the essex
RepoRteR
Prsrt Std ECRWSS U.S. Postage Paid Permit No. 266 Burlington, VT 05401 Postal Patron-Residential
Thursday, August 25, 2019
Dog ordinance up for revisions Selectboard plans to discuss leash law at Indian Brook By COLIN FLANDERS
Just keep walking Recent Essex High School grads conquer the Long Trail PHOTO BY RAJ CHAWLA
(L to R) Olivia Doty, 18, August Spagnuolo Chawla, 17, Emma Brott, 18, and Abigail Monahan, 18, all 2019 Essex High School graduates, completed the Long Trail on Saturday, July 20. The girls thru-hiked the trail from the Massachusetts border to the Canadian border, covering all 273 miles.
By COLIN FLANDERS
T
he day was a year in the making, the crown jewel of a summer that had promised to change their young lives, and they had prepared for it as such: pushing their bodies, plotting the journey, ticking off weeks then days then hours, an excitement that only grew as they sat beside their packs on the three-hour drive to the border of Massachusetts, where they would embark on the first of the 272-mile trek known as the Long Trail. For the four best friends – Emma Brott, 18, August Spagnuolo Chawla, 17, Abigail Monahan, 18, and Olivia Doty,
See DOGS, page 5
Boards align some rec fees By COLIN FLANDERS
18 – the trip across the main ridge of the Green Mountains would build off a previous hike through a section of the trail. That trip had confirmed they could tackle the entire expedition, and so a week after graduating, they waved goodbye and set off, certain they were ready for whatever the trail threw their way. Or so they thought. “At zero, we have to get up to 1,000 [feet elevation] to do the rest of the trail,” Brott said during an interview last week alongside two of her companions (Doty was out of town). “The first six miles are really kind of the worst.” “We hit the trail and we just fell apart,” she said.
Town-outside-the-village residents will pay the same fees as their village counterparts when signing up for many Essex Jct. Recreation and Parks programs this fiscal year after elected officials authorized the town to pick up the $3,000 tab. Previously, non-village residents had to pay a non-resident fee, typically $10 and $20 more. But thanks to a transfer from the town, now all Essex residents will now see a single user fee when signing up for many EJRP programs – excluding the pool and child care. “We shouldn’t let politics get in the way of families and kids having
See TRAIL, page 4
See REC, page 16
Enjoy the Summer Weather on Jules Patio! essexreporter.com
The town of Essex is revising its dog ordinance to crack down on a rash of complaints and biting incidents. And while a draft of the new regulations would give the selectboard more authority over such matters, members last week signaled a willingness to go further, setting its sights on the beloved Indian Brook Park. Indian Brook is one of only three areas in town where dogs can legally run off-leash in public, the other being the Saxon Hill Forest and the Essex Dog Park. The freedom to roam makes the recreational area a popular destination for dogs and their owners. It’s also made policing the area much harder, according to Chief Rick Garey, who shared a draft of changes to the ordinance during the July 23 joint meeting.
EssEx REpoRtER | THURSDAY, AUgUST 1, 2019
Essex Jct. | (802) 857-5994 www.julesvt.com
Vol. 18 No. 31