The Charlotte News | February 21

The

Volume lX Number 16 | WedNesday, February 21, 2018

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Charlotte News

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Vol. 60, no. 16

February 21, 2018

Vermont’s oldest nonprofit community newspaper, bringing you local news and views since 1958

Charlotte Town Meeting March 6 And April 3

By Mary Mead

TOWN CLERK/TREASURER

That’s right, two dates for us here in Charlotte to remember for Town Meeting and voting. On Tuesday, March 6, Town Meeting will be held in the Multi-Purpose Room at Charlotte Central School, starting at 9 a.m. The Selectboard will be taking us through the Town Warning articles starting with Article 3, which is to approve the town’s $3,145,165 budget. During the discussion of Article 3, people will be able to make amendments to that budget if they like—adding to it, taking away from it, or any combination of the two. If there are amendments made to the budget, we will have a floor vote on those changes.

At the end of the discussion of that article will be the final budget number will go to the voters on April 3 to vote on

by Australian ballot. The town budget is not finalized on March 6; it is discussed

and may be amended, but the binding vote on the budget happens on April 3 by Australian ballot.

Article 4 and Article 5 are asking for $50,000 for the purchase of generators and $30,000 for capital improvements for recreation. Just like the budget, these two articles are discussed, dollar amounts may be amended or not, and then voted on from the floor. Whatever the outcome of the floor vote is will be the dollar amount voted on

by Australian ballot on April 3. The dollar amounts for Article 4 and Article 5 are in addition to the $3,145,165 town budget.

Article 6 is a floor vote to purchase airpacks and bottles in the amount of $220,000, using funds in the Fire & Rescue Reserve Fund, which the town holds. This vote will be final with the floor vote.

There is no Australian ballot on April 3 for this article. The funds exist in the Fire & Rescue Capital Fund, and the $220,000 is not in addition to the $3,145,165 budget.

ESSEX Plan to put a price on carbon emissions described as a win-win for Vermonters

We are required to vote on the spending of those funds because the expenditure is more than $50,000.

The Fire & Rescue Capital Fund is on page 23 in your Town Report, and it outlines past, current and future purchases for CVFRS, both equipment and apparatus, along with the cost of the bond payments for the apparatus purchases. The Fire & Rescue Capital fund is supported almost entirely by tax dollars, which pay the bonds, purchase the equipment and apparatus.

Aside from all of that, there will still be three Australian ballots on March 6: 1) our town and school officers’ ballot, 2) Town Plan ballot and 3) Champlain Valley School District budget ballot.

On April 3, there will be one ballot to vote on the Town budget and on Articles 4 and 5. The dollar amounts for those articles will be what was approved by floor vote on March 6.

Absentee ballots are available now for March 6. You may request absentee ballots for the April 3 meeting anytime, but those ballots will not be available until March 12. If you have any questions, please feel free to call the Town Clerk’s Office at 4253071 or email mary@townofcharlotte. com.

Australian Ballot Voting March 6 Australian ballots will be cast for (1) town and school officers, (2) the Town Plan, and (3) the Champlain Valley School District budget.

April 3 Australian ballots will be cast for (1) the Town Budget, (2) Article 4 for generators and (3) Article 5 for recreation capital funds.

News from The News

Staff report At a meeting at the Charlotte Senior Center Feb. 12, attended by about 25 people, Representative Mike Yantanchka, Tom Hughes of Energy Independent Vermont, Karen LaFayette of the Vermont Low Income Advocacy Council, and Sally Kerschner of the Climate Health Alliance laid out the reasoning behind the carbon pricing bill currently before the Legislature, Senate bill S.284, also known as the ESSEX Plan, and explained how it will work. (ESSEX stands for An Economy Strengthening Strategic Energy Exchange.)

Based on extensive evidence linking increases in CO2 to climate change, apparent in Vermont’s rising temperatures and precipitation— average winter temperatures in Burlington, for example, have risen

7°F since 1970—and the state’s

escalating number of tick-borne diseases, the bill imposes a tax on gasoline (excluding diesel fuel used in tractors and other farm vehicles.) and home-heating fuel, the primary human consumption-linked sources of carbon dioxide in Vermont. During its first year (2019), the tax would be 3 cents on a gallon of propane, 4 cents on a gallon

Tom Hughes (left) and Rep. Mike Yantachka (right) of gasoline, and 5 cents on a gallon of heating oil, increasing by approximately those same amounts annually until 2025 when the tax on gasoline, for example, would reach 35 cents a gallon, which approximates the social cost of carbon pollution from burning gasoline.

According to Yantachka and Hughes, the profits from this tax will be rebated to Vermonters in our monthly electric bills, reducing payments by an expected 25-30 percent on average.

As electricity generation in Vermont

see CARBON page 3

Anna Cyr

Melissa O’Brien

Looking at the sidebar on page 2 you’ll note that we have reorganized the newsroom here at The Charlotte News.

Anna Cyr, who so capably filled in as acting editor for the past two months while we searched for a new editor, is now the managing editor of the paper. She will be responsible for the production and layout of the print paper, uploading digital content to the website on the morning of print publication, setting up the email blast with links to the web edition sent on the morning the print edition appears, maintaining and updating the digital and print archives, and managing the news@thecharlottenews.org email account.

Melissa O’Brien, whom many of our readers may remember as the editor of The News back in

2008, has returned to the paper, this time as our news editor. In that role Melissa will be responsible for the written and photographic content of the paper, including coverage of Charlotte public meetings and important issues, and for cultivating writers and encouraging submissions from community organizations and individuals. She will also serve as the editorial face of The Charlotte News, representing the paper at community meetings, events and fundraisers, and as the coordinator of the Alice Outwater Internship Program. Melissa welcomes input, suggestions and feedback—as well as inquiries from those of you who may wish to become one of the writers we all so enjoy reading here on these pages. Contact her at melissa@ thecharlottenews.org.

Legislature 2 • Summer Camps 6 - 7 • Town Meeting Info 11 - 13 • Senior Center News 22

2 • February 21, 2018 • The Charlotte News

A Return to the Familiar

Melissa O’Brien NEWS EDITOR

It was in the spirit of Olympic fever with which I watched the video of my son, Sam, launching himself off ski jumps, spinning, flipping and soaring. I watched this Instagram post of his over and over thinking to myself ...

I gave birth to this?

Sam is a member of the freestyle ski team at Sierra Nevada College in Incline Village, Nevada. There is nothing about his life that surprises me; for as far back as my memory stretches he was climbing trees and onto the roof, launching himself high into the air from the trampoline that Justin Simpkins and his wonderful Charlotte Berry Farm family gave us when they moved to Martha’s Vineyard.

Sam is a bird without wings, and I love watching him soar.

Charlotte, Vermont, its fields, woods, water and dirt roads, launched that guy and many others like him. Our young ones grow up and leave; friends settle for a time then move on. Still, like most small towns here in Vermont, this place retains an unmistakable draw. Perhaps it is the lake and the remarkable view of the Adirondack Mountains to the west. Maybe it’s the quiet or the way the morning light looks just peeking over the hills on the east side of town. I don’t know, but here I am, back in a place I occupied 10 years ago.

Life has a very funny way of doing this, bringing places and people back around.

Maybe there’s unfinished business, maybe we

I believe in community, and I believe that newspapers like the one you have in front of you right now play an important role in the life of a community. left something too soon. Maybe, just maybe, life puts us where we are needed when we are needed.

A lot has happened in the 10 years since I last received a paycheck from The Charlotte News. I launched two of my three children into the world, my marriage ended, I became a seminary student, answered the call to preach at a church in southern Vermont, became a hospice chaplain and half of a therapy dog team. I can’t leave that part out—our blind coonhound, Daisy, factors prominently into the story of Us. Why are you here, they asked me when I sat and interviewed for the position of news editor of this paper.

Why am I here? Because I love newspapers and I believe in them and I don’t want them to die on my watch. On Sunday mornings I do my thing at the pulpit of the Pawlet Community Church, then we have our coffee and catch up with each other, and

then I head to Sheldon’s Market to get The New York Times. It’s six dollars now, which is absurd, but I love everything about it; I read it all week long. For a time I had a subscription to the Martha’s Vineyard Gazette. The newspaper they churn out on that tiny island is, in my opinion, one of the finest anywhere.

I was the editor of my high school newspaper. I thought I would grow up and be a reporter. Turns out I did.

Why am I here? Because I believe in community, and I believe that newspapers like the one you have in front of you right now play an important role in the life of a community. When we share our stories and our photos, news of our triumphs and losses, when we share our lives this way we grow stronger together, and that matters. That matters more than ever at a time in history when people are becoming increasingly isolated, anxious and lonely. The bonds of community are worth preserving, protecting and nurturing. All of you should be proud that Charlotte has sustained this newspaper for 60 years, and, too, you should be thinking about how to keep sustaining it because that’s how it works. It’s one of the things we do really well in small-town Vermont life: we recognize what is of value and then we throw our weight behind it.

Why am I here? It’s simple: because this paper, brought to life in 1958 by a group of teenagers in the basement of the Charlotte Congregational Church and has chugged along for six decades, is of value.

Report from the Legislature Energy & Technology The Energy & Technology Committee (E&T) on which I serve has three areas of responsibility over Vermont’s Mike Yantachka infrastructure: energy, CONTRIBUTOR telecommunications and information technology (IT). In the six weeks of this session, we’ve been pretty active in each of these areas.

generation facility for a district heat project that will pump hot water through highly efficient pipes to the UVM Medical Center, the UVM campus and the new Burlington Center redevelopment project. This project will not only increase the plant’s efficiency but will offset greenhouse gas emissions by replacing fossil fuels used for heating.

E&T also voted to require that the Agency of Natural Resources use the $18.7M from the Volkswagen settlement solely for electric vehicle (EV) charging infrastructure and for conversion from fossil fuel vehicles to EVs as allowed under the terms of the settlement.

Energy The House has already passed two of our bills dealing with energy this session. H.410 extends Vermont’s appliance efficiency standards. A similar bill enacted last year adopts the current federal appliance efficiency standards for Vermont if the current federal Environmental Protection Agency decides to rescind them. Those standards have saved consumers billions of dollars in energy costs and offset millions of tons of CO2 emissions.

With H.410 Vermont will adopt additional standards for products like commercial kitchen items, air compressors, computers and computer monitors, and water appliances like faucets, showerheads and toilets. These include standards developed by the U.S. Department of Energy, those adopted by the Energy Star program and other industry standards that manufacturers have already adopted.

The second bill, H.616, authorizes the Burlington Electric Department to use the waste heat from the McNeil biomass electric

Telecommunications Again, two of our bills dealing with telecommunications were passed by the House. Both seek to get high speed broadband out to rural areas where population density is too low to justify private investment. H.581 specifies that Connectivity Initiative grants funded by the Vermont Universal Service Fund (USF) can be used only for new broadband infrastructure projects and not for ongoing operational expenses. H.582 would increase the USF fee from 2 percent today to 2.5 percent starting in 2018 and ending in 2022. While this will increase the cost of a $100 phone bill by 50 cents per month, it will raise $1.5M annually and will be allocated to the Connectivity Initiative to expand broadband in rural areas.

Information Technology Last year the Agency of Digital Services (ADS) was created to consolidate the state government’s IT infrastructure and services, which have been distributed throughout the

agencies. Our committee has been reviewing the status of the reorganization and the IT projects the agency now oversees as well as the forward focus of the agency. To date, the reorganization is proceeding well, with development personnel working in the same agencies and departments as before while reporting directly to ADS. The highest priority of ADS now is cybersecurity. In the last 12 months more than four million cyberattacks on state systems were detected.

Plans are in place to partner with Norwich University to identify weaknesses and strengthen monitoring and remediation.

E&T has also been investigating steps the state can take to enforce net neutrality within our borders. Net neutrality is the principle that Internet Service Providers (ISPs) should enable access to all content and applications regardless of the source, and without favoring or blocking particular products or websites. The recent decision by the Federal Communications Commission to reverse Obama administration rules ensuring net neutrality puts content providers in the position of having to pay tolls to allow users to access their products, thereby disadvantaging smaller content providers. While the governor recently issued an executive order requiring state agencies and departments to write net neutrality into contracts with ISPs, E&T will continue investigating this subject in hopes of developing even stronger net neutrality rules for consumer protection.

As always, I can be reached by phone (802-233-5238) or by email (myantachka. dfa@gmail.com).

The Charlotte News The Charlotte News is a nonprofit, community-based newspaper dedicated to informing townspeople of current events and issues. It serves as a forum for the free exchange of views of town residents and celebrates the people, places and happenings that make the Town of Charlotte unique.

Contributions in the form of articles, press releases and photographs pertaining to Charlotte-related people and events are accepted and encouraged. For submission guidelines and deadlines, please visit our website or contact the editor at news@thecharlottenews.org.

The Charlotte News is published in Charlotte

by The Charlotte News, Inc., a Vermont domestic 501(c)(4) nonprofit corporation.

Distribution is made every other Wednesday to all households and businesses in Charlotte and to more than 50 outlets in Shelburne, Hinesburg, North Ferrisburgh, Ferrisburgh, Vergennes and Burlington. The Charlotte News relies on the generous financial contributions of its readers, subscriptions and advertising revenue to sustain its operations.

Publisher: Vince Crockenberg Editorial Staff News Editor: Melissa O’Brien (melissa@ thecharlottenews.org) Managing Editor: Anna Cyr (anna@ thecharlottenews.org) Contributing Editor: Edd Merritt Copy editors: Beth Merritt, Vince Crockenberg, Proof readers: Edd Merritt, Mike & Janet Yantachka Archives: Liz Fotouhi Business Staff ads@thecharlottenews.org / 343-0279 Ad manager: Monica Marshall (ads@ thecharlottenews.org) Bookkeeper: Jessica Lucia Board Members President: Vince Crockenberg (vince@ thecharlottenews.org) Secretaries: Rick Detwiler, Carol Hanley Treasurer: Patrice Machavern (treasurer@ thecharlottenews.org) Board members: Rachel Allard, Bob Bloch, Gay Regan, Louisa Schibli Website: thecharlottenews.org Subscription Information The Charlotte News is delivered at no cost to all Charlotte residences. Subscriptions are available for first-class delivery at $40 per calendar year. Want a subscription? Please send a check payable to The Charlotte News, P.O. Box 251, Charlotte, VT 05445.

Postmaster/Send address changes to: The Charlotte News P.O. Box 251, Charlotte, VT 05445 Telephone: 425-4949 Circulation: 3,000 copies per issue.

Copyright © 2018 The Charlotte News, Inc. Member of the New England Newspaper and Press Association and the Vermont Press Association.

ON THE COVER:

Dormant apple trees at the home of Heather and Ramsey Herrington on Whalley Road. Photo by Melissa O’Brien

The Charlotte News • February 21, 2018 • 3

Around Town Congratulations:

to the CVU Brain Bee Team, which was one of nine high school teams competing in the Vermont Brain on Feb. 10 at the UVM Larner College of Medicine. Medical school faculty and students asked high schoolers questions that involved health-related topics, and the winner is the one to answer the most correctly. This year’s champion came from Middlebury Union High School. However, it took two rounds of finalist questions before she won.

Sympathy:

CARBON

continued from page 1 comes increasingly from renewable resources, the bill, they stressed, also provides incentives to purchase more fuel-efficient cars and heating systems, thereby reducing both fuel costs (electric vehicles have annual fuel costs $400-$600 lower than vehicles run on fossil fuel) and carbon emissions—a win-win for Vermonters.

In addition, they pointed out that most of the electricity we use in Vermont is generated locally (some comes from Canada), meaning that the money we pay for electricity stays close to home,

which is good for the state’s economy.

In contrast, we currently spend over $2 billion dollars on fossil fuels, almost 80 percent of which leaves the state’s borders.

Many of those attending were skeptical about the economics of the plan or about the state’s ability to implement it without significant added administrative costs and the burdens the tax would place on low-income and rural Vermonters. Yantachka and Hughes, however, pointed out that the needed administrative structures to collect fuel taxes and to distribute rebates are largely in place and that the electric utilities are already on board with the

proposal. Lafayette emphasized that the amount of the electric rebates would more than compensate for the increase in carbon taxes for gasoline and heating oil for rural Vermonters, as well as for those in the six lowest income deciles.

Both groups will be eligible for higher rebates under the plan—and Hughes pointed out that all of Charlotte is considered rural.

For more information on the ESSEX plan, see Rep. Yantachka’s column in the Jan. 24 issue of The Charlotte News, or go to the website of the Energy Action Network, eanvt.org/the-essex-planan-economy-strengthening-strategicenergy-exchange..

Photo of the Week

is extended to family and friends of Marilyn (Lyn) Perrin of Charlotte who passed away on February 11 at the age of 83. Lyn and her husband, David, were members of the Charlotte Congregational Church,aa where her musical talents were on display in the choir. She also sang with the Champlain Echoes for 50 years and played trumpet in the Bolton Band.

The family asks that, in lieu of flowers, contributions in her memory be made to a charity of the giver’s choice or to the Charlotte Congregational Church, 403 Church Hill Road, Charlotte 05445.

Want to share your story or event?

Email news@thecharlottenews.org

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4 • February 21, 2018 • The Charlotte News

Leavitty

by josie leavitt

It started simply enough. Two little things made me think I could renovate the downstairs bathroom by myself.

The first was a piece of linoleum that was curling up, practically begging to be lifted up and removed. Of course, I naively thought, with that one curl of the floor the whole thing would just come off in one glorious sheet. The second thing was the easy, far too easy,

removal of the wallpaper border that went around the half-wall of wallpaper window.

I had been starting to really hate the bathroom. This happens slowly in a house, but once you realize you can no longer live with a room the way it’s been, a slight, rage-fueled home fix-it idea takes hold, and you’re committed.

Thirty-year-old blue flowered wallpaper with an accented border and a blue pattern linoleum floor was starting to come up and was enraging me by its mere existence. The sink had broken

months ago. and I’d never gotten around to calling a plumber about it. One day I was sitting there (the toilet works just fine) and I started peeling the border with my thumb. It was easy. So I got up and started peeling the entire border off.

Emboldened by the ease of the border removal, I set about to remove the wallpaper. Here’s the thing with me, I think everything is actually doable.

Yes, I had the help of YouTube and I learned that, no, I didn’t have to rent a big ol’ scary steamer. All I needed was a spray bottle with a mix of fabric softener and hot water. That went easily enough for the first hour. Small parts of paper were coming off, but the fabric softener smell was starting to get to me. (I only had scented Downy and it was -15° so the windows stayed closed.) Then it occurred to me, why not use sand paper to rough up the paper then spray it just with hot water?

This was miraculous. The paper came off in wonderfully long sheets.

I was obsessed and stayed up far too late removing all of it. Yes, I hurt my arm, but I could see change and it was amazing. I painted the ceiling and the walls and now the bathroom is bright white.

Anticipating similar ease with the floor I started using my wonder bar to remove it. In a cruel twist of fate, it turns out that 30-year-old linoleum

glue adheres more strongly with each passing year. But I had started and I was not about to call a floor person to finish.

This took weeks (I did still have to go to my day job) of peeling a section at a time until I was down to the sub floor.

Then I decided to replace the bulky blue-topped vanity. I was at a dinner party telling folks about this and describing my worry about plumbing when a friend chimed in arrogantly, “Call me when you get stuck.” Quite frankly, little motivates me more than someone saying I can’t do something.

Was it hard? Actually, not really.

Fueled by the need to show up the rude doubter, I carefully removed the vanity and the sink and carried them to the garage. Is the bathroom finished? Not so much. Turns out floors are a multistep project, but by the time my tulips are up, the bathroom will be done. And I’m okay with that.

Josie Leavitt retired from the Flying Pig Bookstore in 2016, after 20 amazing years. Periodically, you can still find her there, taking a shift or two, but her real day job is as the Development Director at the Pride Center. At night, Josie performs stand up comedy throughout New England.

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The Charlotte News • February 21, 2018 • 5

The Accidental Pastor

by melissa o’brien

Every time I went to see him there was a pile of newspapers falling off of the table beside his chair.

He had been placed in hospice care just a few weeks earlier and he wasn’t ready, he wasn’t resolved, he wasn’t one of those people who says, “I’ve lived a long and good life and I’m ready to die.”

He had, in fact, lived a long and good life, and in our visits he regaled me with stories of his travels, all over the world. “I missed the seventh continent by an hour,” he told me one day. I laughed, though I doubt very much that anyone was laughing at the time when, within an hour of reaching the shore of Antartica, their boat had to turn around in rough seas.

He had raised a family, five kids, and taken over the family business from his dad. “He used the last dollar he had to put gas in the car to drive us to Vermont

from Connecticut,” he said, and then went on to tell me how his father started working in the local mill and, when the owner died suddenly, worked with his widow to keep it going so people wouldn’t lose their jobs.

His dad handed the business down to him and he handed it to his son. His grandsons are working there now.

Community service? Check. This gentleman had spent 26 years on the school board and 23 years on the fire department, 10 of them as co-chief.

“You have lived the kind of life we should all aspire to live,” I told him one day, sitting in the warm sun of his living room. Because he was a modest man with a good sense of humor he laughed and said, “Oh, I don’t know about that.”

I do. I know about that. As a hospice chaplain and pastor of a small-town church I sit at a lot of kitchen tables and in a lot of living rooms and listen to a lot of people talk about their lives. Or,

sometimes, the life of someone they have loved who has died or is dying. I have so many stories of people’s lives filling my heart and head now that I know, I know about a good life. I also know about regrets, about time running out, about the shocking realization that we are going to die.

My friend talked about this one day.

“You go through your life, you know, and you live it. You’re busy raising kids and working. Then maybe you get to travel. You do your service, you pay your bills. You never really stop to think that it’s going to end one day.”

My friend was in his early 90s. I’m sure that death had crept into the conversation in one way or another by then.

But I could see something else with him. I could see that he really loved his life—a life that was not without loss and heartache. One of his sons had died soon after he was born; he and his wife divorced after 35 years. Still, he gave me a precious gift one day when his gaze drifted away from me and out the window and he said, “This is a very beautiful world, and I’m not ready to leave it yet.”

The newspapers piled on his chairside table told story after story of tragedy. We live at a time when there seems

All Vermont high school students invited to apply for 2018 Governor’s Institutes Enthusiastic Vermont learners in grades 9 through 12 are eligible to apply to one of the 11 intensive summer programs through the Governor’s Institutes of Vermont. Applications are now open at giv.org/applynow.

GIV offers enthusiastic young Vermonters the opportunity to dive indepth into a topic they love, meet other students from around the state, and experience life on a college campus.

Institute topics for 2018 include visual and performing arts, engineering, environmental science and technology, architecture/design build, creative writing, mathematics, entrepreneurship, current issues and youth activism, astronomy, and information technology and digital media. These immersive programs take learning beyond the classroom and into the outside world, giving students the time and resources to take their interests to the next level at campuses all across the state.

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schools, so students are encouraged to contact their school counselors for more information.

and principles related to environment, transportation and energy. In addition, our Entrepreneurship Institute now offers college credit through dual enrollment. The Arts Institute, in its 35th year, provides world-class opportunities for young Vermont artists, providing access to professional mentors, a network of artistic peers from around Vermont, and great facilities in which to be creative and learn new skills.

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to be an on-going tsunami of horror and sorrow: natural disaster, gun violence, political unrest, the threat of war. Every day brings fresh madness.

And yet ... my friend was right. This is, indeed, a very beautiful world, and his reluctance to leave it made perfect sense to me.

While we are here we really have no choice. While we are here, above and not below the good green earth, we have an obligation to honor the dead by living, not only with a quiet reverence for those who are gone but with an intention to really live, to do what those who have died can no longer do. Seventeen good people lost their lives in Florida the other day, and no matter how challenging, how hard, how low your life may be at this moment in time, I’ll bet that any one of them would change places with you.

We the living have an obligation to respect and honor that truth. We are all going to die. Until then...life here in this very beautiful world.

6 • February 21, 2018 • The Charlotte News

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The Charlotte News • February 21, 2018 • 7

The Case For Camp Hannah Herbert When I was nine years old I spent my first two weeks away from home.

Eagerly, I arrived at horsemanship camp, where I would enjoy the peak of summer.

Naturally, I was afraid to be separated from my parents and my life at home.

What I discovered was the deep bonds of friendships, a second home, a place of peace and a new sense of independence.

I have spent every summer at camp ever since. Each July I am reunited with some of my closest friends whom I have kept in touch with during the school year — friends from all over the United States and Europe, some of whom I talk to on a weekly basis. I love learning how different their worlds are from mine and how strong the feelings we share are for the place where our friendships began.

I look back on those memories and am profoundly thankful for every trip to the lake, every trail ride and every bonfire that created the bonds I have with my friends and counselors.

My time at camp instilled and solidified many of the values I hold closest. Camp taught me how important it is to respect one another, to be kind, to always lend a helping hand, and how to communicate healthily. Without the pressure and distraction of social media or technology (no cell phones were allowed) I was able to

be entirely present and absorb the beauty of my surroundings. I find the act of being present something that slips away from us too easily today.

Whenever I find myself stressed, sad or having a bad day, I look at my photos from those summers, and I am reminded of all the love and positivity cultivated in that camp environment. I do my best to spread that love wherever I go. The homesickness I experienced made me appreciate the family and support I had waiting for me. I gained confidence and trust in myself and my peers.

For me, going to camp has been more than summer fun, it has become a home away from home, a place where I become my best self and a source of pure happiness.

This past summer I was lucky enough to work as a counselor at camp for the first time. It was a full-circle moment. Over the years I have been in awe of the beauty of my counselors. They have been some of the most hardworking, compassionate and empowering women I know. It was an honor to view myself as someone my campers looked up to in the way that I once had to my counselors.

Over the years, I have grown and changed significantly from the nine-yearold girl that I was when I arrived at camp for the first time. What hasn’t changed is my veneration for the relationships, values

Illustration by Brett Hughes and experiences that have influenced, fortified and shaped my life.

Hannah Herbert is a freshman at the University of Vermont. She spent

nine happy summers as a camper at Road’s End farm in Chesterfield, New Hampshire. Her aunt and uncle, Karen and Mike Frost, live in Charlotte.

For kids who are wild about animals!

2017 Summer Sessions t Kids AgesSummer 5-7: $195 **New Age Sessions 2018Group** 8FFL .POEBZ 'SJEBZ +VMZ Ages 5-7: $195 Session One:Kids 9AM-12PM

Week 1: Monday - Friday, July 9 - 13

8FFL .POEBZ 'SJEBZ +VMZ Session One: 8:30AM - 12:30PM

Session Two: 9AM - 12PM, 2: Monday - Friday, July 16 - 20 SessionWeek Three: 1PM - 4PM Session Two: 8:30AM - 12:30PM

Camp Paw Paw offers a unique learning experience for children who share one thing in common: love for animals

t Kids Ages 8-10: $195.00 Kids Ages 8-9: $390 8FFL .POEBZ 'SJEBZ +VMZ

Week 3: Monday - Friday, July 23 - 27

Session Four: 9Am 12PM Session Three:-9AM - 3PM Session Five: 1PM - 4PM

Week 4: Monday - Friday, July 30 - August 3 8FFL .POEBZ 'SJEBZ +VMZ "VHVTU Session Four: 9AM - 3PM

Session Six: 9AM -12PM Kids 1PM Ages 10-12: $390 Session Seven: - 4PM

Week 5: Monday - Friday, August 6 - 10

tKids Ages 11-12: $3909 AM - 3 PM Session Five: 8FFL .POEBZ 'SJEBZ "VHVTU Week 6: Monday - Friday, August 13 - 17 Session Eight: 9AM - 3PM Session Six: 9 AM - 3 PM

8FFL .POEBZ 'SJEBZ "VHVTU

Session Nine: 9AM - 3PM For more information about our Summer Camps you can contact us at: Y t CFTUGSJFOET!DIJUUFOEFOIVNBOF PSH XXX DIJUUFOEFOIVNBOF PSH

8 • February 21, 2018 • The Charlotte News

Town Charlotte Recreation Spring Program Guide Youth Lacrosse: Players in 3rd through 8th grades will participate in the U.S. Lacrosse league and will need a U.S. Lacrosse membership. Please visit our website for more information. The registration form must be completed and submitted with payment to the Town Hall by March 9.

Mini Lacrosse: Mini Lacrosse practices will be offered to 1st and 2nd graders on Saturday mornings at CCS. Each participant will get a chance to learn more about the game while having fun.

Saturdays, April 21–May 19. Time: 9 a.m. Cost: $35 by April 18

shelburnelittleleague.com. Registration deadline is March 16.

May 21 – June 11. Cost per session: $75 (6 lessons). Make up/rain days the following Wednesday. Deadline: May 15 Mondays: Grades 1–5: 3:30–4:30 p.m.

Grades 4–8: 4:30–5:30p.m.

Tuesdays: Grades 1–5: 2:30–3:30 p.m.

Grades 4–8: 3:30–4:30 p.m.

our horses. Tuesdays, 2:15-5:30 p.m.

Session 6: April 3–May 8. Session 7: May 15–June 12. Cost: $250

Accepting New Patients

Afterschool Soccer (Grades 1-4): It’s time to lace up those cleats and enjoy a fun afternoon of outdoor soccer. This program will take place after school on Wednesdays at CCS. Teams will be split by grades 1&2 and 3&4. Space is limited. Wednesdays, May 2–May 30.

Time: 3–4 p.m. Cost: $35 by April 30.

Afterschool Tennis Lessons: The program is open to 1st through 8th graders; age groups will be split into the two time slots listed below. You may sign your child up for both sessions.

Please note: depending on roster sizes, those in 4th and 5th grades may be assigned to either group.

Afterschool Junior Golf Program: Players will learn all aspects of the game, including long shots, pitching, chipping, sand shots and etiquette. There will be some on-course play, including a minitournament on June 1. Wednesdays and Fridays, May 2–June 1. Time: 3:30– 4:30 p.m. Cost: $149. Location: Cedar Knoll Golf Course

Boater Safety Course: Boating safety education is required for any motor boat operator, 12 years of age or older, born after January 1, 1974. The Boat Vermont, 8-hour classroom course will enable you to get the certification that you need. Participants must be present at all 4 classes to be eligible for certification. Ages: 12 and up. Mondays and Wednesdays, May 7–May 16.

Time: 6-8:30 p.m. Cost: $20. Location: Williston Central School

Patrick Kearney, MS, PA-C is experienced provider of prima care for adults and children. H Ark Veterinary Hospital accepting patients at Char Accepting Newnew Welcomes new Associate Patients Family Health Center, a partn

PA-C practice of Evergreen Family Accepting New Patients Along Same Day Appointments Available Health. with Andrea Re

th

Shelburne Little League: The Town of Shelburne will be organizing Little League registrations. New this year, Shelburne has reorganized and expanded their baseball divisions in an effort to better focus on the successful development of all players as they continue to progress and grow within the league. For full details on the Shelburne Little League program please visit

Session 1: Mondays and Tuesdays, April 30–May 16 Cost per session: $75 (6 lessons). Make up/rain days the following Wednesday.

Deadline: April 27 Session 2: Mondays and Tuesdays,

Dr. Sarah Smets was born and raised

Patrick Kearney, MS, PA-C is inan Belgium. There, she first discovered experienced provider of primary her love for animals surrounded by care for adults and children. dogs, He is horses, sheep, goats and Flemish accepting new patients at Charlotte giant rabbits on her family farm. Before Family Health Center, a partner

entering the veterinary field, Sarah Patrick Kearney, PA-C practice of Evergreen Family Patrick Kearney, PA-C received a Master’s degree in History at Same Day Appointments Available Health.

Along with Andrea Regan, Ghent University and a Master’s degree Call 425-5121 to schedule an appointment

Evergreen Family Health

28 Park Avenue Patrick Kearney, MS, PA-CWilliston, is anVT 05495 experienced provider of primary 878-1008 care for adults and children. He is accepting new patients at www.evergreenhealth.org Charlotte Family Health Center, a partner practice Comprehensive family care as of it should be Evergreen Family Health. Along with Andrea Regan, MD and Gordon Gieg, MD, Patrick is dedicated to providing exceptional quality care in a warm, friendly atmosphere. We welcome patients of all ages.

in Political Science and Non-Profit Organizations at Suffolk University.

Charlotte Family Health Center her undergraduate degree she 527During Ferry Road Charlotte, VT 05445 abroad for a year in Sweden at studied 425-2781 Uppsala University. Here she met her www.charlottefamilyhealth.com husband Anders and he was able to persuade her to move to New England where he grew up.

While working as a fundraiser for MGH and the Animal Rescue League of Boston, Sarah decided that she wanted to take her love for animals to the next level and chose to start a career as a veterinarian. After commuting across the Atlantic Ocean for several years, she graduated Magna Cum Laude from the Veterinary program at Ghent University with a focus on companion animals.

During her studies she participated in many externships, including a monthlong externship in the Dental and Oral Surgery Department at UC Davis.

After completion of her degree she passed her US veterinary boards and obtained her ECFVG credentials, which allow her to practice in the US and Vermont. She also participated in a Spay and Neuter program in Mazunte, Mexico; this program reduces the local pet population and promotes the survival of endangered sea turtles that nest on the

Call 425-5121 to schedule an appointment coast.

Same Day Appointments Available Call 802-425-2781 to schedule an appointment

5

rg

Afterschool Horseback Riding Lessons: Students in 1st through 12th grades will learn the basic care of the horse, including grooming, bathing, feeding and upkeep at the Steeple Ridge Farm. Students will also learn the nutrition side and anatomy side of the horse and the certain tack we use on

Full and partial scholarships are available for all youth recreation activities.You can find additional information on all of our programs as well as registration forms on our town website at charlottevt. org under the Recreation tab or contact Nicole Conley by email at Recreation@ townofcharlotte.com or by phone at 425-6129 ext. 204.

Comprehensive family care as it should be Charlotte Family Health Center 527 Ferry Road Charlotte, VT 05445 425-2781 www.charlottefamilyhealth.com

Evergreen Family Health 28 Park Avenue Williston, VT 05495 878-1008 www.evergreenhealth.org

Comprehensive family care as it should be

Dr. Sarah Smets

Sarah has relocated to the Burlington, VT area with her husband, her 10-year old Golden Retriever Penelope Waffle and 8-year old foster cat Frederick Deuce. Here she enjoys the proximity to the lake and the excellent skiing. Her hobbies include spending time with her family in New Hampshire on Squam Lake and baking way too many cakes, breads and other sweets. A family favorite is her “kattekop” baked apples, a recipe from her home town!

Sarah is a member of the American Veterinary Medical Association, the Vermont Veterinary Medical Association and the Greater Burlington Veterinary Association. She has an interest in Internal Medicine and hopes to apply her knowledge to help chronically ill patients. She is excited to be the newest member of the Ark Veterinary Hospital Staff and she cannot wait to treat the Shelburne area pets with great knowledge and care.

Charlotte Famil

527 Fer

Charlotte,

425-

www.charlottef

The Charlotte News • February 21, 2018 • 9

By The Book by katherine arthaud Yesterday was a beautiful day: blue sky, white snow, light breeze, a bit cold, sunny…it was my favorite kind of winter day. It was late morning, and I was at home.

I had a little time before heading out and thought that I really should take the dogs for a walk. This came to me in my bedroom, where I happened to be standing near my comfortable bed, across which the sun was beaming. I gazed out through the windows toward the field and lake beyond, the very area where I imagined myself to be soon, with the dogs, walking. But there was my book, Barbara Pym’s Excellent Women, lying on the comforter, in a broad beam of warming sunshine, and there on the night table, a half a cup of tea…and so it was that the dogs did not get walked that morning. I couldn’t resist. I lay down and read.

News Great Migration: The Great Migration, or the relocation of more than six million African Americans from the rural South to the cities of the North, Midwest and West from 1916 to 1970, had a huge impact on urban life in the United States. African Americans began to build a new place for themselves in public life, actively confronting economic, political and social challenges and creating a new black urban culture that would exert enormous influence in the decades to come. Our Black History Month display introduces this seminal event in our nation’s history. Many thanks to Lydia Clemmons and the Clemmons Family Farm for helping us put the exhibit together.

Here’s What’s Happening at the Library in February Thursdays, February 8, 15 & 22, 3:15 pm: T.H.I.N.K. TANK. Tinker, Hatch (your plan), Investigate, (E)Nvision & Know! From Altoid flashlights to pasta bridges, take on a new tech challenge each week. Grade 4 & up.

Wednesdays, February 14, 21 & 28 at 10:30 a.m. or 7 p.m. Writings of Wendell Berry. Explore the writings of this

People who know me know that I love to read. If you have seen me at the gym and have tried talking to me, you know that it will not be a long conversation. I pedal fast away on my stationary bike, reading. It’s not that I don’t love conversation and people; I just love to read and I have since before I can remember.

What do I like to read? Mostly fiction, old and new. Thinking back to when I was very young, the books that stand out for me as particularly magical are Dr. Seuss’s The Sleep Book; the Eloise series about the little girl in the black kilt and white short-sleeve blouse who lives (rather inexplicably) at the Plaza with her nanny, her pug dog Weenie and her turtle Skipperdee; the Thornton Burgess series about the animals who live in the woods; and everything by Joan Aiken, agricultural sage and champion of our local landscapes. Morning meets at the Charlotte Senior Center, evening at Charlotte Library.

Friday, February 23 at 7pm: Burlington Songwriters Sessions. Enjoy an evening of original and community music with Joni AvRutick, Mike Leach & Ron Lawrence.

Monday, February 26, 10am: Mystery Book Group: The Last Detective by Peter Lovesey. To solve the latest murder, Sussex Detective Superintendent Peter Diamond must find two missing Jane Austen letters, and defy his superiors. Copies at desk.

Coming Up In March Engineer’s Day Celebration. Join us to make, do and discover! “Dream Big: Engineering Our World,” starts off our party, followed by hands-on activities with Global Foundries engineers.

Wearing Our Heritage: Join Don Stevens, Chief of the Nulhegan Tribe, Abenaki scholar Melody Walker Brook, Chair of the

especially Nightbirds on Nantucket and Blackhearts in Battersea (which I remember reading on a train).

I have read so many books in my life, I couldn’t possibly remember them all, though I suppose that those many, many words, thoughts, images and dialogues are still in me, somewhere, floating, swirling around. Do they influence who I am? I think so. I feel that books have made me wiser and more understanding of people and the world.

Books I have loved recently are Manhattan Beach by Jennifer Egan (I wasn’t a huge fan of the Goon Squad, but this one was fantastic), LaRose by Louise Erdrich, the Barbara Pym mentioned above (picked up on a whim—absolutely charming and so well written), Jesus’ Son by Denis Johnson (harsh, brilliant, wow), Eileen by Otessa Moshfegh (dark, interesting, with a teenage narrator, very well written, recommended to me by my writer friend Dana), Breakfast at Tiffany’s by Truman Capote. (How did I miss this one in my growing up years?

Terrific.)

I read less nonfiction, but these are some I found to be very worthwhile: The Short and Tragic Life of Robert Peace (A Brilliant Young Man Who Left Newark for the Ivy League) by Jeff Hobbs (recommended to

me by my tennis teacher, Jake), White Rage

by Carol Anderson (blew me away—I had heard her lecture in Atlanta), Lab Girl by Hope Jahren, and Wild, by Cheryl Strayed.

From time to time, I really like thrillers/ crime dramas, but I’m picky. I have read everything I can get my hands on by Nelson DeMille (recommended by my friend, John Murphy), John Grisham (I literally couldn’t put The Firm down and remember reading it as I walked through an airport to catch a flight), and Steve Martini (thank you, Terry, Miami pal). Oh, and I love this great “beach read” series by Elin Hildebrand, which takes place on Nantucket. I never would have picked these up if not for Josie Leavitt. Such a treat.

If you see me around town, I would love to know what you are reading. I am always looking for good ideas for the next book, and as you can see, it is often through friends that I find great treasures. Now I must go and walk the dogs.

Vermont Commission on Native American Affairs, and LCMM Curator Eloise Beil for a discussion about the meaning of garments, accessories, and regalia in their own lives and in community and tribal identity.

Susanna Kahn, tech services librarian

Refugees in America: Historical context and current climate form the basis for Greg Smith’s talk about U.S. refugee policy. He shares his insights from an over 30-year career focused on refugee resettlement and integration, refugee protection, immigration law enforcement, immigration services and national security.

Charlotte Library Board of Trustees: Emily Ferris, Nan Mason, Danielle Conlon Menk, Jonathan Silverman and Robert Smith.

Next Library Board Meeting: Thursday, March 8 at 5:30 p.m.

Charlotte Library Information Margaret Woodruff, director Cheryl Sloan, youth services librarian

Dr. Katie Sarah Manges Smets

Katherine Arthaud has lived in Charlotte since 1993. She has three pretty much grown kids, two dogs, a cat, a few horses, lots of books, and is a UCC minister currently serving in Fairfax, Vermont.

HOURS: Mondays & Wednesdays: 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.

Tuesdays, Thursdays, & Fridays: 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturdays: 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Reach us on the web at:charlottepubliclibrary.org Like us on Facebook: facebook.com/ charlottelibraryvt Follow us on Twitter & Instagram: @CharlotteVTLib

10 • February 21, 2018 • The Charlotte News

Triple Town Trail Tour John Limanek TRAILS COMMITTEE MEMBER

Saturday morning in January, lots of snow on the ground, time to do the Triple Town Trail XC Ski Tour. Tax season is gearing up, but I’ve got a few hours before heading into the office for the afternoon. I decide to see if I can ski the Town Link Trail, the Pease Mountain Trail and the Plouffe Lane Trail before sitting at my desk for the rest of the day.

From East Charlotte I head to the West Village, turn south on Greenbush for a couple of miles, until I see the blue and white Town Link Trail sign at the entrance of Common Way, the Cohousing driveway, where I turn in. After about a quarter of a mile I see the signs for the Town Link Trial parking lot and turn left into a wide-open parking lot that is clearly marked for trail parking. Since there is fresh snow on the ground, I put my skis on right outside the car and then ski east along Common Way a few hundred yards before seeing the signs for the actual trail that heads into the woods.

There is a well-worn path in the snow from other walkers and skiers but no one in sight at this early hour. The trail is very flat and meanders through the woods before coming to an open meadow. A goat bleats in the distance as I move along quickly in the ski tracks that have already been set. The sun comes out from behind Mt. Philo when I cross a small bridge over a stream and pass by a viewing bench on the side of the trail. I continue southeast for a mile or so through beautiful open meadows, by the Charlotte Berry Farm and the Little League fields, a frozen pond and another viewing bench. I pass many ski tracks branching off onto side trails through the woods, and I wonder where they go and who is enjoying them.

Circling around the pond, the trail ascends gradually, and I can hear the hum of Route 7 traffic ahead of me.

I come out of the woods and am glad to see the incredible underpass going right under the highway. Just enough snow has blown into the ends of the underpass that I am able to ski right through it without taking off my skis. The underpass has been beautifully landscaped and empties me directly onto the Melissa and Trevor Mack section of the Town Link Trail.

The sun has risen further and gleams off

the snow-covered vines of the Charlotte Vineyard and the Adirondacks off to the west. Seven-tenths of a mile after the underpass the trail ends at State Park Road. Looking east I see Mt. Philo looming above me and look forward to the day the trail will take us all the way there. But for today I need to turn around and ski the two miles back to my car, now with a nice tail wind and the sun on my back. I stop for a nice chat with another skier as I approach Cohousing and then arrive back at my car after a little over an hour, out and back, four miles, but only 177 feet of elevation gain. One trail done, feeling good, still early.

Driving back to the West Village I refill my travel mug at the Old Brick, then head east on Church Hill Road to the Charlotte Central School parking lot. I park on the east side of the Quonset hut, put my skis on and set off toward my next objective, Pease Mountain. Waving to a few earlymorning skaters on the skating rink, I ski up the gradual rise to the southwest corner of the soccer fields, where there is a trail map kiosk just before the trail enters the woods.

The Pease Mountain trail climbs quickly as it winds its way through the woods. The trail is quite trampled, perhaps by dozens of school children. I’m out of breath as I finish ascending the switchback section of the trail and take a short rest at a car-size boulder with long views to the north. I contemplate the harrowing ski back down that section on my return trip, but then move on as the trail flattens out. Coming to the intersection of the lower red loop, I decide go north first, so I take a right. The trail is well marked with red blazes, and the path through the snow is well worn with foot tracks, but no ski tracks. There are a few rough spots on skis, but I am able to make good progress continuing uphill, and half way around the red loop I come to the intersection that branches off toward the upper yellow loop. At this point a sign on the trail indicates that I am entering the University of Vermont Pease Mountain Natural Area.

The trail is still well worn and well marked, and I shortly reach the upper loop, marked with yellow blazes. Going right again, the trail circles around the north side of the mountain as I climb toward the summit. Somehow I miss the spur trail to the actual summit as I start my ride down around the south side of

Photo contributed the mountain. The summit spur has a great view to the north, but I decide not to turn back as I’m gliding nicely down the mountain at this point. After coming all the way around to the intersection again, I take a right to descend the southern side of the red loop and after several minutes cross over a small wooden bridge. The downhill skiing is fairly gradual with nothing particularly difficult. I stop to talk with a couple of groups of dog walkers heading up the mountain, before reaching the last intersection, well marked with signs saying “Exit” and “Exit to Parking,” where I turn right again toward the final descent down the switchbacks.

Somehow I make it down without falling, but I would recommend using your own discretion and perhaps walking a few of the steep sections. I return to my car in well under an hour round trip, two and half miles and 556 feet of elevation gain.

Two down, getting tired, but glad I made it down safely.

My last objective is the Plouffe Lane Trail, back in my own neck of the woods. From CCS, I head east on the Charlotte-Hinesburg Road, take a left on Spear Street, going north for one mile to Carpenter Road. Driving a quarter mile east, I see the sun lighting up the south face of Camel’s Hump, before turning left onto Plouffe Lane. The snow-covered road passes open meadows, a couple of horses in their paddock and a small solar farm before reaching the entrance to the trail parking lot. The snow at the entrance looks fairly deep, and my Prius rides fairly low, so I decide to drive home and ski from there. An SUV could possibly drive

in, but unless the parking lot is plowed, it might be best to ski in or wait until spring.

The Plouffe Lane Trail starts with a steep but straight downhill, with a nice runout at the bottom of the hill. It proceeds on flat terrain around the base of the old town landfill that was capped and landscaped many years ago. The only evidence of the landfill’s history are a few PVC vents at the top of the hill, a massive old riveted iron pipe protruding from the earth, and a rusty old steam shovel covered in vines. Past the meadow, the trail heads up into the woods, traversing a hillside that looks over the partially frozen La Platte River. The trail, worn with many foot and ski tracks and well marked with light blue blazes, winds through the woods before coming out to another sunlit meadow. At the northern border of the meadow the trail enters the woods again where it continues for a third of a mile before reentering the northwest corner of the meadow. Back in the meadow, I am greeted by my neighbors, Garr and Bonnie, who are walking with their newborn baby, Lolita, and their two dogs. It’s a fairly short trail, and I arrive back home after a little more than half an hour, 1.8 miles, and 187 feet of elevation gain.

It’s been a great morning outing, about three and a quarter total hours, two and a half hours of XC skiing for 8.3 miles, with 920 feet of elevation gain, and only 14 miles of driving (less than half a gallon of gas). And all in the town where I live!

Time to get back to the office.

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The Charlotte News • February 21, 2018 • 11

IMPORTANT TOWN MEETING INFORMATION Champlain Valley School District 2018 Budget Presentation: Top 5 Takeaways

By Lynne Jaunich If you missed a CVSD budget presentation, these are the top five items that came from them based on public feedback: 1. Enrollment in CVSD is projected to be stable. A benefit of consolidation is that a decrease in one town’s enrollment is offset by an increase in another town.

A stable student count makes it is easier to forecast budgets, allocate resources, and engage in long term planning.

2. The CVSD Board now has a strategic, multiyear budget process.

During budget planning, we use economic indicators and ongoing input from our principals and the community.

• In 2018, the budget increased 2.3 percent (1.2 percent operating costs, 1.1 percent long term debt). This increase is in line with inflation.

• The 2.3 percent increase in spending per equalized pupil betters the governor’s 2.5 percent challenge to school boards.

3. The proposed 2018 budget is in line with the board’s goals for community input and educational objectives. It

also ensures equity of resources and autonomy among schools, supports the academic success of all students and meets educational quality standards (EQS).

4. Although the CVSD budget is locally developed, Vermont funds education on a statewide basis. The CVSD budget uses the current state funding system, which results in a tax increase of $0.10 (pre-common level of appraisal). Currently, the Legislature is working on a bill that would change the way educational funding and taxes are calculated for towns and cities in Vermont.

5. Your schools strive to meet the changing needs of education. From advances in technology and special education, to meeting the diverse needs of academic and nonacademic programming, CVSD’s commitment is to help each student recognize his or her unique potential.

Lynne Jaunich is one of two CVSD board members representing Charlotte.

She also chairs the CVSD Finance Committee.

NOTICE OF VACANCIES ON TOWN BOARDS AND OF TOWN OFFICIAL POSITIONS February 2018 The following boards and positions currently have unfilled seats:

• Thompson’s Point Design Review Committee (1 seat)

• Charlotte Park & Wildlife Refuge Oversight Committee (1 seat)

• Trails Committee (4 seats)

• Conservation Commission (1 seat) • Trails Committee (1 seat) • West Charlotte Village Wastewater Advisory Committee (1 seat) The following boards and positions have seats with terms ending in April 2018: • Green-Up Day coordinator(s) • Conservation Commission (2 seats) • Energy Committee (4 seats and 1 student seat) • Planning Commission (2 seats) • Recreation Commission (3 seats)

• Zoning Board (2 seats) • West Charlotte Village Wastewater Advisory Committee (2 seats) • Tree Warden • Fence Viewer • Emergency Management Director If you have interest in serving the town by participating in any of these capacities please send a short statement explaining your interest and relevant background information by Friday, March 16, to Town Administrator Dean Bloch at dean@townofcharlotte.com. If you have questions, please email, call 425-3071 ext. 5, or stop by Town Hall.

Pages 11 through 13

Town Meeting Day March 6, 2018 Article 11: Shall the Town vote to adopt an amended Town Plan pursuant to 24 V.S.A. 4385 as approved by the Selectboard on January 22, 2018?

Please Vote YES The current Town Plan expires on March 5, 2018. As required by state statute, the plan has been updated awaiting a town vote.

The Planning Commission has spent over seven years developing “Charlotte Tomorrow,” the key component of the Town Plan. After several hearings by the Planning Commission and the Selectboard, the plan is ready for a vote. It is important that this be approved by the voters for it is the guideline for town initiatives, allows for grant applications, and supports implementations of land use regulation and their updates.

Vision and Goals page 1-1: “The Charlotte Town Plan expresses our vision for the future of Charlotte. In its vision for the future, it builds on the town’s most valuable characteristic—its rural landscape, healthy environment, small-town character, history and a long tradition of active participation by citizen volunteers in local government and community activities.”

This is a living document, and with feedback from the community there will be additional amendments and updates within a year.

Over 30 items were added to the “Implementation List” during the final hearings that will take more discussion and research for these future amendments. We look forward to these discussions at future Planning Commission meetings.

Thank you for your support.

Submitted by the Selectboard: Lane Morrison, Matt Krasnow, Carrie Spear, Fritz Tegatz & Frank Tenney

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12 • February 21, 2018 • The Charlotte News

IMPORTANT TOWN MEETING INFORMATION NOTICE TO VOTERS For Local Elections

BEFORE ELECTION DAY: CHECKLIST POSTED at Clerks Office

by February 4, 2018. If your name is not on the checklist, then you must register to vote. SAMPLE BALLOTS will be posted by February 24, 2018.

HOW TO REGISTER TO VOTE: There is no deadline to register to vote. You will be able to register to vote on the day of the election. You can register prior by visiting the town clerk’s office or going online to olvr.sec.state.vt.us.

REQUEST EARLY or ABSENTEE BALLOTS: You or a family member can request early or absentee ballots at any time during the year of the election in person, in writing, by telephone, email, or online at mvp.sec. state.vt.us. The latest you can request ballots for the Town Meeting Election is the close of the town clerk’s office on March 5, 2018. (Any other person authorized by you who is not a family member must apply in writing or in person for a ballot for you.)

WAYS TO VOTE YOUR EARLY BALLOT: • You may vote in the town clerk’s office before the deadline.

• Voter may take his or her ballot(s) out of the clerk’s office and return in same manner as if the ballots were received by mail.

• Have ballot mailed to you, and mail or deliver it back to the clerk’s office before Election Day or to the polling place before 7:00 p.m. on Election Day. • If you are sick or disabled before Election Day, ask the town clerk to have two justices of the peace bring a ballot to you at your home.

(Ballots can be delivered on any of the eight days preceding the day of the election or on the day of election.)

ON ELECTION DAY: If your name was dropped from the checklist in error, or has not been added even though you submitted a timely application for addition to the checklist, you can fill out a new registration form.

• If the clerk or Board of Civil Authority does not add your name, you can appeal the decision to a superior court judge, who will settle the matter on Election Day. Call the Secretary of State’s office at 1-800-439-VOTE (439-8683) for more information.

If you are a first time voter who submitted your application to the checklist individually by mail and did not submit the required document, you must provide a current and valid photo identification, or a bank statement, utility bill, or government document that contains your name/ current address.

If you have physical disabilities, are

visually impaired or can’t read, you may have assistance from any person of your choice. If any voters you know have disabilities let them know they can have assistance from any person of their choice.

If you know voters who cannot get from the car into the polling place let them know that ballot(s) may be brought to their car by two election officials.

If you have any questions or need assistance while voting, ask your town clerk or any election official for help.

NO PERSON SHALL: • Vote more than once per election, either in the same town or in different towns.

• Mislead the board of civil authority about your own or another person’s true residency or other eligibility to vote.

• Hinder or impede a voter going into or from the polling place.

• Socialize in a manner that could disturb other voters in the polling place.

• Offer bribe, threaten or exercise undue influence to dictate or control the vote of another person.

FOR HELP OR INFORMATION: Call the Secretary of State’s office at 1-800-439-VOTE (439-8683).

(Accessible by TDD) If you believe that any of your voting rights have been violated, you may file an administrative complaint with the Secretary of State’s office, 128 State Street, Montpelier, VT 05633.

•

candidate you want to vote for.

WRITE-IN candidate(s). To vote for someone whose name is not printed on the ballot, use the blank “write-in” lines on the ballot and either write-in the name or paste on sticker, then

CHECK OUT: • Go to the exit checklist table and state your name in an audible voice.

• Wait until your name is repeated and checked off by the official.

CAST YOUR VOTE by depositing your voted ballot in “Voted Ballots” box.

LEAVE the voting area immediately by passing outside the guardrail.

WARNING TOWN OF CHARLOTTE ANNUAL TOWN MEETING 2018 The legal voters of the Town of Charlotte are hereby notified and warned to meet at the Charlotte Central School Multi-Purpose Room, 408 Hinesburg Road in said Town on Tuesday, March 6, 2018 at nine o’clock in the forenoon to act upon any of the following articles not involving voting

by Australian Ballot, and to meet at the Charlotte Central School Multi-Purpose Room in said Town on the same date to vote by Australian Ballot to begin at seven o’clock in the forenoon and to close at seven o’clock in the afternoon.

Article 1: To hear the reports of the Town officers and to act upon the same.

If you believe you have witnessed efforts to commit any kind of fraud or corruption in the voting process, you may report this to your local United States Attorney’s Office.

Article 2: Will the Town vote to have Property Taxes payable on or before November 15, 2018 and to have payments made to the Town Treasurer under 32 VSA § 4773?

If you have witnessed actual or attempted acts of discrimination or intimidation in the voting process, you may report this to the Civil Rights Division of the United States Department of Justice at (800) 2533931.

Article 3: Will the Town approve the Selectboard’s budget of $3,145,465 for the fiscal year July 1, 2018 to June 30, 2019 of which an anticipated sum of $1,761,899 will be raised by taxes and an anticipated sum of $1,383,566 will be raised by non-tax revenues, which approval shall not become effective until said budget is adopted by Australian ballot vote in accordance with the requirements of the charter of the Town of Charlotte?

INSTRUCTIONS FOR VOTERS USING PAPER BALLOTS CHECK-IN AND RECEIVE BALLOTS • Go to the entrance checklist table.

• Give name and, if asked, street address to the election official in a loud voice.

• Wait until your name is repeated and checked off by the official.

• An election official will give you a ballot.

• Enter within the guardrail and go to a vacant voting booth.

MARK YOUR BALLOT: For each office listed on the ballot, you will see instructions to “Vote for not more than one” or “Vote for not more than two, etc.”

• To vote for a candidate, fill in the oval to the right of the name of the

Article 4: Will the Town approve raising $50,000 by taxes, in addition to those monies raised pursuant to Article 3, for the purpose of purchasing and installing emergency propane generators at the Senior Center and Town Hall, which approval shall not become effective until further approval by Australian ballot vote in accordance with the requirements of the charter of the Town of Charlotte?

Article 5: Will the Town approve raising $30,000 by taxes, in addition to those monies raised pursuant to Article 3 and Article 4, for the purpose of recreation

capital improvements, to be added to the Recreation Reserve Fund, which approval shall not become effective until further approval by Australian ballot vote in accordance with the requirements of the charter of the Town of Charlotte?

Article 6: Will the Town approve the purchase of airpacks with bottles to replace existing airpacks that date from 1995 and 2005 at an approximate cost of $220,000, to be paid from the Fire and Rescue Reserve Fund?

Article 7: Will the Town vote to authorize the Selectboard to borrow money by issuance of bonds or notes not in excess of anticipated revenues for the next fiscal year?

Article 8: To transact any other business proper to come before said meeting.

BY AUSTRALIAN BALLOT Article 9: To elect Town Officers.

Article 10: To elect Directors for the Champlain Valley School District Article 11: Shall the Town vote to adopt an amended Charlotte Town Plan pursuant to 24 V.S.A. § 4385 as approved by the Selectboard on January 22, 2018? (Copies of the amended Charlotte Town Plan are available for review at the Town offices and on the Town’s website at www.charlottevt.org.)

Dated this 22nd day of January, 2018 at Charlotte, Vermont.

Town of Charlotte Selectboard

WARNING FOR PUBLIC INFORMATIONAL HEARING FOR AUSTRALIAN BALLOT ARTICLE TO BE VOTED AT THE ANNUAL MEETING TOWN OF CHARLOTTE The Selectboard of the Town of Charlotte hereby gives notice that a public informational hearing will be held on Monday, March 5, 2018 beginning at 7:00 p.m. at the Charlotte Central School Multi-Purpose Room, 408 Hinesburg Road, Charlotte, Vermont, to hear questions regarding Article 10 of the Warning for the Town of Charlotte Annual Town Meeting, 2017, which states: Shall the Town vote to adopt an amended Charlotte Town Plan pursuant to 24 V.S.A. § 4385 as approved by the Selectboard on January 22, 2018?

(Copies of the proposed amended Charlotte Town Plan are available for review at the Town offices and on the Town’s website at www.charlottevt.org.)

The public informational hearing is being held as required by 17 V.S.A. §2680(g). Town officials will be present during the public informational hearing to answer questions regarding the proposed amended Charlotte Town Plan.

The Charlotte News • February 21, 2018 • 13

IMPORTANT TOWN MEETING INFORMATION CVSD Proposed Budget and Ballot Questions

By CVSD Board of Directors At this time of year the days are a little bit longer and Vermonters all over the state turn their thoughts to…Town Meeting Day. Over the last three months the Board of the Champlain Valley School District, along with district administration and local volunteer “budget buddies,” have put together what we believe is a fiscally conservative yet strategic and forwardthinking budget. On March 6, the voters of our district will be asked to approve our budget and four separate articles to address essential functions.

This fall the board adopted a strategic financial model that allows us to continue to deliver high quality educational programs while keeping costs in line with inflation indices. We started by giving our administration the goal of developing a budget with increases of no more than 2.3 percent from the prior year, which they did. In addition we set objectives to accelerate savings made possible through district consolidation. Other objectives included reducing our fund balance (cash reserves) in a responsible manner and developing a long-term facilities management plan. Throughout the budget development process, we have worked with administration and sought community input to develop a coordinated approach to ensuring equity of resources across schools, providing for innovative learning and supporting academic success for all students.

Four ballot questions are before voters on March 6:

1. Article VIII asks voters to approve a consolidated budget for operating all schools in the five towns of the 4,000-student Champlain Valley School District for the next fiscal year starting July 1, 2018. The proposed budget for

RAISE YOUR HAND

operations and maintenance of our six schools is $76,838,041, an increase of 2.3 percent from the prior year.

Budget increases are due in part to the increases in costs of goods and services such as energy and salaries. Offsetting increases are reductions in the costs of health care premiums, supplies, legal and auditing charges. Other increases in the budget are due to debt service on construction projects. We estimate that the proposed budget, if approved, will result in education spending of $15,749 per equalized pupil, an increase of approximately 2.3 percent. Our cost per pupil is near the state average and meets Governor Scott’s recent challenge to limit increases in per pupil spending to less than 2.5 percent.

2. Article IX asks voters to approve applying some of the district’s fund balance to offset taxes. Because consolidation allows for pooling all revenue and expenses, the district is in a position to draw down cash reserves left over from prior years’ budgets. This article asks voters to authorize the Board of School Directors to assign $750,000 as revenue for the 2018-2019 school year (reducing the tax amount needed to be raised in this year’s budget cycle)

and assign the remaining $1,625,877 as revenue for future budgets.

3. Article X asks voters to authorize borrowing up to $485,000 for the purpose of purchasing six school buses. Currently, the district has a fleet of 59 buses. Our goal is to replace five to six vehicles each year, keeping the average age of a bus to eight years. Transportation for Charlotte Central School, which currently contracts with an external vendor, will be brought in-house next year, thereby leveraging our existing infrastructure and lowering overall transportation costs.

4. Article XI relates to the use of existing construction bond funds. Due to excellent fiscal management of the 2016 building improvement project for Shelburne Community School, there are cash reserves remaining of $819,665. This article asks for authorization to use the funds to complete mechanical upgrades in Shelburne not covered by that bond and to make other mechanical, electrical and structural upgrades and repairs to Allen Brook School in Williston, Charlotte Central School and Hinesburg Community School. This will not increase tax rates as this is not new money but money that has already been borrowed and set aside for

school construction.

To provide further opportunities to ask questions and provide feedback, we have offered a series of budget information meetings across the CVSD. There is one remaining in Charlotte on March5 at 6 p.m. at CCS you are welcome to attend. In addition our website page, cvsdvt.org/budget, has many resources, including our Annual Report, our FY 2018-2019 Proposed Budget Flyer, FAQs and presentation slides shared during the budget development meetings. Hard copies of our Annual Report can be found at each school and town office or can be mailed to you by calling 985-1914. The CVSD Board Budget Meetings were recorded and can be viewed at RETN. com. Finally, email us at CVSDBoard@ cvsdvt.org with any questions.

Sincerely, CVSD Board of Directors: Dave Connery (Chair), Erik Beal, Kelly Bowen, Erin Brady, Russ Caffry, Lynne Jaunich, Joan Lenes, Colleen MacKinnon, Ray Mainer, Kevin Mara, Amanda Marvin, Brandon McMahon

Learn more about the CVSD proposed budget and ballot questions at the upcoming information meeting, sponsored by the CVSD Board of Directors, on Monday, March 5, at 6 p.m. at Charlotte Central School.

Follow us online: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ ChamplainValleySchoolDistrict/ Website: https://www.cvsdvt.org

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14 • February 21, 2018 • The Charlotte News

In The Garden by joan weed With snow falling and icicles dripping, what’s a passionate gardener to do in the depths of February? It’s still a bit early for seed starting. The houseplants have limited needs right now. I have a suggestion: there is something I’ve found invaluable for years now and want to encourage you to try. Do you have a garden journal? How about a compendium of your special plants? I actually have both, and they are not as time-consuming to maintain as it would seem.

The compendium was begun over a decade ago when our garden was about to be part of a tour. I realized that I would want to be active in greeting fellow gardeners and that they would have lots of questions.

Then I realized that in the rush of the tour it would be a miracle to have names of species and cultivars at my fingertips. So I grabbed a legal pad and went outside and made quick notes about what was important and what was here when we moved in. I had a collection of receipts from purchases (with good information included). I made a rough draft for this hurried list. Later I found a notebook and transposed my list. Here is where February comes in: It’s a great time to get organized.

I made sections for some of my collections, such as shrubs, grasses, roses, herbs, perennials. All were permanent additions to the garden, no annuals. Along with species and cultivar, I listed year acquired, place of purchase, how many and where planted in the yard. All of this fit neatly onto one line (with abbreviations).

As this gardener’s life went on, there would be deletions and always additions.

I can’t tell you how often I have returned to my compendium to find the exact name of a plant or particular cultivar for a friend or for my own faulty memory. Where did I get that Bartzella peony? What year was

the Sensation lilac planted?

My other suggestion is the garden journal. It takes on the more comforting role of story teller. Weather, chores accomplished, first spring mow, last frost, notes of gifts and failures. I find there is always something to tell no matter what the season. I admit this is not an everyday thing or even every week. When you are actively gardening in May and June when one can hardly take a breath, there isn’t much time to write detailed notes. However, there are rainy days and some too hot to venture out or evenings after supper when the sun is setting to take a few moments to gather one’s thoughts. I promise you it will become easier and easier, and you will be so thankful you took the time.

One thing I like to do that has value is to compare years. You can see rainfall or snowfall patterns. When I was making floral arrangements for church services, I could assume the bloom times of certain plants with pretty accurate guesses.

I’d know what was available. Imagine knowing what will be at peak for a special occasion—wedding, reunion, anniversary?

On choosing your blank journal, there is no need to get too fancy. I suggest a plainbound, lined paper moleskin type of book.

This is important if you’d like to keep it for your records. Even an ordinary spiral schoolbook will do the job. Try to keep your book with pen nearby so it’s easy to add the day’s notes.

I hope some of you readers will be inspired to try my suggestions. I’d love to hear if you do.

Joan has lived in Charlotte for 21 years.

One of her first endeavors heren was to become a master gardener. “Inheriting a well-made garden inspired me to keep it going,” she says.

Road Salt and Trees — An Unhealthy Mix Mark Dillenbeck The question of whether we should increase the use of salt on our roads has periodically been a subject of debate in Charlotte. It was an item on the recent February 12 Selectboard agenda. The position of the last tree warden, Larry Hamilton, was to oppose the increased use of salt. I support this position for all the same reasons as previously put forth, summarized here: Tree health: Salt is bad for tree health, particularly sugar maples. Road salt has been identified as a major factor in the decline of roadside sugar maples throughout their range. Notice the dearth of mature, healthy sugar maples along the roads in towns like Shelburne that have had a “bare road” salt policy.

White pine and beech are also especially sensitive to salinity. Charlotte has made a significant investment in planting over 400 roadside trees, and we should protect this investment. Likewise the condition of naturally occurring roadside trees should be safeguarded. This is a fundamental mandate of Vermont’s tree wardens.

Corrosion: Salt causes corrosion of metal parts and accelerates the deterioration of cars, equipment and infrastructure, such as bridges.

Environmental impacts: There are a range of nontrivial environmental impacts resulting from road salt: increased salinity of waterways and lakes (Lake Champlain up 30 percent in the last 10 years); the release of sedimentbound heavy metals into the water column; toxic blooms of cyanobacteria; stripping the soil of calcium, magnesium and other components of healthy soil chemistry; saline contamination of water wells; damage to trout fisheries, etc.

Limited impact: Road salt is only effective within a certain temperature range. Below the low 20s or teens it will not thaw ice.

More state regulation anticipated: New Hampshire has begun regulating chloride (from road salt) levels and the Burlington Free Press reported that Vermont is headed in that direction (“Vermont struggles with low-salt diet— for roads,” October 23, 2017). Other nearby towns like South Burlington and Essex are taking measures to reduce salt. Essex has reduced salt use by 50 percent. As a town that prides itself on its conservation ethic, it is better for Charlotte to be ahead of the curve in this respect rather than bucking the trend.

“The offer I made in 2008 to pay a dollar to anybody who could find a roadside sugar maple of any size in Shelburne has never made me poorer.”

Former Charlotte Tree Warden Larry Hamilton referring to the impacts of

Shelburne’s “bare roads” road salt policy.

Mandated increase not necessary: Until viable alternatives are available, some amount of salt is needed for public safety, and Road Commissioner Jr Lewis already has discretion to adjust the salt mix as he sees fit. Whether the salt mix is the correct is the subject of the current discussion, but there is some evidence to suggest that the current levels are adequate. For instance, Jessie Jackman of Jackman Fuels said that his drivers have reported no issues with Charlotte roads since the severe ice episode in 2014. In Jackman’s opinion the roads in Charlotte are “well maintained.” More important, perhaps, is the fact that the Charlotte road commissioner in the last few years has received very few complaints about winter road conditions in our town and no direct requests prior to the February 12 Selectboard meeting to increase the use of salt—not one.

Individual responsibility: No amount of road salt will prevent winter accidents due to slippery conditions.

It is the responsibility of the public to exercise caution when necessary, drive slowly when roads are slick, allow more travel time, use snow tires and, in some instances, stay home if we are experiencing a severe episode of icing.

The decision of the Selectboard regarding the request to increase road salt was to take no action. This decision, I believe, was the correct one.

Mark Dillenbeck is Charlotte’s tree warden.

Send us your news story ideas! news@thecharlottenews.org

The Charlotte News • February 21, 2018 • 15

Vaping and Juuling: A youthful rite of passage or a camel’s nose through the tent flap?

Jim Hyde Perhaps you saw the headline in the January 24 issue of The Charlotte News: “CVU responds to recent drugrelated issues.” The story shed light on growing concerns among educators and policymakers about the appearance of vaping and juuling in schools. Are these part of some new dance or fashion craze?

What does this have to do with drugs in our schools?

Even if you haven’t heard these terms, you may have seen people huddled outside doorways, puffing on small black tubes and exhaling much as they might if smoking cigarettes. If this is the case, you have seen people “vaping.” Vapers are inhaling a nicotine-laced vapor, or aerosol, produced by a battery-powered heating element immersed in a liquid. Hence the generic term: e-cigarette (see sidebar).

Juuls are simply one of the more popular brands of these devices, holding about 45 percent of the e-cigarette market. They look more like elongated thumb drives than cigarettes, and, just like a thumb drive, the device can be inserted in and recharged by a computer (see juulvapor. com/shop-juul/). They are not cheap. A starter set costs $45.

Nicotine, the critical ingredient in this vapor, is an extremely potent and highly addictive drug that is also an important component of tobacco smoke. It is the craving for nicotine and its effects that drives and reinforces smoking behavior.

Nicotine definitely should be avoided by pregnant women since it is toxic to the fetus. Adults with chronic conditions may also be adversely affected. However, children and adolescents should avoid nicotine—not simply because of its addictive properties but because of its potential impact on brain development.

Harm reduction or gateway to nicotine addiction It is important to recognize that e-cigarettes, like their tobacco-based counterparts, are nothing more than drug delivery devices. As such, one would expect that they would be highly regulated.

Sadly this is not the case. Both federal and Vermont state law prohibit the sale of these “tobacco substitute” devices to persons under 18 years. However, the constituent parts of these devices: the contents of the liquid, the amount of nicotine produced, the heating element and the battery are not currently regulated by the Food and Drug Administration. In fact, President Trump’s newly appointed FDA commissioner, Dr. Scott Gottlieb, himself a former director of a major e-cigarette manufacturer, delayed the implementation until 2022 of stringent new marketing restrictions for these devices originally proposed under the Obama administration. In fairness, Commissioner Gottlieb has also explicitly stated the FDA’s desire to reduce the number of active smokers in the U.S. While it is the addiction to nicotine that drives the cigarette market, it is the tar and other combustion products in

“E-cigarette” is a generic term used for a wide range of devices that use a batteryoperated heating element in a liquid to produce a vapor that is inhaled by the user. The contents of the liquid and vapor are highly variable but usually contain nicotine in varying amounts. Sometimes flavor additives are added to the liquid.

Most devices resemble old-style cigarette holders. They can range in price from $6 to $45. The liquid inside comes in many flavors and concentrations adding to the price.

(See: cdc.gov/tobacco/basic_information/e-cigarettes/index.htm cigarettes that kill people. It is precisely for this reason that e-cigarette advocates, as well as some well-recognized public health researchers, argue that there is an important role for e-cigarettes as part of a tobacco-control strategy. Although not yet proven, these devices may provide active smokers with a pathway to successful quitting by allowing them to gradually reduce their dependence on nicotine.

But public health advocates have pushed back against this “harm reduction” argument. First, they argue that many of these electronic devices use heat, liquid solutions and additives to produce aerosol vapors inhaled by the user. (These aerosols deliver nicotine to the lungs and ultimately to the blood stream.) None of these ingredients is currently regulated nor have their long-term health effects been studied. Second, they argue that, while these devices may be less risky for regular cigarette smokers, they may provide a gateway for young, never smokers, to experiment with and ultimately become addicted to nicotine.

A recent, totally unscientific, survey by this writer suggests that, among local high school students, as many as 25 percent of kids have been “one-time,” “casual” or “sometimes” users of these electronic devices. This contrasts with the CDC’s 2016 survey for the U.S. that reports a far lower percentage of school users: four percent in middle school and 11 percent in high school. Whatever the actual percentage of users in the schoolage population, it is too high, as it is from these kids that big tobacco plans to recruit its next generation of cigarette smokers.

Lest you think this is an overreaction, consider the fact that an R.J Reynolds subsidiary owns VUSE, Altria (formerly Phillip Morris) MarkTen and British American Tobacco Vype, all popular e-cigarette brands. Phillip Morris is seeking FDA approval to market a new product called IQOS in the U.S. as a safer smoking device. Currently sold in

over 30 countries world-wide, IQOS uses a battery-driven heating element to “heat but not burn” real tobacco, thus producing nicotine-infused vapor. The FDA has yet to rule on the IQOS claims.

How should schools respond?

So where does this leave school administrators and policymakers who have a legitimate and important interest in protecting and promoting the health of our kids? Should we view the use of these products and devices in schools as just another youthful rite of passage? Or should these devices be seen as part of a carefully orchestrated plan by the major tobacco companies to lure kids down a pathway leading ultimately to further dependence on their products? The history of big tobacco’s marketing successes in reaching kids is impressive—just think Joe Camel, among many others. To paraphrase Erika Sward of the American Lung Association: This is likely part of the end game for the tobacco industry, since we’re not talking

about an industry that has demonstrated an interest in saving lives.

As parents, grandparents and concerned citizens we need to support schools’ efforts to discourage the further adoption of these behaviors. It is also important that we not transform e-cigarette devices into some kind of “forbidden fruit.” If we do, it will only increase the likelihood that kids will want to try them.

But we do need to be clear about the real goals of the industry and the far-reaching effects of nicotine dependence. What’s most heartening is that the research shows clearly that if we can get our kids to the age of 21 or 22 without them becoming addicted to these products, then they most likely never will.

It took a generation to reduce the prevalence of smoking in this country.

Surely we should do all we can to preserve that legacy.

Jim Hyde is associate professor emeritus at the Tufts University School of Medicine. He lives in Charlotte.

16 • February 21, 2017 • The Charlotte News

Sports

The Sports Report by edd merritt Burton boards conquer Korea

Watching the Olympic half-pipe runs Wednesday night, it appeared that nearly every snowboard doing flips high above the pipe had “BURTON” written on the underside. This could easily have been preceded by “Jason” or “Grant” (Garvey or Manning), two Charlotte natives who contributed a great deal to the board designs. Grant’s cousin “Thunder” from North Ferrisburgh is also a Burton designer, and among the three of them, they play a lead role in generating snowboards for some of the world’s top riders. “Thunder” worked with gold medalist Shaun White to help create a board that carried him over the top in his final run on the half-pipe last week.

This is Grant’s second Olympics as a Burton employee, and he is fascinated with his work. His friend Garvey has been a Burton employee for 20 years and has seen a number of Olympic adventures.

He is now the proto-shop supervisor, a position that puts him in charge of overseeing designs and design changes and heading the area of the company where the boards are actually built.

I spoke with Grant, who had just returned from mountain boarding in Telluride, Colorado. I asked him when he first became interested in boards. He said that he had been passionate about them from an early age, and when his friend Jason talked to him about a job at Burton, he felt it was an opportunity to put some things he’d learned over the years to use in their design.

I asked him how boards vary. He said that much of it depends on the differences in riders. As a designer, he starts by assessing a variety of factors: the boarder himself, his height, weight and body type, the course, and perhaps weather conditions that may impact the snow conditions. He then works with an engineer to create a board that would suit the rider’s physique and style. Once engineered, Manning will pass the board on to the rider to try out and to give Burton people feedback. If it requires modification in design, they will do that and provide him with a finished product.

Jason worked with bronze medalist Mark McMorris, a Canadian, and Grant helped slope-style gold medalist, Red Gerard, to design their medal-winning boards.

These are no mean feats, given the close skill among competitors at this level and the seemingly minor differences that can lead from a stand on the podium to a place back in the pack.

By the way, Grant’s mother, Carrie,

owner of Spear’s Corner Store in East Charlotte, is a “Tractor Parader” not a snow-boarder.

Redhawk women’s basketball team experiences its first losses in over five seasons

Losing a game, what does that mean?

To many players on CVU women’s basketball team, it means a whole new experience.

Being outscored by 12 points in the final quarter is also something new.

However, that is exactly what the St. Johnsbury Hilltoppers did to the Hawks two weeks ago, cutting their 2017-2018 unbeaten season record to 13 wins, 1 loss with a 42-36 victory. St. Jay rallied to come from behind after trailing 22-14 at halftime. The loss marked only the fourth in the last 133 games for CVU and its first since winning the Division I state championship last year. Harper Mead was the only Redhawk scorer to hit for double digits with 10 points.

Since then, CVU has come back with three wins, a 55-20 home victory over Mount Anthony, followed by a 54-21 rout of Spaulding in which Mead again led the team in baskets, and then a 4420 victory over South Burlington behind Shannon Loiseau’s 16 points. Rice, however, topped the Hawks on Saturday by 18 points, 47-29.

Coach Otley feels that, partly due to the youth of this year’s team, it will need an opportunity to develop as it moves forward, hopefully becoming another title contender by the end of the regular season. Again, as one reads the scoring sheets, no one individual stands out, an indication that opponents cannot look to double up on one player and expect others not to contribute. Breadth of scoring and a strong defense have been CVU’s strengths during Otley’s coaching reign.

CVU gymnasts are state champs

The Redhawk gymnastics team ended Essex’s 12-year domination of the sport by winning this year’s state finals by a mere two points and maintaining an undefeated season record (10-0). It took, however, a season’s high total of 142.325 points to do it. According to Coach Madison Bourdeau, the beam competition presented itself as the critical event. As it turned out, CVU beamers Delaney Miller-Bottoms, Laurynn Bombardier and Alix St. Hilaire finished second, fourth and sixth to make up for the team falling behind early in

Redhawk twins Cole Ottley (left) and Mason Ottley (right) Photo by Al Frey

CVU’s state champion gymnasts.

the meet. Tali Giubardo tied for third and led three other Redhawks in the AllAround category after she won the floor exercises. Her sister Jam won bars and Laurynn Bombardier, the vault.

Nordic skiers hit the trails around U-32

CVU’s Nordic ski racers hit the trails in a skate race at U-32 High School.

The men, behind strong efforts from Charlotte’s Jack Boynton and Gus Lunde, finished second to the winner, Mount Anthony. Gus and Jack were clustered behind the leading Redhawk finisher, Jared Leonard, at fifth, sixth and seventh places.

Coach Sarah Strack’s daughter,

Photo by Al Frey

Emma, was the top individual women’s finisher, winning the race in less than 23 minutes and pacing CVU women to a second-place team finish behind host U-32. Co-captain Geneva Cote was the other Redhawk among the top 10 skiers, completing the course in eighth place.

Redhawk Alice Larson sweeps two races in Division I Indoor Track

Freshman runner Alice Larson from CVU was one of only two runners to win both their races in this winter’s Division I Indoor Track Championships at UVM. She topped the field at 1,500 and 3,000 meters.

The Charlotte News • February 21, 2017 • 17

Real Estate House or Condo? Which would best suit your needs?

When buying a house or condo buyers are typically focused on the down payment and what their m o r t g a g e Heather Morse payment will be REALTOR when all is said and done. That payment also might include a homeowner’s or road maintenance fee. This amount can be a little alarming at first and can range in price, depending on the association and what it covers. Some people love it, and some people hate it, but with or without it you’ll have to pay for the costs either way. There are three types of home maintenance situations: day-to-day, yearly and disaster.

Day-to-day fees can include public septic, public water, lawn care, driveway maintenance, plowing and sanding.

These are fees homeowners without an association will have to face as well, but they won’t have the ease of having someone else handling it for them.

Homeowners associations budgets each year to cover these fees and save

some for the yearly costs. When buying a home that doesn’t include a homeowners’ association, I would highly encourage you to budget these costs in even if someone isn’t going to be charging you monthly.

Yearly costs typically are more like every few years. Some condo associations will cover the costs of new windows, siding, deck repairs and a roof. Hopefully, the association will have saved enough money and be prepared as these expenses come up.

If not, then there will be a “special assessment,” and the association can decide on a one-time additional fee to cover the required cost or it can be spread out as an addition to the monthly cost. Not every association offers this, and when you go to purchase a home that does include repairs like this, you might notice that the monthly association fee is significantly higher than that of an association that doesn’t.

Again, if purchasing a home without an association, make sure to gauge the life of the windows, furnace, roof, etc. This way you won’t be surprised when they have reached their life expectancy and you will have saved for the updates.

Disaster situations are when

unexpected repairs need to happen. Now insurance will cover some situations, but not always or all of it. In Vermont we have all sorts of extreme weather conditions that can cause endless amounts of damage. Or something like a septic has to be replaced. These larger repairs aren’t usually something an association is prepared for nor are many homeowners. This would be a situation where a special assessment would almost always come into play, but when you share the cost with multiple other homeowners you take a much smaller hit.

So it’s up to you to decide when you

are shopping how you would prefer to handle your money when it comes to repairs— let someone else take care of it and pay monthly or handle things as they come. As we head into the real estate busy season I wish you the best of luck with your home buying or selling experience!

Dottie Waller

802-846-7849 direct 802-343-4370 cell

Property Transfers

dottie.waller@ fourseasonssir.com

Jan 22 William Barlow and Judith B. Sims-Barlow to Kinloch Corp., 2 acres with dwelling, 106 Wings Point Road, $316,500.

Jan 25 Estate of Thomas C. Henneberger Jr. to William Bruett Jr. and Karen D. Bruett , 5.2 acres with dwelling, 1830 Greenbush Road, $451,000.

FERRISBURG BUILDING LOT Right on the Charlotte border, a 2.7 Ac. lot. Nice flat, open land, with leach field already in for a 4 bedroom home. Road and power are at the lot. This is a good inexpensive opportunity to build with most of the infrastructure completed. $99,000

Jan 25 Estate of Shirley Bruce to Shane K. Wright, 8.2 acres, land only, 4425 Ethan Allen Highway, $135,000.

No other transfers reported through Feb. 20.

Likeness Only

Divide and Conquer Your Lot Cost

Chris von Trapp, REALTOR® (802) 343-4591 ChrisvonTrapp.com

This 20 acre parcel located off Rt #7 but close to the village offers the opportunity of creating a small residential subdivision. $239,000 | MLS# 4615700

Three Homes in One!

Sited on 11.4 acres of glorious lake shore is this 4 bedroom Contemporary with 2 bedroom Cottage and fully equipped studio apartment. $1,395,000 | MLS# 4646221

Renovated Vermont Barn to Home

If you always dreamed of renovating a sturdy barn into a cool eclectic home, start living that dream today in this ultracool home. $519,000 | MLS# 4312672

Hillside Ranch with Flair!!

From the moment you enter this bright, sunny home you will realize that you aren’t in a run of the mill ranch. See it for yourself. $297,500 | MLS# 4671731

Send us your news story ideas!

news@thecharlottenews.org

Chris is an award-winning Realtor® and a proud member of the von Trapp family, depicted in the movie, The Sound of Music.

18 • February 21, 2017 • The Charlotte News

Taking Care

by alice Otwater, Ph.D.

Grandmother Hiles, Part 2

My Grandmother Hiles and Auntie Pasco, her companion of 50 years, were inveterate travelers in the early 1900s. A worn postcard recently surfaced, written to father in spidery handwriting from his mother: “Unable to attend your Yale graduation. We’re riding camels in the Gobi Desert. Hope to catch up eventually.”

Every three or four years Grandmother and Auntie Pasco would return to renew their visas and take a breather. They would blow in for prolonged stays of many weeks. Their large wooden steamer trunks fastened with leather straps on the hump backs would be brought to the guest room. The household suddenly revolved around them: theater tickets were purchased, afternoons included special Ebinger cookies and teatime treats; friends were invited for meals; aunts, uncles and friends traveled long distances to visit.

Nothing was too lavish.

By the end of the stay, Mother would be visibly tired. They seemed oblivious that they might be causing any strain on the household staff, although Auntie Pasco, who was pragmatic, was more aware. But Father adored them and wanted their time with us to be special. Perhaps he deemed this important, having seen so little of his mother growing up.

One year Grandmother and Auntie Pasco took a Dutch steamer up the Sampa River in New Guinea. A tribal chief who had never seen a white woman boarded their boat.

Grandmother recounted: “Being in need of another wife, he promptly offered to buy Pasco in exchange for a pig. But of course I refused the offer.” At this, without fail, both threw back their heads, laughed and laughed, before finally inhaling from their cigarettes in the long holders of the time.

Some years later when the same story was told, the tribal chief was a headhunter, who offered a herd of pigs for Pasco. In this rendition, he wanted to add a white woman’s

scalp to his collection. At times like these, I noticed Mother was barely listening. I wondered if she thought they made this up or had heard it too many times. Yet, Grandmother told it so skillfully I became nervous until the end, when she turned down the chief.

During that same period that Grandmother and Auntie Pasco were on a tramp steamer, while it was tied up at the dock to load cargo, an intruder crept into their cabin at night. They had obtained a cockatoo bird kept in his cage.

“Van Heems, get him!” Auntie Pasco hissed.

He flew from his cage and bit the burglar on the nose, who ran away screaming. The next morning the captain told them that the thief had a long knife, was looking for money and might have stabbed them.

However, the adventure they prized the most was seeing the digs of the famous archeologist Wooley, who was uncovering the early structures in Mesopotamia called ziggurats.

Women were not allowed to enter the country, but that didn’t phase Grandmother and Auntie Pasco. They colored their skin dark with beetle nuts, then donned caftans and cloth headdresses to pass as Arab men. We have a grainy movie showing them indistinguishable from the Arab men, laughing and bobbing their heads as if in a Charlie Chaplin skit and, of course, smoking cigarettes. I found this spooky and wondered how they would have escaped if the Arabs had kidnapped them. I knew Father would not have been amused at trying to stage a rescue.

When they reached their seventies, Father told them they were not traveling abroad again. If they died in some remote spot he might never find them. By this time, I had begun to savor their outrageous stories and thought Father strict to limit their travel.

So they lived their last years in small attractive houses in Tryon, North Carolina, and Sharon, Connecticut, which seemed lighter than 82 Remsen Street, and created gardens filled with brightly colored flowers.

Grandmother applied her lifelong love of architecture to rearranging the interiors.

They continued to embroider and told their audacious life stories until the end.

They’ve passed on their passion for travel onto the next generations—although none of us have had such unbelievable experiences.

OutTakes by edd merritt

Where the real rocks rest and the musical rock rolls

Makin’ the best of every virtue and vice.

Worth every damn bit of sacrifice To get a cheeseburger in paradise To be a cheeseburger in paradise I’m just a cheeseburger in paradise.

“Cheeseburger in Paradise” Jimmy Buffett Did you ever wonder how kids pick out their likes and dislikes? No, I mean real likes and dislikes, things that become central to their lives, things that they often can equate with momentous occasions.

Well, cheeseburgers in paradise may not be high on the list for either set of grandsons, but rock ‘n roll and rocks from the around our house seem to have hit the charts. And as the proud grandparents boast, “We had had something to do with both choices.”

Let’s begin with the house rocks since they are regular items in our Vermont yard.

Our driveway, for one spot, is full of rocks.

I used to think they were just things I had to rake and smooth after heavy rains or things I had to shovel out of the lawn after snow plowing. While that’s still true, they also became the focus of Teddy and Archie’s attention when I scooped a batch of them into the back of my pickup truck and sent the kids outside with brooms and shovels to empty the truck bucket.

This move followed an ongoing argument between the brothers that progressed into a fight inside the house, and Grammy and I figured some fresh air might help clear the atmosphere. Little did we know it would produce an inspection of their shoveling loads, as well as the frontyard rock wall that outlines the garden and every other rock outcropping around us. Geodes, we discovered, happened to be Teddy’s gold standard.

He proudly announced that, “Squid, I’m sure we can find geodes in Vermont, and they are the most important rocks on the planet.” Hmm! I immediately realized that my knowledge of geodes was quite limited, and I had better raise it a notch or two before getting into a discussion with Teddy. The earnest look on his face told me everything I needed to know about the intensity of his geode focus.

According to Webster, a geode is “a globular stone having a cavity lined with inward growing crystals or layers of silica.”

As I was sitting with Teddy’s parents sipping coffee, he and Archie pointed to a rock item on our bookshelf, announcing, “There’s one, a GEODE!” Searching

our stone wall (finding rocks with fossils didn’t deter them) and the rest of the yard for possible geodes kept them active and left piles of rocks behind the truck, interspersed with rakes and improvised pounding instruments. Sometimes they raked the rocks out and dumped them back into the truck, searching each batch for geodes. When they left for Chicago, they said they would return shortly because they knew there were geodes yet to uncover.

There is a part two to this story. Not long ago we received a video of Teddy making a presentation to his school classmates on, of all things, geodes. He had received a supply of them from geode heaven, and with the same earnest expression that he showed at our house he described what they were and where they came from as a part of a class project. Showing the last one in his collection he pointed out its silica and inner crystals, but as he focused on its outer layer he thought that part of it resembled cow poop more than anything.

The class did not laugh. Then again, what do suburban kids know about barn animals?

Let’s leap now from rocks to rock ‘n roll because that’s where the grandparents’ attachment to the other set of grandsons led.

The twins are eleven, and when we asked their parents what they might want for Christmas last year we were told that a set of drums for one and a keyboard for the other would fit their hankerings.

So we chipped in. Rory got his drum set, which was set up in the basement, and Ben got his keyboard, placed upstairs.

That way the parents didn’t have to listen to each testing his new instrument in the same room at the same time – the result being cacophony rather than music.

Well, the testing period has ended, and a band has formed. My daughter-in-law found a music teacher to help them follow in the footsteps of Bill Haley and the Comets. Knowing that the first—and most important–thing is to come up with a name for your group, the boys and two other classmates decided on “Belly Flop.” So the floppers hit the music room with Ben on keyboards, Rory on drums, a guitarist and a singer, and in short measure they loosed their first tune to the world on iPhones.

In the same way their cousins showed a serious interest in rocks, Belly Flop was equally serious about their single song.

So serious, in fact, that we hear there is another in the offing as soon as the band members can get fingers, toes and lips to follow the melody.

We also understand that when enough songs are written to fill a CD and the discs hit stores and internet, Providence’s Hope Street will be renamed Belly Flop Lane (you know, that place “beneath the blue and urban skies”).

The Charlotte News • February 21, 2017 • 19

Weary Pilgrim by manson daring

The Case for Electric Cars Electric cars—not only are they coming, but they were here first. Very early automobiles were, in fact, electric.

We got a little sidetracked into the whole internal combustion thing for about 130 years, but not to worry, electric cars are back, with a vengeance.

Virtually all of the major car manufacturers are gearing up to offer competitive electric cars: this includes the high-end marques. Porsche has the Mission E coming next year, Volvo has the Polestar line of electric vehicles rolling out in two years, and look for Mercedes, Lexus and the like to not just offer fully electric vehicles but to position them in the showrooms so that the consumer is actually drawn to them, and so that the salespeople are actually pushing them in a competitive fashion.

Up until now only Tesla has had electric cars that were fashionable, fast and offered serious competition to the higherend luxury vehicles. General Motors’ Bolt, while it has a long range, looks like a football crossed with a torn pocket; Nissan’s Leaf is under-powered, generic, forgettable and due for replacement. And yet Freedom Nissan of South Burlington was recently the second highest seller of these cars in the U.S.!

Change is in the wind, on the highways, and in your garage.

Why? For starters, range-anxiety is

about to go the way of the Hula Hoop.

When the average range of an all-electric vehicle was anywhere from 30-60 miles, who would want to take a chance you would end up by the side of the road waiting for the tow truck? But by next year most of the electric cars offered will have ranges that exceed 200 miles. Batteries are better, vehicles are lighter, and charging stations will be more readily available.

Imagine living in Pittsburgh in 1913 and owning your own Model T. The good news in Pittsburgh that year was that you could go down to the first-ever filling station and buy gasoline. Before that you were responsible to import your own ethyl (as it was known then), probably by horsedrawn carriage. We have come full circle to providing our own fuel in our home, as long as your travels don’t take you more than a couple of hundred miles, in which case you need to find public charging stations. For this you can use any one of several apps, like Charge Point and Plug Share, that will show you where you can charge your car and even indicate if parking spaces are available. A map of charging stations in Vermont shows roughly a dozen of these public charging stations spread throughout the state I recently spoke with someone who does future modeling in electric consumption for the county of San Diego.

It turns out that private electric cars aren’t

Stock image the only thing about to rapidly multiply.

Fleet electric vehicles are on the way. The San Diego airport is considering switching over to them for their airport vehicles, which are currently mostly diesel driven; the airport owns a lot of empty land around runways that could be used for solar panels, which in turn could power the airport’s vehicle fleet.

New England is a bit limited in its ability to use solar power compared with California, but solar power is here to stay—the cost of solar panels, despite the recent tariffs, is going down while their efficiency is going up.

A sticking point may be the lack of electric transmission lines that can handle increasing traffic as home charging of electric cars increases. I have long been in awe of Green Mountain Power, if only because, despite the rural nature of the power grid, we rarely lose power. Did you know the average outage of power in Vermont is two hours? Presumably somebody at Green Mountain Power is staying up late, figuring out how to accommodate the eventual increase in electric flow due to charging needs of homeowners and fleet managers.

How fast will this change occur? If your next car isn’t electric, the one after

it probably will be. The Tesla 3, which promises to be a $35,000 to $45,000 car with all the bells and whistles of the bigger, badder Tesla S, is slowly ramping up production, and it will be challenged in the next year by similar offerings from most if not all of the competing major car manufacturers.

Why might you want an electric car?

You can start one with your I-phone or, in the case of the Tesla 3, warm it up before you get in it. Within the next year or two, most will offer adaptive cruise control, which means it will follow the car in front of you, slowing down and speeding up as needed, and many of them will steer inside your lane as well. Over time this means fewer accidents and injuries. These features aren’t limited to electric cars, of course, but they are indicative of the trend toward autonomously driven cars, and the vast majority of those being tested

by Google and Apple are electrically powered.

Mason Daring is a writer, film composer, record producer and teacher at the Berklee School of Music.

He has no idea how many cars he’s had over the years; he stopped counting when he got to fifty.

Mason Associates

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20 • February 21, 2017 • The Charlotte News

Discovering Cuba: Part I Susan Crockenberg A month ago I boarded a Delta Airlines flight to Havana from Miami, excited to learn more about Cuba’s past, present and what we might expect to happen there in the near future. What I discovered in the 10 days I traveled with husband Vince, Charlotters Jim and Susan Hyde and 12 others on an Overseas Adventure Travel (OAT) expedition in Cuba expanded my understanding of Cuba’s strengths and weaknesses, successes and failures, sources of satisfaction and of frustration, as well as the Cuban people’s hopes and fears about the future. It was a remarkable adventure.

Our guide, Aniel Villasante, filtered our experience through his perspective that the policies implemented in Cuba

by Fidel Castro (whom he often referred to tongue-in-cheek as “he who cannot be named”), and continued with some loosening of restrictions under Raul Castro, operate to the detriment of talented and motivated young people

Mother and daughter in Cuba.

such as himself. An example surfaced in Cienfuegos, a small city on the south coast of Cuba, where we had the pleasure of listening to the magnificent and moving music of the choral group Cantores de Cienfuegos. It was a stellar performance, even more amazing when we learned that they had replaced eight members in the last five months. Why so many, we inquired. Is that typical? And so the story emerged.

The group had traveled to Missoula, Montana, for an international choral competition last summer, and eight members failed to show up for their flight back to Cuba. In a letter to the director, the émigrés expressed regret for any harm they caused her and the group but maintained that remaining in the U.S. was a personal decision. They believed their futures would be brighter in the United States. This revelation prompted further questions about Cuban policies that so limit musicians’ careers that they emigrate en masse given the opportunity.

The answer was illuminating. These

“Why, then, we wondered, would anyone with talent remain in Cuba when most have friends and relatives in the U.S. and when Cubans, unlike other immigrants, have only to step onto U.S. soil to be accepted as potential U.S. citizens?” talented musicians were employed by the government, which provides them with monthly salaries so low (an average government employee makes just $27 a month) that they survive only by taking on other jobs. What’s more, state-supported Cuban musicians are not allowed to charge for their concerts, a policy that has the desirable effect of exposing everyone in Cuba to remarkable talent but deprives musicians of a source of income available to musicians elsewhere. They are allowed, however, to produce and sell CDs of their music— we purchased several—which further supplements their meager incomes.

Why, then, we wondered, would anyone with talent remain in Cuba when most have friends and relatives in the U.S. and when Cubans, unlike other immigrants, have only to step onto U.S. soil to be accepted as potential U.S. citizens? For some we spoke with—older men who grew up with the revolution—

their commitment to a socialist system binds them to Cuba, a system that places the well-being of the group, in this case the entire Cuban population, above the well-being and success of any individual, however talented. For others, like our guide Aniel, it’s more complicated. Aniel would leave Cuba, he says, if it weren’t for Samuel, his six-year-old son, who he thinks will be better off growing up there. He feels this so strongly that he and his wife, Annabelle, an unemployed lawyer, divorced because she wants to emigrate to the U.S. (just one of the reasons, he adds), and Aniel refuses to sign the papers that would allow her to bring Samuel with her.

Central to Aniel’s decision to raise Samuel in Cuba is the virtual absence of drug use. It’s simply not permitted by the government, and those who have

see CUBA page 23

Photo by Susan Crockenberg

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The Charlotte News • February 21, 2017 • 21

Local Lens

The

Common Merganser at Lake Champlain by Lake Segel

Partial eclipse 2018 by Tica Netherwood

Red-bellied Woodpecker by Lake Segel

By Lee Krohn View from Mount Philo by Lee Krohn

22 • February 21, 2017 • The Charlotte News SENIOR CENTER MENU

Senior Center News The Senior Center’s Spring Program (March through May), included in this issue of The News, describes the programs and classes being offered here this spring, along with schedules and fees. You can register for classes by calling the Center at 425-6345, by mail at P.O Box 207, Charlotte, VT 05445, or by coming in to sign up in person.

New sessions of exercise favorites begin the week of March 5: Gentle Yoga (now offered on Mondays and Thursdays), Chair Yoga, Tai Chi, Step Aerobics, Getting Ready for Summer (aka Fitness at Any Age), Dance: Moving Better, Living Better and Pilates. As always, you’re welcome to come in and try a class to see if it’s the one for you.

The next Men’s Breakfast are Thursday, Feb. 22 and March 8, 7:30–9 a.m. Join the group for an early morning of camaraderie and conversation. Please call the Center to let us know you’re coming. Suggested donation, $5.

The Center joins the library and CCS in sponsoring the Vermont Reads program.

This year’s book is Katherine Paterson’s Bread & Roses, Too. The program kick-off is on Tuesday, March 13, at 2:15 p.m. at the Charlotte Library.

Get ready for the first Birding Expedition with Hank Kaestner on March 14. And don’t miss the variety of ongoing offerings at the Center—among these are Tai Chi Practice, Strength Maintenance, Spanish Conversation, Friday Morning

Art Group, Friday Writers Group, Bridge and Mah Jong.

New classes beginning in early March Origami with Gail Martin begins March 6 and runs for six weeks. Origami, the traditional Japanese art of paper folding, appeals to all ages and can be decorative and practical. Beginning with simple models, you’ll create pieces that are both beautiful and useful. Make greeting cards and hanging ornaments using paper and fabric.

Mindfulness, a four-class program with Jill Abilock starting March 7, welcomes beginners and experienced practitioners.

This practice focuses on bringing momentto-moment awareness to our experience and has been shown to reduce stress, improve health, increase mental clarity and enhance our enjoyment of life. Learn techniques that can be practiced seated in a chair, sitting on the floor, lying on a mat or even standing.

Loss and Change, a six-week session with Marilyn Buchanan, starts March 8.

Beginnings and endings, change and loss are integral to the life cycle. Examine how we move through life’s transitions, learn how to build resilience and find meaning, growth— even joy—with each new day.

Art classes This quarter’s art classes include Lynn Cummings’s Splash of Spring—

Watercolor that starts March 27. Acrylic Adventures with Lynn Cummings and Pastel Painting with Shirley ReidThompson are both scheduled in May. Please check the program for the details.

Art Reception Rik Carlson is planning a closing reception for his February art exhibit, Boystoystoo and An Emerald City Retrospective, a show of his collected works. Join him on Tuesday, February 27, from 2 to 4 p.m. in the Great Room. Light refreshments will be served.

Upcoming Wednesday afternoon programs On Feb. 28 discover the Jewels Of Ecuador with Hank Kaestner. Ecuador’s 140 different hummingbirds are the “jewels.”

Travel with Hank from the lowlands, over the Andes and into the Amazon subtropics and learn about “eco-tourism” as implemented

by Ecuador.

Join us at 1 p.m. on March 7 for Sandi Detwiler’s travelogue, A Look at Brazil.

Visit the state of Minas Gerais with its unique colonial architecture, Iguacu Falls, the Pantanal, Isla Grande and the beautiful area surrounding Sao Paolo.

On March 14 celebrate St Patrick’s Day a little early. Enjoy an Irish Music concert with Robert Resnik and our own Marty Morrissey of the Highland Weavers Band.

Fit At Any Age

Monday Munch (served from 11:30 a.m. to 12:45 p.m.)

Monday, February 26 Creamy carrot soup Moroccan-inspired greens Apple brownies Wednesday Lunch (all diners eat at noon) Wednesday, February 28 Sweet potato & black bean casserole Homemade dessert

March Art Exhibit. Irene Horbar’s apron collection takes us back to the vanishing world of sewing skills and rural frugality.

Come in and admire the skillful needlework and the colors and flights of fancy in these fragile beauties.

Lunches Last, but definitely not least, don’t miss the delicious meals served at the Senior Center. The meals prepared here surpass our expectations every week! These are not your run-of-the-mill institutional offerings.

On Mondays the cooking crews prepare fresh homemade soups, salads and special desserts for you. These are served from 11:30 a.m. to 12:45 p.m., no reservations needed. On Wednesdays sit down at noon to enjoy our special senior luncheons; make your reservations by calling the Center at 425-6345. The suggested donation for either meal is $5, truly a bargain!

of high blood pressure. Reducing stress and anxiety is a benefit when one engages in strength training on a regular basis.

Regular exercise will boost metabolism by ginger lambert and lower your heart rate. When the heart doesn’t have to work as hard, it will last longer.

Certain yoga postures done regularly can reverse some of the signs of aging, like saggy skin and a weak digestive system.

Adding antioxidant foods to your diet can prevent cell damage that occurs over time.

When the unstable free radicals are left to roam around the body, they can cause all kinds of havoc. Antioxidants help to make the free radicals stable and alleviate Studies show that regular exercise can the damage they can cause. Broccoli, reverse 20 years of aging. You don’t have apricots, raspberries, cherries, watermelon, to be an endurance athlete to enjoy the artichokes and spinach are all sources of benefits of walking, light strength training antioxidants. Red wine and dark chocolate, or swimming. At any age, becoming in moderation, also contain antioxidants. stronger can go a long way to improving What’s not to like about that? your balance and helping to prevent falls. Find a fitness buddy and sign up for a class Your posture will improve, and appearing or make a date for a walk. Having a partner taller enhances a person’s attractiveness. to exercise with can provide companionship Chances are if you were conscientious and make exercise less daunting. about strength training when you were Along with rejuvenating and recharging younger, you may not develop osteoporosis. our bodies, exercise invigorates the brain Genes and family history, however, can play and muscle tissues. You could say that what a big part as to whether you get this disease. is good for the heart is also good for the Risk factors such as being female, slender brain. and Caucasian can play a part too. That Ginger Lambert is a personal trainer and said, it’s never too late to start a strength fitness instructor. Check out her website, program and reap the gains of improved gingerlambert.com, for information on balance, lower risk of diabetes, avoidance fitness boot camp classes for any level. of cardiovascular disease and a reduction

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The Charlotte News • February 21, 2017 • 23

Community Events Feb. – March

Free Flag Football Program at CVU FlagFootball@CVU is a pick-up style football program for boys and girls in grades 2 through 7. Sessions will be held every Sunday in February and March from 4 to 5:30 p.m. in the CVU gym. Coached by Redhawks football players and supervised

by CVU football coaches, participants will play in a noncontact indoor football game with four to seven players per side. The program is free and open to all interested youth regardless of town of residence or experience. More information and the required waiver are available at: https://

CUBA

continued from page 20 attempted to establish a drug network are dealt with harshly. One General was summarily put to death— under the military code of conduct, Aniel points out, not by the civilian government. Although careful not to compare Cuba and the United States in ways that disparage the latter, Aniel views Cuba as a safe place for Samuel to grow up. There is little street crime in Cuba, which made it comfortable for us to wander the streets of Havana well into the night.

What’s more, kids in Cuba do not own cell phones. Aniel has relatives in Florida, who urge him to emigrate, but he doesn’t want that for his son.

Aniel expresses pride in the high quality of the education and medical care Cubans receive. He’s clear these are not “free” services, but rather paid for by high taxes… his high taxes. Nevertheless, he can count on them for Samuel. Despite his frustration with many aspects of Cuban socialism, Aniel appreciates the values that support universal medical care and education in Cuba.

He would like these aspects of Cuban society to continue, even as he hopes for other changes in Cuban policies after elections occur in May and the Castro brothers are no longer in charge of Cuba for the first time since January 1, 1959.

The

Charlotte News

PUBLICATION DATES (Special Date)

Thursday, March 8

Copy Deadline: Feb 25 Ads Deadline: March 1

March 21

Copy Deadline: March 11 Ads Deadline: March 15

tinyurl.com/CVUFlagFootball2018.

towns. See: charlotteshelburnerotary.org.

Ongoing

Webby’s Art Studio is offered every Saturday in February (excluding Feb. 10), from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Come create!

Specialized art activities for all ages, inspired by temporary and permanent exhibitions. Webby’s Art Studio activities are offered at the Shelburne Museum in the Pizzagalli Center for Art and Education classroom. Free with admission.

The Rotary Club of Charlotte-ShelburneHinesburg meets every Wednesday morning at 7:30 in the Parish Hall behind Trinity Episcopal Church in Shelburne.

The meetings, which end promptly at 8:30, include social gathering, an amiable group and a 25-30 minute speaker on a variety of subjects that span broad areas of interest. The premise of the Rotary movement is “Service Above Self” and is both local and international in its reach. Members live or work in the three

Free Discover Girl Scouts Event Come discover what makes Girl Scouts the leading expert on girls!

Girl Scouts of the Green and White Mountains will be holding a free information session for girls and parents on Wednesday, Feb. 21, from 6 to 7 p.m. at the Charlotte Central School.

Girls and their families can meet local Girl Scouts and volunteers, learn about expanded STEM and outdoor programs, enjoy fun, girl-led activities, explore programs and register to become a Girl Scout. Plus, girls will receive a free Discover Girl Scouts embroidered patch.

Girl Scouts of the Green and White Mountains serves over 10,000 girls

throughout New Hampshire and Vermont.

Offering hands-on, girl-led, girl-centered activities in STEM, the outdoors and entrepreneurship, and abundant opportunities to develop invaluable life skills, Girl Scouts helps all girls take the lead early and often.

Our innovative l e a d e r s h i p programs help girls discover, connect and take action as they develop strong values, a social conscience and a deep sense of self and their potential.

To learn more about Girl Scouts of the Green and White Mountains, visit girlscoutsgwm.org or call 1-888474-9686 if you have any questions.

Classifieds Reach your friends and neighbors for only $7 per issue. (Payment must be sent before issue date.) Please limit your ad to 35 words or fewer and send it to The Charlotte News Classifieds, P.O. Box 251, Charlotte, VT 05445 or email ads@ thecharlottenews.org.

Happy New Year from LAFAYETTE PAINTING! Winter is a great time to freshen up your living space and we are currently offering our lowest rates. Call us at 863-5397 or visit LafayettePaintingInc.com for your free estimate.

Interior and Exterior Painting If you’re looking for quality painting with regular or low voc paints and reasonable rates with 35 years of experience call John McCaffrey at 802-999-0963, 802-338-1331 or 802-877-2172.

Mt. Philo Inn-A unique hotel with panoramic views of Lake Champlain and private road to Mt. Philo. 1800 sq. ft. 3-bedroom suites with 2 bathrooms and a complete kitchen. By the day, week and month. $2500-$2800 monthly rates this winter. Privacy, space, tranquility. Bigger on the inside. MtPhiloInn.com, 425-3335.

Does your home need a fresh coat of paint or brand new color?

LUPINE PAINTING can help with any of your painting needs. 20+ years of stress-free painting. Call for a free consultation (802)5989940.

PT WORK WANTED- Do you need help with errands, animals, driving?

Please contact vtculinary@yahoo. com or call 802-734-3431.

“Residents of Charlotte VT”

Personal Service, Professional Results Personal Service, Professional We’ve Moved!

Results

Now in the west Charlotte village at the intersection of Ferry Road andmoved!

Greenbush Road.

We've

Now in the west Charlotte village

Business Formation & Reorganization Land Use the intersection Permittingat & Disputes Real Estateof Transactions Ferry Road and Greenbush & Disputes Wills & Trusts Road.

Business Formation & (802)264-4888 www.peasmountainlaw.com Reorganization Land Use info@peasemountainlaw.com Permitting & Disputes Real 2848 Greenbush Road Suite 1A Estate Transactions Charlotte, Vermont & Disputes Wills & Trusts 5 South Street Bristol, Vermont

(802) 264-4888 www.peasemountainlaw.com

like us on facebook!

We have a group called “Residents of Charlotte VT” on Facebook. This group was created for all of us to post local events, ask questions, have live discussions in real time about our town, post your wildlife discoveries, tell/teach us old stories/history about Charlotte, etc. The possibilities for this group are endless.

If you are on FB, please come join us! All & only Charlotte residents will be approved. ht t p s: / / w w w. fa c e bo o k . c o m / groups/172518349923150/ Melissa Mendelsohn

T he C harloTTe N ews

Voice of the town since 1958

Acorn Painting

deliver To:

Interior or exterior, simple or decorative, we can help you to paint a house that fits your style.

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We are a fully insured painting company that serves the Addison and Chittenden County areas.

Mike Dever and John Wisell

U.S. POSTAGE PAID MAILED FROM ZIP CODE 05482 PERMIT NO. 9

www.Acornpainting.com

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802-453-5611

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