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Charlotte News Thursday, April 2, 2020 | Volume LXII Number 19
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Vol. 62, no.19 April 2, 2020
Free meals for children Staff report
Champlain Valley School District families received a recorded phone call Monday evening from Director of Operations Jeanne Jensen. She said that, because the USDA relaxed food service rules because of the coronavirus crisis and subsequent school closings, the school district is now allowed to serve free meals to anyone age 18 and younger in the five CVSD towns: Charlotte, Shelburne, Hinesburg, Williston and St. George. Meals will be available Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. On Mondays and Wednesdays, each child will receive two breakfasts and two lunches. On Fridays, each child will receive one breakfast and 1 lunch. Pickup times and locations Charlotte Central School: West entrance 9:30–10:30 a.m. Order at https://bit.ly/ CharStGeorge. Hinesburg Community School: At the Main Entrance, front of the building 9–10:30 a.m. Order at https:/bit.ly/ HinesburgMeals. Shelburne Community School: At the gym entrance (parking lot) 9–10:30 a.m. Order at https://bit.ly/ShelburneMeals. St. George: Red Schoolhouse (off Rt 116). 9:30–10:30 a.m. Order at https:// bit.ly/CharStGeorge. Williston Central School: At the visitor parking lot, band room entrance. 9–10:30 a.m. Order at https://bit.ly/ WillistonMeals. Families can fill out an online form at these links. If you don’t have internet access, call a foodservice director to order: Leo LaForce 482- 7176, Scott Wagner 871-6198, Becky Mashak 985-3331 ext. 112, or Deb Bissonette 482-2106. Drive or walk to the pickup site. Children do not need to be present. Drivers do not need to get out of their cars. Give the volunteer your name, and they will give you the meal you ordered. Even if families are unable to order, Jensen said that food service workers will make every effort to make sure the children get food. Jensen stressed in her message, “If you have any trouble at all, please reach out to us. We can help.”
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School board meets to plan for remote learning Nancy Richardson On Tuesday evening members of the Champlain Valley School District School Board met in an unusual session to discuss the implications of moving from a buildingbased system to a remote-service delivery system. This task, in a rural area with limited internet service and a proportion of students living below the poverty line, will involve a re-invention of the system. The members acknowledged the difficulties and pressure on the CVSD administration as it develops a new way to deliver the services that were once building-based. Charlotte schools and the CVSD district are like other school systems across the country. Academic services are one part of the mission of the schools, but given the lack of supports in the overall social system, schools are also responsible for delivering mental health services, including social work, guidance and psychological services; child care and preschool education; special education; nutrition, including two meals a day; transportation; and internet academics. The board’s discussion was focused on the delivery of these services outside of school
buildings and assurance that all students will have access to them, no matter their socioeconomic status. The other pressing issue for the board is how to navigate communication during the transition period when nervous parents approach the members with criticisms of the implementation. Several members are parents of current students and must react to the situation both as parents and board members. Board Chair Lynne Jaunich stressed that in this troubling transition time the responsibility of the board is to ask the right questions of administration and seek the answers, particularly in the area of equity of delivery of services, rather than to manage the transition itself. Related topics addressed included: 1. The effects of the closure of CVU with the cancellation of senior recognition ceremonies. Students are grieving the loss of a predictable series of celebrations that recognize their fouryear effort at CVU. 2. Asking the district to investigate possible delivery of mental health services via hotlines or the internet.
3. How to best deliver meals to students in need. Currently, parents must go to drop-off sites at schools, but some cannot get there. The board suggested the district be asked to look into the matter of possible delivery of meals by school buses. The provision of meals to CVSD students is free for all students. 4. Communication to parents from CVSD and how that can be made more empathetic and clearer. 5. How to deliver academics to students with poor internet service, and the reality that many parents are spending hours homeschooling their children while others must work or cannot do so. This problem is at the core of the equity issue across the district. The feeling of some board members is that the district has resources and that all regular committee matters should be put on hold while the board considers how to act boldly to deliver equitable services. Consideration was given to the fact that the board and the administration are inventing a new system and are only two weeks into this fundamental systemic change.
Governing in the age of coronavirus: Town hall closes, voting still open Juliann Phelps Photo of room: Selectboard memThe March 23 Selectboard meeting ushered in a new era: a virtual meeting option for those not attending in person. While the board, the town administrator, the road commissioner and VCAM operators were present, members of the press and public participated remotely through Zoom. While audio presented an initial challenge, members were quick to dive into the agenda and moved through several topics quickly. Adjustments to the agenda included a motion to approve closing Town Hall to the public as part of recent activities undertaken to reduce public interactions during the COVID-19 pandemic. After reading an email from Town Treasurer Mary Mead, Selectboard Chair Matt Krasnow asked Town Administrator Dean Bloch to draft and post signage outside Town Hall stating that the building is open by appointment only and leaving a phone number for visitors to call. Mead said via email that she and Assistant Town Clerk Christina Boohers would stagger their hours at Town Hall so only one person is there at a time. In a text exchange after the Selectboard meeting, Krasnow said that the “only reason for public entrance are statutorily mandated reasons (title search, et al.). All other
Selectboard members stayed six feet apart while teleconferencing with the remainder of the board as well as other meeting attendees. Photo by Carrie Spear
business will be done remotely with online forms or postponement.” The Selectboard also decided to hold all of their meetings virtually for the indefinite future. According to recommendations from the governor, meetings should include not more than 10 people, which in this case would include election officials. Though the Selectboard decided at their meeting last week on hours and protocols for keeping Town Hall open, they have since amended their decision based on state recommendations. Town Hall is now closed to the public indefinitely; Town Clerk Mary Mead said that employees are all working
from home and that if Charlotters need anything they can call or email and the staff will do their best to help. Voting on the town budget and funding for the Charlotte Town Trail will still take place at Town Hall on April 7. Mead encouraged voters to participate by absentee ballot and said that polls will be open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. “I cannot close the polls, so if people show up in person to vote, they certainly can. My plan would be to only let in a couple people at a time,” Mead said.
see SELECTBOARD page 3
The Charlotte News • April 2, 2020 • 3
News From The News
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Charlotte epidemiologist offers some straight talk on coronavirus Dr. Tim Lahey Last week, Tim Lahey, Charlotte resident and University of Vermont Medical Center epidemiologist and director of the hospital’s ethics program, gave a widely viewed (over 100,000 people) live Facebook and Instagram talk about coronavirus, COVID-19, and what we can all do to stem the tide of its progression. He created this Q&A based on the talk. Who exactly is this Tim Lahey – should you trust what he says here? Hi. I’m a practicing infectious diseases doctor and professor of medicine at the University of Vermont’s Larner School of Medicine and the University of Vermont Medical Center. For 10 years, I worked as an NIH-funded vaccine immunologist and epidemiologist, and now I direct the ethics program at the University of Vermont Medical Center. See important links on page 4. Let’s do this. Is this all just “the media” overreacting? Nope. This is for real. The media are out there doing incredible work, getting the word out
about important news every day. Don’t believe propagandists who would have you think otherwise.
the wagons, get over our differences, and engage the call to action. We will prevail.
Thousands of deaths, with COVID-19 death rates rising in multiple cities Dr. Tim Lahey simultaneously, is a big deal. People who say otherwise are selfcomforting in understandable but ultimately counterproductive ways.
We expect most of us will get infected, eventually, and there’s nothing we can do about it. Most of us will be fine. BUT, 20 percent get really sick and need hospitalization. That’s a lot of people needing hospitalization, and if they all show up at once our hospitals can’t handle it.
At the same time this is scary, we are also seeing a global mobilization of incredible resources and ingenuity and technology. Health care is changing at breakneck speed. Inspiring acts of heroism, innovation and just plain old hard work are saving lives. We will get through this, and we will feel proud of how we stood up to the greatest threat to civilization in more than a hundred years. Thinking about all the political polarization that has beset our country for the past few years, this has been a great way for us to circle
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Does it really make sense for the world to go on the longest staycation in history? It does. Here’s why:
Flattening the curve means slowing down spread of the epidemic, so that sick people get sick over a long period of time, and show up less in hospitals, which in turn get less overwhelmed, and save more lives. Put another way, staying home and slowing the spread of COVID-19, saves lives. How long is The Global Staycation going to last? At least two months, according to the epidemic curve in China. We’ll see though— it’s early days. Are there additional ways I can protect myself?
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Beyond staying home—“physical distancing”—you can wash your hands. Especially before you eat or after touching potentially contaminated (e.g. public, high use) surfaces that could be contaminated.
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Should I irradiate food from the grocery store and then do a rain dance before eating it?
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Probably. Not. You should wash your food from the store. And wash your hands before preparing it. Food is just as easily contaminated as other stuff, so it’s reasonable to take precautions— but no reason to go overboard. see LAHEY page 4
ON THE COVER
Last week kids played and giggled in an old oak tree that fell across a trail last summer at the Charlotte Park and Wildlife Refuge. Photo by Frances Foster
4 • April 2, 2020 • The Charlotte News
COVID - 19
SELECTBOARD
continued from page 1
Are you running out of things to talk about with your spouse?
This week’s Selectboard meeting practiced social distancing; some participants logged in from their homes. Photo by Juliann Phelps
Other actions The Selectboard approved requests by the National Multiple Sclerosis Society and the Kelly Brush Ride to use town highways for bicycle rides in August and September as well as a request to use the Charlotte Park and Wildlife Refuge for guided nature walks in October. Representatives either called in via conference or logged in remotely. After a bit of discussion, the board approved changes to the agricultural leases for the Charlotte Park and Wildlife Refuge and Galbreath property. According to the town administrator’s report, the leases were approved in December but needed to be updated due to changes of the Park Management Plan. The board approved blanket reappointments of 13 individuals to various committees and boards and to the Planning Commission. After the only interview, the Selectboard approved the appointment of Bill Stuono to the Planning Commission for a two-year term. They also approved former Selectboard member Fritz Tegatz to the West Charlotte Village Wastewater committee for a two-year term. James Faulkner said, “This is a one-time event because of the situation; next year we will go back to interviews.” Selectboard Vice Chair Frank Tenney responded, “There are other towns that do it this way, it’s not totally out of the realm of what’s commonly done.” Road Commissioner Jr Lewis briefed the board on several agenda items, including the road-paving plan and request for bids, the repair plan for Monkton Road, and paving aprons at the two covered bridges. While
How’s it going out there? We want to know. The great thing about a local newspaper in a town like Charlotte is that everyone can contribute; in this weird time of physical disconnection, we’re hoping that The Charlotte News can be a thread that ties us all together. Tell us how you’re doing. Send in some photos of what social isolation looks like for you and your family. If you’re an essential worker, let us know what that’s like and how we and the community at large can support you. Contact us any time at news@ thecharlottenews.org or 425-4949. We’re here!
not in the upcoming budget, the board also decided to add paving the entrance to Town Hall to the request for bids to get an idea of the anticipated cost. The Selectboard approved Mow! Mow! Mow! for town mowing for $26,500, Adam Dantzscher the contract for cemetery mowing at $5,390 and town brush hogging at $5,480. Krasnow then opened bids for the removal of ash trees. They were as follows: Gregory Smith $19,300, 10 days to complete, Barrett’s Tree Service $24,975, six to seven days to complete (can complete for $20,000 if town handles all traffic control service); Chris’ Lawn Care and Mini Excavating $18,000, no completion time frame given; Teacher’s Tree Service $19,500, five to six days to complete; DJ’s Tree Service and Logging, Inc. $22,500, three days to complete. The board also read an email from Peter Trono on the subject, which was paraphrased by Louise McCarren: “He doesn’t object to the project, he just thinks we are paying too much.” Krasnow agreed and responded the larger trees would be the focus of this RFP and the smaller trees would be handled by the road commissioner as part of his roadside maintenance. Bid selection is scheduled for the April 13 meeting. The Selectboard made additional headway on their work plan, reviewed and approved minutes, and, after brief updates, adjourned. The next regularly scheduled Selectboard meeting is April 13 at 6 p.m.
Courtesy photo
Now what should we talk about? Chea Waters Evans This pandemic has separated us physically from the ones we love…except the ones we love the most, the people we chose to spend the rest of our lives with, who are now really, really, really present. Sometimes they are in the background singing Grateful Dead songs into a wooden spoon while we’re on a conference call, sometimes they’re tracking mud over every surface in the house including the ceiling, sometimes they’re spending hours on FaceTime drinking wine with friends and ignoring the children. Whatever it is, they’re there. All the time. It’s possible that, along with toilet paper and any sense of when it’s the right or wrong time to wear a shirt, we’re also going to run out of things to discuss with our spouses. Below is a list of conversation starters and discussion topics, should you find yourself with nothing to talk about. You’re welcome! Have you always whistled this much? What is the origin of the phrase “just saying,” and why do some people feel the need to say it after everything they tell you? Remember the time you lost the keys on vacation and they fell in the Grand Canyon? No, that was your fault, remember? I distinctly remember you calling out, “Toss them to me!”
Someone needs to tell your dad to wear pants during FaceTime calls, or at least hold the phone up higher. Who should it be? Seriously, you’ve always whistled this much? Which one of the kids will be living in the basement when he/she is 35? List four reasons why. Other than buy another house and live there in blessed solitude for the remainder of your days, what would you do with the money if you won the lottery? Speaking of money…just for fun, let’s throw it out there, how much money would it take for you to give up a beloved lifelong habit, like, for instance, whistling? When we were young and first married, what would we have done with our days if we were alone in the house for weeks at a time? Apropos of nothing, could you please go figure out which of our five kids left the hose running in the garage? Who taught you how to load the dishwasher? No, seriously, who? Was it your mother? Figures. Is the whistling compulsive, or are you making a conscious decision to do that? When this is all over, let’s take a trip, just the two of us, alone. Where should we go?
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The Charlotte News • April 2, 2020 • 5
COVID - 19 LAHEY
continued from page 2
Importantly, however, people who get COVID-19—as far as we know—get it via being around other people or touching stuff, and then touching their faces. The early epidemic data doesn’t suggest food is a big part of transmission. Should I worry about Amazon.com boxes? Not particularly. It’s a publicly touched surface so wash your hands between touching it and eating or touching your face. Don’t touch your face any more than you can avoid it (and hopefully less than I did during this FB/IG live.) Are there ways to “boost my immunity,” like with vitamins or some drug I heard about on the internet? There’s no such thing as “boosting” your immunity. If somebody tells you they know how, either from COVID-19 or basically anything (other than like treating HIV or other medical causes of immunodeficiency), keep your hand on your wallet and look for the door. What should you do? Sleep well. Eat well. Meditate/chill out. The rest is malarkey. I heard hydroxychloroquine is a wonder drug—like from imminent scientists and physicians Elon Musk and the President of the United States. Should I get on that magic stuff and maybe (especially if I’m a senator) buy some stock too? The hype about hydroxychloroquine is unfortunate. It’s unproven, and the study driving people’s enthusiasm is deeply flawed. (It’s small, not randomized, not placebocontrolled, and they cherrypicked the data in a way that is sure to introduce bias. Epidemiologists think it’s the weakest of
sauce.) Much as I respect Elon Musk’s work with electric cars, he should stay in his lane. Don’t believe the hype.
How much of a hermit do I—and my kids!—need to be? (P.S., they’re driving me crazy!)
Would I give it a go in a desperately ill patient after clarifying it’s experimental? Probably. But not in any other circumstance, and even then with ambivalence.
No evidence suggests those things help you against COVID-19.
You should physically distance yourself from other people. But if you must go to the grocery store, go. Avoid crowds. Go outside where it’s well ventilated. Avoid restaurants. Bars. Playdates. Airplanes. Trains. Beaches. Sporting events. Crowds, People! Takeout isn’t as bad as restaurants, but it still links you to another social network, so it has risk. So, reduce the risk as much as you can, knowing your safety and, in particular, the safety of your medically vulnerable loved ones and neighbors depends on it. (See above about The Staycation that Saves Lives.)
Should I go out and buy a surgical mask or even the special mask called an “N95”?
What if I’m higher risk, or someone I love is?
No, absolutely, totally do NOT do this.
Take extra precautions. More handwashing. More physical distancing. Fewer crowds. Avoid sick people. Ask your (their) doctor if it’s safe and tolerable to lower the dose of immunosuppressive drugs.
We’ll see what the real science brings. Until then, don’t believe the hype. Don’t. Don’t believe the hype. Should you gargle salt water or something else? Booze maybe?
Healthcare workers need these for seeing patient after patient after patient. And they’re running out. In part because other people, who don’t need them, are buying them. So, don’t. Plus, wearing a face mask all day—I can tell you from experience—will tempt you to touch your face even more, which brings COVID-19 to your face, which can risk infection. So, no. Just don’t. What about cloth masks? We don’t know if those offer the same protection as real masks that have fewer, smaller holes in them. See above about touching your face. This at least isn’t depleting the stores health care workers need.
What’s the deal with smoking? What about vaping? Neither was good for you before COVID-19. Nobody knows if they make COVID-19 risk or disease worse, but there are some hints in the epidemiological and scientific data they might. So, try not to suck nasty things into your lungs. Why don’t I need a COVID-19 test? Isn’t the PROBLEM that too few people are being tested?
Do I need a 5-gallon drum of Purell?
The messaging about testing has been confusing. First, we need them. Then, you don’t. Here’s a clarification.
No. Save it for patients and health care workers who really need it. Soap and water is just as good, and not in short supply in the damn hospitals.
We need the test to decide whether the sick people who need hospitalization need special infection-control precautions. Masks, gowns, gloves, face shields. By contrast, people who are asymptomatic (don’t get me started on asymptomatic, rich basketball players and citizens) or mildly ill (i.e. they can breathe) just don’t need the test. Whatever the result, the advice will be to stay home. Sleep. Eat. Avoid others. Wait. Also, getting tested worsens the national shortage in testing supplies. Which we need for sick people.
Providing Repair, Refinishing, Restoration and Transport
George & Pam Darling P.O. Box 32 Ferry Road, Charlotte, VT gdarling@gmavt.net
Helpful video links 1.
Tim Lahey’s minute-and-a-half UVMMC video about why staying at home and practicing social distancing during the covid-19 crisis is so important to protect yourself and your community: https://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=vXw6q_6bT6o
2.
A link to the hour-long Facebook live video Lahey did recently, which got more than 100,000 views: http:// medmurmurs.com/blog/2020/3/21/ hey-general-public-check-out-my-newcovid-19-facebook-live-post-and-faq
3.
Dr. Dave Price, a fellow in pulmonary and critical care at New York Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center on how to protect yourself and your family from covid-19. 57 minutes. https:// www.youtube.com/watch?v=hTsBMGRx6U
4.
Dr. Jeffrey VanWingen, a family physician, on safe grocery shopping. 30 minutes. https://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=sjDuwc9KBps&feature=youtu.be
Plus, testing people exposes health care workers, whom we need to save those lives, to COVID-19. To test someone the worker has to stand close by the patient, collect the sample and process it, and in so doing they could get sick and thus not be working on the day they are called to help save someone else’s life. So: unless you need to be hospitalized or are otherwise at super-high risk, you don’t need that test. What are the symptoms and natural history of COVID-19? Symptoms arise five days on average after exposure. About 15 percent of people have no symptoms. For those who are symptomatic, COVID-19 presents like a cold or the flu. We can’t tell from symptoms which infection it is. Symptoms include cough, fever, muscle aches, maybe sore throat or the sniffles. Gastrointestinal symptoms occur in some people. If the illness is more severe, shortness of breath can become pronounced. For more info, here’s the CDC’s website on COVID-19 symptoms (cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/ symptoms-testing/symptoms.html). Eighty percent of people have a mild illness. Most of the remainder need oxygen in the hospital, but around a fourth of them need ICU admission and even mechanical ventilation. Mortality rates have been estimated at 3 percent, although we’ll see what the final number is once we have the full data. It appears folks experience difficulty breathing, if that happens, three to five days into the illness, and the full illness lasts approximately one to two weeks. People with the illness (or high risk of exposure) should stay quarantined for two weeks after they’re better, although we don’t really know what the right length of time is. What information should you trust about COVID-19? I trust the CDC, the World Health Organization, The New York Times, The Washington Post, and my local public health department.
6 • April 2, 2020 • The Charlotte News
Report from the Legislature Improvise, adapt, overcome Rep. Mike Yantachka The unofficial slogan of the U.S. Marine Corps is “Improvise, Adapt, Overcome.” When faced with the unexpected, the success of a mission requires the ability to change tactics quickly. The COVID-19 crisis has certainly been unexpected and has forced us to adapt our lifestyle quickly. The last two weeks also marked a significant shift in the work of the Vermont Legislature. The leadership of all three parties—Democrat, Republican and Progressive—worked hard to keep abreast of the state’s efforts to manage the Coronavirus (COVID-19) emergency and figure out a way to keep the legislature working. Daily meetings of the Joint Rules Committee, chaired by Senator Tim Ashe, got updates from the heads of departments and agencies via conference calls that were open to the public. These calls were regularly attended by other legislators and were the source of my communications with you on Front Porch Forum. Last Wednesday, the House, by a quorum of legislators who made a special trip to Montpelier being careful to maintain “social distancing,” changed its rules to allow remote voting both in committee and on the floor, matching what the Senate had approved the week before. Following that vote House committees began meeting online to conduct the business of taking testimony on bills. As we all settle in to maintain Governor Scott’s “Stay home, stay safe” directive, we all have questions about how long this will last, how our incomes will be affected, when the kids will go back to school, how our small businesses will stay afloat, and so forth. There is no definite answer to these questions, but recent actions taken by the state and by the federal government have provided some certainty to some of them. During the brief session last Wednesday, the House also approved two bills in concurrence with the Senate amendments to support both working Vermonters who are forced to stay home and our health care system and workers who are on the front lines of defense against COVID-19. Employees are immediately eligible for unemployment benefits, and their employers are held harmless from unemployment insurance rate increases. While childcare centers have been ordered closed, a certain number will remain open to serve families where both parents are essential workers, a designation determined by the administration. The provider tax on medical providers, including hospitals, is being abated during the emergency, and emergency authority is given to the Department of Financial
Regulation to react to evolving needs, including considering requiring insurance companies to eliminate copays for any prescriptions during the crisis. Testing for COVID-19, according to Department of Health guidelines, will be free. Because self-employed persons do not pay into the unemployment insurance fund, they are not currently eligible for unemployment benefits. However, the COVID-19 relief legislation passed by Congress will extend benefits to selfemployed and “gig-economy” workers as well as boost the maximum UI benefit by $600. Each adult will also receive a $1,200 federal check and $500 per dependent child. The legislation provides $2 trillion that will include aid for businesses, hospitals and states. Vermont will receive $1.25 billion for COVIID-19 expenditures. The aid is not intended for revenue replacement, however, and can only be used for expenditures not in the most recent budget. This still leaves Vermont and other states in a precarious position, since expected revenues will be impacted due to the economic shutdown, thereby jeopardizing existing programs. While individuals will be receiving some income from the state and federal governments depending on their situation, it may not be enough to continue meeting monthly payments for rent, mortgage, utilities, etc. Federal legislation has put a moratorium on foreclosures of federally backed mortgages and on evictions. In Vermont the judicial system has made it clear that during the COVID-19 emergency, when everyone must stay at home, evictions will not be processed. Vermont banks have also agreed not to proceed with foreclosures for delinquent mortgage payments for the next 90 days. To be clear, however, this does not mean that rents or mortgages are forgiven. They will still have to be paid in full after the emergency ends. Furthermore, if homeowners or renters can afford to pay, they are encouraged to do so in order to make future payment easier on themselves and provide cash flow to help landlords meet their obligations. This will be a trying time for all of us. As I told my granddaughter, by keeping ourselves and each other safe with social distancing and willingness to help when needed and able, we will come out stronger in the end. Be well and stay safe. I welcome your emails (myantachka. dfa@gmail.com), phone calls (802-2335238), or in-person contacts. This article and others can be found at my website (MikeYantachka.com).
The Charlotte News • April 2, 2020 • 7
COVID - 19
Coronavirus update from CVFRS and the Vermont Department of Health Chris Davis TOWN EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT DIRECTOR, BATTALION CHIEF, CHARLOTTE FIRE DEPARTMENT
Here are the important recommendations from the Vermont Department of Health as of 3/26/20 to help all of us deal with this challenge. Please visit healthvermont. gov for up-to-date information about the steps to take to keep you, your family and our community healthy. The Health Department website has several new features, including a new section called “Ask a Question,” which allows visitors to type questions about COVID-19 in Vermont into a box. The information currently available will be provided as an answer. There are also fact sheets with COVID-19 information for health care workers, in addition to Vermonters who are awaiting test results for COVID-19, diagnosed with COVID-19, or a close contact of someone with COVID-19. The Health Department has fact sheets translated into nine languages on its website What You Need to Know About Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19). You can also find links to translated videos created by the Spectrum Multicultural Youth Program, Howard Center and other Burlington community members. Find these at healthvermont.gov/covid19 under “Translated Materials.” Please go to healthvermont.gov/covid19 for the most up-to-date information and guidance about COVID-19, including the latest information from the CDC. If you have questions about COVID-19, dial 2-1-1. If you have trouble reaching 2-1-1, dial 1-866-652-4636. You can also call this number if you are ill and don’t have a regular healthcare provider and need assistance finding one in your area. If you are ill, call your health care provider. Testing is not treatment, and not everyone needs to be tested. Do not
call 2-1-1 or the Health Department about testing. If you are sick, do not go to the hospital unless you experience shortness of breath or some other life-threatening situation. Person-to-person spread of the virus occurs mainly via close contact with an infected person who coughs or sneezes, producing respiratory droplets, or touching surfaces that an infected person has touched or contaminated and then touching your face. Take these everyday preventive actions to help stop the spread of germs: • Wash your hands often with soap and water for at least 20 seconds. If soap and water are not available, use an alcohol-based hand sanitizer. • Avoid touching your face, eyes, nose and mouth with unwashed hands. • Practice physical distancing by staying at least six feet from others whenever possible. • Avoid meeting in groups of more than 10 people other than your family/ household pod. • Stay at home. Outdoor exercise is OK, just follow the six-foot separation rule for others outside your family/ household pod. • Avoid close contact with people who are sick. • Stay home when you are sick. • Cover your cough or sneeze with your arm or a tissue, then throw the tissue in the trash. • Clean and disinfect frequently touched objects and surfaces. A bleach-andwater solution will be fine if you do not have wipes. Small businesses that are experiencing economic impact are urged to contact the Vermont Agency of Commerce and Community Development via the link on their website to file a survey and start a damage claim as a starting point for federal assistance: http://accd.vermont.gov/aboutus/contact-us.
Yes, wear pants: Etiquette for online meetings A critical reminder that school and business meetings require attention to details MaryAnne Gatos Many of us are now online for business, school and social reasons. Here are 10 things to consider for creating a successful and effective online presence. While all these tips apply to work and school video calls, social meetings with family and friends can have more relaxed standards. 1. Purpose. School and business meetings require a high level of focus and attention to detail. Before your meeting, ask yourself, “As a result of this meeting, I want...” Ask the host how long the meeting will be so you know what to expect. 2. App. Be familiar with the app ahead of time. Download it, check your audio and camera, know where the icons are for screen view, mute, and video off. Use the app initially with a friend or family member before the meeting. 3. Dress appropriately. While this should always be true, being in our own homes for meetings has led to an assumption of relaxed standards. School and business meetings are still about school and business. You are making an impression. The dress code should remain the same. Your attire conveys your attitude. Yes, wear pants. Yes, check the writing on T-shirts. Yes, avoid casual tops for professional meetings. Yes, take your hat off. Yes, see if your hair is wild. In meetings with professionals, look professional. Pajamas and sweats are not professional. 4. Background. Check your background. Are there oddities in the room? What is on the wall? Is there too much backlight from a window so that your face is in shadow? Is there a lot of clutter? You are, in essence, inviting your teacher, interviewer, classmates, counselor, etc. into your home. Think. 5. Location. Find a table, desk and a chair. If possible, do not participate in the meeting from your bedroom. Lying in bed is not appropriate for a meeting. 6. Screen angle. Check the view of you. Is there too much ceiling? Are you close enough? Far enough away? Are viewers looking up your nostrils? Are you sitting
comfortably so you don’t have to move around for the duration of the meeting? Is your device on something stable and straight? 7. Behave. There are a number of behaviors that we do subconsciously. Fidgeting, biting your nails, picking at things, playing with your hair, moving around, moving the screen around (the nostril shot) are all very distracting. You are on video (recorded or not, and you don’t always know which), so be aware of all the distracting gestures. 8. Noise. Know where the mute button is. Be aware of background noise in your house or office. Door shutting, music, pets, tapping, etc. Let others in your space know that you are in a meeting. Put a sign on your door, if need be. Hit mute as soon as you hear distracting noises. It is wise to mute your microphone in large meetings until you wish to speak. Similarly, be familiar with the location of the camera so you can cover it should something unexpected happen, like a pet jumping on you or a sibling rushing in. 9. Voice. Speak clearly and e-n-u-nc-i-a-t-e. Most apps can show the screen of the speaker. Hosts can decide how they wish participants to participate, by either raising their hand, signaling somehow or being called upon. Free-flowing conversation can leave some people out while others claim too much airtime. 10. Chat function. Many meeting hosts run the chat function, which allows participants to make comments or ask questions during a presentation. Make substantive comments, share resources, think about how to contribute to the conversation in a way that adds value. Bonus tip: Sign off politely and respectfully. Wait for the host to end the meeting. Ask any questions before the end of the meeting, not by email later. If you have a question, it is likely someone else has the same question. Say goodbye, thank the host if appropriate, and shut off the app before leaving the room. MaryAnne Gatos is an independent education consultant. She lives in Charlotte and can be reached by email at roieducation.com.
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8 • April 2, 2020 • The Charlotte News
COVID - 19
CARES Act: A rundown of aid from Congress In response to a request from The Charlotte News for information about the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act, Senator Sanders’s office provided the following material. The provisions apply to all small businesses hit by the pandemic, both nonprofit and for-profit. Paycheck Protection Program. The stimulus includes nearly $350 billion in funding for a provision to create a Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) that will provide small businesses and other entities (non-profits can apply) with zerofee loans of up to $10 million. Up to 8 weeks of average payroll and other costs will be forgiven if the business retains its employees and their salary levels. Principal and interest are deferred for up to a year, and all borrower fees are waived. This temporary emergency assistance through the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) and the Department of Treasury can be used in coordination with other COVIDfinancing assistance established in the bill or any other existing SBA loan program. Emergency Economic Injury Grants The stimulus includes $10 billion in funding for a provision to provide an advance of $10,000 to small businesses and nonprofits that apply for an SBA economic injury disaster loan (EIDL) within three days of applying for the loan. EIDLs are loans of up to $2 million that carry interest rates up to 3.75 percent for companies and up to 2.75 percent for nonprofits, as well as principal and interest deferment for up to 4 years. The loans may be used to pay for expenses that could have been met had the disaster not occurred, including payroll and other operating expenses.
The EIDL grant does not need to be repaid, even if the grantee is subsequently denied an EIDL, and may be used to provide paid sick leave to employees, maintaining payroll, meet increased production costs due to supply chain disruptions, or pay business obligations, including debts, rent and mortgage payments. Eligible grant recipients must have been in operation on January 31, 2020. The grant is available to small businesses, private nonprofits, sole proprietors and independent contractor businesses, as well as cooperatives and employee-owned businesses.
In addition to EIDL applications, Vermont SBDC has staff who are helping businesses think through all of their options right now. More information on SBDC can be found at https://www.vtsbdc.org/coronavirus/. The Vermont Agency of Commerce and Community Development is posting updates and current news at https://accd. vermont.gov/about-us/disaster-planning/ covid-19-guidance-vermont-businesses. In addition, the Vermont Department of Labor is posting resources at https://labor. vermont.gov/covid19. Pandemic Unemployment Assistance
A business that receives an EIDL between January 31, 2020 and June 30, 2020 as a result of a COVID-19 disaster declaration is eligible to apply for a PPP loan or the business may refinance their EIDL into a PPP loan. In either case, the emergency EIDL grant award of up to $10,000 would be subtracted from the amount forgiven in the payroll protection plan. SBA’s Economic Injury Disaster Loans (EIDL) are now available. Important details about EIDLs are as follows: •
•
• •
Once a borrower applies, approval timelines depend on volume. Typical timeline for approval is 2-3 weeks and disbursement can take up to 5 days. Borrowers are assigned individual loan officers for servicing of the loan. This loan is for businesses that were financially viable prior to the COVID-19 outbreak, so some loans may be declined. If a business is approved for the loan, they can ask for an increase if needed. SBA coordinates with the Vermont Small Business Development Center (SBDC), who can help with applications.
This provision would provide unemployment benefits to individuals who do not qualify for regular unemployment compensation and are unable to work because of the COVID-19 public health emergency. It will cover self-employed workers (including gig workers and independent contractors), part-time workers, and those with limited work histories. The changes made to increase the size of regular unemployment benefits and make them available for additional weeks will also apply to benefits received through the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance program. Pandemic Unemployment Assistance will be state-administered but fully federally funded Emergency Increase in Unemployment Compensation This provision would add an additional $600 in Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation to every weekly unemployment benefit, effective until July 31, 2020. This $600 benefit will be taxable (like regular unemployment benefits), but it will be disregarded in determining Medicaid or CHIP eligibility.
Business Directory 4281 Shelburne Rd. Shelburne, VT 05482 Office: 985-2453 titus@titusinsurance.net www. titusinsurance.net Insurance for: Home • Auto • Business • Motorcycle • Renters • Condo Farm • Boat • Recreational Vehicles
Individual Provisions - Recovery Rebates for Individuals Cash Assistance: $1,200 one-time payment per adult (up to $75,000 in annual income (or adjusted gross) for individuals and $150,000 for joint filers) and $500 per child. Rebate amount reduced by $5 for each $100 a taxpayer’s income exceeds the income threshold with complete phase-out at $99,000 for individuals and $198,000 for joint filers. This includes those with no income. The rebates will be paid out as advance refunds (in the form of checks or direct deposit) on the basis of taxpayers’ filed tax year 2019 returns (or tax year 2018, if a 2019 return has not yet been filed). Non-filers generally need to file a tax return in order to claim a rebate, although IRS may coordinate with other federal agencies in some instances to get checks out. The Families First Act includes some new provisions for paid sick/family leave. There are three resource pages / articles that may be useful: • • •
https://www.dol.gov/agencies/whd/ pandemic/ffcra-employee-paid-leave https://www.hrdive.com/news/5things-to-know-about-the-newcoronavirus-paid-leave-law/574611/ https://www.irs.gov/newsroom/ treasury-irs-and-labor-announceplan-to-implement-coronavirusrelated-paid-leave-for-workers-andtax-credits-for-small-and-midsizebusinesses-to-swiftly-recover-the-costof-providing-coronavirus.
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The Charlotte News • April 2, 2020 • 9
School
Seniors: It’s still your senior year, and you can write your history Karen Needler The following letter was part of the March 27 Champlain Valley Union High School CVU Celebrations email. CVU class of 2020, as your class advisor I know this is not how you expected to finish the final leg of your senior year in your high school journey, in your lifelong journey. This was to be our year, and, with fingers crossed, we were going to make it the best. Ever. And it has been, from most inclusive class to celebrations and victories, to being guinea pigs for new AP policies and more exploratory personalized learning than ever. You voted for our T-shirt design: JUST DID IT. We could see our path. A couple more months of classes and Mia’s and Beckett’s confident morning greetings, spring break and trips afar, Ping Pong and Boss of the Toss fundraisers, athletics with team and individual victories and losses, arts, prom, award ceremonies, Hugs and Roses concert, picnics, Grad Challenge celebrations, RISE explorations, convocation, commencement (with optional hugs from Adam, of course) and graduation. As it should be. And now we see blurred and bumpy visions of ourselves through Google Hangouts as we watch the world shut down around us. We teachers have heard you tell us you’re bored. Xbox. Facetime. You miss your friends. You
even miss us. We know. We miss our friends, and we miss you.
Thoughts from the principals Stephanie Sumner and Jen Roth CO-PRINCIPALS, CHARLOTTE CENTRAL SCHOOL
From Stephanie
But change is afoot already. Laundry is being done, baking is happening (can anyone find baking powder?), instruments are being pulled out— guitars, drumsticks, ukuleles. Virtual workouts, virtual singing classes, artwork, painting your house a room at a time (!), jigsaw puzzles, kitties and puppies are in those blurry screens and they’re happy to have us home. Captains of teams are refocusing their leadership skills. My Boomer tale is when I complained about being bored, my mother always said SHE’D give me something to do. (So I’m never bored.) Class of 2020, we ARE an inclusive class. For prom last year we said: Solo. Date. Friends. Be together. For this year’s Winter Ball: You don’t need a date, just a ticket. And you came out in record numbers. So senior class, I challenge you to find new ways to build inclusion and make connections stronger than ever. We are so very fortunate to have what we need to do so—strong leadership at CVU, and the best technology the world has ever known. What can we do? What can YOU do? What does someone else need, and how can you help? Your creativity has no bounds. It’s still your senior year and there are months to go to write your history. There’ll still be celebrations and recognitions to be made. JUST DID IT. We sure didn’t predict we’d do it this way. So, for now, remember last year’s motto: “We’re gonna need a bigger boat.” Let’s build that boat and JUST DO IT. This is still your senior year, and you’re writing your legacy. Karen Needler is a CVU math teacher and this year’s senior class advisor.
The past ten school days have certainly presented us all with a huge learning curve! While many parts of this learning have been deeply challenging and sad, so many aspects have been incredibly uplifting and encouraging. At the outset of such an unprecedented time in education, we have seen that the things we hold most important at CCS—social-emotional learning, growth mindset, communication, collaboration and COMMUNITY—have risen to the top of the priority list for everyone impacted. Personally, being principals from home instead of in the school building is not nearly as fun as our jobs were before we were directed to work from home! We miss seeing our students in real time, miss working faceto-face with our amazing educators, miss seeing parents and community members coming into the building each day. It’s hard to capture the daily “buzz of the building,” but we feel its absence in our days. If there is anything consistent about a school day, it’s that no two days are ever the same! Educators and students thrive in that environment, and we’re working really hard to try to replicate that as much as possible when we move to remote learning. That is true for our work as the co-principals and instructional leaders. We continue to hear from our CCS parents regularly and are getting a high volume of responses to the survey we sent out. Unsurprisingly, we are getting a great deal of support and collaboration! Our CCS community has always been strong, and that is a buoy to this new kind of partnership we’re building. Parents are letting us know what is working, what could work better, what their children need and what their family can offer in terms of support and resources. As a parent, I think I’m enjoying and struggling with the same things as everyone else! I love seeing my kids more—probably because we’re looking at colleges with my oldest, and I’ll take any time I can get! I’m
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also really sad for my kids—they miss their friends and teachers, even with being able to see them online. We’re trying to make the best of this situation by getting outdoors, doing puzzles, cooking together, and giving each other space when it is needed. My kids are teenagers, so they understand the seriousness of this health crisis and that helps with my enforcement of social distancing. We can’t wait to be able to see their grandparents again, when it is healthy and safe to do so. As for school, I am so impressed by what I’ve seen them do in their work and with the connections they’re maintaining with their peers and teachers. I am also now completely confident that my place is in the K-8 world—high school geometry and chemistry is not my forte! In all seriousness, we’re settling into a groove. I think moving to remote learning in the next couple of weeks will provide more balance, purpose and routine for us. All in all, I truly believe that we’ll all look back on this and realize the truly important lessons are the ones that are requiring us to be caring, resilient and resourceful. From Jen While the framework for our learning platform has been virtual and online, it has provided students and my own children with opportunities to broaden their learning to their home and community. Our goal as parents and educators is to capture a child’s natural curiosities and capitalize on it by providing the opportunity for them to pursue knowledge and to create an artifact of their experience. My children are working on their own time management, balancing time to complete their schoolwork and time to dig into their passions: learning to play piano, create art projects, planting their garden seeds and learning to cook meals. (The last one may be a directive from me since I am tired of cooking and cleaning up after!) In my home, my family needed to get in sync with sharing space, work/school time, and different responsibilities with how we use the time. This felt a bit like a comedy of errors! For example, it was hard finding a space that could be used for video conferencing, with siblings in the background arguing over dish duty. Another challenge has been to share the bandwidth—it was not possible for all of us to be working online at the same time. This guided my family to find the balance on screen time with physical exertion and hands-on learning. At 9 a.m. on Monday morning, I say we’ve gotten into the groove of “office hour norms” and keeping the interactions kinder than necessary—but you may want to check back on Friday to see how successful we were. This is an uncertain and unprecedented time. In the last two weeks, my goal has been to find a balance for me and my family; physical distancing to keep our community safe while nurturing our need to be social, how much time for work vs. play. We needed to honor the mental and emotional response to these unknowns, to express gratitude for what we have and to be generous in our care for others.
10 • April 2, 2020 • The Charlotte News
Health
COVID ’n kids Elizabeth Hunt, MD, FAAP
Thank you to the families of Charlotte who are staying safe and simplifying their lives in order to protect friends and neighbors. Here is a rundown of the role of children and adolescents in the pandemic. The illness Experts have not yet determined why COVID-19 infection, caused by coronavirus SARS-CoV-2, seems to cause a milder illness in children. This coronavirus started to affect humans after infecting other mammals, likely bats and other intermediate mammals, and moved ultimately onto humans in Wuhan, China late in 2019. Kids typically tend to get quite sick from seasonal respiratory viruses, like RSV and influenza, and generally catch more colds than adults. In this illness, however, the reverse has been observed. In a study recently published in Pediatrics, researchers studied 2,143 children from Hubei province in China, where COVID-19 originated, and found that only six percent of kids had severe illness, compared with almost 20 percent of adults. Certain groups of children are likely at higher risk: infants, diabetics, children with chronic health problems. And a study in The Lancet reported that of 36 children hospitalized with COVID-19 in China all were discharged from the hospital in improved health. In terms of symptoms, most children (over 75 percent) have fever, mild upper respiratory symptoms, fatigue, aches, diarrhea. Moderately ill children have been shown to have more cough, described as dry turning to wet over time, and no shortness of breath. Severely ill children may require hospitalization, but there have not been many cases in other countries of this degree of illness. What to do if you are worried or think your child is sick Contact your kid’s primary care provider. Children’s medical homes/doctor’s offices are open for care; primary care just looks different during the pandemic. We healthcare providers are trying to do what we can with tele-health, phone calls, some office visits and testing when indicated. Do not go to the emergency room or hospital as you previously would have. Call your PCP first; they will advise you on how to proceed. In Vermont you can call 211 or 1-866-6524636 for COVID-19 related questions about you or family members. If you prefer an online interface the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention cdc.gov site has a COVID self-checker (www.cdc.gov) and the Vermont Department of Health website has up-to-date information (https://www.healthvermont.gov/).
The kids With the reality of children faring better than adults, it’s time to recognize our youth for their superpowers. Kids care and want to act to help others. Charlie Adams, fourth grader from Charlotte Central School, recommends that kids “stay away from older people and try not to touch each other.” He is actively making his brain smarter at home during the Stay Safe, Stay Home period by reading! When it’s nice outside he likes to spend time in the hammock. Many kids are trying hard to break bad habits: nose picking, nail biting, coughing without covering, lying about hand washing and forgetting to brush teeth. Seriously—this is progress! Staying healthy physically and positive emotionally helps all of us and provides a welcome distraction. So does asking the kids to do the laundry, clean the kitchen, make lunch, pick the movie.... Staying in touch with friends and loved ones proves as important for young people as adults. Hannah Stein, a CCS 7th grader, reports, “It’s fun and easy to get in touch with people.” “We are able to do everything together: watch movies, take walks,” she says of her family time. Her sister Sarah Stein, a 5th grader at CCS, says kids are following the rules and not meaning to get people sick. “We can handle it.” She foresees a “tighter community” after the pandemic. Young adults and older teens face home isolation, missing out on spring sports, arts events and potentially graduation. Thanks to them for staying safe at home and practicing social distancing. Nani Clemmons, CVU senior, elegantly represents the next generation when he said, “A quote [from Epictetus] that has helped me stay positive is, ‘It’s not what happens to you, but how you react to it that matters.’ Many things are not in our control, but we have the power to choose how to react to them.” He, too, finds comfort in reaching out to friends and family, focusing on wellness, daily routine and caring for family. What’s next In other pursuits, kids can continue learning and challenging themselves at home with the guidance of their teachers. Our society will change after this pandemic, and we will need to learn from our mistakes: our future generations will make the world a better place. Living simply will teach kids lessons en famille: how self-reliance feels, what community means, the power of observation, the mind-body connection. Dr. Elizabeth Hunt is a general pediatrician in South Burlington VT and mother of three boys. She lives in Charlotte.
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The Charlotte News • April 2, 2020 • 11
Junior Reporters Junior Reporters get the scoop from inside Chea Waters Evans The Junior Reporters Club has been meeting enthusiastically and digitally since school became a home-based activity. Along with Jack Fairweather, a board member and journalist, I have been meeting with them online twice a week or so to go over story ideas and change the background on our Zoom meeting settings with dizzying frequency. Though it seems like there might not be a lot of news for young people, many of whom are slowing down from multiple sports, music lessons, dance rehearsals and a long day of school, they are finding it: in their backyards, from their grandparents, and in the altered and uncertain state of their own daily lives. These stories are from our junior reporters. If you have a child who is interested in participating or just hanging out on Zoom and seeing what a kid-based editorial meeting is like (not that different from an adult one!), please let me know at chea@ thecharlottenews.org.
Staying at home helps us connect with family Eloise Glasscoe We’re just not used to being apart from close friends for so long! It’s normally part of our everyday lives. Despite the fact that we’re being kept from our friends, this long break from personal contact gives us more of a chance to connect with family. I, being 10 years old, know exactly what this means. I spend so much time with my friends, that I haven’t connected with family as much. Over the break I’ve gone on multiple hikes and bike rides with my parents and siblings. And not only the people you’re quarantined with, also distant family like grandparents. My family has been doing calls with our aunts, uncles, grandparents and cousins. We catch up on how we’re doing and talk about recommended movies, books, etc. And it’s really great. Being stuck at home has an advantage; you just have to find it. Here’s what my grandmother and aunt think about the topic: interview with Cathy Steagall and Kristen Steagall of Chicago. “Hi guys. Would you mind doing an interview for my town newspaper?” asks
Eloise Glasscoe, junior reporter for The Charlotte News. “I’d love to! Ask away!” replies Eloise’s grandma, Gigi.
beat the crowds. When I get home I wipe my groceries down to be safe. I take walks outside by myself to get fresh air,” says Gigi.
“Sounds great!” says Aunt Kristen.
“Perfect. Do you feel worried about being at home so long?”
“Great! First question: Does the quarantine affect your daily schedule?”
“No, going out worries me. I feel safe at home,” Gigi continues.
“Yes. Since I can no longer do public/ outside activities, I have to find ways to replace them in our home,” informs Gigi.
“Same.”
“Yes! Normally I wake up on Monday, fly to my client and sleep in a hotel all week. I eat at restaurants and stay up late. Now that I’m not traveling, I can stay at home in my own bed and cook my own meals. It’s relaxing,” said Aunt Kristen. “Great answers! Next: How are you making sure you stay healthy?” “I’ve started doing a livestream yoga class from my favorite studio in Ann Arbor, Mich. A benefit of the quarantine is that they’re streaming now so I can take their classes,” replies Aunt Kristen. “Well, I go to the grocery store early, to
“Yeah, me too. Last question: Has anything good come out of the quarantine?” “Because we have slowed down our lives, I notice that I am connecting more with friends I haven’t heard from in a while. I’m enjoying nature more and noticing signs of spring. Makes you appreciate small things. And most important: family.” “Great! That’s actually what I’m writing my article about!” “I’m going down to Wal-Mart and getting one of their Go Karts reserved for seniors. I had fun racing the old geezer there,” adds Eloise’s Grandpa, Papadooka. “Amazing! Thanks guys!”
What are kids up to during the pandemic? Amelie Fairweather An interview with Ava Berquist What are you doing to keep in touch with relatives? Well, we haven’t really visited them, but my grandparents are probably coming up, and we’re calling and Facetiming. What is your honest opinion on the coronavirus? I’m not really that scared because I’m not really in touch with anyone, and my parents are doing all the work to keep us safe. Plus, I’m washing hands and social distancing. What do you think people should be doing right now?
Well, people should stay safe and if you come in touch with anyone bring wipes or cloths and if you are sick just cover your mouth.
Well, I think that it’s like really scary because it’s probably something that everyone’s going to get and I think that’s it just scary that you could get it.
What is school like for you now?
What do you think people should be doing right now?
Well, I do like thirty minutes of math, really like four blocks of curriculum, I listen to audiobooks and do my math binder, I also read a lot, and have 30 minutes of outside time, and if you need a break, I just have like an art break.
I think that they should be working on the work that their teachers gave them, reading, art, outside, special time with family—that’s always important--and cooking, building.
An interview with Trevina Valliere
What is school like for you now?
What are you doing to keep in touch with relatives?
I’m reading, I am doing my spelling packet, I’ve been doing Lexia powerup math packet, going outside, doing good deeds. I really miss my friends and it’s super weird to think that we won’t be having school for the rest of the year.
I’ve been starting Facetiming my grandma and I’ve been texting my cousins. What is your honest opinion on the coronavirus?
Thank you to all of the state officials, health care providers, and essential workers that are keeping our community safe.
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12 • April 2, 2020 • The Charlotte News
Junior Reporters Families during the Great Pandemic which she got, and her mother died of.
Reed Herlihy I interviewed some families and learned the many different experiences during the great pandemic. One idea is an online coffee hour, which came from Michele Herlihy. Her big family usually meets on Sunday mornings with their 100-year-old grandmother June Sullivan. Now they meet online and even more people can join. It’s very lonely for June. She’s not able to read anymore or hear the TV. But family members who live with her can talk to her six feet away. She can sit outside by herself. It reminds her of when she was a young child and they had the TB (another lung disease) epidemic
Not all families are separated. For example, the Burkes and their grandparents live in the same house. They also do a cooking competition every week. Most people don’t like the great pandemic. But most people do like the family time. For grandparents Roz and Dick Curran, life is quieter, although they live with their granddaughters Sinclair and Cecilia, so they can now see their schoolwork. Which they like. Wells and Chapin Grubbs live just down a trail from their cousins. They find it weird to not see them all the time. But they are happy to spend quality time with each other and their mom and dad.
An interview with Grandma Kathy, who can eat a lot of chocolate chips Ava: What are you doing as a hobby?
Ava Ringler Some people might be wondering what grandparents are up to these days. Well, I am going to be sharing a conversation I had with my Grandma Kathy, Kathy Perzanowski from Rutland, Vt. Ava: Thinking on the positive side, have you learned anything new during this pandemic? Grandma Kathy: I have learned that there are so many things to do while you are stuck at home. However, most importantly I am reminded that the most important things are health and family. I have also learned that I am capable of eating an entire bag of chocolate chips in two days.
Grandma Kathy: I have actually been doing a lot of hobbies. Practicing my ukulele, doing a lot of watercolor paintings, hiking, yoga and walking my dog Zoey. Ava: Have you been doing anything to help others during this time? Grandma Kathy: I am practicing social distancing, washing my hands a lot and keeping contact with my friends on Zoom or video chat. My conversation with my grandma made me realize that she has a lot of free time to do many things that she loves. An important reminder that during these hard times, it is important to do what you love and keep in touch with your friends and family.
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Two Charlotters participating in Young Writers Project had their poetry published recently in the Burlington Free Press. Lily Kate Keech’s poem, “So why can’t I see?”, appeared in the March 20 issue of the paper. The writer tells the person who is the object of her writing that she is strong, smart, thoughtful and beautiful, but that she hides from what others see
in her. She is blind to them, and if she would only wake up she could change the world. Annika Gruber’s poem, “On days like these,” appeared on March 27. Using movies as her guide, Annika says that they tell every character’s side of the story. She wishes that could happen in real life. Yet, that is what is different about the movies and one of the main reasons she likes and immerses herself in them.
The Charlotte News • April 2, 2020 • 13
Sacred Hunter
Nature does nothing in vain Bradley Carleton
Right now, our world is struggling with the unknown. We have not faced more uncertainty, fear, anxiety and concern for humanity in many generations. Our faith is being tested like never before. The COVID-19 crisis has hit our world and forced us all to slow down and consider what our busy lives are really all about. Suddenly we realize that all the things that truly matter aren’t things at all. Viruses don’t discriminate. This is affecting all of us—rich, poor, young, old, Democrats, Republicans, communists, capitalists, socialists, Christians, Jews, atheists, agnostics, non-hunters, anti-hunters and hunters alike, vegetarians and carnivores. Literally everyone. We truly are all in this together. And we are beginning to show thoughtfulness and empathy for each other in a manner unlike any time to which I have been witness. The concept of “social distancing” is dominating our mindspace. But is it really “social” distancing that will keep us safe? Do we distance ourselves from those we do not trust? From those who we think had something to do with the cause of this pandemic? Perhaps we ought to re-frame that concept for what it needs to be: “physical” distancing. I personally do not want to alienate myself from anyone. Yes, I do appreciate people keeping their six feet of space between us, but that is not to say I am afraid of their intrinsic value as a human being. There is an interesting parallel in the animal world with a disease called chronic wasting disease, or CWD, which is a form of encephalopathy that kills whitetail deer. And
how do they contract it? By sharing bodily fluids through licking branches, naturally occurring mineral licks and eating in the same space. When there are too many deer in one area and they are sharing resources, CWD can present itself with one individual and spread throughout the herd very quickly.
Aristotle claimed that “Nature does nothing in vain.” Is this pandemic, then, perhaps a way of nature correcting the species? Now, before anyone attacks me for being cold and heartless for even questioning this, ponder this for a moment: How disconnected from one another have we become? How have political beliefs divided us so thoroughly? How disconnected have we become from nature? Our food? The basic needs of shelter and tribe? How long have we taken for granted that the sun will come out tomorrow morning? That the birds will still sing? That flowers will still bloom? We are all so concerned suddenly with getting enough toilet paper, hand sanitizer and food, that we rush into grocery stores, motivated by fear, and do what humanity has done to preserve itself for eons. Are there any lessons to be learned here? Might it be that Nature, the Great Spirit, God, Allah or some Divine Entity is forcing us to slow down and observe the value of our own lives and how we should cherish one another? When I am sitting in my tree stand, or my duck boat in a swamp, or walking through the woods, I find myself totally present. But when I am pursuing some dream of a better tomorrow, I am not acknowledging the simple beauty of now. Tonight, as I kneel beside my bed, I will give thanks for the health and well-being of my family and friends and my job that helps
The delicious meal is venison from a deer killed by a car; learning from nature about waste and doing nothing in vain is a thought for these uncertain times. Photo by Bradley Carleton
provide financial assistance to those who struggle and those who seek more security. But tonight, I will also take a moment to give thanks for the magnificent venison dinner that I was blessed to have acquired through nothing more than the unfortunate meeting of this hooved being with one of our civilization’s motorized vehicles. Yes, roadkill. And I ask you: what should we do when this happens? There is both a legal and an existential consideration to assess. This, once again, is where Nature asks us, “What would you do with this circumstance?” My answer is: “Nature wastes nothing,” and as a part of the natural world, I feel indebted to the spirit of the animal world to utilize
the body of this animal, preparing it with the highest love and respect for those humans I hold dear to my heart. So, let us try to re-frame our fear and anxiety for this period and ask: What am I to learn from this? Might I become a more caring person? Might I learn to love even those with whom I disagree? Might I just spend a few more minutes today practicing gratitude and compassion? Might I even learn more grace from the Deer Spirit and share my meal with someone who needs food? Bradley Carleton is executive director of Sacred Hunter.org, a nonprofit that seeks to educate the public on the spiritual connection of man to nature.
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14 • April 2, 2020 • The Charlotte News
Tunes to Tune Into Traversing global grooves on your lonesome John Moses Greetings from Los Angeles, where I write to you in good health, albeit tortured by a strong case of cabin fever. A brief 10-word pandemic update: We’ve been on complete lockdown with no end in sight. I’ve been working from home, eating from home, sleeping from home…just about everything happening in my life right now is from home. Some good news, however, is that my sweet fiancé has managed to get herself out of the treacherous well she fell in months ago and has returned to self-quarantine alongside me. How you might ask? The short of it is, we got tired of waiting for help from the authorities so I crossed my fingers, tossed a shovel down to my future bride, and she dug her way out of the bottomless pit like some sort of beautiful Andy Dufresne. My biggest concern with her Shawshank-like great escape (outside of dropping a shovel and beaning her on the head) was where she’d end up. They say you can dig a hole to China, but with that logic I imagine you could dig yourself to just about anywhere in the world. The Great Pyramids? Hanging Gardens of Babylon? Other wonders of the world I memorized in middle school and have now forgotten? Who knows, but lucky for me, traffic in LA has been breezy, and she popped up all the way across town in Santa Monica; what’s normally a two-hour drive to the pier both ways was a swift 30-minute roundabout to finally reunite with my gal. Hooray! Now that we’re both safe and locked in for the long haul, I’ve found myself doing some digging of my own through my vinyl record collection. Personally, I’ve found it nearly impossible to feel eager for new music releases and have discovered some solace revisiting LPs I’ve accrued over the years. These albums make me feel alive—and a bit freer from the confines of my apartment. Despite being in full isolation mode, I can mentally travel around the world, flipping through global grooves from every Earthly corner. South America? Central Europe? Western India? No matter your degree of commitment to social distancing, let’s take a trip alone together and see what sort of global auditory treats we can unearth. For the sake of getting some sun, let’s head toward Rio de Janeiro, where we’ll dive into a wonderful collection of works by famed Brazilian vocalist Flora Purim and her husband, percussionist Airto Moreira, titled Brazilian Heatwave. This 1982 compilation borrows collaborative cuts from Moreira’s first two solo records, “Natural Feeling” and “Seeds on the Ground: The Natural Sounds
of Airto,” highlighting a mix of the couple’s high-flying, vocal-based Bossa rhythms and freeform improvisational sessions.
record that’s been constructed with love and care. What more can a music fan ask for?
Our final stop on this global journey from I first picked up self-isolation brings us Brazilian Heatwave to Mumbai, India, the toward the end of home of Bollywood high school and was and the contextual immediately blown backdrop for Bappi away by the palpable Lahiri’s stylistically chemistry between dynamic soundtrack Purim and Moreira. to the 1981 Hindi spyThe entirety of the thriller Wardat (think record is the optimal James Bond with entry to world music killer bugs and HUGE for jazz fans. Tracks musical numbers). The like “Mixing” and story revolves around “Terror” effortlessly a terrorist organization blend the standard harnessing nature bounciness of Duke to do their bidding. Album cover of Wardat: Gunmaster G-9, as Ellington with a Of course, only one contemporary, Fellini- illustrated by Alison Rosenfeld. man can stop them: like aesthetic quirk, Gunmaster G-9—alias while songs like “Alue” and “Liamba” temper Gopinath. the album by incorporating elegant vocal melodies. It’s everything wrapped into one: the Admittedly, I’m still trying to teach myself more about Bollywood music and film, culmination of myriad creative cultures, while although I’ve found myself smitten with the being definitively Brazilian jazz. Not only bright, dated aural and visual qualities of the did Brazilian Heatwave open my ears to an movies and records from the 60s, 70s and entire universe of South American artists, but 80s. There’s a certain kitsch that we can’t it also remains in consistent rotation and is an quite replicate today—the same feeling you essential record in my collection to this day. might get flipping through channels and I was lucky enough to stumble upon Francis finding there’s a Dirty Harry marathon on TV. Bebey’s cyclical compositions last year and Do you feel lucky? Well, do you? Turn on cannot speak more highly of Psychedelic this soundtrack and the answer to detective Sanza, a beautifully assembled retrospective of Callahan’s old question will be a resounding his work from 1980-1982 by French imprint yes. Born Bad Records. Bebey was a Cameroonian Musically, this record is all over the place. musician who found his way to the Parisian Some songs, like the album’s opener “Din art scene after a stint working as a broadcaster in Ghana. While much of his work was guitar based, Bebey’s music is perhaps best recognized for his integration of electronics and synthesizers alongside traditional African instrumentation. I personally am drawn to his rootsy, deepsounding vocal work, which parallels that of one of my favorite current artists, Helado Negro (whom I’ve mentioned in this segment before). Many of the songs on this record run long, between four and six minutes, and hold a meditative quality in their percussive and vocal repetitions. Try “Forest Nativity” or “Sanza Nocturne” and you’ll see what I mean; each piece blends tasteful peculiarity with a diverse palette of elaborate, compelling syncopations that seem removed from both time and place. Audio aside, while I’ve never been one to harp on the vinyl vs. digital music debate, I do think this is a special album to have a physical copy of. The kaleidoscopic cover art and inserts burst with color and have a tactile quality to them, which in my experience is the sign of a
Ho Ya Raat,” feel traditionally grounded and incorporate jumpy string sections and rich call-and-response vocals, perhaps how you’d imagine a Bollywood tune to sound. On the other end of the spectrum, other tracks find closer kinship to a pulsing Giorgio Moroder production. Tracks like “Jalim Dunya Humpe” and “Dekha Hai Maine Tumhe” land somewhere between a Johnny Pate-style Blaxploitation theme and an arpeggio-heavy ‘80s dancefloor burner. Two parts driving tabla lines and striding bass guitar phrases, one part bubbling synthesizers and commanding kicks. Whether you need the film in your life is up to you, but if you’re feeling open minded in the era of social distancing, Wardat’s soundtrack could be just what you’re looking for to cut loose and pass the time. At this point, it’s time I leave you to your own devices. Governor Newsom would be not too pleased to find that we’ve spent even this much time together. While on your own, why not try out a few other older titles from around the globe: Johnny Harris’ cinematic 1969 album Movements, Japanese band Mariah’s futuristic 1983 record Utakata No Hibi or ‘70s poolside martini jazz from Polish vocal group The Novi Singers. Whenever they let us out, I’ll catch you on the airwaves bright and early. Until then… Signing off, John John Moses is a former Charlotter and a musical host of The Lab, a radio show on KCRW in Los Angeles (an NPR affiliate). You can email John at: john@mushpost.com.
Out Takes A community that’s on the right tracks Edd Merritt Will I see you tonight On a downtown train? All of my dreams just fall like rain Oh, baby on a downtown train Tom Waits – Downtown Train In my last OutTake, I wrote about the evolvement of “My Room” over time and generations of users. The room evolved in style and placement of furniture as our family grew in number and ages. I was a New Yorker for ten years, riding the subways to and from my jobs and schools, and over the course of time, participated in an underground culture and community. Let me pull up a few elements of that subway culture. First of all, I was fortunate to be a rider on an express not a local train. I lived on 16th Street off Union Square, and the train turned express after coming into Manhattan from Brooklyn and Queens. The riders from these boroughs, as well as from sections of Long Island, looked as though they’d put in a full day’s work already simply by riding the packed trains. They had worked up a good sweat without entering an office or touching a keyboard.
My office was on 59th street—the second stop from where I boarded my train at 14th Street. The best thing about it was that I could spend the previous night around the corner from my apartment at Max’s Kansas City listening to Lou Reed and the Velvet Underground, get out of bed at 8 and still make it to work by 9. Since most of us on the train rode it at the same time daily, we created a culture as we waited for it to arrive. Our culture began on the train’s platform. We knew we wanted to be near the rear end of the train so that we could find an empty seat. Too far back on the station’s platform, however, meant we would miss the last car altogether and have to wait for the next train—usually about 15 minutes down the track. Given my tight travel schedule, however, it meant the difference between being on time or late for work, a fact I learned early. Fortunately, my copywriting skills gave me a bit of leeway, but I was not indispensable. The ritual inside the car went something like this: Two of the regular riders held the car doors open until all the waiting riders could get on board. (That was different than what I remembered from my navy days riding the “fast train” in Japan. There, it was bodies shoving bodies until the doors closed, sometimes nearly decapitating a would-be
The Charlotte News • April 2, 2020 • 15
Sports
Edd Merritt
rider.) Once inside at 14th Street the daily ritual continued. We nodded to each other, having been in the same chamber together for numerous weeks. We noticed new members of the community and introduced them to the regulars. We offered our seats to elderly passengers. A number of us hung on to the vertical poles near the doors so we could make it off the train quickly. Even standing up at the pole, one could catch a quick catnap because the surrounding crowd would hold you upright until the train stopped. If you were lucky, you got to sit in one of the first two seats in the front end of the car against the conductor’s booth. Most seats were three across. These were only two, so you had more legroom. At a point in my work career, my subway direction changed. My advertising agency dropped my account group (not an uncommon practice), and I enrolled in graduate school, which included an internship at a branch of the City University on Staten Island, a downtown subway ride to the ferry. Again, I was heading in the right direction at the right time of day. Staten Island was essentially a series of small-town suburbs of Manhattan, so commuters were flooding the Staten Island Ferry heading north to Wall Street and beyond. And as Tom Waits noted, even the downtown trains were full with all these Brooklyn girls, many of whom hopped on to my old express and rode their way north to Midtown.
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Heading south, below the financial district, I had the subway nearly to myself, with the exception of night-shift fire fighters and police officers assigned to stations in the northern boroughs. They were a largely conservative group, and I quickly learned to hold my tongue while they criticized New York’s impending liberalism before heading home to St. George, New Dorp and Tottenville. Subways were worlds unto themselves. As one emerged from them, into daylight and city life, you seemed to be going from one planet to another, from the lifestyle of the tracks to that of the city. Frankly, I preferred train life.
CVU places players on all-star teams Winter sport all-star teams saw a number of Redhawks on their rosters. Let’s begin with Alpine skiers. The Alpine Ski Coaches Association placed a CVU downhill racer on each girls and boys first teams—Binney Patton on the girls team and Sean Gilliam on the boys. Nordic skiing’s “Best of Vermont” had CVU’s Emma Crum, Esther Cuneo, Finn and Isabelle Mittlestadt and Emma Strack on the girls side, with Skyler Heininger, Gus Lunde and Gavin Schaff for the boys. Girls hockey managed to complete its season in the state championships earlier this month. MMU/CVU Cougar/Hawks lost in the Division II finals to Spaulding, which completed an undefeated season. In the Free Press poll, Flynn Hall and Nicole Wright received “honorable mention” as defenders. The coaches named Nicole to their Academic AllStars. Redhawk James Bernicke received a third-team mention as a forward in Division I hockey by the coaches. The basketball coaches named “Dream Dozen” teams that included Redhawk players Catherine Gilwee on the girls team and Tyler Morehouse on the boys. Mckenna Boyd was the Metro Division coaches’ Player of the Year. Catherine Gilwee made the coaches’ first all-metro team, Julia Blanck, the second, and Maryn Askew and Quinn Boardman received honorable mention. Metro Division coaches placed Ethan Harvey and Tyler Morehouse on their all-division second team.
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16 • April 2, 2020 • The Charlotte News
Farm
Stony Loam Farm: dreamers and doers, a happy thought Vera Moroney Charlotte is blessed with dreamers and doers on the land. A visit to Stony Loam Farm on a cold dark evening confirms this. In season, Stony Loam Farm offers a bountiful, community-supported agriculture share of fresh veggies and flowers. The name of the farm comes from stony loam, an agricultural designation for the type of soil on the farm: a mixture of clay, sand and shells.
What is most interesting is how Dave came to do this. Originally from Pennsylvania, he attended UVM and was in the process of applying to law school when he had a summer job at Bingham Brook Farm. He felt a bond with the land and the work and decided to nix the family expectations and focus on the environment. What he did next was what all young folks should do: become a ski bum in the west, in Montana and other parts unknown, and work the land in Vermont in the summers. He eventually became the production manager for Bingham Brook Farm. As that farm backed out of farming, he saw a need to create a CSA here. Land, a place to live, and CSA subscribers were
Margaret Woodruff Don’t we all wish this was an April Fool’s joke and we could get back to our normal lives? There is so much we miss at the library, and the biggest part of that is the community. While we can’t see you in person, we are working to provide the most useful, entertaining and relevant content and information possible through our “Virtual Library.” A big thank you to Susanna Kahn for putting togeth-
er the details and designing the format. You can find it all at https://www.charlottepubliclibrary.org/virtual-library-charlotte-library/. And hats off to Cheryl Sloan for assembling resources for the kids and also for making her debut in online story times. All of this is also available at the virtual link on our website. If you would like us to add anything or have any other suggestions, please do let us know: info@charlottepubliclibrary.org. Stay well and enjoy the spring! The peepers are peeping!
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Dave Quickel, the owner, is firm in his belief that folks should come to the farm to see and feel where the food comes from, so you need to pick up your CSA at the farm. That said, Stony Loam is also a fixture at the Shelburne Saturday Farmers Market. Dave offers not only the finest veggies and flowers but an outrageously delicious and popular egg sandwich made of a grilled tortilla, scrambled eggs, and cheddar. A happy thought as we are nearing summer.
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Free Consultation needed to do this. In stepped a number of like-minded Charlotters who were CSA members in the past and wanted to support the new endeavor. Energized by this support, Dave set out to make it happen. When asked the best and worst surprises on the farm, he said, “Clay makes for bad mud.” Oh, here in Charlotte we all share that thought. That brings us to the future. Dave wants to grow (excuse the pun) the farm and make it available to more folks. He is very happy to be in Charlotte and the high retention rate of the CSA, and with the folks who find him at the farmers market.
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In season you can find his produce at Shelburne Market, City Market, Archie’s Grill and A Single Pebble. The best way, though, is to sign up for the CSA and pick it up at the farm. A very happy thought.
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The Charlotte News • April 2, 2020 • 17
Life Lessons
Grief and lessons in the time of coronavirus Katherine Arthaud Many who know me are aware that I’m a person who is pretty open to wisdom from wherever it might come—a shiny dime, a rainbow, the lyrics of a song, a toddler’s utterance, a bumper sticker.... You might also be aware that recently my son Dylan moved to California, to the Newport Beach area. It was a brave move. He knew no one there and had no job set up before he left. He had arranged a place to live, with a few older dudes, right near the beach. His plan was to do some surfing and build at least a temporary life in a different clime. Well, it was harder than he thought. Harder to find a job, harder to meet people… so many things. The surfing was good, and he knew some people in LA he could visit, but LA is almost two hours from Newport Beach—not a quick jaunt. Sometimes, friends would pass through town, but not a lot. Dylan managed to secure an EMT job near where he was living. But the job had ridiculously long hours and abominable pay, and the days were long and about a .02 on the Excitement Scale. As it turned out, it was all about transport, not emergencies. And not having friends nearby to hang out with proved more difficult than he’d thought. The roommates were friendly enough, but they were quite a bit older,
and all in all, though the location was great, the housing situation wasn’t ideal. Sometimes he would call me—and of course, though I know he’s resourceful and pretty independent, I worried. Things just weren’t clicking for him, and he was discouraged, and he sounded lonely a lot of the time. Then one day he called me and said that he had been driving, and a car had pulled in front of him with the license plate, “LESSONS.” “Lessons.” He told me it made him think about what all of this might be teaching him. Maybe, behind and beneath everything he was experiencing, there was some (as of yet un-grasped) meaning. *** Recently I read an article in the Harvard Business Review about grief, and how some of what many of us are feeling now, in these surreal pandemic times, is grief. If we can name it, perhaps we can manage it, writes Scott Berinato, in a preface to his interview with David Kessler, who has worked for years in the hospital system in Los Angeles and in a special reserve for traumatic events as a member of the disaster services team. Kessler’s opinion is that during this global pandemic we are feeling several different griefs. The loss of normalcy, the fear of economic toll, the loss of connection is
Welcome to
hitting us, and we’re grieving collectively. He believes we are also feeling “anticipatory grief,” which has to do with our uncertainty about what the future holds, about more broadly imagined futures: There is a storm coming. There’s something bad out there. “With a virus,” says Kessler, “this kind of grief is so confusing for people. Our primitive mind knows something bad is happening, but you can’t see it. This breaks our sense of safety. We’re feeling that loss of safety. … We are grieving on a micro and a macro level.” As far as managing these feelings, understanding the stages of grief can be a good place to start, but Kessler reminds us that the stages may not occur in order. Still, Elisabeth Kubler-Ross’ famous map can help “provide some scaffolding for this unknown world.” As far as the stages themselves, we have Denial, when we say things early on like: This virus won’t affect us. (Remember that?) Then, we have Anger: You’re making me stay home and taking away my activities. You mean I can’t even go see my new grandson? There’s also Bargaining: Okay, if I social distance for two weeks everything will be better and we can all resume life as normal, right? There’s Sadness: I don’t know when this will end. What if I never see my grandmother again? And finally, there’s
Acceptance. This is happening; this is the way things are; I have to figure out how to proceed. Acceptance is where the power lies. We find control in acceptance, says Kessler. I can wash my hands. I can keep a safe distance. I can learn how to work virtually. I can go to 12 Step meetings and meet with friends and family on ZOOM. Basically, unhealthy anticipatory grief is about anxiety. We tend to “awful-ize” and imagine terrible outcomes. We envision worst case scenarios. This is our minds being protective, but Kessler warns that we shouldn’t ignore these images, or wish or will them away, but rather try and find balance in the things we are thinking. Are you thinking of the worst that could happen? Make yourself think of the best instead. Neither scenario should be ignored, but neither should dominate, either. To calm yourself, the best thing to do is come into the present, says Kessler. If you’re not a big meditator, you can try something simple and practical, like naming five things in the room. It’s that simple. “Breathe. Realize that in the present moment, nothing you’ve anticipated has happened. In this moment, you’re okay. You have food. You are not sick. Use your senses see LIFE page 17
Stay Home. Stay Safe.
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We are in this together, we will get through this together.
18 • April 2, 2020 • The Charlotte News
LIFE
continued from page 16
and think about what they feel. The desk is hard. The blanket is soft. I can feel the breath coming into my nose. This will work to dampen some of that pain.” Also, try and think about how to let go of what you can’t control. What other people are doing is in the category of something outside of your control. They’re hoarding toilet paper? Not keeping the recommended distance on the footpath? What is in your control, says Kessler, is staying six feet away from them and washing your own hands. Focus on that. Practice compassion. Everyone will have different levels of fear and grief, and it will manifest in different ways. People are stressed and thus sometimes impatient, snippy, grumpy. And remember, says Kessler: this is a temporary state. Working for a decade or more in the hospital system, he has trained for situations like this. He has also studied the 1918 flu pandemic. “The precautions we’re taking are the right ones. History tells us that. This is survivable. We will survive. This is a time to overprotect but not overreact.” And, finally, Kessler believes we will find meaning in all this. Apparently, KüblerRoss’ family gave him permission to add a sixth stage to grief to the famous five: Meaning. Having experienced some personal grief, Kessler didn’t want to stop there. “I wanted meaning in those darkest hours,” he said. “We find light in those times.” “I believe we will continue to find meaning now and when this is over.” When asked what to say to someone who’s read all this and is still feeling overwhelmed with grief, Kessler says, “Keep trying. There is something powerful about naming this as grief. It helps us feel what’s inside of us. So many have told me in the past week, ‘I’m telling my coworkers I’m having a hard time’ or ‘I cried last night.’ When you name it, you feel it and it moves through you. Emotions need motion. It’s important we acknowledge what we go through… If we allow the feelings to happen, they’ll happen in an orderly way, and it empowers us. Then we’re not victims. … Let yourself feel the grief and keep going.”
It’s okay to be angry. It’s okay to howl from the depths to our God. It’s okay to be pissed off and brokenhearted and confused and outraged and out of our minds with sadness. The Universe, Higher Power, Whatever It Is You Believe In is big enough for all we can throw out at it. “There is no depth, no loss, no tragedy, no disease or death, nothing on heaven or on earth or under the earth that can place the world or anyone in it beyond God’s redemption,” writes theologian Sarah Dylan Breuer. When we cry out from the depths, we are heard. Cosmically. You got problems? Fear? Grief? Loneliness? Frustration? Love is bigger. Life can get really hard, really weird, really difficult, I know. But I think when we ask any question with any kind of a theological, ethical, emotional bent, the answer is almost always: love. Whatever the question, that’s most likely your go-to. And as for “LESSONS”—the message on the car in front of us—what, after all, can we learn? I don’t have all the answers and I don’t even know exactly what you are asking of the universe right now, but I know we can learn to keep things simple. To take it one day at a time. To try and live in the present moment. We can remember it isn’t all about us. If we don’t stay home for ourselves, we can stay home for the most vulnerable among us. We can make that sacrifice out of love for our sisters and brothers.
Town What to do with your garbage Williston Drop-Off Center opens with new hours. All other centers remain closed. On March 26, 2020, the Chittenden Solid Waste District reopened the Williston DropOff Center at 1492 Redmond Road. CSWD has capacity to staff one drop-off center, and Williston is the largest and most centrally located and provides the best option for managing customers and materials as safely and efficiently as possible. All other dropoff centers and the Environmental Depot (hazardous waste facility) will remain closed until further notice. Drop-off hours: Mon.-Sat., 8 a.m.–3:30 p.m. This could change at any time without notice. Fee: a flat $10 fee per visit. We will accept checks or cash. Checks must include the signer’s name, current address and phone number. Exact cash appreciated. This facility will accept these materials only: •
Household trash, limit four bags or barrels of any size.
• • • •
Blue-bin recycling Food scraps Twigs and tree branches Wood that has never been painted, stained or treated
To limit interactions and keep traffic moving, CSWD is also implementing the following changes beginning immediately: Leaves and garden trimmings must go to Green Mountain Compost at 1042 Redmond Rd. in Williston. Loose or in paper yard and garden bags only. No charge, no limits on volume. Hours: Mon.-Sat., 8 a.m.–4 p.m. Food scraps should be taken to Green Mountain Compost. No charge. The Environmental Depot hazardous waste facility is closed until further notice. Call the CSWD Hotline at 802-872-8111 with questions. Businesses should call 802-8654663 with hazardous waste questions. CSWD has confirmed that private trash and recycling collection companies have capacity to add residential customers. See options at cswd.net/haulers.
And speaking of sisters and brothers…we can stay connected and take heart that we are in this together, all of us, in this whole world—and that with intelligence, care, compassion and a willingness to listen to the scientifically gifted among us, we can get through this and be the stronger and maybe even the better, the wiser, for it. I will end with Psalm 103 (translated by Stephen Mitchell): I listen for you; my soul listens like a deer in the forest. My soul waits more intently than a soldier watching for the dawn. Answer me; open my heart so that I can wholly receive you. And teach me that when I am ready, you will let this suffering pass.
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The Charlotte News • April 2, 2020 • 19
Charlotte Senior Center Carolyn Kulik SENIOR CENTER DIRECTOR “I wish it need not have happened in my time,” said Frodo. “So do I,” said Gandalf, “and so do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us.” ~ J.R.R. Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring __________ Here we are in a spectacularly beautiful place; spring is coming; the weather is getting warmer and the days longer. We can get out to walk. How lucky to be right here, right now, and not on a cruise ship desperately looking for a place to dock. Just on time, four of the violets in my kitchen window are starting to bloom. The largest plant, with dark green, wavy leaves, has nearly two dozen flowers already open to the size of dollar coins—in an almost fuschia shade— with frilly, ruffled petals. And the best thing is that it will be in bloom for a while. As you probably know, the Senior Center will be closed through April 30 and the situation will be revisited then. It is definite that May
will follow April, but at this point, it is hard to say what, exactly, will be happening that month at the Senior Center. It is much easier to say that right now things are still in flux when it comes to transitioning classes to virtual Zoom formats. A few classes have already made the switch along with their current students. The best thing is to keep checking the website for updates: CharlotteSeniorCenterVT. org. When any new Zoom courses are posted, there will be a new email address to respond to. Stayed tuned. Try mindfulness In the interim, it seemed like a good time to get some advice and direction from Jill Abilock, who started teaching a course in Mindfulness at Senior Center last year, and is a certified Mindfulness instructor. Utilizing mindfulness skills can help change how you experience things, even though the outer circumstances stay the same. In order to practice Mindfulness, Jill starts with two basic pieces of advice: 1) When you feel overwhelmed with concern or anxiety, take a moment to refocus your attention on your circumstance at the moment. Where are you? Notice that you are in a
SBA offers disaster assistance to small businesses Staff report The U.S. Small Business Administration is offering low-interest federal disaster loans for working capital to small businesses suffering substantial economic injury as a result of the coronavirus (COVID-19). Following a request received from Governor Phil Scott on March 18, SBA acted under its own authority to declare a disaster, as provided by the Coronavirus Preparedness and Response Supplemental Appropriations Act that was recently signed by the president. The disaster declaration makes SBA assistance available in the entire state of Vermont and the contiguous counties of Coos, Grafton, Sullivan in New Hampshire and Clinton, Essex and Washington in New York. SBA customer service representatives will be available to answer questions about the Economic Injury Disaster Loan Program and explain the application process. Small businesses, private nonprofit organizations of any size, small agricultural cooperatives and small aquaculture enterprises
that have been financially impacted as a direct result of the pandemic since Jan. 31, 2020 may qualify for Economic Injury Disaster Loans of up to $2 million to help meet financial obligations and operating expenses that could have been met had the disaster not occurred. These loans may be used to pay fixed debts, payroll, accounts payable and other bills that can’t be paid because of the disaster’s impact. Eligibility for Economic Injury Disaster Loans is based on the financial impact of COVID-19. The interest rate is 3.75 percent for small businesses. The interest rate for private nonprofit organizations is 2.75 percent. SBA offers loans with long-term repayments in order to keep payments affordable, up to a maximum of 30 years. Applicants can apply online, receive additional disaster assistance information and download applications at https://disasterloan. sba.gov/ela. Applicants may also call SBA’s Customer Service Center at (800) 659-2955 or email disastercustomerservice@sba.gov for more information on SBA disaster assistance. The deadline to apply for an Economic Injury Disaster Loan is Dec. 21, 2020.
place that is relatively safe and relatively comfortable. Feel the ground under your feet. Coming back to where you are at the moment will stop you from projecting yourself into some imagined future. “When I was a boy and I would see scary things in the news, my mother would say to me, ‘Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping.’” ~ Mr. Rogers 2) If you are feeling angry or frightened at the current circumstances, practice gratitude. (Impossible? It’s easier than you think.) Start by stating aloud, or to yourself, the very thing—or person—that you are most grateful for, right now. Once you have done that (easy!), then add three or four more people or things that you are grateful to have in your life. But don’t stop here. Continue naming things that are smaller: your delicious breakfast, that wonderful avocado you just ate, the sun shining in your room, your cat. (Not really that hard.) Start your day with this gratitude practice. Maybe with your first cup of coffee or tea. Make a list if you wish. Try Post-Its on your refrigerator or kitchen cabinets or your bathroom mirror. Basically, whenever you feel
“The sun shines not on us but in us. The rivers flow not past but through us, thrilling, tingling, vibrating every fiber and cell of the substance of our bodies, making them glide and sing.” ~ John Muir pulled into fear or anger, use this practice to get on a more balanced footing. This goes along with the old half-full, halfempty-glass example. It’s the same glass, it’s just how you regard it that makes all the difference. Neither description denies that the glass is not completely full. __________ The Senior Center’s mission is to serve those 50 and up. Residents from other communities are always welcome. There are no membership fees. Usually we are open from 9-4 on Mondays through Fridays. Feel free to leave a message on the Center number: 425-6345; voicemail will be checked. Be careful. Stay well. But mostly, be kind. __________ Charlotte Senior Center 802-425-6345
Help for those in domestic or sexual violence situations during pandemic Self-isolation does not mean that you are alone: resources are available to all who need them Staff report The Vermont State Police, Vermont Attorney General’s Office and the Vermont Network Against Domestic and Sexual Violence join with other law-enforcement agencies and advocacy organizations to acknowledge the unique and difficult challenges facing people who are living in abusive and violent circumstances during the COVID-19 pandemic. “While we continue to take precautions around COVID-19 to make our communities safer for everyone, it is important for Vermonters to remember that not every home situation is safe,” said Attorney General T.J. Donovan. “Self-isolation does not mean that you are alone. Local programs and law enforcement agencies are here to help. I encourage all Vermonters who are worried about having to self-isolate in a dangerous home situation to reach out.” Amid stay-at-home orders, social distancing, quarantines and mandates to self-isolate, survivors can find themselves in closer contact than ever with their abusers. However, law enforcement, state government and advocacy networks stand ready to assist survivors, even as some operations are being modified to reduce the risk of virus transmission. “Despite many challenges and alterations in how services are provided, dedicated advocates at Vermont’s domestic and sexual violence organizations are able to answer hotline calls, offer modified shelter, and certainly talk to survivors about safety planning and other issues,” said Karen Tronsgard-Scott, executive director of the Vermont Network. The details around how domestic and sexual violence organizations are handling this situation are as follows:
• •
•
•
Staff are mostly working remotely, answering hotline calls 24/7 and supporting survivors. Shelters are open and implementing the procedural guidance offered by the State of Vermont Office on Economic Opportunity. This includes regular sanitation of shelter spaces, promoting handwashing and social isolation, and responding quickly in the event that a shelter resident feels ill. Staff are attending to the needs of survivors housed in shelters by phone with daily in-person contact by one staff member. The Vermont Network is working with service providers to ensure they have the most up-to-date information about staying safe and providing services and to accurately represent what is happening locally in conversations at the state and national level.
Numerous resources are available for survivors at the local and national level. They include: • • • • • •
Vermont Network website: https:// vtnetwork.org/covid-19-update. Vermont Domestic Violence Hotline: 800-228-7395. Vermont Sexual Violence Hotline: 800489-7273. National Domestic Violence Hotline: 800-799-7233. If you’re unable to speak safely: Log onto thehotline.org, or text LOVEIS to 22522. If you are in an emergency situation: Call 911.
“We want survivors to know that we see you. We’re here. We’re ready to help,” said Col. Matthew T. Birmingham, director of the Vermont State Police. “If you are in an abusive or violent situation, you should know that the state police, your local law-enforcement agency and the Vermont Judiciary will be there for you when you need them.”
20 • April 2, 2020 • The Charlotte News
Obituary
Classifieds
Ellis B. Mascareno, aka “Eliseo de Arizona.”
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September 2, 1937 - March 7, 2020. Youngest son and namesake of a lumberjack and his bride, Josefita, he left the sticks of Springerville, and headed for the big city of Phoenix at the tender age of fifteen, where he holed up with Cresencia and Patricio, his equally hilarious brother and sister. Their siblings Marcellino, Antonio, Esther, Florencia, Beatriz, Eulojio, Guadalupe, and Delia were scattered throughout the southwest. Being a brainy kid, he quickly realized that although he swam like a fish, he aspired to be more than a just a tanned pretty face in the lifeguard chair. The late 1950’s marked the first great wave of nerd chic, and he craftily exploited the US Air Force and General Electric into bankrolling his future as this country’s premier engineer of fluorescent light bulbs. On the weekends he spun platters on campus and developed a lifetime love of music. Occasionally he made noise with a guitar. The first of Eliseo and Josefita’s 14 kids to go to college, he went from launching missiles in New Mexico to the mean streets of Philly. It was there that he built his first boat, an event which would come to affect every warm, windless day for the next half century. After rambling around the northeast for a few years at the behest of GE, he found himself landed in the tony town of Cleveland, Ohio. It was there, on the golden shores of Lake Erie, that he met The Sheila, the nurse who would become his muscle car co-pilot and camping companion. They detoured to Bucyrus, the Bratwurst Capital of America for few years in the early 1970s, his engineering acumen also being needed there. Apparently, the brats weren’t just in the beer garden, because when they headed back for Cleveland in 1977, the back seat of Sheila’s Cutlass had a couple of rug rats in it. Brian was dressed up in his best plaid pants and Vicki probably had a dirty diaper. Ellis was blissfully ignorant of any of these events as he cruised north, top-down, lookin’ good, in his green 1968 Corvette. A car, it must be mentioned, that he traded in late 1982 for a baby-crap-brown full-size station wagon. Such a cruel and mysterious decision! Many
Ellis B. Mascareno, aka “Eliseo de Arizona.”
family adventures were undertaken in that wagon with summers filled with waterskiing and campfires and the requisite trips to Yellowstone and Daytona Beach. The kids grew up and went to college and had careers and families of their own, although he had been concerned in the mid80s that the boy might wind up in the pokey. The girl was mostly good. He enjoyed watching fireworks with the grandkids, Zam, Ebag, Revilo and Jo. His daughter-in-law Crystal, however, does not enjoy fireworks. Sheila and Ellis enjoyed their freedom when he retired early and got to see a good portion of the world. Spreading the gospel of ducttape based repair solutions was a favorite pastime until the end of his days. His son-inlaw Keith remains skeptical about it. There have been reports that he was the inventor of the “pull-my-finger” game. Being a former alter-boy, he was always nice to people and spent much time volunteering for many different organizations in his retirement. He wasn’t known as much of a drinker, but never turned down a margarita, or any other cocktail filled with tequila. Smile for him, friends, because while it seems so obvious now, when Eliseo de Arizona stepped out of the one-room cabin where he was born, and the future was a question mark for him, as it is for us all, he was walking off into a life well-lived, and one to be proud of. Ellis Mascareno’s daughter, Charlotte resident Vicki Nelson, has been a guidance counselor in Charlotte and with CVSD for many years.
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WARNING TOWN OF CHARLOTTE SPECIAL TOWN MEETING APRIL 7, 2020 The legal voters of the Town of Charlotte are hereby notified and warned to meet at the Charlotte Town Hall, 159 Ferry Road in said Town, on Tuesday, April 7, 2020 to vote by Australian ballot to begin at seven o’clock in the forenoon and to close at seven o’clock in the afternoon. BY AUSTRALIAN BALLOT The following articles as approved at the annual meeting on March 3, 2020:
IS THERE ROOM
Article 3:
Will the voters of the Town approve the Selectboard’s budget of $3,451,157 for the fiscal year July 1, 2020 to June 30, 2021, in addition to those monies raised pursuant to Article 4 and Article 5 if any, of which an anticipated sum of $1,991,349 will be raised by property taxes and an anticipated sum of $1,459,808 will be raised by non-tax revenues?
Article 4:
Will the voters of the Town approve raising the sum of $57,000 by property taxes, in addition to those monies raised pursuant to Article 3 and Article 5 if any, to be allocated to the Trails Reserve Fund?
Article 5:
Will the voters of the Town approve raising the sum of $0 by property taxes, in addition to those monies raised pursuant to Article 3 and Article 4 if any, to be distributed to the not-for-profit organizations identified on page 21 of the Town Report?
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COFFEE AND TEA ACROSS 1. Bookie’s number 5. Parents org. 8. Slang for microwave 11. Time distortion 12. One with biggest share? 13. Like a case of appendicitis, possibly 15. Decanter 16. Knowing about 17. Mister in Madrid 18. *Usually served on ice, 2 words 20. Barber’s sound 21. Accepted truth 22. Took a load off 23. Artist’s office 26. Excites passions, 2 words 30. Comic book cry of horror 31. Rude or sarcastic 34. Chips, perhaps 35. Roleplay 37. Chinese “way” 38. Ice floaters 39. 100 centavos 40. Merry 42. Table scrap 43. Breastbone 45. *Double shot of espresso 47. Feather’s partner 48. Not here 50. Nickname for Putin? 52. *Revolutionary event 55. *”Tea is the only simple pleasure left to us,” he wrote 56. Research facil. 57. Typically used in the fairway 59. Goodbye to amiga 60. Plenty 61. Why not 62. *Black tea, in China 63. Bard’s “before” 64. Pay close attention
Answers on page 19
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DOWN 1. Be in the red 2. Crows’ cousins 3. Actress Barrymore 4. More like rumors 5. ‘70s Ford model 6. Native American emblem 7. Dwarf buffalo 8. Pueblo tribesman 9. On top 10. For each 12. Cosmetic cabinet staple 13. Allegro ____ in music, Italian 14. *____ Perk from “Friends” 19. Exit plus s 22. Eye infection 23. Oozes 24. Article of faith 25. Romanov’s edict 26. *A ____ of tea, in U.K. 27. Prowl around 28. Embryo cradles 29. Green pasta sauce 32. One on the list 33. Faux one 36. *Equal parts espresso and warm milk 38. Fauna’s partner 40. Hudson’s Bay Company original ware 41. Experts 44. Nose channels 46. Kick the bucket 48. Between countertenor and baritone 49. Make this, not waste 50. Affected by the moon 51. Went down a slippery slope 52. Kitchen flooring choice 53. Tried follower 54. Bygone era 55. *The Revolutionary one followed #52 Across 58. The Simpsons’s neighbor
Dam it Spring is slowly creeping in—though last week’s snow reminded us that it’s going to take its time—and the beavers are busy on East Thompson’s Point Road, creating this beaver pond with a dam and lodge. Photo by Sam Moore
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presorted standard