June 14, 2018 • The Essex Reporter • 1
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{ Thursday, June 14, 2018 }
Town looks to address delays on Susie Wilson By COLIN FLANDERS The town of Essex will negotiate for some traffic-orientated changes on Susie Wilson Road with a developer looking to build on a long-idle property there. Public works director Dennis Lutz said he wants to use the anticipated development impact fees from that project, if approved, in addition to previously collected fees along the corridor. Those funds could allow the town to implement some new traffic technology and hardware along Susie Wilson Road and cut down delays. He outlined the developer’s plans for the selectboard during an executive session June 4, which he suggested because he didn’t want to disclose the expected use for the property before the applicant submits its proposal. Once that happens, staff, including public works, are asked to submit a review letter. “If we can't provide additional funds to fix the problem, the review letter is going to say don't approve the project, which is crazy,” Lutz said. The request comes a month after VTrans hosted a public forum during See TRAFFIC, page 3
Essex Westford school bus involved in crash By AMANDA BROOKS
Dream come true The Murties head to Nashville
PHOTO BY COLIN FLANDERS
George Murtie plays a song off his new album, "My Next Last Chance," during a performance at the Black Box Theatre in Burlington on May 30. Murtie, a retired Essex cop, is pursuing his dream to be a musician alongside his wife of 43 years, Linda. They were joined by dozens of family and friends at the concert.
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By COLIN FLANDERS
eorge Murtie didn’t expect to be here. Here, in this dark auditorium, hiding from the adoring gaze of a most familiar audience. They’ve known him for years as “captain” or “dad” or simply “George,” back when he held a rank and a badge. But this was a different George Murtie. One who grows his hair out and posts on Facebook. Who pulls up to seedy bars armed with a guitar, not a gun. For the next hour, he sang about that former life: about decades as a cop, about living in this great state, about his adoring wife and the fear of missing out. But right now, the 61-year-old is in no rush, and no one seems to care that he’s 10 minutes late. He baths in the blue tint of a stage light, his cowboy hat shadowing his face. He closes his eyes and breathes, taking his time, because he’s waited long for
moments like this. That Murtie is only eight months into his retirement is hard to believe. He’s already trekked down and back from Florida, hitting open mics and jam sessions, and he just finished recording his first album, “My Next Last Chance.” Arriving a day before the show, copies of the record sat outside the concert hall next to a construction paper sign reading, “George’s CDs.” “It’s been wild,” he said of his retirement, a large grin on his face. Through it all has been Murtie’s wife of 43 years, Linda. The two met as 15-yearolds, married a few years later and, as she puts it, have been a team ever since. Like when Murtie would wake her up at 2 in the morning to go over his shift that night. Or when Linda would place a sign on the front door reading, “Shh, George is sleeping.”
See MURTIE, page 3
A school bus transporting EssexWestford School District students crashed Tuesday morning on Colchester’s Route 7. The collision occurred just after 7:15 a.m. when a car driven by Justyn Williams of Colchester pulled out in front of the bus. The bus was driven by Doug Loso of Colchester, police said. Williams and one student on the bus were treated for minor injuries at the scene by Colchester Rescue and Milton Rescue. Milton Police Department also assisted at the scene. The crash delayed traffic on Roosevelt Highway for several hours, a press release said.
Selectboard votes to trim length of minutes By COLIN FLANDERS Taxpayers who stay up-to-date on municipal happenings via meeting minutes may soon think the usually longwinded selectboard has become a lot less chatty. But fear not: members are still discussing agenda items at length – there’s just less written down. That’s because the selectboard directed recording secretary Saramichelle Stultz to cut meeting minutes by “succinctly record[ing] the salient points” of discussions, unanimously approving a town staff recommendation to tred closer to the statutory minimum. “Minutes should be not a transcript but a succinct summary,” selectwoman Elaine Sopchak said. See MINUTES, page 2
Climbing out of shame The EDGE instructor planning hike to raise awareness of suicide, mental illness By KATIE CHAPA St. Albans Messenger Staff ST. ALBANS — In Vermont, 118 people died of suicide in 2016. On average, that’s two people per week, giving Vermont the 18th highest rate of suicide in the nation. St. Albans native Betsy LeBlanc, a fitness instructor at The EDGE in Essex, has made it her mission to put a story behind those numbers and show the community this is an epidemic that can be stopped. This July, LeBlanc’s calendar is booked for a 272-mile long hike, just her and her dog, Sam. She will raise money for the Vermont Suicide Prevention Center while offering support for those struggling with mental illnesses, depression or suicidal thoughts, she
said. “There’s this stigma surrounding these issues, and I wanted to do something to bring awareness to it, just to really foster a healthy, open and stigma-free conservation about it,” LeBlanc said. LeBlanc describes herself as diagnosed with a chronic mental illness. She remembers the first signs when she was just 5 years old. “I had these little plastic decorative balloons in my bedroom, and I remember finding a black marker and writing all over them over and over again, ‘I want to die,” she said. Just a half-year later, LeBlanc started to abuse herself. When she was in elementary school, her family doctor noticed bruises and bite marks all over her arms. The self-harm worsened as she entered
high school, when she had her first “major crisis.” “Fortunately, I was then able to get help through therapy,” she said. LeBlanc doesn’t know why she felt this why. All she knows is she felt worthless, as if she was a burden to everyone around her. “It wasn’t until I was 27 when I was properly medicated for the first time that I was able to experience anything different then depression,” she said. “It truly had been the driving force in my existence to that point and it was mind-blowing.” Part of this hiking mission, LeBlanc explained, is to make it easier to talk about mental illnesses, particularly the questions of “why” that inevitably come when someone dies by suicide. See HIKE, page 2
COURTESY PHOTO
Betsy LeBlanc is pictured with her dog, Sam, on top of a mountain.