Reporter THE ESSEX
May 25, 2017 • The Essex Reporter • 1
May 25, 2017
Vol. 37, No. 21
INSIDE: Memorial Day special section
Prsrt Std ECRWSS U.S. Postage Paid Permit No. 266 Burlington, VT 05401 Postal Patron-Residential
Bochanski bids Hiawatha farewell By COLIN FLANDERS
T
wo tiny holes poke through the wall in Tom Bochanski’s office. They used to hold a pair of student paintings from early in his 18year career at Hiawatha Elementary School. Now, like much else around the room, the bare wall signals the beloved principal’s quickly approaching retirement. A jacket tree stands empty in the corner. A shelf by the window has disappeared. After nearly two decades, the trickling farewell seems not only appropriate, but necessary. “I love everyone here; I’ll freely use that word,” Bochanski said. “To just not say anything and then all of sudden leave on the last day would be overwhelming. In our own way, we’ve been saying goodbye.” Bochanski spoke from his office earlier this month, competing with the excited giggle of young students in the hallway, a soundtrack that’s remained mostly the same over the years since first job as a 21-year-old college graduate. After graduating from La Salle University where he majored in special education in 1981, Bochanski
bounced from education jobs around the country — spending one year in Texas, four in Virginia, another in Wyoming — before heading back to school for a degree in science education from the University of Wyoming.
“I love everyone here; I’ll freely use that word.” Tom Bochanski Hiawatha principal
He and his wife moved to Fairfax; he taught in St. Albans before earning his master’s in education administration from the University of Vermont. From there, he became an assistant principal at Mt. Abraham Union High School, then serving in the same role at Essex High School from 1994-99 before taking over at Hiawatha. Since then, Bochanski has tried to help hundreds of students passing through his school understand their
PHOTO BY COLIN FLANDERS
Hiawatha principal Tom Bochanski poses with a class May 3. Bochanski is retiring this June after 18 years at the school. potential, and, perhaps more importantly, leave knowing they’re a good person, he said. “They’re going to be experiencing, as we all do, issues, struggles and challenges. To have the grit and
the resiliency to overcome those pieces, it’s a requisite to be successful in the world,” Bochanski said. Alice Weston, a special educator at Hiawatha since 2001, sees Bochanski’s impact in his near daily trips
to the lunchroom, where he’ll often dismiss each student by name, understanding how powerful that recognition can be. She also pointed to an exchange earlier this year with a student who, after
learning of the principal’s retirement, said he would like to become Bochanski’s successor and requested a sit-down. Bochanski set up the See PRINCIPaL, page 10
Essex reps weigh in on pot bill By KAYLEE SULLIVAN
Egging her on Essex pysanky artist prepares for Open Studio Weekend
See EGGS, page 3
PHOTOS BY ABBY LEDOUX
TOP: Essex Jct. artist Theresa Somerset explains her craft in her home studio, where she’ll open her doors for Vermont Open Studio Weekend. ABOVE: Somerset displays a steampunk-themed pysanka.
See MaRIJUaNa, page 11
Trial delayed for fair stabbing suspect By MICHAELA HALNON
By ABBY LEDOUX An ancient Ukrainian art is a full-time gig for Theresa Somerset. Some may recognize “pysanky,” the brightly colored decorative eggs, for their annual emergence around Easter. But the work is not seasonal for Somerset, a Milton native and Essex Jct. resident who owns Precision Art Studio and has been practicing the elaborate craft for nearly 20 years now. Last Friday found Somerset preparing for 25th Vermont Open Studio Weekend, when she’ll join more than 200 other artists statewide who open their doors from May 27-28. Somerset works out of her home studio, where “egging” has now spoken for nearly all of the finished
Essex representatives weighed in on the recent bill to legalize recreational marijuana after considering debate both statewide and specific to their constituency. On Wednesday, May 10, Vermont became the first legislature to approve a bill of its kind – other states have legalized marijuana through referendum rather than legislation. The bill, S.22, captured a 79-66 vote in favor of legalization. The measure was sent to Gov. Phil Scott’s desk on Thursday, May 18. He had until the evening of May
24 to act – a day after the Reporter’s press deadline. Essex’s House delegation voted along party lines – Democrats Betsy Dunn, Lori Houghton and Dylan Giambatista supported the bill, while Republicans Linda Myers and Bob Bancroft voted against it. Legalization would allow people 21 and older to possess up to an ounce of marijuana and grow up to two mature household plants as of July 2018. Possessing, selling or dispersing larger quantities of the substance would result in criminal penalties, the bill states. The same penalties to underage possession of
A man accused of fatally stabbing a victim at the Champlain Valley Fair last summer will continue to be held without bail after attorneys requested more time to depose witnesses, court documents show. Jacob St. Amour, a Williston resident, pleaded not guilty to second-degree murder charges in September after prosecutors say he fatally wounded 22-year-old Ryan Durkin of South Burlington on the last night of the fair in Essex Jct. A docket entry from an April 11 status conference before Judge James R. Crucitti in Chittenden
Superior Court-Criminal Division show both the prosecution and defense agreed they could depose all witnesses by August 31 and file motions by September 15 – more than a year after the stabbing allegedly occurred. A previous motion filed by then-deputy state’s attorney Bram Kranichfeld referenced several witnesses named in the affidavit and contended the evidence of guilt was great. That same motion alleged a video recorded on a cell phone by a witness shows St. Amour acting aggressively toward Durkin, “flailing his arms and See SUSPECT, page 11