April 12, 2017 by Polly Lynn

The Mountain Times • April 12-18, 2017 • 1

Mounta in Times Volume 46, Number 15

What’s Black, White and FREE inside? Me!

April 12 - 18, 2017

Rutland panel backs $200K to help turn alley into marketplace

By Alan Keays, VTDigger

EASTER SUNDAY APRIL 16

Summer camp approaches A dose of warm weather gets kids—and adults—in the spirit of summer. With summer comes the opportunity for summer camp! Central Vermont is flourishing with day and overnight camps for kids of all ages to make memories while gaining new skills and getting a healthy dose of exercise over their summer break. Page 34

By Jerry LaBlond

A Bear Mountain Mogul Challenge competitor on Saturday, April 8, pulls a 360 Iron Cross off a jump mid-run to the crowd’s delight.

Spring on the slopes

Spring is here and with it soft bumps for the Bear Mountain Mogul Challenge at Killington and a pond to skim at Okemo this past weekend. Looking ahead, Killington will host its pond skimming event this Saturday, April 15. Such events have become annual rites of spring. Crowds turn out to watch and enjoy the relative warmth, spring skiing and riding, live music and perhaps a few adult beverages. This weekend will mark the 173th operating day at Killington Resort. Community businesses profiled Each individual and each business, institution or professional has a role to play that’s unique. Learn about the businesses that make up our vibrant community. Pages 35-37

living A.D.E.

Living A.D.E. What’s happening? Find local Arts, Dining & Entertainment Pages 14-19

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is a community newspaper covering Central Vermont that aims to engage and inform as well as empower community members to have a voice.

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A long-delayed project aimed at bringing people, business and activities to a now-empty downtown alley got a big boost Thursday, April 6, when a city panel gave organizers more money than they were seeking. Rutland Mayor David Allaire said the project has “floundered” for a variety of reasons and now it needs to move forward. “The time has come where we need to get a firm number and make a commitment to get it built,” he said. “The longer this goes on, the more it’s going to end up costing and the less we’re going to get out of it in the long run.” The mayor added, “There’s an enormous amount of potential economic benefit to the city and I think not doing this is a disservice to the taxpayers.” The Board of Aldermen’s Community and Economic Development Committee then voted 4-0 to recommended tapping into the city’s Zamias fund for $200,000 to help cover a budget shortfall in the project. Panel members voting in favor of the measure were Alderman Christopher Ettori, the committee’s chair, as well as fellow members of the Board of Aldermen, Ed Larson, Lisa Ryan and Melinda Humphrey, who all serve on the committee. Organizers of the project had initially requested $150,000 from the fund. However, after concerns were raised about what would be left out without the additional money, including gates to secure the site and lighting, the panel agreed to add another $50,000. The recommendation to use $200,000 from the Zamias Fund for the project will be presented to the full Board of Aldermen at its next meeting later this month. The Zamias Fund was established years ago from impact fees the owners of the Diamond Run Mall in Rutland Town pay to the city to offset anticipated negative effects of the shopping center on downtown business. The alley has been relatively dormant for about two decades, after serving as a downtown gathering space in the 1980s and early 1990s. In its heyday, the venue hosted concert series and even the the annual Winter in August event, a city celebration to toast the important role of the ski industry to the local economy. Alley renovation, page 4

Aspen buys Intrawest, Stratton and Squaw Valley

Route 4 paving work starts

Delays are not expected yet on the 15-mile project from Rutland to Killington RUTLAND—Roadwork activities will begin this week on a roughly 15-mile stretch of Route 4; however, they are not expected to cause delays quite yet. Road crews will be onsite installing construction signs and clearing any brush or trees in preparation for construction activities. The work is being done in preparation for a major paving project that is expected to last until October. The project will begin slightly east of the Rutland City-Rutland Town line near Gleason Road and continue through Mendon and Killington to Mission Farm Road, near the Skyship Gondola. Drivers are asked to exercise caution when driving past road crews on the sides of the road.

Courtesy of Billings Farm & Museum

This spring lamb looks cozy and utterly adorable in its sweater that was knitted for Billings Farm babies by a local woman.

With spring comes new life

As spring finally makes its way in with rising temperatures thus melting snow, signs of new life are popping up—trees are budding; small starts of lilies, chives, and other first plants are poking through the mud; and baby animals are being born. In Woodstock, Billings Farm & Museum will feature its annual Baby Farm Animal Celebration on Friday and Saturday, April 14-15, 10 a.m.-5 p.m. The Farm’s most popular event, the Baby Farm Animal Celebration has been expanded to two days and will feature the opportunity to meet the farm’s baby animals and attend family-centered programs. Wagon rides and heirloom seed and children’s craft activities also will be featured.

Following hot on the heels of Vail Resort’s plans to buy Stowe comes another big announcement: Colorado-based Aspen has set its eye on a number of resorts across the United States and Canada. On Monday, Intrawest Resorts Holdings, a North American mountain resort and adventure company, announced that it was entering into an agreement to be acquired by a newly formed entity controlled by affiliates of the Aspen Skiing Company and KSL Capital Partners. Each Intrawest resort will continue to honor the resort’s existing pass products that are currently on sale, including the Rocky Mountain Super Pass + and the M.A.X. Pass. Intrawest currently owns six mountain resorts, including Stratton in southern Vermont, Mt. Tremblant in Quebec and Aspen buys Stratton, page 13

LOCAL NEWS

2 • The Mountain Times • April 12-18, 2017

With Act 46 votes, deadline looms

By Evan Johnson

Rochester and Wells both have important votes deciding education plans this week. Should they fail, they’ll need to quickly come up with backup plans quickly that satisfy the state’s requirements. Rochester votes April 11 on a plan to unify with districts in Bethel and Royalton. The plan, called Model 1, calls for each of the school districts to educate pre-k through grade 6 students at their existing schools. Middle and high school students would travel to schools in Bethel and Royalton, respectively. While Rochester, Bethel and Royalton vote on Model 1, Granville and Hancock will vote on forming the Hancock Granville United School District, and Chelsea and Tunbridge will vote on forming the First Branch Unified School District. Should Model 1 fail, so too do the other votes. “The three towns are the hub of this wheel,” White River Valley Supervisory Union superintendent Bruce Labs said. “And without them you can’t have the other two unifying votes.” In the White River Valley Supervisory Union, the study committee identified two alternatives to Model 1. The school district could try for a revote at Model 1 or explore an alternative to merge with Stockbridge and Randolph — two options that have not been fully studied, Labs said. “We were accused of not looking at those other options, but we really can’t until this is finished, and it’ll be finished when that town says it is finished.” In Wells, a margin of one vote on Town Meeting Day caused the failure of a plan to create two side-by-side districts, one

comprised of Poultney, Proctor and West Rutland, called Quarry Valley, and the other called Wells Springs, which joined Middletown Springs and Wells. The plan is to replace the Rutland Central and Rutland Southwest supervisory unions with a yet-to-be-named union. All towns were designated “necessary,” requiring the participating towns to approve the measure for it to carry. Since a petition to revote was filed after Town Meeting Day, they’ll take up the issue again this Thursday, April 13. In Wells, if the vote is “yes,” the opposition cannot petition for a revote. If the vote fails, there is no opportunity for a second revote. The study committee will be disbanded and a new one convened to decide the way forward. The School Board would also have to meet with the state Board of Education to have that new plan approved. “It’s difficult,” superintendent for Rutland Southwest Dr. Joan Paustian said. “The timeframe is challenging, but it’s doable.” The education mandate requires smaller school districts to unify with larger ones by July 1 or face penalties, so should Rochester’s Model 1 be voted down and Wells’ revote yield the same result this week, the towns will need to come up with alternatives — and quickly. A new bill by the Senate Committee on Education would extend the deadline for unification to November. The bill, S.122, has been passed by the full Senate and has been referred to the House education committee for consideration.

Ludlow, Mt. Holly ponder joining Mill River Supervisory Union By Stephen Seitz

LUDLOW—On May 30, voters in Ludlow and Mount Holly go to the polls to decide whether to close the Black River High School. Should that pass, Ludlow and Mount Holly would leave the Two Rivers Supervisory Union and join Mill River, which serves the towns of Wallingford, Shrewsbury, Clarendon and Tinmouth. The high school itself is in North Clarendon. The Ludlow Elementary, Mount Holly, and Union 39 school boards held a joint meeting on April 5 to decide whether to adopt new articles of agreement cementing the proposed arrangement, which the boards did. “I feel that there should be a vote,” said Union 39 chairman Bruce Schmidt, representing Ludlow. “I think there should be a direction. If there’s a feeling that this school can stay open, and it can be affordable, and it can provide the opportunities that the kids need, then I say go for it.” Much of the discussion centered around the fate of the Black River building. “I can tell you that Mill River does not want the school,” Schmidt told the boards. They absolutely do not want to be viewed as an organization that’s coming in and owning the building. “They really feel that while there may be some opportunities down the road to do something, they don’t want it thought they’ll own the building and hold

classes there.” Making potential property transfers difficult is an unpaid bond for the building, being paid for by both Mount Holly and Ludlow. It won’t be fully paid off until 2025, Schmidt told the board. “If we give this to the town of Ludlow and there’s debt with it,” said Angela

ity, which means that the board at some point could decide what to do with this facility. The folks in the other towns see there’s a real burden in that, to being seen as the ones who made the decision to do something with the building, that potentially Ludlow and Mount Holly didn’t have any control over.”

“I FEEL THAT THERE SHOULD BE A VOTE,” SAID UNION 39 CHAIRMAN BRUCE SCHMIDT. Benson-Cuifo, who represents Ludlow on the Union 39 board. “Who is responsible to pay for it? If we give it to the town and they have to pay that, do they bill the town of Mount Holly?” “If we give it to the town of Ludlow, it becomes Ludlow’s debt,” said Two Rivers superintendent Meg Powden. “Then Mount Holly’s debt would go away,” said Benson-Cuifo. “Yes,” Powden replied. Dave Younce, the Mill River superintendent, said the Mill River board was aware about the perceptions which might arise if they took over the building. “They and I are really sensitive to the fact that this is a huge deal,” he said. “This conversation is a huge deal. None of them are overlooking that at all. Your two towns would have more than one-third representation on the board. You’d have six members out of 17. It’s not a major-

Other board members wanted to know how Mill River determines its budget. Younce said his school system had adopted a new and simpler way of doing things. The previous system proved to be too fragmented, he said. “We built our first system budget last fall,” he said. “We have a finance committee, which is a committee of the board. That finance committee gave me directives. Their first directive was to come in flat. We figured out what that looked like, and we figured out where the attrition was. We made the decisions which had to be made and went back. What I’ll tell you is that going through that process we created a budget that’s supported what we’ve been trying to do for the past few years. It worked really well.” The full meeting is being rebroadcast on LPCTV, and can be found at the LPCTV website.

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LOCAL NEWS

CSJ to offer video games as varsity sport College of St. Joseph will add eSports to its list of intercollegiate athletic offerings beginning this fall. Since its establishment in the early 2000s, professional and club eSports has been an emerging form of competitive gaming and is a fast-growing phenomenon among colleges around the world. Participating schools compete in a wide-variety of video game titles in tournament-style competition. Games include “League of Legends,” “Starcraft 2,” “Heartstone” and many others. CSJ will be the only college in New England to offer eSports as a varsity sport. “The College has really encouraged the development of an athletic culture over the past few years,” said Jeff Brown, senior vice president of college affairs and athletic director. “The addition of an eSports program promotes a holistic approach to collegiate athletics, while attracting studentathletes who possess skills including critical thinking, problem solving, and teamwork, which are transferable to success in the classroom.” The college will be part of the National Association of Collegiate eSports (NACE), a nonprofit membership association dedicated to advancing collegiate eSports in the varsity space. NACE currently has 26 members, including Robert Morris University, Miami University and Kansas Wesleyan University. eSports is not formally recognized by the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), but the conference will be supporting the program, providing eligibility and sponsorship requirements and regulations. The college has named Tyrelle Appleton as head coach for the program. Appleton is a 2016 graduate and is currently pursuing a master’s degree in Business Administration at CSJ. A former competitive gamer, Appleton has been involved in the eSports scene for more than four years and has experience in not only gaming, but also tournament organization and sponsorship procurement. “My hope for the eSports program is to build it from the ground up and help establish College of St. Joseph as the epicenter of eSports in New England,” he said. “It is the perfect opportunity for anyone to get a college education and turn a hobby into a career.”

Killington library to bring fairy tales to life By Evan Johnson

KILLINGTON—This September, the grounds around the Sherburne Memorial Library in Killington will come alive with the characters of beloved children’s classics, including Thumbelina, the Little Mermaid, the Ugly Duckling, Cinderella, Rumpelstiltskin and many more. The gathering of these characters is the first of what organizers hope will become an annual festival celebrating fairy tales and and more importantly, the work of public libraries around the state. At a Killington Select Board meeting April 4, Library Director Jane Ramos described plans for the event, scheduled for Sept. 23, that will feature 16 to 18 libraries from around the state, “EVERYONE WANTS each setting up a TO BELIEVE IN FAIRY story-themed tent with crafts, games TALES,” RAMOS SAID. and projects kids can take home. Visitors will also receive a stamp in a “passport” for visiting each booth. Ramos said fairy tales, despite their recent adaptation as popular animated movies, were graphic and “horrifying” when originally written. Ramos said content could be adapted to meet the interests of children of all ages. “Everyone wants to believe in fairy tales,” Ramos said. Ramos said she hopes to attract between 300 and 500 people to the festival on a rare open weekend in the resort town. Parking is a concern for organizers and the library is looking for ways to handle traffic. Ramos said the festival would feature characters and stories by Danish storyteller Hans Christian Andersen and the German folktale collectors, the Brothers Grimm, while avoiding stories and characters from the Disney story universe, as it would likely encounter trademark issues. So far, the library has received commitments from libraries in Burlington, Whitingham, Wilmington, Highgate, Swanton and more. Additional attractions will include professional storytellers and performers from the Vermont Renaissance Faire. Killington Rotary and Killington Fire and Rescue has volunteered to do food vending for the day. “It’s an opportunity to work with the kids and show what libraries can do,” she said.

The Mountain Times • April 12-18, 2017 • 3

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Center Street Alley may receive $200,000 from City, more than requested

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However, over time it had fallen into disrepair; the red bricks that covered the ground became uneven and weeds shot through them. A large fountain that once featured cascading water went years without even a drip. An effort centered around a “creative economy movement” led to the idea of bringing the alley back to life, eventually leading to the concept of the Center Street Marketplace. Many prominent downtown buildings, including the Paramount Theater, the former Strand Theater, the Bardwell House, and the Service Building, all have their back to the alley. By rehabbing the alley into a park and marketplace, organizers say, it would create a space downtown to host events and activities, and hopefully spur economic development by promoting additional uses for buildings adjacent to the site. Developer Mark Foley, who owns the former Strand Theater building, which abuts the site, told

By Melinda Noel

A proposed project calls for revamping the current Center Street Alley in downtown Rutland into a park and marketplace. The cost of the project is near $1 million.

the existing budget. In August 2016, there was only one bid of $1.4 million, and Empor ium V T. c om in December 2016, the lowest of two bids was about $1.2 million. KILLINGTON’S ULTIMATE RENTAL AND DEMO CENTER That’s when the effort was made to try to scale back the project to help move it forward, with the goal of construction starting later this summer. Tuning Landscaping and other “finishing touches” would Ski & Snowboard Rentals, Demos be added in spring 2018. & Sales At the meeting Thursday, the panel heard that the Accessories concrete that had been Apparel planned to cover the grounds will “I WON’T LET THE CAT OUT OF THE BAG be replaced by a … BUT THERE WILL BE MORE STUDENTS grassy surface, MOUNTAIN GREEN BUILDING 3 • EAST MOUNTAIN RD saving almost LIVING IN APARTMENTS DOWNTOWN IN $500,000. APARTMENTS THAT AREN’T THERE YET. THAT A budget for the revamped PLAN IS ALREADY IN PLACE,” SAID JEPSON. project prethe committee Thursday establishing art galleries sented by Brennan Duffy, he already has plans in the as well as apartments for executive director the works for the lower back of students in the city’s central Rutland Redevelopment the building to take advancentral business district. Authority, showed that tage of the marketplace. Jepson, whose office is minus the money spent on downtown, said he expectThose plans, he said, inengineering, design and clude creating a restaurant ed with the marketplace other expenses, $609,000 space that would look out project moving forward remained in federal funds at the marketplace, as well Castleton University would for construction. as provide outdoor seating increase its presence even The mayor, from a in the warmer months. more downtown, likely contingency account, He would also seek two with additional student and the RRA pledged to commercial enterprises for housing and programming. put up $50,000 each for other spaces in the build“I won’t let the cat out the project, bringing the ing’s lower level. of the bag … but there will total available construcHe estimated his pobe more students living tion funds to $709,000. A register for summer classes tential investment in that in apartments downtown request for another $50,000 building at more than $1 in apartments that aren’t is pending with the Rutland ccv.edu/summer million to do the needed there yet,” added Jepson, City Rotary. #thinkccv work to accommodate a who is also executive Duffy said organizdirector of the Rutland ers of the project still fell Economic Development short, prompting the Corp. “That plan is already request Thursday night for in place.” $150,000 from the city’s Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., Zamias Fund. secured $974,000 in fedCurrently, that fund has eral funding for the Center about $273,000 in it, and Street Marketplace project while a schedule calls for in 2010. Since that time, receiving another $100,000 difficulties due to securing over each of the next for easements and changing years, payments from the project management, the mall’s owners for various initiative has languished. reasons, mostly having to However, engineering do with tenancy, have fallen and design work has been short of that mark in recent done, the remains of the times. fountain removed and the Adding in the original rered brick pavers have been quest of $150,000 from the cleared away from the Zamias Fund as well as the grounds, all in preparation possible $50,000 in funding From brand names you love. for construction. from Rutland City Rotary Then when it was put out would boost the money Sit and fit service • 40 years of footwear knowledge to bid twice in the past year, available for construction the price tag firms quoted to $909,000. Woodstock Ave. Rt 4 East | 802.773.7515 | Open 7 days a week to do the work soared over The latest “base” coneCigs, vapes & e-liquids

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restaurant and two other businesses. “We have had some interest in the Rutland area by restaurateurs talking about the space,” Foley said. “Clearly, it’s something that we believe can be supported. We believe so much in this space that we want to make these commitments.” Lyle Jepson, dean of entrepreneurial studies at Castleton University, said the school has already invested a great deal in downtown, including

struction estimate for the project is $825,000, and setting aside 10 percent, or $82,500, in contingency funds brings the budget to $907,500. But that figure does not include $51,200 in projected costs to provide gates to secure the site or $38,000 estimated to be needed to complete the lighting component of the project. Duffy said the plan was to include the gates and added funds for lighting as part of second, later phase of the project. The project involves streetscape improvements, including new brickwork, benches and landscaping that will open up the alley for public use. Committee members Thursday night expressed concern about building the marketplace and leaving out the gates and lighting, even for a short period of time. Currently, the site is not gated. City Treasurer Wendy Wilton suggested that the committee should take $250,000, rather than $150,000, from the Zamias Fund and complete the project all at once, not in phases. “I think we know if it weren’t a secure space, you’d find some problems down there, you’d find vagrancy, you’d find some people misusing the space,” she said. Wilton added that based on the numbers, the total cost of the project, including the gates and lighting, is actually a little less than $1 million. Ettori, committee chairman, agreed that getting the project done all at once makes sense.“I would like to be able to do the project the best that we can,” he said, “not half-ass it.” The committee eventually settled on taking up to $200,000 from the Zamias fund, leaving the other $50,000 in the account that would still be there in case it’s eventually needed. Any unspent money from the project’s contingency account would go back into the Zamias fund, the committee stipulated.

The Mountain Times • April 12-18, 2017 • 5

STATE NEWS

N.Y. will offer free public university education

First-in-the-nation program makes N.Y. state public universities tuition-free for residents making up to $125,000 per year; over 940,000 families qualify New York will be the only state in the country to offer universal public college tuition coverage for working- and middle-class residents after the program was included in the recently approved budget package. New York Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo announced April 8 that the Excelsior Scholarship, a firstof-its-kind in the nation program will provide tuition-free college at New York’s public colleges and universities to families making up to $125,000 a year. The program starts this fall semester, 2017. The Excelsior Scholarship was the Governor’s first proposal in his 2017 State of the State. Then, in January, Cuomo paired up with Vermont’s Sen. Bernie Sanders at a press conference to announce plans for

the Excelsior Scholarship. Free college was a central element of Sanders’ presidential campaign platform. “Today what Gov. Cuomo is proposing is a revolutionary idea for higher education,” said Sanders at the January press conference. “And it’s an idea that is going to reverberate not only throughout the state of New York, but throughout this country.” The Budget additionally includes $8 million to provide open educational resources, including e-books, to students at SUNY and CUNY colleges to help defray the prohibitive cost of textbooks. “With this budget, New York has the nation’s first accessible college program. It’s a different model,” said Governor Cuomo. “Today, college is what high

school was—it should always be an option even if you can’t afford it. The Excelsior Scholarship will make college accessible to thousands of working and middle class students and shows the difference that government can make. There is no child who will go to sleep tonight and say, I have great dreams, but I don’t believe I’ll be able to get a college education because parents can’t afford it. With this program, every child will have the opportunity that education provides.” Under the Excelsior Scholarship, nearly 80 percent, or 940,000 middle-class families and individuals making up to $125,000 per year, would qualify to attend college tuition-free at all CUNY and SUNY two- and four-year colleges in New York

State. The new program will be phased in over three years, beginning for New Yorkers making up to $100,000 annually in the fall of 2017, increasing to $110,000 in 2018, and reaching $125,000 in 2019. Scholars must be enrolled in college full-time and average 30 credits per year (including summer and January semesters) in order to receive the funding, however, the program has built in flexibility so that any student facing hardship is able to pause and restart the program, or take fewer credits one semester than another. Students are required to maintain a grade point average necessary for the successful completion of their coursework,

Panel ponders proposal to help low income Vermonters thrive not just survive By Elizabeth Hewitt, VTDigger

At a panel discussion Thursday, April 6, Vermont officials discussed how different economic approaches could help address poverty in the state. The panel, hosted by Capstone Community Action and the Champlain Valley Office of Economic Opportunity, featured Treasurer Beth Pearce and Lt. Gov. David Zuckerman alongside Bob Friedman, of the Corporation for Enterprise Development. Friedman founded the national nonprofit, which focuses on generating economic opportunity for low-income individu-

als. Factors very early in individuals’ lives and often out of their control have a powerful bearing over outcomes later on. “I think we don’t understand how much we owe to how we’re born and where we’re born,” Friedman said. With information about the assets and location of a family when a child is born, Friedman can predict “with painful accuracy” the education, employment, housing and more the child will have later in life. The primary approach to addressing poverty in the 20th century was building a safety net of programs that

help people access basic needs, he said. “But it doesn’t offer a way out,” Friedman added. Because of caps on the income benefits recipients can earn, it can be very difficult for people to earn more money and move off of those programs, he said. “I think what we need to be about is building the ladder,” Friedman said. “We need to make sure that everybody has a chance.” Instead of keeping people simply sustained, officials hope to create programs that will help people move out of poverty. People with low in-

comes, even those considerably below the poverty line, can save money and launch successful businesses, he said. “We forget the dreams and the energy that we write off if we don’t invest in a fundamental way,” Friedman said. On a scorecard by CFED that tracks how well states are doing on more than 60 different economic indicators in a variety of areas including financial assets, housing, healthcare and education, Vermont ranked first in the nation. The organization ranked Vermont 11th in the nation Low income help, page 10

Hunger Free Vermont warns Trump’s proposed budget would cut assistance

New carbon tax proposals look to shift burden onto pollution

Table of contents Opinion...................................................................... 6 Calendar..................................................................... 8 Music Scene............................................................. 11 Just For Fun.............................................................. 12 Sports....................................................................... 13 Living A.D.E.............................................................. 14 Food Matters............................................................ 16 New Briefs................................................................ 20 Worship Services..................................................... 23 Columns................................................................... 24 Service Directory..................................................... 26 Summer Camp........................................................ 34 Community Profiles................................................ 39 Pets........................................................................... 42 Mother of the Skye................................................... 43 Spring Wellness........................................................ 44 Classifieds................................................................ 46 Real Estate................................................................ 47

Mounta in Times The Mountain Times is an independently owned weekly newspaper serving residents of, and visitors to Central Vermont Region. Our offices are located at 5465 Route 4, Sherburne Flats, Killington, Vt.

By Mike Polhamus, VTDigger

Vermonters struggling to make ends meet can receive wage supports like Low Income Heating Assistance Program (LIHEAP) fuel assistance to help pay for heating expenses—crucial for Vermonters during our cold winter months. This program is also directly linked to the 3SquaresVT program (also known as SNAP or food stamps) and eligible recipients of LIHEAP often receive a higher 3SquaresVT benefit to help make ends meet and put healthy food on the table. Vermont is among 17 states, including New York, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island and Oregon, that boosts the amount of 3SquaresVT benefits to those participants that also receive help from the federal LIHEAP, which serves nearly 44,000 households in Vermont. 22,065 of these households receiving LIHEAP are eligible to receive a boost in their 3SquaresVT benefit. 8,602 households include a senior member and 9,732 households include a disabled household member. Trump’s proposed budget would eliminate all of the programs in the federal Health and Human Service’s Office of Community Services, including LIHEAP. If this cut happens, 22,065 Vermonters will see an average reduction of $60 in their food benefits. Losing $60 of food money a month would be a serious hardship for these families and would likely increase food insecurity across the state— plus all 44,000 Vermont recipients of LIHEAP will have to come up with extra money to pay for heat if the program is cut. With most low-income households running at a deficit each month (for example, a family of four with two working adults each making minimum wage will have an estimated $2,200 monthly shortfall), having their LIHEAP benefit cut, and in many cases their 3SquaresVT budget

Four House members are proposing what they’re calling tax reform bills that all seek to institute carbon taxes while reducing or eliminating other taxes or returning the revenue to Vermonters through other means. One of the bills would eliminate Vermont’s sales tax and raise the same amount from a tax on carbon dioxide pollution, a contributor to climate change. Another would return all its revenue to Vermonters through dividend checks every three months. A third would exempt businesses earning less than $400,000 a year from paying income tax and would cut income tax rates across the board while doubling a tax credit for low-income residents. The fourth would slash property taxes for education and raise the equivalent amount through a tax on carbon dioxide pollution. The bills have not yet been fully written, and lawmakers say this is the beginning of a push to enact legislation during next year’s legislative session. Lawmakers proposing the bills say all four are revenueneutral, meaning they do not increase taxes overall or generate any additional government revenue. The four sponsors are Reps. Diana Gonzalez, P/D-Winooski, Johannah Donovan, D-Burlington, Sarah Copeland Hanzas, D-Bradford, and Martin LaLonde, D-South Burlington. The announcement of the bills came Monday at a news conference in Barre where people held signs reading “Tax reform & climate action.” Without having seen the legislation, the head of Vermont’s Republican Party said the bills will raise taxes and that the party opposes them all. Republican Gov. Phil Scott’s spokeswoman, Rebecca

Hunger free, page 7

Carbon Tax, page 10

and, as the program makes a major investment in the state’s greatest asset – our young people – scholars will be required to live and work in-state for the same number of years after graduation as they received the scholarship while in school. The budget provides a record $7.5 billion in total support for higher education, a $448 million, or 6.3 percent, increase over last year. These initiatives build on the governor’s commitment to making college affordable for all students in the Empire State, including the nation-leading “Get On Your Feet” Loan Forgiveness Program, which allows eligible college graduates living in New York to pay nothing on their student loans for the first two years out of school.

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6 • The Mountain Times • April 12-18, 2017

OPINION OP-ED

How to handle the Russia mess

By Lee H. Hamilton

The recent announcement by FBI Director James Comey that his agency is investigating links between members of President Trump’s campaign and Russia has upended Washington. Yet there needs to be an even stronger and broader investigation to get to the bottom of what happened. There are really two questions at hand. The first involves Russian meddling in our election and their attempts to manipulate the outcome. They clearly have the ability to affect the public debate and public perceptions — and maybe hack the election itself. And it’s not just us: they appear bent on meddling in elections in other Western democracies as well. This is serious stuff. The Russians are trying to manipulate the very foundation of representative government: free elections and the integrity of our institutions. They want to weaken our system. It’s crucial to understand exactly what they’re up to, the capabilities they possess, and how effective they’ve been. There’s a lot we need to understand before we move on to how best to respond as a nation to this Russian effort to subvert American democracy. The second investigation is looking into the activities of the Trump election team, and whether anyone involved in some way colluded or worked with the Russians to affect the outcome of the 2016 election. The FBI has confirmed a list of Trump campaign officials who had contact with the Russians, but what’s been revealed so far is a lot of smoke and not much fire — at least, not yet. The FBI investigation will move the ball forward on both fronts. White House denials and the reluctance of Republicans in the majority on Capitol Hill to dig deeply into the election of a president of their own party has bogged the public investigations down. Yet the truth is, we’ve been attacked by the Russians and we’re not investigating it adequately — which is why the FBI’s investigations are necessary, but not enough. The FBI’s principal charge is criminal law; what we need is much broader. However thorough and robust the criminal investigation mounted by the agency turns out to be, by its nature it will be unable to give the nation the open and bipartisan inquiry on a broad range of issues — not just criminal, but also civil, political, and diplomatic — that we need in order to move forward. Getting at the facts ought not to be a political exercise, but resolving what to do about them surely will be. What the Russians did was an attack on the heart of our system; if we are to rebuild and sustain public faith in our democracy’s integrity, we need an investigation conducted in the light of day, by people who seek the truth and have standing and legitimacy on both sides of the political aisle. In theory, Congress could do this, either with a select committee or through its standing committees. But there are several problems with this. The first is that it would be a part-time effort, with members facing conflicting demands on their already pressured time; it would be impossible for them to give it their full attention. Moreover, the institution is already bogged down by so much partisanship that it’s hard to imagine an investigation achieving the legitimacy it needs. Finally, a number of members have already made up their minds: they tell us there’s nothing to investigate. They’re wrong. Clearly, our politics stand in the way of an immediate, thorough and open investigation on a critically important question. So I’d suggest that what we need is a fully staffed, well-resourced commission that can look into all aspects of the Russians’ involvement in our election. What members of the Trump campaign did or did not do with the Russians should certainly be part of it, but the paramount focus should be to lay out the full extent of Russian involvement in our electoral system and how to prevent it from happening again. It’s critical to the success of our representative democracy that we understand what happened. A highly visible inquiry by a credible, independent commission would give us the best opportunity to move forward. Lee Hamilton is a senior advisor for the Indiana University Center on Representative Government; a Distinguished Scholar, IU School of Global and International Studies; and a professor of practice, IU School of Public and Environmental Affairs. He was a member of the U.S. House of Representatives for 34 years.

Trump leaves climate action to us By Duane Peterson

sugar maples in the Green Mountain State by the end of The American government has officially reversed this century. Some children born today will see the end course on protecting us from climate change. National security is the central priority we expect from the feder- of our glorious fall colors. Against this painful backdrop, the United States al government, so this is truly alarming, for our nation and countries and our planet. AS VERMONTERS, WE CAN BUILD OUR OWN, NEW throughout But despair is our world not an option. ENERGY ECONOMY, AND NO ONE IN WASHINGTON CAN united to take There are acSTOP US. ELECTRICITY GENERATED FROM THE SUN IS action. The tions we can U.S. enacted take as indiPLENTIFUL, CLEAN AND PERPETUAL. ALREADY, NEARLY our own Clean viduals to fight ONE IN 25 VERMONT HOMES ARE POWERED BY SOLAR. Power Plan to back and make reduce carbon a difference. pollution from power plants and strengthen the shift It is scientifically accepted that we humans are to renewable, American-made energy. Many of us changing the way Earth’s climate works. The results thought we should have gone farther, faster — given are disrupting the weather patterns that have driven human development for thousands of years. Like other the threats to our economic, environmental and social inland settlements, our forebears here in Vermont built well-being. But we were finally on a course of decisive towns in river valleys to benefit from scarce flatland action. and abundant hydropower. Superstorms like Sandy Now those remedies are in the trash heap. Generaand Irene are devastating those valley communities. tions to come will ask, what were we thinking? Vermont’s own state forester predicts there will be no So while activists wage battle in Washington and we Climate action, page 7

LETTERS

Nursing asst. wants to unionize Dear Editor, People ask me why I work as a licensed nursing assistant (LNA) for a living. It’s for my patients. I give each patient my all, but with understaffing my all isn’t enough. Our patients deserve the best care we have to offer, but right now I can’t provide that. Patient care and safety is lacking due to the staffing crisis that the University of Vermont Medical Center has been struggling with far too long. Being understaffed has not only burned us out — it has created a less functional and unhealthy work environment that isn’t safe for our patients’ wellbeing. My work style is described as “hectic.” I run around the unit all day feeling like I can’t catch my breath and can’t keep up. Patients deserve their care providers

to be attentive and present, not scrambling from one room to another. I’m not only someone who does the physical work, but I make my patients feel important and cared for. This is who I am. I make patients smile when their day has been nothing but struggles and bad news. I help them gain strength and teach them how to adapt to new obstacles. Right now we’re unable to provide quality care to our patients. We want to become a union because with a voice at the table patient safety can be achieved and patient care wouldn’t suffer from understaffing. We are the people providing patient care. Who better to advocate for our patients than us? Jordan Schnabel, Colchester

Local rules for local schools Dear editor, Earl Butz was Richard Nixon’s Secretary of Agriculture and was famous for telling farmers to “get big or get out.” He was responsible for rolling back many New Deal era policies that insulated farmers from the vagaries of the market and nature’s sometimes capricious moods. Farming began its perilous decline from stewardship rooted in a noble love of land and community, to a business awash in chemicals, debt, and profit. Family farmers faced increasing pressure to treat the land and their crops as commodities rather than as living things intimately connected to the farmer, the community, and to the wider world. We are still living with the disastrous

consequences of this policy shift. Fortunately, there has been an explosion in movements committed to reviving small scale agriculture and Vermont has been a national leader on this front. The Vermont “brand” in agriculture is an indisputable asset — conveying a small, nurturing, and innovative approach to food and community. Vermont’s political leadership from the national level on down has clearly taken notice and made important efforts to promote and protect small Vermont farmers. This revolution has been guided by the mantra, “small, local and sustainable.” Given this success, I am perplexed why the obviSchool rules, page 7

The Mountain Times • April 12-18, 2017 • 7

CAPITOL QUOTES “This season served as an inspiration to Vermonters and reflects Vermont’s values of hard work, determination and unrelenting team spirit. Now therefore, I, Philip Scott, governor, do hereby proclaim April 7, 2017, as New England Patriots Appreciation Day.” Said Gov. Phil Scott on April 7 at the state house where the Super Bowl LI Lombardi Trophy was on display for Vermonters to see first-hand. The first 500 fans in line were given tickets to see the trophy.

“At a time when most students graduate college with more than $30,000 in debt, and those with advanced degrees can have $100,000 or more in debt, we should be providing workers in public service — claritynot confusion — about the loan forgiveness they are entitled to. If the Education Department told a borrower in error that they were eligible for forgiveness, that borrower should be grandfathered in. They should not have the rug pulled out from under them... It makes no sense to burden young adults entering the workforce with unsustainable mountains of debt.” Said Sen. Bernie Sanders, who serves on the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee, who joined 36 senators in sending a letter to Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos April 6 expressing concern over announcements that borrowers may not be able to rely on notices they have previously received about their eligibility for Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF). As of December 2016, more than 550,000 borrowers have submitted at least one approved form to certify their employment. However, roughly a third of all submitted employment certification forms have been denied.

“LIHEAP helps low-income households and seniors with their energy bills, providing vital assistance during both the cold winter and hot summer months. LIHEAP households are among the most vulnerable in the country. For these households, LIHEAP funding has been a lifeline during challenging economic times.” Wrote Rep. Peter Welch (D-Vt.) April 10 in a letter along with other lawmakers who rallied a bipartisan coalition to fight for full funding of the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP). In a letter to the House Appropriations Committee penned by the lawmakers, 164 members expressed the critical importance of this safety net program to struggling families. President Trump’s budget proposal would eliminate federal funding for LIHEAP.

Climate action:

Vermont can carve sustainable path on its own

continued from page 6 wait out the return of sanity to our capital, there are things we as individuals, families and businesses can do to make a difference. American history is rife with movements led by the people who forced the dramatic change which the times called for. The core concept is easy: burn less fossil fuel. Our addiction to fossil fuels is nutty. Someone in some faraway land risks his life to unearth materials that took hundreds of millions of years to compress deep below the surface. It’s brought above ground, shipped half a planet away, and delivered to our doorsteps. That’s when we burn it in the open atmosphere, wrapping a harmful blanket around our precious earth. Igniting less of this stuff is the key. Happily, we know how to burn less — while actually strengthening our economy and improving our quality of life. Many of our homes and buildings burn a lot of fuel. There are lots of ways to button up our structures that save money while protecting the climate. Shipping food across the planet requires the burning of tremendous amounts of fuels. Buying foods grown locally skips that atmospheric damage while driving the local economy of our neighboring farms. As Vermonters, we can build our own, new energy economy, and no one in Washington can stop us. Electricity generated from the sun is plentiful, clean and perpetual. Already, nearly one in 25 Vermont homes are powered by solar. Over 1,500 Vermonters drive electric cars. They’re fun to drive, with all that off-the-line torque. And electricity as the fuel costs a fraction of what burning gasoline does. It’s understandable to be saddened by the chaos in our nation’s capital. But Americans are not now and never have been powerless to effect the change we seek. Our individual liberty to take personal action is among the things that actually makes our country great. It can feel overwhelming. But you can take a single step on the clean energy revolution. It feels good to convert despair into action. And collectively, we make a difference. Join us. Duane Peterson is co-founder of Vermont solar company SunCommon.

School rules:

Bigger is not better

continued from page 6 ous analogy with education seems to have escaped so many politicians in the state. How could the very same people that drive past chain stores to buy their eggs at the farmstand not see that Act 46 is repeating Butz’s error by telling school districts to get big or get out? How do they miss the irony of wanting to support local businesses and local farmers while forcing local schools to give up the very qualities that distinguish them? The most consistent answer has been a familiar one — the cost of small and local education is high. But the answer should also be familiar — you get what

their hearts in addition to their wallets to decide if the mere proposition of short term savings is enough to sell our collective souls. Do we want to emulate the failures of large school districts across the country with externalities like increased dropout rates, reduced extracurricular participation, and lack of parental involvement? Vermont farmers have been a beacon for cutting edge solutions to systemic problems, based on their ethical commitment to doing things the right way, or, to paraphrase the goals of Act 46, by producing quality results with trans-

VERMONT’S EDUCATIONAL AND FARMING SUCCESSES ARE HARD EARNED—FROM GRIT, SACRIFICE AND INGENUITY. THOSE ARE THE QUALITIES WE SHOULD PROPAGATE RATHER THAN THE FALSE PROMISE OF “GET BIG OR GET OUT” SOLUTIONS. you pay for. Just as with small scale agriculture, it is expensive to produce a quality result. In small, organic farming operations they don’t have the luxury of increasing yields with chemical shortcuts. They have to pass on the cost of ethical farming to the customer. Advocates of school consolidation ignore a different set of externalities. They ignore the steep social price paid by communities that lose their local school board, and eventually their school. Those qualitative losses don’t fit in their spreadsheets, but that doesn’t make them any less real. No one wants to deny Vermont students an excellent and equitable education. And no one wants to increase the financial strain on an already heavily taxed populace. But we have to do a full accounting for a fair comparison. Our lawmakers and my fellow Vermonters have to look into

Hunger free:

parency and efficiency in a manner people value. We owe it to Vermont schools to afford them the same opportunity. The Legislature should amend Act 46 to allow our schools to continue to produce excellent results. Vermont schools, like its farms, thrive because of their scale, not in spite of it. Our legislators should champion the allure of Vermont’s small communities, and what makes them distinct from the suburbs of Massachusetts and New York. Instead, they seem fixated on emulating those places and degrading the unique soil in which life in the Green Mountain state is cultivated. Vermont’s educational and farming successes are hard earned—from grit, sacrifice and ingenuity. Those are the qualities we should propagate rather than the false promise of “get big or get out” solutions. Randall Szott, Barnard

Federal cuts will gut food, fuel aid

continued from page 5 reduced too, will lead to even that much more food insecurity. “At Hunger Free Vermont, we know that food is the most flexible part of the family food budget. In our cold winter months, Vermonters need heat and that will often take a priority over food. This means the quality of food can go way down, causing many health issues, and in some cases Vermonters will go without in order to keep the heat on,” said Marissa Parisi, executive director of Hunger Free Vermont. “With some of our most vulnerable—our senior adults, single moms, children, and those with disabilities—in households receiving LIHEAP, it is our responsibility to ensure all our neighbors have the heat and food they need to live, learn, and contribute to our communities.”

CALENDAR

8 • The Mountain Times • April 12-18, 2017

WHAT TO DO IN CENTRAL VERMONT Poultney Earth Fair

2 p.m. 10th annual Poultney Earth Fair, 2-5 p.m. at Poultney High School. Celebration of the environment and the community. Wood-fired oven pizza, live music, interactive activities for all ages, all free. Theme: “Roots of the Past, Seeds for the Future.” Kicks off with parade from Green Mountain College at 1:30 p.m. to Poultney High School with 60+ exhibitors with demos and activities.

Farmers Market

3 p.m. The Rutland Downtown Farmers Market, 3-6 p.m. at Vermont Farmers Food Center, 251 West Street, Rutland. Info and vendors, vtfarmersmarket. org.

EASTER SUNRISE SERVICES AT KILLINGTON & OKEMO SUNDAY, APRIL 16

WEDNESDAY Bikram Yoga **

APRIL 12

6 a.m. Bikram Yoga holds classes Wednesdays: 6 a.m. & 12 p.m. 1 hour Bikram hot; 4 p.m. hot power flow; 5:30 p.m. 1.5 hour Bikram hot. 1360 US-4, Mendon. Info, 802-747-6300.

Youth Rally for the Planet

9 a.m. Rally for the Planet organized by Vermont Youth Lobby. 9 a.m.-2 p.m. on the Statehouse lawn in Montpelier. Vt. youth led march, speakers, musical performers, lobbying, tabling, keynote speeches, networking, all in the name of Climate Change. Student groups encouraged to register at youthlobby.org/ rallyfortheplanet.

Story Time

10 a.m. Maclure Library offers two preschool story hours, Wednesdays and Thursdays at 10 a.m. Parents and care givers are encouraged to bring children from birth to 5 years old. This is a great chance for children to socialize and parents / care givers to make new friends, share concerns, joys, ideas, and experiences and to learn from other parents. Small, intimate group. Info, 802-483-2792. 840 Arch St., Pittsford.

GMC Health & Wellness Fair

10 a.m. Green Mountain College holds Community Health and Wellness Fair, 10 a.m.-1:30 p.m. in lobby of Withey Building at GMC, 1 Brennan Circle, Poultney. 20+ vendors providing services, demos, and educational materials. Blood pressure checks, posture screenings, yoga class, free chair massage and reiki, free samples, and more. Info, 802-287-8376.

Learn to Knit **

10:30 a.m. Green Mountain Fibers holds Learn to Knit classes Wednesdays through end of April, 10:30 a.m. and 3:30 p.m. Learn basic knitting skills, cast on, knit and purl stitch, cast off. Free with purchase of yarn and needles; $10 to others. 259 Woodstock Ave., Rutland. Info, 802-775-7800.

Active Seniors Lunch

12 p.m. Killington Active Seniors meet for a meal Wednesdays at the Lookout Bar & Grille. Town sponsored. Come have lunch with this well-traveled group of men and women. $5/ person. Info, 802-422-2921. 2910 Killington Road, Killington.

Rutland Wellness

5 p.m. Education and support for people who are struggling emotionally. Focus on tools and methods for improving our lives mentally and physically. Wednesdays, 5-7 p.m., Grace Congregational Church, 8 Court St., Rutland. 802-353-4365.

Wednesday Workout

Rotary Meeting

6 p.m. The Killington-Pico Rotary club cordially invites visiting Rotarians, friends and guests to attend its weekly meeting. The club meets Wednesdays at the Summit Lodge 6-8 p.m. for a full dinner and fellowship. Call 802-7730600 to make a reservation. Dinner fee $19. KillingtonPicoRotary.org

Intro to Starting a Microbusiness

9 a.m. Introduction to Starting a Microbusiness at BROC, 45 Union St., Rutland. 9 a.m.-12 noon. Free, for those looking to start a business or investigating self-employment. RSVP to 802-665-1744.

Story Hour

10 a.m. Promoting early literacy and socialization skills in a fun setting. Stories, songs, movement, craft. No registration. Ages 2+. Fox Room, Rutland Free Library, 10-10:45 a.m. 773-1860.

Story Time

10 a.m. Maclure Library offers two preschool story hours, Wednesdays and Thursdays at 10 a.m. Parents and care givers are encouraged to bring children from birth to 5 years old. This is a great chance for children to socialize and parents / care givers to make new friends, share concerns, joys, ideas, and experiences and to learn from other parents. Today, Rutland Parent Child Center hosts. Snacks, crafts, stories, open playtime, dance, songs. Info, 802-483-2792. 840 Arch St., Pittsford.

Story Time

10 a.m. Story time at the West Rutland Public Library. Thursdays at 10 a.m. Bring your young children to enjoy stories, crafts, and playtime. Info, 802-4382964.

Killington Bone Builders

10 a.m. Bone builders meets at Sherburne Memorial Library, 2998 River Rd., Killington, 10-11 a.m. Mondays and Thursdays. Free, weights supplied. For info, 802-422-3368.

Bone Builders

10 a.m. Bone builders meets Thursdays at Mendon Methodist Church basement. Info, 802-773-2694.

RAVNAH Clinic

12:30 p.m. RAVNAH blood pressure/food care clinic: Castleton Meadows. $10 foot clinic. No appt. needed. Info, 802-770-1536.

Mettawee’s “Dig It!’ **

1 p.m. Mettawee Community School’s sixth graders presetn “Dig It! A Musical Tale of Ancient Civilizations” in two performances: 1 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. Community invited to free performances. Info, 802-645-9009. 5788 VT-153, West Pawlet.

Level 2 Yoga

5:30 p.m. Level 2 Yoga at Killington Yoga with Karen Dalury, RYT 500. 3744 River Rd, Killington. Info, killingtonyoga.com, 802-422-4500.

Food Workshop

6 p.m. Green Mountain Table Tennis. Play twice as a guest for free. $30/ year membership. Knights of Columbus/Boys & Girls Club of Rutland County gym, 21 Merchants Row, Rutland. 7-9:30 p.m. Wednesdays. Info, 802-2475913.

5:30 p.m. “Mastering the Kitchen: How to Get Organized for an Easy Week of Nutritious and Delicious Food” held 5:30-7 p.m. in the culinary kitchen at Stafford Tech Center, 8 Stratton Rd, Rutland. Led by Everyday Chef Program guest instructor and Stafford Tech Center Chef Instructor Lisa Fennimore. $25 includes materials, recipes and kits to take home. Drawing for g.c. to Rutland Coop. Info, 802-417-1528 ext 5.

Bingo

Bridge Club

Sip N Dip

Open Mic

Table Tennis

6:30 p.m. Bridgewater Grange Bingo, Wednesdays nights, doors open at 5:30 p.m. Games start 6:30 p.m. Route 100A, Bridgewater Corners. Just across bridge from Junction Country Store. All welcome. Refreshments available. 6:30 p.m. Chaffee Art Center offers Sip N’ Dip painting class with local artist. It’s Arts Night Out! Materials provided; bring a good friend and a bottle of wine or beer for an evening of fun and creativity. BYOB. $25/$30. RSVP required to 802-775-0356. 16 S. Main St., Rutland. chaffeeartcenter.org.

6:30 p.m. Marble Valley Duplicate Bridge Club meets at Godnick Center Thursdays, 6:30 p.m. Sanctioned duplicate bridge games. Info, 802-228-6276. 1 Deer St., Rutland. Please join. 7 p.m. Open mic with Jim Yeager at ArtisTree Community Arts Center. Relaxed, supportive, fun atmosphere. All levels/abilities welcome. Solo or group, come play or just watch. 2095 Pomfret Rd., S. Pomfret. artistreevt.org.

Pool League

FRIDAY

7 p.m. Pool league at the Clear River Tavern, every Wednesday at 7 p.m. Open to the public. 2640 Rt 100 North, Pittsfield. clearrivertavern.com.

Peter Frampton Raw

7:30 p.m. Grammy award-winning guitarist Peter Frampton brings acoustic tour to Paramount Theatre. Tickets $46-$110. paramountvt.org. 30 Center St., Rutland.

THURSDAY

11 a.m. Vermont Department of Labor will sponsor a career fair, 11 a.m.-3 p.m. at the Franklin Conference Center, 1 Scale Ave., Rutland. Doors open at 11 a.m. for U.S. Military Veterans and at 12 p.m. for the general public. Free. 50+ employees scheduled to attend. Job seekers should dress in business attire and bring résumés to present to employers. Free transportation provided by Castleton University, 10:45 a.m-3:15 p.m. Pick up is at the back of the Asa Bloomer Building. 11:30 a.m. Cooking Workshop at Godnick Adult Center featuring “Cooking for One.” Focuses on quick and nutritious meals you can make either on a stovetop or in the oven. We’ll talk about ways to stretch those ingredients that often spoil and offer menu planning tips for the week. Workshop participants will be entered into a raffle with an opportunity to attend our June workshop, Lots O’ Lasagna’s, free of charge. $5. Register at rutlandrec.com.

3:15 p.m. Sherburne Memorial Library offers Lego Club every Wednesday during the school year, 3:15-4:15 p.m. Ages 6 and up welcome. 2998 River Road, Killington. Info, 802-422-9765.

5:30 p.m. Wednesday Night Workouts with Joani at Lothrop School Gym, 3447 US Route 7, Pittsford. 5:30-6:30 p.m. Incorporates aerobic conditioning, strength, legs training and abdominal work. The cardio-kickboxing portion is a dynamic, low/high impact aerobic workout combining boxing techniques that strengthen the upper and lower body, with punches, jabs, and kicks. Beginners and all residents welcome. $6 per class. Bring mat or towel. Info, 802-483-6500 x 17.

State Career Fair

Cooking Workshop

Co ur tes yo f Je rry LeBl ond

Lego Club

** denotes multiple times and/or locations.

APRIL 13

Open Swim **

8 a.m. Enjoy the warm water at Mitchell Therapy Pool at Vermont Achievement Center, 88 Park St., Rutland: 8-9 a.m.; 5-7 p.m. Call for more times & info, 802-773-7187.

Smoking Cessation

9 a.m. Rutland’s stop smoking program, including patches, gum, and lozenges, at Rutland Regional Behavioral Health, 1 Commons St., Rutland, Thursdays, 9-10 a.m. Register at 747-3768 or rrmc.org. Free!

Bikram Yoga **

9 a.m. Bikram Yoga holds classes Thursdays: 9 a.m. & 4:30 p.m. 1.5 hour Bikram hot; 6:15 p.m. 1 hour Bikram hot. 1360 US-4, Mendon. Info, 802-747-6300.

Open Swim **

APRIL 14

8 a.m. Enjoy the warm water at Mitchell Therapy Pool at Vermont Achievement Center, 88 Park St., Rutland: 8-9 a.m.; 11:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m. Call for more times & info, 802-773-7187.

Spring for the Animals

8 a.m. Rutland County Humane Society’s online auction, Spring for the Animals, opens today at 8 a.m., through April 24, 10 p.m. Link through rchsvt.org to see what’s available and bid! Info, 802-483-9171.

Level 1 Yoga

8:30 a.m. Level 1 Yoga at Killington Yogaof with Karen Dalury, RYT 500. 3744 River Rd, Courtesy Castleton UniverKillington. Info, killingtonyoga.com, 802-422-4500.

sity Bikram Yoga **

9 a.m. Bikram Yoga holds classes Fridays: 9 a.m. 1.5 hr. Bikram hot; 12 p.m. 1 hour Bikram hot. 1360 US-4, Mendon. Info, 802-747-6300.

Baby Farm Animal Day

10 a.m. Billings Farm & Museum hold Baby Farm Animal Celebration 10 a.m-5 p.m. featuring wagon rides, heirloom seed and craft activities, meet the farm’s baby animals, and more. Info, 802-457-2355, billingsfarm.org. 69 Old River Rd., Woodstock.

The Mountain Times • April 12-18, 2017 • 9

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E I L E R G GEOR INSTON THE CHA IELS N W A D 9 |

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FRI |

Story Time

Military Appreciation Days

Good Friday Concert

Mindful Movements

1:30 p.m. Brownsville Community Church holds first of a series of free concerts open to the public. Followed by service at 2:30 p.m. Brownsville-Hartland Road, Brownsville.

Magic: the Gathering

3:15 p.m. Sherburne Memorial Library holds Magic: the Gathering after school Fridays, 3:15-4:30 p.m. Ages 8+, all levels welcome. 2998 River Rd., Killington. 422-9765.

Women’s Pickup Basketball

6 p.m. Adult women’s pickup basketball Friday evenings, 6-9 p.m. at Vt. Police Academy, 317 Academy Rd, Pittsford, VT. Info, 802-483-6500 x 17. Free! March 3-May 12.

RYP Gala

7 p.m. Rutland Young Professionals first ever gala at Mountain Top Inn & Resort. Evening of cocktails, hors d’oeuvres, dancing. Tickets at rutlandyoungprofessionals.org. 195 Mountain Top Road, Chittenden.

ArtisTree Concert

7 p.m. Vermont Acoustic: an evening with The Sky Blue Boys and Last Train to Zinkov, at ArtisTree. $20, cash bar. An evening of tradition and folk as old as American music itself. 2095 Pomfret Rd., S. Pomfret. Info, artistreevt.org/.

“Opulence of Integrity”

7 p.m. Casella Theater at Castleton University welcomes Christal Brown’s theatre group public performance of “The Opulence of Integrity” inspired by the public life and inner searching of Muhammad Ali. Tickets $12-$18 at castleton.edu/tickets or the box office. Info, 802-468-1119. 62 Alumni Drive, Castleton.

Bela Fleck and Abigail Washburn

7:30 p.m. Béla Fleck and Abigail Washburn play Appalachian murder ballads, gospel, chamber and blues at Chandler Music Hall. Reserved seating $75 VIP, down to $15 students. Tickets 802-728-6464 or chandler-arts.org. 71-73 Main St., Randolph.

SATURDAY 7:30 a.m. Bikram Yoga holds classes Saturdays: 7:30 a.m. 1 hr. Bikram hot; 9 a.m. 1.5 hr. Bikram hot; 4 p.m. hot power flow. 1360 US-4, Mendon. Info, 802747-6300.

8 a.m. Rise and shine with mindful movements, gentle stretches and chair yoga to awaken the body and settle the mind. 60 minutes of self care. First and third Saturday mornings of each month, 8-9 a.m. at Plymouth Community Center, 35 School Drive, Plymouth. Donations in the way of dana accepted, but not expected. Contact/RSVP to instructor Susan Mordecai, smordecai6@gmail.com.

SUNDAY APRIL 16 Easter

Easter Sunrise Service & Egg Hunt

Mixed Level Yoga

8:30 a.m. Mixed level yoga at Killington Yoga with Karen Dalury, RYT 500. 3744 River Rd, Killington. Info, killingtonyoga.com, 802-422-4500.

5:30 a.m. Killington Resort offers the annual Easter Sunrise Service at Killington Peak Lodge. Board the K1 Express Gondola at 5:30 a.m. for a ride to the peak. Everyone needs a (free) ticket, first-come, first-served. Limited to 275. Community breakfast follows. Starting at 8 a.m., Easter Egg Hunt in and around K1 Base Lodge, for all ages. Special toddler-friendly hunt at 9 a.m. More than just candy inside ... Details at killington.com.

Farmers Market

Okemo Easter Activities

10 a.m. The Rutland Downtown Farmers Market, 10 a.m.-2 p.m. at Vermont Farmers Food Center, 251 West Street, Rutland. Info and vendors, vtfarmersmarket.org.

Baby Farm Animal Day

5:55 a.m. Okemo Mountain starts Easter with an outdoor sunrise service. Gather in J. Gore Roundhouse at 5:55 a.m. Coffee fellowship follows. Following, Golden Egg Hunt starts at 8 a.m. and continues until all eggs are found. The Golden Egg finder will win skis or snowboard! Junior egg hunt starts at 10 a.m. for those age 6 and under, in Jackson Gore Courtyard. Details at okemo.com.

Bikram Yoga **

Killington Pond Skimming

Vinyasa Flow Yoga

11 a.m. Killington Resort’s wacky rite of spring pond skimming at the base of Superstar Trail at K1. Registration opens 9 a.m. at Roaring Brook Umbrella Bars, $10, limited to first 100 skiers/snowboarders. Must be 48”. No ski poles or nudity. Registration 9-10:30 a.m. Competitor’s meeting 10:45 a.m. Pond skimming competition 11 a.m.-1 p.m. Awards 1:30 p.m. Entertainment throughout the day. Watching is just as fun, maybe even more! Details at killington.com.

Bridge Club

12 p.m. Marble Valley Duplicate Bridge Club meets at Godnick Center Saturdays, 12-4 p.m. Sanctioned duplicate bridge games. Info, 802-228-6276. 1 Deer St., Rutland. Please join.

9 a.m. Bikram Yoga holds classes Sundays: 9 a.m. & 4:30 p.m. 1.5 hr. Bikram hot. 1360 US-4, Mendon. Info, 802-747-6300. 10 a.m. Vinyasa flow yoga - all levels, everyone welcome! With Whitney Berra. Meditative and heat building flow of movement with breath, to cultivate strength, space, and grounding. $10 for non-Mountain Top guests; 6 classes $50. Call to sign-up or drop-in. Yoga Studio at Mountain Top Inn & Resort, Chittenden. 802-483-2311.

Easter at the Foundry

11 a.m. Celebrate Easter at the Foundry, Summit Path, Killington with Easter Egg Hunt, HOP the Bunny, brunch and dinner, music by JD Tolstoi and Oak Totem. Info, 802-422-5335.

Live in HD

MONDAY

1 p.m. Live in HD from the National Theatre of Great Britain screens spring series, on the big screen at the Paramount Theatre. This week, second of series of three, “Amadeus.” $20 adults; $10 students. paramountvt.org. 30 Center St., Rutland. 1 p.m. Okemo Mountain Resort holds 80s Retro Jam. Break out the acid washed jeans, neon, and fuzzy dice and arrive in full retro style to participate in the jam for best Daffy, Method, and outfit. Awards follow. Details, okemo.com.

30 CENTER ST, RUTLAND, VT • 802.775.0903

Norwich University will host events designed specifically to appreciate those serving in the military on Friday, April 14, and Saturday, April 15. Events are free and open to the public. Military families are encouraged to attend. Full schedule at norwich.edu; 802-485-2044.

Open Swim

5 p.m. Enjoy the warm water at Mitchell Therapy Pool at Vermont Achievement Center, 88 Park St., Rutland: Tues., Thurs., Saturday 5-7 p.m. Call for more times & info, 802-773-7187.

Roller Derby

5:30 p.m. Upper Valley Vixens vs. New Hampshire Roller Derby in Woodstock, 5:30-8 p.m. at Union Arena, 80 Amsden Way, Woodstock. The Vixens’ first game of the season. Doors open at 5:30 p.m. Adult tickets (ages 12+) $10 online, $12 at the door. Children 5-12 and veterans $5. Age 5 and under free. Group rates online only: tsd2017.bpt. me. Info, twinstatederby.com.

FOLA Movie

BABY FARM ANIMAL DAY AT BILLINGS FARM & MUSEUM

ou rte sy of Bil ling s Fa rm

7 p.m. FOLA presents screening of classic 1950s film “The Killing” at Ludlow Town Hall Auditorium. Free, donations appreciated. Popcorn and water provided. Info, 802-228-7239; fola.us.

APRIL 14-15, 10 A.M.

8:00 30 | R P | A SUN

APRIL 17

80s Retro Jam

APRIL 15

Bikram Yoga

paramountvt.org

Full season available at: 10:30 a.m. Sherburne Memorial Library holds story time Fridays, 10:30-11 a.m. Join for stories, songs, activities. Babies and toddlers welcome! Info, 802-4229765.

0 | 8:0 R 21

N I F F GRI

Pianist Murray McLachlan

7:30 p.m. Scottish concert pianist Murray McLachlan will perform at Compass Music & Arts Center in first recital on classic 1915 Steinway piano recently donated to CMAC. Tickets $20. Pre-dinner available for $25. Reservations for dinner required, 802-247-4295. Info, cmacvt.org. 333 Jones Drive, Brandon. (Park Village)

Bikram Yoga **

6 a.m. Bikram Yoga holds classes Mondays: 6 a.m. 1 hour Bikram hot yoga; 9 a.m. 1.5 hour Bikram hot yoga; 4 p.m. hot power flow; 5:30 p.m. 1.5 hour Bikram hot yoga. 1360 US-4, Mendon. Info, 802-747-6300.

Level 1 & 2 Yoga

8:30 a.m. Level 1 & 2 Yoga at Killington Yoga with Karen Dalury, RYT 500. 3744 River Rd, Killington. Info, killingtonyoga.com, 802-422-4500.

Killington Bone Builders

10 a.m. Bone builders meets at Sherburne Memorial Library, 2998 River Rd., Killington, 10-11 a.m. Mondays and Thursdays. Free, weights supplied. For info, 802-422-3368.

Open Swim

11:30 a.m. Enjoy the warm water at Mitchell Therapy Pool at Vermont Achievement Center, 88 Park St., Rutland: 11:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m. Call for more times & info, 802-773-7187.

Rutland Rotary

12:15 p.m. Rotary Club of Rutland meets Mondays for lunch at The Palms Restaurant. Learn more or become a member, journal@sover.net.

Smoking Cessation

4:30 p.m. Rutland’s stop smoking program, including patches, gum, and lozenges, at RRMC Foley Cancer Center Conference Rm. on Mondays 4:30-5:30 p.m. Register at 747-3768 or rrmc.org. Free!

Smoking Cessation for Pregnant Moms

5 p.m. Rutland’s stop smoking program for pregnant mothers, including patches, gum, and lozenges, at Rutland Women’s Healthcare, 147 Allen St., Rutland. Mondays, 5-6 p.m. Register at 747-3768 or rrmc.org. Free!

Gentle Yoga

5 p.m. Gentle yoga - all levels, everyone welcome! Call to sign-up or drop-in. Yoga Studio at Mountain Top Inn & Resort, Chittenden. 802-483-2311.

10 • The Mountain Times • April 12-18, 2017 Garden Program

7 p.m. Rutland County Master Gardeners will be hosting Leonard Perry, Professor Emeritus, to speak about “Hardy Perennials... Proper Practices and Perry’s Picks” at the Godnick Center. Join for an informative evening with fellow gardeners. 1 Deer Street, Rutland. Free, open to all.

Drop In Basketball

7:45 p.m. Rutland Rec Dept offers co-ed drop in basketball, 7:15-9:15 p.m. at Rutland Intermediate School. Men and women age 18+. $5 fee. Self organized, self policed! Balls and pinnies provided. Info, 802-282-2054. 65 Library Ave, Rutland.

Citizenship Classes

Vermont Adult Learning will offers free citizenship classes. Call 802-7974045 and learn if you may qualify for citizenship at no cost. 16 Evelyn St., Rutland. Also, free classes in reading, writing, and speaking for English speakers of other languages. Ongoing. 16 Evelyn St., Rutland

TUESDAY APRIL 18

Day Camps for Kids **

ArtisTree Community Arts Center offers April Vacation camps April 18, 19, 20. Half and full day options for ages 5-14. For more info, 802-457-3500, register at artistreetvt.org. 2095 Pomfret Rd., S. Pomfret.

Open Swim **

8 a.m. Enjoy the warm water at Mitchell Therapy Pool at Vermont Achievement Center, 88 Park St., Rutland: 8-9 a.m.; 12-1 p.m.; 5-7 p.m. Call for more times & info, 802-773-7187.

Yin Yoga

8:30 a.m. Yin Yoga at Killington Yoga with Karen Dalury, RYT 500. 3744 River Rd, Killington. Info, killingtonyoga.com, 802-422-4500.

Youth Soccer Camp

9 a.m. College of St. Joseph holds youth soccer skills development camp April 18-19 for boys and girls ages 7-14, 9 a.m.-3 p.m. at CSJ, 71 Clement Rd., Rutland. $80 includes t-shirt and soccer ball. Sibling discount. Register at csjfightingsaints.com/camps.

Visual Social Media

9 a.m. BROC offers Visual Social Media learning how to use Pinterest, Instagram, Snapchat, at BROC, 45 Union St., Rutland. 9-11 a.m. $15; scholarships available. RSVP to 802-655-1744.

Art Workshop

Family Playgroup

10 a.m. Rutland Co. Parent Child Center holds playgroup, at Mount Holly Town Library, Belmont. Tuesdays, 10-11:30 a.m. Informal gatherings for families who share a common thread of wanting a supportive experience for their child. For info, rcpcc.org.

Carbon Tax:

10 a.m. Bone builders meets Tuesdays at Mendon Methodist Church basement. Info, 802-773-2694.

Spring Peepers

10 a.m. Friends of Fair Haven Free Library hosts spring program for children, Spring Peepers performance with impromptu songs and stories, drawing audience participation. For all age. Free. 107 N Main St, Fair Haven.

Advanced Directives Workshop

Vinyasa Flow Yoga

5:45 p.m. Vinyasa flow yoga - all levels, everyone welcome! With Whitney Berra. Meditative and heat building flow of movement with breath, to cultivate strength, space, and grounding. $10 for non-Mountain Top guests; 6 classes $50. Call to sign-up or drop-in. Yoga Studio at Mountain Top Inn & Resort, Chittenden. 802-483-2311.

Legion Bingo

6:15 p.m. Brandon American Legion, Tuesdays. Warm ups 6:15 p.m., regular games 7 p.m. Open to the public. Bring a friend!

10 a.m. Advanced Directives for Health Care Workshop, 10 a.m.-12 p.m. Location: Room 266 (2nd floor), Asa Bloomer Building, 88 Merchants Row, Rutland. Presented by Merry Postemski of Disability Rights Vermont. A chemical and scent-free event. For more information, to register, or request special accommodations, contact Glenn Reed, VT Center for Independent Living, (802) 779-9021 or email greed@vcil.org .

Chess Club

Preschool Story Time

“A Celebration of Harold Pinter”

10:30 a.m. Norman Williams Public Library holds 45-minute story time for kids ages 3-6 featuring three, thematically related books along with craft or activity reinforcing theme. 802-457-2295. 10 the Green, Woodstock.

Learn to Knit **

10:30 a.m. Green Mountain Fibers holds Learn to Knit classes Tuesdays through end of April, 10:30 a.m. and 3:30 p.m. Learn basic knitting skills, cast on, knit and purl stitch, cast off. Free with purchase of yarn and needles; $10 to others. 259 Woodstock Ave., Rutland. Info, 802-775-7800.

7 p.m. Rutland Rec Dept. holds a chess club at Godnick Adult Center, providing a mind-enhancing skill not only to the youth but adults as well. The club will teach anyone who is willing to learn. All ages are welcome; open to the public. Tuesday evenings, 7 – 9 p.m. 1 Deer St., Rutland. 7 p.m. Acclaimed British actor Julian Sands to appear in “A Celebration of Harold Pinter” directed by John Malkovich, at Castleton University’s Casella Theater. Tickets $12-$18 at castleton.edu/tickets. Info, 802-468-1119. 62 Alumni Drive, Castleton.

“OPULENCE OF INTEGRITY” AT CASTLETON UNIVERSITY FRIDAY, APRIL 14, 7 P.M.

Smoking Cessation

11 a.m. Rutland’s stop smoking program, including patches, gum, and lozenges, at Rutland Heart Center, 12 Commons St., Rutland, Tuesdays, 11 a.m.-12 p.m. Register at 747-3768 or rrmc.org. Free!

Bikram Yoga **

12 p.m. Bikram Yoga holds classes Tuesdays: 9 a.m. & 4:30 p.m. 1.5 hr. hot Bikram yoga; 12 p.m. hot yin; 6:15 p.m. 1 hour hot Bikram. 1360 US-4, Mendon. Info, 802-747-6300.

Spring Craft Party

4 p.m. Spring Craft Party presented by TAG Vision, 4-6 p.m. at 113 Library Ave, Rutland. Bring your own rock to decorate. Plus garden stake decorating and other crafts and activities. Free hot dogs and snacks. Rain date April 19, same time, same place. Free, open to all ages.

TOPS Meeting

5 p.m. TOPS - Taking Off Pounds Sensibly meets every Tuesday at the Trinity Episcopal Church, 85 West Street, Rutland. Weigh-in 5-5:25 p.m. Meeting 5:30-6:30 p.m. For additional information call Robin at 802-483-2967.

s te ur Co

10 a.m. Annie’s Art Workshop, 10 a.m.-12 p.m. Tuesdays at Sherburne Memorial Library, Killington. Open art workshop - collaborative artist group welcomes all levels, interests, mediums. Free. In memory of Ann Wallen. Info, 2991777.

Bone Builders

yo fC as tle Level 1 Yoga ton 5:30 p.m. Un ivers Level 1 Yoga at Killington Yoga with Karen Dalury, RYT 500. ity 3744 River Rd, Killington. Info, killingtonyoga.com, 802-422-4500.

Four new bills try for a win-win outcome

continued from page 5 Kelley, responded with the following statement: “During the campaign, Governor Scott said that he would not support any new taxes or fees, including a carbon tax—a commitment that captured strong support from Vermonters around the state. Yet, it appears legislators are poised to put forward proposals this week to introduce a carbon tax, increasing costs of living and doing business in Vermont. While Governor Scott is committed to protecting our environment, introducing a new tax that will make Vermont less affordable and make our businesses less competitive in the global economy, is the wrong approach. “Vermont is already setting a national example for encouraging more fuel-efficient transportation, green building practices, energy conservation, and renewable energy. We can continue to be a leader in environmental stewardship, while balancing this leadership with the urgent need to reverse the crisis of affordability. For example, Governor Scott has proposed to incentivize energy efficiency adoption through a sales tax holiday on energy efficient consumer products and electric vehicles. Unfortunately, legislators are choosing a far more regressive path with a tax mandate. “Regardless of how the carbon tax is disguised in these proposals, each would increase the costs of doing business and as those costs are passed on to the consumer, these proposals will increase the cost of living for all Vermonters. Further, this creates an enormous new tax capacity with no guarantee to completely offset revenue for the long-term. “To grow our economy, we must focus on policies and initiatives that make Vermont more affordable and encourage growth through smart policy and incentives, rather than discouraging growth through taxes, fees, and onerous mandates from Montpelier.” Vermont GOP Chair Dave Sunderland also said the bills are a trick by Democrats and Progressives. Sunderland said he had not read any of the four bills but declared “it’s just not true” that they wouldn’t increase taxes. “These proposals all have components that will increase the cost of living in Vermont,” Sunderland said. His party, Sunderland said, “diametrically opposes any new increase in taxes that will impact working middle-class Vermonters.” But revenue-neutral carbon taxes have been adopted elsewhere, said Vermont Law School professor Janet Milne, who is director of the Environmental Tax Law Institute. The classic example of a revenue-neutral carbon tax is found in British Columbia, Milne said, where low-income residents actually receive more in return from the tax than they pay.

There is “no debate” over whether British Columbia’s carbon tax actually accomplishes this, Milne said. “It guarantees that all revenue goes back to taxpayers, in the form of tax reform,” she said. British Columbia’s carbon tax contains multiple mechanisms to ensure it doesn’t result in an additional tax burden for residents, Milne said. If British Columbia’s carbon tax raises any new revenue, for instance, the province’s finance minister loses 15 percent from his or her paycheck that year, Milne said. Other countries have instituted carbon taxes that do raise additional revenue, such as Ireland and Japan, she said. Governments have seen their gross domestic product rise and emissions fall in countries both with revenue-neutral carbon taxes and with carbon taxes that are not revenueneutral, Milne said. The carbon tax bill that would return all proceeds to Vermonters through quarterly dividend checks was copied from a recent proposal by members of the administrations of former presidents George W. Bush and Ronald Reagan, said Gonzalez, the bill’s sponsor. “My plan is a conservative plan,” she said. Vermonters spend roughly $2 billion each year on fossil fuels, or around $3,200 per person, said Donovan. She is introducing a bill that would double the earned income tax credit for about 40,000 low-income Vermonters, while exempting businesses earning $400,000 or less from paying income tax. The bill would also cut the income tax rate for the lowest-income Vermonters to 1.75 percent, from 3.55 percent. These cuts would be funded with an equivalent amount of revenue from a tax on carbon dioxide pollution, Donovan said. The proposal would strengthen the economy, create jobs and reduce the cost of living within the state, she said. Copeland Hanzas has another bill that would eliminate Vermont’s income tax altogether and replace that revenue with an equivalent amount brought in from taxes on carbon dioxide pollution. LaLonde’s bill proposes dramatic reductions to the state’s property tax, again to be offset by an equal amount of revenue from a tax on carbon pollution. Lawmakers planned to introduce all four Tuesday, April 11. The bills are not expected to pass this year, Gonzalez and Donovan said. Rather, they’re meant to be “a good jump-start” to next year, the second half of the biennium, Gonzalez said.

The Mountain Times • April 12-18, 2017 • 11

[MUSIC Scene]

WEDNESDAY APRIL 12

KILLINGTON 6 p.m. Liquid Art

CASTLETON

LUDLOW

STOCKBRIDGE

7 p.m. Casella Theater

1 p.m. Okemo’s Bull Run

11 a.m. Wild Fern

CHITTENDEN

KILLINGTON

7 p.m. Mountain Top Inn

11 a.m. Killington Superstar Trail

Opulence of Integrity

Rutland Young Professionals Gala

Open Mic w/ Ricky T

KILLINGTON

POULTNEY

Tony Lee Thomas

6:30 p.m. Taps Tavern

Zak Hampton’s Moose Crossing

RUTLAND 7:30 p.m. Paramount Theatre

2 p.m. K1 Base 5 p.m. Outback Pizza Wayne Canney

7 p.m. O’Dwyers Public House Daniel Brown

Peter Frampton Raw: An Acoustic Tour

8:30 p.m. Outback Pizza

9 p.m. Center Street Alley

9 p.m. JAX

What Dude Open Mic

THURSDAY APRIL 13

KILLINGTON 4 p.m. Liquid Art

Vinyl Revolution w/ DJ Drewcifer

LUDLOW 6 p.m. The Killarney

Irish Session w/ Members of Gypsy Reel

MENDON 6 p.m. Red Clover Inn Jazz Trio

PITTSFIELD 7 p.m. Clear River Tavern Open Mic Jam

POULTNEY 7 p.m. Taps Tavern

Mike Schwaner of Mike & Moses

RUTLAND 9 p.m. Center Street Alley Throwback Thursday

SOUTH POMFRET 7 p.m. Artistree

Open Mic w/ Jim Yeager

STOCKBRIDGE

Clay & Pat

Jamie Livesey

9 p.m. Moguls Sports Pub Dos Equis All Request Dance Party w/ DJ Dave

POULTNEY 7 p.m. Taps Tavern The Mean Waltons

RUTLAND 7:30 p.m. Hop ‘n’ Moose Aaron Audet

9 p.m. Center Street Alley Sling Shot

9:30 p.m. Downtown Tavern DJ Joey Nice

SOUTH POMFRET 7 p.m. Artistree

Vermont Acoustic: An Evening with Sky Blue Boys & Last Train to Zinkov

STOCKBRIDGE

FRIDAY

APRIL 14 BOMOSEEN

Pond Skimming w/ DJ Dave

1 p.m. Bear Mountain Bar

3:30 p.m. K1 Umbrella Bar Steve Makes & Electric Flood

5 p.m. Outback Pizza

6 p.m. Prestons at the Grand Hotel

LUDLOW

Wayne Canney

6 p.m. The Foundry Jamie’s Junk Show

7 p.m. Highline Lodge

6 p.m. Iron Lantern Steve Kyhill

9:30 p.m. The Killarney What Dude Open Mic

PITTSFIELD 7 p.m. Clear River Tavern

7 p.m. O’Dwyers Public House

RUTLAND

The County Down

9 p.m. Moguls Sports Pub Super Stash Bros

POULTNEY

Clay Canfield & Pat Navarre

8 p.m. Center Street Alley Vinyl Monday

9:30 p.m. Downtown Tavern Jenny Porter

8 p.m. Taps Tavern

Open Mic w/ Jon-Carl Smith

RUTLAND 1 p.m. Paramount Theatre Amadeus: Live in HD

WOODSTOCK 8 p.m. Bentley’s Restaurant Open Mic w/ Brian Warren

TUESDAY

9 p.m. Center Street Alley DJ Mega

APRIL 18

Karaoke w/ Tenacious T

Special Guest Boston VJ/DJ Ryan Grow

APRIL 16

CASTLETON 12:30 p.m./7 p.m. Casella Theater Julian Sands “A Celebration of Harold Pinter”

LUDLOW 7 p.m. The Killarney Trivia Night

POULTNEY 9 p.m. Taps Tavern

KILLINGTON

Bluegrass Jam w/ Poultney Bluegrass Society

2 p.m. K1 Base Tony Lee Thomas

RUTLAND

9 p.m. JAX

8 p.m. Center Street Alley

RUTLAND

WOODSTOCK

9:30 p.m. The Venue

6 p.m. Little Theater

Trivia

Duane Carleton

Open Mic w/ Chris Pallutto

6 p.m. Iron Lantern

Duane Carleton

Miss Guided Angels

SUNDAY

BOMOSEEN

KILLINGTON 2 p.m. K1 Umbrella Bar

SATURDAY

Pianist Murray McLachlan

APRIL 17

DJ Dave’s Apres Ski Dance Party

10 p.m. Bentley’s Restaurant

7:30 p.m. Compass Music & Arts Center

MONDAY

Tony Lee Thomas

10 p.m. Bentley’s Restaurant

BRANDON

ShowTunes Sunday w/ VJ Ryan Grow

2 p.m. K1 Base

WOODSTOCK

APRIL 15

6 p.m. Bentley’s Restaurant

Dirty Boost

WOODSTOCK Dancing After Dark w/ DJ Chris Powers

WOODSTOCK

1 p.m. K1 Umbrella Bar

7 p.m. Wild Fern

Two Good Eggs & One Bad Apple

Cigar Box Brunch w/ Rick Redington

Daniel Brown

9:30 p.m. Downtown Tavern

7 p.m Wild Fern Rick Redington

80s Retro Jam

Underground Ministries w/ Speaker Nate Mispel & DJ Casey

Jenny Porter

Low income help:

Encouraging low-income entrepreneurship

continued from page 5 for implementing policies it deems important. Friedman argues the costs associated with low-income economic immobility are born by the state. “You can either exclude people and try to pay for the damage of that, or you can include everybody in an opportunity economy, give them a chance to play,” Friedman said. Pearce said she is interested in working more with vulnerable populations in Vermont. “Every single Vermonter should be entitled to a lifetime of financial wellbeing,” Pearce said. Her office has already taken on several initiatives to try to encour-

age greater financial opportunity for vulnerable populations, she said. Earlier this year, Pearce unveiled a program that allows Vermonters with disabilities to set up investment accounts without losing state and federal benefits. Pearce also raised the proposal to establish a public retirement plan. When people have sufficient savings to support them in retirement, they contribute to the overall economy, she said. Without it, those individuals “will be a drag on the economy instead of an engine,” she said. Zuckerman said that there have been efforts in Vermont to focus on

access to food, housing healthcare and other fundamental services. “If the ground is solid under someone’s feet then they have the opportunity to stand up and reach up without falling with the ground shaking underneath them,” he said. He encouraged support for establishing paid family and medical leave. A bill to create a state-administered program was introduced this year with tri-partisan support, but has since stalled in the House. Zuckerman argued that though the costs associated with such a proposal may seem considerable, the benefits balance the price tag.

Courtesy of Paramount Theatre

GEORGE WINSTON

Paramount presents pianist George Winston Wednesday, April 19, 7:30 p.m.—RUTLAND— Celebrated piano soloist George Winston will play at the Paramount Theatre Wednesday, April 19, 7:30 p.m. Since 1972, Winston has released 13 solo piano albums. This concert will feature his summer show, which will include melodic spring and summer-type songs, some of Vince Guaraldi’s “Peanuts” pieces, pieces

inspired by the New Orleans piano and the stride piano traditions, and songs from his album, “Spring Carousel— A Cancer Research Benefit,” recently released March 31, 2017. Tickets ($40) are available at the box office located at 30 Center Street, by calling 802-775-0903 or online. For tickets or more information, visit paramountvt.org.

12 • The Mountain Times • April 12-18, 2017

• SUDOKU

• MOVIE TIMES

• CROSSWORD

• MOVIE DIARY

just for fun the MOVIE diary

SUDOKU

Information Overload

By Dom Cioffi

Each block is divided by its own matrix of nine cells. The rule for solving Sudoku puzzles are very simple. Each row, column and block, must contain one of the numbers from “1” to “9”. No number may appear more than once in any row, column, or block. When you’ve filled the entire grid the puzzle is solved.

This week’s solution is on page 43

CROSSWORD PUZZLE

CLUES ACROSS 1. Winter melon 7. Solar energy particles (abbr.) 10. Requiring fewer resources 12. Nest 13. Name 14. Actress Vergara 15. Very near in space or time 16. Authorized program analysis report 17. Spoken in Vietnam 18. Brews 19. Drops 21. Last or greatest in an indefinitely large series 22. Congo capital 27. Soldier 28. Bronx Bomber 33. Argon 34. Open 36. Popular sandwich 37. Protect from danger 38. Goddess of spring 39. Large hole 40. Vegetarians won’t touch it 41. Actress Neal 44. Finger millet 45. Small waterfalls 48. Israeli city 49. Most gummy 50. NFL owner Snyder 51. Spindles

CLUES DOWN 1. Italian Lake 2. Cuckoos 3. Sound unit 4. Doctors’ group 5. The cutting part of a drill 6. A team’s best hurler 7. Couches 8. Muslim ruler 9. Round globular seed 10. A way to confine 11. Men wear it 12. Chinese province 14. Soup cracker 17. Expression of disappointment 18. West Chadic languages 20. Midway between south and southwest 23. An opal 24. Main artery 25. Junior’s father 26. Sierra Leone dialect 29. Cyrillic letter 30. Native American tribe 31. Passes 32. Most unnatural 35. Insecticide 36. Blatted 38. Actress Fox 40. Actresses Kate and Rooney 41. Outside 42. The habitat of wild animals 43. Days falling in the middle of the month 44. Radioactivity unit 45. Certified public accountant 46. Swiss river 47. Sino-Soviet block (abbr.) Solutions on page, 43

Throughout my school days (elementary through college), I rarely stepped foot into a library. Sure, I wandered in whenever I had a book report due or needed to research something, but other than that, I avoided the institution like the plague. To me, the library represented work, and I was much more interested in fun. Ironically, once I graduated from college and was entrenched in the working world, the library became my haven. Throughout my twenties and early thirties, I made a plan to visit my local library at least once a week, easily knocking away several hours while I wandered the rows of books and magazines. (This was prechildren, so I had all the time in the world.) On most visits, I would end up with seven or eight books to check out. The content was always varied. Sometimes I would end up with a book on Ancient Greece simply because it looked interesting. Other times, I might grab a handbook on kite-making because the idea looked intriguing. I had the same allure when it came to large book sellers like Barnes & Noble and Borders. Whenever I traveled out of town, I always tried to carve out a couple hours to peruse their voluminous selections. These bookstores were similar to the library except all the information was fresh, clean and relevant. The only drawback was that my funds were limited (that’s where the libraries were helpful). Of course, these book meandering activities began dissipating once the World Wide Web took hold and information became only a mouse click away. I was a relatively early adopter to all things Internet, having bought my first computer in the early nineties. Once I saw the power of obtaining information digitally, almost overnight I turned my back on the bookstores and libraries. My first computers were large devices that needed their own space. I could not afford the early laptops so my reading and research had to be done while sitting at a desk. Even when the computers began to shrink in size, I still had a dedicated room reserved for my digital projects and information gathering. And then one day, I read a rumor about a new device being developed by Apple Computer. Apparently Apple was in the process of manufacturing a touch screen device that was fully mobile. The more I read about this new product, the more entranced I became. I pictured how I might utilize such a device since it seemed tailor-made for my lifestyle. The rumor mill churned for well over a year until one day I read a news report that said Apple was about to announce something big. Apple was always about to announce something big, but this seemed different. People speculated that this might be the new touch screen device,

Showings April 7, 2017 - April 13, 2017

Downtown Rutland Shopping Plaza MOVIES

143 Merchants Row, Rutland, VT 05701

BEAUTY AND THE BEAST - PG BOSS BABY - PG FATE OF THE FURIOUS - PG 13 CHIPS - R GHOST IN THE SHELL - PG 13 GOING IN STYLE - PG 13 KONG SKULL ISLAND - PG 13 SMURFS LOST VILLAGE LOGAN - R

12:40 12:00 12:20

3:45 2:20 3:40 1:10 1:20

12:50 12:10 12:30

1:00 2:25 3:30

6:45 4:40 6:50 4:10 4:20 3:50 4:00 4:35

TIMES 9:45 7:05 9:25 9:50 7:10 9:30 7:15 9:40 6:55 9:10 7:20 9:55 7:00 9:15 6:40 9:35

877-789-6684 • WWW.FLAGSHIPCINEMAS.COM

THE CASE FOR CHRIST

but little leaked information substantiated this. Finally, the day came when Apple unveiled the iPad. I was immediately overwhelmed by the product. Most of the rumors about its functionality and design were true. As soon as it was made available, I purchased one. And I can honestly say, my life changed overnight. Suddenly I could research any interest, anywhere, anytime. At night I could climb into bed and lay comfortably while reading my favorite book. The world was at my fingertips whenever I wanted to research, debunk or lose myself in information. But most importantly, it became an invaluable tool when writing this column. To this day, I rarely go more than a few hours without utilizing my iPad for information gathering. Not surprisingly, my trusty iPad came in handy after I saw this week’s feature, “The Case for Christ,” a Christian conversion story about real-life Chicago Tribune journalist, Lee Strobel. In the film, Strobel becomes angered when his wife suddenly converts to Christianity. In order to disprove her newfound beliefs, Strobel visits various professionals to gather proof that the resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth was an impossible event. He interviews historians, medical doctors, and psychologists, hoping that their insights will give him the proof he needs to sway his wife’s faith. Instead, Strobel himself becomes a believer. This is exactly the kind of film I love to research since so many “scientific” claims were made. Anyone who sees this movie should do the same. Like me, you’ll undoubtedly discover a few liberties in the storytelling. Believers will swallow this film up, pointing to the variety of discoveries Strobel made as more proof that Jesus was the son of God. Non-believers will point to a number of inaccuracies in the historical interpretations. Either way, as a motion picture, “The Case for Christ” was no better than your average made-for-television feature. Check this one out if your faith in Christianity is strong, as it will reaffirm your entire belief system. Otherwise, steer clear because the message here is very religious. An unpassionate “C” for “The Case for Christ.” Got a question or comment for Dom? You can email him at moviediary@att.net.

SPORTS

The Mountain Times • April 12-18, 2017 • 13

Fish and Wildlife announces 2016 Master Angler winners • Trophy fish entries were received from 80 waters Vermont Fish and Wildlife (F&W) announced that 47 anthroughout the state glers have achieved Master Angler status for 2016, includ• As in the past, the most entries (358), came from Lake ing two notable Vermonters who successfully completed a Champlain difficult bonus challenge set by the department last year. • 62 percent of trophy fish entered were released “2016 marked the seventh year of the Master Angler Both youth participant Chase Stokes of Ferrisburgh and program, and anglers from near and far continued to adult angler Drew Price of Colchester successfully tackled impress with their eagerness to learn about, target and the Master Angler bonus challenge. They were the only land trophy-size fish of so many different species across anglers to catch and enter trophy-size lake trout, chain Vermont,” said Shawn Good, fisheries biologist with F&W. pickerel, fallfish, yellow perch and white sucker, which “There were dozens of impressive entries into the program, were preselected by the department for the challenge. The highlighted by the first bonus challenge winners, and the species represent the challenge categories of cold water first two submissions of lake whitefish since the program’s fish, warm water fish, panfish, alternative fish and one inception, meaning that all 33 eligible species have now “wild card” species. been entered.” “The goal of the new bonus challenge was to encourage In order to achieve Master Angler status, anglers must anglers to fish for a wider variety of fish species than they enter trophy fish of a minimum length for at least five of the might normally target,” said Good. “Chase and Drew, who 33 eligible species. Anglers are required to submit a photoare longtime participants in the Master Angler program, graph of their fish, along with accurate measurements and proved again through the bonus challenge the depth of catch data including when, where and how the fish was caught. Anglers must also indicate if the fish was harvested Courtesy of Vt. Dept. of Fish and Wildlife their angling skillset and why they can be considered two of Vermont’s most successful multi-species anglers.” or released. Additional highlights from the 2016 Master Aiden Good of Pittsford with a 29 1/2-inch lake trout he Stokes and Price were awarded gift cards to local tackle Angler program include: entered into the Vermont Master Angler program in 2016. shops and will receive a commemorative lapel pin as • A total of 747 trophy fish entries, including 496 entries The fish was caught and released on Lake Champlain. part of earning the traditional Master Angler designation from 149 adult anglers, and 251 entries from 59 youth alongside the other 45 winners. The Master Angler program, which launched in 2010, was anglers developed to recognize the achievements of anglers who catch trophy-size fish from Ver• Thirty adult Master Angler and 17 youth Master Angler award recipients • Participation by non-resident anglers from California, Connecticut, Delaware, Georgia, mont waters and celebrate the growth and survival of such fish. The program also aims to Illinois, Massachusetts, Maine, New Hampshire, New York, Pennsylvania, Texas and encourage anglers to improve their knowledge of fish habitat and behavior, and develop Canada the skills required to pursue and catch a wide variety of fish species.

Long Trail Century Ride to feature new mountain bike trail, road options KILLINGTON—The seventh annual Long Trail Century Ride fundraiser to benefit Vermont Adaptive Ski and Sports will have more options this year, including a mountain bike component plus a 40-mile road route. Set for Saturday, June 24, the event is expected to raise more than $300,000 for adaptive sports programming, expensive adaptive equipment and scholarships. More than 40 cyclists with disabilities, plus their assistants and guides, as well as more than 700 road and mountain bikers are expected to turn out for the Century Ride. Each rider is responsible for a minimum $100 fundraising requirement. In addition to event classic road routes that include the 100-, 60- and 20-mile rides, mountain bikers now can join the cause at Saturday morning’s Snowshed session at the Killington Bike Park. Mountain bikers will have early access to the Snowshed lift at 9 a.m. (an hour before the lift opens to the public). Participants

Aspen buys Stratton: continued from page 1 Blue Mountain in Ontario, Steamboat and Winter Park in Colorado, Snowshoe in West Virginia. While not a condition to the merger, Squaw Valley Ski Holdings, the parent company of Squaw Valley and Alpine Meadows resort and an affiliate of KSL, will also become part of the entity at closing, but continue to operate under its current management. Meanwhile, Aspen Skiing Company owns Aspen Mountain, Aspen Highland, Snowmass and Buttermilk. The transaction is expected to close by the end of the third quarter of calendar year 2017 and is subject to certain closing conditions including regulatory approvals. “This transaction creates significant opportunity for Intrawest and delivers tremendous value

can either ride for the whole day or join the après-ride party at Long Trail Brewery, which kicks off at noon. Except the mountain bike session, all ride routes, including a family-friendly 5K, start and end at Long Trail Brewery in Bridgewater Corners. An après-ride festival with music by Live at The Fillmore (Allman Brothers’ tribute band) is open to the public beginning at noon, featuring live music, face painting, kids’ activities, a vendor village, silent auction, adaptive equipment demos, and more. For those not riding, party-only tickets may be purchased at the door. The event is held rain or shine. Those who register by June 1 will receive a Killington ticket voucher, valid for one day of skiing during the 2017-2018 season or mountain biking during summer 2017. Cyclists check in Friday night at a pre-ride party at Killington Resort, and rides begin at 7 a.m. on Saturday from the brewery on Route 4. Rider registration is $70 and includes a Century Ride wicking

t-shirt, food and support at aid stations during the ride, entry to the après-ride party with food and entertainment, plus a commemorative water bottle. Fees go up June 1. The après-ride party is open to the public and admission at the door is $15/ adults and $10/kids on Saturday beginning at noon. “We hope this provides a new way to bring in more riders to the event to

fundraise and support Vermont Adaptive’s programs and expensive adaptive equipment,” said Jeff Alexander, Killington Resort’s events and partnerships manager. “Vermont Adaptive added a new adaptive mountain bike program last year, so it made perfect sense to tie in mountain biking to the Long Trail Century Ride this year. Doesn’t matter what you like to ride now—everyone can come out and participate.”

espresso bar - specialty cocktails - healthy fare

liquidartvt.com 802.422.ARTS (2787) vinyl revolution thursdays 4-9 pm

“Discover art in our food, drink and atmosphere”

Second mega-merger of season

to our current shareholders,” said Thomas Marano, Intrawest’s chief executive officer in a press release. “The cash consideration of $23.75 per share represents a 40 percent premium over $16.97 per share, Intrawest’s closing stock price on January 12, 2017, the trading day prior to Reuters’ report speculating that the Company was exploring a potential sale. We are excited to work with Aspen and KSL. Our new partners bring additional financial resources and a shared passion for the mountains and our mountain communities. Both Aspen and KSL are committed to helping Intrawest accelerate our plans to bring more value to our guests, more opportunities for our employees and more investment into our local communities.” “Intrawest is a collec-

tion of remarkable properties in exceptional locations. Each has its own unique story and its own unique sense of place,” said Eric Resnick, chief executive officer of KSL. “We are committed to honoring the deep traditions of each resort, while working with Intrawest’s talented management team and employees to continue to serve both their guests and local communities.” “The enthusiasm that Intrawest’s employees exhibit for the guest experience and for being responsible members of their communities is apparent in all they do. We are excited to be part of the investment group that is going to work hard to help realize the collective potential of Intrawest’s portfolio of resorts,” said Mike Kaplan, chief executive officer of Aspen.

L-R: Steve, Dan, Jenny, Beth, Jimi, Careen, Ariel, Kenroy, Stacie, Sue, Skiddy & Liz

The Liquid Art Team says a big THANK YOU to all our loyal patrons, locals, Killington resort and Mother Nature for such a great winter! As we head into Spring we look forward to serving you on our Patio on weekends starting Memorial Day, and we will reopen full time for summer on June 29th. Family owned and operated, Liquid Art strives to provide a unique experience for their guests. Serving breakfast, lunch and dinner in an art gallery that is relaxed and cozy, you can find delicious and healthy food options morning, noon, and night. Proclaiming that “everything we do is art”- the creative energy is apparent from the local artwork, saltwater reef tank, modern fi replace and outdoor patio that is beautifully landscaped with large metal animal sculptures; to all the food, lattes, and cocktails that are served. They also tap into the local musical talent by hosting an open mic once a week. Meet the locals for a cup of coffee, happy hour for martinis, dine in style, or just stop in to check out the local art.

Indulge your senses at Liquid Art every time of day, every season!

LIVING A.D.E.

14 • The Mountain Times • April 12-18, 2017

Okemo hides a golden egg, holds Easter activities Sunday, April 16, 8 a.m.—LUDLOW—On Sunday, April 16, Okemo Mountain Resort will celebrate Easter with a sunrise service and an on-mountain egg hunt. The lucky skier or snowboarder who finds a specially marked golden egg in the Easter Egg Hunt, and presents it at the Resort Services Desk, will win a special prize. Hundreds of colorful eggs filled with wrapped candies and toys will be strewn along some of Okemo’s easiest trails, near the South Ridge Quad chairlifts, prior to opening on Easter morning. The egg hunt will begin when the lifts start running at 8 a.m. For little egg hunters, age 6 and younger, Okemo’s Jackson Gore courtyard will be the site for the Junior Easter Egg Hunt starting at 10 a.m. Prior to the Easter Egg Hunts, Okemo will host a non-denominational sunrise service. All are welcome to meet in the Jackson Gore Roundhouse, dressed for the weather, at 6:15 a.m. Pastor Abraham Gross will lead the gathering outside to celebrate with song, a Bible reading and a short reflection. Coffee and tea (provided by the church) will be available in the Roundhouse after the service. For more information, call 802228-1600 or visit okemo.com.

Courtesy of Chandler Center for t

ABIGAIL WASHBURN AND BÉLA FLECK

Béla Fleck and Abigail Washburn to blend banjos on the Chandler mainstag Courtesy of Okemo Mountain Resort

Found! This lucky little rider found the golden egg during Okemo’s Easter Egg Hunt in a previous year, winning her a special prize.

Friday, April 14, 7:30 p.m.—RANDOLPH— Join Chandler Friday, April 14 at 7:30 p.m. to experience a captivating evening of music with Béla Fleck and Abigail Washburn, as they weave together the styles of gospel, chamber, blues music, and Appalachian murder ballads. Both musicians are innovators as banjo players and composers in their own eclectic avenues. Béla Fleck, an icon and innovator of jazz, classical and world music, with more multicategory Grammy wins than any other artist (15 total), and Abigail Washburn, a formidable talent with triumphs in songwriting, theater, performance, and even Chinese diplomacy by way of banjo, turn out to be quite a fortuitous pairing with a deep, distinct and satisfying outcome. Fleck and Washburn have played as a duo since they first met. Following the birth of their son, they decided that the best way to keep them all together would be to play together more. They took their duo on the road beginning August 2013, with their eponymous debut

album, featuring only banjos and their voice released a year later. The album debuted at n 1 on the Billboard Bluegrass chart, and revea their astounding chemistry as collaborators the two seamlessly stitch together singular b sounds (through an assortment of seven ba spanning the recording) in service to the sto that their songs tell, with no studio gim mickry needed. Washburn and Fle playfully embrace the notion tha they’ve become a family band. A at home, on stage or on record, their deep bond, on top of the w their distinct musical personali and banjo styles interact, that m theirs a picking partnership unlik other on the planet. Ticket prices range from $15 for stude up to $75 for VIP seating that includes a mee greet with the performers following the show Chandler Music Hall is fully accessible and equipped for the hearing impaired. Chandler Center for the Arts is located at 71-73 Main Street, Randolph. For tickets more information, call 802-728-6464 or v chandler-arts.org.

April

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LIVING A.D.E.

The Mountain Times • April 12-18, 2017 • 15

April

Courtesy of Linda Maness

Mettawee Community School sixth grade students Collin, Sophia and Amelia invite the community to “Dig It!” Courtesy of Castleton University

“The Opulence of Integrity” explores the homogeneous inner struggle for identity as it pertains to men of color in the United States. Following a week-in-residency, the show will be open to the public, Friday.

“The Opulence of Integrity” celebrates life and legacy of Muhammad Ali in show at Castleton

Friday, April 14, 7 p.m.—CASTLETON—“The Opulence of Integrity” is a theatrical, multimedia ensemble work inspired by the public life and inner searching of boxing’s outspoken superstar, Muhammad Ali. Inspired by Ali’s career as a boxer and life as a social activist, public martyr, and human being, choreographer Christal Brown deploys her eclectic movement vernacular to illustrate the turmoil of a life infused by divinity yet misinterpreted by humanity. By using Ali as an archetype, “The Opulence of Integrity” explores the homogeneous inner struggle for identity as it pertains to men of color in the United States. Christal Brown’s

troupe is currently in residency at Castleton University, April 10-14, to lead a number of master classes and give performances for local schools. The week-in-residency culminates with a public performance Friday, April 14 at 7 p.m. in the Casella Theater. The show is a unique dance/theater piece, incorporating elements of martial arts, boxing, modern dance, theater, hip hop, and multimedia. This work places an historical lens on a contemporary issue, taking an intimate and expansive look at the social, economic, and spiritual trappings that continually prohibit freedom, while drawing

clear parallels of war, resistance, and perseverance. Brown pours her own experience into the work and dedicates “The Opulence of Integrity” to her father, brother, and uncle who, in her words, “fought but did not win” and to her son “whose battle has not yet begun.” “I came, I saw. I loved,” said Marlies Yearby, Tony Award winning choreographer of “Rent” on Broadway. Tickets are $18 for adults, $15 for Castleton alumni and seniors, and $12 for children available at castleton.edu/tickets or the Fine Arts Center Box Office. For more information, call 802-468-1119.

Brownsville church opens free music series with Good Friday concert Friday, April 14, 1:30 p.m.—BROWNSVILLE—Brownsville Community Church will sponsor the first of a series of free concerts open to the public Friday, April 14. The first concert will be a Good Friday concert which starts at 1:30 p.m., followed by a brief service at 2:30 p.m. The concert will feature treasured works from Bach and more including original compositions and an improvisation. These

pieces will be performed by Christian Huebner on the organ, Sten Bowen on piano, Skip Downing on trumpet and Alexandra Leary on piano. On Thursday, April 13 at 7 p.m. there will be a Maundy Thursday service preceded by a potluck soup and bread supper at 6 p.m. Easter Sunday celebrations on April 16 will start with an outdoor sunrise service at 7 a.m. on the hill above Albert Bridge School, followed

by a community breakfast at 7:30 a.m.and an Easter Sunday service at 9 a.m. at the church. After the service, children are invited to participate in a community Easter egg hunt outside in Tribute Park adjacent to the church. Brownsville Community Church is located on the BrownsvilleHartland Road, between Albert Bridge School and the Brownsville Town Hall. For more information, call 802-484-5944.

SPRING IS NATURE'S WAY OF SAYING, "LET'S PARTY!" ~ROBIN WILLIAMS

What better setting for a celebration or wedding than the Red Clover Inn? Attentive staff, delicious cuisine, generous gathering space and sophisticated accommodations…With space to celebrate with up to 150 people and rooms and suites for a dozen couples, the inn, barn, and restaurant could be your center stage. Book now for spring, summer and autumn!

GarrenTee Photography

Restaurant open Thursday-Monday, 5:30-9pm www.redcloverinn.com innkeepers@redcloverinn.com 7 Woodward Road, Mendon, VT Just off Route 4 in the heart of the Killington Valley

Make a discovery with “Dig It!”

Thursday, April 13, 1 p.m.—WEST PAWLET— On Thursday, April 13, the Mettawee Community School’s sixth-graders will present “Dig It!, A Musical Tale of Ancient Civilizations” written by John Jacobson and Roger Emerson. There will be two performances: 1 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. The communityat-large is invited to these free, handicapped accessible presentations. Through “Dig It!” the audience will take a journey back in time to learn

about the past through facts, reputable theories and legends, in the time of Mesopotamia, the building of the pyramids, as well as back in Ancient Rome, and more. There will be visits to Confucius, King Zozer, Gilgamesh and Romulus and Remus. Each student has been charged with a quick research project about a “Dig It!” character and time period; and oral presentations will be made to classmates. For more information, call 802-645-9009.

April

16 • The Mountain Times • April 12-18, 2017

SMOOTHIE SALE EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO MAKE THE PERFECT SMOOTHIE 77 WALES ST | 802.773.0737 | RUTLANDCOOP.COM

FOOD

The Back Country Café

The Back Country Café is a hot spot for delicious breakfast foods. Choose from farm fresh eggs, multiple kinds of pancakes and waffles, omelet’s or daily specials to make your breakfast one of a kind. Check our Facebook for hours and daily specials. (802) 422-4411

Bentleys Restaurant

Located a few miles east in the beautiful village of Woodstock, Bentleys Restaurant has been a favorite of locals and travelers alike for over 40 years. Lunch and dinner daily. Tasty fare, live music, cocktails & craft brews — something for everyone! Central and Elm | Woodstock, VT | (802) 457-3232 www.bentleysrestaurant.com

Birch Ridge

Serving locals and visitors alike since 1998, dinner at the Birch Ridge Inn is a delicious way to complete your day in Killington. Featuring Vermont inspired New American cuisine in the inns dining room and Great Room Lounge, you will also find a nicely stocked bar, hand crafted cocktails, fine wines, seafood and vegetarian options, and wonderful house made desserts. www.birchridge.com. (802) 422-4293

Choices Restaurant and Rotisserie

Chef-owned, Choices Restaurant and Rotisserie was named 2012 ski magazines favorite restaurant. Choices may be the name of the restaurant but it is also what you get. Soup of the day, shrimp cockatil, steak, hamburgers, pan seared chicken, a variety of salads and pastas, scallops, sole, lamb and more await you. An extensive wine list and in house made desserts are also available. Now serving Brunch on Sundays. www.choicesrestaurantkillington.com (802) 422-4030

The Foundry at Summit Pond

Enjoy an intimate dining menu or tavern specials at Killington’s only waterside dining that also has live entertainment every Friday and Saturday. Appetizers include crab cakes, buffalo drumsticks and a cheese plate while the entrees include chicken Marsala, meat loaf, steamed lobster and more. The tavern menu features nachos, fried fish sandwich, teriyaki steak sandwich and others. www.foundrykillington.com (802) 422-5335

Fuzzy’s Diner & Cafe

Now open under new ownership and management, Fuzzy’s Diner & Cafe offers fresh baked goods daily, breakfast, brunch and dinner. Also featuring a full service bar with local and craft microbrews. Farm-to-table daily specials. 2841 Killington Road, Killington. (802) 422-3177.

Marble Bar & Restaurant (At Highline Lodge)

Zac Guyette relocates to Marble Bar At Highline. Zac was formally the Head Chef at Caseys Caboose And provides Marble Bar with a more diversified menu, Featuring Steaks, Burgers, Pork and Seafood. (802) 315-0034

Jones’ Donuts

Offering donuts and a bakery, with a community reputation as being the best! Closed Monday and Tuesday. 23 West Street, Rutland. See what’s on special at Facebook.com/JonesDonuts/ Call (802) 773-7810

JAX Food & Games

At Killington’s hometown bar, you’re bound to have a good time with good food. Starters, burgers, sandwiches, wraps and salads are all available. With live entertainment seven days a week, they’re always serving food until last call. www.supportinglocalmusic.com (802) 422-5334

Killington Market Classic Italian Cuisine Old World Tradition

fresh. simple. delicious! 1/2 price appetizers & flaTbreads DAILY from 4-5 p.m. OPEN DAILY AT 4 P.M.

Take breakfast, lunch or dinner on the go at Killington Market, Killington’s on-mountain grocery store for the last 30 years. Choose from breakfast sandwiches, hand carved dinners, daily fresh hot panini, roast chicken, salads and specialty sandwiches. Vermont products, maple syrup, fresh meat and produce along with wine and beer are also for sale. www.killingtonmarket.com (802) 422-7736 or (802) 422-7594

Lookout Tavern

With a free shuttle, take away and call ahead seating, Lookout Tavern is a solid choice. Nachos, quesadillas, sweet potato fries, salads, soups, sandwiches and dinner options are always a good selection. www.lookoutvt.com (802) 422-5665

Liquid Art

Forget about the polar vortex for a little while at Liquid Art where they service Vermont artisan coffee, tea, espresso and lattes. If you’re looking for something a little stronger, they also offer signature cocktails. Light bites are offered for breakfast, lunch or happy hour if you get hungry. http://liquidartvt.com/menu/ (802) 422-2787

Mendon Mini Golf and Snack Bar

Mendon Mini Golf and Snack Bar serves a variety of dining options that include Handmade Burgers, Dogs, Grilled Chicken, Fish, Hand-cut Fries, and many other meals and sides. Also choose from 11 flavors of Hershey’s Ice Cream. 776-4921

Moguls

Voted the best ribs and burger in Killington, Moguls is a great place for the whole family. Soups, onion rings, mozzarella sticks, chicken fingers, buckets of chicken wings, salads, subs and pasta are just some of the food that’s on the menu. Free shuttle and take away and delivery options are available. (802) 422-4777

Vermont Inspired New-American Cuisine

SUNDAY DINNERS Choose any Entree from sunday dinner menu plus soup or salad and includes 2 meatballs per person

Last call for dinner for the 2016-2017 winter season

4-6 p.m. only $20 each adult; $10 each child

pasta | veal | Chicken seafood | steak | flatbreads

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At the Covered Carriageway 37 Butler Road, Killington birchridge.com • 802.422.4293

Serving dinner from 6:00 PM Thursday thru Saturday April 15th then on hiatus till June 29th

The Mountain Times • April 12-18, 2017 • 17

MATTERS

Color works hard.

Mountain Top Inn

Whether staying overnight or visiting for the day, with the Mountain Top Dining Room & Tavern enjoy breakfast, lunch and dinner with one of Vermont’s best views. A mix of locally inspired and International cuisine from seasonal salads, local artisan cheeseboards to filet mignon, the menu is sure to tempt your taste buds. Choose from 12 Vermont craft beers on tap. Warm up by the terrace fire pit after dinner. Wednesday nights, Burger & Brew. www. mountaintopinn.com 802.483.2311

On The Rocs

Kick back at On the Rocs open daily at 3 p.m. Enjoy a full range of specialty cocktails as well as a full menu featuring items such as our signature crispy brussels sprouts, Caribbean style ceviche served with plantain chips, New England lobster roll and roasted rack of lamb just to name a few. Don’t forget to buy one tapa, get the second one free between the hours of 3 p.m. and 5 p.m.

Outback Pizza & More

N I G H T C L U B

Look for the bears! Outback Pizza has new ownership, and is completely renovated with a firehouse bar and zebra room. Still enjoy the wood fired brick oven pizza, plus soups, burgers, pasta, salads, wings, chili, and more, plus a kids menu. Daily specials, 16 microbrews available; with a free shuttle van. 2841 Killington Road, Killington. (802) 422-9885

Put it to work for you. 802.422.2399 • mountaintimes.info MOUNTA IN TIMES

Pasta Pot

& N I G H T C L U B

Chef owned, the Pasta Pot has 40 years of authentic Italian cuisine under its belt. Whether you’re in the mood for ante pasta, pasta, pizza or homemade entrees, you’ll be satisfied. All menu entrees and pasta are available in half orders and don’t forget to ask about seasonal dishes. (802) 422-3004

Peppinos

Chef-owned since 1992, Peppino’s offers Neapolitan cuisine at its finest: pasta, veal, chicken, seafood, steak, and flatbreads. If you want it, Peppino’s has it! Aprés-hour daily features half price appetizers and flatbreads. For reservations, call (802) 422-3293. www.peppinosvt.com

Kids & Families Join us at Sugar & Spice’s

12th Annual

Red Clover Inn

Farm to Table Vermont Food and Drinks. Thursday night Live Jazz. Monday night Chef Specials. Open Thursday to Monday, 5:30 to 9:00 p.m. 7 Woodward Road, Mendon, VT. (802) 775-2290, redcloverinn.com

EASTER EGG HUNT April 16th • 10 a.m.

Seward’s Dairy

If you’re looking for something truly unique and Vermont, check out Seward Dairy Bar. Serving classic homemade food including hamburgers, steaks, chicken, sandwiches and seafood. Craving something a little sweeter? Check out their own homemade 39 flavors of ice cream. Vermont products also sold. (802) 773-2738

10% OFF Breakfast

Valid only April 12th, 2017 Sugar & Spice Restaurant & Gift Shop Rt. 4 Mendon, VT

Sugar and Spice

Stop on by to Sugar and Spice for a home style breakfast or lunch served up right. Try six different kinds of pancakes and/or waffles or order up some eggs and home fries. For lunch they offer a Filmore salad, grilled roast beef, burgers and sandwiches. Take away and deck dining available. www.vtsugarandspice.com (802) 773-7832

802-773-7832 www.vtsugarandspice.com

Sushi Yoshi

Sushi Yoshi is Killington’s true culinary adventure. With Hibachi, Sushi, Chinese and Japanese, we have something for every age and palate. Private Tatame rooms and large party seating available. We boast a full bar with 20 craft beers on draft. Lunch and dinner available seven days a week. We are chef-owned and operated. Delivery or take away option available. www.vermontsushi.com (802) 422-4241

NDON MINI GOLF ME

Culinary Institute of America Alum

Now Open for the Season! Join Us for

CK BA R

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“ DINE

“

“The locally favored spot for consistently good, unpretentious fare.” -N.Y. Times, 2008

Open Daily In The Beautiful Village Of Woodstock, Vermont!

DRINK | DANCE

Lunch • Dinner • Cocktails • VT Craft Brews Tasty Fare • Live Music • Dancing To Our DJ Private Parties • 10-foot Wide HDTV Projectiion

BOSTON VJ/DJ RYAN GROW IS IN THE HOUSE! Saturday, April 15th: DANCE TO POP*ROCKS, 10pm Sunday, April 16th: SHOWTUNES & COMEDY, 6pm 802.457.3232 | WWW.BENTLEYSRESTAURANT.COM

EST. 1976 | CENTRAL & ELM | WOODSTOCK, VT A FEW MILES EAST ON ROUTE 4

MT_EASTER_April12.indd 1

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“

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“

“You are about to have the best food you’ve eaten, no ifs, ands, or buts.” -The Rutland Herald

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LIVING A.D.E.

18 • The Mountain Times • April 12-18, 2017

Spring craft party launches T.A.G. Vision: Together, Art Grows

April

RUTLAND—Welcome springtime into the neighborhood by decorating garden stakes, cute ladybug rocks, and other fun crafty creations during April school vacation. Tuesday, April 18, 4-6 p.m. there will be a Spring Craft Party in the Community Green Space at 113 Library Ave., Rutland. The rain date will be the next day, same time and place. Rutland Rec Dept. will be grilling up hot dogs on the barbeque and other snacks will be provided, free of charge. Participants can take crafts home. The Spring Craft Party is the public launch of the T.A.G. Vision Project, or “Together, Art Grows,” a youthfocused initiative that aims to build community and neighborhood pride through the creation and installment of public art. T.A.G. Vision is a summerlong initiative sponsored by NeighborWorks and generous funders.

The following week, T.A.G. Vision asks the community to continue their involvement in a community input session for TAG art projects at the Rutland United Methodist Church, 71 Williams St., Wednesday, April 26, 6-8 p.m. The community input session will begin with a brief presentation of selected properties from around the neighborhood and inspiring art installations from around the country. The community will be invited to vote on the first T.A.G. project to be completed this summer by youth. Self-assessments with the aim to measure human assets in the community will also be administered, including a question asking if they know a youth (age 13-17) who could participate. Residents of Northwest Rutland are highly encouraged to learn more about this project and offer input. Coffee and sweets, plus exciting door prizes, will be offered. The events are free and open to the public.

April

Courtesy of CMAC

MURRAY MCLACHLAN

International pianist McLaughlin to premiere Compass Center’s Steinway Saturday, April 15, 7:30 p.m.—BRANDON—Acclaimed and celebrated Scottish concert pianist Murray McLachlan will perform at the Compass Music and Arts Center April 15 at 7:30 p.m., the first recital to be given on a classic 1915 Steinway piano recently donated to the Compass Music and Arts Foundation by the estate of late New York jazz musician John Fischer. McLachlan’s program for the evening will include Chopin’s 24 Preludes, Op. 28; Ronald Stevenson’s “Pensees sur les Preludes de Chopin;” Finzi-McLachlan’s 2016 transcription of “Three Bagatelles” for clarinet and piano, and Nikolai Myaskovsky’s Sonata No. 1 in D minor. Murray McLachlan is known throughout the

international classical piano world for his more than 40 commercial recordings, as the author of three books on piano technique and numerous articles on piano technique and repertoire, his leadership in top professional piano publications, and as chair of both the U.K. section and international executive council of the European Piano Teachers’ Association (EPTA). Tickets for the concert are $20. Pre-concert dinner is $25. Reservations are required for dinner and recommended for the show. Compass Music and Arts Center is located at Park Village, 333 Jones Dr., Brandon. For more information or reservations, call 802-247-4295.

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April

15 By Marc Brenner

Karla Crome portrays Constanze Mozart, and Adam Gillen plays Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart in “Amadeus.”

Paramount continues National Theatre Live series Saturday, with “Amadeus”

Saturday, April 15, 1 p.m.— RUTLAND—Paramount Theatre continues its Live in HD broadcasts from the National Theatre of Great Britain with the second in a three-play series. The broadcast— Peter Shaffer’s masterpiece “Amadeus”—will screen Saturday, April 15 at 1 p.m. Lucian Msamati plays Salieri in Shaffer’s iconic exploration of music, power and jealousy. The pro-

duction also features live orchestral accompaniment by Southbank Sinfonia. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, a rowdy young prodigy, arrives in Vienna, the music capital of the world—and he’s determined to make a splash. Awestruck by his genius, court composer Antonio Salieri has the power to promote his talent or destroy his name. Seized by obsessive jealousy he begins a war with Mozart, with music, and

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ultimately, with God. After winning multiple Olivier and Tony Awards when it had its premiere at the National Theatre in 1979, “Amadeus” was adapted into an Academy Award-winning film. Tickets are $20 for adults and $10 those under 18. The Paramount Theatre is located at 30 Center St., Rutland. For more information, call 802-775-0903 or visit paramountvt.org.

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The Mountain Times • April 12-18, 2017 • 19

JONES DONUTS

Acclaimed British actor Julian Sands brings Homeric theatre to Castleton

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Tuesday, April 18, 7 p.m.—CASTLETON— Castleton Arts and the Castleton University Soundings program are thrilled to present the Vermont premiere of a truly remarkable collaboration featuring acclaimed British actor Julian Sands in “A Celebration of Harold Pinter” directed by John Malkovich. Billed as an “evening of Homeric theater with an extraordinary actor,” this unique production has delighted audiences across the globe and will now grace the stage at Castleton University Tuesday, April 18, 7 p.m. in the Casella Theater. In 2005, Julian Sands was approached by the Nobel Prize winning playwright and poet Harold Pinter to prepare a set of Pinter’s poems for a special presentation in London. Working closely with Pinter, Mr. Sands was granted a rare insight into his personality, life, and work. This extraordinary collaboration evolved into a wonderfully humorous and fascinating solo show directed by John Malkovich. Tickets are $18 for adults, $15 for seniors and alumni, $12 for children and non-Soundings students. Castleton faculty, staff and students are eligible for one free ticket with a current Castleton ID. Tickets are available castleton. edu/tickets or the box office. For more information, call 802-468-1119.

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April

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Killington to celebrate Easter with sunrise service, breakfast, egg hunt Sunday, April 16, 5:30 a.m.—What better way to start off Easter Sunday than with a sunrise service at Killington Peak? Then, watch the kids as they search for treats left behind by the local Easter Bunny, including lift tickets and season passes. Easter sunrise service is set to begin at 6:30 a.m. at the Killington Peak Lodge. Guests will begin loading the K-1 Express Gondola at approximately 5:30 a.m. The service is free and open to all, but space is limited to 275 guests and will be offered on a first-come, first-served basis. There will be no pre-registration. Both adults and children will need a ticket to the event (complimentary). Join after-

ward for a community breakfast. Feel free to bring your skis and snowboards up the gondola, but please, no skiers or riders may descend until 8 a.m. when trails open. After the service, starting at 8 a.m., join in and around the K-1 Base Lodge for an Easter egg hunt for all ages. At 9 a.m., a toddler-friendly Easter egg hunt will follow at the K-1 Base, as well. Some of the eggs will be filled with more than candy—lucky egg hunters could find lift tickets and a season pass to Killington Resort or Pico Mountain. There is a limit of 15 eggs per child. For more information, visit killington.com.

Pre-Kindergarten/Kindergarten Registration for the 2017/2018 School Year

All elementary schools within the WCSU will be registering new students for kindergarten. Children entering kindergarten must be age five on or before September 1, 2017. Prekindergarten students (ages three and four on or before September 1, 2017) are being registered at Barnard Academy, Killington Elementary School, and Reading Elementary School. Please call your district’s school for an appointment to register your child. Barnard Academy: (802-234-9763) By appointment on May 18th. Killington Elementary School: (802-422-3366) By appointment on May 1st. Reading Elementary School: (802-484-7230) By appointment. The Prosper Valley School: (802-457-1234) By appointment on May 12th. Woodstock Elementary School: (802-457-2522) May 17th at 12:15 p.m., or by appointment. Please bring your child’s birth certificate and up-to-date immunization record to registration.

20 • The Mountain Times • April 12-18, 2017

Billings Farm & Museum

NEWS BRIEFS By Lani Duke

West Rutland school budget up for third vote following tie on Town Meeting Day

Baby Farm Animal Celebration

WEST RUTLAND—Voters rejected their school budget with a 159-159 tie vote on Town Meeting Day, March 7. They turned out again in nearly the same numbers and turned the budget down again, 157-153, said Rutland Central Supervisory Union Superintendent Debra Taylor. The proposed budget is $5.7 million, 1.09 percent lower than the current year. Taylor believes voters who voted against the budget may be reacting to the 11.4 percent per pupil spending increase. All Vermont schools show a budget change because the state requires moving special education revenue from the schools to the supervisory union. West Rutland’s

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Endless Summer Tanning celebrated its grand opening and Chamber ribbon cutting, March 28. The business at 217 Woodstock Ave. offers manicures and pedicures, hair styling and coloring as well as tanning. Karen Worcester brought nearly 30 years of banking experience with her as she joined the Bank of Bennington as manager its newest branch at 143 Woodstock Ave. in Lambs, chicks, of ducklings, Rutland.and Her most recent position was that of assistant goslings, more! branch manager for Berkshire Bank in Rutland. Children’s Craft & of Awesome Graphics and Robert Tami Napolitano Heirloom Seed Activities Stubbins of Robert Stubbins Electrical in Rutland are two arm Life Exhibits • Farmhouse of 20 entrepreneurs across the state selected to participate in a free business course starting April 21 at Vermont Technical College. Emerging Leaders is a small business administration training Route 12N • Woodstock, VT program designed specifically for entrepreneurs intent on growing their small busi802-457-2355 nesses. Napolitano and Stubbins will receive 100 hours www.billingsfarm.org of classroom time, connections to small business owners with a network of industry experts and peers, and assistance creating a three-year strategic growth action plan.

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enrollment is lower, as is the number of students who pay tuition to attend the school from outside the district. There was more of a surplus in the 2016 budget to use as revenue, but that was not so for the 2017 budget. The changes in the budget are unique to this year and are not part of the budget that will be proposed in 2018, explained the school board and supervisory union officials. Equally unique are the voting results. West Rutland voters have not rejected a school budget in the six years Taylor has worked for the Rutland Central Supervisory Union. State Agency of Education Finance Manager Brad James has not seen a tied school budget vote in the 20 years he has been with the agency. The board decreased the budget by $181,434 by reducing personnel by 2.25 fulltime equivalents as well as reducing supplies, fuel, and equipment expenditures. Voters will cast their ballots on the lowered budget, May 2.

Aldermen approve mayoral appointments The Rutland City Board of Aldermen approved incoming Mayor David Allaire’s choices for interim alderman, new city attorney, and incumbent department heads, April 3. Allaire asked former Alderman Ed Larson to fill the seat Allaire had vacated on being elected mayor, a one-year appointment his fellow aldermen approved 6-3. Larsen commented that Allaire wooed him for the position, outlining his objectives for the city and saying Larsen had the experience and institutional knowledge of the community that is of value to the board. The board welcomed Matt Bloomer unanimously to a twoyear position as city attorney.

Bloomer had been appointed to the board in 2014; voters elected him to finish the term in 2015, but he dropped out of the race in 2016, citing both a new job and a new baby. The board then approved the return of Jeff Wennberg as commissioner of the Department of Public Works, Bob Tanner as building inspector, Henry Heck as city clerk, and Tara Kelly as zoning administrator. All are two year terms. The aldermen also approved Cindi Wight as city recreation department head for two years in a 5-5 vote. Although the vote was a tie, Wight will continue in the position; Allaire said a candidate

must have seven no-votes to lose a post. As the meeting concluded, Board President Sharon Davis asked the membership to consider two ideas for committee discussion: the best uses for properties owned by the city, and whether city property tax bills and water bills should be set for payment the same month. The community development committee is examining the city properties’ use, and the public works committee is considering the tax question. The board agreed with the Farmers’ Market’s request that the board continue setting the fee for Depot Park usage at $500.

Local woman to compete in Miss Vermont competition A Rutland woman will join seven other contestants in the 2017

Gateway to Vermont’s Rural Heritage Miss Vermont competition that will be held Friday, April 21 at 7 p.m. at the Vergennes Opera House. Bethany Garrow, age 19 of Rutland, will demonstrate jazz dance as her talent and speak on a platform supporting organ donation. The Vermonters are vying for the title of Miss Vermont 2017. Contestants will compete in talent, interview, lifestyle & fitness, evening wear, and on-stage question. Judges Mary Catherine Jones and Kevin Moriarty will select Miss Vermont 2017 after scoring contestants in each phase of competition as follows: · Talent: 30 percent · Interview: 25 percent · On-Stage Question: 20 percent · Eveningwear: 15 percent · Lifestyle & Fitness: 10 percent Each of the eight young women competing in the pageant is actively involved in her community, academically driven, and possesses a performing talent. Over $16,000 in scholarships and awards will be made available to participants on Friday night. The new Miss Vermont will join the representatives of other states to compete for the Miss America title in Atlantic City, N.J. Photo courtesy of Miss Vermont in September. BETHANY GARROW

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The Mountain Times • April 12-18, 2017 • 21

NEWS BRIEFS

Police arrest 65 in statewide warrant sweep

Last week, Vermont State Police arrested 65 individuals as part of a coordinated statewide arrest warrant sweep. All of these individuals have pending criminal charges in Superior Court (felonies and misdemeanors) and failed to uphold their court obligations, which resulted in warrants being issued for their arrest. Troopers from all 10 state police field stations were joined by local police officers, county sheriffs, game wardens, Dept. of Motor Vehicle officers, and federal law enforcement to make arrests. The Vermont State’s Attorney offices and Vermont Dept. of Corrections also assisted. “Individuals who commit crimes and then fail to appear in court undermine our criminal justice system and

erode the quality of life in Vermont,” said Public Safety Commissioner Thomas D. Anderson in a press release. “Law enforcement in Vermont will continue to ensure that those violating Vermont law cannot run or hide from justice before a Vermont court,” he added. In Rutland County, state police arrested 13 people ranging in age from 23 to 57. Scott Chandler of West Rutland, Desireah Fosmer of Rutland City, Young Lim of St. Albans, Taylor Howes of Ludlow, Brittany Valente of Rutland City, Justin Hodgin of Clarendon, Gordon Ritchie of Benson, Vaughn Wilcox of Wells, Kevin Demars of Rutland Town, Ronald Kreth of Rutland City, Sharon Frappier of Castleton, Nichole Reynolds of Proctor and Faith Shorey of Rutland City were all arrested on warrants and arraigned in court or lodged at the Marble Valley Correctional Facility.

Danby man arrested for selling crack, heroin DANBY—Police arrested a 21-year-old Danby man on multiple counts of selling drugs last week. Cory Munger was arrested Thursday, April 6, on three counts of selling heroin and one count of selling crack cocaine. The arrest was the result of an investigation by the Vermont

Drug Taskforce, during which detectives completed a number of controlled purchases of heroin from Munger. Munger was lodged at the Marble Valley Correctional Facility for violating his probation and was scheduled to appear in court on April 7 to answer to the charges.

Plea deal may settle Castleton fatal car crash case By Alan J. Keays, VTDigger

A man charged in a single-vehicle crash that killed his girlfriend has reached a plea agreement that could let him avoid serving any time behind bars. The plea deal heads off a legal battle that had been brewing over the admissibility of a blood-test for alcohol impairment in light of a recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling in a North

Dakota drunken driving case. John Fairbanks III, 24, of Castleton, pleaded no contest Tuesday, April 4, in Rutland Superior criminal court to a felony charge of gross negligent operation of a motor vehicle with death resulting and a misdemeanor offense of drunken driving. The charges stem from a crash in Castle-

ton on November 2014 that killed 23-year-old Stephanie Briggs, a passenger in Fairbanks’ car. A felony charge of drunken driving with death resulting was dismissed as part of the plea agreement. A sentencing hearing is set for May 30. The plea deal for Fairbanks calls for his sentence on the felony charge of gross

negligent operation of a motor vehicle with death resulting to be deferred for five years, and he would be placed on probation. If he abides by the terms of his probation for those five years, the charge would be cleared from his record. If he violates his probation conditions he faces the possibility of receiving the maximum

If you have a prekindergarten aged child who will be enrolled in a PreK program next fall you are invited to sign up your child for a hearing and vision screening. Please contact the school nurse in your local elementary school to schedule an appointment. Barnard Academy/Lisa Willems: 234-9763 Killington Elementary/Susan Clarke: 422-3366 Reading Elementary/Jean Chick: 484-7230 The Prosper Valley School/Lisa Willems: 457-1234 Woodstock Elementary/Jamie Sudol: 457-2522

Plea deal, page 22

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One lucky dog—after nine-day romp, Tucker found By Sue Skaskiw

Imagine the sinking feeling in the pit of your stomach if you’ve just rescued two dogs in need of a home, only to have them jump out of your car window three days later. This is a true story. Neither dog, Molson or Tucker, knew the area. To make it worse, it was among the coldest week of the winter. Molson came right back when called. Tucker, a Chow-cross and true to his personality, looked, turned, and took off. But, thanks to many wonderful people, Tucker was found after nine days on the run. Vermont Volunteer Services for Animals Humane Society (VVSA) owns large folding sandwich boards, which were made into signs at various points where Tucker might venture. His former owners made the trek from Wallingford to Bridgewater whenever he was spotted, hoping Tucker would come when called. (The only reason

the family had to re-home Tucker was because he began misbehaving around their 18-month-old child. It was a heartbreaking decision.) Tucker was repeatedly spotted, it was nearly impossible to track him. The Windsor County sheriffs saw Tucker playing in the river. When called, he bolted into the woods. Nearly 20 years ago the VVSA bought a large dog trap that’s safely captured many dogs, and most recently a lucky goose. The trap was put where Tucker was spotted by the Marketplace. Days went by. Tucker was still spotted running back and forth on the same road. But when anyone approached, he made a beeline in the opposite direction or up the hill and into the woods, out of sight. On day seven organizers made a long path through the 16 inches of snow in the woods, up the hill in a

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zigzag pattern, hoping to provide him an easy route to the trap. On the eighth day, while checking the trap, the constable said he had discovered the area where Tucker was hunkering down. So fresh bait was placed in hopes the aroma would draw him out, and left in the trap. That afternoon, the trap was moved to the location of Tucker’s burrow. This was the saving grace. Nothing was more exciting than the call the morning of day nine that Tucker had been caught. He is one lucky dog! VVSA traps and signs are freely available to anyone in need. Organizers thank everyone who helped. The VVSA motto is: “Together We Truly Do Make A Difference!” You all did! Here’s to a wonderful life, Tucker and Molson! Sue Skaskiw is the executive director of the VVSA Humane Society.

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22 • The Mountain Times • April 12-18, 2017

By Lani Duke

New signage for Pawlet Town Hall proposed PAWLET—The Pawlet Historical Society intends to erect a roadside historical sign near the Pawlet Town Hall, bearing the following language: “Third Century of Service. The Pawlet Town Hall, listed on the National Register of Historic Places, is an 1881 High Victorian Italianate style structure. It was built in cooperation with Marcellus Wheeler, a local merchant, to function as the seat of town government as well as commercial space. It has continuously served Pawlet’s town government and as the Civic Center of Pawlet, as well as having provided space over the years for a store, tin shop, school, post office, apartment and library. Prominent features include a cupola and a porch that almost encircles the entire building. Today the first floor houses the offices of the Town Clerk, Treasurer, Listers, and Zoning. The second floor serves as a meeting space. Pawlet Town Hall continues to preserve and enhance its position as the center of town government and village life.” The Pawlet Select Board approved the language during its March 28 meeting. Zoning Administrator Eric Mach has agreed to oversee the require paperwork for a zoning permit.

Tinmouth man sentenced

TINMOUTH—After a slew of burglaries and other offenses, 32-yearold Joshua R. Ruane is going to prison. On April 4, Ruane was sentenced to two to six years in prison for burglary, attempted burglary, trespassing, false pretenses, and violating conditions of release, all charges for which Ruane admitted guilt. Judge Cortland Corsones delivered the sentence in Rutland Criminal Court April 3. The judge also revoked Ruane’s probation on a one- to two-year sentence for drunken driving and leaving the scene of an accident. Ruane will serve the one- to two-year sentence on those charges concurrently with the sentence on the new charges. Nor are these dispositions the end of Ruane’s time before the bench. April 3 he also admitted to driving a vehicle without the owner’s consent, driving without a license, petty larceny, sale of stolen property and violating his conditions of release. Sentencing on those charges is pending.

Plea deal:

Tinmouth fatal hit-and-run under investigation

TINMOUTH—Vermont Attorney General T. J. Donovan and Rutland County State’s Attorney Rose Kennedy hosted a public meeting to discuss community concerns about the hitand-run death of Tinmouth dairy farmer Leo Branchaud last year. The April 9 meeting was at the Tinmouth Community Center. Branchaud was walking on Gulf Road in front of his house when he was hit by a car. Although police first identified Lisa Velde, 58, as the vehicle’s driver, further investigation found the other occupant, Thomas H. Velde, Jr., 41, of Middletown Springs, to be the driver. Thomas Velde was arraigned in Rutland criminal court on one felony charge each of leaving the scene of a fatal crash and impeding a police investigation,

as well as one count each of negligent operation of a vehicle and driving with a suspended license, both misdemeanors. He has eight felony convictions and 33 misdemeanor convictions; the charge of impeding police is for allegedly telling police his mother was the driver during the fatal crash. Kennedy is prosecuting both Veldes. Lisa Velde has entered a guilty plea to a felony charge of impeding a law enforcement officer with sentencing scheduled June 23. She may receive no more than three years in jail. Thomas Velde’s case is still pending, with a jury scheduled to be drawn in the trial later in April. His prior convictions mandate he be charged as a habitual offender; he could receive two life sentences if convicted of all charges against him.

School snippets BENSON—All Benson Village School chilcren in kindergarden through eighth grade are starting a jump rope unit to maintain and increase overall cardiovascular endurance and strength. They will develop jump rope routines and create their own styles of jumping to different music. Physical education classes are currently held twice a week for 45 minutes. Middle School science

students in Benson are learning Newton’s laws of motion as they build 3D-printed, balloonpowered cars and document using the design cycle on Google. Fourth-graders used marshmallows and toothpicks to study geometry, getting firsthand experience of the concepts of area, perimeter, volume, right angles, and parallel and perpendicular lines. They are also exploring fractions.

Fair Haven Grade School to start Boys & Girls Club FAIR HAVEN—Fair Haven Grade School will start a Boys & Girls Club in the 2017-2018 school year, Freddie Cannon told the Fair Haven Select Board as he introduced Larry Bayle, executive director of the Boys & Girls Club of Rutland County. Bayle described his organization’s history and goals, which include Early Age Substance Abuse Prevention beginning at age 6. The board wants Bayle to meet with the rec program director. In other news, the Fair Haven Select Board accepted the final water asset management grant report from Nate Pion of Aldrich + Elliott of Essex Junction. Pion recommended accepting Belden Company’s $1,288,664 bid on the waterline upgrade project, contingent on state approval. Fair Haven will join Benson, Shoreham, and Vergennes in putting a sign on Route 22A designating the highway as Desert Storm Veterans’ Memorial Highway.

CU offers future teachers practical experience with the disabled CASTLETON—Adaptive physical education as taught by Andy Weinberg at Castleton University is far more intensive than the single lecture of some years past. In the seven years since Weinberg first took over teaching the course, he has changed the course to two lecture days plus one hands-on class a week. In addition to the adaptive physical ed course, Weinberg also teaches Fitness Programming for Persons with Disabilities, covering how to make fitness plans and work with people who have disabilities. Students in both courses learn by working with participants who have a variety of developmental disabilities, including autism, cerebral palsy, and Down syndrome.

Donahue selected as Provider of the Year by CSJ

College of St. Joseph has selected Tom Donahue to receive this year’s Provider of the Year award at its annual Provider Scholarship Gala on April 21. Donahue is a local business leader and community volunteer. As CEO of BROC: Community Action in Southwestern Vermont, he works to change conditions that cause poverty or that stand in the way of its elimination, while also assisting low-income Vermonters with basic needs and helping them to develop skills and resources for self-sufficiency through employment and training opportunities. He previously served as CEO of the Rutland Region Chamber of Commerce for 21 years. Highlights of his accomplish-

ments include creating signature annual events for the community like the Fireworks Extravaganza and reinventing Winter in August, assisting to secure upward of $25 million for the Rutland Southern Vermont Regional Airport and upward of $30 million for Amtrak and associated rail improvement, hosting national conventions, and more. Donahue also has extensive experience in municipal government as the former director of community development for the City of Rutland and as a member of the Board of Aldermen, including as president. He currently chairs the Board of Civil Authority as a Justice of the Peace.

Plea deal lightens sentence but still imposes restrictions

continued from page 21 penalty for the offense of 15 years in jail. The conditions of his probation include taking part in drug or alcohol treatment if a screening determines it is necessary. He also cannot go into a bar, tavern or any other establishment whose primary business is serving alcoholic beverages. In addition, he must complete 50 hours of community service. On the misdemeanor DUI charge, the proposed plea deal calls for a six-month to one-year sentence, which he can serve on home confinement if approved by the state Department of Corrections. Rutland County State’s Attorney Rose Kennedy said after the hearing she could not comment on the case, which remains

pending until after the sentencing hearing. Judge Cortland Corsones at the change of plea hearing Tuesday walked Fairbanks through the terms of the agreement before taking the no contest pleas. “You have the right to proceed to a trial if that is what you want,” the judge said. “I do understand that,” Fairbanks replied, and then pleaded no contest to the charges. The plea deal comes amid a legal challenge over the admissibility of a blood test used to determine Fairbanks’ blood-alcohol level on the night of crash. For Fairbanks, according to court records, his test found he had a blood-alcohol level of 0.097 percent, which is higher than the 0.08

percent legal limit for driving in Vermont. Attorney Daniel Stevens, representing Fairbanks, filed a motion seeking to the suppress the blood test results and asked that the charges stemming from it be dismissed. He contended in his filing that a U.S.

Fourth Amendment allows for warrantless breath tests for arrests on drunken driving charges. However, according to the ruling, it prohibits warrantless blood tests. The difference between the blood and breath test, according the decision, is that a

PROSECUTORS DISAGREED, ARGUING, IN PART, THAT A BLOOD TEST WAS THE ONLY OPTION AT THE TIME. Supreme Court case decided less than a year ago concerning the procedure police use to obtain blood test results amounted to an unconstitutional search. The high court in that case, Birchfield v. North Dakota, ruled that the

breath test is not considered as invasive a procedure as a blood test, in which skin is pierced and blood is taken from a person. Stevens wrote in his motion, “In this case, the arresting officer obtained a sample of John’s

blood without a warrant, a violation of the Fourth Amendment, and the test results should be excluded from trial.” Prosecutors disagreed, arguing, in part, that a blood test was the only option at the time. “Nearly two and quarter hours after the crash the defendant was still in the hospital,” the response from prosecutors states. “Hours would pass before he was discharged. For those reasons, a breath test was not reasonably available.” The plea deal reached Tuesday came before Judge Corsones could rule on the matter, either allowing the blood test to be admitted as evidence at trial, or suppressing it and not permitting it to used. The crash leading to the charges took place

Nov. 29, 2014, around 7:40 p.m. on Route 30 in Castleton. Police said Fairbanks was at the wheel of a 1999 Volkswagen Passat that drove into the oncoming lane before going airborne, striking a utility pole. Briggs was declared dead at the scene, police said. Fairbanks, who was walking around yelling and throwing debris when police arrived, told them that Briggs had been driving, court records stated. However, a police affidavit filed in the case stated that a day later, Briggs’ mother, Susan Lynde, reported that Fairbanks had called her, telling her that he had been driving in the crash that killed Briggs. “I’m so sorry,” he told Lynde, according to court records.

WORSHIP

The Mountain Times • April 12-18, 2017 • 23

Stafford students earn 52 medals at SkillsUSA Board; Alea Valente in Pin Design; Andrew RUTLAND—About 85 Stafford TechniCassidy in Action Skills; Kaina Porter in cal Center students participated in the SkillsUSA Leadership Conference held at Basic Health Care; Brooke Otto and Jon various locations around South BurlingUrbani in 3D Visualization and Animation; ton, April 4-5. and Kiana Porter, Harrison Steever, Dylan Stafford Technical Center garnered Beebe and Francis Grabowski in Gorilla 52 medals in individual and group comCommunications. petitions, including 13 gold medals, 19 Bronze medal winners were: Francis silver medals, and Grabowski in Plumb85 STAFFORD TECHNICAL 20 bronze medals. ing; Glen Mandel in Medal winners atElectrical Wiring; Zac CENTER STUDENTS tend Stafford TechniKasuba in CabinetPARTICIPATED. cal Center in Rutland making; Eric Morton from the following schools: Fair Haven in Culinary Arts; Allie Lynch in Related Union High School, Rutland High School, Technical Math; Samantha Butler in ColliOtter Valley Union High School, Mill River sion Repair; Laura Jones in Job Interview; Union High School, Poultney High School, Alex Blackwood in Technical Drafting; and West Rutland High School. Justin Hill in Action Skills; John Greene Gold medal winners were: Darin Alt in in Criminal Justice; Britney Foss in Basic Plumbing; Eli Gignoux in Electrical Wiring; Health Care and Job Skill Demo A; Harrison Trevor Quigley and Logan Withington Steever and Ryan Worcester in TV Video in Team Works; Steven Betit in Welding; Production; Sky-lyn Mead in AdvertisDylan Beebe in Extemporaneous Speaking Design; Harrison Steever in Prepared ing; Nathaniel Whipple in Technical DraftSpeech; and Justin Hill, Noah Smith, Ryan ing; Faith Springer, Hunter Lanfear, Lexi Ward and Andrew Cassidy in Gorilla ComSadakierski in Crime Scene Investigation; munications. Kiana Porter in Job Skill Demo A; Hilary Students from a variety of programs Dubois in Cosmetology; and Grace Euber competed in events that demonstrate perin Photography. sonal, workplace and technical skills. Silver medal winners were: James Mars SkillsUSA is a national, nonprofit partin Plumbing; Jared Disorda and Noah nership of students, teachers and industry Smith in Team Works; Noah Logan and representatives working together to ensure Lindsey Hewes in Additive ManufacturAmerica has a skilled workforce, serving ing; Ryan Ward in Related Technical Math; middle school, high school and college or Samantha Butler in Auto Refinishing postsecondary students who are preparing Technology; Grace Euber, Sky-lyn Mead for careers in technical, skilled and service and Brooke Otto in Promotional Bulletin occupations.

Holy Week

at Sherburne United Church of Christ | All Welcome Maundy Thursday, April 13 at Sherburne UCC 5:30 p.m. - Simple Soup & Bread Dinner 7:00 p.m. - Holy Communion followed by “Service of Shadows” (Tenebrae) Good Friday, April 14 at Sherburne UCC Noon - 4 p.m. - Sanctuary open for Silent Prayer and Meditation Sunday, April 16 - Ecumenical Easter Sunrise Service at Killington Peak K1 Gondola starts at 5:30 a.m.; Service limited to 275 participants

WORSHIP 18 Lincoln Ave, Rutland VT | (802) 775-0846 | Msgr. Bernard W. Bourgeois Holy Thursday, April 13 6:30 p.m. Evening Mass of the Lords’Supper

Easter Sunday, April 16 Mass of the Resurrection 8:00 a.m. of the Lord Penitential Service 3 p.m. Sunday, April 9

Good Friday, April 14 3:00 p.m. Celebration of the Lords’Passion

Church of St. Patrick

218 N. Main Street, Wallingford, VT 05773 | 802-446-2161 | Msgr. Bernard W. Bourgeois

Good Friday, April 14 Celebration of the Lord’s Passion, at 6:30 p.m. Easter Sunday, April 16 Mass of the Resurrection of the Lord, at 10 a.m.

OUR LADY OF THE SNOWS Roman Catholic Church 7 South St. PO Box 397 Woodstock, VT 05091

Holy Thursday

Holy Saturday

7:00 pm Mass of the Lord’s Supper

8:00 pm Solemn Easter Vigil

Confessions will be heard after Mass

(802) 457-2322

Easter Morning Worship at Sherburne UCC at 9 a.m.

Good Friday

Easter Sunday

3:00 pm Celebration of the Lord’s Passion

10:30 am Solemn Mass

Confessions will be heard after the service

Grace Congregational United Church of Christ 8 Court St., Rutland, VT • 802-775-4301 • www. gracechurchvt.org Rev. John C. Weatherhogg, Senior Minister Rev. Tracy Fye Weatherhogg, Associate Minister Rev. Robert B. Boutwell, Minister of Healing Diane Chartrand, Interim Minister of Music

Maundy Thursday Communion Service April 13th • 7:00 PM Fellowship Hall with Joyful Noise

Good Friday Tenebrae Service April 14th• 7:00 PM

Easter Sunday, April 16th

6:00 AM Easter Sunrise Service at Mill Village Chapel 9:00 AM Easter Breakfast 10:00 AM Sanctuary Service Sanctuary Choir, Brass, Timpani and Bagpipes

Our Lady of the Mountains Catholic Parish 802-773-6820 • Killington, Vermont The little white church on Rt. 4 Killington

Easter Sunday, April 16th Solemn Mass at 7:30 a.m

Sanctuary Choir, Bell Choir and violin

Bridgewater Congregational Church UCC Holy Week 2017

Maundy Thursday, April 13 at Sherburne Church

Traditional service of Tenebrae and Holy Communion followed by a pot luck supper at 5:30 p.m.

Good Friday, April 14

The Bridgewater Congregational UCC will be open for silent prayer and meditation from 12:00-4:00 p.m. (802) 671-5211 7213 Rt 4, Bridgewater, VT

Easter Sunday, April 16

Easter Celebration Service is at 11:00 a.m. with refreshments and good conversation at 10:30 a.m.

Church of Our Saviour

66 South Main St. • Rutland, VT • Msgr. Bernard W. Bourgeois • 802-773-6820

GOOD FRIDAY, APRIL 14

HOLY SATURDAY, APRIL 15

EASTER SUNDAY, APRIL 16

Stations of the Cross at noon

Mass of the Easter Vigil 8 p.m.

Mass of the Resurrection of the Lord 7:30 a.m. 9:30 a.m. 11 a.m.

Celebration of the Lord’s Passion 7 p.m.

Holy Week 2016 at Trinity Episcopal Church

Episcopal

85 West Street • Rutland, VT • 775-4368 • office@trinitychurchrutland.org

Please join us for Holy Week and Easter Services

Maundy Thursday, April 13 7:00pm Holy Eucharist, Foot-Wash-

All are welcome! Palm Sunday, April 9 9:30 AM Holy Communion, Mon., Tue., Wed. 5:30 PM Maundy Thursday, April 13 7:00 PM Good Friday, April 14 7:00 PM Great Vigil of Easter, April 15 7:30 PM Easter Holy Communion, Aoril 16 9:30 AM

CHRIST THE KING CHURCH

ing, Reservation of the Holy Sacrament, Stripping of the Altar

Good Friday, April 14 12:00pm Liturgy of the Three Hours:

Meditations on Christ’s Last Words Find us on Mission Farm Road, Killington Off Route 4 across from the Killington Skyeship

9:30am

7:00pm

Good Friday, April 14

Good Friday Office, Veneration of the Cross, Sung Solemn Collects, Mass of the Pre-Sanctified

9:30am 7:30pm

Easter Eve, April 15

Holy Saturday Office The Great Vigil of Easter Holy Eucharist

Easter Day, April 16

Festal Celebration of the Resurrection of Our Lord!

24 • The Mountain Times • April 12-18, 2017

COLUMNS

Ski movies: “Downhill Racer” (1969) Editor’s note: The following is the first in a short series of reviews of mostly older films whose narratives prominently feature skiing and ski resorts.

The opening shot of “Downhill Racer,” the 1969 Alpine drama starring Robert Redford, initially registers as an abstract composition: a dark, diagonal bolt against a white backdrop. After a moment, the taut bounce and ribbed weave of the black line look familiar, at least to the skiers amid the audience—we’re looking at a chairlift cable, and the lift is running, and the whiteness behind it is a snowy mountain in the distance. The ski-movie subgenre, with all its lowbrow, straight-to-video tendencies, didn’t yet truly exist in the 1960s, but from a contemporary perspective it feels right that director Michael Ritchie, in his debut feature, should announce his sober artistic

intentions before divulging his sporty subject matter. It must be noted right away that “Downhill Racer” is no slopeside romp: nearly half a century after its production, it remains the only genuinely serious cinematic depiction of the skiing life—a little too serious, maybe. At the time of its release, a zealous young Roger Ebert proclaimed it “the best movie ever made about sports.” Redford, fresh off his breakthrough to stardom in “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid” in the same year, plays the downhill racer in question, a young daredevil named Dave Chappellet who finds an opportunity to join the U.S. ski team when another American is injured in an FIS competition. Chappellett quickly makes a name for himself on the European circuit: he takes risks and rarely finishes in the middle of the pack—for him, it’s either the podium or a crash. His dream is to win Olympic gold. Chappellett’s coach (an indisputable Gene Hackman, evincing as much authentic instructional devotion to the sport of skiing as he would later bring to the basketball court in “Hoosiers”) scolds the

rookie for his cocky attitude and sense of entitlement. His teammates find him aloof and self-involved. It’s not clear whether Chappellett notices their disapproval. Like “Whiplash” (2014), “Downhill Racer” is a story of singlemindedness and of the dark side of obsessive ambition. The main difference between the two is the reserve with which “Downhill Racer” regards its protagonist, whose will to succeed is not presented as a dramatic point of decision. Chappellett doesn’t forgo (either heroically or foolhardily) some other potentially healthier destiny—he’s just a limited person, who’s not interested in much except skiing. He has two brief love affairs, in which he says little, and the only time a woman tries to speak more than a handful of sentences to him, he’s forced to honk his car horn at her in frustration. He’s a great athlete, but his courage on the race course has no moral or inspirational component. Within the universe of sports movies, the character conception of “Downhill Racer” may qualify as an insight—even so, it’s a slim one, and it leaves the film with a static, unengaging

Monthly market insights The U.S Market The bull market celebrated its eighth anniversary in March, but stock prices were mixed for the month.

MONEY MATTERS BY KEVIN THEISSEN The Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 0.7 percent, while the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index ended essentially flat. The NASDAQ Composite rose 1.48 percent, according to The Wall Street Journal. Stocks carried forward their momentum from February into the early days of March, as the earnings season drew to a close and investors turned their attention toward politics, the economy and the Fed. Positive economic reports and an upbeat speech by President Trump reignited investors’ enthusiasm. Stocks eventually stalled as a decline in oil prices weighed the markets down. The stock market, however, resumed its climb after the Fed raised rates a quarter of a percentage point, signaling to investors just how much strength the Fed currently sees in the U.S. economy. Eyes on Healthcare The markets turned downward again as President Trump and House GOP leaders had trouble securing the passage of healthcare reform, sparking concern that the White House may also encounter similar challenges with tax reform and other policy priorities. The month closed out with yet another shift in direction, as economic reports renewed investors’ hope in potentially sustained acceleration in economic growth.

Gen Y, page 27

What investors may be talking about in April Since the populist revolt by British voters to exit the European Union (EU), there has been an underlying current of anxiety about the prospect of other EU member countries electing leaders that share a similar desire to break away. The Dutch election in March was a victory for the political establishment, fending off the populist candidate Geert Wilders, who campaigned on a platform that included leaving the EU. Markets were relieved by the election results, but a new test of the establishment’s ability to hold the affections of voters is expected to occur in late April, with the first round of elections in France. The French bond market has been roiled by the possibility of a win by National Front candidate Marine Le Pen, who, among other positions, supports disentangling France from the EU. Markets have calmed in the wake of the Dutch election, and polls pointing to a win by the French centrist, Emmanuel Macron. That said, investors are well aware of how mistaken such polls can be. Just prior to the vote in Britain, the polls had the “remain” vote leading. Should Ms. Le Pen’s numbers perform in a way that suggests that she could win in May’s run-off election, European markets may become unsettled, potentially sending a ripple effect across the Atlantic. World Markets Overseas markets enjoyed a better month of performance than U.S. stocks, as the MSCI-EAFE Index gained 2.8 percent. European stocks turned in a strong performance in the wake of signs that real, sustainable economic growth was finally taking root. Markets were also buoyed by the election results in the Netherlands, which rejected the populist candidate Money Matters, page 26

Return of the missing lynx

By Susan Shea

In the northern forest of New England, a big gray cat crouches silently in a dense thicket of fir along a snowshoe hare run. Its pointed ears, topped with long tufts of black hair, twitch as it listens intently.

THE OUTSIDE STORY The cat’s face is framed by a fur ruff and its yellow-green eyes are alert for movement. Suddenly, the lynx pounces, killing its prey with one quick bite to the neck. As it pads away with the hare, the lynx’s broad furry paws act like snowshoes, supporting it in the deep snow. Its short tail is tipped with black. The Canada lynx, once eliminated from most of New England by forest clearing and unsustainable hunting and trapping, is making a comeback. Though still listed as a federally threatened species, there is an expanding breeding population in northern and western Maine, smaller numbers of lynx in northern New Hampshire, and intermittently, cats have been found in Vermont. The lynx is a creature of the boreal forest, that broad swath of conifers stretching the width of Canada. Northern New England is at the southern edge of its range. This snow cat specializes in hunting snowshoe hares, which make up over 75 percent of its winter diet. A lynx will consume one to two hares per day. Lynx are so closely tied to their favorite prey that their populations fluctuate with the peaks and lows in snowshoe hare populations. Lynx also eat squirrels, grouse, and other prey, as well as carrion, and their diet tends to vary more in summer, when eggs and fish may be part of the menu. Lynx entered New England from Quebec beginning in the 1990s, and especially in the early 2000s, when lynx populations in the Gaspé Region were high. These dispersing lynx crossed the border into Maine, where they boosted a small remaining population and benefitted from extensive areas of regenerating spruce-fir forest following the spruce budworm outbreak in the 1970s. This young forest supports high densities of snowshoe hares. By 2006, state biologists estimated there were 750 to 1000 adult lynx in Maine. As this population grew, some lynx ventured southwest. By 2011, lynx sign was common in Pittsburg, N. H., and tracks have been found occasionally in the White Mountains. Jillian Kilborn, a wildlife biologist with New Hampshire Fish and Game, said the tracks in the mountains are probably from lynx wandering far afield during breeding season, but the White Mountain National Forest was once a stronghold for lynx. The state is working with the Northeast Climate Science Center at the University of MassachusettsAmherst to study whether its high-elevation spruce-fir forests have enough snowshoe hares to support lynx. Vermont had its first record of lynx in 2003 and there have been 14 confirmed citizen sightings of the cats or their tracks since then. A lynx was photographed twice in southern Vermont last summer. Chris Bernier, wildlife biologist with the Vermont Fish and Wildlife Department, explained

this was likely a yearling male searching for new territory; dispersing lynx have been known to travel up to 500 miles. Bernier doesn’t believe the Green Mountains have enough snowshoe hares to support a breeding population, but the state and federal partners have recently installed remote cameras throughout the Greens and in prime habitat in the Northeast Kingdom to monitor for lynx. Bernier said there was evidence of reproduction for a few years, but except for the lynx sightings in southern Vermont last year, lynx have not been detected in the state since 2014. Whether lynx survive in New England will depend on the continued existence of large blocks of forests connecting our states to lynx populations in Quebec and New Brunswick, explained Bernier. Kilborn believes there is a small breeding population in the northern tip of New Hampshire. “Climate change and the changes in our winters we’ve been seeing recently are not a good thing for lynx,” warned Kilborn. Lynx are designed for deep, fluffy snow. Crusty snow resulting from thawing and refreezing puts them at a disadvantage when competing with coyotes, fishers, and bobcats for habitat and prey. Fishers are also predators of lynx, said Kilborn. Do you think you’ve seen a lynx? Photos of the cats or their tracks in New Hampshire (which ideally should include several tracks and a ruler for scale) may be reported to http://nhwildlifesightings.unh.edu/. In Vermont, use https://anrweb.vt.gov/ FWD/FW/FurbearerReportingForm.aspx to report lynx sightings. Be careful not to confuse a lynx with its more common cousin, the bobcat. Although individuals vary, the latter species has a spotted coat, shorter ear tufts, and a tail with black on top and white on the bottom. Lynx tracks are larger than those of a bobcat, and the toe pads appear smaller, as they are obscured by fur. Susan Shea is a naturalist, writer and conservation consultant who lives in Brookfield, Vermont. The illustration for this column was drawn by Adelaide Tyrol. The Outside Story is assigned and edited by Northern Woodlands magazine, and sponsored by the Wellborn Ecology Fund of New Hampshire Charitable Foundation: wellborn@nhcf.org.

The Mountain Times • April 12-18, 2017 • 25

COLUMNS

Openning up a nerve gap

So now I have some thinking to do. As I mentioned before, the day after the cortisone shot I was pain free. In the week after I have been in more pain than I was before shot. They say to give Altitude the Altit it a couple of weeks, that Sick Sickness the cortisone crystallizes By br brady in the tissues where it was crain injected, and it takes a while to fully dissolve. I will say that the hip pain related to spinal stenosis (restriction or narrowing of the nerve escape gap between two vertebrae, often referred to as sciatica) has been greatly reduced, which was the point of the shot, so in that, the shot was a success. That said, I am having more soreness in my actual back (which was rarely more than stiff before), and some tenderness and itching. I assume that the tenderness and itching are from tissue damage that will heal. We will see. My second surgery appointment was with a neurosurgeon in Lebanon, whom, it turns out, my ex-wife used to work for when we were first moving in together (they didn’t like her, either). In any case, she was capable, communicative, and all sorts of other alliterative complimentary words. Her assessment of my spine was very interesting. She is the only one who noticed (and she noticed immediately) that my L3 vertebrae was not only offset 9mm from its intended place (spondilolisthesis), but that when I bend backwards, my spine slides nearly back into alignment, and when I bend forward, it slides forward to its fully displaced position. Also of interest is that on the MRI you can see that the L3-4 gap nerve on the right is thick, bright, and healthy, and that the same nerve on the left is half the size, and not nearly as bright on the MRI. One would expect, therefore, that the greatest restriction of nerve would come when it was fully displaced, bending forward (when the injury was first acute in 1988, this was in fact the case). But at this point, bending forward creates relief, and arching backward (unless carefully approached in a yoga type position or hanging upside down) causes an immediate flare of pain in my hip, which is relieved when I straighten my spine. This is counterintuitive, and has to do with the fact that

Amateur prepares for Men’s Physique show, alone As I write this I am looking at my “finalist” trophy from the Organization of Competition Bodies (OCB) Men’s Physique show I competed in earlier this month. Since my last column I have consumed a nauseating amount of food, RAISING THE BAR I’ve been sick twice, which is By Kyle finneron very rare for me, and I’ve been more stressed than usual. The hardest part of any new undertaking is the unknown. As much as we like to plan and think we have all of our bases covered, without a doubt there will be something that comes up and hits you in the mouth, since you weren’t ready for it. Training for the show was intense almost every day for three months. I was eating every few hours— around 3,300 calories per day. The vast majority of those calories were from protein. I have never eaten so many raw egg whites (pasteurized of course) in my life. Most days I would eat close to, if not more than, a pound of chicken or turkey, too. Not to mention the mountain of carbs. I had not been used to eating carbs, since previously I was on a relatively low carb diet. But I won’t lie, that was probably one of the highlights (although I’ll be fine never eating steel cut oats again!) What I found as the competition date drew near was that I really had no idea what I was doing. This was a fact I had to keep close to the chest. I was often asked “Are you nervous? Do you think you are ready?” I know these people were just being nice, but it slowly puts the thought in the back of your head, “Am I ready?” Most people, when they compete, will find a coach to help them navigate the complexities of the process. Call it hubris, but I thought I could crack the code on my own. I even wrote a column about it. The truth was a bit more complicated. I learned that your diet needs to change as you get closer to the show Raising the Bar, page 27

there is no space between my vertebrae. As the spine has settled onto the collapsed disc, the L3-4 vertebrae have stopped rocking as much (as vertebrae do when there are discs involved). Because the L 3-4 vertebrae have settled together into an unseparated stack, the supraspinous, interspinous, intratransverse, and facet capsulary ligaments have become loose. The way to imagine this is to take a short piece of rubber band, and hold it stretched at a length that maintains tension, pluck it, and then move the tension points for the rubber band proximal to each other. The rubber band will be slack, and incapable of maintaining a position. This state of ligamenture allows the vertbrae to slide back and forth within the tensile range of motion of the ligaments. To better follow this discussion, Google “spinal ligament anatomy” and look at the first few images that come up. Furthermore, it is likely that the superior and inferior facets (which make up the zygapophyseal joint behind your spinal nerve), which are the other part of the spinal structure upon which you stand, are worn down due to excessive friction created by the weight shift coming from a collapsed disc. The assessment of all three surgeons to whom I have spoken (one of whom I skied with on Saturday’s delicious powder day, a total surprise storm!) is that my spine is too far gone for a disc replacement, that there is likely very little range of motion left in the joint as is, and that fusion has likely begun. The further assessment is that I am too far gone, and my vertebral environment too unstable (too much intervertebral motion to do a disc replacement.) This of course is a contradiction, because if my spine was in danger of fusing any time soon, it would have done so during the last 28 years that I have had bone to bone contact, or during the last 16 years that I have had significant spondilolisthesis. The true state of the matter is that I have done such a good job of keeping my vertebrae moving that these doctors, and spinal medicine in general, have no fully coherent solution for me. I will not accept a fusion solution at this point. I have only had one fusion patient tell me “do it, it was amazing for me.” The rest of them said “avoid it as long as you can” and one surgeon told me that basically once you fuse one set of vertebrae, you have about five years before you need to deal with another. The solution offered by the surgeon I met with this

Altitude Sickness, page 27

The library I will admit that I have become a lost soul when it comes to using the library for reference material these days. I was a pro at finding things in the old card catalogs. The Dewey Decimal Looking System and I were good Back friends back then. I liked by mary ellen the library so much that I shaw almost got an additional degree in library science but the business world beckoned to me instead. I have come to the conclusion that the place where I am now most comfortable in the Rutland Library is the cellar! I know exactly where to find my favorite authors and head to that section to look for a book that will be a “new read” for me. I also seek out authors who are unfamiliar to me, as that seems easier to do when browsing in a small environment. The frequency of my visits to the library dropped off when Annie’s Book Store arrived many years ago. I am a gardener and like to pick up a book to read as I take a break from working. That means the pages are apt to have a dirty fingerprint or two before the book is fin-

READING IS MOST ENJOYABLE AS I TURN PAPER PAGES IN A BOOK. ished. That is allowed only if I own the book. The price of second hand books was reasonable during the days of Annie’s. But when they closed, I wondered where I would find inexpensive books that wouldn’t need permission for a little garden dirt. Shortly after Annie’s closed, I saw an ad for a book sale at the Rutland Free Library and have been a frequent visitor ever since. I bring a large canvas tote bag and can fill it up for under $10. That is even better than Annie’s prices “back in the day!” The cellar version of the library has organized sections by categories and authors, just like the main library. I feel like I am back home once again but in a smaller environment. For you digital people I know the argument … there are no paper pages to get dirty on a tablet or other

Looking Back, page 27

A moment of moral clarity There comes a time in life on earth that calls for a passionate and forceful reaction, a moment when our hearts

Mountain on Meditation By Marguerite te Jill Dye and souls determine a moral clarity of action. It’s not the time to become immune, to calculate benefits, or shut down. It’s the time that compels us to act from the depths of the spiritual beings that we are. The problem is that at times we forget to heed our spiritual dimension, and the potential power each one of us has. Did you know that during the harsh winter of 1954, when people perished from sleeping outside, Abbé Pierre sent the French citizens a plea to take in the homeless? They answered his call, opening hearts and homes, and supporting his Emmaus Movement. The Church first rejected Father Pierre’s request to build housing for the homeless, so he and his friends built shelters then, right in his own back garden. Emmaus International has spread across France to 37 countries since then. Has it had an effect? Just ask the folks in its 336 communities! The numbers of homeless in Europe look like a drop in the bucket compared to ours. “Serve those worse off than yourself before yourself,” their Manifesto declares. Abbé Pierre

taught others to share and to “Serve the most needy first.” Dr. Paul Farmer created Doctors without Borders in 1971 to alleviate suffering due to natural disasters, epidemics, conflict, and lack of health care. First responding to disasters in Haiti, the poorest nation in the Western Hemisphere, his medical teams have expanded to work in 60 countries. Right now they’re treating victims of neurotoxins like sarin and chlorine in Syria. “For me, an area of moral clarity is: you’re in front of someone who’s suffering and you have the tools at your disposal to alleviate that suffering or even eradicate it, and you act,” said Dr. Farmer. He set an example of courage without hesitation to save lives around the world in an immediate course of action. The wreckage and suffering in Syria cannot be justified or excused away, distracted from, or taken in any other way. Carnage of children from intentional bombing by chemical weapons for death and destruction is the most heinous of crimes and must be stopped without delay. “If the suffering of children goes to make up the suffering needed to buy truth, then I assert that the whole of truth is not worth such a price,” Dostoevsky wrote in “The Brothers Karamazov.” When poison rains down from the sky maiming and killing children in our world, we must do everything in our power to stop it. If we act not now, when? If we lack compassion, when will we find it? If

we turn away yet again from those who are suffering, then please tell me: What is the future of humanity? And when they ask, “What did you do then?” what will we tell our children and grandchildren? “We sent rockets to bomb an airfield, but we didn’t let the families in. We sent doctors to salve the children’s wounds, but we didn’t let the children in.” Just as no one chooses to become a victim of a vicious and violent attack, no one chooses to become a refugee, fleeing from home faced with disaster and peril. The Syrian families that survived the weapons of mass destruction are encountering deadly explosive devices as they flee for their lives, Doctors Without Borders just reported. Retreating fighters set booby traps and mines in homes and civilian areas, leaving no safe means of escape. Refugees seek survival without the right to resettle. In great danger of violence, lacking safe water and food, they need clothing and shelter to protect them from the elements, and medical care for injuries and illness. No one chooses to become a refugee. No human being could wish it on their worst enemy. As I researched the Syrian refugees, I remembered what my Austrian diplomat professor said in the early 1970s in our international relations class at Schiller College in Paris: “If you’d like to make a valuable contribution and a positive impact on the world, help solve the growing problem of refugees fleeing from their war torn and ravaged homelands to save their lives.” Before Civil War broke out in March Mountain Meditation, page 27

26 • The Mountain Times • April 12-18, 2017

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Money Matters:

Tracking market ups and downs

continued from page 24 in favor of the political establishment. At least for the moment, this result allayed fears of a populist wave undermining the EU. Most major markets were sharply higher, including France, Germany, the Netherlands, and the U.K. Markets in the Pacific Rim were mixed, with Australia and Hong Kong higher while Japan closed lower. Indicators Gross Domestic Product: Economic growth for the fourth quarter was revised higher, from the initially reported 1.9 percent to 2.1 percent. The upward revision was attributed to strong consumer spending. Employment: The employment report reflected healthy labor gains as nonfarm payrolls rose 235,000, while the unemployment rate ticked lower to 4.7 percent and workers’ earnings rose 0.2 percent. Retail Sales: Retail sales posted their smallest increase since August, rising

just 0.1 percent, though January’s sales growth was revised higher, from 0.4 percent to 0.6 percent. Industrial Production: The output of factories, mines and utilities was unchanged from the prior month, even as manufacturing output jumped 0.5 percent, its highest level since July 2008. Housing: Warm weather, a strengthening economy, and a rush to lock in current mortgage rates drove housing starts higher by 3 percent, touching levels not seen in nearly a decade. Sales of existing homes fell 3.7 percent as limited inventory and rising prices

modative monetary policy was ending, the Federal Reserve announced on March 15 that it would raise rates 0.25 percent, with two additional quarter-point increases possible later in the year. The next big challenge for the Fed may be the timing of when to commence paring back its portfolio holdings, which rose in response to the 2008 credit crisis. Kevin Theissen is principal and financial advisor at Skygate Financial Group, LLC., located on Main Street in Ludlow, Vt. He can be reached at kevin@skygatefinancial.com.

Courtesy of Yahoo finance

Mountain Meditation: continued from page 25 2011, Syria’s population was 22 million. Of the 11 million Syrians who have fled their homes since then, half of them are children: five million are refugees in the neighboring countries of Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan, Iraq, and Egypt; 10 percent have risked the dangerous journey to Europe; and 6.6 million are displaced within Syria. A collapsed infrastructure has left 80 percent of the Syrian population living in abject poverty, 95 percent of the Syrian population with no healthcare, 70 percent without potable water, and nearly half a million people have died, according to the Syrian Centre for Policy Research and Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. Children are at increased risk of injury, illness, malnourishment, and death; exploitation and abuse; brutality, torture, kidnapping, and use as human shields. Two to three million Syrian children are unable to attend school and a decade of educational

Raising the Bar:

restrained prospective home buyers. New home sales enjoyed a second straight month of healthy gains, rising 6.1 percent from January. CPI: The prices of consumer goods rose 0.1 percent in February, and 2.7 percent in the past 12 months—the biggest annual jump since March 2012. Durable Goods Orders: Orders of durable goods rose 1.7 percent, driven by a surge in civilian aircraft and parts sales. The Fed In the clearest sign yet that the era of an accom-

Am I my brother’s keeper?—yes

programs has been reversed. Did you know that eight U.S. federal government agencies, six security databases, five background checks, four biometric security checks, three personal interviews, and two interagency security checks are required over a process of up to two years to vet a refugee? “Human greatness does not lie in wealth or power but in character and goodness. People are just people. All people have faults and shortcomings, but all of us are born with a basic goodness,” Anne Frank wrote in her diary. “In spite of everything I simply do believe that people are really good at heart. I simply can’t build up my hopes on a foundation consisting of confusion, misery and death.” From her family’s secret hideaway, as refugees in an Amsterdam attic, Anne Frank concluded, “How wonderful it is that no one need wait a single moment before starting to

improve the world.” We are our brothers’ and sisters’ keepers, and certainly our children’s keepers. We must act with speed and compassion. Their survival is in our hands. Organize a candlelight prayer vigil, or a fund raising talk on human rights and refugees. Support Doctors Without Borders, the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR), the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), and myriad other programs addressing the Syrian crisis. Call our lawmakers to demand immediate action to reopen our hearts and doors to the Syrian families they’d already vetted and approved, and many more. Act before it’s too late, for time is of the essence. Marguerite Jill Dye is a Vermont and Florida artist and writer who is concerned about human rights and ethics and the spiritual dissonance society has created that often separates us from our natural state of being.

Do-it-yourself preps for competition

continued from page 25

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day. But there are mountains of information online about the “Best way to prep for a show.” Some people say cut down on water the last week; others say it depends on the person. What a wonderfully vague answer! Some people talk about cutting out carbs until the day before the show and some people say you should eat more carbs the week leading up to the show and adjust as you get closer. The problem I ran into is, I didn’t know what to look for and what to adjust. I’ve heard people say to competitors, “you need more water” or “you need more carbs to pull the water into your muscles.” This is an alien concept to me. I was admittedly outside of my breadth of knowledge.

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The last week before the show was probably the worst for me. I couldn’t find a straight answer to what I should be doing during “peak week.” After poring through all the information from sources I respected in the fitness community, I came up with a game plan. My carbs would be high on Monday-Wednesday and then taper off until Saturday, “show day.” The workouts didn’t change much, except that I wasn’t going to push quite as hard. I stuck to my game plan and from what I could see it was working. Now all I had to do was figure out this weird tanning lotion that came in a can... More on that next week.

The Mountain Times • April 12-18, 2017 • 27

Gen Y:

Looking back:

Redford ski film

continued from page 24 hero. Whatever strong interest it nevertheless possessed in 1969 must have lain within the edgy New Hollywood stylings of director Ritchie, who imbues the movie with the jangly, anxious energy that typified the period in which it was made. For a period stretching from “The Graduate” to “Five Easy Pieces,” alienated young men—standing in for hordes of disaffected Vietnam-era youngsters—dominated the U.S. cinema, exerting a fascination that now mostly seems unearned. Their angst, however, demanded a new look and mood for American movies, which learned to borrow from the French New Wave and, at least in this particular depiction of the loneliness of the downhill skier, from the Angry Young Man period of British cinema. Yet the jagged editing—the jump cuts and freeze frames—of “Downhill Racer” reflects primarily the aesthetic concerns of the late 1960s, not the inner world of its character, who, after all, has none, however “alienated” he may be. The film’s nervous energy is not his own, and thematic source of the oddly tragic sense of irresolution that accompanies the conventionally happy ending is not totally traceable. Seven years after inventing the sports movie as an art film, Michael Ritchie would direct “The Bad News Bears,” inventing the sports movie as it would actually come to be in virtually every incarnation since. What interest “Downhill Racer” maintains today (it’s still occasionally cited as a classic) derives from its realist documentation of 20th-century ski racing—both the sport itself and its ancillary, social facets of fundraising, sponsorship, and travel. For the most part, the races shown in the movie were not faked by stunt doubles; Ritchie instead filmed actual World Cup events in early 1969, which gave him access to an array of thrilling athletic feats and plenty of useful shots of brutal, limb-twisting crashes. His spedup body-cam footage, too, is surprisingly exciting, considering how boring today’s GoPro videos tend to be. I loved watching the valiant, hopping efforts of earlier ski racers on their jittery, overlong skis, when turning was not the sleek business we see today.

Altitude sickness:

Spine and woes

continued from page 25 week is one that I like. It is not what I was hoping for, but it is a two part solution that can be executed in an either/ or/both scenario. The first part of the solution is intuitive, mechanical, and solution-oriented, and that is to simply do a minimally invasive procedure, and basically grind away some bone in the nerve gap, unrestricting the nerve in a permanent way. This is very attractive to me, and my only concern is, what if it is those bits of bone that are keeping my spine from slipping further? I will of course ask this of my surgeon during a follow-up appointment. The second part of the solution will require some research, and it is called a “coflex” device. It is a “C” shaped piece of metal that sits in the dorsal gap where the interspinous ligament would be, grabbing the bone on both sides, opening the zygapophyseal joint, providing room for the nerve to thrive, and providing some stability from a sliding vertebral gap. While this would support the separation of vertebrae and will allow for some rotation and rocking back and forth (it would in fact provide a pivot for back arching, which would be really nice), it could cause a restriction of motion significant enough to allow those vertebrae to actually fuse together, which is something that I do not want. It could also cause the spinous processes (that bone bit that makes the bumps on our backs) to fuse to it and each other (not my ideal). The question I have for the surgeon is: has the coflex ever been used in conjunction with a disc replacement? The coflex could provide the stability necessary to avoid slippage, while the disc replacement would separate the vertebrae, relieve pressure on the nerve, and allow for full motion. I have a lot of thinking and a lot of research to do, but at least now I know that if chiropractic care will not provide a solution, at the very lease I can get surgery to open up the nerve gap, and provide myself some relief from the hip pain and nerve inflammation.

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The joy of books

continued from page 25 device. But for me, writing and research happen on a screen. Reading is most enjoyable as I turn paper pages in a book. Walking through the doors of the local library has always been an adventure. I was taken there as a young child to get my first library card. I remember it was blue in color and came in a little envelope. My mother took me to the library about every Saturday. I was slightly worried that I might read every book in the Children’s Room. Then what would I do? I remember Mrs. Douglas was the librarian and knew what kinds of books I liked. She always told me if a new book had arrived that she thought I would enjoy. Back in the 60s most of my term paper research was done at the local library due to a limited selection in our school library. That is when I became a pro at whipping through the card catalog and going right to the section I needed. Some of the books and magazines couldn’t be removed from the library so research was done at the library tables. There were no computers. You brought your material from the shelves to the table time and time again until you were finished. You left with many handwritten pages of information. The library was a silent place. Adults were often reading papers or magazines in the room with us teenagers and our snickering meant a dirty look! With age came the opportunity for me to use every section of the library. The Children’s Room was where the Vermont Room currently is. The shelving was all relatively low, making it easier for young people to explore their choices. When I was a little older I was a volunteer on Saturday mornings and helped restock the shelves. I loved the library! With teen years came the chance to use the main library. Books on lighter subjects were found on shelves that hung on the opposite wall of the children’s section. It was the go-to area for light romances and mysteries. I remember putting a note on my calendar at home so I wouldn’t forget the due date of the books I checked out. I didn’t want to pay a fine. As I recall, the new books had to be returned in a week and the older books could be kept for a month. The fines were just pennies a day but taught us responsibility, as buying penny candy was a whole lot more fun than giving the money to the library. There wasn’t a reason to go to the second floor of the library until I was old enough to research school papers. Once I knew the Dewey decimal number for a particular subject matter, I scooted up to the second floor and hunted down the appropriate books. I am sure that a teacher told our class how the Dewey Decimal System came about, but I had forgotten. In case you have too, Melvil Dewey is the man responsible for putting this organized system in place. He developed the ideas for his library classification system in 1873 while working at the Amherst College library. The majority of libraries still use that system today. There were some activities in the rooms upstairs when I was young, but today the Nella Grimm Fox Room has much more to offer. I had to do some research not too long ago for an article I was writing and the library staff was most helpful. They found the subject matter for me on their computer and escorted me to the correct section upstairs. The fact that I have not kept up with the times tells me I need to get out of the cellar and spend more time in the upper sections. I shouldn’t be a stranger to a place that used to feel like home!

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