The Charlotte News | October 31, 2019

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Charlotte News Thursday, October 31, 2019 | Volume LXII Number 09

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Charlotte News

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Vol. 62, no.09

October 31, 2019

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

Pumpkin Man breaks his silence: The tradition is going away, but the magic and wonder will remain Chea Waters Evans NEWS EDITOR

Charlotte Central School’s resident mythical figure, Pumpkin Man, has been the center of controversy in town lately, as school principals Stephanie Sumner and Jen Roth recently announced that after this year, he will no longer be appearing at the school’s annual Halloween parade—and that in fact, this will also be the parade’s last year. In light of recent news reports claiming that Pumpkin Man wanted to retire, the man himself reached out to The Charlotte News to set the record straight and explain that he did not, in fact, want to retire after this year.

The actual person who portrays Pumpkin Man agreed to talk to a reporter on the condition that his real identity not be revealed—the secret has been kept for over three decades, and he said it’s important to him that the mystery remain. “Generally, Pumpkin Man is not really a spotlight kind of person,” he said.

issue beyond that statement. The principals responded with an email to CCS families a few days later.

“I had no intention of retiring.”

“There are three primary reasons for this year’s Halloween Parade being the final parade and visit from Pumpkin Man at CCS—school safety, equity for students and the purpose of an educational setting,” they wrote.

─ Pumpkin Man

Every year on Halloween, after students parade in costumes out to the back playground of the school, the children gather at the edge of the soccer field and look up at the woods of Pease Mountain, which sits behind CCS. The anticipatory silence soon breaks into chants, which get louder and louder: “Pumpkin Man! Pumpkin Man!” Earlier this month, Sumner and Roth announced that the upcoming holiday celebration at school would be the last, writing in the school newsletter, “As we begin developing a shifting vision for future experiences that continue to be anchored in our community resources, aligned to the learning of our students, and capturing our mission at CVSD, this year will be our final

Photo by Chea Waters Evans

year of hosting the Halloween Parade.”

A Facebook post from The Charlotte News prompted many in the community and beyond to respond both on the social media platform and via the email newsletter Front Porch Forum, most looking for clarity on the

FY21 budget requests from Planning, CVFRS and others Juliann Phelps Monday’s Selectboard meeting included updates from the Trails Committee on the construction of the State Park Road path, as well as budget requests and presentations from the Board of Listers, Planning and Zoning, the Trails Committee, the Charlotte Library and CVFRS. State Park Road path and ROW Photo by Anna Cyr

NEWS EDITOR

The deal for a new restaurant in the almostcompleted Charlotte Crossing building fell through in September, but hopes for a sit-down eatery in town are not completely dashed. The commercial building, which is located at the site of the former Vermont Wildflower Farm on Route 7, is on track to house office and retail spaces as planned, but the restaurant plans are up in the air for now.

Mike Dunbar, who owns and constructed the building, said that Barb Cote, proprietor of the Shelburne Tap House, “backed out” of her plans to create the Charlotte Tap House at Charlotte Crossing. Part of the reason he said was personal timing, as well as how that timing fit with construction deadlines.

He said that he remains optimistic, however,

This is when Pumpkin Man reached out to The News. see PUMPKIN MAN page 23

Trails construction again dominates Selectboard agenda

Charlotte Crossing at a crossroads

Chea Waters Evans

Days later, after posting continued on both Facebook and FPF (in the case of the News’ post, over 100 comments), the majority of which disagreed with the decision, The Citizen newspaper reported, “The identity of the Pumpkin Man is unknown, but co-principal Jennifer Roth said that the Pumpkin Man has decided that it had gone on long enough.”

that another restaurant and bar will fill that space.

“We are still all in on filling the space with a great restaurant and have been recruiting hard for an operator,” Dunbar said. “No commitments yet, but have some good conversations going.” He said he is talking with several interested restaurant operators and that he is still open to new ideas if others want to join in the talks.

He said he is still building out the restaurant during the final construction phases of the building, as was originally planned, but is leaving some decisions unmade in order to accommodate a future restaurateur.

The remainder of the space is filled

by Junapr, a public relations and see CROSSING page 15

Members of the Trails Committee updated the Selectboard on actions that had been requested at the previous meeting. These included meeting with concerned landowners, estimates on construction materials and a list of volunteers for the project.

Laurie Thompson informed the board that the committee met with landowner Josh Goldek to address concerns he raised at the October 14 meeting. On behalf of the committee Thompson requested and received authorization to have TCE Trudell Consulting Engineers survey and stake the right of way (ROW) along State Park Road so the trail could be better visualized. Goldek said the discussion was helpful, and “the money spent on staking the right of way is critical, not just for me but also as part of the (Act 250) permit conditions.” Along with providing a list of volunteers, Thompson also mentioned the tree warden’s public hearing, held last Thursday at the Town Hall, on the

anticipated removal of 11 trees as part of the project.

The bulk of the topic was devoted to the estimates on construction materials.

According to one of several handouts provided by Thompson and circulated only to the board, estimates for materials was $25,782. Chair Matt Krasnow explained the town’s purchasing policy: Any item over $1,000 is to be competitively bid, and if over $5,000 it is put out as a request for proposal (RFP). He added, “Asking the town to reasonably and responsibly do a construction project in a four-week period of this size is really unprecedented.”

“I don’t want to see us rush into construction that’s going to slow down future development of trails because it hasn’t been done properly,” he said, and asked, “Has the Trails Committee thought about doing this in two sections?”

Krasnow then proposed a phased approach that would utilize volunteer efforts to clear and create a mowable trail in November and use the time to plan for the construction portion for the spring. Thompson responded that spring is the busy season for some of the volunteers and there would be “no guarantees” they’d be available. Other residents, including Jim Donovan, Jack Pilla, Mike Russell and Trails Committee Co-Chair Margaret Russell, urged the board to move the project forward. “This Town Link Trail has been going for 20 years now,” said Pilla. “I find it pathetic we can’t just do it. We just have to get out see SELECTBOARD page 24

2 • October 31, 2019 • The Charlotte News

Letters to the Editor Hazards from shared use of our roads by bicyclists and automobiles At the Selectboard meeting of Oct. 14, I presented a list of safety hazards that arise from the shared use of our roads by bicyclists and automobiles. A written version of this list, with detailed explanations, was previously delivered to Town Hall. The hazards included in this list are: Helmets are not compulsory in Charlotte, not even for children; rear-view mirrors are not compulsory ; bright clothing and/or flashing rear lights are not compulsory; for nighttime riding, reflective stripes or a triangle on clothing are not required; during biking events (and especially during racing events) on selected roads, traffic remains open for cars on both lanes of the road; speed limits and speeds of cars are too high; there are no minimum age limits for children riding bicycles on the roads; self-steering cars are not forbidden; riding a bicycle while under the influence of drugs or alcohol is not forbidden; and bicyclists traveling on the roads of Charlotte are not required to carry identity documents and liability insurance.

Here I want to correct any misapprehensions that arose in the Oct. 14 meeting: 1) Vermont does not currently have a helmet law for bicyclists. A draft resolution was introduced in Montpelier last January and rests “in committee.” Don’t hold your breath.

2) With the increase in individual cycling and the encouragement of cycling events, surely safety is an issue worth attention, but I want to make it clear that I will not lead a bicycle-safety campaign. I gave up riding my bike in this town two decades ago, when riding just from my home to the post office proved to be too scary. Formulation of safety regulations should be the province of parents, expert bicyclists, and lawyers who know what is needed to make our roads safer and keep our town free from liability.

Legal liability is likely something most people have not considered, but tort lawyers I talked to warned me that the absence of minimum safety standards put the town at risk.

Susan Ohanian

To the editor: Readers may notice the Community News byline on a story in today’s issue of The Charlotte News. This is a new project in collaboration with the University of Vermont to train and educate student journalists. I’m writing to let people know about the project and thank this paper for collaborating.

In recent years, there has been a hollowing out of news coverage across the country.

More than 20,000 reporters have lost their jobs. And there are 200 counties that have no local news coverage. Vermont still has a very strong local news, like this paper, so

there is a great opportunity for our students to learn what can be.

As student journalist Carline Slack said: “I feel that there’s a huge sense of purpose that comes with being a reporter. I enjoy digging into a story and discovering little-known information. I find it super satisfying to be able to inform folks about relevant issues that affect them and their communities.”

And there is great student interest in journalism and reporting and story-telling in general. Hence we created this new program at UVM as a way to meet student interest and train a new generation of journalists and storytellers. Part of the reason for the decline in trust in journalism is that people no longer know their local reporter—because there is not one.

You can read more about the program at our website, Reporting and Documentary Storytelling or contact me, https://www. uvm.edu/cas/storytelling.

In the meantime, if you see one of the student journalists, say hello and give them a “tip”—as writing local news starts with you!

Richard Watts Co-Director, Reporting and Documentary Storytelling, University of Vermont Community News Service

Planning Commission: East Charlotte Village proposal, Act 143, and roads and driveways standards discussed Juliann Phelps The Oct. 17 Planning Commission featured the same agenda items as the previous meeting: next steps for the East Charlotte Village (ECV), Act 143 applied to the land use regulations, and an update to the roads and driveway construction standards.

Vice Chair Charlie Pughe answered questions from the public on the proposed ECV boundary map and further explained the proposed buildouts (houses) analysis presented at the Oct. 3 commission meeting; according to Pughe, 16 more lots could be created in the Village District based on current land use regulations. Septic and water were discussed again, with Clark Hinsdale proposing the idea of locating the needed infrastructure outside the village district. He

mentioned state incentives for community systems as well. “Communal septic and water would need to be considered for any development in the village areas,” said Chair Peter Joslin. “There needs to be a way to address this in a financially savvy way for everyone involved.”

Planning Commission member James Faulkner provided an update on the farms inventory he and Zoning Administrator Daniel Morgan are assembling. The inventory is an action Faulkner proposed in previous meetings as a way to assess the number of farms and the potential impact of land use regulations on the accessory agricultural businesses provision of Act 143. Town Planner Daryl Arminius offered to do additional research on what qualifies as a farm and whether the information can

be obtained from a state database. This topic will continue to be discussed at the commission’s next meeting on Nov. 7.

Arminius circulated an update to the 1997 “Recommended Standards for Developments and Homes” document which outlines the roads and driveway standards for the town.

The update included comments from the CVFRS fire chief. No actions were taken, but Joslin asked Arminius to look into driveway standards for the neighboring towns of Ferrisburgh and Hinesburg.

In other business the commission voted to continue sketch plan for PC-19-179SK Hutchins. The sketch plan review was “designed to be a brainstorming session,” according to the draft meeting minutes.

Landowner Jason Hutchins’ application is for a two-lot subdivision and boundary adjustment.

Finally the commission appointed Joslin to represent it at an upcoming town mediation regarding the appeal by Andrew Zins of the Planning Commission decision for PC-1957-SA-Zins.

Correction In the article “Burning down the house” in the Oct. 17 issue, we incorrectly identified the property owner who donated to the Charlotte Volunteer Fire & Rescue Services the structure for the controlled burn.

The property owner is Bullrock Corporation; its CEO is Charlotter Gregg Beldock.

The Charlotte News Mission Statement The mission of The Charlotte News is to inform our readers about current events, issues and topics, and to serve as a forum for the free exchange of views of town residents and community volunteer organizations on matters related to Charlotte and the lives of its residents.

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Publisher: Vince Crockenberg Editorial Staff Managing Editor: Anna Cyr (anna@thecharlottenews.org) News Editor: Chea Waters Evans (chea@thecharlottenews.org) Contributing Editor: Edd Merritt Copy editors: Beth Merritt, Vince Crockenberg Proofreaders: Edd Merritt, Mike & Janet Yantachka Business Staff Ad manager: Elizabeth Langfeldt (ads@thecharlottenews.org) Bookkeeper: Susan Jones (billing@thecharlottenews.org) Board Members President: Vince Crockenberg (vince@thecharlottenews.org) Treasurer: Ted leBlanc (treasurer@thecharlottenews.org) Board members: Bob Bloch, Gay Regan, Louisa Schibli, Tom Tiller, Dave Quickel, John Quinney, Lane Morrison, Jack Fairweather, Christina Asquith, Claudia Marshall, John Hammer (emeritus) 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.

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ON THE COVER A final goodbye to CCS's Pumpkin Man.

Photo by Chea Waters Evans

The Charlotte News • October 31, 2019 • 3

Around Town Edd Merritt

Congratulations Charlotter Annika Gruber’s poem “Away” was selected to appear in the Burlington Free Press Young Writers Project on Oct. 25. In it, Annika talks about not being able to get away from words. She says “words will chase me down, no matter where I run . . . words will never leave me scared and bruised, even as I turn and walk away.”

Words pound in her ears just as “feet pound on the pavement.”

Annika and Amelie Fairweather, another Charlotter, are acting in the upcoming Shelburne Players’ fall play, The Secret Garden. The play is about a spoiled young orphan named Mary Lenox who was born to wealthy parents in India and sent to Yorkshire, England, to live with her uncle in a gloomy home called Misselthwaite Manor. The play, based on a novel of the same name written by Frances Hodgson Burnett, was published in 1911 and is considered a classic of English children’s literature. The garden is a locked one at the manor that Mary discovers and uses to regenerate her family, “planting the seeds of a new life,” through working the soil and growing crops. The play will be held at the Shelburne Town Center Nov. 15, 16, 17, 21, 22 and 23. More information is available on the Shelburne Players’ website.

Charlotte artist Sumru Tekin and her colleagues Thatiana Oliveira and Kate Donnelly have started a program called “Single Channel VT.” According to an article in the Oct. 16 Seven Days, its purpose is to “present a quarterly series of artist-curated screenings and discussions that explore the history of time-based media.” Sumru kicked off the series the second week of this month with a showing

The

Charlotte News

of Lebanese artist Walid Raad’s video The Dead Weight of a Quarrel Hangs, a film that looks at the Lebanese civil wars between 1975 and 1991. She used it to gain an impetus for making her own film, Adjustment, that shows footage of her own and her sister’s growing up in Turkey.

Unfortunately, audiences will have to wait until late March 2020 for the next event

rather large natural pumpkin. In her article, Chea talks about why this will be his final public appearance, as well as the end of the Halloween Parade also held at CCS. The Pumpkin Man issue has been one of major comment on Facebook and Front Page Forum. A link to the interview is available at www.vpr.org

Sympathy Helen Panton died in the UVM Medical Center on Oct. 4 at the age of 82. She was born in Charlotte to Leon and Helen Larrow and was married to husband of 61 years, Robert Panton, who survives her.

She is also survived by her son, Jeff, and daughters Kelly, Leone and Connie.

John Brawley, along with his shrimpgrowing operation in the former Nordic Farms barn, was also featured in the Oct. 16 Seven Days. Since shellfish are not found in land-locked Vermont on a regular basis, John’s takeover of a section of what was Nordic Farms off Route 7 in Charlotte gives our town Vermont’s first shrimp farm. His operation is called Sweet Sound Aquaculture, which follows an oyster farm that John ran for 15 years in Duxbury, Mass. Because his oysters received rave reviews from customers at such highend Vermont food and beer producers— companies such as Hill Farmstead Brewery, the Kitchen Table Bistro, Misery Loves Company and the Farmhouse Tap and Grill—Brawley decided to buy into Nordic as one of several agricultural enterprises that took over for what began as Clark Hinsdale’s computerized milking parlor a number of years ago. Brawley buys his shrimp as babies from a hatchery in Florida and raises them in tanks in the barn. He can raise about 4,000 shrimp. Learning from his oyster-selling, he has his shrimp on various menus, including Hotel Vermont and Blue Northeast Seafood.

Charlotte News news editor Chea Waters Evans was interviewed on Vermont Public Radio about her article on Oct. 23 covering the disappearance of Pumpkin Man from Charlotte Central School’s Halloween festivities. Since the early 1990s Pumpkin Man has emerged from the edge of the woods in CCS’s backfield, his head being a

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Annika Gruber, left and Amelie Fairweather practicing for the upcoming Shelburne Players’ fall play, The Secret Garden.

Witch way should she go?

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At the 1918 World War Memorial in the heart of the West Village, a witch is watching over pedestrians and motorists this Halloween. Be careful out there . . .

Photo by Chea Waters Evans

4 • October 31, 2019 • The Charlotte News

Town

A vote next week on a Town Plan amendment.

Wait…what is that and why are we voting on it?

Chea Waters Evans An amendment to the Town Plan is on the Nov. 5 ballot. Before anyone’s eyes start glazing over, an explainer is in order: What is the town plan? Why is it being amended?

What does this have to do with Charlotte, and why do we need to vote on it?

What is the town plan?

The Town Plan was initially developed in 2016 with the intention of laying out a map for the future of Charlotte; the amendment for 2019 ensures that the town is in compliance with the Vermont Department of Public Service’s Energy Planning Standards for Municipal Plans. The plan was developed by the Planning Commission, with assistance from the Chittenden County Regional Planning Commission and input from the public both at Planning Commission and Selectboard meetings.

As time passes, laws change and energy site planning evolves, it’s up to the Planning Commission to make sure that Charlotte complies with regulations set forth by the state and to ensure that development and energy use is thoughtful and well planned.

The Planning Commission presented

the amendment to the Selectboard last December, and two hearings, which lasted over five public meetings, concluded this August, after which the amendment will be put to a vote, which happens next Tuesday.

Why is there an amendment?

According to the town web site, the amendment was created to address compliance for two acts passed by the Vermont legislature: Act 171, passed in 2018, and Act 174, passed in 2016.

The State of Vermont Agency of Natural Resources explains on its website: “Act 171 amended Vermont Planning Statutes to encourage and allow municipalities to address protection of forest blocks and habitat connectors while supporting the local forest products industry.” This means that with the help of regional planning commissions, the state requires towns to “include specific policies on how the community will take steps to reduce forest fragmentation, enhance forest health, and support essential ecological functions.”

Act 174 deals with energy planning. The State of Vermont Department of Public Service’s website says it “establishes a new set of municipal and regional energy planning standards, which if met allow those plans to carry greater weight— substantial deference—in the Section 248

siting process for energy generation.”

Hang in there. What is substantial deference? The DPS website defines it like this: “Substantial deference provides towns and regions a strong voice in determining where energy projects should, and should not, be sited.”

In order for Charlotte and other towns to remain up to date with current energy standards and mandates set forth by the state legislature, amendments are made to municipal plans to set a course for progress that takes into consideration both the law and the land.

What does this have to do with Charlotte?

Charlotte’s Town Plan, the entirety of which is available online (www.charlottevt. org), is a comprehensive explanation of the town’s past and present and what the town hopes for in the future, development- and energy-wise.

The DPS has goals for energy use and development across the state; this amendment exists to make sure that Charlotte is actively participating in and planning to reduce greenhouse gases, employ renewable energy and plan for its use in the future, and meet building efficiency goals.

Maps on the Charlotte town website show exactly what the Planning Commission has been working on. They show potential solar energy and wind energy sites, as well as existing renewable energy generation sites and the known and possible geographical constraints to future energy sites.

Considering forest locations, wildlife habitats, and natural resources and ecological patterns while developing a sustainable energy plan means that Charlotte can plan for the future and simultaneously protect its land and wildlife.

Because the Town Plan is a document created by and for Charlotte residents, changes must be approved by the town as a whole. Voting on the amendment will take place in the multi-purpose room at Charlotte Central School on Nov. 5 from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.

TOWN OF CHARLOTTE NOTICE OF BIDDING OPPORTUNITY

FOR A FIVE YEAR AGRICULTURAL LEASE ON APPROXIMATELY 122 ACRES AT THE CHARLOTTE PARK AND WILDLIFE REFUGE AND GALBREATH PARCEL The Town of Charlotte is seeking proposals for a five-year agricultural lease for approximately 113 acres at the Charlotte Park and Wildlife Refuge and approximately 9 acres on the former Galbreath parcel.

A site visit will be held on November 6 at 10 a.m., meeting at the Route 7 gate by the Thorp Barn, 1520 Ethan Allen Highway.

Lease proposals are due by November 15 at 4 p.m. Proposals will be opened at 4:01 p.m.

The Selectboard intends to award a lease by December 9.

Information and restrictions are available on the Town website: www.charlottevt.org.

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The Charlotte News • October 31, 2019 • 5

Opinion Vote “Yes” on the amended Charlotte Town Plan Peter Joslin

Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2019, is voting day.

Only one item is on the ballot, but it is an important one for Charlotters: the amended Town Plan.

The current Town Plan was adopted on Town Meeting Day, March 6, 2018, by an overwhelming majority. At that time the Planning Commission had already begun work on updating the Energy section of the Town Plan in order to become compliant with Act 174.

The Planning Commission, the Energy Committee, Town Planner Daryl Arminius and Emily Nosse-Leirer, senior planner at the Chittenden County Regional Planning Commission, worked on this update for almost two years and included numerous warned public meetings. When the Planning Commission completed the amended plan, two public hearings were held. The Planning Commission then voted unanimously to forward the proposed amended Town Plan to the Selectboard, which in turn held its required two hearings. The Selectboard made a number of minor changes, which were approved by the Planning Commission. Then the Selectboard voted in favor of putting the amended Town Plan on the ballot.

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Act 174 establishes a new set of municipal and regional energy planning standards, which, if met, allow town plans to carry greater weight in the siting process for energy generation. This will give Charlotte “substantial deference” when alternative energy development is proposed. Per the State of Vermont, “substantial deference,” as defined by Act 174 and used in the Section 248 process, provides towns and regions a strong voice in determining where energy projects should, and should not, be sited.

A yes vote will provide the Town of Charlotte greater and more significant participation in land use development of alternative energy proposals. It will enhance land use planning in our town, protect the open spaces we cherish, support the siting of alternative energy where appropriate, and provide enhanced town and state energy goals and the guidance and strategies for attaining them. Assuming the town approves the amended Town Plan, it will then be certified by the Chittenden County Regional Planning Commission.

Voting will take place in the CCS multipurpose room from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.

Please vote—and please vote YES for the Charlotte amended Town Plan.

Peter Joslin is chair of the Charlotte Planning Commission.

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6 • October 31, 2019 • The Charlotte News

Calendar Events

Students head to the State House to talk about space

We welcome appropriate community event listings with a maximum of 100 words. Print fees may apply to community events outside of Charlotte.

Email your events to ads@thecharlottenews.org.

Sunday, Nov. 3

Hinesburg Community Band and the South County Chorus at 4:30 p.m. at Champlain Valley Union High School Auditorium. The band and chorus are under the direction of Rufus C. Patrick. Music presented by 130 musicians from Chittenden County and beyond. Admission is free with donations gladly accepted. We also encourage you to bring a nonperishable item to support the Hinesburg Food Shelf.

Saturday, Nov. 9

Repair Café will be at the Charlotte Congregational Church from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Talented local folks will be volunteering their handy skills for YOU! Just bring your broken stuff to the Repair Café and watch and learn as the handy folks do their magic. (See story on page 9.)

Right: Charlotte Representative Mike Yantachka, Charlotte Central School students Charlie Taylor and Estelle Emmons, CCS Digital Learning Leader and PBL Coach Allan Miller, and Senate Majority Leader Becca Balint convened at the Vermont State House on Oct. 21. The eighth-grade students testified in front of a finance committee to share their experiences from their sixth-grade year, when they worked on a project funded through Regional Educational Television Network that allowed the students to communicate directly via video chat with astronauts on board the International Space Station. The students spoke about the educational value of projects such as this and expressed support for continuing to fund these types of activities.

Left: Charlie Taylor and Estelle Emmons took time out of their school day to travel to Montpelier and visit the State House. The eighth graders spoke in front of a senate finance committee about funding for RETN in local schools.

Photos by Katie Taylor

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Aurora Chamber Singers Concert at 7:30 p.m. at the College Street Congregational Church, Burlington.

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Conducted by David Neiweem; info@ aurorachambersingers.org.

The Charlotte News • October 31, 2019 • 7

Town

Charlotte Berry Farm keeps the weekends going with pumpkins, mead, and creemees Vera Moroney

A visit to the Charlotte Berry Farm will only make you feel happy and warm despite the cold. Located on Route 7 across from Higbee Road, it is now open on Saturdays and Sundays from noon to 4 p.m.

The farm has been in existence since the early 1980s, growing blueberries, black raspberries and strawberries as well as seasonal vegetables such as pumpkins.

Russ and Melissa Beatty purchased the farm in 2013. When asked why, their answer was what Charlotters all say: “fabulous place and a chance to farm, to be close to plants and to have happy customers.” They have experienced it all.

On this October visit all types of pumpkins adorned the place, awaiting either carving or baking, or both.

Ahhh, also the creemees. They still have frozen pints and quarts of peach and blueberry. Also, you can purchase bags of frozen blueberries that, this author can attest, make a magnificent pie. Just pile on the frozen blueberry creemee mix.

The first impression is of a vast, very vast

sea of blueberry bushes. Russ and Melissa mulch the blueberries, an acid-loving plant, with pine needles for a uniform look in the rows. This facilitates picking by the folks who stop by.

strawberry plants over the next several years. They also plan to add red raspberries to their very popular black raspberries.

Sadly, the strawberries did not flourish this year because of a soil fungus that inhibited their growth. Time (like in most situations) is the cure, so hopefully the Beattys will reach their goals of 30 to 40 thousand (!)

The big surprise for this energetic and charming couple soon after they purchased the farm was the road work on Route 7, which constricted traffic flow and thus customers. With this experience now

Welcome to

Russ and Melissa Beatty, owners of Charlotte Berry Farm. Photo by Vera Moroney behind them, they plan to expand the “pick your own” from berries to sunflowers and pumpkins. They have also added mead, both blueberry and strawberry, to their offerings. They offer a taste, and it is scrumptious…stop by and give it a try.

We are so fortunate to have places like the Charlotte Berry Farm. Make a visit soon.

History. Heart. Home.

Join Our Growing Community in South Burlington

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Sophisticated Style & Easy Living at Hillside at O’Brien Farm Join us for an Open House, Sundays 1-3 p.m. and learn more about this 30+ acre thoughtfully designed neighborhood centrally located to shopping, dining and downtown Burlington, and connected by pedestrian and recreation paths. Choose from over 20 unique home designs, many of which include single level living and first floor master plans. Say goodbye to lawnmowing, shoveling and landscaping, and say hello to a beautiful, efficient and high-quality home here at Hillside at O’Brien Farm.

Lipkin Audette Team (802) 662-0162 Info@HillsideVT.com HillSideatOBrienFarm.com

An O’Brien Brothers development, dedicated to quality, community and the environment.

8 • October 31, 2019 • The Charlotte News

Library News Wolfe is a clinical psychologist, with a special interest and expertise in working with older children, adolescents, and families.

Much of her clinical focus has been related to providing treatment for anxiety, OCD, mood issues, and family discord. She has a private practice in Shelburne, VT. This project is funded in part by the National Library of Medicine, National Institutes of Health, Department of Health and Human Services, under Cooperative Agreement Number UG4LM012347 with the University of Massachusetts Medical School, Worcester.

Co-sponsored with the Carpenter Carse Library, Hinesburg.

Margaret Woodruff DIRECTOR

Library Expansion Updates

• The library driveway and original entrance are permanently closed.

• Patrons may enter the library via the library porch door, either from the north entrance or across the Town Green.

• The book drop box is located in front of Town Hall. Please stop there to return all materials when library is closed for the day.

• A pick-up table has been set up inside Town Hall. We are happy to put books and other items there for you to pick up. Just call to let us know what you are looking for and we will have it ready for you.

Please contact the library with any questions!

Town Plan Vote

Wondering about the Town Plan? Stop by the Library to check out the draft so you’re ready to vote on Nov. 5.

Library Activities for Children

Story Times Baby & Family Time Tuesdays at 9 a.m.

Join us for music, stories and play time with babies and toddlers.

Preschool Story Time Tuesdays at 10:30 a.m.

Stories, songs and crafts for children ages 3 to 5.

Kindergarten-First Grade After School Story Time Tuesdays at 2:15 p.m.

Registration required. Program is full.

Contact the library to get on the waitlist.

Coding Club is Back!

Thursdays at 3:15 p.m., beginning Nov. 7 Create your own video games! Design and program your own video games using code and computer science. Learn important gaming concepts while building racing games, mazes and other fun games. Some previous experience with Scratch is helpful, but not required. 4th grade & up. Space is limited, sign up today!

Worry Warriors: Yoga for Kids Wednesday, Nov. 20, 3:15 p.m. to 4:15 p.m.

Children today live in a very fast-paced world. Between pressures from school, extra curricular activities, their peers, parents and society, the hustle and bustle of everyday life can feel unsteady and create some worry. In this one-hour workshop, we hope to lighten the load and learn some tools of yoga to help your child become a Warrior Against Worry! Kidding Around Yoga is a curriculum that allows your child to be active, build confidence and learn some stress-management tools. Recommended for ages 6-10 plus and minus. Registration required. Please call the library to sign up.

Lynn Alpeter, co-owner of Yoga Roots is a 200-hour certified yoga instructor and is also a certified Kidding Around Yoga teacher.

She is a former para educator at Charlotte Central School, mom of two college kids and lives in Charlotte with her husband and two dogs (who love to do yoga too!).

She looks forward to sharing her love of

New concert is poured. Below: The slab for the new addition was poured. Photos contributed

Mystery Book Group: Bruno, Chief of Police Monday, Nov. 18, 10 a.m.

The first installment in a wonderful new series that follows the exploits of Benoît Courrèges, a policeman in a small French village where the rituals of the café still rule.

But then the murder of an elderly North African who fought in the French army changes everything and galvanizes Bruno’s attention: the man was found with a swastika carved into his chest. Copies available at library circulation desk.

yoga and all the benefits with a new generation. She believes that sharing the practice of yoga with others makes the world a better place. This project is funded in part by the National Library of Medicine, National Institutes of Health, Department of Health and Human Services, under Cooperative Agreement Number UG4LM012347 with the University of Massachusetts Medical School, Worcester.

Vermont Health Connect Enrollment Information Session Tuesday, Nov. 19, 6:30 p.m.

Vermont Health Connect representatives present the latest updates for the 2020 Open Enrollment season. Topics include: What’s new for 2020, Overview of 2020 VHC plans, health insurance basics, plan selection strategies, financial help, how to apply, and Q & A.

Programs for Adults & Families

Great Decisions: State of the State Department Tuesday, Nov. 5, 7 p.m.

During the Trump administration, the usual ways of conducting diplomacy have been upended.

Many positions in the State Department have never been filled, and meetings with foreign leaders such as Kim Jong-un and Vladimir Putin have been undertaken with little advance planning.

What effect are these changes having now, and how will they affect ongoing relationships between the United States and its allies and adversaries? Copies of reading material available via the library.

world. These design principles work at any scale large or small. Presentation and discussion with Master Gardener Karen Tuininga. Co-sponsored by the Charlotte Grange. This program takes place at the Charlotte Grange, 2858 Spear Street.

Bake for Good: Thanksgiving Rolls Saturday, Nov. 9, 9:30 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Learn. Bake. Share. Join Charlotte librarians for a baking session sponsored by King Arthur Flour. Kids and seniors learn how to bake delicious, nutritious rolls and share the bounty with the Senior Center and Community Food Shelf. Lunch provided.

For seniors of all ages and children ages 9 & up. Registration required. No fee. This program takes place at the Charlotte Senior Center.

Better Together Book Club: Small Animals Wednesday, Nov. 13, 7 p.m.

Join us for a discussion of this riveting examination of the ways our culture of competitive, anxious and judgmental parenting has profoundly altered the experiences of parents and children. In her signature style, Brooks offers a provocative, compelling portrait of parenthood in America and calls us to examine what we most value in our relationships with our children and one another. Copies available at the library circulation desk.

Introduction to Permaculture Tuesday, Nov. 12, 7 p.m.

How to sustainably produce food and beauty on your land by working smarter, not harder. Learn the key design principles for integrated systems which promote human and ecological health in your backyard or farm. Based on a common-sense holistic approach, permaculture emphasizes multiple production benefits with minimal energy use or waste. The result is resource use which is sustainable, resilient and responsible … characteristics much needed in today’s

Parenting the Anxious Child Thursday, Nov. 14, 7 p.m.

Does your child struggle with chronic worry?

Learn how to meet the unique challenges of raising children who struggle with anxiety with licensed psychologist, Joanne Wolfe.

She shares recent information about the biological and psychological underpinnings of the fear response, foundational principles for combatting anxiety and destructive patterns of avoidance, as well as tools and interventions for use in the home. Joanne

Men’s Book Group: The Underground Railroad Wednesday, Nov. 20, 7 p.m.

In Colson Whitehead’s ingenious conception, the Underground Railroad is no mere metaphor—engineers and conductors operate a secret network of tracks and tunnels beneath the Southern soil. His protagonists’ first stop is South Carolina, in a city that initially seems like a haven. But the city’s placid surface masks an insidious scheme designed for its black denizens. And even worse: Ridgeway, the relentless slave catcher, is close on their heels. Forced to flee again, Cora embarks on a harrowing flight, state by state, seeking true freedom. Copies available at the library circulation desk.

For more information about these and all our library programs & activities, visit our website: charlottepubliclibrary.org.

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. Unless otherwise warned, the Charlotte Library Board of Trustees meets the second Thursday of each month at 6 p.m. Library minutes and agendas available on the library website.

The Charlotte News • October 31, 2019 • 9

Town

Charlotte Repair Café set for Nov. 9 Louis Cox The fifth Charlotte Repair Cafe is happening Saturday, Nov. 9, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Charlotte Congregational Church, 403 Church Hill Rd in Charlotte. The Repair Café is part of Transition Town Charlotte’s mission to build community health by extending the life of material things, keeping items out of the landfill and reducing global warming.

Benefits include saving us money, building skill and getting to know our neighbors better.

In a nutshell the Repair Café is a group of talented volunteers from our community who are willing to spend their Saturday fixing your stuff for free. At this Repair Café, community fixers will be present to offer the following repairs: • Mend clothing; knitting repairs; adjust sewing machines • Replace zippers • Repair lamps–replace switches and cords, tighten wobbly bases • Troubleshoot and/or repair small appliances, electronics, radios, fans, heaters, (de)humidifiers • Sharpen garden tools, replace wooden handles • Repair jewelry, replace watch batteries, fix watch bands, replace eyeglass screws • Repair furniture, cuckoo clocks, dolls, favorite toys • Sharpen knives, scissors, axes • Make a blue jean skirt from your old jeans! • Diagnose

and/or fix computers, laptops, smartphones and printers • Replace smartphone batteries • Tune and make minor repairs to bicycles, true bike wheels • Repair and adjust skateboards • Got something different? We are up for all new challenges!

We ask that everyone wishing to have an item fixed register here beforehand so we can tell the repairers what items they might expect. To register online, go to https://forms. gle/4PrhAjo7XCrUArAe8.

Fixers may also choose to email you if they have a question about your item. If you know your gizmo needs a replacement part, such as a switch or lamp cord, please purchase it beforehand and bring it with you. (We do not reimburse you for your part purchases). Or come early and we will tell you what you need so you can purchase it at a local hardware store and come back.

Short workshops on how to fix items yourself will be featured at this cafe. In addition, by watching the fix we hope that you might be able to perform the repair yourself should the need arise again. Thus, we highly encourage participants to hang out while the fixers work on your item to answer questions, ask questions, learn, eat muffins, etc.

Except for your purchase of any parts you need, there is no charge for the Repair Café, but we do ask that participants bring a nonperishable food or monetary donation for the Charlotte Food Shelf.

Home-baked goods, chili and drinks will be available for sale.

The event is sponsored by Transition Town Charlotte, the Charlotte Grange, the Charlotte

Charlotte Fixers from left to right are Wofger Schneider, Jamey Gerlaugh and Catherine Bock fixing items at the first Charlotte Repair Café, Nov. 2017.

Photo contributed

Library and the Charlotte Congregational Church and is open to folks from anywhere.

Questions about your repair? Contact Wolfger Schneider at wolfger1213@gmail. com. Or want to share your skills as a fixer?

Contact Jamey at gerlaugh@gmail.com.

10 • October 31, 2019 • The Charlotte News

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This is the second in a series of stories researched and written by the Junior Reporters Club at The Charlotte News.

Amelie and Flossy are in 5th grade. Any students, grades 3 through 8, are welcome to join us in the newsroom on Tuesdays after school.

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Amelie Fairweather and Flossy Eagen It’s October 31! Halloween! You should be excited, but instead a sense of dread fills you: you’re low on candy and it’s too late to head to the store. What do you do?

Problems like this can be avoided. We’ve gone to one of the most popular trick-ortreated streets in Charlotte, Greenbush Road, which gets about 400-500 kids a year and asked homeowners how they avoid such problems.

You may be wondering, what is a reliable place to get candy and other Halloween items? There’s always Amazon and Party City, but Greenbush Road resident Susan Stuck mentioned a shop called Scratch & Dent. She also recommends shopping for candy for about a month in advance. She had two baskets on the floor filled with a truckload of candy, such as sour patch kids, chocolates, pretzels, gummy bears and more.

“I think my favorite part of Halloween is all the pumpkins and the kids. I love kids,” Stuck commented. She also added that a good place to shop for pumpkins is Shelburne Orchards.

Stuck also warned future trick or treaters, “Be prepared to say trick or treat, or you’ll get an onion!”

An interesting fact about Stuck’s house is that it was actually put on some of Vermont’s possible haunted houses list. Her address was featured on a TV channel that exclaimed loudly, HAUNTED HOUSES--don’t get scared, though! She says the ghost left long ago. Make sure to visit her house and say hi!

Another one of the popular visited houses is the Valliere family on Ferry Road. Last year they had a variety of candies that earned their house an absolute go-to for trick or treating. Here’s what they have to say about trick or treating and Halloween: Flossy’s first question was simple, “How do you like having a lot of trick or treaters?” she promptly asks. Twelve-year-old Trevina Valliere, the younger sister of the house, takes a moment before answering, “I like it because I get to see all the costumes.”

Trevina says she likes the decorating and pumpkin carving that happens during the month of October. Carve pumpkins, get candy, and trick or treat! Make sure to say hi to Trevina’s family and thank them for reserving their time to feed kids candy!

Amy Vazquez has lived in Charlotte for years, but she just moved into a house on Greenbush Road. She’s going to line her driveway with jack-o-lanterns like a runway to the barn where she’ll be sitting in the barn.

“I cannot wait to hand out candy,” Vazquez said.

Our junior reporter Marianna Fairweather had a suggestion. “Make it more creepy,” Marianna suggested. Vazquez said she wasn’t sure how gruesome to make it.

“So, more spooky?” Vazquez wondered, standing in her front garden with her dog.

“Yes,” said Marianna, 8, nodding.

Mark Moser, who lives near the Old Brick Store, plans to hang a big bat “with electric wings that go back and forth” and a vampire “who makes a loud shrieking scream,” along with a pretend skull with a crow sitting on its head.

He’s been hosting trick or treaters for 35 years. Asked if he is looking forward to Halloween, he says, “Am I ever!” He says a group of friends come over for dinner, and they take turns answering the door.

“Halloween is a special night.”

The Charlotte News • October 31, 2019 • 11

School Personalized learning in the Champlain Valley School District Nancy Richardson This week’s CVSD board meeting featured a discussion of personalized learning, which is designed to maximize student choices around curricula and respond to individual learning styles. It is an important building block in the Proficiency Based Learning (PBL) system that the Champlain Valley School District has embraced across all schools.

The rationale for moving to PBL is to achieve more involvement by students in their education. In addition to mastering the curriculum, students are encouraged to understand themselves as learners. They are urged to take an active role in designing their own educational program.

Much of the board’s discussion of the meeting focused on the CVU Nexus Program. Nexus involves students selecting a topic of interest, designing learning activities that connect to CVU standards and proceeding to gather school and community resources to complete the projects. The goal is to personalize learning. The program seeks to combine several disciplines in one project, encourage inquiry and encourage student self-reflection. Some examples of projects discussed included creating and developing robotics, constructing a tiny house and exploring the biology of local ponds.

Questions raised by board members about Nexus included the connection between the projects and the curricular standards and other accountability issues. Are such projects connected to the curricular standards that all students must acquire?

Across the country the most successful states and districts implementing Proficiency Based Learning programs have tied personalized learning closely to academic standards. Otherwise students find themselves in a sea of interesting topics that may not be connected to graduation standards.

Nationally, several states have undertaken initiatives to move toward Proficiency Based Learning. Some have seen a successful transition to this more individualized system. Others have faltered because of efforts required to translate curricular standards into several different options for student choice.

steps require establishing goals for habits of learning that will be integrated into all courses and projects. These habits of mind and learning have been defined by CVU as Think, Live, Learn, Contribute and Pursue Excellence. Significant work has been done to describe how these are broken down into learning goals.

The Champlain Valley School District is building on 20 years of experience establishing curricular standards and instituting desirable habits of learning through successive national and state reforms. Prior to education reform initiatives begun in the 1980s, local schools created their own learning goals. As a result, students across the country varied in performance and fared more poorly than students in other industrialized countries.

Waves of reform over the past 30 years have focused on several areas: school leadership and structure, curricula rigor and alignment, increased accountability and standards, academic and parental support, professional development for teachers and re-designing high schools.

post–secondary education. Vermont has one of the highest rates of high school graduation in the country but one of the lowest rates of post-secondary enrollment after high school.

Many states have raised the bar of student achievement through these measures, but an achievement gap persists among students from low-income homes. And high schools in particular have been plagued by problems relating to attendance, persistence and, in Vermont, transition to

The move to personalize education through Proficiency Based Learning and personalization seeks to close that gap so that all students may find a school environment that encourages them to build a stronger sense of themselves as learners and to continue as life-long learners after

Nancy Richardson served as a policy analyst for the U.S. Department of Education, chief education advisor to the governor of Massachusetts and director of planning for the Vermont State College system. She lives in Charlotte.

WE ARE OPEN ON

Saturdays in Hinesburg!

Come visit us from 9:00 a.m. until noon.

We are excited to offer more convenience to our customers by expanding our hours and services to Hinesburg and the surrounding area.

LOBBY HOURS Mon–Thurs: 9:00 a.m.–4:00 p.m.

Friday: 9:00 a.m.–5:00 p.m.

Saturday: 9:00 a.m.–noon

DRIVE-UP HOURS Mon–Thurs: 8:30 a.m.–5:00 p.m.

Friday: 8:30 a.m.–5:30 p.m.

Saturday: 9:00 a.m.–noon

Once the curriculum has been translated into different learning tasks related to curricular standards, the difficult next

Email your news & photos to: news@ thecharlottenews.org

graduation.

Local Church Services Charlotte Congregational Church, UCC 403 Church Hill Road 425-3176 | charlotteucc.org Regular Sunday service: 10 a.m. _____________________ Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Catholic Church Spear Street, 425-2637 Sister parish: St. Jude’s Regular schedule of masses: Saturdays, 4:30 p.m., at St. Jude’s Sundays, 8 a.m. and 11 a.m., at Our Lady of Mount Carmel Sundays, 9:30 a.m., at St. Jude’s

nbmvt.com • 877-508-8455

12 • October 31, 2019 • The Charlotte News

Charlotte Trails survey results Laurie Thompson CO-CHAIR, CHARLOTTE TRAILS

Thanks to all of you who completed the Trails survey on Front Porch Forum. The results of this survey show that a large majority of the 200 or so respondents, about 75 percent overall, are using our trails and are interested in seeing more of the Town Link Trail built.

The Trails Committee will continue to work on your behalf to complete the State Park Road section of the Trail, then on to the West Village and the beach.

Shown here are the results of the survey.

Charlotte News

OUR PAPER IS FREE. CREATING IT ISN’T. KEEP THE NEWS COMING. DONATE ONLINE TODAY. www.CharlotteNewsVT.org

The Charlotte News • October 31, 2019 • 13

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14 • October 31, 2019 • The Charlotte News

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Learn to identify and eradicate invasive species David Watts If you live in Charlotte, you have invasive plant species living around you. Honeysuckle, garlic mustard, buckthorn… Ah, buckthorn. That beautiful green that stands out in the forest understory this time of year after all the other trees have lost their leaves. To remind us that Charlotte is in the epicenter of the buckthorn invasion of Vermont.

This is the time of year many consider whether the invasive plants on their property are becoming a problem, and it is time to plan how to keep them from spreading or try to eradicate them altogether. After all, removal is best done from now until spring.

All who might want to learn how to identify and control invasive plants on their property are invited to join a handson instructional session at the Charlotte Park and Wildlife Refuge this Sunday, Nov. 3, from 9:30 to 12:30. The event is co-sponsored by the Park Oversight Committee and the Charlotte Land Trust.

Participants will meet at the Greenbush Road parking area for the Park and Wildlife Refuge located just south of the railroad underpass.

Sue Smith and Jenny Cole, co-chairs of the Park Committee, will lead a tour of the park focused on the areas where invasive plants are of greatest concern and discuss work in the park over the past 10 years dealing with a range of different challenges. The focus will be on identifying a number of invasive plant species and on techniques for their removal.

In some areas of the park removal of dense concentrations of buckthorn and honeysuckle is the goal. In a different area the strategy is to simply monitor and manage a field that has been completely taken over by honeysuckle and prevent the plants from spreading further. Materials will be provided, including information on identifying, planning, managing and removing invasive species. Participants will also learn of resources available to property owners to address invasive plants.

After touring some of the park, participants will learn techniques for removal and abatement of invasive plants. Participants will then have the opportunity to use these skills in removing buckthorn and honeysuckle from a priority area. Volunteers who want to help with actual invasive removal should bring pruning loppers, a small folding saw, drinking water, work gloves and eye protection if they have them. Tools will also be available for participants to use. The event will wind up at 12:30 with the Park Committee’s famous apple muffins.

The view across a cleared area.

Everyone, including those with only a limited interest in invasive plants, is encouraged to come. There is never a bad time to experience the park’s interesting nature walk and one of the most spectacular views in the world. For further information or to confirm you are coming, contact dwatts@bvvlaw.com or 4252876. Preregistration is not required.

David Watts is a member of the Charlotte Land Trust Board of Directors.

Wildflowers were planted after clearing.

Hinesburg, VT Homeowner Recommends Bristol Electronics Before we met the great folks at Bristol Electronics, we initially made contact with one of the ‘popular’ solar installers here in Vermont. You may know them. When we finally decided to move on, a recommendation from a neighbor to contact Bristol Electronics caught our attention.

From the moment the Bristol Electronics technician stepped foot on our property and then proceeded to spend three hours looking over our property and answering our questions, I knew these folks were different from the rest. The second site visit to review options sealed it for us. By the time the company owner left, nearly eight hours had been invested in us. No empty promises. No hard sell. Just straightforward, down-to-earth conversation about the best approach. It was really enjoyable to talk to the staff and everyone was so personally engaging. It is an added benefit that Bristol Electronics handles the entire installation from A to Z. No subcontractors to deal with. No multiple layers of staff to get lost among.

If you are looking for a local Vermont business that will treat you like a member of their family AND perform a professional installation, look no further than Bristol Electronics.

Shannon & Kate Kelly – Hinesburg, VT

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Photos by David Watts

The Charlotte News • October 31, 2019 • 15

CROSSING continued from page

1

communications consulting firm that is owned by Charlotte resident Nicole Junas Ravelin; a retail store by Charlotter Sara Nelson, who makes and sells jewelry under the label Elli Parr; and an IT contractor who works remotely and is renting a smaller

Rec News Nicole Conley REC DIRECTOR

Charlotte Recreation Basketball

Practice will take place on weeknights from 6-7:30 p.m. Times will be posted as coaches determine their availability. Kindergarten teams practice once a week; 1st - 2nd grade teams practice twice a week; 3rd - 6th grade teams practice twice a week with games on Saturdays.

First practice is the week of Dec. 9.

All teams are dependent on roster size and volunteer coaches.

Registration fee: $45 (Oct. 7 – Nov.18).

Late registration fee: $60 (after Nov. 18).

Registration ends Dec. 4. Basketball ends: Feb.16 Seeking volunteer coaches!

Martial Arts

Most children and teens will receive some benefit from Villari’s martial arts after training for just a few short months. But the real benefit comes from long-term training. Something special happens to a child who grows up in a Villari’s martial arts school. They are simply more confident, respectful, focused, healthy, hardworking and optimistic. Time and time again we hear from adults who trained at Villari’s as children who say that is was the best thing they did growing up.

5-week sessions. Session 3: Nov. 19 - Jan. 7. Session 4: Jan. 14 - Feb. 11.

Grades K-3, 2-3 p.m. Grades 4-8, 3-4 p.m.

Cost: $75

Ski & Ride Program

Grades K-8. Dates: Dec. 10 & 17, Jan. 7, 14, & 21 (Jan. 28 make-up) Cost: $120 (Please visit our website for more information on discounts and fundraising.)

Registration deadline is Friday, Nov. 1, Late fees apply. (Online registration is not available for this program. Paper registrations can be found at CCS. Please visit our website, Charlotterec.com, for additional information.)

Questions: Michael Krasnow, 425-3997 or email mkrasnow1@gmail.com.

Snowmobile course

The six-hour course provides the opportunity to earn the certification necessary to legally operate on Vermont’s statewide snowmobile trails system.

Participants must be present for all classes in order to be eligible for certification.

Vermont law requires that all Vermont snowmobile operators born after July 1, 1983, who are 12 years of age or older,

office space.

Dunbar said he anticipates that the work will be completed Dec. 1 and tenants will be ready for business soon after, and that he is working hard to make the restaurant space available soon after that, “depending on finding an operator and time frame for fit-up.”

must take and pass a state-approved snowmobile safety course. The course is designed for ages 12 and up; however, anyone 8 years old and up may take the course, and if they pass will be certified.

Please register with the Charlotte Rec Department if interested.

Dates: Dec. 2, 3 & 4, from 6-8 p.m. at Williston Central School.

Cost: $20

Afterschool Piano Lessons

The Recreation Department is pleased to offer afterschool piano lessons at Charlotte Central School this fall for students in grades 2 and up. Lessons will be taught by Julie Holmes on Tuesdays and Mary Beth Bowman on Wednesdays after school.

Tuesdays, Jan. 7– May 19. Time blocks: (1) 2-2:30 (2) 2:30-3 (3) 3-3:30 (4) 3:30-4 (5) 4-4:30 (6) 4:30-5.

Fee: Private lessons $480.

Wednesdays, Jan. 8 – May 20.

Time blocks: (1) 3-3:45, (2) 3:45-4:30.

Fee: Semiprivate lessons $416.

Safe Sitter Courses

Safe Sitter® prepares teens to be safe when they’re home alone, watching siblings or babysitting. The course offers four main content areas: Safety Skills, Child Care Skills, First Aid & Rescue Skills and Life & Business Skills. Lessons are filled with fun activities and role-playing exercises.

Teens will practice choking rescue and diapering. Register for one date that works best for your child. Register with the town offering the program. Grades 6-8.

Hinesburg: Sat., Nov. 2, Shelburne: Sat., Dec. 14. Both 9 a.m.–3 p.m.

Fee: $60 res./$65 non.

Purchase with your local mortgage professional!

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nbmvt.com 1-877-508-8455 NMLS #403372

Tom’s marine Otter Creek • Lake ChampLain

IT’S THAT TIME . . .

WINTERIZATION & STORAGE

Driver’s Education

The Charlotte Recreation Department will be offering a driver’s education program this winter by the 802 Driving school.

The six-week program will be taught by Joe Barch, who has over 15 years of experience teaching in the public schools.

Mondays, Wednesdays and Thursdays, Jan. 6 – Feb. 16, 5:30-7:30 p.m. at Charlotte Central School. Make-up dates: Jan. 21, 29, Feb. 4, 11, 13.

Fee: $690 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 charlotterec. com or contact Nicole Conley by email Recreation@townofcharlotte.com or by phone 425-6129 ext.204.

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16 • October 31, 2019 • The Charlotte News

Town

11 trees to be felled to make way for Town Link Trail Cameron Bremner COMMUNITY NEWS SERVICE

Eleven trees along State Park Road in Charlotte stand in the way of the projected route of the Town Link Trail, a key project of the Charlotte Trails Committee.

Last Thursday, Oct. 24, Charlotte Tree Warden Mark Dillenbeck held a public hearing at Town Hall to address the removal of these trees. “Whenever we have living non-diseased trees that need to be removed, I’m required to hold a public hearing,” Dillenbeck explained at the opening of the meeting.

The Town Link Trail currently runs from Common Way to the west end of State Park Road. The Trails Committee, with a goal to establish a network of public trails in Charlotte, is working to extend the trail along the north side of State Park Road to reach Mt. Philo State Park.

Committee Chair Laurie Thompson explained during the hearing on Thursday that “the route of the trail was chosen in the interest of avoiding the wetlands in the area and affecting as few trees as possible.”

During the hearing, Dillenbeck discussed whether any of the trees in question should

be classified as “significant.” In general, a tree must be alive, healthy, attractive and not damaged in order to gain this status, he said.

After sharing more information about the condition of the 11 trees—which includes four sugar maples, three elms, two boxwoods, one shagbark hickory and one black cherry—Dillenbeck said he determined that none of them met these criteria. He authorized their removal, allowing the Trails Committee to continue with its project.

The hearing drew few attendees. Town Road Commissioner Junior Lewis was on hand along with John Limanek, a Trails Committee member.

In the works for the past 10 years or so, the Town Link Trail aims to “create a sevenmile trail stretching from Charlotte Town Beach to Mt. Philo,” Limanek said. The trail would be used for walking, biking and even cross-country skiing in colder months.

Limanek said he is optimistic about the trail’s completion now that the Trail Committee has approval to remove the State Park Road trees. The Trail Committee has yet to release a date when it will remove the trees but is working on

Yellow ribbons mark the trees that will be removed along State Park Road as part of the Town Link Trail project.

Photo by Cameron Bremner

finalizing the plans for the trail.

More information is online about the Town Link Trail at charlottetrailsvt.org/townlink/.

Community News Service is a collaboration with the University of Vermont’s Reporting & Documentary Storytelling program.

Increasing aquatic habitat knowledge and Charlotte stewardship in the Lewis Creek watershed News

The

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Providing Repair, Refinishing, Restoration and Transport

George & Pam Darling P.O. Box 32 Ferry Road, Charlotte, VT gdarling@gmavt.net

Kate Kelly and Matthew Gorton

Lewis Creek is one of Vermont’s most ecologically diverse streams. With increasing habitat degradation due to river encroachment by development and roads, land-use change and more extreme weather events, the Lewis Creek Association (LCA) is working with Milone & MacBroom, Inc. to identify important refugia locations to conserve or restore Lewis Creek’s brook trout fishery. Refugia are pools of cooler water temperatures within streams, which enable brook trout and other cold-water species to survive periods of higher temperatures during the summer. Refugia can be preserved by leaving logs and other structures in streams, by allowing floodplains and backwaters to exist, and by maintaining riparian shading. These refugia will become especially important with increasing temperatures due to climate change.

This project will build on previous work conducted by LCA and, in the process, will inform and educate community members in the Lewis Creek watershed.

Community members and volunteers will be invited to attend a field trip where they will learn about stream ecology and how to protect stream fish and wildlife habitat, even in the face of climate change. This project will help promote community interest in the long-term stewardship of Lewis Creek, due in part to the increased

Lewis Creek with riparian shading.

knowledge gained by community members.

LCA is committed to improving the quality of fish and wildlife habitat throughout middle Lake Champlain Valley watersheds. LCA will be hosting a talk by Mike Kline of Fluvial Matters, LLC from 6 to 7 p.m. on Thursday, Nov. 14, along with a field trip on Saturday, Nov. 16, in the afternoon to visit one of the sites chosen as a refugia location and discuss what landowners can do to improve habitats for fish and wildlife.

Photo contributed

If you are a landowner, fisherperson or an interested citizen who would like to learn how to help protect our natural resources, please contact Kate Kelly at lewiscreekorg@gmail.com or visit our website for more information on these upcoming events.

Kate Kelly is the LCA program manager and Matthew Gorton is an LCA board member.

The Charlotte News • October 31, 2019 • 17

Into The Woods

Healthy soils support healthy forests Ethan Tapper Some would argue that as a forester, it’s my job to manage trees. However, I think that the forest, the whole system, is a forester’s true responsibility. Forests include trees but also other resources like wildlife and their habitat, air, water, carbon and more. The responsible and sustainable management of forests requires you to “zoom-out” in space (to see how your actions affect all parts of forests and the broader landscape) and time (to see the long-term implications of your actions) and then zoom-in to consider and conserve all the individual resources that make the growth of forests possible. One such under-appreciated, but foundational, resource that supports healthy forests is soil.

Besides providing the physical material that trees grow in, soils provide two basic resources that trees need: water and minerals. Trees use water in photosynthesis and to transport materials up and down their stems, and use minerals like calcium and magnesium to grow and defend themselves. Too much or too little water, too few minerals or soils with the wrong pH (too acidic or too alkaline) can limit tree growth.

The size of soil particles—the little pieces that make up soils—has a big influence on soil quality. Our largest, or “coarsest,” soil

particles are sands and gravels, and our smallest, or “finest,” are clays and silts.

“Loams” are mixtures of different particles.

Soil particles hold on to minerals until trees can absorb them, and finer soil particles— which have more surface area relative to their volume—use their extra surface area to hold on to more. For this reason, finer soils are often called “enriched” and are able to grow trees faster. However, as those of you in the Champlain Valley know, soils with too many fine clay particles can become saturated with water, which is bad for tree growth.

Soils hugely influence the trees you’re likely to find on a given site. Species like sugar maple, basswood and white ash have adapted to do well on enriched sites, dominating where soils are moist, less acidic and more minerals are available; red oak, beech and hemlock are more competitive on sites where soils are drier, more acidic and fewer minerals are available. Most tree species can grow on a wide variety of different sites but are adapted to do the best under certain conditions.

In Chittenden County the story of our soils is dramatic. About 13,500 years ago a glacier, which had been covering Vermont, retreated northward. As the glacier melted, the Champlain Valley was filled with an

enormous glacial lake called Lake Vermont and then (after about 1,500 years) a brackish inland sea called the Champlain Sea. Around 10,000 years ago water levels receded to about what they are today, but these two bodies of water had made their mark, causing tons of soil particles to be deposited throughout the Champlain Valley. In general, silt and clay were deposited in areas covered in deep water, while sand and gravel were deposited on coastlines, deltas and streams.

As a result of this, we have soils in Chittenden County that are influenced by bedrock, glacial deposits and lake/ sea deposits. These diverse “parent materials”—essentially the rocks that break down to create soil particles—lead to the formation of a diversity of soils with different drainage, pH and available nutrients, which will ultimately grow different types of forests.

While much of our soils formed long ago, humans have influenced them in the relatively recent past. Historical records in Vermont describe massive soil loss, erosion and degradation in the 1800s and early 1900s, as about 80 percent of our state was converted to pasture. Further soil degradation has occurred through pollution, acid deposition and development. In the woods, poorly managed infrastructure and logging has led to soil compaction

and erosion on historic logging trails throughout the county.

Healthy soils are integral to our ability to grow healthy forests. In the course of forest management it is critical that we protect our soils, from operating in areas with wet or sensitive soils only when they are frozen, to leaving lots of dead wood on the forest floor to build soil and mitigate erosion, to creating stable, well-designed and well-drained forestry roads and trails.

For more information on protecting soils in the course of forest management, check out the resources at VTCutWithConfidence. com.

Ethan Tapper is the Chittenden County forester. He can be reached at ethan. tapper@vermont.gov, (802)-585-9099 or at his office at 111 West Street, Essex Junction.

painting.

18 •face October 31, 2019 • The Charlotte News Towards the end, the Charlotte-Shelburne-Hinesburg Rotary invites folks to ll have a head to the Little League field next to Penar will the Fire Station for the annual Rotary ood ven- Golf Ball Drop and a chance to win prizes verything depending on where the numbered balls rgers and land. Proceeds from ticket sales help fund g animals Rotary’s many projects through the year. ects, and

CCS staff wear pink

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: call 985-3091 advertising@shelburnenews.com Many staff and students wore pink on Friday, Oct. 25 to join the fight against breast cancer.

Over $100 was collected from a pass-the-hat through the staff.

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Charlotte girls grade 3 and 4 Rec Soccer players coached by Josh Bagnato.

Photo contributed

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The Charlotte News • October 31, 2019 • 19

Conservation Currents

The road not taken: The semicentennial of Charlotte’s nuclear power Vermont. It took the timely introduction of a bill proposed by State Senator Luther Hackett (R-South Burlington) to change that. For the first time, it required environmental impacts to be considered by the Public Service Board (now the Public Utility Commission) before receiving approval.

Kevin Burget In a parallel universe, Charlotte is celebrating 50 years of hosting nuclear power—or perhaps regretting it.

The fork in the road that our universe took came on the unremarkable date of Sept.

11, 1969, when 1,500 people filed into the Patrick Gymnasium at the University of Vermont. Scientists, politicians and citizens were treated to 70 exhibits promoting the safe and clean adoption of a nuclear energy plant on Lake Champlain. But all their eyes and ears were trained on a handful of visitors: the emissaries from the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) invited by Governor Deane C. Davis to explain why nuclear power was a good idea. It was the first time the AEC had ever ventured out to a state to engage with its citizens.

The plant was proposed to rise just south of the covered bridge at the Charlotte beach on a 140-acre farm parcel owned by the Thurber family. It was before the Current Use program existed, and the Thurbers could no longer afford taxes on the land. They had been approached by the Central Vermont Public Service Corp. (CVPS), Vermont Yankee’s major shareholder, who assured

Sports

Edd Merritt

Enjoying bipartisan support, the bill became law on April 5, 1969. With Charlotte’s predicament in mind, Hackett commented “We can’t find enough money to buy a coldwater lake like Champlain. It may be in our capacity to go to the moon. But it is not in our capacity to buy a cold-water lake.” Note, this was three months before Neil Armstrong bounded on the lunar surface. And years before Chernobyl and Fukushima made the danger of nuclear meltdowns real.

Photo illustration by Kevin Burget

them of the intrinsic safety of any future plant, so they kept a spot alongside it for their farmhouse and sold the rest for $260,000 ($1.8 million in 2019 dollars).

When word of the sale got out, Vermont Yankee publicly downplayed the purchase, saying it had no plans to develop nuclear power in Charlotte. This was only technically true, as those plans were still being drawn up.

Jasmine Nails Free Press Athlete of the Week.

There was a time not too far back when CVU was titled “Soccer Central” for its domination in that fall sport. Well, lo and behold, soccer domination has spread to other sports. Don’t deny soccer, as both men and women are ranked first in the state’s top division. However, both men and women cross-country runners won the Metro Division followed by state titles. Men’s volleyball is ranked first in the state with their female counterparts ranked second. Two weeks ago the men golfers took the state title by 10 strokes over second place Rice. Both field hockey and women’s volleyball ranked second in their division. While we don’t want to jinx them, Redhawks are flying high above many other schools in a good number of sports.

Both Redhawk soccer teams move along in the state playoffs

Thetford Academy again sent off the state’s best cross-country runners onto its trails.

Both Redhawk men and women won the team titles, led by six women and three men who finished among the top-10 individuals in their groups. There seemed to be a familiar list of women finishers from CVU, with Alicia Veronneau winning the race followed by teammates Alice Larson in third, Jasmine Nails in fourth, and Charlotte’s Sadie Holmes in sixth and Charlotte’s Finn Mittelstadt in seventh. The women will seek to duplicate last year’s New England title and again qualify for a national run.

Charlotter Matthew Servin was again the top CVU male runner, placing fourth. Caleb Nye in seventh, Drew Buley in ninth, Gavin Schaaf (12th), Matthew Ireland (14th), and Parker Soares (17th) helped secure the team championship. The collective strength of

In January of 1969, the Charlotte Planning Commission voted unanimously to recommend to the Selectboard that construction of the plant be opposed. But at that time, this judgment had no teeth. Power producers were virtually unregulated in

The chief threat to the lake was thought to be the impact of warm water discharge on fish populations and increased algal growth.

Radiation was characterized by nuclear advocates as a scare tactic blown out of proportion by the uninformed. U.S. Senator (and former Vermont governor) George Aiken expressed strong support, speaking out and writing editorials claiming that a nuclear see NUCLEAR page 21

CVU carried the team over Essex, which had the top two finishers.

CVU is no longer just Soccer Central

Speaking of cross-country running . . .

The power generated would be 1-2 million kilowatts, or two to four times the size of the plant then under construction in Vernon.

Her two strong finishes in the Metro and State cross-country races brought Redhawk Jasmine Nails nearly 40 percent of the votes in the Burlington Free Press poll. Her male counterpart was also a cross-country runner, Burlington High’s Wondu Summa, who won the Metro race and finished fifth at Thetford Academy in the state championship.

Despite the school’s name change, soccer is still among CVU’s fall feature.

Redhawk women’s soccer blanked Mount Mansfield by 3 in a quarterfinal win with Avery Sleeper hitting the net twice in the second half on shots 45 seconds apart. Olivia Zubarik added one more, and Charlotte’s Maryn Askew was called upon for five saves.

Charlotte’s Holden Batchelder sends the ball in CVU’s state quarterfinal win over Burr and Burton.

The men also moved ahead to the semi-final round by claiming a shutout as well, theirs over Burr and Burton 7-0. Jack Sinopoli had a hat trick to lead the way. Jonah Roberts, Sam Johnson, Holden Batchelder and Riley Gauthier added single goals, with Jeff Barbic handling two saves.

Both CVU volleyball teams are still spiking Men’s volleyball moved into the state finals with a win over Lyndon. They will face Essex in the championship match. Jacob Boliba led the semi-final win with eight kills and six aces. Noah Allen, Devin Rogers and Ethan Harvey were strong above the net with a block apiece.

The women’s team faced South Burlington in a semi-final match as the News went to press.

Quarterback Max Destito gets the snap while running back Seth Boffa from Charlotte (27) turns to take a hand off and lineman Isaac Bergeron (54) gets ready to block.

Photos by Al Frey

20 • October 31, 2019 • The Charlotte News PROPERTY TRANSFERS Oct. 2 Estate of Louise M. Plant to Lucia S. Plante, 4.06 acres, 1555 Spear Street, $6205.47.

Oct. 4 Patnaude Family Trust to Van Gerbig Dorothy, 2.10 acres with dwelling, 146 Eastry Court, $350,000.

Oct. 4 Peter G. and Sarah E. Emerson to Matthew and Gabrielle J. Clow, 1.8 acres with dwelling, 273 Lynrick Acres, $305,000.

Oct. 7 Suzanne R. Parker Revocable Trust to Mark and Claudia Pfaff, 58.5 acres with dwelling, 311 Whalley Road, $3,540,000.

Oct. 24 Estate of Mary Jane Spooner to Ashley N. Thurgate, 1.07 acres with dwelling, 131 Higbee Road, $175,000.

Oct. 25 Bethany Myrick to Rachel E. Bowdish and Colin Frost, 10.8 acres with dwelling, 35 Island Farm Road, $525,500.

Oct. 28 Patnaude Family Trust to Travis and Jacqueline DeMent, 2.89 acres with dwelling, 186 Eastry Court, $460,000.

Outdoors Ignore the gray—get outdoors!

Elizabeth Bassett

•

Rock Point is the largest parcel of undeveloped land in the city of Burlington. More than two miles of trails wind through 130 mostly forested acres with breath-taking views, one mile of Lake Champlain shoreline, and an unusual geologic feature, the Champlain Thrust Fault. Along this nearly 200-mile fault, older Dolomite has been thrust above shale that is 40 million years younger. If this sounds familiar, Mt. Philo also features older quartzite at its summit thrust over younger, softer shale that is crumbling under this weight.

Check the website, rockpointvt.org, for directions and additional information.

•

The University of Vermont stewards a range of natural areas, including Pease Mountain in Charlotte. In addition UVM manages an abandoned Monkton quartzite quarry on Hoover Street in Burlington, from whence came building materials for the Redstone Campus. More familiar preserves include Colchester Bog, East Woods, Centennial Woods and the summit of Mt. Mansfield.

•

Winooski Valley Park District, wvpd. org, manages 16 parks in seven area towns. Many include great walking trails, and all properties are posted. The district’s website includes descriptions, driving directions and maps. Parks are open from dawn until dusk with parking in lots or on nearby roads. Gates are locked at night, so don’t dally after dark.

Dogs must be leashed at all WVPD properties. Always clean up after pets.

In the midst of hunting country in Huntington, Audubon Vermont posts 255 acres of hills and river valley. Five miles of trails thread through a range of natural communities, from hemlock swamp to northern hardwood forest.

Beavers are active on the property and can make trail maps obsolete in the course of a season. Trails open dawn to dusk. Donations are encouraged.

Vt.audubon.org

•

At Shelburne Farms 10 miles of trails allow walkers to explore historic buildings and grounds on 1,400 acres beside Lake Champlain. Rifle hunting is prohibited. Leashed dogs are permitted only from November 1 through the month of March.

•

Need more ideas? The nonprofit Local Motion hosts the Trail Finder at trailfinder.info. The Trail Finder catalogs people-powered trails across the region for walking, biking and cross-country skiing. Features include restrooms, parking, dog friendly, historic site, natural area and wildlife area.

If the gray days of November get you down, get outdoors! The National Mental Health Association (NAMI) finds that a one-hour walk, even in weak winter sun, can improve mental health. Late fall and early winter are prime times for seasonal affective disorder (SAD), a mild form of depression that occurs during the darker time of year. Research affirms what our mothers told us: Fresh air and exercise can help keep you healthy and happy.

Being safe in the outdoors has one more layer during hunting season. Be mindful of rifle season for deer, Nov. 16 to Dec. 1.

Play it safe and walk in places that prohibit hunting. A few ideas: •

•

•

Red Rocks Park, South Burlington.

Four miles of trails in hemlock and pine forest that hug the shoreline and bluffs above Lake Champlain. Spectacular views of Shelburne Bay, the broad lake and the Adirondacks.

Ethan Allen Homestead in Burlington hosts nearly three miles of walking in the Winooski River Delta, including two boardwalks over wetlands. These trails connect to the Intervale.

Intervale Center hosts organic farms and community gardens. A nonprofit created to restore to fertility one-sixth of all open land in Burlington, its mission is to strengthen community food systems and encourage sustainable land use. Several miles of dirt roads and paths.

•

A few fun things to look for while you are outdoors:

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Bright yellow streaming blooms of witch hazel that flowers after most leaves have fallen. Look for these bright spots in our woods in late autumn.

•

When you see fall flowers, including many asters, you will likely find bumble bees. The queens are curled up underground waiting for spring, but some male drones continue to feed until they are killed by a hard frost.

•

What you won’t see: spotted and Jefferson’s salamanders, both of which breed in local vernal pools in spring.

A biologist from Vermont Center on Ecostudies tagged some salamanders and then tracked them to underground shelters. Salamanders can’t dig so they use tunnels excavated by mice, chipmunks and shrews. While salamanders use surface tunnels all summer, when the weather cools in the fall they choose vertical tunnels that lead deeper underground, escaping below the frost line for winter.

No matter the weather, get outdoors!

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

The Charlotte News • October 31, 2019 • 21

NUCLEAR continued from page

19

plant would release far less radiation than even a coal-fired plant.

Leading the opposition to this rosy idea of nuclear power on the lake was the fledgling Lake Champlain Committee. Its general counsel was a young lawyer named Peter S. Paine, Jr. Now 84 years old, chairman of the Lake Champlain National Bank and with a lifetime of environmental activism behind him, Paine recalls that afternoon in the Patrick Gym 50 years ago and how it went wrong for the nuclear cause. “People in Vermont are kind of used to getting their questions answered. But the demeanor of the feds was ‘Daddy knows best.’” They belittled people’s concerns. As an offshoot of the military, the AEC was both a promoter and regulator of nuclear energy, and, Paine figures, its culture was unaccustomed to being questioned. That day the tide turned decisively against the

plant. Governor Davis eventually opposed it.

Several years later, Vermont Yankee quietly sold the land to developers.

In the aftermath, Charles Meredith, the president of the CVPS, wouldn’t speak to Paine. “He hated my guts,” Paine recalls. But when they did finally meet up again years later, Meredith thanked him. “You probably saved my company. The cost overruns would have ruined us.”

In this, the 50th year of nuclear power in Charlotte, somewhere in that other universe, what would a glimpse at the headlines reveal?

DEBATE OVER CHARLOTTE NUCLEAR WASTE DISPOSAL DRAGS ON…WHITE HOUSE VETOES SUPERFUND SUPPORT FOR VERMONT…? And maybe there is an opinion piece about the road not taken, by some improvident dreamer trying to imagine a Charlotte beach without a shadow cast over it by a cooling tower.

Kevin Burget is a member of the Charlotte Conservation Commission.

A beautiful day on Philo Ridge Farm

Photos by Luke Schmuecker

22 • October 31, 2019 • The Charlotte News

SENIOR CENTER MENUS Suggested donation for all meals: $5

Monday Munch

11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.

No reservations required.

November 4

Potato leek soup Salad & bread Chocolate mousse (courtesy of Philo Ridge)

November 11

North Woods bean soup Salad Apple-cranberry cake

Carolyn Kulik

SENIOR CENTER DIRECTOR

“I find I think of myself not as a writer so much as someone who provides a gateway, a tangential route for readers to reach the circus. To visit the circus again, if only in their minds, when they are unable to attend it physically. I relay it through printed words on crumpled newsprint, words that they can read again and again, returning to the circus whenever they wish, regardless of time of day or physical location.

Transporting them at will. When put that way, it sounds rather like magic, doesn’t it?” ~ Erin Morgenstern __________ Stepping back further, think of the transformation that the spoken word goes through: from an intangible sound to a physical representation of some sort, which then must be decoded (usually) using the eyes into its original meaning. Common place now, yet still amazing. Can you even imagine what our lives would be like without the written word?

Today and tomorrow If you are reading this on Thursday, 10/31, Happy Halloween! Between 5 p.m. and 8 p.m., stop by for some of the Center’s own fudge and popcorn balls. Youngsters and oldsters are invited to come in costume—if you dare.

On Friday, 11/1, 1:30-3:30, is Mexican Fiesta of Arts & Crafts with Linda Finkelstein, a one-day craft workshop.

Close to Halloween, in Mexico it’s the celebratory Day of the Dead with many fanciful images and very bright colors.

Create your own “dead” characters using model magic, found objects, wood pieces, colorful shiny papers and paint. Stretch your imagination—this will be a fun process! Registration required. Fee: $20, includes materials. Class limit, 10.

Next week On Monday, 11/4, from 10:30-11:30 a.m., tickets from the Age Well Universal Restaurant Ticket Program will be available at the Senior Center. Pat Long, Nutrition Coordinator, will dispense tickets for this popular program. You must be 60 years of age, and Pat will be able to register you on the spot. Suggested donation for each ticket is $5, good for one year at participating restaurants on certain days. Please bring cash or check. This opportunity is offered here the first Monday of every month.

On Wednesday, 11/6, at 10 a.m., join Janet Yantachka for Strolling In Charlotte. This is your chance to get out for an easy walk on the Charlotte Town Link Trail before the winter is upon us. Sign up and meet at the Senior Center to carpool. No fee.

Registration is requested.

Thursday, 11/7, 11/14 & 11/21, 12:302 p.m., is Holiday Origami with Gail Martin. In these classes, you will be folding paper and fabric into trees, stars, birds and ornaments for the holidays. Directions for some models will be included so that you may teach them to friends and family.

Wednesday Lunch All diners eat at noon.

Reservations required.

November 6

Prize-winning African chicken (peanuts, green peppers, tomatoes, mushrooms, rice) Homemade birthday cake & ice cream

November 14

Tex-Mex casserole (ground beef, corn, chili powder, cheese) Homemade dessert

Thursday Gents Breakfast

7:00–9:00 a.m. Reservations required.

November 14

(Keep up to date on Menus at our website, CharlotteSeniorCenterVT.org, and on Front Porch Forum, as they sometimes change.)

Registration required. Fee: $30 for the series, includes materials. Class limit, 14.

Friday, 11/8, 1–3 p.m., is the monthly Writers Group on Fridays. It meets the second week of the month, and it is looking for more writers (and aspiring writers) of stories, autobiographical pieces and poetry.

Read and discuss your pieces, listen to those of others, and offer encouragement all around. Please register to indicate your interest. No fee.

Saturday, 11/9, 9:30 a.m.-2 p.m., is Bake For Good with Margaret Woodruff and Susann Kahn ~ Learn. Bake. Share. Join Charlotte librarians for a baking session sponsored by King Arthur Flour. Kids and seniors learn how to bake delicious, nutritious rolls and share the bounty with the Senior Center and Community Food Shelf. Lunch provided. For seniors of all ages and children ages 9 & up. Registration required. No fee.

Free Wednesday Afternoon Events at 1p.m. —after lunch 11/6: U.S.–China Rivalry: Paradox of So. China Sea Disputes with David Rosenberg. Paradoxically, disputes over conflicting maritime boundary claims persist among countries that otherwise have a high degree of mutually beneficial cooperation on intraregional trade and commerce. How will this situation be affected by China’s militarization of its possessions in the South China Sea and by the new nationalist, protectionist and unilateralist policies of the current U.S. administration?

Dr. Rosenberg is an international expert in this field. No registration necessary.

11/13: Walking the Camino de Santiago in Portgual and Spain with Sandi Detwiler. The Portuguese Camino begins in Porto and is a 140-mile walk following an ancient pilgrimage route to Santiago de Compostela in Spain. Learn the history, and follow along as we walk past tidy farms and small villages. You might just decide to lace up your hiking boots and fly to Portugal to begin your own camino. No registration necessary.

Art News The “Gathering of Hooked Work” Show continues throughout November with 28 works by 13 artists. Rug hooking is both a craft and an art form using the traditional technique of wool strips that are pulled through a burlap or linen foundation. The designs, which include primitive folk art to photographs, are engaging and colorful.

The 28 pieces displayed are not for sale, but commission inquiries are welcome.

Don’t miss this show—it’s been getting rave reviews from visitors. ~ The best times to see the ART EXHIBIT in November Mon. at noon, Tues. after 2:30, Wed. 9:30-12:00 (except 11/13), Thurs. after 12:30, Fri. after 12:30.

Please call the Center during the week to check on Sunday availability.

There is so much more that takes place at the Center every week. Do visit our website, CharlotteSeniorCenterVT.org, for more details and menus. If you have questions or would like to register, please call 425-6345, or stop by M-F from 9-4.

We are at 212 Ferry Road, Charlotte, right across from the post office. The Senior Center’s mission is to serve those 50 and up. Residents from other communities are always welcome. There are no membership fees. And, if there is a course or an event you would like to suggest, we are always open to exploring new possibilities.

Stop in and say hello. See you soon!

The Senior Center would like to express our appreciation for the delicious culinary contributions from The Residence at Shelburne Bay, Philo Ridge Farm and The Old Lantern. We are so lucky to have such generous neighbors. ______________________ Charlotte Senior Center 802-425-6345

The Charlotte News • October 31, 2019 • 23

PUMPKIN MAN continued from page 1 “I had no intention of retiring,” he said, explaining that he had mentioned a future when he might hand his pumpkin head over to another person in years to come. “I was trying to think of who would be my successor; I will obviously not be able to go on forever.”

As far as the reporting in The Citizen that the choice was his, he said, “It was upsetting.”

Asked why three separate explanations were given for the retirement, Sumner wrote in an email, “Our first newsletter was simply an announcement, the second was the entire rationale behind the decision, as folks asked for more information. Throughout all of this, we were operating on the assumption that this was Pumpkin’s Man last year, by mutual agreement through the communications we have had over the years…We stand by our rationale related to safety, equity and education.”

While he maintains that his retirement was not his idea, Pumpkin Man does, however, sympathize with the school principals and the situation as a whole. “Now it’s a sorry state of affairs when we think that way,” he said, “but I do get that they have all kinds of pressures on them, and some horrible things have happened when you take the country as a whole, but Charlotte, Vermont?... I think it’s really just a sorry indicator of the times, that a tradition like this just can’t continue, but I get it,” he said.

Standing up on the hill in the woods, listening to the children chant for him, Pumpkin Man said, was a great pleasure and joy for him over the years. “It’s pretty amazing,” he said. “If you look closely at the faces of kids, you kind of go, okay,

that’s pretty good. Even the more cynical older kids, they have a good time…they’re in their own world, but they like it—the craziness of it and the tradition of it.”

Pumpkin Man started over 30 years ago, visiting preschools in and playdates in Charlotte, leaving candy and gifts and stopping by to shyly wave hello at children in the fall. “One year [after Halloween]… he was spotted walking down the railroad tracks with a bag over his shoulder, walking in the opposite direction, so I don’t think he stays here year-round,” Pumpkin Man said.

In recent years, he appeared with what he called “a girlfriend,” who presumably will be wandering down the train tracks with him in the future.

Roth and Sumner, who made the decision independently of the Champlain Valley School District and Superintendent Elaine Pinckney, said, “By and large, we have received a great deal of positive feedback and encouragement,” also noting in a separate email that they received about 10 communications in favor of the cancellation and two against. Pinckney said she supports the decision and believes that their rollout was “thoughtful.”

Though many on social media and in other online venues have expressed hope that Pumpkin Man will come back at another event, supported by another organization, he said he doesn’t think that will happen.

The principals, in an email, wrote, “We can tell that the community has a lot of passion around this topic. We encourage folks to partner with other community agencies that are already hosting Halloween events…as this can and should happen outside of the school day.”

Pumpkin Man said that, despite the fact that he won’t be at school or at a public event anymore, his wish is for the spirit of

An educational hike with the county forester

Self-described as "shy", Pumpkin Man greets students at CCS.

Pumpkin Man to live on. “It’s just a little magic, a little wonder,” he said, something that kids in these times don’t get much of for long. “So much gets explained away, in my feeling, a little too soon—it’s a pretty fun time: that innocence of childhood is something special for kids that they remember forever. And that’s it.”

As far as his final sendoff, like other years, he has no plan to do anything over the top.

“I just try to think of something to do that would be funny,” he said. “I don’t have any idea to do something dramatic, but we’ll be there.”

In an essay titled “Pumpkin Man” that was published many years ago in Puerto del Sol magazine, Charlotte author Denise Shekerjian relayed the only other interview Pumpkin Man ever gave, explaining his origin story. In her piece, she quotes him as saying, “There’s such an effort these

Photo by Chea Waters Evans

days in our society to squeeze out all the wonder, all the unknown of a thing, it makes me sad.”

She also relays this scene: “‘Kids, especially, are attuned to the quieter moments in life,’ Pumpkin Man continues. ‘And I believe that if a child is raised with the idea that the world is full of wonder, and that this isn’t just an idea but a real thing that can be observed if only you’re willing to open your eyes and see it, then that’s a child who will go on in life with an appreciation of how beautiful, mysterious, and wonderfilled our days can be.” He stops and we both mull this over for a while. He is the first to break the silence. ‘Geez... I mean, who knows where an idea like that will take them as they grow up?’”

Classifieds Reach your friends and neighbors for only $12 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.

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County Forester, Ethan Tapper, educating Charlotte Senior Center hikers on forest ecology in Williams Woods last week.

Photo by Mike Yantachka

EXPERIENCED TRAVEL COMPANIONS available to accompany seniors/adults for day trips, weekend jaunts, weddings or vacations or help to migrate south. Call today 802-355-3790 for a free consultation.

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SELECTBOARD continued from page 1 and do it.” The topic will appear again on the November 4 agenda.

Review of FY19 financial audit report Rick Brigham of Sullivan, Powers and Company, provided the Selectboard with a “clean” opinion on their audit of the town’s 2019 financials. The town ended the year with a general fund balance of $160,061. The $51,000 decrease in fund balance “was in line with what was planned,” Brigham said, noting that the shortfall in revenues was likely attributable to property taxes coming in a little lower than expected and delinquent receivables going up slightly.

Selectboard member Louise McCarren noted the audit did not include a review of internal controls. Brigham responded that, while it is not part of the purview of the audit, he recommended the board review the system currently put in place by the town treasurer.

FY21 budget requests The Selectboard heard another round of budget requests, this time from the Board of Listers, Planning and Zoning, the Trails Committee, the Charlotte Library and CVFRS. Head Lister Betsy Tegatz requested $61,005, a $6,016 decrease from the previous year. She also discussed the Board of Listers’ recommendation to eliminate the office and appoint an assessor. She cited issues with being able to staff the board as well as the general trend of similar towns moving towards the same model. “It is our opinion as the board this is a very practical way to move forward.” Krasnow acknowledged the recommendation and said it will be discussed at a future meeting.

Planning Commission chair Peter Joslin presented the zoning and planning budget request, a decrease to $129,447. He anticipates that an $8,700 increase in revenues to $57,640 will offset increases in two of the budget items, septic engineering and legal.

CVFRS requested an appropriation of $745,218, an increase of $84,154 from the previous year’s $661,064. Corporate Board President Tom Cosinuke explained that the board wants to convert three per-diem positions to part-time positions. “Every month we are struggling to fill shifts,” he said. “We think it would be more attractive to a subset of a declining pool of EMS staff.”

Business manager Patrice Machavern added that “the increase in wages is not solely attributable to the three permanent, part-time positions.” She said the increase also includes paid time off, paid holidays and a wage increase/market adjustment performed in the spring. Fire Chief Dick St. George spoke about ongoing hiring challenges and wage pressures, saying, “Finding people is going to be a dollar item.”

Having listened to a recent Hinesburg Selectboard meeting and receiving an RFP, Cosinuke discussed the potential to provide rescue services to Hinesburg “At least in the short term, they are seriously thinking about partnering with Richmond and Charlotte to provide EMS services to the town.” Krasnow asked to be kept up to date on the process.

Other business In other business, the Selectboard heard from resident Eli Lesser-Goldsmith during public comment. Lesser-Goldsmith read from a prepared statement outlining planning and zoning challenges he’d experienced over a two-year period as he renovated his property on Hills Point Road. “There is a culture of ‘no’ in a lot of Vermont communities, including this one,” he said. “Nimbyism is a dangerous mentality…. Nimbyism is hypocrisy at its core, because the people opposing projects live in houses that at one time in history were not there.”

The board approved the request for proposal for net-metering agreements for solar panels on the library roof. Energy Committee members John Quinney and Deirdre Holmes presented the RFP to the board along with an estimate of savings of $2,100 in the first year. Quinney explained the change to the RFP included an additional net-metering agreement for town buildings and facilities, including the Town Hall, the Senior Center, CVFRS and the Thompson’s Point wastewater building. “The reason to add in extra solar is to make it more attractive to more developers,” he said. He noted while there wasn’t sufficient time for the CVFRS board to make a determination, the conversation would continue.

The board approved a request from Heather Stewart, operational manager for Lake Champlain Ferries to place two directional signs, one at the corner of Ferry Road near the ferry entrance and one at the intersection of Cedar Beach Road and Converse Bay Road.

The board also heard from Charlie Baker who gave the annual report from Chittenden County Regional Planning Office, approved a finance and maintenance agreement with the state for reconstruction of the railroad crossing at Thompson’s Point Road, approved HVAC contracts for the Town Hall and Senior Center and selected a printer for the town report.

The board objected to the reduction of the decommissioning fund balance requested by Charlotte Solar LLC for the solar field on Hinesburg Road. McCarren said, “These guys have not lived up to their obligations.” The board also did not sign the final acceptance letter on the Route 7 reconstruction project. Tegatz said he attended the final inspection and objected to the design of the left turn lane on State Park Road. “I made the objection and the state did nothing,” he said.

Finally, in Selectboard updates, Tegatz said he received the West Village wastewater ordinances from the town attorney.

Krasnow proposed a joint review of the feedback during the Nov. 4 meeting.

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

Lesser-Goldsmith did not stay for the board’s discussion, which included a recommendation from Selectboard member Fritz Tegatz to come up with a planning and zoning checklist. The idea was supported by the board and by Planning Commissioner Chairman Peter Joslin, who was present. Vice Chair Frank Tenney acknowledged that changes in town staff and inadequate transfer of knowledge may have caused some of the delays, adding, “What people don’t realize is the zoning board for the most part doesn’t write bylaws, we just follow

them.”

presorted standard

The Trails Committee re-presented their budget request to the board. They are requesting to keep its operating budget at $1,500 and to add $62,240 to the reserve fund each year over five years, for a total of $313,200. “If you want to attract younger families into this community, you need to have opportunities for them to recreate, and transportation other than the street for people to get through

town,” Thompson said. “This is a real asset for our community,” she added. “I think for many people in this town, the sooner, the better.”