalls. chemical is then exposed to sunlight.

Control methods have not been clearly There are no control measures known Good forestry practices should be able to described over a wide range of condiother than the temporary solution of prevent these invasions. tions, but digging up plants in small popremoving it by hand, like we do here in ulations or repeated cutting below the soil town. Frog-bit will not tolerate waves, Wild Parsnip which limits the risk of spreading. It is Wild parsnip is an herbaceous plant surface with a shovel in successive years high in nitrogen and with the appropri- requiring two or more years to flower. appears to be effective. The effects of fire ate herbivores could be of value to wild It grows to about three feet or a bit more or mowing appear to be unpredictable and can form dense stands. It is and may encourage wild parsnip.

Maybe what the parsnip is trying to tell successful on a variety of soils, but it mostly indicates low us is that mowing the road sites leads to fertility. It is most commonly lower fertility of the grasslands and that found along roadsides and in more sustainable solutions need to be ASK US HOW abandoned fields and pastures. envisioned. Maybe maintaining the roadWild parsnip might have side vegetation through managed grazing negative environmental char- would do the trick. acteristics, such as the ability to crowd out some native Roel Boumans is co-chair of the CharCAN AFFECT THE LONG TERM wildflowers, but is more prob- lotte Conservation Commission.

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The Charlotte News

The ‘Crack’ of the (Ash) Bat

made of maple.

But there is a new “crack of the bat.”

Too many bats are cracking or splintering! When a ball hurled at 90 mph or more hits the bat with a force of about 8,000 pounds, any imperfections in the Larry Hamilton alignment of the grain may cause breakContributor age. Ash generally holds up much better The favorite sound of summer to base- than maple. Between July and September ball aficionados is the crack of a bat last year, 1,697 bats splintered in the hitting a ball. When all bats were made Major Leagues alone. of white (American) ash, the wood’s These flying chunks of wood are a flexibility gave a distinctive resonance major hazard. In 2010, Wellington Castilto that impact sound that seemed to lo of the Chicago Cubs smashed a double, echo as the hitter sped toward first base. and a long shard of wood impaled itself in Some fans believe that the hitting of a the chest of teammate Tyler Colvin, who home run gave a distinctive “crack” that was sprinting to home plate from third foretold by sound this one was a winner. base. It narrowly missed his heart. In Famous names of big hitters such as Babe 2008, 5,000 bats broke, mainly on inside Ruth, Mickey fastball pitchMantle, Roger es where the Maris and ball strikes Hank Aaron the narrower used and loved portion of their ash bats. the bat. New Ash seems regulations like the perfect for bats have wood for bats. been instiIt is light in tuted, requirweight, someing the angle what flexible of the grain or resilient, of the wood and straightto deviate not g r a i n e d more than wood can be three degrees. selected. Most This picture shows the porous nature of ash by its This should people using annual rings. Ash is light and relatively flexible, help prevent firewood love making it an ideal wood for baseball bats. splintering. ash because it Grain angle splits so easis more easily along the ily seen in grain, often into four pie-shaped blanks ash because the wood is “ring-porous” the length of your stove wood (12–18 with clearly defined annual rings, and inches). ash is regaining some of its popularity.

Bat manufacturers took advantage Unfortunately, the imported emerald ash of the straight “splitability” of ash to borer, the nemesis of the ash, is decimatproduce pie-shaped “blanks” for bats ing ash in many areas to our south and 36-42 inches in length. These were then west, casting some doubt on the future of whittled down to a “barrel” no more than this species. Quarantine areas have been 2.75 inches in diameter, thinned down at established to slow the progress. Parasitic the handle but leaving a bigger grip at wasps and woodpeckers offer the best the end. control methods to date.

League regulations call for the finished Fortunately Vermont has not yet been bat to weigh no more than 38 ounces invaded. Best actions for Vermonters are (most are 35–38 ounces). Machine-driv- to refrain from importing ash wood, espeen lathes replaced manual shaping. The cially firewood, and to encourage more Louisville Slugger became a famous bat woodpeckers by leaving dead or nonfavored by Babe Ruth—among others— hazard dying trees as habitat elements for though he also, at times, used heavier these birds. Researchers are hard at work hickory and a shorter bat. developing biological controls, especially In 1997 the Major Leagues allowed the new types of wasps, but time is racing on first sugar maple bats in response to play- for Charlotte, since the borer has been ers’ desires for a “harder” bat that could detected near Albany. hit the ball farther. In 2001, Barry Bonds hit 73 home runs with a maple bat—and Larry Hamilton is Charlotte’s volunteer use of the maple bats increased. Today, tree warden. about 60 percent of the bats in use are

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Sacred Hunter Presents Hunters Film Festival Event benefits Traditions Outdoor Mentoring Sacred Hunter, a Charlotte-based nonprofit, is sponsoring a Hunting Film Festival on Saturday, Sept. 28.

The event will benefit Sacred Hunter’s mentoring program, Traditions Outdoor Mentoring, which works with at-risk 13to 16-year-old boys, teaching them the values of conservation and ethics while they learn to hunt, fish and forage.

The film festival will consist of eight professionally filmed hunts of 10-20 minutes apiece. The films include hunts of elk, mountain goat, a 230-class whitetail, ducks and geese, grizzly bear, and exotic aoudad and javelina. These are all fairchase hunts, and a few of them are with a bare bow (recurve bow with no sights).

These films celebrate the beauty and wonder of our sport. To view the trailers for these films, go to huntingfilmtour. com.

The film festival will be held at the Film House at Main Street Landing on 60 Lake Street in Burlington. Doors open at 5 p.m. Films will begin at 6:30 p.m.

Food will be served from 5 to 6:30 p.m. Attendees can purchase McKenzie hot dogs and chips as well as sodas and

Fiddlehead beer.

Raffle tickets will be sold beginning at 5 p.m. There will be an intermission at approximately 7:30 p.m., where raffle prizes will be given away.

Raffle items include a $1,000 pair of Zeiss binoculars, a 4x32 Zeiss Conquest rifle scope, a Yeti cooler and many other wonderful prizes. There will also be raffles for grab bags filled with hats, gloves and hunting apparel.

The films will end at approximately 9 p.m.

Everyone who purchases a ticket will receive one free bagel with cream cheese from the Burlington Bagel Bakery on Shelburne Road in South Burlington.

Tickets are limited to 200 seats and cost $16 at the door or online. For online purchases go to huntingfilmtour.com and click on “Buy Tickets,” then locate Burlington, VT on the map.

Tickets are $15 if purchased through Sacred Hunter’s distributors, Dattilio’s Guns & Tackle in South Burlington, Powderhorn Sports in Williston and Big River Bait & Tackle in Hinesburg.

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Cemetery continued from page 1 “In many Vermont Towns, neglect of cemeteries is not unusual,” Brooks has written in the last three yearly Cemetery Commission reports for Town Meeting.

“Some towns take great pride in caring for these important repositories of their Town history. After all, isn’t there at least an implicit social contract to respect the final resting place of those who came before and shaped the character of the place?”

In East Charlotte, Brooks came to the Bradley Cemetery, or East Burying Ground, along Spear Street north of Hinesburg Road in a blink-and-you’llmiss-it grove of trees on the west side of the road. He stopped in the middle of the road to point out some steps placed into the hill and the perennials he planted on either side of them to spruce things up.

As Brooks pulled into the steep driveway the grave stones reveal themselves among the mossy ground, many of them resembling the large natural stones upturned by the gravediggers who abandoned the cemetery 31 years after it was built in 1805.

All of them are made of sedimentary stone like shale, so their inscriptions have weathered to flatness. Many have simply fallen over or sunk into the ground. Headstones and footstones lay in piles of rubble, puzzle pieces waiting for adjoining pieces that may never be found.

It’s a situation on a smaller scale compared to the West Burying Ground, or Barber Cemetery, the largest cemetery Brooks oversees. Currently 65 stones are broken there—some big, some small, all of them frustrating puzzles that may never be put together. Late in August,

Cemetery Commission employee Isaac Flemming of Vergennes, with the help of Steven Mack, put the spire of the Barber Monument back together in just a few hours.

While that monument was in three pieces, other gravestones are in worse disrepair. Some are in small piles of rubble where a whole gravestone once stood. Others are partly buried.

“Every broken tombstone presents a unique set of challenges,” Brooks said.

Despite this, the Cemetery Commission employees and volunteers have so far fixed 12 gravestones at Barber Cemetery using largely the same method: excavate the stone, uncover the broken pieces, place them on level beams or a table, clean the joints, apply a special epoxy and clamp it all together.

Brooks is proud of how the Cemetery Commission has made such fixes, for a small portion of the cost a professional would charge, by harnessing volunteers and local donations and practicing a kind of frugal ingenuity that made Charlotte briefly famous

(Above) Stephen Brooks at Barber Cemetery on Greenbush Road near one of the gravestones his staff has fixed.

(Left) The grave of Sally Hough. last year when NPR featured pictures of the sheep he secured to keep Barber Cemetery’s grass trimmed.

Indeed, these things— thrifty use of taxpayer money, local involvement, creative solutions— encompass his philosophy of the Cemetery Commissioner as much as they do his philosophy of local government. Brooks is aware he has cultivated a kind of in-your-face, outspoken persona that precedes him when he attends town meetings. But Brooks said the philosophy he practices

L

is the same town leaders should with taxpayers’ money.

If Brooks can raise the necessary funds, he’d like to install a fieldstone wall at Barber Cemetery to replace the “unsightly” chain link fence that surrounds it.

He estimates finishing the rehabilitation of all 65 broken headstones at Barber Cemetery in the next few years will cost between $15-$20,000. For Brooks, it’s a project worth investing in because it represents an investment in Charlotte’s past, present and future.

At Barber Cemetery, Brooks showed off one of Flemming’s most recent fixes, the gravestone of 12-year-old Sally Hough, who died in 1805. It looks like a mix of the old and the new, weathered to a dull grey on top, bright and vibrant at the base. He reads an epitath inscribed there that had, until recently, been buried, regarding each word as if reading directions to a treasure. As Brooks finishes reading it, he pauses.

“It just doesn’t get any better than that,” he said.

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The Charlotte News

Written in Stone, Hiding in Sight A recently completed research project on Charlotte’s small cemeteries has revealed fascinating stories of early Charlotte.

In 1812, the Reverend Dorian Bartlett Harding sat along the banks of a stream that ran through his family’s farm in East Charlotte. It was in that moment he decided to become a minister, and it was in this place that he was buried 23 years later.

A recently completed essay project initiated by Stephen Brooks and undertaken by local volunteers tells this story and others of Charlotters who are buried in small cemeteries that are scattered throughout town, most on private property.

Kristin Wright explores the family members—mostly infants and children—buried in the Marcotte Cemetery, or Leavenworth Cemetery, on a sandy knoll along Carpenter Road, a place that would have allowed the Leavenworth and Hickock families who originally lived in the nearby farmhouse to look out upon their departed family members.

According to research conducted by Victoria Zulkoski, the four occupants buried in the Thorp Cemetery along Lake Road were likely interred there because of a state-mandated quarantine due to a smallpox affliction that claimed their lives in 1895.

Susan Ohanian tells the story of the Reverend Harding, whose grave was marked by a headstone, though its boundaries weren’t noted upon the farm’s sale in 1837. Here the story takes an interesting twist. The site became a legal issue in 2000 when the new property owners discovered the grave and, worried it could hurt the property’s future resale value, took steps to have Harding’s remains removed for reburial. Nancy Sabin, Harding’s great-great-grandniece objected and filed suit after negotiations broke down. A probate court decision granted Sabin and her heirs the right to access and maintain the reverend’s gravesite.

According to state law, town cemetery commissioners have a similar right to access these small cemeteries to maintain them when they are in disrepair. The Charlotte Cemetery Commission has taken advantage of this by clearing the Leavenworth Cemetery and hope to raise the tombstones there and improve access to it. At the Sherman-Quinlan Cemetery, trees and shrubs were cut back, gravestones are being repaired and a rock wall has been installed by Chase Weaver for a CVU Grad Challenge.

Brooks hopes to reach an agreement with property owners of the land on which Thorp Cemetery sits soon in order to address any issues there.

He hopes Zulkoski’s essay on it will help.

For her part, Wright, a former history and political science major, thinks the project gives Charlotters a connection to the past.

“I think that the town of Charlotte has changed so much in the last few decades,” she said in an email message, “transforming from an almost exclusively agricultural town to a largely bedroom community. Learning about our roots (large families working and living on farms) better allows us to appreciate the beautiful town we have inherited. Without these stewards of our rural landscape, Charlotte would not be the beautiful place we all choose to call home.”

Six copies of the essays will be stored at Town Hall, where they can be accessed by all.

Spears Corner Store to Host Get-to-Know-You Party Carrie Spear has seen so many new faces walk into her East Charlotte store in the last two months she has taken to writing down unfamiliar names on index cards she keeps behind the counter. By her count, she has 14 family names written down, though she knows there are more she hasn’t added.

This gave her an idea to hold an open house for new and not-so-new Charlotters to mix and mingle on Saturday, Sept. 28, from 1-6 p.m. in and around Spears Corner Store.

“It’s just an opportunity for folks to meet or meet all over again,” said Spear.

The event will feature burgers compliments of Charlotte’s Fat Cow Farm and a beverage tasting.

RSVPs are not required but appreciated. For more info, call Spear at 425-4444.

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Legislative Report

by Representative Mike Yantachka

Navigating the New Vermont Health Insurance Marketplace With enrollment in Vermont Health Connect slated to begin Oct. 1, here’s a breakdown of how it works and who is eligible.

Vermont will embark on a new era in health care on Oct. 1, 2013, as the health insurance marketplace, called Vermont Health Connect, opens for enrollment. Vermont is one of several states that set up its own marketplace under the Affordable Care Act (ACA), a.k.a. “Obamacare.”

Vermont Health Connect is designed to make it easier for eligible Vermonters to have access to and choose the level of coverage and cost for their health insurance as well as to provide Vermonters access to federal subsidies based on their income levels. Only insurance purchased through Vermont Health Connect is eligible for federal subsidies, which can lower premiums and, for many, out-ofpocket expenses. The Vermont Health Connect website (VermontHealthConnect.gov) already has detailed information available.

Vermonters purchasing individual or family plans and employers and employees of small businesses will use Vermont Health Connect. It is easiest to address these categories separately for clarity.

Coverage for individuals and families So, who is eligible to participate?

Simply put, any Vermonter who does not have insurance through an employer or through a government program,

like Medicare, Medicaid, the Veterans Administration, or Dr. Dynasaur for children, is eligible. Even if an employer offers health insurance, but the premiums cost more than 9.5 percent of the employee’s household income, the employee is eligible to purchase insurance through Vermont Health Connect and to receive federal subsidies.

The open enrollment period starts on Oct. 1, 2013, and ends on March 31, 2014. After the open enrollment period, only “life changes,” such as marriage, loss of job, change in family size, etc., will be acceptable reasons to initiate or change insurance options.

Vermont Health Connect offers a list of approved health insurance options that provide standardized health care coverage at various levels of cost. The standard plans have four benefit levels: covered medical expenses covered medical expenses covered medical expenses covered medical expenses.

Each level has different deductible and maximum out-of-pocket amounts.

Insurance premiums will vary by insurance provider, amount of deductibles and co-pays, benefit level, and amount of subsidy for which an individual or family is eligible.

There are two insurance providers offers the same coverage in the standard plans. In addition to the four standard plans, there are non-standard well. Catastrophic health plans are also available to individuals under 30 years old who meet certain income eligibility standards.

Federal subsidies for the premiums

are based on household income and are paid directly to the provider to offset the premiums. While the estimated subsidy for 2014 is based on the household income as shown in the 2012 tax return filed this year, the subsidy will be adjusted when the 2013 tax return is filed. So those who have had a major change in income can potentially see a change in the amount of the subsidy for which they are eligible. Adjustments for changes in a household’s financial circumstances can be made on a monthly basis.

Vermont Health Connect also provides access through Delta Dental to dental plans for both adults, as a supplemental plan, and for children, as dental coverage is embedded in all medical plans for those up to age 21. Catastrophic dental care is integrated with the health insurThere is help every step of the way for individuals to learn more now and to enroll after Oct. 1st: gov Connect website or the call center to find a navigator near you. Navigators are trained partner organizations or individuals who can guide you through the process. A list can be found under website.

Starting in 2014, there is a federal penalty for not carrying health insurance. The penalty will be assessed on tax returns starting in 2014 and increasthe penalty is the larger of one percent of household income or $95 per individual household member without covSmall business participation Small businesses with 50 or fewer full-time employees will offer health insurance through Vermont Health Connect starting in 2014. There is no federal penalty for small businesses that do not offer health insurance to a contribution level and the plans available to their employees (either all plans

under one carrier or the full range of options). Employee would then enroll in the plan of their choice through Vermont Health Connect. If the employer offers health insurance to its employees, however, employees would not be eligible for a federal insurance subsidy unless the cost to the employee exceeded 9.5 percent of the employee’s household income.

Employers are eligible for federal tax credits if 1. they have fewer than 25 full-timeequivalent employees (FTEs), 2. the average annual wage per FTE is less than $50,000, and 3. they contribute at least 50 percent of the health insurance premium per FTE. While there is no federal penalty for small employers that do not offer health insurance, the Vermont Employer Assessment remains. This Vermont penalty is $40 per month per employee for the fifth through the 49th employee.

(The first four employees are exempt.)

Therefore, each employer should analyze the effect on both their business bottom line and their employees before making a decision on whether or not to offer health insurance.

The Small Employer Estimator, available now on VermontHealthConnect.gov, is designed to help employers with health-coverage decision-making for 2014.

Employers who choose to enroll must select their coverage options by Oct. 1.

Employees should then enroll by Nov. 30.

Additional tools and resources are available specifically for small businesses and can be accessed at VermontHealthConnect.gov or by calling As always, I welcome your feedback on any issue or topic of concern. My website is MikeYantachka.com. You gmail.com.

Mike Yantachka represents Charlotte and parts of Hinesburg in the Vermont House of Representatives.

The Charlotte News

Charlotte Senior Center

The Café Menu

by Mary Recchia, Activities Coordinator

Get outdoors, meet some folks, and enjoy yourself.

Let’s Ride! with Sojourn Bicycling and Active Vacations on Tuesday morning, Sept. 17, leaving the center at 9 a.m. and heading to Kingsland Bay (short loop).

Join Charlotte-based Sojourn for this fun, supported recreational ride along the best cycling roads in the region.

This will be about a 15-20 mile ride, and you will enjoy the camaraderie of Sojourn tour leaders as well as a support van. Snacks and refreshments will be provided.

Let us know if you would like to come along but don’t have a bike. For $15, Sojourn will provide you with a properly sized bicycle. Registration required. No fee.

–––– Victor Gardy’s Math Magic continues Tuesday afternoon from 1:45-2:45 p.m. on Sept. 17 with unique tricks and techniques to perform mental math calculations. This half-hour lecture with a half hour of practice will have you amazing your family and friends. Learning secrets of mental math with only elementary school arithmetic is accessible and fun with just a little practice. Registration required. No Fee. –––– Rich Evans and Erica Hoyt return this fall for another Healthier Living Workshop with the focus on Chronic Pain Tuesday mornings from 9:30 a.m. to noon. Dates: Sept. 17 and 24 and Oct. 1, 8, 15 and 22.

Living with ongoing pain is not easy. Based on research conducted at Stanford University, this workshop will help you develop skills to understand your pain, manage its effects and improve your health so that you can get on with living a satisfying, fulfilling life.

Some of the topics covered in the free six-week, 2-½ hour sessions are guided imagery, using your mind to manage symptoms, fatigue/sleep management, dealing with the blues, making treatment decisions and communicating with your family and health care professionals.

Registration required. No fee.

–––– Join Jeanne Neu for Zumba Gold—the fun workout for anyone, any age, any ability on Friday mornings from 9:15-10 beginning on Sept. 20.

Zumba Gold was designed for the older active adult and utilizes the same great Latin styles of music and dance used in the Zumba basic program. It’s just as much fun, just not as fast. This easy-to-follow program allows anyone any age to be able to perform the Zumba Gold dance moves. The routines are easy to learn and follow so that success can be achieved quickly. The Zumba Gold program strives to improve balance, strength, flexibility and, most important, the heart. Be sure to wear comfortable workout clothing, and bring water and a towel as well as

MONDAY, SEPT. 16: creamy tomato soup, lettuce & apple salad, chocolate cheesecake a “ready-to-party” attitude! Registration required. Fee: $42.

–––– The first of four Fall Hikes in the Champlain Valley with Marty Morrissey will be on Tuesday, Sept. 24, to Mt. Independence in Orwell. A full description of this trip and the degree of difficulty is available at the host desk. Please bring water, food and good hiking or walking shoes for departure from the Senior Center at 8:30 a.m. Registration required. No fee.

–––– Anyone Can Lean to Draw with Elizabeth Llewellyn Thursday mornings from 10 to 11:30. Dates: Sept. 26, Oct. 3, 10, 17, 24, and 31, and Nov. 7 and 14.

In this beginning drawing class you will learn to “see like an artist” through a series of fun, easy exercises that will unlock your artist’s brain. This class will include discussion and use of a variety of drawing materials: pencil, charcoal, ink, and the different supports available.

Students will be amazed at their progress in this relaxed, supportive environment.

Suggested materials: drawing pad (9x12), graphite pencils (2B, 4B and 6B), charcoal (compressed or pencil) and a kneaded eraser. Registration necessary. Limit 10. Fee: $100.

–––– All The World’s A Stage—and it’s here at the center!

Parts have been assigned for the reading on Sept. 26 at 1 p.m., when we will hear The Doctor by Neil Simon.

As a participant or a listener, no experience is necessary.

Scripts are provided, and all are welcome to join as we continue to broaden our exposure to this rich and poignant form of literature. Please note that a play will be chosen and parts assigned for the Oct. 24 reading at the end of this session.

Events following the Wednesday luncheon For those who do not share lunch with us, you are welcome to drop in around 1 p.m. to enjoy the after lunch offerings: Sept. 25: Reflections on a Lifetime of Dance, with Sharry Traver Underwood. Sharry ran away to dance just as the theatrical revolution was underway in the 1940s.

Through courage, hard work and persistence she managed not only to become a dancer but to work with some of the greatest legends in the business. She has written a dancing memoir titled No Daughter of Mine is Going to Be a Dancer! and joins us to reveal both the rapture she felt in dancing and her refreshingly spunky approach to a career.

WEDNESDAY, SEPT. 18: catch of the day, homemade dessert MONDAY, SEPT. 23: vegetable seven bean soup, mixed greens salad, apple crisp with vanilla ice cream WEDNESDAY, SEPT. 25: spinach and ricotta stuffed shells, homemade dessert

Senior LunCheonS are held every Wednesday at noon. Reservations are necessary in advance and can be made by calling the Senior Center at 425-6345. A $4 donation is requested. Reservations are not required for the Monday Munch.

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library! Bring your lunch and join us for a fun-filled hour of stories, songs and crafts.

Story-time sessions run from Sept. 23 through Nov. 18. Students may take the bus from CCS with a parent note. Please call 4253864 or email youthservices@charlottepubliclibrary.org to sign up.

Upcoming at the Library Wednesday Night Knitting, Wednesday, Sept. 18, 5:30 p.m. Join us to compare notes, knits and to share good company.

First Session: Wednesday Night Writers Series Sydney Lea, Vermont Poet Laureate, Wednesday, Sept. 18, 7 p.m. Lea is known as “a man in the woods with his head full of books, and a man in books with his head full of woods.” Drawing on his latest work, A North Country Life: Tales of Woodsmen, Waters, and Wildlife, he shares his love of the natural world and the written word. Bristol Bakery desserts, coffee and tea will be served.

Lunch Box Story Time Kick-Off, Monday, Sept. 23, 12:15-1:15 p.m.

Kindergarteners, hop on the bus to the

American Mahjong, Wednesday, Sept. 25, at 7 p.m.

Jane Krasnow brings her know-how to the library and teaches us how to play this variant of the ancient Chinese game known as Mah-jongg, mahjong or maajh. Join us for an introductory session and then play every other week as we learn the game together.

Friday Free for All Kick-Off, Friday, Sept. 27, 10:30-11:30 a.m. It’s explore time at the library. From rocks, blocks and socks to babies, bugs and hairy bread, we’ll investigate it all. Join us for discovery and diversion every Friday morning through Nov. 21. Suitable for ages three to five who are comfortable in a story time setting without parent or caregiver. Parent/caregiver must remain in library. Please call 425-3864 or email youthservices@charlottepubliclibrary. org to sign up.

Seed Savers Workshop, Saturday, Sept. 28, 10-–11 a.m. In anticipation of building our Seed Library and making more seeds available for planting next spring, join Joan Weed, veteran seed

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saver and master gardener, for a handson how-to. She’ll provide the tips for easy and productive seed saving, assuring another harvest next year.

Feel free to bring your own seeds, especially those from plants grown with our Seed Library seeds this past spring. We will also have plenty of seeds to save and share. Please call the library to let us know you will be coming: 425-3864.

On Display at the Library Found in the Ground. It’s Vermont Archaeology Month, and we’ve gathered a selection of intriguing and interesting objects from backyards, barns and beaches to put on display. We’d love to see yours as well. Please drop off any objects you’re willing to loan for the month and stay to share and compare what you see.

For more information on archaeology month: http://historicsites.vermont. gov/vt_history/archaeology/archaeology_month.

Sunlight and Shadow: Elizabeth Llewellyn’s Equine Art. Elizabeth lives and creates her art in Vermont. Her equine art has sold in the United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland, the United States and Canada. Elizabeth has a B.F.A. from Ottawa University and teaches art freelance at various locations around Chittenden County. More information about Elizabeth’s art and teaching can be found on her website: www.artforallages.net.

Fused Glass Art: Maxine Davis.

With whimsy and a sense of humor, Maxine (Mickey) Davis fashions colorful and striking glass creations. Everything from clocks to bowls to doorknobs, the items are beautiful and useful at the same time. More information about her art and designs is available at MaxineDavisGlassArt.com.

Don’t forget! September is Library Card Sign-Up Month. In addition to promoting new patron registration, we will also be renewing all current library cards. We will confirm your contact information and update your expiration date when you visit.

Library Board Meeting. Thursday, Sept. 12, at 5:30 p.m.

Board members: Bonnie Ayer, member-at-large; Bonnie Christie, chair; Vince Crockenberg, treasurer; Emily Ferris, vice-chair; Dorrice Hammer, secretary.

Library Book Series: New England Uncovered What lies hidden beneath the popular images of New England with its white spires and Yankee frugality?

More than meets the eye!

This is the focus of the library’s fall/ winter book discussion series sponsored by the Friends of the Charlotte Library and the Vermont Humanities Council. Books in the series will be discussed as follows: Oct. 17: Peyton Place by Grace Metalious Nov. 21: Affliction by Russell Banks, Jan. 16: A Brother’s Blood by Michael White, Feb. 20: I’m a Stranger Here Myself: Notes on Returning to America After Twenty Years Away by Bill Bryson.

Lesley Wright will again facilitate discussions. All meetings begin at 7:30 p.m. at the library. Copies of the books can be borrowed from the library.

The program is free and open to the public, and the library is ADA accessible.

The Charlotte News

JV B Falls to Mt. Abe in Season Football Opener Carrie MacKillop Contributor JV B Coach Rahn Fleming is a philosophical man. In a Thursday morning email to his players and their parents after Wednesday’s loss against Mt Abe the previous night, Coach Fleming stressed the importance of recognizing the value in the loss: “Our breakdowns, both physical and mental, provide opportunities for growth. And that’s how we’ll embrace them.” Well put, Coach.

It was clear from the first drive of the game that the frosh Redhawks were no match for the burly Mt. Abe offense. The Eagles moved down the field quickly and formidably, blasting through CVU’s defensive line to score on their first possession.

CVU had a tough time answering the points, but starting quarterback Hunter Anderson did a fine job with hand-offs and sweeps.

When in trouble, Anderson reacted quickly, utilizing his running skills in attempts to out-maneuver the Eagles’ blistering defense.

Anderson’s passing game was on point, and he proved his ability to work under pressure.

Braven Bose, Nick Kinneston, Nate Shanks and David Johnson had strong moments with their running games, but unfortunately the team was unable to keep the ball long enough to make it to the end zone. Spencer Bissonette provided offensive protection. Charlotters Brad Reynolds and Zach “Ghurka” Toensing were well placed as the team’s kickers, both sending the ball far downfield when their moments came.

Defensively, the team saw stand-out plays executed by Charlotters George Davis and Somer MacKillop, David Johnson and Brady Carlson. Long snapper Jonny Gay delivered perfect snaps, blocks and tackles for special teams—a seemingly impossible trio of activity. Charlotters Jack Thibault, Alex D’Amico, Devan Lussier, John Delisle, Cole Rehkugler, Ethan Leonard, Max Atkins and Eli Sanchez showed their versatility on the field.

The Redhawks’ lone touchdown came in the third quarter, when Toensing gracefully snagged an interception on the Eagles 12 yard line, trotting into the end zone with ease. CVU failed to earn the extra point, however, and the game ended with CVU falling to Mt. Abe 36-6.

As Coach Fleming pointed out, the Redhawks have both the luxury and the bane of being a large team. This fully freshman squad will face mixed teams of freshmen, sophomores and juniors. While the lessons may be hard learned, there will no doubt be many lessons, and we can expect great things from this team both in this season and seasons to come.

SPORTS Essex Invitational cross-country races have a Redhawk flare CVU’s Autumn Eastman led the pack of runners from the beginning and finished with the fastest time in 15 years at the Essex Invitational run September 7. Abby Keim’s sixth place and Sophia Gorman’s seventh assured the Redhawk team of first place in the top division, defeating two out-of-state schools and seven Vermont institutions. The CVU men placed fifth out of 12 with Zack Marshall running eighth among the first ten. Eastman and Marshall had run well in class races at Red Rocks in Burlington a week earlier. Autumn finished a minute ahead of her closest competitor, with Abby Keim coming in third among juniors and seniors.

Zack Marshall was third among senior boys, while Taylor Marshall, Calvin McClellan and Harken Spillane came across 1,2 and 3 among freshmansophomore runners.

Essex Tournament victories are first stops for men’s soccer A 9-0 shutout of Rutland was an opening season lift for CVU’s men’s soccer team. Zach Akey hit the net four times, with Charlotte’s Tucker Shelley and Elliot Mitchell adding scores. Brandon O’Connell split time in goal with Oscar Kelly. The Redhawks came back the following day to a tighter contest with Essex. Joe Castano’s and Richard Baccia’s goals, along with O’Connell’s six saves gave the Redhawks the championship, 2-0.

Castano was named the tournament’s most-valuable player, and Zack Evans joined him on the all-tournament team.

Friday night lights beam brightly on Redhawks According to Assistant Coach Tim Halvorson, it took CVU’s football team a full half to connect its gears in the opening season game at Colchester. Once the Hawks did, however, they moved quickly, scoring three touchdowns on their first three possessions of the second half. CVU went on to a 35-9 win. One downturn in the game was the loss to injury of starting quarterback Bennett Cazayoux, leaving Steele DuBrul to handle the signal calling for the rest

Join the Public Meetings E-mail List If you would like to receive agendas for Selectboard and Planning Commission meetings, including any special meetings, please send an e-mail to Dean Bloch at dean@townofcharlotte.com.

by Edd Merritt

of the game. With touchdown runs of 15, 52 and 31 yards, he handled it very well.

Showing that depth is important the following week at Essex, the Redhawks turned to Alex Bulla on defense and third-string quarterback Andrew Pitcher on offense. Pitcher came in after an injury to DuBrul early

by Edd Merritt in the second quarter. He threw for 52 yards, while Charlotte’s Jason Cora ran the ball 31 times for 122 yards and scored two touchdowns. In what coach Pugliese attends trial at U.S. Soccer Provost called a “dirty win,” CVU Training Center Antonio Pugliese of Charlotte defeated Essex 27-19, moving to 2 and has been a stand-out player for the 0 on the season.

Synergy Football Club of Burlington.

As a result, he was invited by the Women’s soccer has a distinct U.S. Soccer Federation to attend Charlotte flavor Haliana Burhans, Catherine the training center in Portland, Cazayoux, Mackenzie Kingston, Conn., in late August. This is not Maddie Turnau, Ellie Blake, Audrey his introduction to high-level soccer Allegretta – no wonder the Redhawk in this country. He has played soccer women are off to a strong start. and trained at Synergy since he In the team’s three wins, Turnau has was 7 years old. Prior to going to yet to give up a goal, and the other the National Training Center, he Charlotters have done what CVU has played with the Vermont Olympic historically done best, control the Development Program for two ball in the midfield until the time is years as well as with the Red Bulls ripe for a strike. In its most recent Academy program in New York win at home against Rice, CVU’s and New Jersey. In 2011 he headed Burhans scored in each half following across the Atlantic to Milan, Italy, Kingston’s opening goal 10 minutes where AC Milan invited him to its into the game. The two Charlotte residential academy. He chose not to products have worked together well attend because it meant a substantial from the season’s opening minutes. commitment of time in that country.

Sports Shorts

They paired for goals in a 4-0 win over Mt. Abe and were on the net at Buck Hard field in Burlington to bring the team a 2-0 victory over the Seahorses.

Cazayoux nearly joined them against BHS, banging the ball off the left pipe in the second half.

Field hockey starts the season with a win Picked by the Burlington Free Press as the number two team in the state’s power rankings, the Redhawks showed some of that power in an opening season win at Colchester. Amanda Whitbeck and Molly Dunphy scored a goal apiece, one in each half, to give CVU a 2-0 shutout. Goal tender Evangeline Dunphy was called upon for only two saves, as the ball stayed in Colchester’s end much of the game.

Bradley accepts assistant coaching position at St. Michaels Charlotte’s Eliza Bradley, a standout soccer goal keeper at CVU and UVM, has accepted a position as assistant to the new St. Michaels’ College women’s coach, Wendy Elles.

UVM freshman Haley named to all-tournament team Shane Haley, a CVU graduate and freshman soccer standout at the University of Vermont, was named to the all-tournament team this past weekend following the Morgan Stanley/Smith Barney/Windjammer Classic at UVM. He was one of four Catamounts named to the team. UVM claimed the tournament victory

Proposed Calendar 2.0 Forum at CVU Oct. 10 Four dates in October have been established for community forums across the Champlain Valley region regarding the proposed School Calendar 2.0 for the 2014-2015 school year.

Based on the Vermont Superintendents Association (VSA) Education Quality Framework and the VT World-Class Education Agenda, the proposed calendar is a new way of looking at what a school year could entail.

Calendar 2.0 preserves the current 175 student days while building in blocks of times, or intersessions, that could be used for a variety of purposes by students, families and teachers. This calendar is still a proposal and is not yet finalized.

The forums are meant to engage educators, students and families in the discussion of how to further the quality of education in this region.

The dates of these regional forums are:

For more information on the proposed regional calendar, visit schoolcalendar2.blogspot.com.

Charlotters ‘Strut’ Their Stuff at Art Hop CCS Eighth grader Megan Mahoney (left) didn’t have a sewing machine, but that didn’t stop her from showing a dress collection fashioned out of the next best thing—Duct Tape—at “Strut,” the South End Art Hop’s fashion show on Saturday, Sept. 7, in Burlington. Helping her display her clothes were (from left) Addie Toensing, Cassie Franklin, Campbell Whalen and Sophie Reed. Jenna Baginski, a 9th grader from Charlotte, also showed a collection at Strut.

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The Charlotte News

Montreal, Out-Doors and In-Doors Elizabeth Bassett Contributor Can a half million people be wrong? Perhaps, but in Montreal, with a population of just 1.6 million, word gets around. Since June 22, more than 500,000 visitors have strolled among the Mosaicultures Internationales de Montreal at the Botanical Garden.

What, you ask, are mosaicultures? These are massive frameworks, as large as 60 feet in height, supporting hundreds, thousands or even hundreds of thousands of plants. The two and three-dimensional artwork takes the form of water buffaloes, trees, wolves and pandas. Also cranes, humans, owls, canoes and cathedrals. Did I mention bees, butterflies, raccoons, sheep and horses?

Or a grand piano with the image of a volcano inside its lid and a waterfall spilling out of the case?

More than three million living plants cover 48 mosaicultures along a two-kilometer circuit at the Botanical Garden.

It’s hard not to smile constantly as frogs spring from ponds, raccoons march in line, cranes preen in a mating dance and pandas loll on their backs while chomping bamboo. Plant color, size and texture conspire to create spots on butterflies, stripes on caterpillars and raccoons, manes on horses and bison, and expressive eyes and warm smiles on humans. A throng of gardeners tidy the figures, giving “haircuts” with hand trimmers and buzzing shears.

This international competi-

tion is the brainchild of Lise Cormier who fell under the spell of mosaiculture while visiting Harbin, China. She brought the horticultural art form to Quebec, founding the Moasiculture Internationales competition in 2000.

The event has been held in cities around the world at three-year intervals ever since.

The theme for 2013 is Land of Hope, with competitors emphasizing sustainability and the planet’s biodiversity. The 2013 mosaicultures hail from dozens of cities and countries, including Easter Island, Hiroshima, Uganda (featuring Gorillas at Risk), Malaysia, France and a handful from Montreal.

From Tokyo comes Hachiko, the Loyal Dog. Every day Hachiko accompanied his master, a college professor, to the train station. Each day Hachiko waited patiently for his master’s return. One day the professor died of a heart attack. Hachiko spent the next ten years at the train station awaiting his master.

In Montreal, the faithful dog sits on a wooden platform beside the tracks—dog, rails and ties all sculpted in plants.

In A True Story, a mosaiculture from China, a flock of leggy red- crowned cranes dances in a cloud of mist around an elegant woman nearly 25 feet tall. In the 1980s, Xu Xiu Juan waded into a swamp to rescue a wounded crane. She saved the crane but then slipped and disappeared into the swamp forever. She is memorialized amid a swirl of preening cranes.

The mosaiculture exhibit culminates with the Tree of Life, a giant masterpiece that depicts 60 bird species along with the world’s most endangered amphibians. The tree sits in a pond and visitors climb a towering bridge to view it.

The Mosaicultures Internationales runs through Sept. 29.

For more information: mosaiculturesinternationales.ca. The Botanical Garden is open seven days a week from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. Tickets can be purchased online to avoid waiting in line.

–––– If you’ve never seen an exhibition of Dale Chihuly’s glass, get thee to Montreal’s Musee des Beaux Arts before October 20.

Chihuly’s enormous sculptural works explode with color, energy and light. On the front steps of the museum, right there on Sherbrooke Street, tendrils of yellow, red and blue glass spring from a 13-foot tower called The Sun. Seven more Chihuly environments await inside, four of them created especially for this show.

Distended orange and yellow disks, each several feet in diameter, float above the marble staircase leading to the exhibit.

At the top of the stairs, 199 turquoise, reed-shaped forms bristle from trunks of salvaged, old-growth western cedar.

The reeds, each about six feet tall, are made in a hot shop in Finland, the only facility large enough to handle these forms.

The exhibit continues with one of Chihuly’s trademarks, the Persian Ceiling, best viewed by lying on sand-filled mats on the floor. Hundreds of pieces of glass form a jumble of color, form and light in a kaleidoscope of sea shapes, baskets, Venetian figures, spheres and angellike figures called putti.

A native of Tacoma, Wash., Dale Chihuly revolutionized the Studio Glass movement, propelling blown glass to a new level of public awareness and recognition

as both sculpture and fine art.

Building on his experience in Italy while on a Fulbright Scholarship, Chihuly works with collaborative teams rather than as a solitary artist. Teamwork and Chihuly’s appetite for experimentation have moved blown glass from the realm of small, precious objects into the world of large-scale sculpture, including room-size indoor as well as outdoor installations.

In addition to working in glass, Chihuly has created in neon, argon and ice. One room of the Montreal exhibit, eerily dark, is illuminated only by glowing neon- and argon-filled sculptures.

A playful spirit infuses each environment. Chihuly’s Mille Fiori, a thousand flowers, is a far cry from his mother’s Tacoma garden that inspired it. This garden of glass includes bursts of color in spheres, storks, reeds and flowers, all reflected from a black glass plinth on which

they sit. In another room two old wooden boats spill with glass forms, one packed with fiori, or flowers, the other overflowing with spheres– the most difficult glass form to make, inspired by floats on fishing nets in Japan.

In 1976 the Metropolitan Museum of Art purchased three of Chihuly’s Navajo blanket cylinders. The artist was 35 years old. Over the decades his work has been shown at most major art museums in the world and is represented in many permanent collections. In addition, Chihuly’s glass graces the Mayo Clinic, the University of Washington Law School Library, the Rainbow Room at Radio City in New York, and the Bellagio Hotel in Las Vegas.

The Musee des Beaux Arts, entrance at 1380 Sherbrooke Street West, is open 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily except Monday. The Chihuly exhibit stays open on Wednesdays until 9 p.m.

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“We really trusted to be able to give and take with one another in many ways.

Because we had that trust and that friendship, as professionals we could discuss continued from page 1 and take on all sorts of things.”

Their house at Ten Stones is a good the Old Lantern in honor of Sarah. Like example. Ted came up with five different the video, like so many other things designs for the house. As they together cut Ted has done in Sarah’s honor since her back trees and shrubs and tended the land, Ted laid down plans death, it’s a creas they went, Sara ative way to grieve. offering feedback, As Ted has conboth of them playceived “Comedy on ing off each other’s the Brain,” it promconception of what ises to be an event was possible. The Sarah herself would house, its garden, have enjoyed. Ted its studio spaces are describes his wife extensions of their as a “gorgeous and creativity, he said. gracious” woman It was creative in who was also posother ways. They sessed of the kind enjoyed hosting funof rowdiness born draisers and creative from growing up parties.

One of the with three brothers. parties Ted put on Sarah, a graphic was the first “Comdesigner, came to edy on the Brain” the United States event in the living from England. She room of their home met Ted, a native of while Sarah was still Indiana, in Waitsin good stead. She field in 1979. They sat in the front row, dated for three laughing.

Sarah Montgomery months and marAs Sarah began to ried within a year. get sick, Ted took From the begincontrol of the situaning it was a cretion, setting up medical meetings, chasing ative marriage, said Ted, a true creative down clinical trials, trying to keep a smile collaboration that lasted until she became on her face.

Sometimes he would put his too sick to work. Sarah worked on Ted’s hands on her head and imagine he was business logo and added color to his pulling the cancer out of her head, somearchitectural renderings. Ted helped her how slowing down its growth. make physical objects.

As she declined in the 22 months “The skills we each had were very between her diagnosis and the time she complementary,” said Ted.

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died, Sarah never lost her grace, said Ted, even through moments when she was clearly suffering. Ted estimates hundreds of people came through the house to visit her or bring things over, a reflection of her effervescence.

“She was a good friend,” said Ted. “She could have taught friendship 101.”

The day she died, Ted brought her body home in an “ark” he built for her.

He washed her body and dressed her and filled the ark with flowers and incense and herbs and cards from friends. He took her to be cremated the next day.

A month later, Ted held the second “Comedy on the Brain” fundraiser, in part to help the laughs come. He also threw a party in her honor filled with friends, music, readings and artwork he put around the house.

“It’s creation, it’s art in a way. How we celebrate, how we deal with death can be whatever our celebrations are.”

This year’s “Comedy on the Brain” event will likely be the last, said Ted. While the tears still come easily, he knows the acts of grieving may soon come to an end. He’ll travel to England soon to spread Sarah’s ashes in the last of the many places he has planned.

But Sarah will always be there with him. The family planted a swamp white oak in front of their studio at Ten Stones in Sarah’s memory. Her ashes were placed in the ground and will become a part of the tree as it grows, a permanent part of the landscape that was such a product of their collaboration In a video Ted posted of the occasion, he expressed a kind of awe at this. In fact, in a picture commemorating the moment it’s Ted himself who is smiling wide.

Food Shelf News

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The third annual “Comedy on the Brain” benefit in honor of Sarah Montgomery will take place Thursday, Sept.

29, at the Old Lantern beginning at 6 p.m. The night will feature comedy and illusions, as well as a live auction featuring close to 40 items, including a four-night stay at a Tuscan villa.

Beginning at 7 p.m., Neon Savage, (Ted Montgomery) will perform two stage illusions with the assistance of Lady Electra (Rita Murphy). The Vermont Comedy Divas, featuring Josie Leavitt, Sue Schmidt, Carmen Estrada and Autumn Engroff Spence, will take the stage at 7:30 p.m. The auction begins at 9 p.m.

Montgomery’s goal is to raise $25K to support the research team led by Dr. David Krag at the University of Vermont Cancer Center. Krag has been developing new methods for treating cancer for more than 20 years. He will be at the show to comment briefly about his current work.

Admission is $29 per person. Tickets are available online at COTB. brownpapertickets.com, the Flying Pig Bookstore, the Old Brick Store, Spear’s Corner Store and Uncommon Grounds in Burlington. Tickets will also be available at the door.

For more information about the event, contact Montgomery at 4257717.

Wish list We need tissues, Q-tips, kids healthy snacks.

The Food Shelf is run entirely by volunteers, so all donations go directly for food or emergency assistance. If you are a customer of yourfarmstand.com, you may make a donation to the Food Shelf as part of your online order; otherwise checks may be mailed to

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Thank You Thank you to Hazel Prindle and Diane Prindle Lamore for the donations in memory of Ronald and Beatrice Marble. In addition, thank you for the support from the Cedar Beach Association, Margaret Berlin, and James and Kathleen Manchester. We appreciate community members keeping the Food Shelf in your giving plans.

Children’s clothing drive We are collecting children’s clothing donations for the upcoming school year for our neighborhood friends in need. From now until Sept. 15 we will be collecting good, clean children’s clothing for sizes infant to teenager. We will accept adult clothing that is suitable for teens as well.

Please—no stains or holes.

We are also accepting clean winter coats, winter boots, rubber boots, sneakers (must be in good condition) and other shoes. You may drop these items in the basket at the Food Shelf at the Charlotte Congregational Church or email Heather at happyvters@comcast.net for information to schedule a drop-off of your donations.

Thank you!

Charlotte Food Shelf & Assistance 403 Church Hill Road P. O. Box 83 Charlotte, VT 05445 Donated food drop-off locations: All nonperishable food donations may be dropped off at the Charlotte Library, the Charlotte Congregational Church vestry, Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Church (main entrance) or at the Food Shelf during the distribution mornings. We request that all fresh foods be dropped off at the Food Shelf by 7:30 a.m. on the distribution mornings.

The Charlotte Food Shelf is located on the lower level of the Charlotte Congregational Church vestry. We are open from 7:30–9:30 a.m. on the following Thursdays for food distribution: Sept 26. We are open as well as from 5-–7 p.m. the Wednesday before each Thursday distribution morning. The new schedule will be posted after our annual meeting.

We are open to all community residents.

Privacy is very important and respected in our mission of neighbor helping neighbor.

For emergency food call John at 4253130. For emergency assistance (electricity, fuel) or more information, call Karen at 425-3252 or visit our website at https://sites.google.com/site/charlottefoodshelfvt/.

The Charlotte News

Around Town Congratulations

Sympathy

to David and Lisabeth Sewell McCann whose media company Sparkle Stories has made the number one slot in iTunes for the genre “Kids and Family.”

The company, based in Charlotte, produces original audio stories for children all over the world. The McCanns say they saw a need for “age-appropriate stories that inspire children to play, to marvel, to laugh, to be kind” and decided to respond. David is a storyteller and teacher. Lisabeth is a playwright and producer. They produce fresh stories each week and currently have over 450 on offer. They can be found online at sparklestories.com or on iTunes under “Sparkle Stories.”

is extended to family and friends of Janet McNulty of Shelburne who passed away Aug. 28 at the age of 82. Her surviving family includes her daughter Karen Speidel and Karen’s husband, David, along with their daughters Kate and Anna of Charlotte. The family asks that those wishing to make contributions in her memory consider doing so to the Visiting Nurse Association of Chittenden and Grand Isle Counties.

to Patrick Priest who earned a master’s degree in science administrative studies with honors from Boston University. Patrick graduated from CCS and CVU. He attended Paul Smith’s College and UVM. The son of Michael and Shirley Priest of Charlotte, he is employed at State Street Financial Inc., Boston, Mass. to Liam Murphy of Murphy Sullivan Kronk, attorneys at law, who earned inclusion in the 2014 Best Lawyers in America edition. His partners Brian Sullivan, Catherine Cronk and Jeremy Farkas joined him. to Shelburne resident Willett Foster III who was featured in a Sept. 7 Burlington Free Press article about flying his single-propeller Citabria airplane from the Fairholt Airport, now a part of the Burlington Country Club. Will’s father bought acreage that abutted the country club shortly after 150 acres of it were sold for the course. His son Jim of Charlotte, according to the article, initially shared Will III’s interest in the Citabria. Jim and his brother Will IV, also of Charlotte, however, abandoned the airport, as their workload did not allow frequent enough flying time.

is extended to family and friends of Joanna Lull Williams of Shelburne who passed away September 1 at the age of 73. Her surviving family includes her nephew Robert Danyow of Charlotte. The family asks that, in lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Robert and Catherine Lull Scholarship at South Burlington High School. Checks may be mailed to Stan Williams, 225 Fox Run Road, Shelburne, VT 05482. is extended to family and friends of Dorothy McBride of South Hero, VT who passed away August 31 at the age of 91. She was married to Michael Mack who lived in Charlotte at the time of their wedding in 1944. The family asks that, in lieu of flowers, gifts in her memory may be made to CIDER, 324 U.S. Rte. 2, South Hero, VT 05486 or to South Hero Rescue, P.O. Box 365, South Hero, VT 05486. is extended to family and friends of Germaine LeClair of South Burlington who passed away Aug. 27 at the age of 91. Germaine and her husband, Rolland, raised six children on their Charlotte farm in the mid 1950s. After her own children were grown, she cared for more than 160 children, often having as many as 10 on the farm at one time. Germaine sold the farm after Rolland passed away, and she moved to Burlington in 1986.

Blue Ribbon Charlotters Congrats to Aliza Flore, who won a blue ribbon for her red cherry tomatoes at the Champlain Valley Fair earlier this month. Kudos to the Charlotte Grange on its second-place ribbon for its display about community, which included several pictures of the annual Tractor Parade.

BUCKTHORN, HONEYSUCKLE, PARSNIP REMOVAL. Get on top of out-of-control plant species.

Curb worst spreading or go native for the long term.

The Charlotte News Classifieds: Reach your friends Dave 453-4992 WildGardensVT.com (56-04) and neighbors for only $7 per issue (payment must be sent before issue date). Please limit your ad to 35 words FOR SALE:Yamaha 44” upright piano. Excellent or fewer. Send to The Charlotte News Classifieds, P.O. condition, beautiful deep cherry wood, no marks or Box 251, Charlotte, VT 05445 or e-mail your ad to scratches. Dampp-Chaser Life Save System installed. ads@charlottenewsvt.com.

Little use, exceptional sound quality. $2550 OBO 802578-7806. (-03)

Classifieds

EXCEPTIONAL 2-3 BEDROOM suites for weekly & monthly rental. Spacious, clean & comfortable, with full kitchens & historic charm. Private entrances & porches with outstanding views of Lake Champlain & the Adirondacks. Adjacent to Mt. Philo State Park in Charlotte. MtPhiloInn.com. 802-425-3335 Central Boiler MAXIM OUTDOOR WOOD PELLET FURNACES. Limited time offer. Instant rebates up to $300! Boivin Farm Supply 802-236-2389. (-03)

FOR SALE: Firewood, Honda ATV, Polaris snowmobile and Chevy Tahoe. E-mail inquiry to heatherlgmanning@gmail.com.

GARAGE SALE: Sunday, September 15th, 107 Wings Point Road,Charlotte (straight on Ferry Rd onto Wings Point). Thule bike rack, downhill skis, skates, cross country skis, hockey sticks, air conditioners, antique chairs, tools, etc. (-03)

TownBites

by Edd Merritt

Hausmann leaves the nest.

The Aug. 28 Seven Days recounted how Adam Hausmann discovered, after moving his berry farm from Lincoln to the Burlington Intervale 10 years ago, that it may not have been the idyllic spot due to its low-lying terrain that was periodically flooded. The weather left him unable to plan for disaster, and this year he moved to “higher ground” in East Charlotte. Thirty-five hundred mature blueberry bushes, strawberries, raspberries, gooseberries, currants, kiwis and a small stone-fruit orchard are now growing on his new land off Bingham Brook Road, where flooding doesn’t cost him five to eight years for many of his perennial bushes to mature.

Ben Blackmore scales the high peaks.

Eleven-year-old Ben Blackmore of Charlotte is a climber. Several summers ago, he and his friends set out to scale Camel’s Hump, despite his father Chaz’s low expectations. As parents quickly learn, their expectations often motivate their youngsters.

It worked for Ben. He has a goal to climb the 100 highest peaks in New England. So far, he has managed to do nearly 50. Forty-one in New Hampshire have been 4,000 feet or higher, and he has created detailed drawings of many of them.

Chaz says he often serves as Ben’s “Sherpa,” carrying bags. Zombies are a concern for Ben and his companions, however. They say that New Hampshire’s Galehead Hut is the safest place to be should zombies attack.

Bluemle’s book is out.

The Flying Pig Bookstore’s Elizabeth B l u e m l e published the paperback version of her children’s book, Dogs on the Bed, which appeared in stores Sept. 10.

It’s about what happens when all the family dogs want to sleep on the bed. School Library Journal praises the book, saying, “The exuberant, rhyming text delights the ear as the hilarious illustrations engage the eye in this kid- and dog-friendly tale.”

Booklist says, “The rousing rhymes and frequent refrains provide continuous, peppy entertainment . . .”

DRIVERS: YRC Freight is hiring FT Casual Combo Drivers/Dock Workers! Burlington location. Great pay and benefits! CDL-A w/Combo and Hazmat, 1yr T/T exp, 21yoa req. EOE-M/F/D/V. Able to lift 65 lbs. req.

APPLY: www.yrcfreight.com/careers Interior painting an be hassle free with Lafayette Painting. This fall, let us complete your next project.

On time service, courteous crews and professional craftsmanship are what you can expect. Call 8635397 and visit LafayettePaintingInc.com (-04) FOR SALE: 2001 Volvo S40. A high school dream.

Too many new parts to mention. Fresh Michelin snow tires, dealer maintained. No issues. $3,200 obo. Call 425-3400.

BRUSH HOGGING: Reasonable rates. Call Adam 802-578-8347. (56-09)