Reporter THE
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ESSEX
MAY 28, 2015
Vol. 35, No. 21
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Purple Heart arrives posthumously for Essex vet By JASON STARR The Essex Reporter It is a harrowing story that John Metruk’s family never had a full accounting of. Retreating with fellow Marines after a battle in the Korean War, Metruk, a New York native who later raised a family in Essex, was shot in the back. He lay roadside before being stretchered off the battlefield, then traveled by jeep for three days to a hospital in Japan. It was December 1950. He was 20 years old. Metruk returned to health and raised six children in Essex, but family members say he carried back pain throughout his life. He kept the bullet that nearly paralyzed him in a dresser drawer. Metruk’s Korean War experience
earned him the U.S. military’s most solemn honor, a Purple Heart, given those wounded or killed in battle. It took the initiative and persistence of his grandson, Joe, to make the medal tangible. Metruk was laid to rest last Thursday in a ceremony in Mountain View Cemetery not far from his house. He was 84. The burial included the official bestowing of the Purple Heart to Metruk’s family by members of the United States Marines. The family had hoped the medal would come before his passing. But after a three-year process that included medical record verification, locating the area in Korea where he was shot and detailing his journey back to the United States, the Metruk family was grateful for closure.
– See PURPLE on page 3a
First Sgt. Shane Dillon of the U.S. Marine Corps hands a flag to the family of John Metruk during his burial in Essex on Thursday. JASON STARR
30 years of remembrance The Town of Essex hosted its 30th annual Memorial Day Parade down Pearl Street on May 23. Hundreds of people lined the street on a chilly but sun-splashed morning to join the country in honoring American veterans killed in war. OLIVER PARINI PHOTOGRAPHY
For more photos, see page 8a
Colchester’s American Legion Post 91 marches in the 2015 Essex Memorial Day Parade on Saturday morning in Essex Junction.
Grand Marshal Gary Cook takes a ride along the parade route.
Girls on the Run participants pass candy to spectators.
Fishing buddies battle in inaugural Vermont Fish Chowder Championship By JESS WISLOSKI For The Essex Reporter
One is on the lake fishing several times a week. The other doesn’t have a boat to his name. One’s an environmental scientist who monitors the state’s waterways, while the other oversees the environmental service needs at an assisted living facility. They’re two decades apart in age, but that didn’t stop two anglers — who also happen to be fishing buddies — from going headto-head in the first Vermont Fish Chowder Championship on Vermont Public Television last week. Dean Dennis, a 55-year-old Essex Junction resident and salmon fisherman, was ready for the showdown, bringing a spin-off recipe of his potluck favorite, an Alligator Jalapeno Cheddar Chowder. To make it local, he swapped the ’gator for steelhead rainbow trout he caught on Lake Champlain — in his boat. His friend Joe Bartlett, 32, the scientist who lives in Colchester, was ready to bring his best to the fight, with a broth he simmered for hours, and a complex sousvide preparation of the hunks of white perch he caught ice fishing that would go in his chowder. The final touch, as he bragged to
Dean Dennis of Essex Junction works on his Hot Steel Cheddar Chowder for Vermont Public Television’s Vermont Fish Chowder Championship. PHOTOS CONTRIBUTED
the judges: freshly baked, homemade oyster crackers, complete with Vermont flour. “I wasn’t sacrificing any points,” he said earlier in the day. The two might have similar interests, but both had different reasons for being
there. Dennis, an organizer with Lake Champlain United — an angler discussion board online and educational group — was mainly concerned with sharing his group’s message. “I definitely encourage people to go fishing and support anything that has to do with stewardship for the lake. I’m not here to win any competitions, I’m just here to share some chowder and have some fun,” he told the show’s hosts when he was interviewed on the air. Bartlett had other visions — specifically of the grand prize, which included casting to his heart’s content on a four-hour Lake Champlain charter, a swanky dinner of his own catch prepared by chef Douglas Paine at Bleu Northeast Seafood, which specializes in regional fish, and a luxury stay at Hotel Vermont. “I am gonna crush Dean,” said Bartlett, laughing, as he pulled fillets out of his fridge a few hours before the contest. “He has it coming.” The competition, shown live on TV as part of a Vermont PBS special fundraiser for the Outdoor Journal, was the first of its
– See CHOWDER on page 3a
Village, town and Westford schools should unify, panel says By JESS WISLOSKI For The Essex Reporter The school systems in three local communities, which are now served by 10 schools and overseen by a complicated and layered system of four school districts plus a union, ought to be merged, according to a panel that’s been studying the issue. The unanimous May 19 vote in a straw poll of the 20-member committee, which is made up of volunteers representing some of the school boards, parents, taxpayers, and the communities of Essex Junction, Essex Town, and Westford, came after members agreed it seemed to be in the best interests of all to form a streamlined regional education district, or RED. The prevailing goals: to better serve students via a consistent pre-K through 12 experience, and tamp down accelerating property tax hikes. Before taking a show of hands, Brendan Kinney, the chairman of the group, clarified that the vote was non-binding, but would guide their efforts. “This is not in any way a formal poll — we are just trying to get a sense of where people are. The question will be, when we get to it, based on what you’ve heard and conversations “I tend toward you’ve had up to date, are you leaning more the belief that we toward the consolidation, or should consolidate are you leaning against?” because of Several committee money.” members voiced Linda Costello their support a retiree who worked during a questionfor 30 years at Summit collecting session Street School and lives before the vote, in the village during which the moderator hoped to gather the outstanding concerns the group had about merging. “I tend toward the belief that we should consolidate because of money,” said Linda Costello, a retiree who worked for 30 years at Summit Street School and lives in the village. “I am concerned that we don’t start from the bottom up, but we start from the top down. Consolidating administration, consolidating special education, working towards lunches, food, nutritional programs, health programs…” Essex Town resident and real estate agent Tom Thompson, whose children graduated from Essex High School, said he too was in favor of consolidation, saying one of the reasons was expanded transportation offerings. “Transportation is a big one,” he said. “Not just the money, but the psychology of busing.” The vote seemed to surprise even some within the group — which has been meeting since March but had not formally decided which direction to head next. The tone of informality will change as the group solidifies its role in the coming months, following the vote. The group was formed in January in response to discussions in the Legislature about possibly making consolidation of smaller districts mandatory. The H.361 bill that was finally approved urges districts to voluntarily consolidate into districts of at least 900 students by 2019, or face reassignment by the state Board of Education. The three communities that the local board is discussing serve 4,076 students total, with Westford accounting for 391 students in grades K-12.
– See MERGER on page 3a