Williston Observer 09/14/2023

Welcome to ‘The Wildcat Way’

Williston Central sets new expectations for school community

BY JASON STARR Observer staff

Williston Central School was in need of a reset for the new school year — a cultural reframing to put the pandemic in the past and set new expectations for the coming years.

A committee of educators brainstormed through the summer ways to replace the grade 3-8 school’s longtime mantra — Be SMART (Safe, Mindful, Accepting, Respectful and Truthful) — with something new. The result is “The Wildcat Way.”

During these early days of the new school year, The Wildcat Way is being introduced in classrooms, with teachers and students discussing how they will follow its three tenets: “take care of yourself; take care of others; take care of this place.”

“All of our expectations flow from

those three things,” said Principal Jackie Parks.

Both the old and new mantras are based on a student behavior management framework used in public schools throughout Vermont called “positive behavior interventions and supports” (PBIS). Park said the framework took a backseat during the Covid years as the school community navigated remote learning and social distancing. When students returned to regular schooling last year, there was a notable difference.

“We very quickly, and this is nationally, found there was a lot of changes in students,” Parks said. “They had lost up to two years of how to interact socially, how to be together in groups, how to negotiate conflict, because we were all at home and so isolated.

“We really have found that students are presenting very differently in terms of their needs and where we need to start with them.”

Planners forward ‘inclusionary zoning’

New regs would require affordable housing

BY JASON STARR Observer staff

The Williston Planning Commission proposes a transition from incentives to requirements as a way to make more homes more affordable to more people.

Last week, the selectboard scheduled a public hearing on the commission’s “inclusionary zoning” amendments to the town’s

Charity Sale

Saturday, October 21st

land use regulations. The hearing is set for Oct. 17 at 7:30 p.m. at Town Hall. The commission will host an informational session on the proposal Oct. 12 at 6 p.m. at Town Hall. Both meetings will have options to participate online.

The proposal would require housing developers to cap the cost of a percentage of homes in a new neighborhood as perpetually affordable for people with incomes at or below the Burlington area’s median income. Following national standards of affordability laid out by the U.S. Depart-

ment of Housing and Urban Development, “affordable” means that a household pays no more than 30 percent of its income on housing costs, including mortgage, property taxes, homeowners association fees and insurance. For renters, costs include rent and utilities (heat, hot water, trash removal and electricity).

The current median income in the Burlington area for a family of four is $113,000, according to Williston Planning and Zoning Director Matt Boulanger. The price of a home that is affordable at that income is

$361,000, he said.

WILDCATS page 7

Under the planning commission’s proposal, a housing developer would be required to keep 15 percent of the homes in a new neighborhood priced at or below that amount — or keep 10 percent of the homes affordable for households with an income that is 80 percent of the area’s median income.

If they follow this requirement, the project would be exempt from the caps on new home construction that are part of the town’s see ZONE page 5

A committee of Allen Brook and Williston Central educators that meets

The Ashley children (l tor), Hannah (3), Rowan (9) and Spencer (7), enjoy themselves at the ice cream social organized by the Williston Families as Partners (FAP) on Monday evening at Williston Central School. For more photos of the event see page 24.

PROPERTY TRANSFERS - AUGUST 2023

• Kyle Lamprecht bought a home on Oak Hill Road from Kenneth Janson for $500,000.

• Mildred Palmer bought a mobile home on Stonehill Road from James Ryan for $255,000.

• Alexandra Carney-Knisely bought a condominium on Bittersweet Circle from Steven Morton for $500,000.

• Anthony DiPirro bought a condominium on Abbey Road from Kyle Perrapato for $422,665.

• James McDonald bought a condominium on Eastview Circle from Rita Rivers for $367,173.

• Thomas McDonald bought a home on Paddock Lane from Julia Westbrook for $592,000.

• Grahame Payton bought a home on Hickory Hill Road from Diane Troup for $360,000.

• Jared Cayia bought a condominium on Northview Court from Jordan Cavallaro for $355,000.

• Christmas Lane Cabin LLC bought a home on 3 acres on Christmas Lane from Dorothea

Brauer for $567,000.

• The Thu H. Chau Trust bought a home on Day Lane from Lisa LaBounty for $430,000.

• The LeBlanc Boissvert Family Trust bought a home on Katie Lane from Joseph Gay for $764,900.

• Timothy Quinlan bought a home on 2 acres on Old Stage Road from Gerald Quinlan for $325,000.

• Zachary Manganello bought a condominium on Hideaway Lane from the James A. Brown Estate for $366,900.

• Kyle Fortune-Doherty bought a home on Essex Road from Wish Rehab LLC for $649,000.

• Ryan Hayes bought a home on Lefebvre Lane from Nicole Voth for $540,000.

Around Town

Library hosts Voter Registration Day

The Dorothy Alling Memorial Library will hold a Voter Registration Day on Tuesday, Sept. 19 from 3-6 p.m. Williston residents can register to vote at the event, or check if they are already registered.

September: ‘Library Card Sign-Up Month’

Williston and St. George residents can get their own card at the Dorothy Alling Memorial Library once they are at least kindergarten age. From borrowing books, ebooks, and museum passes to getting homework help, learning new skills, or attending story time, a library card helps you do more.

Get a library card and dive into a new hobby. Use your library card to tinker with a STEM kit and to spark your creativity. Stop by the library or apply for a card online at https:// damlvt.org/index.php/services/library-cards.

A sign of the season

Scott Adams of Adams Farm Market prepares a batch of pumpkins Tuesday for the upcoming autumn season.

PHOTO COURTESY OF MARIANNE APFELBAUM

Around Town

continued from page 2

Williston Federated Church hosts series on refugees

The public is invited to a three-part educational series on refugees beginning next week. All sessions will be held in the Fellowship Hall of Williston Federated Church at 44 North Williston Rd. (enter from the church parking lot).

• Tuesday, Sept 19, 6:30 p.m.: Professor Pablo Bose from the University of Vermont, whose research centers on matters regarding refugees in Vermont and elsewhere, will present an overview of the refugee situation worldwide, share some of his research, and respond to audience questions.

• Tuesday, Sept. 26, 6:30 p.m.: A panel of newcomers to Vermont from Afghanistan will share their experiences, and those of others, adjusting to a new country and culture. Informal conversation with attendees over green tea (a traditional Afghan drink) and sweets will follow.

• Tuesday, Oct. 3, 6:30 p.m.: “Where do we go from here?” Lisa Braden-Harder, a Williston resident, will speak about her volunteer work with refugees, and Church Pastor Paul Eyer will lead a discussion of how organizations and individuals can support newcomers to Vermont who seek refuge here.

Email brucecarol@gmail.com for further information about the series.

Bikes and sewing machines sought for developing countries

The Green Mountain Returned Peace Corps Volunteers are holding its 25th annual bike and sewing machine collection — “Pedals for Progress.” Bring your bike or sewing machine, plus $20 to help with shipping costs, on Saturday, Sept. 23 from 8:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. to the Burton Snowboard offices on Queen City Park Road in Burlington. For questions, to volunteer, or to donate, email P4Pvermont@gmail.com, go to @P4PVermont on Facebook or call Paul at 802-793-0888.

‘Lake Wise’ assessments available on Iroquois

Winooski Natural Resources Conservation District Manager Casey Spencer and Conservation Specialist Adelaide Dumm have been conducting Lake Wise assessments on properties along the shores of Lake Iroquois this spring and summer.

The Lake Wise Program is a Department of Environmental Conservation initiative that awards lake-friendly shoreland property, including that of town beaches, private homes and businesses.

A property that earns a Lake Wise Award represents a model shoreland property, certifying it as well managed, using shoreland Best Management Practices and maintained to care for the lake. Get a free Lake Wise property assessment by signing up at https://dec.vermont.gov/watershed/lakes-ponds/lakeshores-lake-wise.

see AROUND TOWN page 4

Author Adams celebrates book release

Amanda Adams is planning a book-signing to celebrate the release of her book

“Cider the Corgi.”

The event will take place from 12-3 p.m. Sept. 23 at Adams Farm Market.

Scouts ‘can’ do it Williston Scouts Troop 692 collected over $1,000 plus two truckloads of food for the Williston Community Food Shelf during its recent bottle and can drive.

Amanda Adams (left) poses with the ‘real’ Cider. Adams both wrote and illustrated this new book. CONTRIBUTED PHOTOS

Around Town

continued from page 3

Middle school mentors needed

CY Mentors at Williston Central School seeks caring adults to spend a regularly scheduled hour with a middle school student each week school is in session.

Mentors and students participate in activities together on school grounds, including games, arts and crafts, sports, cooking and conversation.

For adults who enjoy spending time with children and giving back to the community, this is a great volunteering opportunity.

Mentors bring a sense of shared fun, new experiences, listening skills, encouragement and

options for expanding a young person’s regard for themselves and their world.

Contact Becky Martell at rmartell@cvsdvt.org or (802) 8716046 for more information.

Local author to speak at book fest

Williston author Felicia Kornbluh (“A Woman’s Life Is a Human Life: My Mother, Our Neighbor, and the Journey from Reproductive Rights to Reproductive Justice”) will participate on a panel during the Green Mountain Book Fes -

tival in Burlington on Sept. 30. The panel will discuss “The American Dream Today.” The event starts at 10 a.m. at Fletcher Free Library. Kornbluh will read from her book afterwards.

Cartoonist and graphic memoirist Alison Bechdel will headline the two-day festival.

“At a time when difficult histories and the rights of women, gay, trans, and nonwhite people are under assault across the country, I’m delighted to share my history of reproductive rights and justice at the Green Mountain Book Festival,” Kornbluh said. “Nothing could be more important at this moment than to celebrate books and ideas.”

Learn more at https://www. greenmountainbookfestival. org/.

Horsing around as the school year begins

In conjunction with the Flynn Center, Champlain Valley Union High School hosted “Playing Fields” — a multi-disciplinary arts event that welcomed the new school year. The free, second-year event was held last Thursday evening.

medications, cortisone injections and even surgery haven't worked for you then Regenexx procedures might be the right option. *https://regenexx.com/results/

Triple Board certified and a national & international teacher and innovator in Interventional Orthopedic Medicine, Dr. Fenton has been treating patients in Vermont for 30 years.

PHOTO COURTESY OF VICKI FRASER

Felicia Kornbluh

A mixed report card for Vermont schools

BY PETER D’AURIA VTDigger

State educational data from 2022 showed mixed results for Vermont schools, with few gains in standardized test scores but improvements in discipline and educational opportunities.

Troublingly, however, the data also showed a widening performance gap between historically marginalized students and their classmates.

Those findings come from the state Agency of Education’s “Annual Snapshot,” a visualization of test scores and other quantitative data. The agency released the latest snapshot Friday.

Vermont students’ standardized test scores showed little improvement in 2022, following a dip between 2019 and 2021. The new test score data shows that Vermont students’ academic proficiency has improved little, if at all, since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic.

By and large, student test scores for most subjects and grade levels stayed steady or fell, although scores did improve in some subjects.

The data comes as schools and students continue to grapple with fallout from the pandemic.

Administering the 2022 standardized test was “smoother” than the prior year, the education agency said in a press release Friday, but was still fraught with difficulties related to the pandemic. Staffing shortages at some schools made it difficult to administer the tests, and teachers “were also faced

Zone

continued from page 1

with the need to balance academic assessment with students’ social emotional well-being,” according to the press release.

Because of those issues — and because the tests were not administered in 2020 — the scores are difficult to interpret, according to Lindsey Hedges, a spokesperson for the agency.

“However, we can see that the effects of learning loss due to COVID-19 are still … present in the 2022 data,” Hedges said in an email.

Vermont students are tested in English and math every year from grade three to nine. The English tests include sections in reading, writing, listening, speaking and “research/inquiry,” according to the press release. The math test includes questions on problem solving, data analysis, mathematical concepts and procedures and other topics.

Students also take science tests in grades five, eight and 11.

In all three subjects, Vermont students were classified as “approaching” proficiency, according to the snapshot.

In science and English, students’ test scores declined between 2019 and 2022, the data showed. In math, however, 2022 test scores indicated improvement over 2019 scores.

Overall, the snapshot characterized Vermont’s academic performance as “not improving.”

In other areas, the snapshot provided something of a mixed report card for Vermont schools, such as the graduation rate (meeting the standard, but decreasing)

and “college and career readiness” (approaching standards).

The state’s schools were exceeding standards — and improving — when it came to how well students could personalize their educational experiences.

That metric ranks the extent to which Vermont students are given “authentic engagement and opportunities to shape their own learning,” and includes data from the state’s flexible pathways programs: early college, dual enrollment and work-based learning.

Similarly, the state was doing well in providing “safe, healthy schools,” according to data showing discipline-related suspensions. Vermont schools were also meeting standards for staffing and student-staff ratios. Scores in those areas, however, had declined between 2019 and 2022.

Most concerning, perhaps, was the state’s “equity index.” That metric tracks the difference in performance between historically marginalized students and their counterparts in academics, enrollment in flexible pathways programs and disciplinary actions.

In all three areas, the state’s equity index showed decreasing scores compared to previous years.

“The drop in the equity indices suggests that the effects of COVID-19 were not felt equally by all students and schools, but that instead, students in historically marginalized groups suffered disproportionately,” Hedges, the agency spokesperson, said in an email.

Growth Management regulations. If they don’t, the developer would be charged a fee of up to $8,500 per new market rate home to be deposited into the town’s Housing Trust Fund. The fund is set up to leverage state and federal grants to build low-income housing.

Homes that are built as affordable would need to remain so during resale. Similar provisions are proposed for affordable rental units.

“No rent increases may take effect (without) the approval of the town,” the proposed amendment states.

The proposal also requires affordable homes to be integrated into the new development, rather than segregated to one area, and similar in appearance to market rate homes. Affordable units also must be built on a schedule that mirrors the construction schedule of the neighborhood as a whole, rather than built after all the market rate units are finished.

Planning commission member Chapin Kaynor said the town’s growth management regulations have had the intended effect of slowing the pace of housing development so as not to overwhelm municipal services and public school capacity, but it has had another effect of increasing home prices by limiting housing supply. Incentives for developers to create affordable housing voluntarily through the Growth Management process have not been used, he said.

Before the selectboard scheduled the public hearing, board

member Jeanne Jensen suggested that the requirement of 10 percent affordable homes for a new development is not sufficient to allow a developer to bypass Growth Management.

“It’s going to be a hard sell to the community when we say we are letting a 100-unit housing development skip Growth Management and come in potentially faster than the town or schools can absorb it for 10 houses for someone who makes over $100,000 a year. That (percentage) seems low,” Jensen said.

Planning commission co-chair Shayla Livingston said the percentage strikes a balance between requiring affordable homes and not deterring new development altogether.

“The concern is if we rachet that percentage up too high, developers will choose not to come in and build anything,” she said. “We don’t want to do that.”

Planning commission co-chair Jill Pardini hopes that allowing more projects to bypass Growth Management will attract new housing developers to town, rather than familiar companies like Snyder Homes and Allen Brook Development that have the resources to navigate multi-year Growth Management applications.

The amendment proposal also includes provisions for smaller developments. It would exempt from Growth Management construction of up to four homes on a single parcel as well as the adaption of an existing building into housing. Those projects would still be subject to Development Review Board approval.

Let’s reopen the health care debate

BY JOHN M c CLAUGHRY

On Aug. 11, VTDigger’s health care reporter Kristen Fountain reported, “Nearly all of Vermont’s hospitals are seeking double-digit percentage increases in income from patient services for 2024 over 2022, setting the stage for a likely battle with health care regulators.”

At about the same time, the Green Mountain Care Board, the state’s regulatory agency, issued a decision reducing Blue Cross Blue Shield of Vermont’s individual premium rate increase request from 18 percent to 14 percent and its small group plan request from 17.5 percent to 13.3 percent.

These requests for increases are quite significant, well above the effects of overall price inflation, and without any significant increase in patient populations.

How a government regulatory board sets allowable prices

is a mysterious process. I daresay 95 percent of our legislators have very little idea how the Green Mountain Care Board goes about its business. To arrive at a government-allowed increase for insurance rates, for example, the board is required to “determine whether (the rates) are affordable; promote quality care; promote access to health care; protect insurer solvency; are not unjust, unfair, inequitable, misleading, or contrary to the laws of this State; and are not excessive, inadequate or unfairly discriminatory.” This charge does not admit to an objective determination.

Not surprisingly, the hospitals and insurance companies petitioning the board present a long list of explanations about why extraneous circumstances absolutely require their requested rate increases. They hope that they’ll still be able to charge enough to get by when the board, created in the name

of “cost containment,” changes 18 percent to 14 percent.

Hamilton Davis, a longtime advocate of health care reform, has written: “It was always true that the more important aspect of reform has been cost containment in the delivery system. Failure to rein in (Vermont’s Medicaid) inflation rate would destroy any reform effort, single payer or anything else. The bedrock question, therefore, is how to contain costs, and not just damp them down for a year or two or three, but set them on a permanent track at a level no higher than the ability of society to pay the bill.”

Let’s take a quick trip through 30 years of “health care reform.” In 1994, Gov. Howard Dean, aspiring to be “America’s young doctor-governor,” offered a German-inspired “regulated multiplayer” health insurance plan. Single-payer advocates pressed to put the government in control of all financing. Both

proposals crashed and burned.

In 1995, Dean recognized that a system reform was out of the question, and said he would work to expand Medicaid to ever-higher-income families. He did, and costs soared.

In 2011, new Democratic Gov. Peter Shumlin purchased the Hsaio Report as the infallible road map to single payer. However, the Legislature wouldn’t buy all the provisions that Dr. Hsaio insisted were essential. When the revised proposal was costed out — three years later — Shumlin sadly pulled the plug.

But the idea of government-controlled health care financing lives on. In 2016, Shumlin bought into the “all payer” model, built around a monopoly accountable care organization, now known as One Care Vermont. But it didn’t reach full monopoly status, and soon became the obvious captive of the aggressively expan -

sive UVM Health Network. Its operating principle is coerced cooperation leading to “integration,” aka consolidation.

At the center of this narrative is the determination of “health care reformers” of all stripes to increase government control of health care resources, in an effort to meet all the requirements laid upon it by legislators. Within that regulatory system, all the actors — providers, insurers, politicians and government bureaucrats — will press every argument available to protect their current and future interests.

There is a wholly different and viable model for quality health care and cost containment, based on market competition and consumer choice. But promoting it in Vermont would disruptively alter the investments in and prospects for what we have today, to the disadvantage of all of today’s stakeholders.

The best known model is see McCLAUGHRY page 7

Williston’s Community Newspaper Since 1985

www.willistonobserver.com P.O. Box 1401, Williston, VT 05495 | 802-489-5499

ADVERTISING

Rick Cote, Associate Publisher rick@willistonobserver.com

802-373-2136

EDITOR

Jason Starr editor@willistonobserver.com

PRODUCTION & DESIGN

Jan Kenney jan@willistonobserver.com

PUBLISHER

Susan T. Cote susan@willistonobserver.com

BILLING INQUIRIES

Michael McCaffrey office@willistonobserver.com

ADVERTISING SPACE DEADLINE

Friday at 5 p.m. for the next Thursday issue rick@willistonobserver.com, 802-373-2136

CLASSIFIED ADS

Deadline is Friday 5 p.m. There is a fee for business, real estate, help wanted and legal ads. Free classifieds must be 25 words or fewer and are printed on a space available basis.

SUBMISSIONS & LETTERS

Deadline is Monday noon for Thursday issue. News/ story tips are welcomed. Letters to the Editor must be 300 words or fewer and should include your name, address and a daytime phone number so that we can verify the letter’s author.

The Williston Observer reserves the right to edit or refuse submissions or advertising. Opinions expressed in the paper are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect the opinion of the paper.

A publication of Twin Ponds Publishing LLC

MEMBER:

Burlington Area Newspaper Group

Community Food Shelf is seeing a large and increasing number of clients (over 300 families per month!). WE

The

Wildcats

continued from page 1

as Williston schools’ “program council” last year identified behavior management as an area that was ripe for a refresh. They wrote a new belief statement for the schools last spring, which led to the summer creation of The Wildcat Way.

“In the Williston Schools,” the belief statement reads, “we believe that behavior is a form of communication; and is a function of a person’s view of themselves, others, and the world. All members of our system thrive when they are able to form positive relationships at

school.”

By way of positive reinforcement of The Wildcat Way, students will be collecting “paws” and specially designed raffle tickets in their classrooms that recognize positive behaviors, then the classes will combine their collections to earn schoolwide celebrations. It’s a similar template used during the Be SMART era, but with different tangible rewards.

“It’s a way to make it fun and give it some excitement — fun, short, little things where people come together and say ‘hey, we did this,’” Parks said.

The school also implemented changes in its response to disruptive behaviors.

Administrators plan to contact families sooner when minor classroom disruptions become a pattern over the course of a month. The school also has expanded the capabilities of its Delta Program, where students are referred if they are being disruptive.

“We built a more robust set of services to help students if and when behavior does happen and it becomes not just a one-off thing but becomes a more regular situation,” said Parks.

Major disruptions like bullying, making threats, vandalism or physical aggression will continue to result in a referral to the school’s planning room — as in year’s past — and communication with the student’s family.

McClaughry

continued from page 6

Singapore’s, and its components are Medisave, Medishield and Medifund. Dr. Phua Kai Hong of the National University of Singapore listed as crucial components “the creation of incentives for responsible behavior and the efficient delivery of services; the discouragement of overconsumption through cost sharing; the regulation of hospital beds, doctors, and the use of high cost medical technology; the promotion of personal responsibility; targeted government subsidies; and the injection of competition through a mix of public and pri -

vate-sector providers.”

This is drastically different from 40 years of Vermont’s muddled command-and-control efforts. Singapore’s is not a wholly free-market solution, but it has worked for over 60 years. Granted, there are many important differences between Singapore and Vermont, but it’s long overdue for Vermont to look beyond the many “stakeholders” jealously guarding their interests, and start looking at tested — and affordable — real-world alternatives.

John McClaughry of Kirby has authored several health care reports for the Ethan Allen Institute.

Growing out-of-state enrollment prompts questions at

BY PETER D’AURIA VTDigger

Erik Arnold, a sophomore from Minneapolis, came to the University of Vermont because, among other reasons, he wanted to get out of the Midwest.

Aurelia Bolton, of the San Francisco Bay Area, visited the northeast as a child and attended summer camp in Vermont. The sophomore chose UVM in part because the area has always felt “like a little home,” she said.

Jillian Griffith, a West Virginia sophomore, came for the multiple engineering offerings and because the campus “had the best feel,” she said.

Arnold, Bolton and Griffith were among dozens of recently returned students lounging on the university’s Redstone Campus on a sunny Monday afternoon. Along with thousands of others, the three are part of a sizable majority on UVM’s campus: out-ofstate students.

The University of Vermont, the state’s flagship, land-grant public university, has come to fill an unusual role. It educates relatively few students who actually hail from Vermont. Instead, the institution caters in large part to students from elsewhere.

Over the past two decades, the number of undergraduate Vermonters at UVM has

decreased by about 300. Meanwhile, the university’s student body has added roughly 3,800 out-of-state students.

As of the spring of 2023, less than a quarter of the university’s roughly 10,700 undergraduates were Vermonters, the lowest of any spring semester for at least 26 years, according to university data.

What’s more, according to 2021 residency data from the U.S. Department of Education, UVM had one of the lowest percentages of new in-state students of any large public university across the country. Only two institutions — both online-only — had lower in-state percentages than UVM.

In a recent press release celebrating the arrival of the class of 2027, UVM noted that new first-years come from 45 states and 23 countries, and half are from outside New England.

That, administrators said, is “an indication of the university’s broadening national and international recognition and appeal.”

But as the university has added outof-state students, the growth of its undergraduate student body has rankled officials and residents in Burlington, which is in the throes of a serious housing shortage.

And the figures raise thorny questions about the identity and function of Vermont’s largest public university. When fewer than a quarter of its undergrads actually hail from

its home state, what is UVM’s mission in Vermont — and is it fulfilling it?

“I don’t think there’s firm agreement on what the function of (UVM) is or should be for the state,” said Kevin Chu, executive director of the Vermont Futures Project, a nonprofit think tank that works to promote economic growth in the state.

BY THE NUMBERS

UVM was founded in 1791 as a private university, but it acquired “quasi-public” status in 1865, after it merged with the newly created State Agricultural College, according to the university’s website.

That merger allowed UVM to take advantage of a new federal law: the 1862 Morrill Act, sponsored by U.S. Rep. Justin Morrill of Strafford, which led to the creation of America’s land grant universities. The Morrill Act distributed millions of acres of federal land to states to fund institutions of higher learning — often appropriating indigenous land, a 2020 High Country News investigation found.

In many cases, including in Vermont, the land granted was not actually used to build a university. Vermont was given about 150,000 acres in western and midwestern states, according to High Country News. It was then sold for roughly $130,000, “nearly doubling the assets of the university,” UVM’s website says.

The university, Vermont’s second-largest employer, educates roughly 10,700 undergraduates, 1,600 graduate students and 500 medical students, according to university data from the spring semester.

In the late 1990s and early 2000s, the percentage of undergraduates from Vermont hovered around 40 percent, university data shows. But that percentage has dwindled over time, and by the 2022-2023 school

Ira Allen Chapel on University Row on the University of Vermont campus in Burlington in 2019.

PHOTO BY GLENN RUSSELL/VTDIGGER see UVM page 9

UVM

had 18 percent in-state first-years in 2021, compared with a national average of 81 percent.

year, only about 23 percent of the university’s undergraduates were Vermonters.

UVM reported 8,200 out-ofstate undergraduates in spring 2023, compared to roughly 2,500 in-state undergraduates. The number of out-of-state undergrads has risen 98 percent since the year 2000, while in-state enrollment decreased slightly, by 12 percent.

The increase of out-of-state students at public flagships is a national trend, experts say. But even so, UVM is an outlier. VTDigger compared federal data showing first-time students — undergraduates entering college for the first time — at large public universities throughout the country.

The most recent data available, from the fall of 2021, shows that only 18 percent of UVM’s new undergraduates that year hailed from Vermont — lower than nearly every other university on the list.

UVM ranked third in the country for the lowest percent of in-state first-year undergraduates out of large public universities. It

The only two institutions with lower in-state percentages were online-only programs: Purdue University Global, which describes itself as an “online university for working adults,” and

Arizona State University Online.

This fall, university officials say that about 18 percent of the incoming class is expected to be from Vermont. That figure is, in fact, an increase from last fall, when 16 percent of first-year students were Vermonters.

‘TRY OUR DAMNED HARDEST’

So why don’t more Vermonters attend UVM? The answer is familiar to higher education ad-

ministrators across Vermont: The state simply does not have enough students.

Over the past decade, the number of students graduating from Vermont high schools has dwin-

dled. In 2012, Vermont produced about 6,900 high school graduates, according to state Agency of Education data. In 2022, it produced only about 5,000.

Meanwhile, usually only about

60 percent of Vermont high school graduates go on to college, according to the Vermont Student Assistance Corporation — a lower percentage than other states,

continued from page 8 see UVM page 10

University Row on the University of Vermont campus in Burlington in June 2019. Over the past two decades, the number of undergraduate Vermonters at UVM has decreased by about 300.

PHOTO BY GLENN RUSSELL/VTDIGGER:

“I don’t think there’s firm agreement on what the function of (UVM) is or should be for the state.”

Kevin Chu

Vermont Futures Project

UVM

experts say.

ministrators have also frozen tuition, both in-state ($16,280) and out-of-state ($41,280) for the past five years, and room and board fees ($13,354) have been frozen for the past four years.

GROWING PAINS

As UVM has added out-of-state students — roughly 3,800 in the past 20 years — it has touched a nerve in Burlington.

The growth of the undergraduate student body has even ruffled feathers on the board of trustees.

Some Vermont high school grads may not want to attend UVM for financial reasons. Rural students may feel uncomfortable in the relatively large city of Burlington. And other Vermonters simply want to leave the state.

“American culture is mobile, and we often think about climbing the success ladder in terms of physically moving from one location to another,” said Cheryl Morse, a professor in UVM’s Department of Geography and Geosciences. “And so individual young people, young Vermonters, may get this narrative that to be ambitious and to achieve their full potential they need to move.”

University administrators have rolled out a slate of initiatives to attract more Vermont high school graduates. Since 2016, Vermont students who are eligible for federal income-based Pell grants have paid no tuition or fees. Starting this fall, Vermont students whose household income is $60,000 or less can attend fully tuition-free and have fees waived. Some scholarships are also available only to Vermonters.

The university accepts about 70 percent of Vermont applicants and about 60 percent of out-of-state applicants. Ad -

In all, nearly half of Vermont students attend UVM tuition-free, according to Jay Jacobs, UVM’s vice provost for enrollment management — “not a cheap way to run a business.”

Admissions officers “are continuing to try our damned hardest to recruit Vermonters, in all corners of the state, in all 14 counties,” Jacobs said.

In fact, compared to the declines in the number of high school graduates, the number of undergraduate Vermonters attending UVM has decreased relatively little — reflecting, perhaps, the effort UVM has put in to attract them.

Still, there are only so many Vermont high school grads who want to come to UVM. What’s more, Vermont’s government appropriates relatively little money to public higher education. So UVM has increasingly looked beyond Vermont’s borders.

“If we relied just on Vermont students, we would be a fraction of our size, we’d have a fraction of our talent base, and you can think through what that might look and feel like at the flagship university,” said Ron Lumbra, the chair of the university’s board of trustees.

City officials, lawmakers, residents and even some students are concerned that UVM’s undergraduates, most of whom live off-campus in their junior and senior years, are taking up an increasingly large proportion of the city’s precious housing stock.

And many expressed frustration that the university didn’t engage in more discussions with residents before bringing hundreds of additional students into the city’s housing market.

City Councilor Zoraya Hightower, P-Ward 1, said she would like to see the university take responsibility for housing more of its students, work more closely with the city in combating exploitative landlords and reach a long-term agreement with the city over enrollment.

“Housing is one of the issues where it feels like staff and faculty are on the same page, students are on the same page, the city’s on the same page, neighbors are on the same page,” said Hightower, whose ward includes part of UVM’s campus. “And UVM leadership just doesn’t seem to want to get on that page.”

Rep. Troy Headrick, P/D-Burlington, and an assistant director at UVM’s Center for Student Conduct, introduced a bill in February that would prevent the university from increasing its enrollment until the city’s rental vacancy rate reached 5 percent.

The proposed legislation would also guarantee at least 93 square feet of living space per student for on-campus housing, in response to concerns that many students were being housed in “triples,” with three undergrads per dorm room. The bill has not passed out of the House Committee on Education.

“I’m concerned that enrollment continues to go up, students continue to be forced into what I consider to be unhealthy living arrangements on campus, and we proportionately serve fewer and fewer Vermonters,” said Headrick, whose district also includes parts of UVM. “That, to me, is alarming.”

“I don’t think the enrollment grew with any participatory process with the board, the university community, the region and the state,” said Frank Cioffi, a member of the UVM’s board of trustees and executive committee.

“You can’t add 200-some-odd students a year,” he added. “There’s no place to put them, right? There are no apartments in Burlington. There’s not enough dorm rooms.”

TOWN AND GOWN

Between 2009 and 2019, UVM and the City of Burlington had a signed memorandum of understanding over housing, one in which the university agreed to provide housing for each new undergraduate student.

UVM has since declined to sign a new agreement with the city. Meanwhile, Burlington has withheld permission for UVM to build more housing on the northern end of campus, on what is known as the Trinity campus, over concerns that undergraduate enrollment would then increase further.

UVM administrators have said repeatedly that they do not intend to further increase the size of the undergraduate student body. (The university said it has no plans to stop adding grad students, who made up about 16 percent of the total student body this spring.)

Those pronouncements, however, can seem at odds with the past years’ trends. Between the fall of 2019 and the fall of 2022 alone, the university added over 600 undergraduate students.

Asked if the growth in enrollment since 2019 was due to the end of the memorandum of understanding, Lumbra answered bluntly: “No. Period. Full stop.”

“I’m not telling you it hasn’t grown. The data is the data. I am 100 percent data-driven,” he said. “I can tell you unequivocally it is not our intended strategy to grow our undergrad population. It is to maintain a stable, consistent size of the university. That is

continued from page 9 see UVM page 11

UVM

continued from page 10

our strategy at present.”

So why won’t UVM sign an agreement with the city codifying that commitment? Lumbra declined to answer, saying that it was up to university administrators to negotiate.

Adam White, a spokesperson for the university, said in an email only that “UVM’s commitments to not grow its undergraduate enrollment and to provide additional housing for students have not changed.”

The university recently announced plans to build a 540-bed housing complex for undergraduates on land that is currently a DoubleTree hotel parking lot in South Burlington. Under a separate agreement, some UVM graduate students will also be housed in dorms on Saint Michael’s College.

According to its website, UVM houses “more than 6,000 students.” As of the spring of 2023, its total student body was 13,350, including graduate and medical students.

Through a spokesperson, Burlington Mayor Miro Weinberger declined a request for an interview. In an email, Weinberger said he was “hopeful” that the city and UVM could agree on a new memorandum of understanding soon.

“My goal is to come to an agreement with UVM that allows the University to build a lot of new housing that meets their goals and reduces the terrible pressure on the city’s housing market,” Weinberger said.

‘WHAT ARE THE NEEDS?’

Lost in the discussion, said Chu, of the Vermont Futures Project, is a deeper inquiry into what UVM does, and should do, for the state.

“The needs of a state change very much throughout history,” Chu said. “It’s this ever-evolving relationship. So it’s almost imperative for Vermont to define, what are the needs? And then for UVM to evolve to meet those needs.”

Answering those questions, Chu said, could help officials determine the institution’s path forward: How much should it grow? How much should the state spend on it? And, crucially, how should officials judge whether it has succeeded or failed?

Tom Sullivan, a professor of political science and UVM’s president from 2012 to 2019, said the question of in-state vs. outof-state students “is an important question.”

“We are a state’s public institution,” Sullivan said. “So there are responsibilities, clearly, that UVM has to the state of Vermont. We would like to have, and should try to do everything we can do, to recruit, retain and graduate more Vermont residents, period.”

But, he said, “unintended consequences and demographics hurt that goal.”

As the number of Vermont high school graduates dwindles, the university is one of the few entities that can draw young people into the state in significant numbers — roughly a third of whom, administrators

say, stay after graduating.

“There is no other institution or entity in Vermont that is like us in terms of attracting a workforce to the state,” UVM president Suresh Garimella told lawmakers on the House Education Committee this winter.

The questions go to the core of UVM’s identity and policies. How much effort and money should UVM spend to chase a dwindling number of Vermont high school graduates? And how much should it lean into its function as a magnet for out-of-state

students — a way, as it were, to create new Vermonters?

University officials, meanwhile, say the institution is already serving both Vermonters and out-of-staters — goals that, they argued, are not in conflict with one another.

“Vermont should have a gigantic welcome sign for parents, families, students that are coming to the University of Vermont when they cross the border,” said Lumbra, the chair of the board of trustees. “‘Thank you for being here. And welcome.’”

The Waterman building on the University of Vermont campus in Burlington in 2019. As of the spring of 2023, less than a quarter of the university’s roughly 10,700 undergraduates were Vermonters.

PHOTO BY GLENN RUSSELL/VTDIGGER

Redhawks stung by Hornets

Don’t sweat it

Hey Woodski!

Could my diet be affecting how much I sweat? Cause it is so much more than everyone else!

Sweat T. Athlete, age 16 (female, track and field hockey)

Dear Sweat T. Athlete,

While it’s natural to occasionally compare yourself with others, I love that you’re more curious than embarrassed. Everyone sweats, so no one needs to feel self-conscious about it.

Whether your diet is affecting how much you sweat, the answer is … “maybe.”

When eating foods that contain a lot of sodium (salt), your body gets rid of the excess through sweating. So, less salt may result in less sweat-

ing. Your body needs some salt, though. So don’t try to eliminate it entirely.

Any foods that are difficult to digest could result in excess perspiration. The two most common culprits are fatty and processed foods. Foods high in sugar or carbohydrates could also be partly to blame.

Eating a healthy, balanced diet can keep your sweat in check. Include a wide variety of vegetables and fruits, lean proteins, and whole grains to name a few. Avoid the worst offenders above.

Drink adequate amounts of water and avoid caffeine. When your body is properly hydrated, it doesn’t have to work as hard to regulate your body temperature.

And lastly, if you’re sweating a lot only during exercise, it’s probably nothing to worry about. The caring people around you understand — or maybe they don’t even notice. We typically think our situation is worse than everyone else’s. While most everyone else is thinking the same thing about themselves!

If you are sweating a lot for no obvious reason, or if your sweat is especially pungent, these may be reasons to see a doctor. There’s nothing to be embarrassed about. They’ve heard it all before. Talk with your parents or guardians first.

Steve Fuchs is a health coach at Steve Fuchs Health Coaching. Go to www.vermonthealthcoach. com to anonymously ask a question about things that affect your athletic performance. The advice offered in this column is not intended to replace professional medical advice. It is advised that you talk to your doctor before making any changes in your diet, exercise or lifestyle choices.

CVU’s Sophie Avery (L) and Rose Bunting, left, get the block on Essex’s Abigail Desilets during the Redhawks’ threeset loss to the Hornets last Thursday evening in Hinesburg. Merrill Jacobs, below top, sets the ball to the middle of the court. Kate Boehmcke, below bottom, spikes the ball hoping to penetrate the Essex block. Izzy Weimersheimer, far right, releases a serve. OBSERVER PHOTOS BY AL FREY.

Classic soccer

CLOCKWISE (from top right): CVU’s George Charlson looks to get by two Essex defenders during the Redhawks’ 2-0 win over the Hornets during the 2023 Jay Brady Kickoff Classic in Essex on Saturday evening. Henry Frost crowds out Essex’s Ethan Pringle-Corcoran. Luke Sampson plays the ball away from Essex’s Griffin Hayes. Charlie Jennings looks to contain the ball as he searches for an open teammate.

Quarterfinal fight

LEFT to RIGHT: Williston’s Bryan McNamara makes a catch in shallow right field during the Armadillos’ closely fought, 4-2 quarterfinal win over the Waterbury Warthogs in Vermont Senior Baseball League play on Sunday at Williston Central School. Todd Johnson secures the catch on an infield pop up off first. Corey Hevrin (top right) drops down to hit a bunt. Brent Tremblay (bottom right) fields a ground ball at second.

The Boys & Girls Club of Burlington helps 250 kids each day to create their own great futures by providing a safe place, building character and supporting academic success.

62 Oak Street, Burlington, VT 05401 802-864-5263 • www.bandgclub.org

Brighten your fall landscape with mums

BY MELINDA MYERS

Special to the Observer

Mums are a favorite fall flower that add weeks of seasonal color to containers, gardens and fall displays. They are also a popular gift plant in garden centers and floral shops. Choosing the right one and providing proper care will help you achieve your desired results.

Start by selecting the best mum for your gardening goals. You’ll find mums labeled as garden, perennial, gift or florist mums. All these names for plants that look alike can be confusing. The answer lies in their response to day length, hardiness and use.

Mums set flowers based on day length. Growers can force them into bloom by covering them to create shorter days that initiate flowering. Those grown as gift mums, often called florist mums, usually require the longest periods of uninterrupted darkness or shorter days. When these mums are grown under natural daylight they usually don’t flower until late fall or early winter. These late bloomers are usually killed by cold temperatures before or soon after the flowers appear in colder areas.

Nurseries selling mums ready to flower in the fall often refer to

them as garden mums. These may be perennial mums or “florist” mums forced to flower for fall displays. The intent is to use them as annuals. Select ones with lots of buds and just a few, if any, open flowers to maximize the bloom time and your enjoyment. Place one or two mums on the front steps, plant them in vacant spots in the garden or combine them with other fall favorites in containers.

These garden mums may be hardy and suited to the area, but since all their energy is directed to the flowers, little is left to establish a hardy, robust root system. If you have success overwintering your garden mums, feel free to brag. If your plants don’t survive or you don’t try, don’t worry. You are using them as a fall annual as they were intended. This also provides space for new plants in the spring and an opportunity to try a different color mum next fall.

Those mums sold as perennials are hardy enough to survive the winter and flower in late summer or early fall, providing weeks of color in the garden. They are often sold alongside other perennials, labeled as perennials or promoted as hardy for the area. Increase your success by planting

them in spring. This allows the plant time to develop a robust root system before it begins flowering in the fall, which will increase its ability to survive cold winters.

Place mums in an area with full sun, and water thoroughly and often enough to keep the soil moist but not soggy or wet. Check the soil daily, and water when the top few inches of soil are starting to dry. Always use a container with drainage holes or a self-watering pot.

Increase overwintering success by leaving the plants intact in the garden over winter. Those gardening in colder regions may opt to cover the plants with evergreen boughs after the ground freezes, providing extra insulation. Remove the mulch when temperatures begin hovering above freezing. Whether covered or not, prune out the dead stems in spring as new growth appears.

Whatever you call them, add a few colorful mums to your fall displays. You are sure to enjoy the blast of color they provide to your landscape before winter arrives.

Melinda Myers is a columnist and contributing editor for Birds & Blooms magazine. Her website is www.MelindaMyers.com.

Mums add seasonal color to the fall landscape.

PHOTO COURTESY OF MELINDAMYERS.COM

Next Week: What’s El Niño?

World Rivers Day

Since 2005, millions of people have organized on the fourth Sunday of September to celebrate World Rivers Day. With the support of the United Nations, people celebrate waterways and promote taking good care of our rivers.

This year, World Rivers Day will focus on the natural, cultural and recreational values of rivers and streams.

Why rivers?

Rivers provide us with beauty, recreation, transportation, electricity, wildlife habitat, water for manufacturing and agriculture, and most important, water to drink.

Mini Fact: Barges move about 175 million tons of material on the Mississippi River each year.

The importance of water

Most of the Earth’s water is in the oceans. But people and most animals can’t live by drinking ocean water. It is too salty.

Water that is good to drink is called fresh water. About half of the drinking water in the U.S. comes from rivers. But fresh water from rivers and other sources is in short supply.

The state of our rivers

Experts say only about half of our rivers and streams meet the standards set up by our government to keep our water clean and safe. People worry about having enough clean water. Humans have relied on rivers to:

• Irrigate crops. In the dry West, about 80% of the river water humans use is used to grow food.

Caring for rivers

Here are some ways you can help keep our rivers flowing cleanly:

• Volunteer to help clean up trash along a river.

• Save water. Don’t leave the faucet running when you do tasks such as brushing your teeth.

• Ask your parents to use nonpolluting, safe products for lawn care. Chemicals flow from your lawn into rivers.

• Join your local watershed group.

• Pick up after your dog. Remember, almost everything that goes on the ground ends up in our rivers.

A river is a naturally flowing body of water. Streams, brooks, creeks and smaller rivers are all part of bigger river systems. Almost all rivers in the United States flow into the ocean. An exception is the water flowing into Utah’s Great Salt Lake. Rivers all flow from a high point to the lowest point.

The Winooski River

• Help make virtually all products, from paper to computer chips.

• Make steam to run coal and nuclear power plants and provide water to cool those plants.

• Create electricity. About 10% of the electrical power in America is created by dams on rivers.

Resources

On the Web:

• youtu.be/FpXCkM4NdFs

At the library:

• “Great Rivers of the World” by Volker Mehnert

• “A River Ran Wild: An Environmental History” by Lynne Cherry

wild pigs

and

Founded by Betty Debnam

photo by Joey Rozier

Crops are watered by irrigation systems.

The Missouri River (the longest river in the U.S., about 2,500 miles long) and the Mississippi (the biggest, with its watershed covering more than a million square miles) are two of the most important rivers in the United States.

Missouri River

Mississippi River

FACEBOOK PHOTO; FRIENDS OF WINOOSKI RIVER

into the ocean. An exception is the water flowing into Utah’s Great Salt Lake. Rivers all flow from a high point to the lowest point.

Try ’n’ Find

• Create electricity. About 10% of the electrical power in America is created by dams on rivers.

Words that remind us of rivers are hidden in this puzzle. Some words are hidden backward or diagonally, and some letters are used twice. See if you can find:

BROOK, CREEK, CROPS, CULTURAL, DUMPING, ELECTRICITY, FRESH, IRRIGATE, MISSISSIPPI, MISSOURI, NATURAL, RIVER, SEPTEMBER, STEAM, STREAM, SYSTEM, WATERSHED, WORLD.

Cook’s Corner

Microwave Salmon Rice Casserole

You’ll need:

• 1 can cream of celery soup

• 1 (15 l/2-ounce) can salmon, drained (save liquid)

• 1 1/2 cups cheddar cheese, shredded

What to do:

• 1 (10-ounce) package chopped broccoli, thawed

• 2 cups cooked rice

1. Combine soup, salmon liquid and cheese in a microwave-safe 9-by-9-inch casserole dish. Stir well. Cover and microwave on HIGH for 2 minutes. Stir at 1 minute.

2. Add salmon, broccoli and rice to dish. Mix well.

3. Cover and microwave on HIGH for 8 minutes. Stir at 2 and 6 minutes. Serves 6.

7 Little Words for Kids

Use the letters in the boxes to make a word with the same meaning as the clue. The numbers in parentheses represent the number of letters in the solution. Each letter combination can be used only once, but all letter combinations will be necessary to complete the puzzle.

1. “The Lego Movie” character (9)

2. bug with hard wings (6)

3. it covers the house (4)

4. seaside (5)

5. what an Olympic winner gets (5)

6. make your body work (8)

7. unable to do things yourself (8)

Mini Jokes

Renee: What do you call the little rivers that flow into the Nile? Reggie: Juveniles!

Eco Note

Farmers in parts of Australia’s New South Wales and Queensland states say wild pigs are running amok across the landscape, attacking their livestock, trampling their crops and posing a health risk to both man and beast. It’s believed years of heavy rain have caused the feral swine population to surge. “There are waves of pigs absolutely everywhere,” farmer Tom Dunlop told the Sydney Morning Herald.

For later: Look in your newspaper for events related to World Rivers Day.

Teachers: Follow and interact with The Mini Page on Facebook!

CISE

Answers: Wyldstyle, beetle, roof, coast, medal, exercise, helpless.

Dear Savvy Senior, I spend a lot of time online and love the convenience of paying bills, shopping and keeping up with my grandkids on Facebook and Instagram. But a few months ago, my computer was infected with malware, and I just found out some cyber crook opened up a credit card using my identity and went on a shopping spree. Do you have some simple tips to help me stay safe while online?

Paranoid Patty

Protection from cybercrimes

Strengthen your passwords: A strong password should contain at least 12 characters and include numbers and a special character, like an exclamation point or asterisk. Be sure to change up your password across different sites to ensure a hacker would not gain access to all accounts through one password. And keep a written list of all your passwords stored in a safe secure place.

On your smartphone or tablet, be sure to set up a four- or six-digit PIN to protect your device.

or delete it.

Share with care: There is such a thing as oversharing, and it definitely applies to online profiles. On social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram and Twitter, online hackers can easily gather information about you from what you post — like where you live.

Ensure that your privacy settings are up to date so that only people who follow you or are your Facebook friend can see your posts.

payment or banking information. Have some back-up: Practicing safe habits will protect you and your information, but you don’t have to rely on just yourself to stay safe. Anti-virus software works in the background to protect your computer from a variety of malware and helps to make it easier for you to avoid threats while surfing the web.

Dear Patty,

Unfortunately, cybercrimes against seniors continue to be a big problem in the U.S. According to the FBI 2022 Elder Fraud Report, cybercrime cost Americans over age 60 more than $3 billion last year, a whopping 84 percent increase from 2021.

While anyone can be subject to cybercrimes, seniors are frequent targets because they tend to be more trusting and have more money than their younger counterparts. But there are a number of things you can do to protect yourself from online fraud, hacking and scams. Here are a few tips to get you started.

Opt out of pop-ups: To protect yourself from computer viruses and other forms of malware, make it a habit to avoid any popup style message when you’re on the web. Sometimes hackers disguise their malware as pop-up advertisements or “special offers” when you’re shopping or reading online. Clicking on these pop-ups can lead to viruses or data breaches.

If you encounter a suspicious pop-up message, don’t click on anything in the window. Simply leave the site or close out of your web browser.

When in doubt, throw it out: Sometimes online hackers will send you an email or text message

By Jim Miller

and pretend to be someone they’re not in order to convince you to share valuable information with them, such as your Social Security number, address or credit card information. This is called phishing. If you receive a message from an unknown sender, do not respond or click on any links or attachments. Instead, either ignore the message

Verify websites: Before you shop or access your bank online, double check the validity of the website you’re using. Reputable sites use technologies such as SSL (Secure Socket Layer) that encrypt data during transmission. You will see a little padlock icon in your browser and usually “https” at the front of your address bar to confirm it’s a secure connection. If you don’t see it in the web address that you’re on, you should not trust that website with your passwords,

For more information on how to safeguard your personal technology devices and information, visit www.Consumer.ftc.gov and search “Protect Your Personal Information and Data.” And to report fraud and identity theft, go to www.ReportFraud.ftc.gov and www.IdentityTheft.gov.

Send your senior questions to: Savvy Senior, P.O. Box 5443, Norman, OK 73070, or visit SavvySenior.org. Jim Miller is a contributor to the NBC Today show and author of “The Savvy Senior” book.

ANDREWS MCMEEL Almanac

TODAY’S HISTORY:

• In 1812, the Fire of Moscow broke out as Russian troops left the city and the French Grande Armee entered.

• In 1814, Francis Scott Key wrote “Defence of Fort McHenry,” the poem that provided the lyrics for “The Star-Spangled Banner.”

• In 1901, President William McKinley died of wounds received on Sept. 6 from an assassin’s bullet, and Vice President Theodore Roosevelt was sworn in as his successor.

• In 1994, Major League Baseball commissioner Bud Selig announced the cancellation of the remainder of the season after a 34-day player strike.

TODAY’S FACT:

• Elizabeth Ann Seton became the first American-born Catholic saint when she was canonized by Pope Paul VI on this day in 1975.

SOLUTION

We’re proud of our smiles! We believe that our state-of-the-art, impeccable skills; cheerful, approachable attitudes and ability to handle all your dental needs under one roof means a visit with us will always leave you with a beautiful smile.

Dorothy Alling Memorial Library hours:

• Monday and Wednesday: 10 a.m.-8 p.m.

• Tuesday, Thursday, Friday: 10 a.m.-6 p.m.

• Saturday: 10 a.m.-3 p.m.

Visit www.damlvt.org to apply for a library card, renew materials, access digital offerings and register for programs. Need help? Call 878-4918 or email daml@damlvt.org.

YOUTH PROGRAMS

Children in fourth grade and younger must be supervised by someone over 16 years of age.

TEEN NIGHT: DUNGEONS & DRAGONS

Friday, Sept. 15, 5-6 p.m. Ages 12-plus. Join our D&D campaign.

STORYTIME

Tuesdays, Sept. 19 and 26, 10:30-11 a.m.

SEPTEMBER SCIENCE ACTIVITIES

Tuesdays, Sept. 19 and 26, 5-5:45 p.m. Sept. 19: Test out different magnetic objects while painting. Sept. 26: Experience Newton’s laws of physics with pom-pom poppers.

BABY TIME

Wednesday, Sept. 20, 10:30-11 a.m. Enjoy gentle activities with your baby for bonding and socializing.

AFTER SCHOOL MOVIE

Wednesday, Sept. 20, 2-4 p.m. PG. Try not to get upset if the internet stops working.

PRESCHOOL MUSIC AND PLAYTIME

Thursdays, Sept. 21 and 28, 10:30-11:30 a.m. Enjoy music, then stay to play.

LITTLES D&D

Saturday, Sept. 23, 1-2 p.m. Register your child for a Dungeons & Dragons adventure. Adults should stay with their

campaigner to help. Register each child individually.

QUIET KIDS’ READ-IN

Monday, Sept. 25, 3-4 p.m. Get cozy after school with a good book.

AFTER SCHOOL CRAFT

Wednesday, Sept. 27, 2-3 p.m. Weave your own bookmark.

LEGO TIME

Thursday, Sept. 28, 3-4 p.m. Use the library’s LEGO and build something fun.

MULTI-AGE PROGRAMS

READ TO A DOG (LOLA)

Thursday, Sept. 21, 3:30-4:30 p.m. Call to sign up for a 10-minute time slot to read to Lola.

OUTDOOR MOVIE ON THE GREEN

Friday, Sept. 22, 7 p.m. You bring the chairs, we’ll provide the popcorn for this PG13 feel good coming-of-age movie. Inside in case of rain. Register and view movie details at www.damlvt.org.

ADULT PROGRAMS

For online programs, email daml@damlvt.org for link.

ADULT MEDITATION (ONLINE)

Fridays in September, 12-12:30

a female that was staggering and then laid down in the grass near the interstate. Female was transported by rescue.

Sept. 4 at 11:00 a.m. — Recovered stolen vehicle at Home Depot. Vehicle was released to the Essex Police Department.

Sept. 1 at 7:14 a.m. — Report of several cars with slashed tires on Blair Park Road and Williston Road. Suspect will be receiving a citation.

Sept. 1 at 5:11 p.m. — Officers recovered stolen bike at Marshalls. Sept. 2 at 5:00 p.m. — Report of a suspicious male walking through backyards on Elk Lane. Male was located. He was hiking on a trail

and got lost.

Sept. 3 at 3:10 p.m. — Report of a dog locked in a hot car with the windows up. Owner was issued a ticket for Animal Cruelty.

Sept. 3 at 10:36 p.m. — Following a traffic stop, a male, age 22, was issued a citation to appear in court for suspicion of DUI.

Sept. 4 at 9:04 a.m. — Report of

p.m. Guided meditation with Maryellen Crangle.

MAH JONGG

Friday, Sept. 15, 1-3 p.m. Drop by to play this popular tile game.

BOOK CLUB BUFFET (ONLINE)

Tuesday, Sept. 19, 12:30-1:30 p.m. “Still Life” by Louise Penny.

VOTER REGISTRATION EVENT

Tuesday, Sept. 19, 3-6 p.m. Register to vote, or check if you are already registered at the library during our voter registration drive.

COOK THE BOOK

Wednesday, Sept. 20, 12 p.m. Join us for our “Rustic Fruit Desserts” potluck.

TECH TUTOR

Wednesday, Sept. 20, 1:30-3:30 p.m. Call to sign up for a half-hour slot to get personalized help with your tech.

SPANISH CONVERSATION (ONLINE)

Wednesday, Sept. 20, 5-6 p.m. Brush up on your Spanish skills. All abilities welcome.

BROWN BAG BOOK CLUB

Tuesday, Sept. 26, 12:30-1:30. “The Ride of her Life” by Elizabeth Letts.

Sept. 6 at 2:14 p.m. — Retail theft reported at Walmart. Case is still under investigation.

Sept. 6 at 11:17 p.m. — Report of drugs being found in the Walmart parking lot. Drugs were picked up and disposed of.

CURRENT EVENTS

Wednesday, Sept. 27, 10:30-12. Drop in to share your views on current events.

LIFE STORIES WE LOVE TO TELL (ONLINE)

Wednesday, Sept. 27, 2-3:30 p.m. Come prepared with a story, or Maryellen Crangle will provide a prompt to guide the group in choosing a story to share.

VERMONT HUMANITIES PROGRAM: SORTING THE NEWS FROM THE CHAFF

Wednesday, Sept. 27, 4-5:30 p.m. Journalist and educator Mark Timney will share strategies for evaluating news sources. This is a Vermont Humanities program hosted by the Dorothy Alling Memorial Library and supported in part by the National Endowment for the Humanities. Register at www.damlvt.org.

NATURE JOURNALING HIKE AT MUD POND

Thursday, Sept. 28, 3-5:30 p.m. Join Dr. Steven Shepard for this introduction to nature journaling at Williston’s wild places. Meet at the parking lot behind the Korner Kwik Stop at 3 p.m. to carpool to Mud Pond (parking is limited). Bring journaling supplies. Register at www.damlvt.org.

in court for driving with a criminally suspended license.

Sept. 7 at 1:16 p.m. — Retail theft reported at Marshalls. A male, age 23, was issued a citation to appear in court.

Sept. 4 at 5:56 p.m. — Vandalism reported on Cottonwood Drive. Case is still under investigation.

Sept. 5 at 4:59 p.m. — Report of an unresponsive male at Walmart. Male was seen by rescue and released.

Sept. 5 at 5:21 p.m. — Suspicious male in Walmart. Male was gone upon arrival.

Sept. 7 at 8:24 a.m. — Retail theft at Walmart. Suspect has been issued a citation to appear in court.

Sept. 7 at 12:23 p.m. — Assisted rescue with male who was intoxicated in Walmart. Male was transported to the hospital for evaluation.

Sept. 7 at 12:48 p.m. — Following a motor vehicle stop, a male, age 46, was issued a citation to appear

Sept. 7 at 4:05 p.m. — Retail theft reported at Plato’s Closet. Female was trespassed from the property.

Officers also responded to eight motor vehicle crashes, five alarm activations and conducted 17 traffic stops during this time period.

LOCAL SHOP•EAT•SPEND•ENJOY

OBITUARIES

the ward (congregational) and stake (regional) level. Bryant had many fond memories of serving with Church members throughout the state of Vermont.

Bryant K. Gile

Our beloved father, grandfather, and brother, Bryant K. Gile, 74, passed away on September 2, 2023 after a brief illness. Bryant was born and raised in Richmond, Vermont, the son of Homer and Virginia (Phelps) Gile.

He married Judith Wagner on November 5, 1974 in the Salt Lake City LDS Temple. Bryant joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints at age 22 and was a devoted member for the remainder of his life. He held a strong belief in the doctrine of eternal families and is now reunited with his beloved wife, Judy, who preceded him in death on November 13, 2005. Bryant served in many volunteer roles in the Church including at

Diane W. Troup

Longtime resident of Williston, VT, Diane W. Troup, 84, passed away, Saturday, September 2, 2023 at the Respite House. Diane was born March 9, 1939 in Burlington, VT to Barbara Whitney and Howard Wager. She

Bryant graduated from Richmond High School in 1967 and from the University of Vermont in 1971. In 1973, he became a rural letter carrier with the United States Post Office. Bryant spent the majority of his 33-year career delivering mail to the residents of Richmond and the surrounding area. Bryant developed many friendships with individuals and families on his mail route. Bryant retired from the USPS in 2006 and moved to Utah to be closer to his daughters and grandchildren. In Layton, Utah, Bryant worked as a delivery driver for Jimmy’s Flower Shop. He spent his final years in assisted living close to his daughters at Legacy House of Logan, Utah. Service to his community was a hallmark of Bryant’s life. In addition to delivering mail to the residents of Richmond, Bryant spent years as the custodian for the town offices, library, and other local businesses. He was a founding member of the Atari Club and as such his family were one of the first in town to have a personal computer. Professionally, Bryant served with many committees for the USPS. In the 1990s, the Gile family began

graduated from Burlington High School in 1957 during which time Diane worked in the accounting department at the Merchants Bank under the watchful eye of her father who was head of the accounting department.

Diane married Ernest Chamberlain, started a family and moved on to work in billing at Mary Fletcher Hospital and, subsequently, Thomas Chittenden Health Center.

Diane was an avid gardener whose flower arrangements won blue ribbons at the Champlain Valley Expo. She loved square dancing and traveled as far as Florida to square dance. Diane was also active with the Williston Seniors as well as the Red Hats.

Diane leaves behind her daughter, Wendy Payea and husband, Jim, of Milton and son, Dennis Chamberlain and wife, Sylvia, of Gilmanton, NH. She

hosting children from New York City for several weeks each summer through the Fresh Air Fund. Bryant eventually volunteered as a Fresh Air Fund Friendly Town Coordinator for several years.

Bryant is survived by his four daughters: Norma Jean (Nathan) Nitz, Lorelei (Scot) Ferre, Martha Muster, and Loretta (Ben) Rippon, and his eight grandchildren: Lydia, Annabelle, Charlotte, David, Guinevere, Piper, Sofia, and Michael. Bryant was proud of everything his daughters and grandchildren have accomplished.

Bryant is also survived by his brothers Dennis (Sherry) Gile, Bradley (Barbara) Gile, and sister-in-law Donna Gile; nieces and nephews: Veronica (Kenny) Paquette, Melinda (Doug) Johnston, Carl (Theresa) Gile, Neil (Suzy) Gile; and many grandnieces, grandnephews, and cousins. Bryant was preceded in death by his wife Judy Gile, parents Homer and Virginia Gile, and his brother Larry Gile.

Visiting hours were Tuesday, September 12, 2023 at the Richmond Congregational Church, 20 Church Street, Richmond, VT with a service at the same location Wednesday, September 13, 2023.

In lieu of flowers, please consider donating to The Fresh Air Fund athttps://freshair.org/donate/

STAFF WRITER

Come work where you play! The Valley Reporter, a local, weekly newspaper serving the Mad River Valley as well as Sugarbush and Mad River Glen, is looking for a staff writer.

The ideal candidate will possess a curious mind, exceptional writing skills and an appreciation for small-town life. While a background in journalism is not required, the ability to write concisely and accurately is. This person will report on the people, places and events of the Mad River Valley, including local politics, education, sports, recreation, agriculture, business, craft beer, the environment and more. Must be detail and deadline oriented. A flexible schedule is required; the individual will attend public meetings on some nights and weekends. Photography and social media skills required.

Send a cover letter, resume and two to three w ritin g samples to lisa@valleyreporter.com

CROSSWORD SOLUTION

PUZZLE FOUND ON PAGE 19

also leaves behind her sister, Charlene (Bonnie) Staryk, of Boca Raton, FL. Diane leaves behind her grandchildren, Jaimie Coffey and husband, John of Essex Junction, Scott Payea and wife, Katrina, of Colchester and Ann Goodroe and husband, Cortis, of Winooski. Additionally, Diane leaves behind great-grandchildren, Clara Payea, John Coffey, Julia Payea, Brock Payea, Evelyn Goodroe and Joey Baiungo, IV.

Diane was predeceased by her parents, Barbara and Howard Wager.

Services will be private and at the convenience of the family with internment in the family lot in Lakeview Cemetery. Memorial. Contributions in Diane’s memory may be made to Respite House.

The family also invites you to share your memories and condolences by visiting www.awrth. com.

NOTICE

Republican Town Caucus

All Republican voters of the town of Williston, County of Chittenden are hereby notified, in accordance with 17 V.S.A. 2303 to meet in caucus on Tuesday, September 19, 2023 at the Dorothy Alling Library at 6:30 p.m.

The Agenda for this Caucus is as follows:

I. Election of Town Committee

II. Election of Officers by the Town Committee

III. Election of County Committee Members

IV. New Business

Cindy Roy Party Town Chair

Driver Wanted

Hart & Mead Energy and All Star Fuels in Hinesburg/Bristol area is looking for an individual with a clean CDL-B / Hazmat endorsement. Able to pass federally mandated drug screeening. DOT physical required. Competitive wage, paid holidays and sick time.

Contact hartmeadllc@gmail.com or 802-482-6666

LEGAL NOTICE

Public Auction Under Self-Storage And Operators Lien

U-Haul of Williston 5010 Williston Rd Williston, Vt . 05495

PETROLIANA COLLECTION

Thurs., Sept. 21 @ 10AM

Preview: Tues., Sept. 19 10AM-12PM

On Sept. 20, 2023 at 9:00 am on www.storageauctions.com

The contents of the following units consisting of furniture, household goods and miscellaneous personal property will be SOLD to satisfy the lien of U-HAUL as self-storage operators. This sale is held under the Uniform Commercial Code Section 16a, Paragraph 7-210 Enforcement of Vermont Self-Storage Lien.

NAME UNIT#

Jamal Walker 1125

Mark Crowley 1130

Keith Merchant 1168

Tasha Cordner 1196

CLASSIFIEDS

WANTED

Cider press — In need of cider press to use. Apples from our tree are ready to be pressed but we need a press. Love to barter or rent in Williston. Brantdinkin@ me.Com 802 363 6685.

YARD SALES

MULTIPLE-CONDOS GARAGE

SALE — Hideaway Ln (off Rt 2A), Williston, Sun., Sept. 17, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.

HOME SHARE

WILLISTON — Share a home with a woman in her 70s who loves cards, board games, and game shows! In exchange for no rent, help out with evening meals, light cleaning, and drive for chocolate milkshake outings! Must be cat-friendly. 802-863-5625 or HomeShareVermont. org for application. Interview, refs, background checks req. EHO

LEGAL

TOWN OF WILLISTON Selectboard

Notice of Public Hearing

Tuesday, October 3, 2023, 7:15 PM

Zoom Participation: https://us02web. zoom.us/j/85267145744

Phone: 1-646-558-8656; Meeting ID: #852-6714-5744

EMAILED ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISING INSERTION ORDER

Thomas Hirchak Company

FROM: Cathy Morneault Phone: 802-888-4662 Email: Advertising2@THCAuction.com

To: Rick & Susan Cote Paper: Williston Observer Max Length 12.5

TODAY’S DATE: 09/08/2023

NAME OF FILE: 09142023_WO

DATE(S) TO RUN: 09/14/2023

SIZE OF AD: 1/16 page (2” x 5”)

EMAILED TO: Rick@Willistonobserver.com

Publishes in Williston Observer

80 lots of Vintage Gas Pumps, Petrol Sign Advertising, Die Cast Toys, Collectibles, and more!

Item Removal:

from 10AM-12PM

To place a classified ad, email rick@williston observer.com or call 802-373-2136

Deadline for classifieds is Monday.

Sarai Neabar 1209

Jacob Burtis 1251

Carlos Simon 1277

Chrystal Rossi 2091

Angela Campbell 2196

Aaliyah Johnson 2364

Michael Mullen 2446

Jennifer Martin 2573

Anthony LaBounty 2703

Jennifer Geudeman 2707

Johnathan Whalley AA2794F

James Raab AA4709E

SECTION: Auctions PO# 1524

The Williston Selectboard will hold a public hearing to receive comment on proposed changes to the existing Williston Unified Development Bylaw to amend the Regulating Plan Map and Street Specifications Map contained in Appendix F Form Based Code, as well as the Town-Wide Official Map, pursuant to 24 V.S.A §4442 and the Williston Unified Development Bylaw. No text amendments to Form-Based Code are proposed. The public hearing will take place on Tuesday, October 3, 2023 at 7:15 PM in the Beckett/McGuire Meeting Room at Williston Town Hall located at 7900 Williston Road with remote participation available using the online platform zoom with access information listed at the bottom of this hearing notice. Written comments can be submitted prior to the hearing to Town Manager Erik Wells at ewells@willistonvt.org or by postal mail to his attention at Williston Town Hall, 7900 Williston Road, Williston, VT 05495.

The proposed amendments to the Williston Unified Development Bylaw Appendix F will amend the Regulating Plan Map, the corresponding Street Specification Map and Town-Wide Official Map by changing the location of the public green adjacent to Trader Lane, a future grid street, relocating it further south at the terminus of Wright Avenue. The amendment will also change the street specifications type for Trader Lane to ST 38-86 PCT from ST 38-80. The change will increase the public right of way to 76 feet from 64 feet and include bicycle lanes on both sides of the street. If adopted, the amendments to the Bylaw will go into effect 21 days after adoption unless a petition is filed for a popular vote to repeal the amendments within 20 days of the adoption vote as provided for in 24 V.S.A. §4442.

The above is a summary. Copies of the maps effected by this proposed amendment to the Williston Unified Development Bylaw Appendix F are available for review during regular business hours at the Town Hall and can also be found on the Town’s website at http://town.williston.vt.us by navigating to public records and then documents / legal notices. Members of the public can contact the Williston Planning Department at (802) 878-6704, or at planning@ willistonvt.org with any questions.

CLOCKWISE (l to r): Plenty of children and parents wait patiently for a cool treat at the ice cream social organized by the Williston Families as Partners (FAP) on Monday evening at Williston Central School. FAP volunteers (L to R) Caroline Dahlstrom, Christine Higgins and Jessica Scott pose for the camera. Other volunteers scoop and serve from the picnic tables under the gazebo.