Seven Days, August 19, 2020

EMERGENT FIELD

V ERM ONT ’S INDEP E NDE NT V OIC E AUGUST 19-26, 2020 VOL.25 NO.47 SEVENDAYSVT.COM

Boosting women candidates in VT PAGE 12

THE COVID SEMESTER

Vermont colleges laid testing plans to restart safely. Will they work?

B Y D ER EK BROUWE R & A ND REA SUOZ ZO, PA G E 28

Marvel! at bird-saving cat

collars

PAGE 4

Delight! c

in Vermont’s pandemi pets PAGE 8

wonder! at the metamorphosis 14 of butterflies PAGE

ALSO...

Meet the amazing 6 horse lady! PAGE

the They came from 12 deep (South)! PAGE

E R U T A CRE ATURE fE

INSIDE!

All about animals

RIGHT ANGLE

PAGE 22

Steve Benen book blasts GOP

BUMP AND RIND

PAGE 40

Cheesemakers’ changing market

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SEVEN DAYS AUGUST 19-26, 2020

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SEVEN DAYS AUGUST 19-26, 2020

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SEVEN DAYS AUGUST 19-26, 2020

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WEEK IN REVIEW

emoji 300,000 how many free cloth that That’s face coverings the State

of Vermont will distribute to help people comply with Gov. Phil Scott’s mask mandate.

AUGUST 12-19, 2020 COMPILED BY SASHA GOLDSTEIN, MATTHEW ROY & ANDREA SUOZZO

In remarks to a virtual Democratic National Convention on Monday night, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) delivered a searing indictment of President Donald Trump’s presidency and an impassioned plea to his supporters to vote for Democratic nominee Joe Biden.

“My friends, I say to you — to everyone who supported other candidates in the primary and to those who may have voted for Donald Trump in the last election — the future of our democracy is at stake. The future of our economy is at stake. The future of our planet is at stake,” he said. “The price of failure is just too great to imagine.”

As the runner-up for the Democratic presidential nomination, Sanders had been expected to play a prominent role in the Milwaukee convention. Due to the ongoing threat of the coronavirus pandemic, he and most other speakers delivered their remarks remotely — in his case from downtown Burlington.

Sanders pulled no punches in his eight-minute speech. Calling the 2020 election “the most important in the modern history of this country,” he repeatedly referred to Trump as an authoritarian — and alluded to the Holocaust’s devastating toll on his father’s family.

“Under this administration, authoritarianism has taken root in our country. I and my family and many of yours know the insidious way authoritarianism destroys democracy, decency and humanity,” he said.

“As long as I am here, I will work with progressives, with moderates and, yes, with conservatives to preserve this nation from a threat that so many of our heroes fought and died to defeat.”

And in a line that will be sure to get under Trump’s skin, he memorably described the president’s failure to contain the pandemic. “Nero fiddled while Rome

Former Sugarbush Resort owner Win Smith has retired as company president nearly a year after selling the ski area.

Happy trails.

Biden Bro

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802nice

Katie Spotz finishing her run to the Burlington waterfront

LAST RUN

OUTBREAK OVER

©DREAMSTIME.COM/ ROGERO THORNHILL

burned. Trump golfs,” Sanders said.

“His actions fanned this pandemic, resulting in over 170,000 deaths and a nation still unprepared to protect its people.”

Since dropping out of the presidential race in April and endorsing Biden, Sanders has consistently supported his more moderate rival. During his remarks Monday, he again attempted to lead progressives to the Democratic nominee, telling them, “We need Joe Biden as our next president.”

He listed policy positions on which he and Biden agree: a $15 minimum wage, paid family leave, universal prekindergarten, 100 percent clean electricity, and an end to private prisons and cash bail. Though he conceded that the two “disagree on the best path” toward universal health insurance, he argued that Biden would expand access, make prescription drugs more affordable and lower Medicare eligibility from age 65 to 60.

“And to heal the soul of our nation, Joe Biden will end the hate and division Trump has created,” Sanders said. “He will stop the demonization of immigrants, the coddling of white nationalists, the racist dog whistling, the religious bigotry and the ugly attacks on women.”

Read Paul Heintz’s full story at sevendaysvt.com.

The Vermont Department of Health said a coronavirus outbreak in Winooski and surrounding areas has ended.

Feel better?

ALVIN’S PALS

State wildlife officials say the chipmunk population has soared after a banner year for the animal’s food sources. Keep your nuts close.

HEMMED IN

The U.S.-Canada border closure has been extended yet again, now through at least September 21. Au revoir, mon ami.

TOPFIVE

MOST POPULAR ITEMS ON SEVENDAYSVT.COM

1. Montpelier Endurance Athlete and Advocate Mirna Valerio Is Taking Up Space” by Chelsea Edgar. Since she launched her Fat Girl Running blog, Valerio, a Black woman, has become an icon in a field that’s traditionally portrayed as thin, white and mostly male.

2. “New Yorkers Bring New Indian Restaurant to Burlington” by Melissa Pasanen. Elaichi Indian Restaurant & Bar will open in the Colchester Avenue spot left vacant when India House closed last October.

3. “Zuckerman to Face Scott in Governor’s Race, Gray Upsets Ashe for LG” by Paul Heintz & Colin Flanders. Zuckerman, the current lieutenant governor, will face incumbent Gov. Phil Scott in the general election this November.

4. “I’m in a Polyamorous Triad With My Husband and His Girlfriend” by Ask the Reverend. Our advice columnist has reservations about a reader financially supporting her husband’s girlfriend.

5. “Spike in Defective Ballots ‘Concerning,’ Secretary of State Says” by Kevin McCallum.

Preliminary numbers suggest that some 6,000 voters did not fill out their ballots properly in this year’s primary election.

tweet of the week @prstets Family friend had a cherry picker over to my parents for a project. Great view of the field. Keep an eye out if you’re flying ~15 miles south of #btv .

And please.. VOTE! FOLLOW US ON TWITTER @SEVENDAYSVT OUR TWEEPLE: SEVENDAYSVT.COM/TWITTER

WHAT’S KIND IN VERMONT

WATER WARRIOR

Katie Spotz ran across Vermont earlier this month so she could help people across the Atlantic Ocean.

A long-distance runner and endurance athlete, Spotz has spent more than a decade pushing her body to the limit to fundraise for charities that spearhead clean-water efforts in impoverished areas around the world. She earned international attention in 2010 when she became the youngest person, at age 22, to row solo across the Atlantic Ocean, taking 70 days to journey from Senegal to Guyana. She has finished five Ironman Triathlons, ridden her bike around the country and, in a month, swum the entire 325-mile length of the Allegheny River.

The latest goal for 33-year-old Spotz is a fundraiser called Run4Water, in which she’ll become the first person to run 130 miles nonstop across Maine, from the Canadian border to Freeport. She’s currently serving in the U.S. Coast Guard, posted in South Portland. To prepare for the September 5 start, she warmed up in New Hampshire and Vermont, becoming the first woman to run nonstop across each state.

On August 7, Spotz took off around 5 a.m. from a bridge straddling the New Hampshire border near Bradford, Vt., and ran nearly 74 miles west, ending on the Burlington waterfront about 13 hours later. Her aunt followed in a car, and they met up every five miles so Spotz could refuel with water and sports drinks.

“Ending in Burlington was just so beautiful,” Spotz said. “It wasn’t a race, but it did have that feeling of crossing a finish line, just having all the people around — even though no one really knew where I came from that morning.”

Spotz is raising money for Lifewater International, a Christian organization that works mostly in Africa to provide clean water.

Thus far, she has raised about $14,000 toward a $20,000 goal for a project in Tanzania.

“Right now, one in three people don’t have clean water, and I believe that we can change that,” Spotz said. “I’ve been humbled to see that these adventures aren’t just about getting from point A to point B. They’re about getting water to people and in places that deserve and need it.”

SASHA GOLDSTEIN SEVEN DAYS AUGUST 19-26, 2020

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CLASS ACTION. / Pamela Polston, Paula Routly  Paula Routly   Cathy Resmer  

Don Eggert, Pamela Polston, Colby Roberts

NEWS & POLITICS  Matthew Roy   Sasha Goldstein   Candace Page   Derek Brouwer, Colin Flanders,

Paul Heintz, Courtney Lamdin, Kevin McCallum

ARTS & LIFE  Pamela Polston   Margot Harrison   Dan Bolles, Elizabeth M. Seyler   Jordan Adams   Kristen Ravin    Carolyn Fox   Jordan Barry, Chelsea Edgar,

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FEEDback READER REACTION TO RECENT ARTICLES

MAP CHECK

[Re Bite Club: “New Yorkers Bring New Indian Restaurant to Burlington,” August 10]: This news is very welcome, as I live close by. A geographic correction: While Gujarat is south of Punjab, it is not southern India. Part of it borders Pakistan, and it is north of Mumbai.

Julia Curry

BURLINGTON

NO STONE UNTURNED

[Re “Legacy Edition,” August 5]: I’m Gordon Stone’s cousin and live in Montpelier. We were both born the same year and had known each other through our entire lives.

I have no memories of his biological mother and can say he had, at best, a complicated relationship with his stepmom. I, like so many others, had always been in awe of his musical talent and achievements. And I also watched in horror, and then detachment, his descent into various substance addictions. In recent years we had limited contact, except for most Thanksgivings, when we would invite him and his wife, Jennifer, over.

I wanted to commend Dan Bolles on his article. It was extremely well written. More importantly, it provided a spot-on portrait of Gordon. It had a core resonation of truth.

What an awful, awful tragedy addiction is, as Gordon’s life painfully shows us. It is really important to tell the whole story, and in this article Dan did an outstanding job.

There were even a handful of things that I had forgotten about Gor! Chris Stone

MONTPELIER

GREAT ARTICLE, BAD HEADLINE

Dan Bolles’ article about Gordon Stone is as fine and moving a work of music journalism as any I’ve read in years [“Legacy Edition,” August 5]. The dry headline doesn’t do justice to the contents.

Raph Worrick

CORNWALL

SOCIOBIOLOGICALLY SPEAKING…

[Re WTF: “Insecure Mask-ulinity,” August 5]: Rather than speculating about insecure masculinity and such, why not investigate mask resisting from the perspective of sociobiology? A common phenomenon observed across many species is that males take inordinate risks — risks that threaten

WEEK IN REVIEW

TIM NEWCOMB

and outdoor spaces. (A third floor could be for fun activities, with pool, ping-pong, a dance hall, a bar and lake views.) How about a parking lot with solar panel-covered parking spots — and a sculpture park?

U.S. Sen. Patrick Leahy may help get funding in a new Congress. It could be named “Marcelle Hall.”

Over the five-year plan, downtown housing and other options can be added.

Isn’t it time to make a doable backup plan?

Steph Holdridge

WILLISTON

TOO LATE TO MATTER

their survival — as a sort of “fitness performance.” Male peacocks, for example, have such long tails that they would be hardpressed to escape a hungry fox. The fact that they have them shows that they are extra strong. Similarly, male antelopes fleeing a predator take an extra second to leap higher than necessary. This demonstration of fitness is more likely to land them a mate.

It would be interesting to see if human males who resist masks are more likely to be single, are more likely to be in the age range most likely to be seeking mates, or are more likely to resist masks at the times of year when humans are most likely to mate.

If this hypothesis were to be borne out by the data, it would be much more useful in convincing men to change their behavior.

Rather than hear, “You are an insecuremasculinity jerk,” wouldn’t you rather hear, “That’s unconscious biology taking you over; you can be smarter than that”?

Ann Stanton

MONTPELIER

ON THE WRONG COURSE

[Re Off Message: “UVM Details Plan to Resume In-Person Classes This Fall,” June 15; “Weinberger Questions UVM’s Plan to Prevent Fall Outbreaks,” August 6; “Despite Mayor’s Concerns, UVM Stands

By Its Reopening Plan,” August 11]: The generally chaotic and rapidly evolving plans and epidemiological context for reopening campuses create enormous uncertainty. Here, where we have been much more successful than many states in containing the pandemic, there’s risk that success may be fleeting. More students seem to have summered in Vermont than typically do, and their enthusiasm for

masks and social distance has not been evident.

Though colleges all have plans, none in Vermont has testing protocols as rigorous as recommended in an August 2 New York Times story headlined “Covid Tests and Quarantines: Colleges Brace for an Uncertain Fall.” The article suggests that the variety and range of approaches including hybrid or face-to-face instruction will soon prove untenable.

Burlington has been lax about overcrowding in units rented to students, and the University of Vermont appears even less inclined now than previously to adhere to its published requirement that first- and second-year students live on campus.

In the midst of a pandemic, these propensities are dangerous.

Seven Days is proud of its political coverage [Inside Seven Days: “Slideshow: We’ve Covered a Lot of Politics in 25 Years,” August 13], but that important work has been useless to me as an early voter. A revealing article [“Dose of Reality: How David Zuckerman Has Spun His Record on Vaccine Mandates,” August 3] might have changed votes in the Democratic primary for governor, but it wasn’t available in print until August 5, and Election Day was August 11. How many Vermonters saw the article before they voted? According to election data [Off Message: “Vermonters Smash Primary Turnout Record,” August 12], early votes represented close to twothirds of the votes cast in our primary.

Because of the current postal problems, a congressman with postal service oversight advises that all November ballots get returned by mail no later than mid-October.

So, when you get your ballot, don’t delay in returning it. And Seven Days, complete your political articles now and don’t delay in publishing them — preferably as early in September as possible.

Millicent Eidson

BURLINGTON

Michael Long

BURLINGTON

CORRECTION TIME FOR A BACKUP PLAN

[Re Off Message: “Brookfield Looks to Abandon Stalled CityPlace Burlington Project,” July 22]: Can we take this time to prepare a plan in case Brookfield goes forward with abandoning CityPlace? Yes! One idea is to scale the project over five years with a plan developed by a “Local Rethink Task Force” of local architects, developers and citizens. The goal: attracting locals and tourists to downtown with a “Food First” strategy.

Let’s create a Burlington-scale, Vermontstyle version of Boston’s Faneuil Hall with two floors of food vendors, farmers, artists, buskers and more! Let’s build a cuttingedge, world-class net-zero building with amazing ventilation systems and a greenhouse! Let’s cover the seasons with indoor

Last week’s cover story, “Outdoor Voice,” misstated where Mirna Valerio grew up. She was raised in a Brooklyn apartment building.

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TAKE PART IN VERMONT’S HISTORY. DISCOVER YOUR FUTURE

BY VISITING THE PAST

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SEVEN DAYS AUGUST 19-26, 2020

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contents AUGUST 19-26, 2020 VOL.25 NO.47

Plant some privacy with Arborvitae!

THE COVID SEMESTER

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Vermont colleges laid testing plans to restart safely.

Will they work?

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NEWS & POLITICS 11 From the Publisher Building the Bench

How Democratic women are preparing to run Vermont

Bungled Ballots

Mail-in primary voting shot up, but thousands of “spoiled” ballots got tossed

Staying Aloft

Despite fewer passengers, BTV is weathering the pandemic

STUCK IN VERMONT

24

ARTS NEWS 22 Be Better

Carry the Flame

Service With a Smile

Couch Cinema: Support the Girls

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FEATURES 28

The Road Not Taken

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Vermonting: Hiking in and around Middlebury

Online Thursday

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SECTIONS This summer, a group of St. Albans students SUPPORTED BY: from the Maple Run Unified School District made a film about issues important to their generation, including the Black Lives Matter protests, climate change and COVID-19. Eva talks with them about returning to school in a pandemic.

8/17/20 2:08 PM

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FROM THE PUBLISHER

College Try

In retrospect, September 6, 1995, was a pretty good time to start a newspaper. It was pre-internet, and Vermont had already been without the Vanguard Press for five years — long enough for readers to appreciate the vital role an “alternative weekly” could play: covering disenfranchised populations, local arts and food, and, of course, the mainstream media.

It was the right time of year, too — a busy fall 1995 2020 performing arts season would transition nicely to events and business around the holidays. After losing our journalism jobs in mid-July, Pamela Polston and I spent six whirlwind weeks writing a business plan, raising capital, selling ads, finding office space and equipment, and hiring people. Once Seven Days was ready to launch, the two of us set out to report and write content for the inaugural issue. The theme: back to school.

Despite a hideous cover, the paper contained a pretty good mix of stories: Political columnist Peter Freyne shocked readers with a first-person piece about his time in a seminary, training to be a priest; English professor Phil Baruth, now a state senator, contributed an excerpt from his Burlingtoninspired book, The Dream of the White Village. I profiled Henry Chauncey, the man who invented the Scholastic Aptitude Test, who was then a resident at Wake Robin in Shelburne.

There was even a food piece — a pizza survey — that perfectly served the purposes of our hungry, hardworking staff. Leonardo’s came out on top, by the way, and remains our go-to brand for election nights at the office.

The next day we started all over again. As our oldest joke goes: Maybe if we’d called it “Five Days” we wouldn’t be working seven days a week.

Still are, 25 years later, but the back-to-school stories have certainly changed. Instead of riffing on funny class names in local course catalogs, we’re reporting about testing protocols and quarantine strategies. In this week’s cover story, Derek Brouwer explores the lengths to which Vermont colleges are going to safely accommodate students. Delivering education has always been a challenge, but not like this.

College brought me to Vermont and, like many of my classmates, I stayed. I loved the landscape and the way people took care of each other. Community was not something we really had in suburban Maryland. Here, it seemed, was a place where people learned from the mistakes of the rest of the country — and worked hard to preserve what was good. I was in.

Many Seven Days staffers, including a few of our next-generation owners, tell similar stories.

Enticing students to get to know Vermont, love it like we do, and maybe stick around has always been part of Seven Days’ strategy.

Pre-pandemic, we published an annual newcomers’ guide to Burlington, called What’s Good, and hosted the Vermont Tech Jam, a career and tech expo. This fall we’re brainstorming Want to help Seven Days through ways to give the current crop of students a the pandemic? Become a Super Reader. glimpse of life beyond the ivory tower.

Look for the “Give Now” buttons at the top of We hope the first lesson they’ll learn is sevendaysvt.com. Or send a check with your that Vermonters look out for one another. address and contact info to: There’s a reason the state’s COVID-19 rates SEVEN DAYS, C/O SUPER READERS P.O. BOX 1164 are the lowest in the nation, and we’d like to BURLINGTON, VT 05402-1164 keep it that way, thank you.

For more information on making a financial So, welcome to Vermont, students. And contribution to Seven Days, please contact please be responsible.

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SEVEN DAYS AUGUST 19-26, 2020

11

news

MORE INSIDE

TURBULENT TIMES AT BTV AIRPORT PAGE 16

STATEHOUSE

BURLINGTON WATERFRONT’S FACE-LIFT PAGE 19

COURTESY OF EMERGE VERMONT

Emerge Vermont participants and leaders with former governor Madeleine Kunin (center)

Building the Bench How Democratic women are preparing to run Vermont B Y PAUL HEI N TZ

W

hen the Vermont House voted last year to codify abortion rights in state law, Rep. Bob Bancroft (R-Westford) led the opposition, introducing a flurry of unsuccessful amendments to restrict a woman’s right to choose.

His advocacy didn’t sit well with one constituent. “I was angry,” said Alyssa Black, a 50-year-old medical billing manager from Essex. “I said, ‘I can’t believe this guy represents me.’ Somebody basically said to me as I was fuming, ‘Well, why don’t you run?’ And my initial response was, ‘Well, that’s ridiculous.’”

Black soon learned about Emerge Vermont, a 7-year-old organization that teaches Democratic women how to run for public office. She signed up last fall for a six-month, 70-hour training program and, partway through, decided it wasn’t such a ridiculous idea after all.

“Frankly, it gave me not only the courage to run but it provided me with the confidence that I could do this,” Black said. “And it also gave me this 12

SEVEN DAYS AUGUST 19-26, 2020

incredible network of outstanding women who encouraged me.”

Black is now part of the largest-ever group of Emerge alumnae to stand for election in Vermont. This year, 38 graduates decided to run for the legislature or statewide office — and, after last week’s primary, 31 will move on to the general election. Among them are 15 incumbent members of the House and Senate, most of whom face little opposition.

Already, 36 alumnae hold public office in the state, including Senate Majority Leader Becca Balint (D-Windham), House Majority Leader Jill Krowinski (D-Burlington), Natural Resources Secretary Julie Moore, Chittenden County State’s Attorney Sarah George and Montpelier Mayor Anne Watson.

There’s a distinct possibility that women will hold two more key positions next year. Balint, a third-term state senator, is the only declared candidate for Senate president pro tempore — the most powerful position in the chamber. The

52-year-old Brattleboro resident would become the first woman and first openly gay person to hold the post. And Molly Gray, a 36-year-old assistant attorney general and 2020 Emerge graduate, last week won the Democratic nomination for lieutenant governor, making her a favorite to become the fourth woman in Vermont history to serve in the role.

“I think it shows that the trainings we provide and the network women plug into — the sisterhood that’s created — really does work,” said Krowinski, whose day job is executive director of Emerge.

Though women hold only 63 of 150 seats in the Vermont House — roughly 41 percent — they constitute a majority of the Democratic caucus. Nine of the House’s 14 major committees are chaired by women, and the chamber is run by House Speaker Mitzi Johnson (D-South Hero) and Krowinski.

2020

ELECTION

BUILDING THE BENCH

» P.14

Scott’s Spending Plan Avoids Tax Hikes, Budget Cuts B Y PAU L H EIN T Z

When Vermont lawmakers signed off on a short-term state budget in June, they were prepared to return in August to an even bigger fiscal mess, created by the devastating toll the coronavirus pandemic has taken on the state’s economy. But for now, at least, the mess isn’t as big as expected — thanks to unanticipated tax revenue, state government savings and federal assistance.

As a result, Gov. Phil Scott’s administration believes the state can survive the current fiscal year without raising taxes, cutting programs or tapping its reserves.

“Just like families are doing, we’re setting priorities — trying to do things smarter and better while making some difficult decisions,” Scott said at a press conference on Tuesday.

In a proposal submitted to the legislature later that day, the Scott administration pitched a nearly $1.7 billion general fund budget for the 2021 fiscal year that, in some ways, mirrors the plan he laid out in January, before the pandemic reached Vermont.

Though state economists forecast last week that the general fund would collect $182 million less in tax revenue this year than anticipated in January, it benefited from a $130 million surplus.

That’s the result of greater-thanexpected 2019 income tax payments, which arrived belatedly in July, as well as savings ordered up in the spring at the height of the pandemic.

Departments and agencies also managed to cut another $28 million in costs.

Federal assistance made a difference, too, because state government workers participating in the response to the pandemic can be paid with emergency relief dollars and because the feds have boosted Medicaid payments during the emergency.

“It’s predominantly a steady-as-yougo, status-quo budget,” Scott’s finance commissioner, Adam Greshin, said on Tuesday afternoon.

The legislature, which is scheduled to reconvene next week, has until late September to revise the administration’s budget proposal. It must also come up with a plan to dole out the remainder of the $1.25 billion in federal CARES Act funds available to the state.

In its proposal to the legislature, the administration included a $243 million wish list of initiatives it would like to fund with the federal aid, including more support for businesses and nonprofits.

Contact: paul@sevendaysvt.com

Bungled Ballots Mail-in primary voting shot up, but thousands of “spoiled” votes got tossed

BY KEVIN MC C ALL UM

T

he number of Vermonters who voted by mail soared to record levels in last week’s primary — but so did the number of botched ballots.

Of the 174,987 votes cast on August 11 — a record for a primary — 6,055 were ruled defective and discarded. That’s 3.6 percent of ballots, nine times higher than the 0.40 percent from 2018’s primary.

“It’s a concern that we had 6,000 votes that were not counted for one reason or another,” Secretary of State Jim Condos said last Friday. “It would be wrong if I just sat back and said, ‘That’s acceptable.’”

The issue is a particular cause for concern because balloting in the November 3 general election is expected to take place largely by mail, thanks to the coronavirus pandemic.

others filled out a ballot in more than one primary — picking David Zuckerman for governor in the Democratic primary, for example, and Gov. Phil Scott in the Republican primary.

Uncounted or spoiled ballots may very well have altered the outcome of a few races that were decided by a small number of votes. Clerks in Chittenden County — where just 45 votes separated two candidates for the Democrats’ sixth state Senate nomination — reported 1,779 defective ballots.

“I just think primaries are challenging,” said Lisa O’Neil, town clerk in Hartford. “I think people get overwhelmed by the amount of information in the envelope we send them.”

Of the 1,857 votes cast in Hartford, 131, or 7 percent, were rejected as defective, O’Neil said. She didn’t immediately know how that compared to past years, but it’s 18 times higher than the statewide defective rate last primary.

The error rate is clearly related to the multiple ballots people received for the primary, said O’Neil, whose office received many questions from voters.

“There were people confused about why they got three ballots,” O’Neil said.

“There were people confused about why there was no presidential ballot in there.”

Many — but not all — town clerks insert instruction sheets in the absentee ballot package. These so-called “buck sheets” are supposed to give voters clear, concise step-by-step instructions for how to complete and return the ballot, Condos said. The sheets largely repeat the instructions preprinted on the ballot envelopes.

“Despite that, we still have people who just didn’t follow the rules,” Condos said.

Voter Brendan Corey of East Fairfield said he was not surprised to see the high error rate, given how many steps were involved and how much information people had to read in various locations.

“Once you opened up that big envelope, it was like, ‘Holy crap!’” said Corey, a Franklin County middle school teacher.

“They’ve got to keep it as simple as possible to get the most Vermonters to vote.”

He suggested larger font sizes,

2020

ELECTION

IT WOULD BE WRONG IF I JUST SAT BACK AND SAID,

“THAT’S ACCEPTABLE.”

S E C R ETARY OF STATE J IM CON DOS

Efforts by the White House to undermine confidence in mail-in voting and to withhold funding from the U.S. Postal Service are amplifying anxiety about the election. Condos branded the Trump administration effort a “disgrace to our democracy.” Postmaster General Louis DeJoy, a Trump appointee, announced Tuesday an end to highly criticized costcutting moves until after the election.

Condos’ office will begin mailing ballots on September 18 to overseas military members and, soon thereafter, to every other active registered voter in Vermont — essentially, any voter whose status is not being challenged by their local election board.

Vermont has embraced voting from home as the safest way to cast a ballot during this pandemic-plagued year. For the August primary, mail-in voters were sent three ballots to choose from, one for each of the state’s major parties. Some voters failed to sign the envelope containing their voted ballot as required. Others neglected to return their unmarked ballots, another requirement. Still

BUNGLED BALLOTS

» P.17

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13

7/29/20 10:10 AM

news The Vermont Senate has further to go in achieving gender parity. According to Rutgers University’s Center for American Women and Politics, the high-water mark for equal representation in the chamber came after the 1996 election, when 12 of its 30 members were women. Currently, only 10 are — and, given the dearth of women running for the Senate this year, there’s little chance that number will grow in the next biennium.

“Change takes time, right?” Balint said. She attributed the glacial pace to the power of incumbency (16 of the Senate’s 20 men have spent at least a decade in state office) and the challenge of serving in a part-time legislature while building a career and raising a family. “That’s why we see a lot of older women in the Senate: They did other things first,” Balint said.

“It makes it challenging to build a bench.”

Though Vermont ranks fifth in the nation for electing women to the legislature, according to the Center for American Women and Politics, it has a dismal record of promoting them to statewide office.

Only 11 of the 296 statewide officeholders elected since 1778 have been women, according to Change the Story VT, an initiative to economically empower women. Currently, only one is: Treasurer Beth Pearce. Vermont still has had just one female governor, Madeleine Kunin, and it’s the only state in the country never to have elected a woman to Congress.

“We have this mini glass ceiling that seems to have sealed over after Madeleine Kunin,” said Natalie Silver, a 26-yearold political operative who served as a spokesperson and campaign manager for Attorney General T.J. Donovan and is an Emerge instructor. “It’s embarrassing that we’ve never sent a woman to Washington.”

Samantha Sheehan, Gray’s 32-yearold campaign manager, said she keeps a pin from Kunin’s 1986 reelection race in her bedroom to remind her that the last time Vermont elected a female governor was before she was born. “It’s just fundamentally not OK,” said Sheehan, who met Gray when the two took part in an Emerge training last year.

In recent years, several women with impressive résumés have mounted strong but ultimately unsuccessful gubernatorial campaigns. Former transportation secretary Sue Minter won the Democratic nomination in 2016, and former Vermont Electric Coop CEO Christine Hallquist followed suit two years later, but both were felled by Republican Gov. Phil Scott.

Last week, former education secretary Rebecca Holcombe came up short against Lt. Gov. David Zuckerman in this year’s Democratic primary.

14

SEVEN DAYS AUGUST 19-26, 2020

JEB WALLACE-BRODEUR

Building the Bench « P.12

Molly Gray

“Gender plays a very big role in every race,” Minter said. “Research has shown that voters are more willing to support [a woman for] legislator or advocate than for a position that holds the purse strings.”

Hallquist, an Emerge alumna, was the nation’s first openly transgender candidate to win a major-party gubernatorial nomination. But, she said, “For me, I think the more difficult issue was being a woman rather than being transgender.”

Vermont’s failure to elect a woman to Congress is at least partly the result of virtually nonexistent turnover in the state’s federal delegation. The same three men — Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Rep. Peter Welch (D-Vt.) — have held those positions for 14 years, with little opposition. Leahy has served in Congress since 1974, and Sanders since 1990.

When Gray was born in 1984, Leahy was already in his second term in the Senate, Sanders was mayor of Burlington and Welch was minority leader of the Vermont Senate.

Some women are eyeing 2022 as the year the logjam could finally break. With Leahy and Welch both up for reelection that year and Scott — assuming he’s reelected this fall — completing his third term, it’s possible there will be vacancies at the top. Part of Emerge’s mission, according to Krowinski, is to establish “a pipeline of women” ready to move up when such a moment arrives.

“This doesn’t happen overnight. This work takes years and years,” she said. “I

bet next cycle we will see more on the statewide ballot.”

Balint, Krowinski, Gray and Johnson are all mentioned as potential contenders for Vermont’s top offices, as are past candidates, such as Minter, Hallquist and Holcombe. “I’m certainly thinking about a statewide run,” Balint said. “Women dodge that question, but of course I’m thinking about it.”

IT’S EMBARRASSING THAT

WE’VE NEVER SENT A WOMAN TO WASHINGTON. NATAL IE S ILVE R

One dynamic that could change the face of Vermont politics, according to Silver, is that younger women seem less inclined than earlier generations to “wait their turn” to run for statewide office. “There is less of a sense among people my age that you have to check boxes,” she said, referring to the notion that one must first serve on a town selectboard or in the legislature.

“There’s less of a sense of, ‘I have to prove myself for decades.’”

Silver said she was surprised by the way some people responded to Gray’s decision to run for lieutenant governor in her first electoral outing. One opponent, Senate President Pro Tempore Tim Ashe (D/P-Chittenden), suggested in a debate that she should have run for the House

first. Another opponent — and fellow Emerge graduate — Sen. Debbie Ingram (D-Chittenden) told Seven Days last month that voters expect leaders “to have run for lower offices and to have acquired all that experience.”

“There’s no line,” Silver said. “We should never be griping about women who have a vision and have a passion for running for office.”

Among the many challenges female politicians face is the way they are represented in the news media. A number of prominent Vermont politicos recoiled on Twitter earlier this month after VTDigger.org published a series of candidate profiles that prominently featured physical descriptions of office seekers.

A piece about Republican lieutenant gubernatorial candidate Meg Hansen dwelled on her “youthful and petite appearance,” as well as her “bulbous cheek bones and almost shockingly flawless skin,” while a profile of Gray began with a description of her outfit, including her “matching wedges.” Republican Scott Milne, meanwhile, was described as having “the physical appearance of a classic northern New England politician.”

“This has to stop,” Balint tweeted, prompting Rep. Sarah Copeland Hanzas (D-Bradford) to add, “So not cool.”

VTDigger managing editor Colin Meyn told Seven Days that the news outlet had taken the criticism to heart. “We did indeed receive significant blowback, both directly and on social media, for these

SUNDAY physical descriptions,” he said, noting that they are common to long-form profiles. “We have listened to that feedback, as we always do, and will be mindful moving forward of how these descriptions landed with our readers.”

A recent study by the University of Vermont’s Center for Research on Vermont found that women are less likely than men to be quoted in stories about state politics and policy. Rebekah Silver, the UVM student who authored the paper, examined 197 stories about the legislature published

by VTDigger and Seven Days during the first two months of three legislative sessions, from 2018 through 2020. Only 43 percent of those quoted were women.

That could be the result of sexism or the dwindling number of women in the Statehouse press corps — or it might just be a reflection of the number of women in public office.

Though Emerge Vermont is dedicated to electing women, those women must be Democrats. The organization is a chapter of Emerge America, which operates in 28 other states. As a so-called “527” political nonprofit, it can raise and spend unlimited sums of money, but it cannot explicitly endorse or contribute to candidates.

The national organization’s top donors, according to Internal Revenue Service filings, include a variety of foundations, labor unions and investment groups. Burlington-based Burton Snowboards contributed more than $80,000 between 2013 and 2018, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.

Rep. Heidi Scheuermann (R-Stowe) said she’s been frustrated over the years that Emerge bills itself as “a women’s empowerment organization” when, in fact, it only trains Democrats. A recent Emerge graduate, Jo Sabel Courtney, is challenging her in this fall’s election.

Despite her misgivings, Scheuermann says she respects Emerge’s success. “It would be wonderful if there was a similar organization for more moderate women and conservative women, but that’s just not realistic,” she said, referring to the beleaguered state of the Vermont Republican Party.

The Vermont Progressive Party also lacks an equivalent initiative, according to executive director Josh Wronski, but it has nevertheless been successful in recruiting women to electoral politics.

All five Progressive newcomers who won Democratic primary races for the House last week are women, he noted, including Taylor Small of Winooski, who could become the first openly transgender person to serve in the legislature.

Emerge participants run the gamut from recent college graduates to retirees.

Barbara Noyes Pulling, 66, spent

decades as a broadcast journalist and, more recently, as a regional planner before deciding to run for the House in her native Rutland Town. Like Black, she was inspired, in part, by the lack of competition her local legislator, fourterm Rep. Thomas Terenzini (R-Rutland Town), has faced in recent years.

“This is not really democracy at work if the incumbent doesn’t have to answer to his constituency because he doesn’t have any opposition,” Pulling said.

After her town Democratic committee recruited her to run, Pulling signed up for a weekend-long “boot camp” Emerge runs for those already seeking office. Like the six-month course, it taught her how to raise money, communicate with the media and comply with election laws, among other skills. “It’s soup to nuts on how to run a campaign,” she said.

Among Pulling’s classmates was Tiff Bluemle, 59, a former executive director of Vermont Works for Women who founded Change the Story VT. Though Bluemle had lengthy experience in the nonprofit world, she said she felt utterly unprepared when she decided to run for an open seat representing Burlington’s South End in the House.

“I did Emerge because I didn’t know what I didn’t know,” she said. “I was kind of a reluctant candidate … I found it very difficult to talk about myself.”

That’s a common phenomenon, according to Mary Meagher, a veteran communications strategist who helps teach Emerge participants how to deliver their stump speeches and deal with the media. “There’s a lot of nervousness when we first start,” she said. “They’re trying to get over putting themselves out there publicly, which is usually a challenge more for women than for men.”

When Black, the Essex legislative candidate, decided to run for office, she had already learned how to advocate for policy change. After her 23-year-old son, Andrew, died by suicide in December 2018, she and her husband, Rob, became forceful — and effective — activists for firearm waiting periods. In a single legislative session, they helped push the House and Senate to pass a 24-hour waiting period bill, though it was vetoed by Scott. (Bancroft, who did not respond to a request for comment, opposed the measure.)

Despite her legislative success, Black still wasn’t sure she had what it takes to run for public office — at least, until she finished her Emerge training. “I went into it with a lot of self-doubt,” she said.

“I walked out of it confident that this was something I could do and that I could be successful.”

Contact: paul@sevendaysvt.com

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Staying Aloft Despite fewer passengers, BTV is weathering the pandemic B Y C O UR TN EY L A MDIN

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SEVEN DAYS AUGUST 19-26, 2020

COURTNEY LAMDIN

G

ene Richards had been looking forward to celebrating Burlington International Airport’s 100th birthday this month. The facility’s aviation director had scheduled an air show featuring World War I-era planes and the modern-day F-35 fighter jet. History buffs would take in a 90-minute documentary about the airfield’s evolution, and a national conference was expected to draw as many as 400 airport directors to the area.

That was before the coronavirus pandemic, which has turned BTV’s banner year into a major bummer. Boardings have taken a nosedive after reaching a 10-year high in 2018. The once-crowded parking lot is now glaringly empty, and, on a recent weekday, just two people waited at a Transportation Security Administration checkpoint. The birthday bash has been postponed until next summer — assuming the pandemic is over by then.

“Things were looking up,” airport commission chair Jeff Munger said, “but since the pandemic, I don’t know where we are.”

Burlington isn’t alone in its flight plight.

Stay-at-home orders, travel bans and a newfound fear of flying nearly wiped out air travel in the pandemic’s early days this spring. U.S. airlines carried 96 percent fewer passengers in April 2020 than in April 2019, the largest year-to-year drop ever recorded by the federal Bureau of Transportation Statistics. At BTV, passenger numbers plummeted to 1,448 that month.

Yet there are indications that BTV is pulling out of the dive. In early April, the Burlington airport received an $8.7 million grant, part of a $10 billion federal relief package for airports affected by COVID-19. Bookings and flights, too, have ticked up ever so slightly after three slow months.

The coronavirus era is the most turbulent challenge in the airport’s century-long history, but Richards and other city officials believe BTV can weather the storm — they’re just not sure how long the storm will last.

“We’re facing an enormously disruptive economic event with this pandemic, and I don’t think any of us yet fully know the scope of that and whether we’ve really hit the bottom,” Burlington Mayor

Lines at the airport were short last week.

Monthly Passenger Departures From Burlington International Airport 80,000

April 2019: 54,340

2018-19

40,000

April 2020: 1,448

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Miro Weinberger said. “There’s a lot of reason to be confident that once we get through this, there will be some return to normalcy.”

The airport ’s 100-year story is bookended by global pandemics. The third wave of the so-called Spanish flu had just subsided in the summer of 1919 when three men scouted out the South Burlington cornfield that would become the airport. Burlington leased 72 acres for $100 and built a runway with the city’s horse-drawn grader and

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steamroller. By the time the first plane landed there on August 14, 1920, the influenza pandemic had killed 100 million people worldwide, including more than 2,100 Vermonters.

“We started this in the same type of times we are [in] today,” Richards said. “People even back then felt a need for an airport.”

The airport survived the Great Depression and, in the 1940s, received New Deal funding to improve its runway and expand its footprint. Today, the airport covers 942

TRANSPORTATION

acres in the city of South Burlington, an arrangement that has long been a source of tension.

The suburban city had little say in recent decades as Burlington razed dozens of homes as part of a controversial noisemitigation program. Last year’s arrival of the Vermont Air National Guard’s F-35s has fueled even more furor among residents in both cities who say the jets are too loud.

The commercial airport had gotten busier, too. By the end of June 2019, boardings had increased 16 percent since fiscal year 2017, topping out at 693,208. This January, the city reported that airline service out of Burlington was expected to jump 5 percent in the coming years, aided by expanded nonstop routes to major hubs in Charlotte, N.C., and Atlanta.

The coronavirus put a stop to that.

The airport’s other moneymakers are suffering, too. Business is dismal for the seven car rental agencies, which normally gross more than $25 million every year.

The airport’s cut of those profits typically exceeds $2.3 million, more than 10 percent of its total annual revenues.

Concessions earnings are down, too.

Only one of three Skinny Pancake restaurants is open; ditto Hudson News stores.

Fewer cars in the parking garage means less ticket revenue. And the 108-room Fairfield Marriott hotel that was supposed to break ground in July — a lucrative lease for the airport — is now on hold.

To counter the losses, the airport has delayed plans to spend $300,000 fixing up the parking garage.

BTV is not making any money, but Richards isn’t too stressed.

“I’m naturally enthusiastic no matter what,” he said. “You could throw me in boiling water, and I’d find a way to cool it down.”

Weinberger said the airport is better positioned to survive this downturn than the financial crisis a decade ago. The city was still reeling from the Great Recession when Richards came on board in 2013 and BTV’s credit rating was in the toilet. Richards recalled that the airport had just one day’s worth of cash on hand when he started. Within a year, he built up cash reserves and balanced the budget, STAYING ALOFT

» P.18

easier-to-follow instructions, and maybe even some graphics or user-friendly symbols.

One of the most common errors was filling out more than one party ballot.

After choosing one party’s ballot, voters were supposed to place the two unvoted party ballots in an envelope and mail them back, as well. Some people marked more than one ballot, invalidating both.

Some also failed to return the unvoted ballots, which is required by law to prevent voter fraud. Their returned ballots were invalidated.

Still other voters forgot to sign their names on the outside of the “certification envelope” containing their marked ballot, Condos explained. The measures all exist to ensure the integrity of the absentee ballot system.

“It’s never been as big a problem as it was this year,” Condos said. “And now that it’s happened, we’re going to take a look at that again.”

Condos said elections officials plan to brainstorm with town clerks how to improve mail-in voting and the upcoming general election process.

The Town of Bennington had one of the higher rates of defective ballots – 7.7 percent, or 215 out of the 2,796 ballots received.

The large number of people voting by mail for the first time certainly contributed to the confusion, Town Clerk Cassandra Barbeau said. Filling out multiple ballots was more of a problem this year, she said.

“The primary is a tricky election,” she said. “In Vermont, people don’t like to stick

EVA SOLLBERGER

Bungled Ballots « P.13

to one party. We’re an independent group of people.”

People voted one ballot, then spotted someone they liked on a second ballot and wrongly thought they could vote for that candidate, too, Barbeau explained. The multiple-ballot problem will take care of itself in the simpler general election, she said, when each voter gets just one ballot.

“Although we had a high rate of defective ballots, I don’t expect it will be as much of an issue in November,” Barbeau said.

Condos said clearer, concise instructions will accompany all ballots this fall.

The return envelopes will be marked with a red stripe to signify that they enclose a voted ballot. This should help the post office prioritize them for on-time delivery, Condos said. It is possible that some primary

ballots were declared defective because they arrived too late, he said.

“My nature is to see what we can find for solutions to overcome that issue and try to reduce that number significantly,” Condos said.

Part of the challenge is that ballots are considered cast the moment they are put in the mail, just as if they had been dropped into a ballot box at the polls. If the voter belatedly realizes they made a mistake, there’s no way to fix the error, explained Eric Covey, spokesperson for the Secretary of State’s Office.

Voters can check at the Secretary of State’s My Voter Page, mvp.vermont.gov, to see whether their ballot has been received.

The site will list a ballot as defective before the election if clerks enter that data, which is not required.

“Once your piece of mail gets to our office, it’s considered voted,” O’Neil confirmed.

That’s different from voting at the polls.

“In the case of a voter on Election Day, they would go back to the clerk and say ‘Oh, I’ve made a mistake.’ And they’d be given an opportunity to get a new ballot,” Barbeau, the Bennington clerk, explained.

Given that this option is not available to at-home voters, O’Neil, the Hartford clerk, suggested that voters ask a family member to help them if necessary. Barbeau advised all voters to simply take their time.

“There is no pressure,” she said.

“Sit down at your dining room table or wherever your comfy spot is, read all the instructions, and then proceed.”

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elevating the airport’s credit rating to investment grade from an abysmal junk bond status.

Since then, Richards has diversified BTV’s revenue streams, such as by renting space on a commercial property it owns on Williston Road to Mirabelles Bakery and other shops, all of which are open during the pandemic.

The airport now has more than 400 days of cash on hand, and Richards expects another round of relief funds for airports.

“I don’t believe that the [Federal Aviation Administration] or federal government is going to let all the airports go to hell,” Richards said. Between grants and cash reserves, “I daresay we could weather two and a half years of this,” he added.

In order to receive the federal funds, the airport had to keep its 52 workers on the books. Weinberger said the city hasn’t furloughed any employees so far, something he’s hoping to maintain.

“If we saw a sustained downturn that impacted airport finances, you’d have to look at making cuts that we haven’t yet,” said Weinberger, who served as an airport commissioner before he was elected mayor in 2012. “In terms of the initial shock of the pandemic, I think we’re in pretty good shape.”

But no one can predict when people will feel comfortable flying again. After September 11, 2001, the number of passengers in the skies didn’t rebound to

pre-terror attack levels for three years, according to a U.S. Department of Transportation study.

Munger says he won’t fly until there’s a working coronavirus vaccine. Fellow commissioner Helen Riehle, the South Burlington city council president, however, hopped on a plane to Detroit last week — with a mask suctioned to her face.

I DARESAY WE COULD

WEATHER TWO AND A HALF YEARS OF THIS. G EN E R I C HA R D S

“I haven’t seen my daughters or granddaughters since Christmas,” she said before her trip to Salt Lake City, Utah.

“I’m cautious about flying. I don’t think I’ll be flying out every week.”

At age 94, Ed Colodny is one of those still flying. He caught a plane from his winter home in Fort Myers, Fla., to his summer residence near Washington, D.C., in early July. The retired U.S. Airways CEO grew up in Burlington and says his early memories of the local airfield inspired him to become a commercial pilot.

He’s seen the airline industry survive spikes in the price of jet fuel, worker unrest and the 9/11 attacks — none of which was as prolonged as the pandemic.

Still, Colodny thinks BTV will survive.

“Can you imagine the Burlington

Contact: courtney@sevendaysvt.com

Moran Plant

JAMES BUCK

airport being closed? The tens of thousands of people that come in and out of Vermont every year not having that facility to come to?” he said. “The economy of Vermont would be devastated if the Burlington airport weren’t there to serve.”

A city report published in January estimates that BTV supports nearly 5,000 jobs in the area and creates more than $481 million in economic activity, including $141 million in tourist dollars every year.

City Councilor Jack Hanson (P-East District) thinks the pandemic has shown that Burlington and Vermont as a whole are over-reliant on tourism. He wants leaders to pivot to a more sustainable economy — one that is less dependent on air travel.

“The focus [should be] creating that local resiliency rather than trying to pump up the amount of people flying into Burlington during a climate crisis and during a pandemic,” Hanson said. Using coronavirus funds to bail out airlines and airports is “the exact wrong approach right now,” he added.

The state should invest in high-speed rail and tax frequent flyer miles and luxury car sales to support programs to incentivize electric vehicles for lowerincome Vermonters, Hanson suggested.

The Progressive city councilor has also criticized Weinberger’s net-zero energy plan, which aims to eliminate the city’s fossil fuel use by 2030. When Weinberger announced the plan in September 2019, he did not include emissions caused by air or rail travel, saying instead that jet exhaust is a problem “that cannot continue to be neglected and ignored by the federal government.”

Hanson, who gave up flying in 2015 to reduce his carbon footprint, agrees but thinks the pandemic presents an opportunity to “think bigger” about the city’s future.

Richards, for his part, is just taking things one day at a time. The airport has done what it can to try to make air travel more appealing — and safe. Temperature screening devices scan passengers as they deplane and exit the terminal, and hand sanitizer dispensers are plentiful. Staff disinfect high-touch areas up to eight times a day.

The airlines, which are just as beleaguered as the airports they serve, have assured Richards they will continue flying to Burlington.

“I’m optimistic we’re gonna come out of this stronger than ever,” he said. “I’m feeling quite young for 100.”

DEVELOPMENT

Burlington to Officially Break Ground on Moran Plant Project

BY S A S HA G OLD ST EIN

Nearly 35 years after it last belched smoke into the sky, the Moran Plant is coming down — most of it, anyway.

City officials planned to break ground on Wednesday, August 19, on a “deconstruction” project for the old coal-fired power plant on the Burlington waterfront. The longawaited redevelopment will remove the outer brick layer of the building and leave the interior steel framework, the centerpiece of a new city park on a waterfront that was once devoted to industry.

Known as the FRAME design, which stands for Fearless Relook at Moran Electric, the first phase of the project is expected to take a year to complete, Mayor Miro Weinberger told Seven Days on Tuesday. It’ll “transform what has been, up until now, an eyesore into an iconic landmark,” he said of the long-vacant building.

“The Moran FRAME concept is unique, it’s authentic to Burlington, and I think it’s quite exciting,” Weinberger said. “This new structure is going to be an enormous piece of public art” that includes public access to the area.

The first phase is fairly basic.

Construction crews will remove bricks and walls and stabilize the building.

They’ll fill in the basement, which once let in water from Lake Champlain as part of the power plant’s cooling process. Some of the $6.55 million price tag, which includes $2 million from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and $3.6 million in tax-increment financing, will be used to remove toxic remnants from both the building and the land on which it sits.

Site work has already begun, and construction fencing is up around the building.

“We have a number of these long-standing, unresolved projects that go back decades around the city,” Weinberger said. “[The Moran Plant] is one of the most significant of those challenging projects that has hung out there. To bring it to resolution, I think, should be confidence building about where we go as a community.”

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SEVEN DAYS AUGUST 19-26, 2020

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8/17/20 12:16 PM

lifelines OBITUARIES

Glenn Gershaneck OCTOBER 6, 1947AUGUST 10, 2020 MONTPELIER, VT.

Glenn Gershaneck — family man, baseball fan, man with a pen, collector of hats and bolos — lost his battle with early-onset Alzheimer’s on August 10, 2020. A longtime resident of Montpelier, he died at Woodstock Terrace, his home since 2018, with his wife of 42 years by his side.

He was born in Washington, D.C., on October 6, 1947, to Viola (Keeler) and Harold Gershaneck.

He was raised in D.C. and Bennington, Vt., his mother’s hometown. He graduated from “Benn High” in 1965 and Castleton State College in 1969 with a degree in history.

He later received certificates from government programs at the University of Virginia and the Harvard Kennedy School.

Glenn had a diverse and rich work life, first in journalism and later in government

OBITUARIES, VOWS, CELEBRATIONS

— with forays into other sectors. Each benefited from his love of minutia and outstanding writing. A brilliant and curious mind made him a quick study in every job he held, enabling him to thrive in disparate professional universes. He thought of himself as a problem solver, always eager to learn and adapt to a new discipline.

His journalism career began in 1970 at the Rutland Herald, where he was nicknamed “Gunther.” On and off for the next 15 years, he held a variety of major editorial positions at the Herald; its sister paper, the Times Argus; and the papers’ joint Sunday edition. A lifelong sports fan, Glenn also wrote baseball columns for the papers.

His government career began in 1980, when he went to Washington, D.C., to become Vermont senator Robert Stafford’s first communications director.

Glenn was spokesperson for the Environment & Public Works Committee and the Labor & Human Resources Committee’s Education Subcommittee, both chaired

by Stafford. It was in D.C. that Glenn became interested in transportation policy.

In 1985, Glenn joined the administration of governor Madeleine Kunin as deputy secretary of transportation. In 1991, Glenn became communications director for governor Richard Snelling.

Following Snelling’s untimely death, Glenn continued in the same position for governor Howard Dean.

Glenn remained with Dean throughout his 12 years in office, eventually serving as deputy secretary, then

secretary of transportation and, finally, as deputy secretary of administration.

Glenn later served as deputy to state auditor Elizabeth Ready. Glenn’s final job was as executive secretary of the Vermont Transportation Board.

During breaks from journalism and government, Glenn worked in PR, education and consulting. He also wrote political columns for the Burlington Free Press and recorded commentaries for WNCS radio.

Glenn’s approach to work was greatly influenced by two mentors who became lifelong friends and with whom he corresponded until their deaths: Kendall Wild, the colorful longtime managing editor of the Herald; and Vic Maerki, Stafford’s legislative director. Vic was a stickler for ethics in government, and Glenn often asked, “What would Vic do?” when facing a tough decision.

Glenn embraced the minutia of all transportation modes — he seemed to know every inch of roadway and track in Vermont — but especially loved trains.

His proudest achievement was negotiating Amtrak Vermonter service in 1995. He also worked on the successful Ethan Allen and ill-fated Champlain Flyer rail projects.

His sensitivity to community needs resulted in awards from the National Trust for Historic Preservation and the New England Institute of Transportation Engineers.

Throughout his career, he chaired or served on countless state boards and commissions covering a wide range of issues. He

also served on the executive committee of the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (briefly as its president) and on the board of the Surface Transportation Policy Project in D.C. Glenn met his wife, Irene Racz, in the Times Argus newsroom, where they bonded over a tricky political story that she, as a green reporter, struggled to write and he, as an experienced editor, worked to polish. The hours-long tug and pull of this collaboration presaged a respect for each other that lasted throughout their lives together. They married in 1978 and had two children, Nathan in 1983 and Trina in 1988.

At home, Glenn was the chief bottle washer and tackled household chores with relish. He was a loving and attentive father, even when swamped with work. He read to his kids, coached them in sports, watched them in plays and recitals, and made what they considered to be the best French toast. They often hung out in his office after school.

In addition to a good book and his journal, Glenn always carried a few pens, so he could jot things down for future reference. Glenn’s head of thick, curly hair was often hidden by a ball cap or Western hat from his large collection. He was partial to a striped train engineer’s cap, which reflected his love of rail and became a conversation starter. Glenn began to collect bolos, and to substitute them for regular ties, after several trips out West.

Glenn was in perpetual motion and felt that he

did his best thinking while running. He completed two marathons, many half marathons and dozens of shorter races. He also enjoyed hiking, biking and skiing. He played golf for many years, although rarely to his satisfaction. At home, he maniacally tended to outside chores: gardening, mowing and raking, stacking wood, and shoveling snow.

Although Glenn was adept at other sports, he was initially a klutz on the slopes. That became evident when he had to race his New Hampshire counterpart in a downhill ski challenge that governors Dean and Gregg organized. Glenn was a good sport as the evening news aired footage of his snowplowing slowly down a slalom course. After that, the whole family thought it best to enroll in lessons and began downhill skiing regularly.

Glenn’s “racing” technique improved during subsequent governors’ challenges, which came to include Maine.

Glenn was known to be kind, witty, eccentric and stubborn — and was occasionally accused of being a Republican. Despite working for two Republicans and counting several among his closest friends, he was a liberal Democrat more concerned about a person’s integrity than his/her label. Like his mentor Vic, he was an equalopportunity critic when it came to people he perceived as dishonest or hypocritical.

Glenn was a loyal friend, maintaining relationships with many friends from college, journalism, government and central Vermont. He especially enjoyed outings with his best man, Larry Quesnel,

with whom he completed most of the Long Trail and participated on Vermont City Marathon relay teams.

Glenn was never the most adventurous traveler, but after his diagnosis he allowed his wife to drag him, sometimes with their grown kids, to far-flung parts of the world; to national parks in Alaska, the West and the South; and to concerts throughout the Northeast and even abroad. They also loved exploring the Hopi and Navajo reservations in Arizona and the Indian pueblos of New Mexico.

Their very active trips were physically and mentally restorative and a distraction from the harsh realities of Alzheimer’s.

Glenn is survived by his wife, Irene Racz; his children, Trina and “Nate” Gershaneck (Mia Metivier); his stepmother, Bette Gershaneck; a sister and two brothers; sistersin-law; and many cousins, nieces and nephews. He was predeceased by his parents, a sister and a brother.

Heartfelt thanks to friends who visited or Zoomed with Glenn until the end, especially Allen, Greg, John, Larry and Willy; the incredible Woodstock Terrace; and the Bayada hospice team.

Donations in Glenn’s memory may be made to Planned Parenthood of Northern New England or your local affiliate, the Alzheimer’s Association, or the Terrace Communities Foundation (terrace communities.com/about-us).

A celebration of his life will be scheduled when it’s safe to gather. Send memories or notes to 12 Mountainview St., Montpelier, VT 05602.

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SEVEN DAYS AUGUST 19-26, 2020

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Richard J. Barrett Jr. 1964-2020 ESSEX, VT.

A big, kind, friendly and funny, funny man, Rich Barrett always made the people around him laugh. He was so quick with a joke that would point out the folly of any weak argument, but he always delivered it with the twinkling eye that let you know he was laughing with you — not at you. He passed away on Monday, August 17, 2020, in Burlington.

He was born in Chicago and moved to Braintree, Vt., at the age of 5. This turned out to be a very good thing, since he loved to be outdoors to play in the brook,

Rebecca Babbitt

MAY 24, 1954AUGUST 18, 2020 GRAND ISLE, VT. Rebecca Hostettler Babbitt, a graphic artist and photography teacher, died peacefully on August 18, 2020, at her home in Grand Isle, Vt., after a short illness.

Rebecca was born on May 24, 1954, in Statesville, N.C. Later her family moved to

forest and fields whenever school was not in the way.

His mother was glad he finally abandoned the practice of filling his pockets with living creatures for her to set free at laundry time. This appreciation of nature lasted his entire life and was always shared with younger generations whenever the opportunity arose. He loved Vermont and found fewer and fewer compelling reasons to leave the state as time went on.

He attended schools in Braintree and Randolph and graduated from Vermont Academy. He deeply enjoyed team sports and played many in his school days and watched even more on TV or occasionally in person. Rich briefly attended Clarkson University but opted for a path more suited to him. He worked mostly in logisticsand construction-related fields. We know he will be missed by colleagues at EJ Prescott, where he spent the last 13 years. While he lived in South Burlington, Jericho and most recently Essex, Braintree was also always his home.

A caring son, brother, uncle, partner and stepdad,

Rich is survived by many who loved him and are heartbroken he is gone: sisters Stephanie Barrett and Betina Barrett-Gallant and her husband, Keith Gallant, and nephew Quinn Gallant, all of Braintree; nephew Ethan Barrett of Seattle; aunt Dorothy Bemis of Peabody, Mass.; former partner Deb Hassett of Punta Gorda, Fla.: stepdaughter Jaclyn Smith of Winooski; and many other friends. He is predeceased by his parents, Dr. Richard J. and M. Susanne Barrett, and beloved stepson Patrick Smith.

Like many on his father’s side, Rich was taken suddenly and far too soon by heart disease. The family expresses gratitude to the EMTs and especially the University of Vermont Medical Center ICU staff who cared for him at the end. Funeral and interment date to be determined.

A safe and appropriate celebration of his life will be held sometime prior to deer season. Online condolences may be left at dayfunerals. com. Arrangements are by the Day Funeral Home in Randolph.

Charlotte, N.C., where she graduated from high school.

She obtained a Bachelor of Arts from Smith College and worked as a graphic designer at the National Gardening Association. She was a teacher of black-and-white darkroom photography at BCA and participated in group and solo shows. Rebecca was active in her children’s school and sports activities, volunteering at Orchard School and for CSB Sports.

Rebecca loved her family deeply. With every decision she made, her loved ones came first. She felt right at home loading skis, snowboards or hockey bags, along with anxious children, into the family station wagon on cold, dark February mornings.

Rebecca traveled the world on the hunt for spectacular food. She was a voracious reader, an enthusiastic bicyclist and an avid gardener. She loved nothing more than to tend to her

grandsons while her children bustled about the kitchen, preparing for a big weekend meal.

She taught her family to work hard when a job needed doing and to kick back and relax when the time was right.

The way she lived and loved is a true inspiration to those lucky enough to have entered her world. Her loved ones will carry on those lessons, with her in mind, forever.

Rebecca is survived by her husband of 40 years, Bruce Babbitt; daughter Sophia Babbitt (Ryan Campagna) and grandsons Kai and Cruz Campagna; son Nicholas Babbitt (Molly O’Day); and son Gregory Babbitt (Viola Meyerweissflog). She is survived by sisters Anna Burns, Verena Putnam and Susan Fullas.

A celebration of her life will be held at a future date.

In lieu of flowers, please donate to the Grand Isle Library (10 Hyde Rd., Grand Isle, VT 05458) in her honor.

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arts news

Be Better

Rachel Maddow producer Steve Benen issues a challenge to the GOP in The Impostors B Y DA N B O LLES

I

t seems subtly symbolic that the type on the cover of Vermont author STEVE BENEN’s latest book is right justified.

“It’s of note,” he conceded, chuckling.

“It would not surprise me if the designers had that in mind, but I can’t confirm it.”

Given the book’s subject matter and title — The Impostors: How Republicans Quit Governing and Seized American Politics — the choice was surely not a coincidence.

Benen, 47, is an Emmy Award-winning producer of “The Rachel Maddow Show” on MSNBC. He curates the program’s MaddowBlog and has been an influential voice in American political commentary for more than a decade, contributing to various political blogs, newspapers — including this one — and other national media outlets.

In The Impostors, Benen trains his sights on the GOP, along with the full force of his journalistic skill and political connections. His thesis: that the selfproclaimed “party of ideas” has become what he terms a “post-policy party.” Rather than focus on governing, Benen contends, modern Republicans are concerned less — if at all — with making policy than with acquiring and maintaining power.

While exhibit A for Benen’s thesis is President Donald Trump, the writer traces the roots of post-policy governing further back than his election in 2016. Trump, he argues, is the inevitable result of years of cynicism and bad-faith politicking. Covering the period from the 2008 election of Barack Obama through Trump’s impeachment, Benen crafts an even-keeled and (mostly) dispassionate case that Republicans have abandoned not only their own long-standing ideals but those of American democracy itself.

“I’m not representing a Democratic argument so much as I’m creating a challenge to Republicans to start being better,” Benen told Seven Days last week.

We spoke with Benen by phone from his home in Essex.

BOOKS

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SEVEN DAYS AUGUST 19-26, 2020

SEVEN DAYS: Is there a better argument for the thesis of your book than what Trump is doing to the U.S. Postal Service right now?

STEVE BENEN: It’s fascinating to me that the period in which I stopped writing was basically last fall. And when the impeachment crisis started, late last year, I was fortunate to be able to squeeze in some additional content in one chapter as it relates to the Ukraine scandal and impeachment. And I thought, Well, so long as nothing else happens that would in any way reflect on the thesis of the book, then I’ll be fine…

SD: Oh, my…

SB: Needless to say, in recent months we’ve seen so many examples of Donald Trump and the Republican Party rejecting governing norms and even just the ability to govern. Between the coronavirus, social justice protests and now the targeting of the postal service, the evidence to bolster the thesis is now coming on a daily basis.

SD: How could you have known that impeachment would have been only the fourth or fifth most dramatic political event of 2020?

SB: I’m cautiously optimistic that there will be a paperback version of The Impostors in the not-too-distant future, and I’m optimistic that I’ll have plenty of content to work with for an updated and expanded version.

Having said that, though my book doesn’t directly speak to events of the last few months, I think that people who read it will be able to acknowledge the thesis and appreciate the fact that it can be applied to all of these events as they occur.

The book is about Republicans’ indifference toward governing. And I think any fair analysis would show that the book is on to something here.

SD: In your mind, Trump is not the cause of the disease; he’s the black spot on the lung after years of smoking.

SB: That’s an excellent analogy. Trump is the personification of my post-policy thesis. Post-policy governing has certain hallmarks: an indifference toward data and evidence and expertise, an inability to take the substance of policy making seriously.

Certainly, if we were going to identify one person who embodies this, it’s Donald Trump. But the case I try to make in my book is that it’s not a recent phenomenon.

SD: When did it begin?

SB: The election of Barack Obama in 2008. I think that was the point at which Republicans found themselves at a crossroads and had to decide what kind

of party they were going to be, what kind of priorities they were going to have and what kind of priorities they were going to pursue. That was when the party decided to give up on governing and stop taking policy decisions seriously. That eight-year period helped pave the way for someone like Donald Trump to come along and take advantage of the fact that the party no longer cared about the substance of policy making.

SD: Why is the left so inept at stopping them?

SB: One of the core problems is that a lot of Democrats have not yet fully come to terms with the fact that they’re the only governing game in town. If you’re someone like Joe Biden, for example, and you’ve been engaged in policy making for

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half a century — Joe Biden can remember negotiating with Republicans in good faith, compromising on important matters of public policy and making certain assumptions about what it takes to cooperate with the other side. And there was an era in the not-too-distant past when Republicans could be fairly characterized as a governing party; they took the process seriously.

I talk in the book about how Barack Obama would come to negotiations with facts and figures, working from the assumption that he could persuade his Republican rivals with evidence and data, not realizing that data and evidence were irrelevant to them, because they are a post-policy party. But it’s only been a period of 10 or 12 years. So Democrats en masse have not come to terms with the fact that Republicans simply don’t care about governing anymore.

As a consequence, they don’t even know how to talk to each other anymore. Republicans and Democrats are not just offering different kinds of answers, they’re asking different kinds of questions.

SD: So Democrats are Charlie Brown, and Republicans are Lucy with the football.

SB: Yes. For typical Americans, there’s an understanding that the parties disagree.

But what I hope my book does is take the next step and say that they don’t just disagree because one side is on the left and one side is on the right. They disagree about the very nature of governing.

SD: Is there a tipping point — like, say, a public health crisis in which 160,000 Americans die as a result of federal negligence — where the voters might start holding Republicans accountable?

SB: I hope so. There’s evidence in polling that suggests a large swath of the electorate has grown tired of Republican

failures. On a related note, they have become equally repulsed by Republican extremism. I don’t have delusions that my book will somehow change the nature of public understanding of current events, but what I hope will resonate is that it’s not just a matter of extremism or partisanship, it’s about an inability to recognize the importance of using the levers of power themselves.

SD: So you have hope that it’s fixable?

SB: Political science tells us that parties change when voters tell them they have to. So long as a party is winning at the ballot box, there’s no incentive to change.

My hope is that, the more Republicans lose — and I think they’re likely to do poorly this year — the more they realize they’re on a course that’s unsustainable and they’re going to have to begin taking governing seriously again in order to regain the trust of the electorate. I think that’s the only thing that will force them to change.

It’s difficult in the middle of a storm to see the clouds breaking on the horizon.

But we’re experiencing these post-policy problems in painfully acute ways, and polling suggests that Americans aren’t satisfied. And that dissatisfaction, at least according to political science, will lead to electoral consequences. And that would be a reckoning for Republicans, a reminder that their abandoning of governing norms has failed, not only as a matter of policy making but as a matter of politics.

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8/17/20 9:55 AM

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity and length.

Contact: dan@ sevendaysvt.com

INFO The Impostors: How Republicans Quit Governing and Seized American Politics

by Steve Benen, William Morrow, 384 pages. $28.99.

F EVE

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Steve Benen

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6/24/20 4:36 PM

arts news

Carry the Flame

Musicians Annemieke and Jeremiah McLane recover from a devastating house fire B Y D A N B O LLES

E

arly in the morning of Tuesday, August 4, the Sharon home of musicians and educators ANNEMIEKE and JEREMIAH MCLANE and their 7-yearold son, LUKE, was destroyed in a house fire.

Fortunately, the family was vacationing in Maine, so no one was injured. However, the house burned to the ground, and everything inside was lost, including instruments, recording studio gear and sheet music that Annemieke had been collecting for decades.

The family’s cat also perished in the blaze.

“It was a blow, but fortunately we were spared the trauma of seeing it,” Jeremiah said by phone last week.

One could forgive the McLanes for being despondent or angry. Those have become baseline emotions for many of us against the backdrop of a pandemic and the social, economic and political strife it’s inspired.

“You could look at the world as being a dark place, especially right now. And then, on top of that, your house burns down,” Jeremiah said. “But our experience has been that, in fact, the world is a pretty

awesome place because people reach out and take care and are so helpful.”

In the wake of the fire, which is still under investigation, the McLanes have received a swell of community support.

The United Church of Strafford has organized the McLane Recovery Fund, and the Sharon Elementary School is collecting books for Luke. But the outpouring extends well beyond the Upper Valley.

Jeremiah noted support from friends, family and fellow musicians from as far away as the Netherlands, where Annemieke grew up, and throughout the U.S. and Canada.

“We are overwhelmed, and also grateful for all support from all over the world,” Annemieke wrote via email.

She recalled returning from Maine four days after the fire to find the ruins of their home still smoking.

“I found the cast iron frame of my grand piano. It felt like I could identify the corpse, all is gone,” Annemieke wrote, referring to the Ibach piano she brought

with her from the Netherlands when she moved to the U.S. decades ago. “The grounds are quiet now. We need to clean up and start anew.”

On Friday, August 21, the couple will step toward a new beginning by revisiting something close to normalcy. For the first time since the pandemic hit, they will play in front of a live audience as the CASSOTTO DUO at the CHANDLER CENTER FOR THE ARTS in Randolph.

Copresented by the Chandler and the CENTRAL VERMONT CHAMBER MUSIC FESTIVAL, the show will accommodate a 75-person, socially distanced audience inside the stately concert hall. The performance will also be livestreamed.

The duo, with Annemieke on piano and Jeremiah on accordion, will perform their own arrangements of pieces by composers from Johann Sebastian Bach and François Couperin to Astor Piazzolla and Jo Privat.

They’ll add some of Jeremiah’s original, French-inspired compositions.

“I would say it mostly fits under the

umbrella of the chamber music festival,” Jeremiah said. “But we’re a crossover group. We were never really pure classical.”

As an example, he highlighted the duo’s treatment of Bach, which he described as “fun,” “lighthearted” and, believe it or not, “danceable.”

“A lot of people don’t play Bach that way, but Annemieke does,” Jeremiah said.

If anyone could use some upbeat tunes at the moment, it’s … well, everyone. But perhaps especially the McLanes.

“Music is healing, and is ‘in’ us,” Annemieke wrote. “That is one flame we need to carry on.”

Contact: dan@sevendaysvt.com

INFO Cassotto Duo, Friday, August 21, 7:30 p.m., Chandler Center for the Arts in Randolph. $10.

The concert can also be streamed at chandlerarts.org. For more on the McLane Recovery Fund, visit unitedchurchofstrafford.com.

COURTESY OF BRENT HARREWYN

MUSIC

Annemieke and Jeremiah McLane

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SEVEN DAYS AUGUST 19-26, 2020

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COURTESY OF MAGNOLIA PICTURES

a den of exploitative iniquity, but he doesn’t sugarcoat its structural inequities, either.

(Cubby has a rule that only one Black server can work per shift.)

Lisa can do only so much good when she doesn’t sign the paychecks; among other things, the movie is about her reluctantly facing her limitations. Still, if she were real, you can bet she’d be out there right now finding ways for her laid-off employees to survive the pandemic.

IF YOU LIKE THIS, TRY...

Haley Lu Richardson and Regina Hall in Support the Girls

Service With a Smile

• Hustlers (2019; Showtime; rentable): Strip-club workers become con artists in a movie that’s glitzier and glammer than Support the Girls but undergirded by the same spirit of solidarity.

• Clerks (1994; Cinemax; rentable): Kevin Smith broke into filmmaking with this comedy about a day in the life of two convenience-store grunts.

• Compliance (Sling; rentable): Lisa would never make the mistakes of the harried fast-food manager (Ann Dowd) in this film, who receives phone instructions from a self-proclaimed “police officer” to strip-search her employees. Others might, though. A true story inspired this dark tale of the dangers of not questioning authority.

Contact: margot@sevendaysvt.com

Streaming video review: Support the Girls B Y M AR GO T HA R R I SON

W

here do we find entertainment these days? On our laptops and in our living rooms. The streaming options are overwhelming — and not always easy to sort through. So, in this weekly feature, I review a movie or series that might otherwise be easy to overlook.

THE FILM: Support the Girls

Hulu; rentable on various other platforms THE DEAL: Lisa (Regina Hall) is the general manager of Double Whammies, a Texas strip-mall restaurant devoted to “beer, boobs and big screens.” She cares a lot about her employees, sometimes to the point of running afoul of the owner, Cubby (James LeGros). On this particular day, a series of mishaps heats things to the boiling point.

A would-be thief is discovered in the restaurant’s ventilation shaft. One of Double Whammies’ MVPs, Danyelle (Shayna McHayle), can’t get childcare. Another employee has hit her abusive boyfriend with a car. When Lisa organizes a car wash to fund her legal defense, Cubby wants to WHERE TO SEE IT:

pocket the money. Worst of all, perhaps, the restaurant’s cable is out. It’s up to Lisa to hold this crew together — if she still can.

I’ve been wanting to catch this 2018 indie from writer-director Andrew Bujalski (Computer Chess) since it was on the program of the VERMONT INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL — part of a buzzy festival run that garnered talk of awards for Hall. I wasn’t disappointed. Part breezy comedy, part drama with feminist and anti-racist undercurrents, Support the Girls is more than worth supporting.

WILL YOU LIKE IT?

The screenplay packs a lot of action into a single day, and some subplots get short shrift.

The one involving Lisa’s ailing marriage, in particular, feels like it needs fleshing out. But seeing Lisa on the job is more than enough

to show us who she is — a cheerleader, a mother hen to her “girls,” a hard-ass or a hustler or a company woman when necessary. She’s been “fired” multiple times by hothead Cubby and refused to walk away.

Yet sometimes she wavers under the strain, wondering if the effort is worth it.

While Hall’s multifaceted performance anchors the film, the supporting cast brings the fun. Haley Lu Richardson plays Maci, an irrepressible bullet of energy whose nonstop party mood rides the line between exhilarating and annoying. McHayle’s deadpan, overqualified Danyelle is the perfect foil to her.

Different as they are, these young women do support each other. They reserve their side-eyes for the overeager trainee (Dylan Gelula) who seems determined to turn Double Whammies into an X-rated establishment.

Movies about people doing “shitty jobs” (Danyelle’s term) are rare; movies about the service industry are even rarer. A naturalistic working-class comedy with shades of Steven Soderbergh, this is no Coyote Ugly.

Bujalski doesn’t paint Double Whammies as

Sunset Drive-In Through Thursday, August 20: The Goonies & Stand By Me Jurassic World & The Mummy Grown Ups & Ferris Bueller’s Day Off Grease & Dirty Dancing Through Thursday, August 27: Schedule not available at press time.

Bethel Drive-In Friday, August 21, through Sunday, August 23: Ghost (1990)

Fairlee Drive-In Saturday, August 22, and Sunday, August 23: Despicable Me & Minions SEVEN DAYS AUGUST 19-26, 2020

25

WE’VE COVERED A LOT OF NEWS IN 25 YEARS.

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SEVEN DAYS AUGUST 19-26, 2020

S

even Days started out as a 28-page arts paper; for the first five years, most of the bylines belonged to its culture-writing founders, Pamela Polston and Paula Routly.

Soon, though, there were 80 to 120 pages to fill each week. Adding local news to the mix seemed like the next logical step.

Seven Days hired its first staff writer, Ken Picard, in 2002. He started churning out news features, including the first exposé of Mexican farm laborers toiling in secret on Vermont dairy farms, published in June 2003. The next year we launched the “Local Matters,” section, between Peter Freyne’s “Inside Track” column and the paper’s extensive arts coverage and comprehensive event listings.

For decades Kevin J. Kelley, one of Seven Days’ most prolific freelancers, reliably contributed news stories and art reviews.

The internet and websites like Craigslist had already begun to beat up daily newspapers when the Great Recession hit in 2008. Vermont newsrooms contracted in response. Seven Days did just the opposite. Knowing that responsible, fact-based journalism is essential to a functioning democracy, its owners decided instead to expand.

Today our news team is one of the largest in Vermont, made up of experienced local journalists — including three editors in the New England Newspaper Hall of Fame — as well as a rising generation of talented reporters, writers and multimedia storytellers. In recent years, this team has investigated Vermont’s nonprofit economy, the opioid epidemic, sexual misconduct in Vermont

CAN YOU COVER US?

For the past 25 years, our local media company has depended almost entirely on advertising revenue from local retailers and events to pay the bills. Since March, COVID-19 has severely challenged that business model.

To thrive for another 25, we need your help.

7D 25

prisons and neglect in eldercare facilities. Another frequent topic: the state of local media.

If you appreciate Seven Days’ in-depth news coverage and can afford to help us financially, please become a Seven Days Super Reader. Your recurring donation will provide a reliable revenue stream to help fund the award-winning journalism we continue to provide during these challenging times.

JOIN THE SUPER READERS AT SEVENDAYSVT.COM/SUPER-READERS.

Or send a note (and a check) to: Seven Days Super Readers, P.O. Box 1164, Burlington, VT 05402.

NEED MORE INFO? Contact Corey Grenier at 865-1020, ext. 36 or superreaders@sevendaysvt.com.

SEVEN DAYS AUGUST 19-26, 2020

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THE COVID SEMESTER Vermont colleges laid testing plans to restart safely. Will they work?

B Y D E REK BR OUW ER & A N DR EA SUOZZ O

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SEVEN DAYS AUGUST 19-26, 2020

Every day, another campus cracks.

As U.S. colleges and universities barrel toward the most unpredictable semester in generations, hundreds have abandoned their hopes of bringing students back to campus during the pandemic. The University of Delaware, Johns Hopkins University and the University of Pennsylvania have all canceled most in-person classes. The wave of retreat reached western Massachusetts earlier this month, as Smith College, Mount Holyoke College and the University of Massachusetts Amherst switched to mostly remote learning.

But to the north, the University of Vermont and nearly every other residential college in the Green Mountain State are forging ahead. Thousands of students will return to the state’s college communities this month, the majority of whom will travel from outside Vermont, to attend some face-to-face classes and live in dorms.

State and university decision makers argue that Vermont, with its lowest-inthe-nation infection rate, is uniquely positioned to pull off a successful reopening.

They’ve cast the state as the country’s “safest place to go to college,” as the official state reopening guidelines put it.

“If a safe return can be done anywhere, it can be done here,” UVM president Suresh Garimella said on Tuesday.

As a result, Vermont colleges are launching a semester-long experiment of whether mass testing, campus modifications and student conduct pledges can prevent an uncontrolled outbreak.

Figuring out how to manage the obvious public health risks has become an expensive, all-consuming undertaking. “This is the most complicated problem ILLUSTRA TIONS: SE AN METCA I’ve seen in 50 years in higher LF ed,” said former Norwich University president Richard W. Schneider, who headed the governor’s task force that wrote the reopening rules.

VERMONT FALL 2020 COLLEGE TESTING PLANS College

Testing Frequency

Enrollment (Fall 2019)

In-person, with some remote options

COVID-19 could not have come at a worse moment for Vermont’s colleges, which were already competing for a shrinking pool of high school students. In the last two years, four private schools — Marlboro College, Southern Vermont College, Green Mountain College and the College of St. Joseph— have collapsed under extreme financial pressure.

In the spring, administrators briefly entertained closing three Vermont State Colleges System campuses.

If they want to survive, already-cashstrapped schools have little choice but to attempt a high-wire act to keep tuition dollars flowing and coronavirus cases in check. So they are working in overdrive to reinvent life on campus. Schools have ordered miles of plexiglass and seas of hand sanitizer. They’ve enacted elaborate rules to track where students sit at meals and to penalize those caught without a mask.

Some have promised COVID-19 testing schemes at a scale far beyond anything yet undertaken in Vermont, and they’ve set aside entire buildings to isolate students who may have been exposed to the virus.

Each back-to-campus plan represents an educated guess as to what precautions are needed, tempered by what is feasible.

There’s no guarantee any of them will work.

“I’m afraid that a lot of these decisions were based on, ‘If we don’t bring our students back to campus, we’re going to close,’” said Beth Walsh, director of career development at Northern Vermont University’s Johnson campus, one of the threatened state college campuses. “I don’t think that’s the best decision-making tool to use when you’re dealing with a pandemic.”

The gambit has divided the state’s nervous residents, a July poll by Vermont Public Radio and Vermont PBS found.

Many residents question whether it’s worth jeopardizing the state’s fragile public health success so college kids can have a campus experience.

In Burlington, reassurances by Garimella and public health officials about the strengths of UVM’s approach have not eased widespread fear about student behavior, prompting Mayor Miro Weinberger on Tuesday to propose emergency restrictions on gathering sizes and alcohol sales.

Vermont’s colleges are finding better success with their most important constituency: their customers. Though enrollment numbers aren’t final, nine in 10 students said

Landmark College Putney

Entry: Two initial tests Ongoing: Some reserve tests for use as needed

540

Sterling College Craftsbury Common

Entry: Two initial tests Ongoing: Testing for sick/exposed students

146

Mix of in-person and remote classes University of Vermont Burlington

Entry: Pre-arrival saliva test; two tests on arrival Ongoing: Weekly testing for all students through at least September 18; optional for employees

13,548

Champlain College Burlington

Entry: Two initial tests Ongoing: Weekly testing of all students and staff

4,385

Norwich University Northfield

Entry: Two initial tests Ongoing: Targeted weekly testing of 700 students and staff

3,933

Middlebury College Middlebury

Entry: Two initial tests Ongoing: Targeted weekly testing of 750 students and staff

2,657

Northern Vermont University Lyndon, Johnson

Entry: Two initial tests Ongoing: Random testing at least every two weeks

2,376

Saint Michael’s College Colchester

Entry: One or two, per state rules Ongoing: Random testing throughout the semester; 450 students tested per week

1,875

Bennington College Bennington

Entry: Two initial tests Ongoing: Random testing throughout the semester — not yet finalized

826

Remote, with in-person labs Community College of Vermont 12 locations statewide

Exempt from state testing requirements

5,104

Vermont Technical College Randolph Center, Williston

Entry: Two initial tests for residential students Ongoing: Not yet finalized

1,704

Remote, but students can live on campus Castleton University Castleton

Entry: One or two initial tests, per state rules Ongoing: Testing for sick/exposed students

2,399

VERMONT LAW SCHOOL, VERMONT COLLEGE OF FINE ARTS, SIT GRADUATE INSTITUTE AND GODDARD COLLEGE ARE ALL FULLY REMOTE DURING THE FALL 2020 SEMESTER. ENROLLMENT NUMBERS INCLUDE STUDENTS IN BOTH ON-CAMPUS AND DISTANCE-LEARNING PROGRAMS. SOURCES: SEVEN DAYS ANALYSIS OF VERMONT COLLEGE PLANS, U.S. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION.

they planned to attend classes, according to one June survey. More than 15,000 out-ofstate students are expected.

James Stowell, who lives outside Albany, N.Y., is one of them. Before the NVU junior returned to the Johnson campus, his father, Tim, tracked Vermont case levels closely and reviewed messages from college officials. He said he feels comfortable knowing that his son is studying at a small school in a rural area.

“If he was going to one of the colleges down here,” Tim said, “I don’t know if I would be sending him back.”

TESTING, TESTING

Vermont colleges will fight the virus in three ways. They will try to limit its ability to enter their campuses, reduce the speed at which it spreads among students and staff, and quickly contain infections before they turn into outbreaks.

Colleges will place special emphasis on students’ initial return to campus. The logic is that if infected students can be identified and isolated when they arrive, colleges will start the semester with the most serious threat already behind them.

“The college is just a microcosm of the community it’s in,” Vermont Health Commissioner Mark Levine said in an interview. “[If ] the community it’s in stays in really good shape, and the college on day one started in really good shape, we shouldn’t have a problem.”

The strategy is outlined in a 10-page rule book that Gov. Phil Scott’s administration released in early July, based on proposals offered by college administrators and Levine’s office.

Out-of-state students from higher-risk counties THE COVID SEMESTER SEVEN DAYS AUGUST 19-26, 2020

» P.30 29

The COVID Semester « P.29 are being told to quarantine for 14 days before or upon arrival in Vermont. Colleges must test them once they arrive. All students, including Vermonters, must be retested a week after coming to campus.

To comply with these requirements, move-in days are highly regimented. The first 500 or so cadets to arrive at Norwich University, on August 8, stepped into a new environment at the military college with precise rules for saying goodbye to parents, queuing for COVID-19 tests and waiting for the test results.

“During that time, it’s going to be a little painful,” Commandant of Cadets Michael Titus, dressed in military fatigues, warns in a 13-minute instructional video. “We’re going to restrict you to your room. We’re going to keep you isolated … in case you or someone else has the virus. We don’t want to pass it on and cause an epidemic here on campus.”

This process alone is more stringent than those at most other colleges, according to a national study by California Institute of Technology researchers and coauthored by Middlebury senior Benjy Renton. Of the more than 500 schools they analyzed, barely a quarter planned to test students as they arrive on campus.

The Vermont Department of Health will not conduct the colleges’ tests — the tens of thousands of swabs to be taken far outstrips the processing capacity of its laboratory. It will only help test in the event of an urgent outbreak or cluster, Deputy Health Commissioner Tracy Dolan said.

Seven of the largest colleges are instead tapping a massive new program at the Broad Institute, a nonprofit research center in Cambridge, Mass., affiliated with Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, that aims to provide lowercost tests to dozens of universities across the Northeast. The Broad is charging $25 to $35 per test and says it can return results within 24 hours of receiving samples. The lab’s current capacity is 35,000 tests per day, though it has never hit even half of that total, according to its website. A Broad spokesperson declined to comment for this story.

The program could give the colleges an important leg up at a time when commercial labs 30

SEVEN DAYS AUGUST 19-26, 2020

nationwide have struggled with processing delays. “We jumped on it,” said Susan Stitely, president of the Association of Vermont Independent Colleges, adding that rural Vermont is lucky to have such an option within driving distance.

The state does not require that colleges continue mass testing beyond students’ arrival, nor does the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommend it. Colleges with Broad contracts

College students are not used to living in a monastery.

J ON ATHA N S P IR O

are promising to do so anyway, driven by a growing belief that it may be essential to suppressing the virus in a college setting.

One widely publicized model developed by researchers at Yale University and Massachusetts General Hospital concluded that universities might need to test all students every two days. The researchers ran computer simulations of thousands of hypothetical scenarios and didn’t find a single one in which testing only those with COVID-19 symptoms would suffice.

The symptomatic approach, permitted under the Vermont regulations and those of many other states, is “like a fire department that only responds to calls once the house is already burned down,” coauthor and Yale professor of public health David Paltiel said in an interview from his Stowe residence.

The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill learned the hard way. Its reopening collapsed within days, after more than 100 students became ill.

Testing every two days is expensive; it’s also a logistical nightmare. Paltiel said Vermont schools may require less frequent screenings while the prevalence of the virus in their communities remains low.

Castleton University is the largest Vermont college with no plan to regularly test students.

The state college is the only

residential school to move its courses fully online, a decision president Jonathan Spiro announced last month as coronavirus cases surged in other states. The college has nonetheless invited students to live on campus this fall, and about 300 — less than a third of the usual figure — will do so.

Spokesperson James Lambert said Castleton isn’t doing more testing because the state hasn’t required it. “Our course of action on this is simply their recommendations,” he said.

UVM, where classes start on August 31, intends to test all students weekly through September 18, and then adjust the rate based on the data. The university is the only one to also test all students before they even come to campus, through the use of a saliva-based test that students send back by mail.

The university’s strategy was developed with input from its public health and medical experts, Garimella said.

The president described UVM’s $8 million to $10 million testing program as a national pacesetter in a recent column for the online college news site Inside Higher Ed. UVM may pay for it using federal coronavirus relief funds. By persuading more students to stay enrolled, the enormous expense will pay for itself, Garimella wrote.

Mass testing plans vary significantly in scope and strategy. Saint Michael’s College, for instance, plans to charge its students a $150 fee to offset the costs of its regimen of 450 randomly administered tests per week.

Champlain College is the only school in Vermont planning to test all students and employees every week. Doing so requires several days of swabbing but will help validate the other distancing and preventative steps the college is taking, said former Vermont Department of Public Safety commissioner Kerry Sleeper, who is consulting with the college on its reopening plans. Because students will continue attending classes while waiting for results, any breakdowns in the testing process — such as transportation or lab delays — could pose a serious problem.

“Certainly, if we did not have testing capacity, then we would seriously have to consider whether we would keep the campus open,” Sleeper said.

UP CLOSE OR VIRTUAL?

Testing thousands of asymptomatic students and faculty is bound to produce some false positives, each time triggering the disruptive process of isolating that person and anyone with whom they’ve been in close contact.

Middlebury’s director of health services, Dr. Mark Peluso, told the town selectboard last month that’s why the college planned to limit sampling to 750 people each week out of more than 3,000 students and staff. The tests will target employees who may be at a relatively higher risk of exposure, such as custodians, as well as students.

Even if colleges manage to prevent outbreaks, the constant game of whacka-case will affect daily life. UVM’s men’s basketball team went on a training hiatus in July just days after beginning socially distanced workouts because someone had an “inconclusive” test. The pause was extended when two positive cases were confirmed.

The saliva tests UVM is sending to at least 10,000 students this month produce “inconclusive” results about 2 percent of the time, according to test provider Vault Health, potentially

ILLUSTRATIONS: SEAN METCALF

putting hundreds of students in limbo before they even arrive.

UVM junior Maggie Friel said weekly nasal swabs will be one of the only reasons she ventures onto campus during the semester. The 20-year-old food systems major recently learned that her courses would be taught fully online, with the exception of one that is scheduled to meet in person for a few weeks. Friel considers herself lucky, because she was already torn between staying on track to graduate and her concern about unwittingly spreading the virus on campus.

Friel’s situation is not unusual. Despite the immense push to reopen campuses, many Vermont students will still experience mostly virtual classrooms. At UVM, only 18 percent of classes are scheduled to be conducted entirely in-person, Garimella estimated.

When Middlebury president Laurie Patton announced the college’s reopening plans earlier this summer, she estimated that one-third of courses would be held online. But in a recent analysis of the course catalog, Renton, who is digital director of the Middlebury Campus student newspaper, found that roughly half of courses will be offered remotely, and many others had some online components. Only 13 percent of offerings are conventional in-person classes, the college confirmed.

Renton said he thought the data would help students make more informed decisions about the fall. “It’s definitely a very different experience,” he said, “and one that I think will involve a lot of hours sitting in your room taking classes.”

Middlebury administrators are allowing professors to choose whether to lecture in person. Entire departments have migrated online, including the sociology program in which associate professor Jamie McCallum teaches.

McCallum said his peers made the decision as a group, concluding that it was not in anybody’s best interest to hold face-to-face classes. Though he believes Middlebury’s overall plan is too risky, he credited officials for letting the faculty choose. “Staff don’t have the same privilege,” he noted.

Faculty at UVM had to seek permission from department chairs to go remote. Some complain that the process has led to inequities across departments. Others say they felt pressured to keep an in-person piece.

The system has spurred claims that UVM administrators are misleading students about what they’re really paying for this fall.

“They believe that students won’t stick with UVM and the institution won’t survive if we don’t give false promises of a return to normalcy, distorted by plexiglass barriers and students yo-yoing between a confusing schedule of in-person and online

instruction days,” said Nancy Welch, a UVM English professor.

Colleges believe they have a significant financial interest in preserving in-person classes. A June survey by the Vermont Student Assistance Corporation found that nearly a fifth of financial-aid-seeking students might drop out or defer enrollment if their school went to mostly online instruction. Garimella said that even if 10 percent of students bail this fall, the university would lose about $26 million in tuition.

Garimella said UVM has been honest and detailed about the coming semester’s unusual character. The university didn’t leave decisions about course offerings up to faculty alone because it had a duty to follow through on its commitment to students.

“You can’t have it both ways, right? We can’t be saying to our students, ‘Come back, we’re going to have this experience,’ and yet you will have no in-person classes,” he said.

About 600 students returned to Northern Vermont University’s Johnson and Lyndon campuses last week, about 30 percent fewer than last year. They are spread out in single-occupancy dorm rooms and will study in classrooms that are sanitized each day with electrostatic disinfectant sprayers.

“We’re just wearing our masks and cleaning everything and taking care of stuff and hoping,” said Sandy Noyes, chair of the bargaining unit representing housekeepers

and maintenance workers in the Vermont State Colleges System.

Many of the students who decided not to live on campus are still studying remotely or commuting, Northern Vermont University dean of student life Jonathan Davis said. Nearly two-thirds of classes are being offered online.

Sophomore Alexis Follensbee, 19, decided to take the remote option shortly before classes began. She’ll study from her parents’ house in Morrisville. She made the switch because four of her five courses are not being held in person.

“It made more sense than for me to pay $4,000 and sit in my dorm,” she said, referring to the college’s room-and-board fees.

Follensbee’s best friend, 20-year-old Gabby Simmons, has mostly remote classes, too, but she decided to return to the dorms at NVU’s Johnson campus anyway. The Stowe sophomore said she wants to see her friends and take advantage of in-person academic services. “I’m a student who uses those resources a lot, so being on campus is more helpful,” she said.

Simmons said she isn’t too concerned about the risk of an outbreak: “I think people take it seriously.”

PONG PATROL

Those who live in and walk through Burlington’s university district tend to disagree with Simmons.

Caryn Long, who has lived on Henry Street near UVM for 36 years, watched as off-campus students continued to host yard parties throughout the pandemicplagued summer. Last month she got fed up. She walked to a duplex on Weston Street where a dozen or so students lounged in lawn chairs and played beer pong in the driveway. She photographed them from the sidewalk, then sent the image to an informal group of watchdog neighbors.

It was the start of a campaign that has since reached fever pitch. Geology professor Paul Bierman sent photos of swimsuitclad revelers to UVM president Garimella, Mayor Weinberger, Health Commissioner Levine and other local officials. The images, taken from Bierman’s back porch near the UVM campus, documented what appears to have been a boozy backyard slip ’n’ flip party that combined watery trips down a slip ‘n’ slide with the drinking game flip cup.

Bierman also called Burlington police, whom he said did not sound inclined to intervene.

Bierman and Long said it’s wishful thinking to believe that college students will act like anything but, well, college students. Bierman believes Burlington residents will pay the price for UVM’s social experiment.

“I’m sort of dumbstruck at this point,” he said. “We are essentially a city and a university of guinea pigs.”

A petition the neighbors circulated, which has gained several hundred signatures, includes a demand that UVM pay for “neighborhood safety patrols” to catch, educate and discipline off-campus students who act irresponsibly.

UVM has responded by vowing to crack down on misbehaving students, whether or not they’re living on campus.

Students who violate university policies related to COVID-19 “will minimally receive a fine and an educational sanction,” Annie Stevens, vice provost for student affairs, wrote in a recent letter to students and families. The college will also notify students’ parents, and repeated or egregious misdeeds may result in suspension.

UVM and Weinberger announced on Tuesday that the university will help pay to beef up “educational” police patrols in student neighborhoods. Garimella has also begun encouraging nosy neighbors to snitch on students. UVM offers an online “incident reporting form” to which residents can upload photos capturing students in the act. “We want evidence,” Garimella told university trustees during an August 10 meeting.

THE COVID SEMESTER SEVEN DAYS AUGUST 19-26, 2020

» P.32 31

SEAN METCALF

The COVID Semester « P.31 Campus approaches to student behavior are built around code-of-conduct pledges required by the governor’s guidelines.

UVM’s Green and Gold Promise contains more than 20 separate commitments.

Friel, the UVM junior, equates the Green and Gold Promise to similar pledges required of students in the university’s Wellness Environment program. “I took the pledge, and I definitely saw people around me who weren’t adhering to staying substance-free in the dorms,” she recalled.

“It seems a little bit empty to me to have students just promise.”

UVM’s assurances are ringing hollow to some local officials, too. City councilors blasted the university officials who attended a recent council meeting. Several councilors then staged a press conference last Friday to demand that UVM keep closer watch on off-campus students.

That same day, the governor’s office amended its state of emergency declaration so city officials could restrict large gatherings at residences and curtail alcohol sales.

Weinberger on Tuesday proposed limiting outdoor gatherings to 25 people, indoor gatherings to 15 and retail alcohol sales to no later than 10 p.m. With those limits, coupled with what he described as recent clarifications and concessions by UVM, Weinberger said he felt more comfortable with the imminent reopening.

SCHOLASTIC VOWS

Colleges are asking a lot of students this fall.

In addition to commonsense hygiene and masking measures, students at every school must record their temperatures daily and keep a journal of their close contacts in case the Department of Health’s contact tracers need to get in touch. UVM has a medical amnesty provision to encourage students to report close contacts at, say, a party, without risking discipline.

The rules that will govern dining halls make the aisle arrows at grocery stores seem elementary. Sodexo, the food service contractor at Castleton, recently published a 15-minute video walk-through of the campus’ reconfigured Huden Dining Hall.

Students are asked to sit in the same seats every day and flip green-and-red table cards when they’re done eating so staff can keep track of which seats need to be sanitized.

Students must also take photos of their table’s ID number, so they’ll know whether they sat in the same seat as a student later found to be infected.

Some reopening critics argue that students are being set up to fail — that when colleges’ plans go sideways, they 32

SEVEN DAYS AUGUST 19-26, 2020

will take the blame. In a July meeting with state college trustees, Castleton president Spiro acknowledged that college leaders can’t merely demand compliance.

“College students are not used to living in a monastery,” he said, “so we need to provide them an outlet for their exuberance.”

Tiny Sterling College, in Craftsbury Common, is dividing its 114 or so students into small “living and learning pods.”

Pod mates will reside and take classes together. That way, if someone falls ill with COVID-19, only one pod will need to quarantine.

The model isn’t ideal for students whose close friends or sexual partners are in other pods. Some couples have switched their classes to be together in a pod; others have

contemplated a socially distanced relationship, associate dean of student life Megan Banner Sutherland said.

Acknowledging the difficult ask, Sutherland said the college is talking to students in ways that emphasize reducing, rather than eliminating, risk. “So in the case folks choose to ‘break the rules,’ they have the information and resources they will need to make the most harm-reductive decisions,” she said in an email.

Still, most students will be under a microscope. Just a day after the first 500 Norwich students moved into the dorms, WCAX-TV reported that students had already “failed to follow COVID-19 rules.”

President Mark Anarumo clarified the situation in a public letter, acknowledging that a group of students were reportedly seen “socializing in the front yard of their

house not maintaining physical distancing and not wearing masks.” Anarumo visited the house personally and determined that the students, who had already been living in Vermont, hadn’t violated Norwich’s behavior contract.

Coronavirus cases on campuses are inevitable, state health officials have cautioned, especially when out-of-state students first return. UVM, Norwich and Vermont Technical College have reported a combined 12 positive tests so far this month. But Dolan, the deputy health commissioner, said she is confident the state and the colleges have the tools to prevent cases or small clusters from becoming dangerous outbreaks.

“We have really good contact-tracing capacity,” she said.

The outlook for campuses will become far more tenuous if the overall prevalence of

AL FRESCO! the virus in Vermont increases — whether from fall tourism, K-12 schools, the wave of out-of-state student arrivals or some combination of factors.

The possibility of another mid-semester shutdown lingers, though most colleges haven’t said what specific factors might trigger a decision to close.

UVM’s Garimella said his administration will rely on the advice of public health experts. Asked specifically whether he would close campus if a student or staff member died from COVID-19, Garimella declined to say.

“I’ve thought about everything. I read about this incessantly, and I think you have my answer,” he said.

We are essentially a city and a university of guinea pigs.

PAU L B IERMAN

Universities have certainly contemplated the scenario. Earlier this summer, lobbyists for UVM and the private colleges asked state lawmakers for legal protections in case students or staff get sick. The COVID-19 Exposure Liability Act, as drafted by UVM, would grant colleges immunity from civil claims for injuries caused by on-campus exposure to COVID-19 unless claimants can prove “willful misconduct” by the college. Even then, plaintiffs could only receive “actual economic compensatory” damages.

The proposal didn’t make it out of the House Education Committee before the June recess, but Stitely, the private colleges’ lobbyist, expects the committee will consider it again this month. She said the protections are necessary, given that colleges are taking extensive precautions.

“Of course, you’ve got young people who may be doing things that aren’t part of the guidelines,” she said. “We have a very litigious society. Even if the lawsuits are frivolous and not based on gross negligence, it could really hurt the colleges to have to be defending these lawsuits because somebody got sick.”

It’s a “terrible idea” to extend a liability shield to colleges, said Heidi Li Feldman, a professor of law at Georgetown University Law Center. The Vermont colleges’ request, Feldman said, amounts to “a license” not

to take the precautions that are expected of, say, students. “I find it rather shocking,” she said.

Many of the conduct pledges that students must sign can serve a similar purpose, even when they’re not explicit.

UVM ignored repeated written questions about whether it is asking students to sign a COVID-19 liability waiver before attending classes. But language in the Green and Gold Promise notes that students “can never be completely shielded from all risk of exposure or illness.”

Asked on Tuesday whether the Green and Gold Promise is a legal agreement, Garimella replied, “That’s a good question, and I don’t know that I have an exact answer for you.”

A few schools, including the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, have clarified that their student conduct pledges are not legally binding. By not providing a definitive answer— and by avoiding questions about it — UVM is looking out for its own interests, Feldman said.

“The game that’s being played here is to create uncertainty,” she said, “which makes it harder for people to easily bring suit if the university in fact acts carelessly and people get sick.”

While a substantial number of students have chosen to study remotely to avoid the risks of a COVID-19 semester, colleges have yet to report or acknowledge any dramatic drops in overall fall enrollment. Castleton, with no in-person classes, expects enrollment will be down a little more than 10 percent from last year’s unusually large class, but it will be in line with the university’s three-year average. Garimella said UVM students have “overwhelmingly” chosen to return.

Even the minority of students who aren’t willing to pay full tuition for a diminished semester have become a new market to tap.

The pandemic prompted officials at Champlain to create a Virtual Gap Year program for students who want to put off their first year. The $5,000 program, conducted remotely, focuses on student wellness and allows participants to dip a toe into university studies in exchange for a few course credits.

The 15-week program ends with a virtual internship through the college’s Centers of Experience, where students will work on projects related to — what else? — COVID-19.

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6/30/20 11:08 AM

VERMONTING

BY SALLY POLLAK

The Road Not Taken Hiking in and around Middlebury

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood, And sorry I could not travel both…

You can read the rest of the poem in the fall, when the U.S. Forest Service expects construction to be complete and the trail reopened for foliage season. Whether you turn east or west at the juncture where “The Road Not Taken” is posted, you’ll probably wonder, What if...

Also off-limits to the public is the CAMPUS ART WALKING TOUR AT MIDDLEBURY COLLEGE,

along which some two dozen sculptures are placed. The pieces include one of Robert Indiana’s “LOVE” sculptures and a bronze panther (the college mascot) on a big rock, poised to pounce.

But the campus is closed to visitors for the foreseeable future due to COVID-19.

Non-panthers are compelled to look elsewhere for reflection and recreation.

I found both on the TRAIL AROUND MIDDLEBURY, a roughly 19-mile path that traverses public and private land as it runs through woods, along and over Otter Creek, at the edge of meadows, across Route 7, past high school playing fields, and on city sidewalks.

The first sections of the TAM, as the trail is called, were built in 1989, according to Jamie Montague, executive director of the Middlebury Area Land Trust. That nonprofit is steward of the trail and owner of some of its land. The original sections were constructed on town forestland at Battell Woods, Means Woods and Chipman Hill Park, she said.

“The loop has been expanding and improving ever since,” Montague added, noting that trail use has significantly increased since the start of the pandemic.

Much of the trail work can be credited to John Derick, 73, who’s been 34

SEVEN DAYS AUGUST 19-26, 2020

PHOTOS: SALLY POLLAK

T

he possibility of a road not taken failed to materialize last week in Middlebury, where I had intended to choose from among several walks for the centerpiece of this Vermonting excursion.

One of my favorite paths in Vermont — the ROBERT FROST INTERPRETIVE TRAIL in Ripton — was knocked out of contention by trail work. The one-mile loop, posted with poems by Vermont’s first poet laureate, is temporarily closed. When the path is open, walkers can stop in the woods to read Frost, including his famous lines:

HELLO, VERMONTING Even as Vermont opens up from the pandemic shutdown, Gov. Phil Scott still encourages residents to stay home as much as possible.

And so this summer is a good time to explore our home state. Its diminutive size makes a multitude of short trips accessible, whether for a few hours, an overnight or a longer getaway.

This series, running weekly through mid-October, presents curated excursions in every corner of Vermont, based on the experiences of Seven Days reporters. The idea is to patronize the state’s restaurants, retailers, attractions and outdoor adventures — after all, we want them to still be there when the pandemic is finally over.

Happy traveling, and stay safe.

A map and stile along the Trail Around Middlebury

The Arnold Bridge over Otter Creek on the Trail Around Middlebury

Liquid souvenirs from Middlebury

A Beach hoagie and a falafel salad from Haymaker Bun

Lake Dunmore

volunteering for 30 years on the TAM. He does maintenance work and mowing five days a week.

“I had to keep it going. It was a passion,” Derick said.

“This year, with COVID, we’ve had any number of people stop us when we’re out working and say how much it saved their sanity.”

A 3.2-mile section of the trail on the Middlebury campus is currently closed, in accordance with the school’s COVID19 regulations, according to the college’s director of media relations, Sarah Ray. But there’s still plenty of path to take, including a lovely segment of about four miles that I walked one sunny day last week. (Years ago I hiked the whole TAM.) The trail is well marked and beautifully maintained.

I started my walk at Wright Park and followed the trail to Dan & Peggy Arnold Bridge, a suspension bridge that crosses rushing falls and a dam

over Otter Creek. Much of the path, which runs parallel to the creek, is covered in pine needles, though some is graded with gravel; both surfaces make for easy walking. The way is marked with occasional carved wooden signs noting “beaver activity” and identifying tree species, including yellow birch and sugar maple.

The trail continues through woods on the other side of the high span before opening onto farm fields and meadows speckled wild flowers. Here, the walk offers beautiful, expansive views currently in bright summer colors. A fun feature of this section of the TAM is climbing wooden stiles to enter and exit fields and scanning the path ahead to find the next one.

The path crosses Morgan Horse Farm Road and continues for another mile or

THE WAY IS MARKED WITH OCCASIONAL CARVED WOODEN SIGNS

NOTING “BEAVER ACTIVITY” AND IDENTIFYING TREE SPECIES. IN THE AREA

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so through a similar pattern of forest and field. I stopped walking where the path meets Hamilton Road at its intersection with Sheep Farm Road in Weybridge, by MONUMENT FARMS DAIRY. The spot is marked by a white bike parked in tall grass with a beat-up hockey stick protruding from its frame — an object not of the caliber of the sculptures at Middlebury College but worth a second look.

During my walk I saw two people: a young man running with his dog and an elderly woman who reached Arnold Bridge, via a parallel path, when I did.

“I do a lot of thinking when I walk,” she said.

So do I. In fact, walking tends to sharpen my thinking about the usual: food.

I determined on my stroll that I’d get a sandwich to-go at HAYMAKER BUN, a café on Bakery Lane in Middlebury that recently added lunch service.

I got a ride from a friend back to my car at Wright Park and phoned in my order for curbside pickup: a Beach hoagie and a falafel salad. The hoagie — an Italian sub on a housemade seeded sourdough — was meant to last until I got to my next stop, LAKE DUNMORE. But I ate it in the car on the way.

En route to BRANBURY STATE PARK, I detoured for a bottle of chocolate milk at the little shop at Monument Farms. Then it was off to the lake.

Find more information on Vermont day trips and adventures from the Vermont Department of Tourism and Marketing at vermontvacation.com/staytripper.

It’s been about four decades since I frolicked at Lake Dunmore in Salisbury, perhaps because the last time I was there I foolishly jumped off a cliff into the water and shredded my bottom upon landing.

(I shudder to think of the road not taken that day.)

But time marches on, bringing new hazards, and last week I warily eyed the density of camps and cabins lining the shore road. Could I find my six feet of space?

The $4 admission fee gave me access to the state park, which requires wearing a mask along with a bathing suit.

I scoped out a clearing between two trees — bigger than six feet and empty of people — and claimed it by dropping my towel.

The lake was ideal for a quick and refreshing swim. The park offered plenty of space for kids to play on the beach and in the water and for families to picnic.

Back in the car, I sought out more refreshments. Destination: A&W, the iconic roadside restaurant on Route 7 south of Middlebury. Though I could smell burgers and onion rings from a couple hundred yards away, I wanted only a half gallon of root beer.

The car-side server was at my window within seconds after I cut the engine. Her smile was evident behind her black mask and despite her tough gig: serving food in a pandemic in a swirl of heat, traffic, exhaust, masks, grease, noise and clueless customers like me, who tried to pay with a credit card (not accepted at A&W). I gave her a $5 tip on a $4.36 tab and turned north into traffic.

By the time I got back to Burlington, I had in tow a few more items to eat and drink, including a curbside purchase of Papilio, an agave-maple syrup spirit from APPALACHIAN GAP DISTILLERY in Middlebury.

I also stopped in Vergennes for a load of “No Fair” fair food, an Addison County promotion in which area restaurants had prepared special items in homage to the food that can’t be eaten at the canceled Addison County Fair & Field Days. From BAR ANTIDOTE, I bought fried chicken and grilled corn on the cob. At BLACK SHEEP BISTRO, I picked up an order of deep-fried macaroni-and-cheese balls.

Although my walk on the TAM was a quickie, I chowed down on chicken and root beer as if I’d trekked the whole thing.

Who knows what poem Frost might have written if he, like me, had no choice but to take the TAM. Given his ties to the area, it’s not hard to imagine him walking around Middlebury.

Contact: sally@sevendaysvt.com SEVEN DAYS AUGUST 19-26, 2020

35

WHISKEY TANGO FOXTROT BY MARGARET GRAYSON

Why Is Vermont’s Census Response Rate So Low?

J

COUNTY

ason Broughton, the Trump administration and What Percent of Vermont Households Have Filled Out the Census?

Vermont’s state librarCensus Bureau director Steven Dillingham. ian, saw firsthand the Chittenden 73 importance of the U.S. Even before Trump’s Addison 64.1 Census this spring. He was demands, the Bureau was trying anticipating federal CARES Act to estimate Americans’ trust in Franklin 62.6 funding to equip public libraries the census. In a 2018 survey, with personal protective equiponly seven in 10 people reported Washington 59.4 ment. Based on the number of that they were likely to respond Orange 54.3 libraries in the state, Broughton to it. Many Hispanic residents guessed the Vermont Departbelieved the census would be Rutland 53.5 ment of Libraries would receive used to locate undocumented Caledonia 52.1 $100,000. So he was surprised people, and 63 percent of when $56,000 arrived instead. respondents believed that police Lamoille 51.1 Broughton realized the and the Federal Bureau of InvesWindsor 50.5 amount was based on 2010 tigation would use the census census totals. For the chair of the to keep track of lawbreakers.

Bennington 50.1 2020 Vermont Complete Count Neither is true.

Orleans 45.9 Committee, it was a reminder of “Mixed messaging has definitely hurt Vermont,” Broughthe importance of the decennial RESPONSE TYPE Windham 45.6 ton stated. He also pointed to a census.

Internet Grand Isle 41.8 A study by the George WashRepublican National ConvenPhone or Mail tion mailer that impersonated ington Institute of Public Policy Essex 36.7 reported that Vermont received the official census and asked $4.16 billion in federal funding questions such as, “Do you 0 50 100 in fiscal year 2017 that was based approve or disapprove of the PERCENT OF HOUSEHOLDS DATA AS OF AUGUST 14, 2020. SOURCE: U.S. CENSUS BUREAU on 2010 census data. Legislatures Democrats’ never-ending witch use census information to deterhunt to try to destroy President mine districts, and the data influence deci- scenarios,” said Moser, who works with the that promote the census are using home Trump?” It also requested donations to sion making on current and future public bureau during non-count years. But those visits as a reverse incentive. Enumera- the Republican Party. Broughton said this services, including road maintenance, scenarios were hurricanes and floods. “This tors, as census staff are called, will visit was “stunning” to those working on the public safety and health care. pandemic was not on the radar.” a home six times if the household hasn’t official census.

The 2020 census itself is simple: It asks Broughton noted that the next several responded. Don’t want someone coming He added that people who mistrust approximately nine questions (depending states with response rates higher than to your door? Fill out your form. government are among the “hard-toon the number of residents in the home); Vermont’s are just a few percentage points Possibly compounding these concerns count” groups, and he thinks their none requires personal information. The ahead. are Vermonters’ attitudes toward the census, numbers are growing. Other such groups census apparatus, in planning since 2013, “We’re all dealing with this, and there which are harder to quantify. Broughton include New Americans, those who speak costs $15 billion. aren’t huge gaps between us and the next thinks civic engagement is still strong here English as a second language, migrant Vermont’s census response is lagging. state in front of us,” he said. but that COVID-19 might have put it on “the laborers, children and LGBTQ+ people, Roughly 57 percent of households have Other factors are more particular back burner.” He also acknowledged what according to Moser. Broughton said that completed it so far, below the national to Vermont. One is the preponderance he politely called “mixed messaging” from census workers connected with Migrant average of 63 percent. We’re 46th for of second homes, which comprised the executive branch, referring to attempts Justice to reach more than 400 migrant participation out of 52 (the District of 17 percent of homeownership in 2017, by President Donald Trump’s administra- farmworkers and amped up their educaColumbia and Puerto Rico are included). according to a report by marketing tion to undermine the census. First, the tion campaign to counter the fear that Given Vermont’s reputation for civic company Digital Third Coast. (Only Maine president demanded the census include noncitizens might be feeling. participation — consider record voter has more second homes, and its census a question about citizenship. When the Moser said some members of Congress, turnout in the recent state primary — we response rate is lower than Vermont’s.) Supreme Court blocked that effort, he issued including Vermont’s delegation, are wondered: What’s up?

But the census counts those second homes an executive order requiring the bureau to advocating that the census deadline be Many factors affect the rate, according as housing units, and their owners should remove undocumented citizens from the extended to October 31, but there’s no to Broughton and Michael Moser, coordi- fill out the census to confirm they don’t official count. guarantee it will happen.

That’s a good reason for doing our civic nator of the Complete Count Committee live there full time. Those people can be Broughton believes these actions and a research project specialist at the harder to reach. conflict with the 14th Amendment, which duty ASAP. Anyone can fill out the census University of Vermont’s Center for Rural Another issue is mail delivery. Espe- says, “Representatives shall be appor- for their household at 2020census.gov or Studies. An obvious factor is the pandemic. cially in rural areas, many Vermonters tioned among the several states according by calling 844-330-2020, whether or not Typically, the Census Bureau launches its receive mail at a post office box, not via to their respective numbers, counting the they’ve received a mailed or hand-delivered efforts in spring and is completed by the home delivery. But the Census Bureau whole number of persons in each state…” census packet. end of July. This year, in-person efforts doesn’t mail packets to post office boxes, (Native Americans were not included halted when the coronavirus hit and so workers have to hand deliver to those until 1924.) Vermont is among a coalition Contact: margaret@sevendaysvt.com restarted in June, Broughton said. houses. Pandemic restrictions have of states that filed a complaint regarding “The Census Bureau’s been prepar- hindered these efforts, too. this issue with the U.S. District Court for INFO ing for all sorts of different emergency Now, Broughton said, organizations the Southern District of New York against Learn more at 2020census.gov.

SEVEN DAYS AUGUST 19-26, 2020

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BOTTOM LINE

BY CHELSEA EDGAR

Don’t Make Me Pivot Thirty-odd tries to keep it real in the middle of a pandemic

LUKE AWTRY

Moe O’Hara

I

n the coronavirus era, the word “pivot” is suddenly everywhere. It smacks of Allbirds and Slack channels and free kombucha, a bland shorthand for not going out of business during a global pandemic. Moe O’Hara, owner of Thirty-odd in Burlington’s South End, hates the word. Her business model hinges upon the inefficient serendipity of browsing, which is a rewarding activity at her arty emporium. You can find, among other things, a plaster ear, a sticker of a uterus flipping the bird, and a piece of soap sculpted to look like a baby’s hand.

When the pandemic canceled in-person browsing, O’Hara refused to pivot gently into that virtual night. “I don’t want to have an online store,” she said. “All of the artists in here” — there are 30-ish, hence the name — “already have their own online stores. The purpose of this place is to be a brick-and-mortar store for them.”

Thirty-odd, which O’Hara opened in 2018, is essentially a year-round indoor art market. Instead of taking a sales commission, which is how most galleries operate, O’Hara charges her vendors a fixed monthly fee, usually between $100 and $150, to rent space. In exchange, the artists keep 100 percent of their sales.

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While the store was closed, from late March to mid-May, O’Hara sort of did the dreaded pivot and assembled custom gift boxes for $25 each. In lieu of collecting rent from the artists, she took a 40 percent commission from the pieces she sold in the boxes, which allowed her to cover her rent. Her two part-time employees went on unemployment for the duration of the shutdown; O’Hara brought them back when she reopened.

In addition to a small federal Paycheck Protection Program loan, O’Hara received a grant from the state relief fund for businesses owned by women and people of color. (“They were so great!” she said, referring to the elves who helped her with the application process. When she signed the documents with her legal name, Maureen, her application was rejected; eventually, she said, someone emailed her and told her to use the name Moe. She did, and it magically worked.)

In a season mostly devoid of festivals and fairs, artists are scrambling to find alternative venues for their work. One, whom O’Hara declined to name, agreed to rent a space in Thirty-odd beginning in September, even though he has a contract with another Burlington gallery that

ostensibly prevents him from selling work at other venues within a three-mile radius.

“They haven’t ordered anything from him in, like, four months,” she said, referring to the gallery. “To be confined in a contract like that right now is totally not working for him.”

O’Hara disavows the turf mentality: “I don’t give a shit where else people sell stuff. They’re trying to make a living.”

Since Thirty-odd reopened in May, O’Hara has seen only a modest decrease in sales compared to a typical summer season; in July, sales were 10 percent lower than in July 2019, which she chalks up to a slightly lower number of tourists.

“Locals have been showing their support for local artists, which is amazing,” O’Hara said. Certain items have been flying off the shelf — for example, silver stud earrings by Plus or Minus Studio, which sell for $28 a pair. “People want to wear earrings, but anything that dangles gets caught on their masks!” she said.

Meanwhile, artists have been blowing up her inbox. In the past few months, O’Hara has received a slew of requests to rent space in the shop, which is already full. She currently has 10 or so vendors on a waiting list.

“I’ve had some drop-ins during business hours, where people literally just put their stuff out on the counter,” she said.

“A lot of them are veteran artists, and it feels like they’re maybe going back to the way things used to be, where they would peddle their wares in person.”

O’Hara wouldn’t share any names, but she described their general discombobulation with the sudden online-ness of everything: “It’s a bit of hurt pride, you know, that [artists] haven’t been able to pivot during a global pandemic, which is crazy.”

Martha Hull, who has been selling her work at Thirty-odd since it opened, made a little bit of money from the gift boxes while the shop was closed. “Honestly,” she said, “it was better than nothing.” In a typical summer, Hull earns about three-quarters of her income by selling her work at the Burlington Farmers Market. But given the pandemic-related restrictions this year, she anticipated a lower turnout and didn’t see much point in setting up her booth.

For a time, Hull sold masks through her online store (sample design: a tentacled creature with bat wings and, in ghoulish font, the phrase “No Worries”). But she felt like she was spending an inordinate amount of energy on projects that didn’t fulfill her: “It’s mission creep, where you do too much of the stuff you don’t want to do and, suddenly, it’s your job.”

Making anything has been a slog these past few months, Hull said. She often transforms inanimate objects into angsty, dissipated characters, such as a Tiparillosmoking wedge of Swiss in lipstick and fishnet stockings, surrounded by the words “When Cheese Goes Bad.” But the coronavirus stumped her. “Nobody wants to see it with a cute, tarty little face,” Hull said. “I’m starting to realize how much my sense of humor has suffered over the past few months, and that’s normally the driving force behind my art.”

Hull isn’t alone in her paralysis. “I’d say about 75 percent of the artists I talk to have had a really hard time working,” O’Hara said. “There’s a pandemic; you’re not selling; your customer base is gone. To be creative at all in this environment is a pretty outstanding achievement.”

Hull is one artist who bristles at the gospel of pandemic productivity: “‘Use this time to be awesome’?” she exclaimed, mocking the breathless self-improvement rhetoric of the quarantine internet.

“Like, come on. Who do you think is doing that?”

Contact: chelsea@sevendaysvt.com

INFO Thirty-odd, 270 Pine St., Burlington, 338-7441, thirtyodd.com.

This article was commissioned and paid for by

EDUCATION FOR ALL

Vermonters Get Ahead With UVM’s Continuing and Distance Learning WHO ARE THE FACES OF CDE?

PHOTOS: JAMES BUCK

BY G I L L I A N E N G L I S H FO R 7 D B R A N D ST U D I O

Read Alyson Detch’s story below, and later in this section, meet Rob Bousquet, a working father and digital marketing professional at King Arthur Baking, and Vy Cao, who balanced the demands of school and parenting to become a public health worker applying her data analysis skills to the COVID-19 crisis.

Going to college seemed really daunting. I was scared at first, but the GAP program really helped with that first step through the door.

ALYSON DETCH

Rob Bousquet

Digital shopping marketing manager for King Arthur Baking

Vy Cao

Research specialist and data manager for the pediatrics department at the Larner College of Medicine at the University of Vermont

F

our years ago, when Alyson Detch was a high school senior, the University of Vermont was her dream school. When she found out she was not admitted as an undergraduate, she wasn’t sure what to do next.

She wondered whether she was even ready to go to college. Then she discovered another option: UVM’s Guaranteed Admission Program (GAP).

GAP offers an introduction to college and the ability to start earning college credits. It’s designed for students whose academic performance in high school was less than what they had hoped for, those who are unsure of career goals and feel cautious about investing time and money as full-time students, and students who are considering a gap year. If Detch could complete 18 credit hours and maintain a 2.8 grade point average, she would be guaranteed admission to a UVM undergraduate degree program.

Detch applied for admission to the GAP program and was quickly on her way. She met with a program adviser, set

up an academic plan, scheduled her classes and focused on her educational future.

“Going to college seemed really daunting,” she remembers. “I was scared at first, but the GAP program really helped with that first step through the door.” It turns out that a little help was all she needed: This fall, Detch starts her final year as an English major with a minor in reporting and documentary storytelling. She’ll graduate in May 2021 with a bachelor’s degree.

The GAP program is one of many available through UVM Continuing and Distance Education (CDE). In alignment with UVM’s land grant mission, CDE provides access to credit courses during the academic year and summer term, offered both on the UVM campus and online. CDE also offers more than 30 noncredit and professional hybrid and online programs. They’re structured to meet the needs of part-time students who are often balancing work and family responsibilities.

RECOMMENDED COURSES:

UVM Continuing and Distance Education offers access to 40 programs and 500+ online and on-campus classes, including…

UVM DIGITAL MARKETING FUNDAMENTALS: Learn the latest innovative digital marketing strategies from industry experts. Fully online, the program provides a holistic overview of the digital marketing space, as well as deeper dives into specific topics to enhance students’ effectiveness in the digital age.

GUARANTEED ADMISSION PROGRAM: Students in the program have an opportunity to demonstrate their academic readiness, earn college credit and ultimately enroll in an undergraduate degree program at UVM. Traditional adult learners and veterans are encouraged to enroll, along with high school graduates who need additional academic coursework.

ONLINE MASTER OF PUBLIC HEALTH: Developed in collaboration with The Robert Larner, M.D. College of Medicine at UVM, the program helps students explore timely public health and policy issues while providing a strong foundation in population health sciences. The program leads to a Generalist MPH degree focused on excellence in environmental public health, epidemiology, quantitative public health sciences, and health policy, leadership, and advocacy.

CANNABIS PROGRAMS: At the forefront of academic health care, the Cannabis programs address the increasing need for research-based, high-quality education on the clinical applications of cannabis for therapeutic use. Students will explore cannabis law, policy, plant biology and chemistry, as well as cannabis’ biological effects on the human body.

GEOGRAPHIC INFORMATION SYSTEMS AND DATA COMMUNICATION PROFESSIONAL CERTIFICATE: There is increasing demand by employers for professionals in geospatial analysis (GIS, remote sensing, computing, communication), including spatial analyses, health informatics and locational intelligence. The program is focused on developing critical thinking and applied problemsolving skills, emphasizing a deep understanding of core concepts and an engagement with real-world applications and the latest technologies.

Detch found the GAP application process straightforward and easy to navigate. After submitting the required documents, she met with an adviser who helped her outline which courses would be best for her.

Detch remembers being so nervous about these meetings, but they helped reassure her about going to class on her first day.

Detch says her professors made her feel at home. For example, in one memorable history class, she learned about the Silk Road and the Khan Empire, and her professor and the teaching assistant made memes for the lesson. “They found a new way to Alyson Detch

CULINARY NUTRITION: This four-week online course will help students with their meal preparation skills, as well as improve the way they eat, by developing their culinary skills.

A major goal of this course is that students will be able to apply these concepts not just in the classroom but in their home and work settings, as well.

PRECOLLEGE PROGRAMS: These programs enable high school students to earn credits, explore potential career interests, boost their GPA, showcase their potential and learn from our faculty alongside current university students.

High school students can choose from more than 100 courses, available throughout the year — as well as our four-week, intensive Summer Academy program.

A CLEAR PATHWAY TO COLLEGE

POSTBACCALAUREATE PREMEDICAL PROGRAM: This program provides students with the prerequisite coursework and access to research and direct patient care experiences needed to apply to health and medical school. Whether right out of college or seeking to change careers, the 12- to 24-month customized program will ensure that students get the preparation and background needed for acceptance into health professional programs.

E X P LO R E A L L YO U R O P T I O N S AT L E A R N .U V M . E D U.

teach the material in a way I could understand and remember. That made it really fun,” she says.

Though Detch completed her GAP work in person, it’s also possible to complete the coursework online. GAP students enrolled in online courses are eligible for a 30 percent tuition savings on standard in-state and out-of-state per-credit-hour rates. When Detch started her first year as an admitted undergraduate at UVM, she “wasn’t scared at all.” She reports that “it was so much easier than jumping in right from high school.”

A writer and storyteller, Detch has written two self-published fantasy novels — the first in high school and the second during her years at UVM. “My second book was so much better than the first because my professors and peers at UVM challenged me to become better at writing,” she says.

After graduation, she hopes to work in journalism or become a “scribe” for a hospital, taking notes on surgeries.

“I love sharing my stories with the world,” she says, “and I got so much support at UVM.”

P R O D U C E D B Y 7 D B R A N D S T U D I O — PA I D F O R B Y U V M C O N T I N U I N G A N D D I S T A N C E E D U C A T I O N

JAMES BUCK

Rob Bousquet and his wife, Brooke, rolling out pizza dough; below: Rob and his boys mountain biking

I trusted UVM to put together a program that keeps up with current trends and was well structured.

ROB BOUSQUET

This article was commissioned and paid for by

‘THERE’S NEVER A BAD TIME TO GO BACK TO SCHOOL’ Rob Bousquet is a busy guy. The Essex dad is as active as his two young sons, who love mountain biking, hiking, berry picking and cooling off at swimming holes. He also serves as their Cub Scout troop leader.

And he holds down a demanding day job: Bousquet is the digital shopping marketing manager for King Arthur Baking (formerly King Arthur Flour). The iconic Vermont business has seen an explosion in popularity due to rising interest in baking during the pandemic.

Yet, in the spring of 2018, Bousquet decided he could handle another commitment and enrolled in UVM’s Digital Marketing Fundamentals professional certification program.

“There’s never a bad time to go back to school,” he says.

How did he find the time? Bousquet

often set aside an hour at the end of each day — or found blocks of a couple of hours during the week — when he could do his classwork. “If you want to make it work, you can make it work,” he says.

Bousquet began his career as a business consultant for a tech company, switched to marketing while working for Green Mountain Coffee Roasters and then, in 2018, took the job with King Arthur. He has a hand in all the ways in which consumers interact with King Arthur’s products online: through keyword searches, on grocery store websites and on the company’s social media pages.

Working in the digital sphere means things are constantly changing. “While you might think you have your finger

on the pulse of what’s going on, it’s important to know that what you’re doing today is going to work tomorrow,” he said. “It’s important to stay current so that you’ve got the best possible tools at your disposal.”

That’s what drew Bousquet to UVM’s Digital Marketing Fundamentals program certificate. “There are a lot of online programs of questionable quality,” he says, “but I trusted UVM to put together a program that keeps up with current trends and was well structured.” It lived up to his expectations.

“I use things from the course each day that I’m working, because it broadened my knowledge on how to engage people’s attention,” he says.

“The instructors were helpful, as well,” he adds. “All of them kept up with changes in the industry. They were quick to answer questions, give feedback, and were helpful when you had a problem.”

Erik Harbison, lead instructor in the Digital Marketing Fundamentals program, has more than 20 years of experience in the field. “Every course instructor you’ll meet has done the work. They’ve spent time learning in the trenches,” he notes in the introductory course video.

An unexpected bonus for Bousquet was the incredible network the program provided. “One of the selling features they don’t tell you about is access to a community at large,” he says. While taking the course, he had conversations with other professionals who weren’t in his usual circle. “It was a really great value in addition to the program itself.”

P R O D U C E D B Y 7 D B R A N D S T U D I O — PA I D F O R B Y U V M C O N T I N U I N G A N D D I S T A N C E E D U C A T I O N

This article was commissioned and paid for by

I learned a lot from my classmates and their point of view, and that’s what public health is all about: learning from other people’s experiences.

‘IT WAS REALLY FLEXIBLE’

VY CAO

JAMES BUCK

Another parent who faced the challenge of balancing academic and career goals with family commitments is Vy Cao, a graduate of UVM’s fully online Master of Public Health program. Cao is a research specialist and data manager for the pediatrics department at the Larner College of Medicine at the University of Vermont.

She works behind the scenes, digging into data with a focus on children and adolescent health through the Vermont Child Health Improvement Program. She develops survey instruments to assess and capture information and accurately measure health advances. She also collaborates with the Vermont Department of Health — but it wasn’t her intended path.

A native Vermonter, Cao attended UVM and earned an undergraduate degree in microbiology and biochemistry in 2014. She’d thought about continuing her education by going to medical school, but it seemed like an impossible task for someone who was also raising a young daughter.

So, after graduating, she took a job as a laboratory research technician in a structural biology lab.

When she met with her adviser and former professors, many of them mentioned UVM’s online Master of Public Health program.

Until then, she hadn’t considered it a possibility. She decided she could find time to take one course and see how it went. From the first class, Cao was hooked. She decided to go for her Certificate of Graduate Study, a short, six-course introduction to the field of public health. She loved it so much that she went on to earn her master’s degree.

Cao was still working full time at

the lab. At the end of her day, she went home to make dinner and spend time with her daughter. Adding coursework on top of that was a challenge, but she eased into it, taking courses part time as she got used to the rhythm and eventually transitioning into being a full-time student. “A lot of it depended on being organized and setting priority levels,” Cao says. “It’s exclusively online courses, and I got to make my own schedule. It was really flexible.”

Though the classes are online, the format is discussion based. “I learned a lot from my classmates and their point of view,” she says, “and that’s part of what public health is about: collaboration with others from different fields.”

The courses also offered Cao outside opportunities for research and volunteering. For one class, she reached out to the Vermont Department of Health and the Area Health Education Centers to do independent research projects about vaping. One focused on the spread of vaping among Vermont youths. Cao worked with the Area Health Education Centers to assess the problem, identify gaps and concerns, and inform public health

recommendations. The project went so well that she submitted her manuscript to an academic journal — it’s currently being given full consideration for publication.

When Cao started her graduate studies in 2016, she was surprised to find how many different things lead back to public health. “I never thought about it, but public health has an impact on so much, whether it’s how many people can get on the elevator during a pandemic or why you’re required to wear a seat belt,” she says.

Her advice for those considering signing up? “Go for it! My brother, Chaz, actually just started the program after listening to me talk so much about what I do and how much I love it. He just finished his first semester,” Cao says. “It’s something you should pursue if you are really interested in public health and you want to help people.”

Cao credits UVM CDE’s accessibility to educational growth for helping her reach her professional goals. “I was able to tailor the curriculum to what I was interested in, my professors were so supportive when I had questions, and it was really diverse and flexible,” she says.

And access is paramount at UVM CDE. Designed for students of every age and stage of life, CDE has helped thousands of nontraditional students: From precollege or gap-year courses to professional development programs for career advancement, there’s far more available than the traditional undergraduate degree. ■

Above: Vy Cao working from home with her daughter. Left: Cao in the lab with principal investigator Dr. Sylvie Doublié.

40 programs 500+ classes Find a degree or certificate program that’s right for you.

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food+drink

Melanie Webb visiting the Jersey cows whose raw milk she uses to make cheese at Stony Pond Farm

The Whey Forward

GLENN RUSSELL

How the COVID-19 pandemic has reshaped Vermont’s farmstead cheese industry B Y JORD A N BA RRY

FOOD LOVER?

GET YOUR FILL ONLINE...

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SEVEN DAYS AUGUST 19-26, 2020

percent losses many have reported since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“For cheesemakers, it’s not easy to pivot,” Marty Mundy, the council’s executive director, told Seven Days in a recent phone call.

THE CHEESE STORY CONTINUES

TO BE VERY CONFUSING. MAR TY MUND Y

In April, the council launched an online directory to help connect the state’s cheesemakers to consumers in Vermont and beyond. Many small producers were feeling the immediate impact of closures in the restaurant and food service industries — both within the state and in urban markets throughout the Northeast. And consumers were skipping the specialty cheese counter in favor of stocking up on staples from the grocery store dairy case.

Cheese sales comprise $650 million of Vermont’s $1.3 billion annual dairy industry revenue, according to data collected by the state Agency of Agriculture and the Vermont Dairy Promotion Council. Smallscale producers — including farmstead cheesemakers, who make cheese with milk from their own herds — represent 37 of the council’s 54 members. Diane Bothfeld, director of administrative services and dairy policy at the Vermont Agency of Agriculture, Food & Markets, estimates they make up $100 million to $250 million of overall cheese sales.

As sales slowed and cheese piled up in aging caves for some of the smaller, artisan producers, they were forced to reevaluate their production and sales strategies.

Some farmstead producers reduced their herd size or dried off their animals early so they weren’t producing milk through the rest of the season.

FOOD NEWS SERVED TO YOUR INBOX

FOR A SNEAK PEEK AT THE WEEK’S FOOD COVERAGE, RECIPES AND OTHER DELICIOUS TIDBITS, SIGN UP FOR THE BITE CLUB NEWSLETTER: SEVENDAYSVT.COM/ENEWS.

THE WHEY FORWARD

» P.42

GOOD TO-GO VERMONT:

COURTESY OF ORB WEAVER CREAMERY/KATE TURCOTTE

A

t the Burlington Farmers Market on August 8, Orb Weaver Creamery’s cheese was all dressed up, wrapped in paper celebrating the Vermont Cheesemakers Festival. In a normal year, more than 40 of the state’s cheesemakers would have been gearing up to spend the next day at Shelburne Farms sharing samples, pairing cheeses with local food and wine, and basking in the glory of the high-summer festival.

As with most large summer gatherings, though, the festival didn’t happen this year: In July, the Vermont Cheese Council announced the cancellation of the 12th annual event. In the announcement, the council shared how its focus has changed over the past few months. “Instead of planning for the festival … we are mostly trying to help cheesemakers keep their doors open…,” the statement said.

Indeed, the council has been trying to help its members make up for the 25 to 75

Orb Weaver Creamery’s Frolic, wrapped in paper celebrating the Vermont Cheesemakers Festival

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Smooth Operator ROLLING SMOOTHIE BAR HITS THE MRV

The good-looking intersection of East Warren and Roxbury Mountain roads in East Warren — a standout four corners in the Mad River Valley — just added a little more visual dazzle: a 1969 silver Airstream.

The rig is the COVID-19era home of ROOT JUICE, a mobile smoothie and juice business owned and operated by SAMANTHA DUCHAINE of Roxbury.

For five years, Duchaine, 34, traveled from her home base in Vermont with a mobile drinkery that she ran out of a cargo trailer and pop-up tent, from which she served drinks at music festivals around the Northeast. That business dried up when festivals were canceled.

So Duchaine and her

boyfriend, Courtney Fair,renovated and refurbished an Airstream they’d found in the Adirondacks. She relaunched Root Juice this month at two locations in the Mad River Valley: a field at that four-corners intersection beside the EAST WARREN COMMUNITY

MARKET; and next to the

SWEET SPOT in Waitsfield.

Duchaine makes drinks to order and serves them from a window of the Airstream.

Her menu includes a blueberry-peach-limebasil smoothie and a blend of carrots, bananas and peanut butter (all organic) with Vermont apple cider. The Ultra Classic contains carrots, beets, apples and ginger.

“I’ve always been passionate about health and wellness,” Duchaine said. “I was always frustrated when I went to musical festivals and there wasn’t good food. It

felt like there needed to be an option for people to put something good in their body.”

At midsize music festivals, such as the Green River Festival in Greenfield, Mass., and the Jerry Jam in Bath, N.H., her customers often included the performers.

At one festival, the Wood Brothers came back three times for smoothies, preferring the almonddate-blueberry-cacao variety, Duchaine said.

In her Airstream, Duchaine is in East Warren on Fridays, 1 to 6 p.m., and on Saturdays and Sundays, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.; she’s in Waitsfield on Mondays, 2 to 7 p.m.

“I couldn’t be happier with it,” she said of the new setup.

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Jasper Hill Farm provided a highprofile example when it announced at the end of March that it had dispersed its herd of Ayrshire cows. In June, VTDigger.org reported that Grafton Village Cheese, which has been producing cheese in southern Vermont since 1892, was exploring consolidating its two manufacturing spaces, in part due to losses during the pandemic.

“The cheese story continues to be very confusing,” Mundy said, explaining that despite the losses many faced, some Vermont cheesemakers actually reported increases in sales. “There are some folks who are doing really well, and there are some who are struggling. But one of the strengths of the Vermont farm and food system is, it’s based on people doing what they need to do to make it work.”

As restaurants have been able to reopen and relief funding has started to help some producers pay their bills, the tone among producers has been optimistic. “Some of it is the strength and resilience and grit of cheesemakers,” Mundy said. “They feel like they can pull through.”

SIZE MATTERS

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BETWEEN MAIL ORDER AND THE FARMSTANDS …

IT’S BEEN AMAZING HOW MANY POUNDS OF CHEESE WE’VE BEEN ABLE TO SELL. K AT E T U R C O T T E Zack Munzer and Kate Turcotte of Orb Weaver Farm

after a cow from the founders’ original herd — also have an increased presence at farmstands this summer, as well as at the Burlington Farmers Market.

“Between mail order and the farmstands

— we work with maybe 10 different farmstands throughout Vermont — it’s been amazing how many pounds of cheese we’ve been able to sell,” Turcotte said. “It shows the resilience of our food system.”

DAIRY UNDER DURESS In late 2019 and early 2020, commodity milk prices were finally inching upward after a five-year slump.

“Consumer demand was strong, export markets were steady, and the national number of cows and milk volume was not excessive,” explained Diane Bothfeld, director of administrative services and dairy policy at the Vermont Agency of Agriculture, Food & Markets.

Then came COVID-19.

During the early weeks of the pandemic, images of dairy farmers dumping milk were confusingly juxtaposed with bare shelves in supermarket coolers. Global ports had closed. High-volume markets such as schools, coffee shops and restaurants shut down, while grocery sales leapt. Supply chains buckled under abrupt swings in demand.

Most of Vermont’s fluid milk dairies sell through co-ops and have no control over where their milk goes or what they get paid, other than premiums earned for quality. Crafting value-added products such as cheese from their milk has enabled some farmers to get off the commodity hamster wheel. But the pandemic has disrupted that market, too, as detailed in the accompanying article.

COVID-19 is just the latest challenge for the state’s dairy sector, which has dominated Vermont’s image, rural communities and agricultural economy for more than a century.

“To this day, dairy is the predominant agricultural activity upon our landscape and the single largest economic contributor to the agricultural GDP,” said Abbey Willard, agricultural development director at the state agriculture agency.

About 650 dairy producers, along with 110 value-added dairy processors, represent $2.2 billion in total economic activity annually, she said — “almost equivalent to tourism in a typical year.”

The 900,000-acre physical presence of those farms impacts tourism, too. Dairy-related hay, corn and pasture account for 80 percent of Vermont’s agricultural land.

“Cut-and-wrap is kind of dead,” Turcotte said. “Even some co-ops don’t want to cut our cheese anymore.”

Pre-cutting creates a whole new series of challenges for small producers as they take on that added labor.

Furthermore, standardizing the sizes

Some aspects of dairy farming may not be positive — such as the potential impact on water quality. But overall, Willard said, tourism “benefit[s] from the dairy industry and those green hills, that open landscape, and [that] agricultural, bucolic kind of background that we sometimes take for granted.”

Despite a steady decline in individual farms — down 35 so far this year — milk production and acreage remain relatively constant, consolidated into fewer, larger operations.

The loss of small to midsize dairy farms concerns Sam Smith, a farm business specialist with Burlington’s Intervale Center.

Revenue from one 1,000-cow dairy and 10 100-cow dairies might be equivalent, he said, but the broader economic and social impacts can be very different.

“With 10 families, there are more kids in the schools, more people to volunteer in the fire department and buy gas at the general store,” he explained. “It is Cows feeding really disheartening if you look at the impact [of consolidation] on rural communities.”

Smith sees “a hole in the dairy case” for locally produced everyday products that command a reasonable price premium, such as Neighborly Farms of Vermont cheeses (see accompanying article). He also thinks small and midsize dairies could collaborate on value-added processing and marketing.

Willard observed that while the pandemic has been challenging, it has also heightened consumer appreciation of “reliable, consistent, healthy, close-to-home food sources.”

To help the dairy sector cover losses and move ahead, the state allocated $25 million of its $1.25 billion in federal CARES Act funds. And in early 2021, it will begin awarding funds as the Northeast regional coordinator of a $6.5 million federal dairy innovation grant.

“The volatility is really hard,” Willard acknowledged, “but I think there’s a lot of opportunity to really look at your business right now and think about the market and think about the customer base that you want to serve.”

FILE PHOTO

At Orb Weaver, owners Kate Turcotte and Zack Munzer realized in mid-March that they had to sell two cows, reducing their small herd to 10. The couple took over the business in December 2018 from founders Marjorie Susman and Marian Pollack and had spent the 2019 season building their cheese inventory, with minimal sales.

“It was pretty obvious things were going to really change for us,” Turcotte said. “We were definitely still getting off the ground, and we were really kind of planning on the spring of 2020 being the start of our business.”

Cutting production allowed the couple to lower their grain costs; both also continued to work at off-farm jobs, which provided an essential and steady source of income. Being small and relatively new — and reacting quickly — gave them options that larger, more established producers might not have had.

“That was our superpower,” Turcotte said. “Our limitation is mostly just the time we have in the day.”

When the state’s restaurants shut down, she and Munzer launched mail order and began to offer Friday afternoon curbside pickup at the creamery. Directto-consumer sales, rather than selling through a distributor or to a restaurant or cheese shop, gives them “the full dollar,” Turcotte noted. “For any producer, that direct dollar is very powerful.”

Orb Weaver cheeses — each named

With those smaller, direct-to-consumer sales, though, they’ve had to adjust their processes and pricing structure. Rather than drop off an entire wheel of cheese at a restaurant or cheese shop, they now cut up that wheel and vacuum-seal pieces of cheese portioned for individual consumers.

FILE: CALEB KENNA

The Whey Forward « P.40

MELISSA PASANEN

food+drink Clif Cheney and Jason Jarvis at Neighborly Farms of Vermont

PHOTOS: MOLLY ZAPP

of those cheese pieces is no easy feat, whether during the cutting process or when producing smaller cheeses from the start. “We make a cheese called Frolic, and we always try to make it in one-pound sizes, but it’s really hard to do!� Turcotte said with a laugh. “We’re working with people to try to get them to understand that we’re not machines.�

Still, the relationships they’ve created with the farmstands and with the community in general through direct sales represent an adaptation the couple hopes to continue in the long term. “People’s farmstands are just so much busier,� Turcotte said, “so they are able to take on wholesale accounts. If we’re going to split the [profit] of a piece of cheese, I’d love it to go to the veggie farmer down the road. That’s a really rewarding part of all this.�

THE DAIRY CASE

At Spring Brook Farm in Reading, cheese program director Jeremy Stephenson also saw the need for individually wrapped cheese wedges. Stephenson, current president Neighborly Farms cheese of the American Cheese Society, said it’s a necessary adaptation across the industry. equipment needed to package cheeses Spring Brook’s overall sales have for mail order. dropped to about 70 percent of last “The reason the impacts on our small year’s, he said. Though monthly sales cheese industry are so tough to watch is in January and February were good, the knockout effect for the dairy farms, they’ve been quite low since March. Pre- and then the landscape and the agripandemic, most of Spring Brook’s sales cultural community,� Stephenson said. had gone to the food service industry “We’ve seen the challenges for dairy through distributors; last year, airline quite clearly for some time, and small companies bought pallets of cheese to cheesemakers have definitely been part serve on flights to Europe. Now, the of helping to support small dairy.� farm is investing in the cost-intensive The challenges cheesemakers are CSWD ScrapFoodWaste-QTR-Hv2-7D-snap.pdf 1 7/29/20 3:41 PM

COMPANIES WHO ARE WELL POSITIONED TO GET THEIR HIGH-QUALITY PRODUCTS INTO BIGGER MARKETS WITH PREPACKAGING

ARE DOING REALLY WELL.

J E R E MY S TEP H EN S O N

facing now — investing in new formats and markets despite lower sales — are inevitable, Stephenson thinks. He sees this as a great time to reevaluate what the industry is doing, and why. “Companies who are well positioned to get their high-quality products into bigger markets with prepackaging are

doing really well,� he said. “Nobody’s products have changed, nobody’s quality has changed, but some companies are doing really well this year and others are not, and it usually falls along those lines.�

Neighborly Farms of Vermont is one of the companies doing well. The thirdgeneration family farm in Randolph Center sells organic, prepackaged farmstead cheeses, including traditional sharp, raw-milk and flavored cheddars.

During a break from making garlicand-herb cheddar last week, owner Linda Dimmick wrote in an email to Seven Days that Neighborly Farms has been less affected by the pandemic than other farmstead cheesemakers in Vermont because it makes a prepackaged cheese that’s sold almost exclusively at grocery stores and natural food markets. “I feel guilty,� Dimmick said later that day on the phone, as the farm’s calves mooed in the background. “March was up, like, 45 percent in sales, and April was 35 percent.�

Stephenson said Neighborly Farms is a perfect example of what’s working now and where the industry as a whole could be headed. “She shouldn’t feel guilty about anything,� he said. “They work really hard. They’re just a family farm, but they’ve always packaged and sold in the dairy case. [Neighborly is] that special cheese you could pick out of the dairy case that was organic and made in Vermont.�

Neighborly Farms cheeses are distributed throughout New England, in New York and down the East Coast to Washington, D.C. When the shutdown began and food procurement was largely limited to grocery shopping, Dimmick said orders from grocery stores and home delivery services in larger cities doubled and quadrupled.

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PHOTOS: GLENN RUSSELL

Webbs used their facilities to develop recipes and put together a business plan.

Melanie, who has taken on the role of cheesemaker, made batches of Swallow Tail Tomme — an aged, raw-milk cheese — at Does’ Leap until January, when the Stony Pond herd was dried off for the year.

The farm’s herd is seasonal, and all of its cows calve at about the same time beginning in mid-March. This schedule aligns the cows’ peak milk production — typically 90 to 120 days after calving — with Vermont’s peak grass production to

WE’RE ENTERING THE MARKET RIGHT WHEN

THERE’S A SURPLUS OF CHEESE. T Y L ER WEB B

Jersey calves in a pasture at Stony Pond Farm

The Whey Forward « P.43 “It was scary, in a way,” she said. “The orders would get bigger and bigger.”

Sales have leveled off now, and the farm is working to build back to its normal benchmark inventory, Dimmick said. One of her big concerns, though, continues to be the physical threat of contracting the virus.

“We are a very small work crew of two full-time and two part-time people,” she wrote. “I was really on pins and needles each week, because I felt, if one of us got sick, we would definitely have to shut the whole place down. I don’t want to brag, because tomorrow could be totally different.”

Melanie Webb with some of the raw-milk cheese she makes at Stony Pond Farm

NEW KIDS ON THE BLOCK

Despite the challenges the pandemic has created for the cheese industry, Tyler and Melanie Webb were not deterred from starting a new operation at Stony Pond Farm in Fairfield.

The organic dairy has been a member of the farmer-owned Organic Valley cooperative since 2007, but the couple has also been working to diversify and strengthen the farm’s overall viability. In addition to producing fluid milk, they’ve 44

SEVEN DAYS AUGUST 19-26, 2020

operated a burger stand at the Burlington Farmers Market, sold value-added meats and offered farm stays. In 2019, they began getting into cheese.

“We’ve been making really superiorquality milk for a lot of years — milk that would be ideal for a cheesemaker,” Tyler

told Seven Days last week. “We finally got the courage to recognize that maybe we could just be the cheesemaker.”

The Webbs started bringing their milk to Does’ Leap in Bakersfield early last summer; the goat dairy supported them, teaching them to make cheese while the

produce the highest quality milk, Tyler explained. This year, Stony Pond cows had 65 calves in 35 days.

“The downside is that we’re making the majority of our milk in May, June and July — exactly when our co-op doesn’t need it,” he said.

Like most commercial dairy enterprises, Organic Valley receives a surplus of milk in May, June and July when the cows start eating grass again. During that period, the co-op institutes a $3 deduction per hundredweight of milk.

“To help our co-op, and to help us reclaim some of that income, we thought maybe we could take a good chunk of that milk, put it in the cheese cave and age it for four to six months,” Tyler said.

Stony Pond built that cave, and the rest of its on-farm creamery, with the help of a $65,000 grant from the state’s Working Lands Enterprise Initiative. It was a slice of the $1.4 million the program distributed throughout Vermont in its 2020 fiscal year cycle.

(Working Lands also directed more than $250,000 to business development in response to COVID-19.) Tyler added that the couple also took out a loan “to invest to make this all happen” and is feeling the pressure of that investment.

The Webbs had hoped to expand the variety of cheeses they made at the farm beginning in May, but they had ordered a cheese vat from a Dutch producer who contracted the virus. The man has recovered, Tyler said, but the vat that was supposed to arrive on May 1 didn’t come until last week.

In the meantime, Melanie has been able to make batches of Swallow Tail

food+drink using a retrofitted 60-gallon soup kettle. Without the more sophisticated pasteurizing vat, though, all Stony Pond has in its newly constructed cave is 1,000 pounds of the raw-milk cheese.

As a new producer — and one working with high-cost organic milk — Tyler worries that when they start releasing cheese in the coming weeks, they’ll be competing with established producers who are liquidating their inventory at rock-bottom prices to make room in their crowded caves.

“We’re entering the market right when there’s a surplus of cheese,” he said. “We’re going to have to hope that we’re either making something special or that the organic aspect of it is desired enough that we can compete on the cheese shelf at local places.”

Instead of relying on sales to restaurants, the Webbs’ distribution plan will target more CSAs and farm stores — businesses that have been booming during the pandemic — as well as some of the smaller innovative distribution networks that have popped up. Stony Pond will be one of the first producers involved with BFM Direct, the soonto-launch digital extension of the Burlington Farmers Market.

“What this has made us realize is that, from a supply-chain standpoint — and from a quality, nutritious, organic food standpoint — the people of Vermont need us to make this product even more than they did back in January,” Tyler said.

If the booming business at the state’s farmstands this summer is any indication, Vermonters are shortening their supply chains and looking locally.

The cheesemakers — and the broader dairy industry they rely on — hope to milk that as long as they can.

Melissa Pasanen contributed reporting.

Contact: jbarry@sevendaysvt.com

INFO • • • • • • • •

DOE’S LEAP 1703 Route 108, East Fairfield, doesleap.com GRAFTON VILLAGE CHEESE, 400 Linden St., Brattleboro, graftonvillagecheese.com JASPER HILL FARM, 884 Garvin Hill Rd., Greensboro Bend, jasperhillfarm.com NEIGHBORLY FARMS OF VERMONT, 1362 Curtis Rd., Randolph Center, neighborlyfarms.com ORB WEAVER CREAMERY, 3406 Lime Kiln Rd., New Haven, orbweavercreamery.com SPRING BROOK FARM, 706 Caper Hill Rd., Reading, sbfcheese.org STONY POND FARM, 336 Emch Rd., Fairfield, stonypondfarm.com Learn more at VERMONT CHEESE COUNCIL, vtcheese.com.

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COURTESY OF MYLES DAVID JEWELL

music+nightlife Kat Wright (left) and Stephanie Wilson

S UNDbites

News and views on the local music + nightlife scene B Y JO R D A N A D A MS

Out of Sight

The pandemic has had a profound effect on the performing arts industry. But enterprising local minds, Vermont’s warm summer and rolled-back capacity limits on public gatherings have ushered in the return of various forms of live entertainment. However, pre- or midpandemic, we’ve seen nothing like the upcoming event called RETRO SPEC. From the minds of theater artist and educator TRISH DENTON and singersongwriters/bandleaders STEPHANIE WILSON and KAT WRIGHT comes this sprawling, highly conceptual, multidisciplinary happening. With social distancing in mind, people can view it live, on a huge screen, on Friday, August 21, and Saturday, August 22, at Water Works Park in Burlington. (Just to quell any confusion, Water Works Park is north of Waterfront Park, near the Moran Plant.) The piece will also be livestreamed.

What is RETRO SPEC, exactly? Well, it’s complicated. The simplest way to think of it is as a theatrically infused, 46

SEVEN DAYS AUGUST 19-26, 2020

movement-centric music video, captured in one continuous take and broadcast live, and which attendees watch like they would a drive-in movie — just without cars. Through dance, music, visual art and filmmaking, the piece examines racial inequality in the U.S. and climate issues, and it abstractly envisions a new creative future.

“The first idea was to address the separateness [brought on by] the pandemic,” Denton said in a Zoom chat with Seven Days.

She explained that the three artists started planning the event long before they knew what it would be and moved through various concepts before arriving at the somewhat nebulous final product.

Primarily, the piece is about change in nearly every conceivable way.

“We have entered a paradigm shift,” Denton said. “We recognize that there are some things that we can never return to now. In order to make changes in that way, what narratives do we need to adapt? What anthems do we need to stir up? What type of support do we need to create the future that we want to see?”

In the piece, Wilson and Wright will perform songs from their collective catalogs, backed by a small ensemble of musicians. Wilson will pull pieces from her work in pop-jazz group SMALLTALKER and neo-soul outfit JUPTR. Wright plans to perform unreleased material that will appear on a forthcoming album.

“The whole show is a conversation.

It’s been this incredible growth experience for me to produce something that’s so far outside my comfort zone,” said Wilson. “Even without COVID-19 going on, this whole entire way of [working] is pretty cool.”

“The act of doing the piece itself, and all of the behind-the-scenes work, and negotiating the pandemic, and conversations around history and where we all come from — everything behind the scenes is all part of the experience for us,” Wright said.

Wilson and Wright both noted that having their work captured up close and personal, as opposed to the (admittedly fun) chaos of the bar and club scene, is one of the most crucial aspects of the piece.

“Getting to spotlight songs that feel really personal, having the visual and movement there … These visuals really hone in what I’m trying to communicate,” said Wilson.

MYLES DAVID JEWELL, who acts as the project’s cinematographer, guides the audience through the piece and adds some stop-motion animations, to be projected at various times throughout.

He said the process has been a juicy creative challenge solved only through extensive collaborative work with the team.

“This is a new form for me,” Jewell said, noting that it was not easy to approach the project from a traditional filmmaking point of view, with multiple takes, angles, cameras, etc. “I struggled to figure out how to even talk about it or describe it. It’s been liberating. [We’re] creating what I would never get the chance to create.”

So if the audience is watching all of this unfold on-screen, where is the performance actually taking place?

That’s sort of a secret, as are the specifics of what will happen in the performance.

But the event’s creators note that they won’t be far from the audience. The separation signifies the fact that not being able to see something doesn’t mean it’s not happening. Chew on that.

The Hurly Burly Hubbub In case you missed it last week, the FLYNN CENTER — along with the BURLINGTON DISCOVER JAZZ FESTIVAL and the UVM LANE SERIES — announced its first live events since canceling its entire 2020 season.

Called Hurly Burly (which I just realized is a play on “Burly,” a Queen City nickname), the series consists of free pop-up events around Burlington that primarily highlight voices of color.

The first events took place on Saturday and Sunday, August 15 and 16, with trumpeter RAY VEGA and multiinstrumentalist MATTHEW EVAN TAYLOR at Roosevelt Park and Pomeroy Park, respectively, in the Old North End. The artists performed on improvised stages on the backs of trucks, a feature both whimsical and practical. About 100 people showed up each day, toting their own chairs and blankets. Though hardly approaching the size and scope of the jazz festival, the concerts did conjure a bit of the festival’s magic — the kind of freewheeling energy that the free, outdoor shows downtown typically exude.

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the Flynn noted that safety and social distancing were of the highest priority for the series. To keep crowds relatively small, the locations of the shows would be announced on the day they were scheduled.

Staging the concerts in the Old North End underscored Hurly Burly’s focus on diversity, both onstage and in the audience. The neighborhood is one of the most racially and ethnically varied areas of the state.

The series continues this weekend with African fusion outfit SABOUYOUMA — subbing for jazz singer RO FREEMAN — on Saturday, August 22. On Sunday, August 23, the VERMONT SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA teams up with an ensemble from LYRIC THEATRE. Again, times and locations are announced the day of, so follow the Flynn’s socials for the deets.

COURTESY OF LUKE AWTRY PHOTOGRAPHY

Taylor had never before performed solo under the Flynn’s banner.

“That went really well,” he said by phone after his show. “The audience was really compliant. It felt safe.”

The Middlebury College assistant professor of music performed improvised, looped pieces of abstract jazz on saxophone, flute and hulusi.

They were inspired by and connected to a collection of similar music he released in June called Say Their Names. Taylor created the seven-track album as a reaction to the recent police killings of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor (no relation).

Watching Taylor work his looped magic on Instagram, which he posts daily, pales in comparison to witnessing him create his textured, sometimes anguished sounds in person. Flynn artistic director STEVE MACQUEEN said it best at the top of Taylor’s set: “We’re so excited to have three-dimensional people playing live music for three-dimensional people.”

This was also Taylor’s first solo live performance since the pandemic set in, which he said wasn’t without its challenges.

“What I realized was that I have to worry about everything I do onstage,” he said. “I’m playing wind instruments, putting them down on surfaces, putting them back in my mouth. That’s a risk. How do I protect myself from myself?”

Luckily, thanks to the efforts of the Flynn, no one was allowed to sit in the “splash zone,” as it were, the area directly in front of the stage that might be vulnerable to particulates. In fact, in the initial Hurly Burly press release,

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REVIEW this Homeboy Aurelio, Homeboy Aurelio (SELF-RELEASED, DIGITAL)

When Burlington’s Alex Vitzthum, one of the minds behind Homeboy Aurelio, emailed me earlier this year to submit the band’s new, self-titled album, I asked him whether he was a real person or some kind of AI. I was only 90 percent joking. Not only had I never met the guy, who’d regularly submitted music to this publication since my tenure began in 2016, I’d also never seen him perform. Considering how different and strange his music has been, can you really blame me for wondering whether he was incorporeal, all ones and zeros, completing tasks inputted by some mad programmer?

Vitzthum, a professional photographer and designer, is a real person and acknowledges his enigmatic

Mavstar, Magnús Ver Mavússon (EQUAL EYES RECORDS, DIGITAL)

Burlington rapper Mavstar, aka Marek Lorenc, has built himself up from a kid bum-rushing open mics — often with an actual backpack in hand — to a respected local hip-hop icon. Part of that growth is thanks to his generous and honest personality. Mostly, though, it’s just his sheer talent for writing rhymes. Magnús Ver Mavússon is his third album and his most polished, professional work to date.

The title is a tribute to the gigantic Icelandic athlete Magnús Ver Magnússon, perhaps best known for winning the World’s Strongest Man competition … four times. Like rappers, powerlifters train solo for a solo sport, and that theme of striving for perfection permeates this project.

Album opener “Equinox” is an incredibly balanced dish. It’s got a classic

profile. He’s of the seldom-discussed ilk of Vermont musicians who make records but rarely gig, perpetually bound to the studio. He’s made chimerical electronica and Gregorian chanting as Clam, beardthemed tunes as Count Hamilton, and some seriously quirky indie pop as Homeboy Aurelio — the last alongside nonlocals Gabe Allen and Lucas Hamilton. Homeboy Aurelio is the group’s latest, a follow-up to 2018’s Himself.

On the trio’s Bandcamp page, the term “esoterica-infused indie rock” appears, which is more apt and snappy than anything I could come up with. And not only is Homeboy Aurelio’s general outlook and execution extra peculiar, their approach to pop is also broadly

off-center. It’s almost like they’re playing at pop as much as they’re playing pop.

This presents in the form of foreheadwrinkling lyrics; bewildering, sketchlike interstitials; and an incessant flouting of convention, even in their more straightforward songs.

The smoldering, funklite first track, “Intro II (The Hands),” winks at radio DJs with sexy voices who play boudoir anthems bumpered with crackling thunder — but, like, in a super-weird, David Lynch way. “I have the hands of a god / I tried to reach down to touch the Earth / But I was frozen in fear,” an obviously pitch-bent voice proclaims over porno riffs. Placing this madness up front signals that this ain’t your grandpa’s indie rock.

Only sometimes it kinda is — and that’s not a bad thing. Some of the record recalls the Belle-and-Sebastiandominated early 2000s sound. “Where She Goes” is light as a feather, a postfolk-pop dream that ponders the same things the La’s did with their 1990 hit “There She Goes.”

Jangly and wacky, “Shellfish Guy” finds Vitzthum spastic and slaphappy.

Its loose beats and largely spoken lyrics synthesize a cartoonish vibe that’s darkened only by its defeatist lyrics.

“Better Than Him” recalls ’80s newwave weirdness, culminating in a synthdriven climax and brash guitar solo.

Homeboy Aurelio might not land for everyone, but that’s kind of the point.

In an increasingly homogenized music landscape, Homeboy Aurelio let their freak flag fly.

The album is available at homeboyaurelio.bandcamp.com.

’90s feel and guest features from two of Vermont’s understated greats, Konflik and Humble. Both deliver dynamite verses that complement Mavstar’s laid-back style. The track is a knockout first shot, but the album keeps evolving quickly from there.

The slyly titled “Arrogance” puts Mavstar’s razor-sharp pen game in the spotlight, his signature brand of, as he puts it, “bars that were charged with the hardest catharsis.”

His deadpan delivery often disguises just how intricate his writing can be. “If it wasn’t for the sport of warping the vocabulary,” he continues, “I’d be bored and would resort to something ordinary.”

Then there’s the lead single, “Star Like Me,” a casually catchy earworm. It also highlights that Magnús Ver Mavússon is

a continually improving album with zero dead weight. For rap fans, that’s great news. But for a reviewer with limited space, that’s a problem. What truly defines an LP so packed and diverse?

First and foremost, Mavstar is grateful. He pays tribute to the local scene that raised him, featuring appearances from Aztext virtuoso Learic, Montpelier powerhouse Sed One, indie favorite Basic Brains and St. Albans hardcore legends Joint Manipulation.

Further, he devotes most of his autobiographical track, “Where Does the Time Go?,” not to himself but to the artists who helped him along the way.

Mavstar is also genuinely devoted to rap music. While the project is locally rooted, he’s also paying homage to the influences he grew up on. Every song

here is tightly polished. Indeed, my very favorite moment is the one-two punch of concept tracks “Artifact” and “Ghosts,” perhaps the finest cuts on the menu.

Both are carried solo.

Well, not completely solo, of course.

The producers deserve a lot of credit, especially Face One, who carries the bulk of the LP. Equal Eyes Records founders ILLu and Rico James are both represented, alongside THEN WHAT and Flip Physics, all graced with finishing touches throughout by SkySplitterInk. Where Mavstar’s previous project with ILLu, Gangsta Trail Mix, felt like a breezy introduction to the artist he’d become, Magnús Ver Mavússon is a definitive statement. His style is dialed in, and he’s improved his songwriting game. The result is one of the best Vermont hip-hop albums of the year.

Magnús Ver Mavússon is available at equaleyesrecords.bandcamp.com.

GET YOUR MUSIC REVIEWED:

48

J

SEVEN DAYS AUGUST 19-26, 2020

JORDAN ADAMS

JUSTIN BOLAND

ARE YOU A VT ARTIST OR BAND? SEND US YOUR MUSIC! DIGITAL: MUSIC@SEVENDAYSVT.COM; SNAIL MAIL: MUSIC C/O SEVEN DAYS, 255 S. CHAMPLAIN ST., SUITE 5, BURLINGTON, VT 05401

Say you saw it in...

NOW IN sevendaysvt.com

3D!

classes dance DANCE STUDIO SALSALINA: Salsa, bachata, cha-cha: Latin dancing! Salsalina Dance Studio reopening July 20 to offer private lessons only. Call to schedule, learn about pricing and safety protocols. See website for details. No dance experience or partner required, just the desire to have fun! Opened Jul. 20.

Lessons avail. Mon.-Thu., 6-9 p.m. Varies. Location: 32 Malletts Bay Ave., Winooski. Info: Victoria, 598-1077, info@salsalina.com, salsalina.com.

drumming DJEMBE & TAIKO: JOIN US!: Digital classes! (No classes on-site for now.) Taiko: Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday.

Djembe: Wednesday. Kids and Parents: Tuesday and Wednesday. Private digital conga lessons by appointment.

Let’s prepare for a future drum gathering outdoors! Schedule/ register online. Location: Taiko Space, 208 Flynn Ave., Suite 3G, Burlington. Info: 999-4255, burlingtontaiko.org.

technique. Brazilian jiujitsu self-defense curriculum is taught to Navy SEALs, CIA, FBI, military police and special forces. No training experience required.

Easy-to-learn techniques that could save your life! Classes for men, women and children.

Students will learn realistic bully-proofing and self-defense life skills to avoid becoming victims and help them feel safe and secure. Our sole purpose is to help empower people by giving them realistic martial arts training practices they can carry with them throughout life. IBJJF and CBJJ certified black belt sixth-degree instructor under Carlson Gracie Sr.: teaching in Vermont, born and raised in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. A five-time Brazilian National Champion; International World Masters Champion and IBJJF World Masters Champion. Accept no Iimitations! Location: Vermont Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, 55 Leroy Rd., Williston. Info: 598-2839, julio@ bjjusa.com, vermontbjj.com.

ALLIANCE FRANÇAISE ONLINE CLASSES: Join us for adult online French classes this fall.

Session begins September 14 and offers classes for participants at all levels. Whether you are a beginner or are comfortable conversing in French, there is a class for you. Please visit aflcr. org to learn more, or contact Micheline at education@aflcr. org. Begins Sep. 14. Location: Online. Info: Alliance Française of the Lake Champlain Region, Micheline Tremblay, 881-8826, education@aflcr.org, aflcr.org.

martial arts VERMONT BRAZILIAN JIUJITSU: Brazilian jiujitsu is a martial arts combat style based entirely on leverage and

PLEASE CHECK WITH ORGANIZERS IN ADVANCE.

religion TREASURES OF THE WORLD’S RELIGIONS: Discover the gifts that each of the major religions and indigenous spiritualities contributes to our world, including mystical and ethical dimensions and the new emerging form of spiritual expression. We welcome email conversations from anyone who would need a reduction in the usual fee. Led by Sue Mehrtens. Register by email info@jungiancenter.org. Sep. 1, Oct. 6, Nov. 3, Dec. 1, Jan. 5, Feb. 2, Mar. 2, Apr. 6 & May 4, 7-9 p.m.

Cost: $90/person via PayPal or check in $U.S. Location: Online, Zoom. Info: Jungian Center for the Spiritual Sciences, Sue Mehrtens, 244-7909, info@jungiancenter.org, jungiancenter.org.

spirituality

yoga

massage CHINESE MEDICAL MASSAGE: This program teaches two forms of Chinese medical massage: Tui Na and shiatsu. We will explore oriental medicine theory and diagnosis, as well as the body’s meridian system, acupressure points, and yin-yang and five-element theory.

Additionally, Western anatomy and physiology are taught. VSAC nondegree grants are available.

FSMTB-approved program. Starts Sep. 2020. Cost: $6000/625-hour program. Location: Elements of

Check out the Champlain Valley’s new SUPER station!

Healing, 21 Essex Way, Suite 109, Essex Jct.. Info: Scott Moylan, 2888160, scott@elementsofhealing. net, elementsofhealing.net.

ESOTERIC CHRISTIANITY: Discover the hidden wisdom in the Holy Gospel in this workshop that uses exercises and handson experience to reveal the deeper layers of meaning in both the Old and New Testament. We welcome email conversations from anyone who would need a reduction in the usual fee. Led by Sue Mehrtens. Register by email info@jungiancenter.org. Sep. 2, 9, 16 & 23, 7-9 p.m. Cost: $60/ person via PayPal or check in $U.S. Location: online, Zoom. Info: Jungian Center for the Spiritual Sciences, Sue Mehrtens, 2447909, info@jungiancenter.org, jungiancenter.org.

language

SPANISH CLASSES LIVE & ONLINE: Join us for adult Spanish classes this fall, using online video conferencing.

Learn from a native speaker via small group classes, individual instruction or student tutoring.

You’ll always be participating and speaking. Lesson packages for travelers, lessons for children.

Our 14th year. See our website or contact us for details. Beginning week of August 31. Cost: $270/10 weekly classes of 90+ min. each.

Location: Spanish in Waterbury Center, Waterbury Center. Info: 585-1025, spanishparavos@ gmail.com, spanishwaterbury center.com.

CLASSES MAY BE CANCELED OR MOVED ONLINE DUE TO THE CORONAVIRUS.

EVOLUTION YOGA: Come as you are and open your heart!

Whether you are new to yoga or have been at it for years, you’ll find the support you need to awaken your practice.

Livestream, recorded and outdoor classes. Practice with us in the park or on the Sailing Center dock, overlooking Lake Champlain and the scenic mountains. Enrich your practice with our Yoga for Life program or 200-hour Yoga Teacher Training for Health and Wellness Professionals. Single class: $015. 10-class pass: $120. $5 new student special. Flexible pricing, scholarships avail. Location: Evolution Yoga, 20 Kilburn St., Burlington. Info: 864-9642, evolutionvt.com.

Now on

104.3 FM

in Burlington, Plattsburgh and Saint Albans Always on

100.9

in Waterbury, Montpelier and Randolph

4T-GreatEasternRadio061720.indd 1

Planning an event?

Submit your listing for free at sevendaysvt.com/ postevent.

Be social and safe!

6/10/20 5:51 PM

Though the pandemic is still with us, there are plenty of ways to play with others. Check the Seven Days online calendar to find activities from free classes to art shows to concerts — both in real life and virtual.

On Thursdays, consult the Magnificent 7 for a list of must-do events over the upcoming — you guessed it — seven days.

Find it at sevendaysvt.com/mag7.

CLASS PHOTOS + MORE INFO ONLINE SEVENDAYSVT.COM/CLASSES SEVEN DAYS AUGUST 19-26, 2020

49

“I love a dynamic downtown, full of life, creativity, great food, shopping options and live music.

If we don’t support downtown businesses, this thriving cultural and economic center as we know it could irreversibly decline. There is no disputing that the experience of connecting with people, touching product and seeing stores is always a more human experience than going to Amazon.”

SARAH PHANEUF OWNER, SLATE

Take a break from the big guys and support local first.

Vermont merchants have faced mandatory store closures and other challenges during the COVID-19 pandemic. Even as some open back up, others operate online only.

All need your support.

WITH GENEROUS SUPPORT FROM:

PICTURED: SLATE, 89 CHURCH ST., BURLINGTON, SLATEHOME.CO (JAMES BUCK)

50

SEVEN DAYS AUGUST 19-26, 2020

1t-TheRegister062420.indd 1

Visit the Register for all the info on area shopkeepers who are selling their products online for local delivery or curbside pickup.

Browse by categories ranging from jewelry to electronics, outdoor gear to apparel.

Whether you need something for yourself or that perfect gift for a loved one, shop savvy and keep Vermont strong.

SHOP T H E R EGIS T E R .C OM

6/22/20 2:21 PM

COURTESY OF KELLY SCHULZE/MOUNTAIN DOG PHOTOGRAPHY

Humane

Society of Chittenden County

Pickles AGE/SEX: 7-month-old female ARRIVAL DATE: July 10, 2020 REASON HERE: Pickles’ owner could no longer care for her and her unplanned litter of babies.

SUMMARY: This beautiful mama came to HSCC with her super cute baby buns. The whole little family has been living it up as office bunnies, but now Pickles is ready for her next adventure — a new home! She’s a sweet, mellow gal and will make a great addition to your family. Pickles and her daughter, Butter, need to go home together so are looking for a family with room for two buns. Could it be yours? Schedule an appointment to meet Pickles and Butter at hsccvt.org!

housing »

APARTMENTS, CONDOS & HOMES

DID YOU KNOW? Bunnies have a unique (and very adorable) way to show you they are happy and content — binkying! This is when a bunny jumps and twists before landing. Most house bunnies show some degree of this behavior, but the frequancy varies among bunnies, and it might not happen right away in a new environment. Check out some bunny binky videos (or adopt Pickles and Butter!) if your day needs a little brightening!

Sponsored by:

SPECIAL CONSIDERATIONS: Pickles is available for Foster-to-Adopt for Vermont residents only while she awaits a medical procedure.

NEW STUFF ONLINE EVERY DAY! PLACE YOUR ADS 24-7 AT SEVENDAYSVT.COM.

on the road »

CARS, TRUCKS, MOTORCYCLES

pro services »

CHILDCARE, HEALTH/ WELLNESS, PAINTING

buy this stuff »

APPLIANCES, KID STUFF, ELECTRONICS, FURNITURE

music »

INSTRUCTION, CASTING, INSTRUMENTS FOR SALE

jobs »

NO SCAMS, ALL LOCAL, POSTINGS DAILY

SEVEN DAYS AUGUST 19-26, 2020

51

CLASSIFIEDS We Pick Up & Pay For Junk Automobiles!

on the road

CARS/TRUCKS

Route 15, Hardwick

802-472-5100

3842 Dorset Ln., Williston

802-793-9133

housing ads: $25 (25 words) legals: 52¢/word buy this stuff: free online services: $12 (25 words)

AFFORDABLE 2-BR APT. AVAIL. At Keen’s Crossing.

2-BR: $1,266/mo., heat & HW incl. Open floor plan, fully applianced kitchen, fi tness center, pet friendly, garage parking.

Income restrictions apply. 802-655-1810, keenscrossing.com.

KEEN’S CROSSING IS NOW LEASING! CASH FOR CARS! 1-BR, $1,054/mo.; 2-BR, We buy all cars! Junk, $1,200/MO. MILTON $1,266/mo.; 3-BR, sm-allmetals060811.indd 7/20/15 1 5:02 PM 1-BR APT. high-end, totaled: It $1,397/mo. Spacious 800 sq.ft.

Clean, open doesn’t matter. Get free interiors, fully applifl oor plan, country towing & same-day anced kitchen, fi tness views, balcony, lawn, cash. Newer models, center, heat & HW incl. garden.

2nd fl oor, too. Call 1-866-535Income restrictions exterior stairs.

Utils, 9689. (AAN CAN) apply. 802-655-1810, parking, W/D incl. keenscrossing.com.

Wireless internet avail.

NS/pets. codyhillfarm@ PINECREST AT ESSEX gmail.com.

9 Joshua Way, Essex

G

housing

FOR RENT

3-BR SHELBURNE HOME Peaceful neighborhood.

Walk to village. 3-BR, 1-BA. Extra room. Brandnew kitchen & BA, oak floors, attached garage, big yard. $2,100/mo. + utils. 802-375-2720.

BURLINGTON Single room, hill section, on bus line. No cooking.

Linens furnished. Call 802-862-2389. No pets.

CLASSIFIEDS KEY appt. appointment apt. apartment BA bathroom BR bedroom DR dining room DW dishwasher HDWD hardwood HW hot water LR living room NS no smoking OBO or best offer refs. references sec. dep. security deposit W/D washer & dryer

EQUAL HOUSING OPPORTUNITY All real estate advertising in this newspaper is subject to the Federal Fair Housing Act of 1968 and similar Vermont statutes which make it illegal to advertise any preference, limitations, or discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, age, marital status, handicap, presence of minor children in the family or receipt of public assistance, or an intention to make any such preference, limitation or a discrimination. The newspaper will not knowingly accept any advertising for real estate, which is in violation of the law. Our

52

Jct. Independent senior living for those 55+ years. 1-BR avail. Jul. 15, $1,240/mo. incl. utils. & parking garage. NS/ pets. 802-872-9197 or rae@fullcirclevt.com.

PINECREST AT ESSEX 9 Joshua Way, Essex Jct. Independent senior living for those 55+ years. 2-BR, 2-BA corner unit avail. Sep. 15. $1,520/mo. incl. utils & parking garage. NS/ pets. 802-872-9197 or rae@fullcirclevt.com.

HOUSEMATES NEED A ROOMMATE? Roommates.com will help you find your perfect match today!

(AAN CAN) TRAVELING COMPANION WANTED I would like to see the U.S. using an RV or motorhome w/ the possibility of relocating. For more info, call Gerhard 802-503-7922.

OFFICE/ COMMERCIAL GORGEOUS 600 SQ.FT. OFFICE Downtown Burlington, Lake Champlain views & steps from Church St. Fully furnished office

readers are hereby informed that all dwellings advertised in this newspaper are available on an equal opportunity basis. Any home seeker who feels he or she has encountered discrimination should contact: HUD Office of Fair Housing 10 Causeway St., Boston, MA 02222-1092 (617) 565-5309 — OR — Vermont Human Rights Commission 14-16 Baldwin St. Montpelier, VT 05633-0633 1-800-416-2010 hrc@vermont.gov

SEVEN DAYS AUGUST 19-26, 2020

display service ads: $25/$45 homeworks: $45 (40 words, photos, logo) fsbos: $45 (2 weeks, 30 words, photo) jobs: michelle@sevendaysvt.com, 865-1020 x21

space avail. now-Mar. 31, 2021. Longer lease avail.

2 approx. equal size private offices & a gorgeous conference area, LR & a semiprivate office space. Approx. 600 sq.ft.

Professional building, 3rd-floor location at 110 Main St. Large windows, after-hours access, BA & showers on same floor, elevator access.

Exposed brick, tons of natural light. $2,275/mo. + prorated share of utils. (typically $100-200/ mo). Price incl. 2 parking passes, use of all furnishings & monthly high-speed Burlington Telecom service through the end of Feb. 2021.

Furnishings can be purchased outright.

Please contact amy@ newleafspeakers.com or paige@btvspaces.com details, photos, tour.

OFFICE/RETAIL SPACE AT MAIN STREET LANDING on Burlington’s waterfront. Beautiful, healthy, affordable spaces for your business. Visit mainstreetlanding.com & click on space avail.

Melinda, 864-7999.

services

BIZ OPPS BECOME A PUBLISHED AUTHOR! We edit, print & distribute your work internationally. We do the work; you reap the rewards! Call for a free Author’s Submission Kit: 844-511-1836. (AAN CAN)

CLOTHING ALTERATIONS SEWING MACHINE SERVICE More than 50 years of experience. All makes repaired, parts for all brands, used machines avail. Ron Collins, 802-372-4497.

COMPUTER COMPUTER ISSUES? Geeks On Site provides free diagnosis remotely 24-7 service during COVID-19. No home visit necessary. $40 off w/ coupon 86407!

Restrictions apply.

866-939-0093. (AAN CAN)

EDUCATION

print deadline: Mondays at 4:30 p.m. post ads online 24/7 at: sevendaysvt.com/classifieds questions? classifieds@sevendaysvt.com 865-1020 x10

SAVE BIG ON HOME INSURANCE! Compare 20 A-rated insurances companies.

Get a quote within mins. Average savings of $444/year! Call 844-712-6153! Mon.-Fri., 8 a.m.-8 p.m. Central.

(AAN CAN)

SPANISH TUTOR Patient & progressive fluent Spanish tutor to meet online to chat about current events for 90 mins., 2-3 times/ week, $30/session. Text 323-821-5941.

Foreclosure: 3BR/2BA Home on 14.59± Acres w/Views

Thursday, August 27 @ 11AM 428 Mountain Rd., Montgomery, VT Open House Thur., Aug. 20 from 1-3PM

SERIOUSLY INJURED in an auto accident?

Let us fight for you! Our network has recovered millions for clients.

Call today for a free consultation. 1-866-9912581. (AAN CAN)

TRAIN ONLINE TO DO MEDICAL BILLING! Become a medical office professional online at CTI! Get trained, certified & ready to work in months. Call 866-243-5931. Mon.-Fri., 8 a.m.-6 p.m. (AAN CAN)

STRUGGLING W/ YOUR PRIVATE STUDENT LOAN PAYMENT? New relief programs can reduce your payments. Learn your options. Good credit not necessary. Call the Helpline: 888-670-5631.

Mon.-Fri., 9 a.m.-5 p.m.

ET. (AAN CAN)

FINANCIAL/LEGAL AUTO INSURANCE Starting at $49/mo.!

Call for your fee rate comparison to see how much you can save. Call 855-569-1909. (AAN CAN)

HEALTH/ WELLNESS

BOY SCOUT COMPENSATION FUND Anyone who was inappropriately touched by a Scout leader deserves justice & financial compensation!

Victims may be eligible for a significant cash settlement. Time to file is limited. Call now.

844-896-8216. (AAN CAN)

Foreclosure: 4BR/3.5BA Cape on 10.8± Acres

Wednesday, September 9 @ 11AM 2229 VT-128, Westford, VT Open House Tues., Aug. 25 from 1-3PM

FREE MASSAGES Book 2 massages & get the 3rd free. Have 2 friends book & get the next massage free. Call Jim: 802-393-7154.

GENTLE TOUCH MASSAGE Specializing in deep tissue, reflexology, sports massage, Swedish & relaxation massage for men. Practicing massage therapy for over 14 years.

Gregg, gentletouchvt. com, motman@ymail.8v-hirchakbrothers081920 1 com, 802-234-8000 (call/text). Milton.

THCAuction.com 800-634-7653

NEED IRS RELIEF? $10K-125K+. Get fresh start or forgiveness.

Call 1-877-258-2890 Mon.-Fri., 7 a.m.-5 p.m.

PST. (AAN CAN)

Say you saw it in...

SERVICES »

8/14/20 2:57 PM

sevendaysvt.com

Homeshares mini-sawit-white.indd 1

11/24/09 1:32:18 PM

SOUTH BURLINGTON

Share a bright, clean condo w/ avid sports fan in his 30s. $500/mo. (all inc.) in addition to cooking 1-2 meals/wk, sharing some companionship & housekeeping.

No pets. Private BA.

FLETCHER Delightful, travelled senior gentleman sharing his rural home in exchange for help w/meals, laundry, errands, & property maintenance. Private BA. $200/mo.

COLCHESTER Share w/ bright woman in her 90s, seeking housemate for nighttime “just in case” presence & evening meal prep. Private BA, shared kitchen. $200/mo.

Finding you just the right housemate for over 35 years!

Call 863-5625 or visit HomeShareVermont.org for an application. Interview, refs, bg check req. EHO

Homeshare-temp2.indd 1

8/17/20 11:13 AM

Calcoku SEVENDAYSVT.COM/CLASSIFIEDS »

Using the enclosed math operations as a guide, fill the grid using the numbers 1 - 6 only once in each row and column.

24x

110+

12+

3-

13+ 11+ 2÷

4x

3-

6

CALCOKU

9 4

6 9 6

7 8 9 5 1

4

1 5

7

3

Difficulty - Hard

No. 650

SUDOKU

BY JOSH REYNOLDS

Difficulty: Medium

BY JOSH REYNOLDS

DIFFICULTY THIS WEEK: HH

Fill the grid using the numbers 1-6, only once in each row and column. The numbers in each heavily outlined “cage” must combine to produce the target number in the top corner, using the mathematical operation indicated. A onebox cage should be filled in with the target number in the top corner. A number can be repeated within a cage as long as it is not the same row or column.

Place a number in the empty boxes in such a way that each row across, each column down and each 9-box square contains all of the numbers one to nine. The same numbers cannot be repeated in a row or column.

6

4

3

There’s no limit to ad length online.

Fresh.

Filtered.

Free.

7

1-

DIFFICULTY THIS WEEK: HH

1

Extra! Extra!

8

36x 1-

Open 24/7/365.

View and post up to

Post & browse ads Complete the following puzzle by using the 6 photos per ad online. at your convenience. numbers 1-9 only once in each row, column and 3 x 3 box.

1 3 5 8 9 6 7 3

5

3-

Show and tell.

Sudoku

5

crossword

2

4

2

3

1

6

5

3

5

2

6

1

4

6

3

5

4

2

1

5

4

1

2

3

6

2

1

6

5

4

3

ANSWERS ON P. 55 H = MODERATE HH = CHALLENGING HHH = HOO, BOY!

LEAVING L.A. ANSWERS ON P. 55

»

1 4 2 8 6 3 7 5 9

3 5 8 9 7 1 6 4 2

9 6 7 4 5 2 8 3 1

6 3 1 7 4 9 2 8 5

2 8 4 1 3 5 9 7 6

7 9 5 2 8 6 3 1 4

8 2 3 5 9 4 1 6 7

4 1 6 3 2 7 5 9 8

5 7 9 6 1 8 4 2 3

What’s that

buzz?

Find out what’s percolating today.

Sign up to receive our house blend of local news headlines served up in one convenient email

by Seven Days.

SEVENDAYSVT.COM/DAILY7 8v-daily7-coffee.indd 1

SEVEN DAYS AUGUST 19-26, 2020

1/13/14 1:45 PM

53

BROWSE THIS WEEK’S OPEN HOUSES: sevendaysvt.com/open-houses INDUSTRIAL PROPERTY FOR LEASE

CONDO AND OFFICE SPACE

ESSEX JUNCTION | MAPLE MILL BUILDING, 1 JACKSON ST.

Total building area 24,950 SF. 1.67 acres. Zoning: mixed commercial. ample parking. Municipal water/ sewer. Whole building dry sprinkler system. Heating: natural gas heating. AC in office space. Power: 3 Phase 280 & 480 Volts/400 AMPS. 3 Loading Areas. $8.50/SF NNN (CAM $2.40 SF)

hW-nedderealestate1-081220.indd 1

services [CONTINUED] HEARING AIDS!!

Buy 1 & get 1 free!

High-quality rechargeable Nano hearing aids priced 90% less than competitors.

Nearly invisible. 45-day money-back guarantee!

1-833-585-1117. (AAN CAN) LOOKING FOR SUPPORT GROUPS? Check out the classifieds.sevendaysvt. com then find Support Groups in the Local Scene category.

OPTIMAL MEN’S HEALTH! Better sexual performance at any age! Bring spontaneity back w/ cutting-edge ED treatment. GAINSWave increases stamina & function without drugs.

Email gainswave@ northbranchvt.com, or call 802-828-1234.

PSYCHIC COUNSELING Psychic counseling, channeling w/ Bernice Kelman, Underhill. 30+ years’ experience. Also energy healing, chakra balancing, Reiki, rebirthing, other lives, classes, more. 802-899-3542, kelman.b@juno.com.

54

Nedde Real Estate is pleased to offer this beautifully appointed condominium office space. This is a newer unit that has been meticulously maintained! This space offers four exam rooms, conference room, one private office, lab/nurse space, kitchenette, reception desk, customer waiting area, solar panels and much more! 1,860 SF. Zoning: Commercial. $375,000 for sale or $2,975/month for lease.

Fernando Cresta fcresta@neddere.com 802-651-6888 nedderealestate.com

RECENTLY DIAGNOSED w/ lung cancer or mesothelioma? Exposed to asbestos pre-1980 at work or Navy? You may be entitled to a significant cash award!

Smoking history OK. Call 1-844-925-3467. (AAN CAN)

COLCHESTER | 905 ROOSEVELT HIGHWAY

STUDIO/ REHEARSAL

8/10/20 hW-nedderealestate2-081220.indd 3:21 PM 1

music

HOME/GARDEN

INSTRUCTION

LEO’S ROOFING Shingle, metal & slate repair. Roofing repair or replacement. Call for free estimate: 802-503-6064. 30 years’ experience. Good refs. & fully insured.

Chittenden County.

BASS, GUITAR, DRUMS, VOICE LESSONS & MORE Remote music lessons are an amazing way to spend time at home! Learn guitar, bass, piano, voice, violin, drums, flute, sax, trumpet, production & beyond w/ pro local instructors from the Burlington Music Dojo on Pine St. All levels & styles are welcome, incl. absolute beginners.

Come share in the music! burlington musicdojo.com, info@ burlingtonmusicdojo. com.

MOVING/HAULING JUNK REMOVAL & HAULING Hauling all junk, yard debris, appliances, electronics, furniture, construction materials, trash & food scraps. Local company, reasonable rates & free estimates!

Call or text 802-556-1173.

buy this stuff

MISCELLANEOUS ATTENTION, VIAGRA & CIALIS USERS! A cheaper alternative to high drugstore prices!

50-pill special: $99 + free shipping! 100% guaranteed. Call now: 888-531-1192. (AAN CAN)

SEVEN DAYS AUGUST 19-26, 2020

GUITAR INSTRUCTION Berklee graduate w/ 30 years’ teaching experience offers lessons in guitar, music theory, music technology, ear training. Individualized, step-by-step approach.

All ages, styles, levels.

Rick Belford, 864-7195, rickb@rickbelford.com.

MUSIC LESSONS W/ GEOFF Online & in-person music lessons: guitar, ukulele, clarinet & more. Any age or style.

General music lessons for homeschooling & children w/ disabilities.

REHEARSAL SPACE Safe & sanitary music/ creative spaces avail. by the hour in the heart of the South End art district. Monthly arrangements avail., as well. Tailored for music but can be multipurpose. info@ burlingtonmusicdojo. com, 802-540-0321.

ACT 250 NOTICE MINOR APPLICATION #4C0824-7 10 V.S.A. §§ 6001 - 6093 On August 5, 2020, Pizzagalli Properties, LLC, 462 Shelburne Road, Suite 101, Burlington, VT 05401; Rice Lumber Company, Inc., P.O. Box 1029, Shelburne, VT 05482; and Catamount Shelburne, LLC, 100 Bank Street, Suite 200, Burlington, VT 05401 filed application number 4C0824-7 for a project generally described as a proposed two-lot subdivision of Lot 6 of the Rice Lumber Redevelopment PUD and construction of a 18,057 square foot Healthy Living Market and Cafe along with a 95 space parking lot.

Th e Project is located at 4100 Shelburne Road in Shelburne, Vermont.

Th e District 4

homeworks List your properties here and online for only $45/ week. Submit your listings

by Mondays at noon.

Fernando Cresta fcresta@neddere.com 802-651-6888 nedderealestate.com

Call or email today to get started: 865-1020 x10, homeworks@sevendaysvt.com

Environmental must determine that Commission is reviewsubstantive issues 8/10/20 Untitled-26 3:28 PM 1 ing this application requiring a hearing have under Act 250 Rule 51— been raised. Findings Minor Applications. A of Fact and Conclusions copy of the application of Law may not be and proposed permit prepared unless the are available for review Commission holds a at the offi ce listed public hearing. below. Th e application If you feel that any of and a draft permit may the District Commission also be viewed on the members listed on the Natural Resources Board’s web site (http:// attached Certifi cate of Service under “For Your nrb.vermont.gov) by Information” may have clicking on “Act 250 a conflict of interest, Database” and entering or if there is any the project number” other reason a member 4C0824-7.” should be disqualifi ed No hearing will be held from sitting on this and a permit may be case, please contact issued unless, on or the District Coordinator before September 2, as soon as possible, 2020, a person notifi es and by no later than the Commission of an September 2, 2020. issue or issues requiring If you have a disthe presentation of ability for which you evidence at a hearing, need accommodation in or the Commission order to participate in sets the matter for this process (including a hearing on its own participating in a public motion. Any person as hearing, if one is held), defined in 10 V.S.A. § please notify us as soon 6085(c)(1) may request as possible, in order to a hearing. Any hearing allow us as much time request must be in as possible to accomwriting to the address modate your needs. below, must state the criteria or sub-criteria Parties entitled to at issue, why a hearing participate are the is required and what Municipality, the additional evidence Municipal Planning will be presented at the Commission, the hearing. Any hearing Regional Planning request by an adjoining Commission, affected property owner or state agencies, and other person eligible adjoining property ownfor party status under ers and other persons 10 V.S.A. §6085(c)(1)(E) to the extent that they must include a petition have a particularized for party status under interest that may the Act 250 Rules. be affected by the Prior to submitting a proposed project under request for a hearing, the Act 250 criteria. please contact the Non-party participants district coordinator at may also be allowed the telephone number under 10 V.S.A. Section listed below for more 6085(c)(5). information. Prior to convening a hearing, Dated at Essex the Commission

Junction, Vermont this 12th day of August, 2020.

By: /s/ Stephanie H. Monaghan District Coordinator 111 West Street Essex Junction, VT 05452 802-879-5662 stephanie.monaghan@ vermont.gov

ACT 250 NOTICE MINOR APPLICATION #4C0824-7A 10 V.S.A. §§ 6001 - 6093 On August 5, 2020, Town of Shelburne, 5420 Shelburne Road, Shelburne, VT 05482; Rice Lumber Company, Inc., P.O. Box 1029, Shelburne, VT 05482; and Catamount Shelburne, LLC, 100 Bank Street, Suite 200, Burlington, VT 05401 filed application number 4C0824-7A for a project generally described as construction of a 19,680 square foot fire department building, 39 space parking lot, training facility area, and related stormwater and utility improvements on Lot 6A of the Rice Lumber Redevelopment PUD. Th e Project is located at 4100 Shelburne Road in Shelburne, Vermont.

Th e District 4 Environmental Commission is reviewing this application under Act 250 Rule 51— Minor Applications. A copy of the application and proposed permit are available for review at the offi ce listed below. Th e application and a draft permit may also be viewed on the Natural Resources Board’s web site (http:// nrb.vermont.gov) by clicking on “Act 250

Database” and entering the project number 6/6/16 4:34 PM “4C0824-7A.” No hearing will be held and a permit may be issued unless, on or before September 2, 2020, a person notifi es the Commission of an issue or issues requiring the presentation of evidence at a hearing, or the Commission sets the matter for a hearing on its own motion.

Any person as defined in 10 V.S.A. §6085(c) (1) may request a hearing. Any hearing request must be in writing to the address below, must state the criteria or sub-criteria at issue, why a hearing is required and what additional evidence will be presented at the hearing. Any hearing request by an adjoining property owner or other person eligible for party status under 10 V.S.A. § 6085(c)(1)(E) must include a petition for party status under the Act 250 Rules.

Prior to submitting a request for a hearing, please contact the district coordinator at the telephone number listed below for more information. Prior to convening a hearing, the Commission must determine that substantive issues requiring a hearing have been raised. Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law may not be prepared unless the Commission holds a public hearing.

If you feel that any of the District Commission members listed on the attached Certifi cate of Service under “For Your Information” may have

NORTHSTAR SELF STORAGE WILL BE HAVING A PUBLIC AND ONLINE SALE/AUCTION FOR THE FOLLOWING STORAGE UNITS ON AUGUST 26, 2020 AT 9:00AM Northstar Self Storage will be having a public and online sale/auction on August 26, 2020 at 615 US RT 7, Danby, VT 05739 (Units D-114) and at 1124 Charlestown Rd., Springfield, VT 05156 (Unit S-114 / 119 / 128) and online at www. storagetreasures. com at 9:00 am in accordance with VT Title 9 Commerce and Trade Chapter 098: Storage Units 3905.

Enforcement of Lien.

Unit #D-114 Daniel Davis, Household Goods.

Unit #S-114 Lori Page, Household Goods.

Unit #S-119

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PUZZLE ANSWERS

Material stricken out deleted. *** Material underlined added.

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Material stricken out deleted. *** Material underlined added.

(6) City-wide Parking Restrictions, Fees.

Overnight parking in City Garages during declared City-wide parking restrictions (such as parking bans for snow removal and “Operation Clean Sweep”), as declared by the Director of Department of Public Works or their designee, will be free. (e) As written. (f) As written. **

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Section 7A. Accessible spaces designated.

(1)-(79) As written.

(80) Reserved. In the first parking space east of the driveway for 135 Manhattan Drive.

(81)-(171) As written. **

Section 19. Parking Rates. (a) As written. (b) As written. (c) As written. (d) Reserved. Special Rates for City-owned or managed garages.

(1) Holidays. Hourly transient parking rates shall be suspended on City-recognized holidays, including: New Year’s Day, Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Presidents’ Day, Town Meeting Day, Memorial Day, Independence Day, Bennington Battle Day, Labor Day, Indigenous Peoples’ Day, Veterans Day, Thanksgiving Day,

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That Appendix C, Rule and Regulations of the Traffic Commission, Section 7A, Accessible Spaces Designated, of the Code of Ordinances of the City of Burlington is hereby amended as follows:

That Appendix C, Rules and Regulations of the Traffic Commission, Section 19, Parking Rates, of the Code of Ordinances of the City of Burlington is hereby amended as follows:

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Dated at Essex Junction, Vermont this 12th day of August, 2020.

By: Stephanie H. Monaghan District Coordinator 111 West Street Essex Junction, VT 05452 802-879-5662 stephanie.monaghan@ vermont.gov

It is hereby Ordained by the Public Works Commission of the City of Burlington as follows:

and Christmas Day. a. The Director of the Department of Public Works may adjust the garage rates for parking on July 3rd to a flat rate(s) for the purpose of supporting the safe and efficient ingress and egress of vehicles from the garages.

(2) Special Events.

The Director of the Department of Public Works may set temporary rates for special events or promotions for periods of up to one month after providing the Public Works Commission two weeks’ notice, but then will bring the rate change to the next Public Works Commission meeting.

(3) Bulk-rate Parking Product Packages.

The Director of the Department of Public Works may create special bulk-rate parking product packages, subject to approval of the Public Works Commission.

(4) Lost Ticket Rate. The “Lost Ticket” rate is $20.

Garage staff may apply this fee on a case-bycase basis.

(5) Parking Garage Fee Refunds, Rebates, and Waivers. Garage staff may refund, rebate, or otherwise waive parking fees on a case-by-case basis for purposes of public safety and/ or good customer service. Garage Staff shall provide adequate documentation of any refund, rebate, or waiver of parking fee, and the justification for doing so.

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Parties entitled to participate are the Municipality, the Municipal Planning Commission, the Regional Planning Commission, affected state agencies, and adjoining property owners and other persons to the extent that they have a particularized interest that may be affected by the proposed project under the Act 250 criteria.

Non-party participants may also be allowed under 10 V.S.A. Section 6085(c)(5).

CITY OF BURLINGTON IN THE YEAR TWO THOUSAND TWENTY A REGULATION IN RELATION TO RULES AND REGULATIONS OF THE TRAFFIC COMMISSION— SECTION 19. PARKING RATES — SPECIAL RATE UPDATES FOR HOLIDAYS AND OPERATIONAL POLICIES Department of Public Works Action: Approved Date: 7/15/2020 Attestation of Adoption: Phillip Peterson Associate Engineer, Technical Services Published: 8/19/20 Effective: 9/09/20

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If you have a disability for which you need accommodation in order to participate in this process (including participating in a public hearing, if one is held), please notify us as soon as possible, in order to allow us as much time as possible to accommodate your needs.

CITY OF BURLINGTON IN THE YEAR TWO THOUSAND TWENTY A REGULATION IN RELATION TO RULES AND REGULATIONS OF THE TRAFFIC COMMISSION - SECTION 7A. ACCESSIBLE SPACES DESIGNATED SPONSOR(S): Department of Public Works Action: Approved Date: 7/15/2020 Attestation of Adoption: Philip Peterson Associate Engineer, Technical Services Published: 8/19/20 Effective: 9/09/20

View and post up to 6 photos per ad online.

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a conflict of interest, or if there is any other reason a member should be disqualified from sitting on this case, please contact the District Coordinator as soon as possible, and by no later than September 2, 2020.

Show and tell.

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SEVENDAYSVT.COM/CLASSIFIEDS

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Benjamin Mulvaney, Household Goods. Unit #S-128 Katherine Corcoran, Household Goods

NOTICE OF TAX SALE TOWN OF COLCHESTER The resident and nonresident owners, lien holders and mortgagees of lands in the Town of Colchester in the County of Chittenden are hereby notified that the taxes or delinquencies assessed by such Town remain, either in whole or in part, unpaid on the following described lands in such Town, to wit: Property Owner: Tonya Gabert (with interest of Ditech Financial, LLC) Property Address: 102 Canyon Estates Drive Parcel ID # 22-0480030000000 All and the same lands and premises conveyed to the said Tonya Gabert

by Quitclaim Deed of Brian Gabert dated August 14, 2007 and recorded at Volume 594, Page 346, and

by Warranty Deed of Benjamin C. Martin, II and Gail E. Martin to Brian Gabert and Tonya Gabert dated March 27, 2001 and recorded at Volume 346, Page 213.

Ditech Financial, LLC’s interest is by Complaint for Foreclosure in the matter Ditech Financial, LLC f/k/s Green Tree Servicing LLC v. Tonya L. Gabert and Citibank (South Dakota) N.A., Occupants of 102 Canyon Estates Drive, Colchester VT dated June 6, 2018 and recorded at Volume 837, Page 673, Judgment and Decree of Foreclosure by Judicial Sale dated January 17, 2019 and recorded at Volume 861, Page 202, and Certificate of Non-Redemption dated August 26, 2019 and recorded at Volume 861, Page 201 of the Land Records of the Town of Colchester, Vermont.

Amount of delinquency, interest, cost and penalties: $100,952.80 Reference may be made to said deeds for a more particular description of said lands and premises, as the same appear in the Town Clerk’s Office of the Town of Colchester.

So much of such lands will be sold at public auction at the Town of Colchester, 781 Blakely Road, Colchester, Vermont 05478, on the 24th day of September, 2020 at 10:30 a.m., as shall be requisite to discharge such taxes with interest, costs and

penalties, unless previously paid. Property owners, mortgagees, and lien holders may pay such taxes, interest, costs and penalties in full by cash or certified check made payable to the Town of Colchester.

At tax sale, successful bidders must pay in full by cash or certified check. No other payments accepted.

Any questions or inquiries regarding the above-referenced sale should be directed to the following address: Kristen E. Shamis, Esq. Monaghan Safar Ducham PLLC 156 Battery Street Burlington, VT 05401 kshamis@msdvt. com (802) 660-4735 Monaghan Safar Ducham PLLC, and the Town of Colchester give no opinion or certification as to the marketability of title to the above-referenced properties as held by the current owner/ taxpayer. Dated at Colchester, Vermont, this 6th day of August, 2020. Julie Graeter, Collector of Delinquent Taxes Town of Colchester

STATE OF VERMONT SUPERIOR COURT PROBATE DIVISION CHITTENDEN UNIT DOCKET NO.: 317-3-20 CNPR In re ESTATE of: Thomas L. Nelson ORDER AND NOTICE OF HEARING BY PUBLICATION: TO ALL INTERESTED PERSONS: Whereas, the following petition has been made to the Chittenden Probate Division of the Vermont Superior Court: Petition to Open Decedent’s Estate; and Whereas, a hearing on the petition will be held on September 15, 2020, at 10:00 A.M., at the Chittenden Probate Division located at 175 Main Street, Burlington, Vermont.

It is hereby ordered that notice thereof be given by publishing this notice in a newspaper of general circulation in Chittenden County.

Service by publication to be complete at least fourteen days prior to the day assigned for hearing. Therefore, you are hereby notified to appear before said Court, at the time and place assigned, to make objections if you have cause. This is the first action in this proceeding. If you wish to receive notice of future events in this matter you must formally enter your appearance with the Court by filing

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Form P148. Dated at Burl., Vermont, this 10 day of June, 2020. /s/_Hon. Gregory J. Glennon, Probate Judge. Publication Date: August 19, 2020 Publication: Seven Days

STATE OF VERMONT SUPERIOR COURT PROBATE DIVISION CHITTENDEN UNIT DOCKET NO.: 501-4-20 CNPR In re ESTATE of: Penelope S. Carlisle NOTICE TO CREDITORS To the creditors of: Penelope S. Carlisle, late of Burlington, Vt. I have been appointed executor of this estate.

All creditors having claims against the decedent or the estate must present their claims in writing within four (4) months of the first publication of this notice. The claim must be presented to me at the address listed below with a copy sent to the court. The claim may be barred forever if it is not presented within the four (4) month period.

Dated: 8/17/20 Signature of Fiduciary: /s/_TD Bank, NA Executor, by Kelly A. Ross Executor/ Administrator: TD Bank, NA, c/o Kelly Ross, 111 Main Street, Burlington, VT 05401 802-765-8897 kelly. ross@td.com Name of Publication: Seven Days Publication Date: 8/19/20 Probate Court: Vermont Superior Court Chittenden Unit, PPO Box 511, Burlington, VT 05401

STATE OF VERMONT SUPERIOR COURT PROBATE DIVISION CHITTENDEN UNIT DOCKET NO.: 510-4-20 CNPR In re ESTATE of: Paul C. Verrastro NOTICE TO CREDITORS To the creditors of: Paul C. Verrastro, late of South Burlington, Vt. I have been appointed executor of this estate.

All creditors having claims against the decedent or the estate must present their claims in writing within four (4) months of the first publication of this notice. The claim must be presented to me at the address listed below with a copy sent to the court. The claim may be barred forever if it is not presented within the four (4) month

SEVEN DAYS AUGUST 19-26, 2020

LEGALS » 55

[CONTINUED] period. Dated: 4/28/20 Signature of Fiduciary: /s/_Paula J. Verrastro Executor/ Administrator: Paula J. Verrastro Publication: Seven Days Publication Date: 8/19/20 Probate Court: Chittenden Unit, Probate Division, PO Box 511, Burlington, VT 05402

STATE OF VERMONT VERMONT SUPERIOR COURT FRANKLIN UNIT, CIVIL DIVISION DOCKET NO: 174-5-18 FRCV BANK OF AMERICA, N.A. v. SHAWN P. DILLON AND FAIRFAX GREEN HOMEOWNERS ASSOCIATION OCCUPANTS OF: 63 Old Academy Road Unit 102, Fairfax VT MORTGAGEE’S NOTICE OF FORECLOSURE SALE OF REAL PROPERTY UNDER 12 V.S.A. sec 4952 et seq.

In accordance with the Judgment Order and Decree of Foreclosure entered September 13, 2019 , in the above captioned action brought to foreclose that certain mortgage given by Shawn P. Dillon to Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems, Inc., as nominee for Countrywide Home Loans, Inc., dated August 31, 2007 and recorded in Book 187 Page 228 of the land records of the Town of Fairfax, of which mortgage the Plaintiff is the present holder, by virtue of the following Assignments of Mortgage: (1) Assignment of Mortgage from Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems, Inc., as nominee for Countrywide Home Loans, Inc. to Bank of America, N.A. f/k/a BAC Home Loans Servicing LP fka Countrywide Home Loans Servicing LP dated October 14, 2009 and recorded in Book 202 Page 776

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and (2) Assignment of Mortgage from Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems, Inc., as nominee for Countrywide Home Loans, Inc. to Bank of America, N.A. f/k/a BAC Home Loans Servicing LP fka Countrywide Home Loans Servicing LP dated June 4, 2012 and recorded in Book 220 Page 357 of the land records of the Town of Fairfax for breach of the conditions of said mortgage and for the purpose of foreclosing the same will be sold at Public Auction at 63 Old Academy Road Unit 102, Fairfax, Vermont on September 9, 2020 at 10:00 AM all and singular the premises described in said mortgage, To wit: Being all and the same lands and premises conveyed to Shawn Dillion by Warranty Deed of Armand W Turner, JR. of even date and to be recorded prior to the recording of this instrument in the Town of Fairfax Land Records.

Reference is made to a Quit Claim Deed from Bonnie Howard to Armand W. Turner, Jr. dated February 16, 2007 and recorded February 22, 2007 in Volume 183, Pages 126-127 of the Town of Fairfax Land Records quit claiming all of Bonnie Howard’s interest in said Lot 3A to Armand W. Turner, Jr. Being Unit B of 63 Old Academy Street Condominium, together with a 50% allocated interest and all rights, obligations and interests appurtenant thereto, which condominium regime is located at 63 Old Academy Street, Fairfax, Vermont.

Said Unit is subject to a Declaration of Condominium for 63 Old Academy Street Condominium dated August 31, 2007; and is associated bylaws, rules, regulations, plats and plans and to be recorded in the Town of Fairfax Land Records.

The 63 Old Academy Street Condominium site plan titled Old Academy Street Condominium Site Plan, Fairfax, Vermont dated August 2007 prepared

by David A. Tudhpope to be recorded in the Town of Fairfax Land Records.

The 63 Old Academy Street Condominium floor plans prepared by Frank Naef, Architect, dated July 20, 2007 to be recorded in the Town of Fairfax Land Records.

Said Unit, and the lands and premises of which it is a part, are subject to and/or benefited by: (I) easements, rights of way and other restrictions of record, (ii) those in Lot 3A as shown on a map entitled Fairfax Investments, LLP, Fairfax, Vermont, Map of Subdivision, Vt. Route 104, Fairfax, Vermont, dated April 30, 2003, last revised September 8, 2005, prepared by Cross Consulting Engineers, PC, and recorded as Map Slide 240A of the Town of Fairfax Land Records.

Said lots have the benefit of and are subject to rights of way for foot and vehicular traffic and the installation of utility services over all developed streets in the Grantor’s subdivision, including the street constructed on Lot IC as shown on the above-described plan providing access to and from Vermont Route 104. Said rights shall terminate at such time, if ever, as the Town of Fairfax accepts the rights of way as public streets, and the installation, repair, maintenance and replacement of utilities. This right of way is a portion of the same lands and premises conveyed to Fairfax Investments, LLP by Trustees Deed of Gerald F. Minor, Trustee for the Gerald F. Minor Revocable Trust dated July 24, 2002 and recorded July 30, 2002 in Volume 138, Pages 451-454 of the Town of Fairfax Land Records.

Said premises are subject to the terms and conditions of Wastewater System and Potable Water Supply Permit WW-6-0842-1 as recorded in Volume 173, Pages 572-574 of said Land Records; and Land Use Permit 6F0561-2 as recorded

in Volume 164 at Pages 556-560 and the permits recited therein.

Reference is made to project review sheets dated October 2, 2005 approving a modification of the wastewater disposal service as filed for record.

premises will be sold and conveyed subject to all liens, encumbrances, unpaid taxes, tax titles, municipal liens and assessments, if any, which take precedence over the said mortgage above described.

Said premises are subject to and have the benefit of the Declaration of Covenants, Conditions, and Restrictions of Fairfax Green dated November 4, 2005 and recorded in Volume 174 at Page 171 of said Land Records.

TEN THOUSAND ($10,000.00) Dollars of the purchase price must be paid by a certified check, bank treasurer’s or cashier’s check at the time and place of the sale by the purchaser. The balance of the purchase price shall be paid by a certified check, bank treasurer’s or cashier’s check within sixty (60) days after the date of sale.

Included with said lot is one membership in the Fairfax Green Homeowners Association, Inc., which membership is appurtenant to the lot and may not be conveyed separately therefrom. Membership in the Association and the obligations of the Association may not be waived by any lot owner.

Grantor reserves the right to convey the development roadway, partially located on the above-described lots, to the Town of Fairfax as a public highway. In such event, Grantee, its successors add assigns, shall have no ownership interest in and to that portion of the above-described lots as shown on the above-described plan as 60 Access R.O.W. Being all and the same lands and premises conveyed to Armand Turner and Bonnie Howard by Warranty Deed of Fairfax Investments, LLP dated November 10, 2006 and of record at Book 181, Pages 247-248 of the Town of Fairfax Land Records.

Reference is made to the aforementioned deed, and to the record thereof, and to the deeds and records therein referred to in further aid of this description.

Reference is hereby made to the above instruments and to the records and references contained therein in further aid of this description.

Terms of sale: Said

The mortgagor is entitled to redeem the premises at any time prior to the sale by paying the full amount due under the mortgage, including the costs and expenses of the sale. Other terms to be announced at the sale.

DATED: July 30, 2020 By: /s/ Rachel K. Ljunggren Rachel K. Ljunggren, Esq. Bendett and McHugh, PC 270 Farmington Ave., Ste. 151 Farmington, CT 06032

STATE OF VERMONT VERMONT SUPERIOR COURT WASHINGTON UNIT, CIVIL DIVISION DOCKET NO: 686-11-17 WNCV WELLS FARGO BANK, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION, AS TRUSTEE FOR ASSET BACKED SECURITIES CORPORATION HOME EQUITY LOAN TRUST, SERIES OOMC 2005HE6, ASSET BACKED PASS-THROUGH CERTIFICATES, SERIES OOMC 2005-HE6 v.

SCOTT ANDERSON AKA SCOTT J. ANDERSON, VIRGINIA ANDERSON AKA VIRGINIA L. ANDERSON, COMMUNITY NATIONAL BANK, GRIP-TITE MANUFACTURING CO., LLC, VERMONT DEPARTMENT OF TAXES AND PORTFOLIO RECOVERY ASSOCIATES, LLC OCCUPANTS OF: 100 Miller Road Ext, Barre VT.

MORTGAGEE’S NOTICE OF FORECLOSURE SALE OF REAL PROPERTY UNDER 12 V.S.A. sec 4952 et seq. In accordance with the Judgment Order and Decree of Foreclosure entered November 6, 2019 , in the above captioned action brought to foreclose that certain mortgage given

by Scott Anderson and Virginia Anderson to Option One Mortgage Corporation, dated April 15, 2005 and recorded in Book 207 Page 534 of the land records of the Town of Barre, of which mortgage the Plaintiff is the present holder, by virtue of an Assignment of Mortgage from Option One Mortgage Corporation to Wells Fargo Bank, National Association, as Trustee for Asset Backed Securities Corporation Home Equity Loan Trust, Series OOMC 2005-HE6, Asset Backed Pass-Through Certificates, Series OOMC 2005-HE6 dated April 17, 2013 and recorded in Book 267 Page 999 of the land records of the Town of Barre for breach of the conditions of said mortgage and for the purpose of foreclosing the same will be sold at Public Auction at 100 Miller Road Ext, Barre, Vermont on September 10, 2020 at 9:30 AM all and singular the premises described in said mortgage, To wit: Being a parcel of land, said to contain 2.38 acres, more or less, together with dwelling house and other improvements thereon standing, now designated as 100 Miller Road Extension, Barre Town, Vermont, and being all and the same lands and premises as conveyed to Scott Anderson and Virginia Anderson by the Trustee's Deed of Barbara H. Schoenberg, Co- Trustee of the Betty Langrehr Johnson Revocable Trust - 2002, u/t/a dated January 31, 2002 as amended by First Amendment dated January 10, 2005, which Deed is dated even with this instrument and to be recorded in the Barre Town Land Records, and being all and the same lands

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SEVEN DAYS AUGUST 19-26, 2020

and premises conveyed to Betty Langrehr Johnson, Trustee of the Betty Langrehr Johnson Revocable Trust by Deed Into Trust of Betty L. Johnson, dated January 31, 2002 and recorded at Book 171, Pages 685-688 of the Barre Town Land Records, and described in part more particularly as follows: Lot #1 Being a part of the same land and premises conveyed to Betty L. Johnson by Mark A. Johnson by Quitclaim Deed dated January 4, 1999 and recorded in Book 153, Page 713 of the Land Records of Barre Town, Vermont. Being also part of the same land and premises conveyed to Mark A. Johnson and Betty L. Johnson

by Warranty Deed of Richard B. Betters, Jr., and Janet Betters dated August 6, 1979 and recorded in Book 78, Pages 487¬488 of the Land Records of Barre Town, Vermont.

Said Lot #1 is more particularly described in Subdivision Map 1935, approved by the Barre Town Planning Commission on February 14, 2001, P-00-12-49, as recorded in Slide 245 of the Land Records of Barre Town, Vermont.

The within conveyed lands and premises are subject to the terms and conditions of State of Vermont Subdivision Permit C-5-3435, dated January 30, 2001 and recorded in Book 163 at Page 20 of the Barre Town Land Records.

Reference is made to a certain Certificate of Trust, which names Barbara H. Schoenberg as Co- Trustee of the Betty Langrehr Johnson Revocable Trust, dated January 10, 2005 and recorded at Book 205, Page 206 of the Barre Town Land Records.

This conveyance is made subject to and with the benefit of any utility easements, public rights-of-way, spring rights, easements for ingress and egress, and rights incidental to each of the same as may appear more particularly of record;

provided, however, that this paragraph shall not reinstate any such encumbrance previously extinguished by the Marketable Record Title Act, Chapter 5, Subchapter 7 of Title 27, Vermont Statutes Annotated. If it should be determined that all or a portion of the conveyed lands and premises are Vermont perpetual lease land, then same are conveyed as such.

Reference is hereby made to the abovedescribed documents, and the documents described therein and to the municipal land records in aid of this description.

Reference is hereby made to the above instruments and to the records and references contained therein in further aid of this description.

Terms of sale: Said premises will be sold and conveyed subject to all liens, encumbrances, unpaid taxes, tax titles, municipal liens and assessments, if any, which take precedence over the said mortgage above described.

TEN THOUSAND ($10,000.00) Dollars of the purchase price must be paid by a certified check, bank treasurer’s or cashier’s check at the time and place of the sale by the purchaser. The balance of the purchase price shall be paid by a certified check, bank treasurer’s or cashier’s check within sixty (60) days after the date of sale.

The mortgagor is entitled to redeem the premises at any time prior to the sale by paying the full amount due under the mortgage, including the costs and expenses of the sale.

Other terms to be announced at the sale. DATED : July 30, 2020 By: _/s/ Rachel K. Ljunggren_ Rachel K. Ljunggren, Esq. Bendett and McHugh, PC 270 Farmington Ave., Ste. 151 Farmington, CT 06032

PHOTO: JEB WALLACE-BRODEUR

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SEVEN DAYS AUGUST 19-26, 2020

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6/9/20 11:42 AM

58 AUGUST 19-26, 2020

ATTENTION RECRUITERS: POST YOUR JOBS AT: PRINT DEADLINE: FOR RATES & INFO:

JOBS.SEVENDAYSVT.COM/POST-A-JOB NOON ON MONDAYS (INCLUDING HOLIDAYS) MICHELLE BROWN, 802-865-1020 X21, MICHELLE@SEVENDAYSVT.COM

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PT, 3 mornings per week, approximately 15-20 hours.

Fun and flexible job perfect for a creative person who likes to work independently. Please email resume to cindy@gmavt.com.

89 North St. 9:00pm-8:00am Interested applicants should go to the following link to fill out an online employment application: anewplacevt.org/ employment.html.

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DEPUTY/DEVELOPMENT DIRECTOR

Contact Kevin Pounds, Exec.

Director, with any questions: kevin@anewplacevt.org 802-862-9879 ext. 1001.

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Prevent Child Abuse Vermont (PCAVT) is seeking candidates for the position of Deputy/Development Director. This position includes management of individual and corporate gifts and special events and is also responsible for implementing a communication plan using traditional and social media.

8/11/20 4:12 PMThe

LEAD CARPENTER/ CARPENTERS Shelterwood Construction is looking for both a lead carpenter and also one or two additional carpenters. Excellent compensation for the right candidates. Four 10-hour days per week.

Full-time, year-round work in all conditions. These are career-oriented positions.

successful candidate must be passionate about our mission, a good communicator, easy to work with, competent, organized and willing to ask for philanthropic support of PCAVT. An undergraduate degree is required; advanced degree is desirable.

Please submit a cover letter, resume, PCAVT online application and 3 references to: Search, PO Box 829, Montpelier, VT 05601.

Or submit online at pcavt@pcavt.org. PCAVT is an E.O.E.

RN/LPNs

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For full job descriptions go to: shelterwoodconstruction.com/ employment.

Please email Colin directly at: colinlindberg1@gmail.com.

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RN, LPN, AND LNAs

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8/18/20

We are seeking RN/LPNS to complete our team of talented and caring nurses. The ideal candidate will have experience in geriatric nursing and staff supervision. The nurse will ensure the provision of care and services to residents who are functionally, physically, or socially impaired as stated in the individ1:37 PMualized plan of care. This nurse is responsible for working with the Director of Nursing to support, mentor, and empower the wonderful team of caregivers under their supervision.

We offer a strong benefits package including health, dental and vision insurance, paid time off, and meals while working, parking on-site and we are on the bus route. Pay is commensurate with experience. Must possess a valid and unencumbered Vermont RN license. Experience in long term care setting preferred. Send resumes to: mbelanger@ourladyofprovidence.org

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Northeastern Vermont Regional Hospital (NVRH) has RN, LPN, and LNA openings in our ER, ICU, Med/Surg, Birth Center, and Medical Office Practices.

Full-time, part-time and per-diem positions available.

NVRH is proud to offer competitive wages, student loan repayment, tuition reimbursement, shift differentials and per-diem rates. We offer a comprehensive benefits package for full and part-time employees including a generous earned time program, 401k with company match, low cost health plans, low cost prescriptions and more. New Grads welcome!

For more info or to apply visit nvrh.org/careers.

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Our Lady of Providence is a nonprofit organization providing housing and services to seniors in a residential care community in the heart of Winooski, VT.

8/14/20 2:03 PM

6/26/20 3:05 PM

OPERATIONS TECHNICIAN The Operations Technician ensures the safety of customers and employees and makes sure that the customers receive CNG in a timely and efficient manner. Responsibilities include reviewing and processing a large amount of data, estimating timely scheduling of trucks and drivers, monitoring on-site and off-site equipment, filling trailers with natural gas and providing the first-line response to emergencies. The Operations Techs work 12-hour shifts, either 6 a.m. – 6 p.m., or 6 p.m. – 6 a.m. for seven days on and then have seven days off. It is one of the primary entry points for learning about the gas industry and for advancement.

Located in Milton, Vermont. Competitive salary and generous benefits. For more information ngadvantage.com/careers.

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8/18/20 2:03 PM

FOLLOW US ON TWITTER @SEVENDAYSJOBS, SUBSCRIBE TO RSS, OR BROWSE POSTS ON YOUR PHONE AT JOBS.SEVENDAYSVT.COM

NEW JOBS POSTED DAILY! JOBS.SEVENDAYSVT.COM

59 AUGUST 19-26, 2020

GREENTOP FARM IS HIRING! Seasonal Harvest and Warehouse Crew Wanted September thru November.

Weekday and Weekend shifts available. Looking for motivated, hard workers to join our team in Lamoille County!

Email us at greentopfarmllc@gmail.com.

OFFICE ADMINISTRATOR New Frameworks, a worker-owned cooperative design and construction company based in northern Vermont, is hiring!

For full description and to apply go to: helenday.com/about/careers MAINTENANCE TECHNICIAN

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We are a busy, fun, egalitarian-yet-structured, creative, kind, and missiondriven group of people working together towards the goal of developing ecological and social climate justice and regeneration practices in the building and design trades. We're currently looking for: • Site Lead • Experienced Carpenter • Architectural Design/ Draftsperson Learn more and apply: tiny.cc/nfwjobs

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8/14/20 3:03 PM

Halyard Brewing Company

NATIONAL SALES COORDINATOR

Koffee Kup Bakery is currently hiring in our Burlington location. The schedule for this position is Tues-Sat, 4am–12:30pm.

Prior Manufacturing Maintenance experience is desired, but applicants with a mechanical or electrical background will be considered. The Maintenance Technician will respond to reactive calls as well as perform PM tasks on a scheduled basis. $21.00–$23.00 per hour.

3RD SHIFT PRODUCTION SUPERVISOR The Production Supervisor is a member of the Production Team reporting directly to the Plant Manager. The person in this position is responsible for supervising the production area and employees at our Burlington production facility.

This position requires at least 5 years of supervisory experience. Food production experience is preferred. This is a full time hourly position. Pay ranges from $25.00- $27.00 per hour. The schedule is Sun-Thurs 8:30pm-5:30am.

For full job description and to apply: koffeekupbakery.com/careers

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8/14/20 10:54 AM

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We are looking for a creative, charismatic, well organized and hard-working sales professional to lead our team in regional and national distribution.

3-5+ years’ sales experience required.

Candidates with beverage sales experience are preferred.

Join a small team and have the opportunity to make a meaningful impact in a young and quickly growing company.

To apply, please email your resume and cover letter to info@halyardbrewing.us

8/18/20 1:46 PM

8/17/20 3:28 PM

ATTENTION RECRUITERS:

60

POST YOUR JOBS AT JOBS.SEVENDAYSVT.COM FOR FAST RESULTS, OR CONTACT MICHELLE BROWN: MICHELLE@SEVENDAYSVT.COM

AUGUST 19-26, 2020

WELCOMING SPECIALIST The Welcoming Specialist serves as an ambassador for the University of Vermont Medical Center by greeting, screening, directing and assisting patients, families and guests at the entrances to various UVM Medical Center sites.

LEARN MORE & APPLY: uvmmed.hn/sevendays

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Howard Center is seeking a Shared Living Provider for a 53 year-old female who enjoys arts and crafts, dogs, socializing, and tap dancing. The ideal provider will be kind, sensitive, inclusive, and able to provide 24-hour support in the home (no outside employment preferred – this individual cannot be left alone at home) . Having a quiet, peaceful household without any men or children is needed. Pets are welcome.

Compensation includes a generous tax-free annual stipend of $31,000, room and board payments, and a supportive respite budget. To request an application, please contact Patrick Fraser at patfraser@howardcenter.org or 802-871-2902.

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PART-TIME BOOKKEEPER

The Central Vermont Solid Waste Management District (CVSWMD) is seeking an experienced, part-time (20 hours a week) bookkeeper in our offi ce in Montpelier, Vermont. Ideal candidate has bookkeeping experience, works effectively with staff, vendors, and customers, and loves the world of financing.

Minimum qualifications include an Associate’s Degree in Accounting and two years of relevant experience, plus at least one year using Quick Books accounting software and Microsoft Office.

Compensation: Between $15 and $19 per hour, commensurate with experience, plus excellent pro-rated benefits. For more information and to review the job description visit cvswmd.org/employment--rfps Apply to administration@cvswmd.org; please include Bookkeeper in the subject line. Applications must include a cover letter, resume, and three professional references. This position is open until filled.

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SHARED LIVING PROVIDER

Network Systems Engineer Administrator There are IT firms and then there is Technology Consultants, Inc. (TCi). TCi is one of Vermont’s established IT Consulting and MSPs going on 35 years.

We pride ourselves on being friendly, hardworking, and most of all business unusual.

We believe our employees are our most important asset.

During these unusual times, our services have been under demand and our team needs another experienced and certified Network Administrator.

If you have 3 to 5 years of handson experience and certifications in designing, installing, and supporting Windows servers, VMWare, and Hyper-V and like to work with a team of fun professionals, then send us your résumé. We have an exceptional compensation package to boot.

Employment@tcivt.net

Tech needed for lawn sprinkler irrigation • Manual labor is required • Seasonal job, April-November • Driver's license required • Looking for long term employment

Please send resume to: Aquarius@surfglobal.net

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PART-TIME ESTHETICIAN Come join Vermont’s best new business!

Empower MedSpa is hiring!

We are seeking a part-time licensed Esthetician to join our growing team.

As part of our staff, you will play a key role in ensuring our clients have a relaxing and rejuvenating experience in our facility.

You will provide a variety of services, including comfort waxing, facials, microdermabrasion, chemical peels, skincare, and makeup consultations.

Excellence in customer service is a must. You will need to be self-motivated, have a willingness to learn and be able to work independently.

In addition to providing spa services, you will be responsible for selling and promoting our skin care and beauty products.

Send resumes to empower @empowermedspa.com

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New, local, scam-free jobs posted every day! jobs.sevendaysvt.com

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SERVICE TECH

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8/17/20 4:56 PM

8/18/20 1:26 PM

FOLLOW US ON TWITTER @SEVENDAYSJOBS, SUBSCRIBE TO RSS, OR BROWSE POSTS ON YOUR PHONE AT JOBS.SEVENDAYSVT.COM

CARING PEOPLE WANTED Burlington Area

Home Instead Senior Care, a provider of personal care services to seniors in their homes, is seeking friendly and dependable people.

CAREGivers assist seniors with daily living activities. P/T & F/T positions available. 12 hours/week minimum, flexible scheduling, currently available. $13-$17.50/hour depending on experience. No heavy lifting.

Apply online at: homeinstead.com/483 Or call: 802.860.4663

NEW JOBS POSTED DAILY! JOBS.SEVENDAYSVT.COM

The Interim Director of Music

OFFICE COORDINATOR

The Interim Director of Music of the Unitarian Church of Montpelier creates and directs a program of stimulating/inspiring music for the church worship services. The Director also leads the Church Choir.

Position is part-time, 0.4 FTE (16 hours/week) and will require work on most Sunday mornings. Full job description at tinyurl.com/UCM-Music-Director.

• Cover letter explaining your motivation to apply, interest in the position, and relevant skills and experience • Resume • Two professional references • 1-2 musical samples if available (e.g. performance recordings, music videos, etc.)

Applications will be accepted on a rolling basis beginning August 17th until August 30th and remain open until filled.

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61 AUGUST 19-26, 2020

Saint Michael’s College seeks a detail-oriented, technology-proficient professional to serve as the Office Coordinator for our busy Registrar’s Office (RO). The Office Coordinator (OC) is the face of the Registrar’s Office, providing frontline service - in-person, by email, and over the phone - to campus constituents and the wider community. The OC manages incoming and outgoing communications and the RO website. The OC hires and manages student employees in collaboration with other RO staff, the Career Center and Human Resources. The OC oversees records retention, transcript production, and document management for the office. The OC is welcoming and respectful to all community members, and demonstrates a strong commitment to diversity and inclusion. Finally, the OC supports other team members and the overall functions of the office, which may include course and room scheduling, transfer credit processing, and student information systems management.

For a full job description: smcvt.interviewexchange.com Benefits include health, dental, vision, life, disability, 401(k), generous paid time off, employee and dependent tuition benefits, and discounted gym membership.

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8/18/20 2:05 PM

Looking for a new position with a well-established member-owned financial institution?

Then explore the available opportunities at New England Federal Credit Union!

Contact Center Service Representative

Provides direct services and support to our members within a fast-paced call center environment.This role will efficiently handle various phone inquiries and process transactions to meet our members’ needs.

Teller

Conducts efficient and accurate teller transactions, while providing exceptional customer service to our members within the branch.

Member Service Representative

Works with our members to understand their financial position, offer information about the product/service that may best suit their need and then assist them through account opening within the branch.

Mortgage Loan Assistant

Supports the Originator by providing administrative services throughout the mortgage loan process. Handles daily phone and e-mail volume in a timely manner, schedules appointments and provides borrowers with accurate information and required documentation.

Quality Control Specialist

Accountable for the quality control review of various types of loans which are originated and processed within the organization. The review is to ensure that company guidelines, along with state and federal regulations, are being adhered to.

Loan Specialist

Handles the administrative servicing aspect of direct, indirect, education, home equity and line of credit loans.

Position is responsible for accurate system set-up, maintenance, various transaction processing and research associated with the loan.

Consumer Loan Processor

Supports the Originator by being responsible for the timely processing and closing of the consumer loan. The support consists of processing, preparing closing funds and performing quality control when the loan closes.

For more detail and qualifications for positions and/or to apply, please visit the career page at:

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EOE/AA 8/18/20 2:12 PM

ATTENTION RECRUITERS:

62

POST YOUR JOBS AT JOBS.SEVENDAYSVT.COM FOR FAST RESULTS, OR CONTACT MICHELLE BROWN: MICHELLE@SEVENDAYSVT.COM

AUGUST 19-26, 2020

WHERE YOU AND YOUR WORK MATTER...

UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE PROGRAM ADMINIS TRATOR IV - MONTPELIER The Department of Labor’s Unemployment Insurance (UI) Division is currently in need of an experienced Program Administrator to plan, coordinate, and supervise a unit within the division. If you’re up for the task of helping to manage a vital State program, have excellent communication and leadership skills, and can thrive in an environment that is governed by complex State & Federal regulations, this might be the right job for you! For more information, contact Angela Rouelle at angela.rouelle@vermont.gov. Job ID #7800. Status: Limited Service. Application Deadline: Open until filled.

P U B L I C H E A LT H N U R S E - B U R L I N G T O N Seeking a Public Health Nurse with a passion for reducing the spread of infectious diseases.

This requires excellent communication skills, and the ability to work well with health care providers and community members. The position requires occasional hours outside the standard hours. The Health Department is especially interested in candidates who can contribute to the department’s diversity and commitment to foster an environment of mutual respect, acceptance, and equal opportunity. For more information, contact Dana Ward at Dana.Ward@vermont.gov or 802-951-0185. Job ID #8061. Status: Full Time.

Application Deadline: 8/23/20.

Learn more at: careers.vermont.gov

The State of Vermont is an Equal Opportunity Employer

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8/14/20 4:21 PM

MEDICAL CODER Vermont Information Technology Leaders, Inc. (VITL) is seeking a Medical Coder to facilitate clinical interface implementation coding with external clients and the Vermont Health Information Exchange, State and Federal healthcare organizations, and/or third-party registries. Results-oriented candidates must demonstrate expertise in reviewing clinical documentation from medical records to assign standard codes correctly. Candidates must demonstrate that they can work independently and are proficient in health care terminology and standard code sets.

Accounts Payable/Payroll Specialist Do you want to work for an Agency that positively impacts the lives of over 20,000 individuals? The Champlain Valley Office of Economic Opportunity (CVOEO) Finance department has a new opportunity for an Accounts Payable/Payroll Specialist.

The Accounts Payable/Payroll Specialist will assist the Finance Department by processing incoming invoices, disbursing payments and performing payroll and accounting tasks.

Successful applicants will have an Associate’s degree in Accounting or two to three years related work experience or training in accounting/bookkeeping, or a combination of education and experience from which comparable knowledge and skills are acquired; experience with accounting programs and payroll software; and proficient in the use of Microsoft Office. This is a 40 hours/week position. To learn more about this position, please visit cvoeo.org/careers.

We offer an excellent benefit package including medical, dental and vision insurance, paid holidays, generous vacation and sick leave, a retirement plan and discounted gym membership.

To apply, please submit a cover letter and resume by e-mail: Payable-Payroll2020@cvoeo.org. The review of applications begins immediately and will continue until suitable candidates are found. Applications from women, veterans and people from diverse racial, ethnic, and cultural backgrounds are encouraged to apply. CVOEO is an Equal Opportunity Employer.

Agricultural Conservation Program Director

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8/11/20 2:40 PM

The Agricultural Program Director leads VHCB’s purchase of development rights program to conserve Vermont’s farmland, improve environmental stewardship, and invest in the economic viability of Vermont’s working landscape.

Responsible for agricultural land protection work, implementing program priorities, and managing state and federal farmland conservation funding.

QUALIFICATIONS: Prior experience in agriculture and/or land conservation and natural resources required. Proficiency in financial and data analysis; leadership skills, teamwork, and collaboration with outside partners important. Strong communication skills, experience and proficiency in program and grants tracking, document management systems, and compliance and reporting for federal grants is strongly preferred. Experience working with non-profit organizations, municipalities, and state and federal agencies important. A valid driver’s license is necessary; some travel is required. Full-time position with comprehensive benefits. EOE. Please reply by August 28 with letter of interest and résumé to: Laurie Graves, VHCB, 58 E. State Street, Montpelier, Vt. 05602 or jobs@vhcb. org. See the full job description at: vhcb.org/about-us/jobs

We are looking for a temporary, part-time Medical Coder that requires the following skills: • Demonstrated expertise reviewing lists of medical terms from medical record documentation and able to assign a standard code for diagnosis correctly, procedures from transcriptions, laboratory data, immunization, and encounters.

• Demonstrated expertise researching unknown clinical terms and able to assign appropriate codes • Familiarity with HEDIS measures and associated codes to assist in prioritization of code mapping • Strong attention to detail Qualifications: • A coding certificate from an approved program • 2+ years of healthcare coding experience • Required Expertise in Healthcare Code Sets, Clinical Terminologies, and Classification Systems: · ICD9 CM, · ICD10 CM, · LOINC, · SNOMEDCT, · RXNORM, · CPT, · MULTUM, HCPCS Vermont Information Technology Leaders, Inc. (VITL) is a nonprofit organization that assists Vermont health care providers with adopting and using health information technology, to improve the quality of care delivery, to enhance patient safety, and to reduce the cost of care. VITL is legislatively designated to operate the health information exchange (HIE) for Vermont and is governed by a collaborative group of stakeholders, including health plans, hospitals, physicians, other health care providers, state government, employers, and consumers. For more information, please visit https://www.vitl.net.

ATTENTION RECRUITERS:

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POST YOUR JOBS AT: SEVENDAYSVT.COM/POSTMYJOB PRINT DEADLINE: NOON ON MONDAYS (INCLUDING HOLIDAYS) FOR RATES & INFO: MICHELLE BROWN, 802-865-1020 X21, MICHELLE@SEVENDAYSVT.COM

Email a cover letter and resume to human resources, hr@vitl.net. No phone calls, please.

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8/10/20 4:23 PM

8/14/20 12:53 PM 2h_contactinfo.indd 1

4/25/16 6:25 PM

FOLLOW US ON TWITTER @SEVENDAYSJOBS, SUBSCRIBE TO RSS, OR BROWSE POSTS ON YOUR PHONE AT JOBS.SEVENDAYSVT.COM

NEW JOBS POSTED DAILY! JOBS.SEVENDAYSVT.COM

63 AUGUST 19-26, 2020

RESTAURANT MANAGER Project Manager Designer/Drafter Cushman Design Group, an established architectural design firm located in Stowe, is currently seeking to fill two full time positions: Project Manager and Designer/Drafter.

Please see our website for detailed job descriptions, required qualifications and application instructions. https:// bit.ly/CushmanJobs CDG is an equal opportunity employer.

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VT LEAD ABATEMENT SUPERVISOR/WORKER Join the Heritage Environmental Projects Inc. Team! Vermont's leading lead abatement/ paint/ window restoration company for over 28 years!

Must be a team player and a hard worker, able to work with and supervise others. Must have own transportation, valid driver’s license and positive attitude. Painting and carpentry experience a must.

Successful candidate must also be able to pass course exams for certifications.

NANNY We are seeking some help with our kid entering third grade and a hybrid model of learning. At this point, we are seeking someone to watch her three days a week (8 am to 5 pm) with the possibility of this expanding to 5 days in case remote learning does not work out.

Start date: late Oct/Nov 2020 - June 2021 timeframe.

Send resumes to: singhdevika0304@gmail.com

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Do you want to be protected and paid well?

Paid Holidays, vacations and bonuses over time with company, dedication and performance related.

Please call 802-363-1933 for an interview. We look forward to meeting you!

8/18/20 3v-HeritageEnvironmentalProjects081220.indd 10:41 AM 8/11/20 1 10:08 AM

ASSISTANT CONTROLLER Evernorth is hiring! Evernorth unites Housing Vermont and Northern New England Housing Investment Fund together as a single nonprofit organization to serve the low and moderate income people of Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont by creating affordable housing and making community investments. We are a group of more than 40 professionals working to serve communities across northern New England. Our staff has deep knowledge of local markets, close relationships with regional organizations and a shared passion for affordable housing and social justice.

The Assistant Controller is a member of the finance and administration team. The individual in this position participates in a range of bookkeeping, accounting, and financial analysis functions, and works closely with staff across the organization. We are looking for someone with a bachelor’s degree in accounting, finance or a related field, 3-5 years of related experience, excellent communication skills and a highly proficient user of Microsoft Office 365.

American Flatbread Middlebury Hearth is planning for our future! We’re hiring a Restaurant Manager to lead and support our incredibly hard working team, while continuing to drive our standard of excellence in customer service and quality of food and beverage.

If you have experience offering stellar customer service, possess great communication skills, work well with a team, know how to motivate others and have an interest in delicious, local and organic food, please forward your resume to Danielle@americanflatbread.com.

We offer a positive and respectful work environment, competitive salary and vacation package, retirement plan and other benefits. Please, only serious candidates interested in making a long term commitment and ability to work nights and weekends. EOE.

1 8/17/20 4t-AmericanFlatbread080520.indd 12:03 PM

7/31/20 3:02 PM

HUMAN RESOURCES ADMINISTRATOR Vermont Legal Aid seeks candidates for a full-time Human Resources Administrator in our Burlington office. The HR Administrator handles and manages all aspects of payroll, benefits, and other HR-related tasks for two related non-profit law firms.

We are committed to building a diverse, social justice-oriented staff, and encourage applicants from a broad range of backgrounds. We welcome information about how your experience can contribute to serving our diverse client communities. We are an equal opportunity employer committed to a discrimination- and harassment-free workplace.

Responsibilities include processing bi-monthly payroll; administering cafeteria and 401(k) benefits plans, including onboarding/terminations; overseeing leave benefits, including FMLA; overseeing wage and data reporting, such as ACA and federal labor reports, 401(k) census, etc.; and, ensuring compliance with applicable state and federal labor laws. A minimum of five years’ relevant experience is required.

Base salary is $51,893 - $83,623 with salary credit given for relevant prior work experience. Four weeks paid vacation, retirement, and excellent health benefits.

To apply, please send a cover letter and resume to HR@evernorthus.org.

Application deadline is August 24th. Your application should include a cover letter, resume, and three references combined into one pdf, sent by e-mail to Betsy Whyte at bwhyte@vtlegalaid.org with “HR Administrator” in the subject line. The full job description can be found at www.vtlegalaid.org/ current-openings. Please let us know how you heard about this position.

Evernorth is an equal opportunity employer.

For more information and application instructions, visit: vtlegalaid.org.

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8/14/20 2:33 PM

8/10/20 8:59 AM

ATTENTION RECRUITERS:

64

POST YOUR JOBS AT JOBS.SEVENDAYSVT.COM FOR FAST RESULTS, OR CONTACT MICHELLE BROWN: MICHELLE@SEVENDAYSVT.COM

AUGUST 19-26, 2020

COVID-19 RESPONSE ASSISTANTS

PROGRAM MANAGER FULL-TIME CARPENTERS & CARPENTRY HELP WANTED

Frame-to-finish with on-the-job training!

Shelburne-based company specializing in custom built homes, additions, remodels and commercial construction. $16-$25/hour depending on experience.

Valid driver’s license and background check required.

Call 802.355.8136 or apply online at tinyurl.com/scapplyonline.

Vermont Works for Women seeks an innovative Program Manager to oversee the development, and delivery of our youth programs focused on expanding STEM and career options for middle and high school girls and gender non-conforming youth. The position can be mainly remote during COVID. To see the full job description and details on how to apply, visit vtworksforwomen. org/about/employment.

If reasonable accommodation is needed to apply, please contact us at jobs@vtworksforwomen.org or 802-655-8900 x100.

ESSEX WESTFORD SCHOOL DISTRICT The Essex Westford School District is seeking several temporary COVID-19 Response Assistants for the beginning of the 2020-21 school year to assist the District COVID-19 Coordinator with the implementation of health and safety protocols for the district in response to COVID-19 while schools are open to in-person instruction. This position will play an essential role in our district’s safe and healthy return to school. There will be frequent contact with our students. Daily assignment and hours of work will vary based on needs at schools as well as across the district. At this point we expect to need at least one position per school within our district. Position pays $18.00/hour.

ESSENTIAL ROLES SHALL INCLUDE: Health Screening, bus monitoring, student supervision, nursing Support, custodial Support, meal service support, system support.

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8/7/20 2:18 PM

WE ARE SEEKING CANDIDATES WITH THE FOLLOWING QUALIFICATIONS AND DISPOSITIONS: • Committed to ensuring the safety and well-being of students, staff and families.

• Knowledge of school operations and experience working with school aged children preferred.

RELEASE CO-MANAGER PCC, a private, Winooski-based healthcare IT Benefit Corporation, seeks an individual experienced in software release management processes to join our Release Management Team. PCC’s award-winning products and services have grown and evolved over 38 years to encompass electronic health records, practice management solutions, a patient portal, reporting and mobile applications, support and consulting, all with a focus on healthcare interoperability. The pediatricians we serve care for over two million children in the US. The 2020 pandemic continues to bring new challenges to our clients, and PCC is responding rapidly with new telemedicine, communication, clinical and practice management solutions and services.

Our product architecture includes client/server, web-based and cloud-hosted solutions. The management of our release train requires collaboration, judgment, flexibility, negotiation and a thorough understanding of ALM/SDLC processes.

Above all it requires teamwork and attention to detail.

If the idea of a fast-paced, make-a-difference environment appeals to you and you have the skills we’re looking for, we’d love to hear from you! Our preferred candidate will have a minimum of 3 years of experience in software release management, supporting all aspects of the Software Development Life Cycle.

To learn more about PCC, the requirements and responsibilities of this role and how to apply, interested candidates should visit our website at www.pcc.com/careers.

As a Benefit Corporation, PCC fosters a friendly, casual, hardworking environment that values our employees, clients, and community. We offer competitive benefits as well as some uncommon perks. Position open until filled.

• Valid driver’s license and reliable transportation is required to travel between buildings.

• Flexible and adaptable; versatile and capable of handling diverse assignments.

• Great communication and interpersonal skills.

• Able to effectively handle conflict and stress.

• Reliable attendance at work and punctuality is required for the position. Must also be able to participate in required meetings and/or training that are held outside of the normal workday or work hours.

Selected candidates must be available to work up to 8 hours/day between the hours of 5:00 AM and 5:00 PM while school is open to in-person instruction, plus overtime as requested. Work schedule shall include all days schools are open to in-person instruction.

Positions are expected to continue through December, 2020, possibly longer.

EWSD is committed to building a culturally diverse and inclusive environment.

Successful candidates must be committed to working effectively with diverse community populations and expected to strengthen such capacity if hired. If you are interested in ensuring the safety and well-being of students,staff and families,but do not meet all qualifications listed above,you are still encouraged to apply. For consideration, please apply electronically through www.schoolspring.com (Job ID 3324404), or email cover letter and resume to mbreuer@ewsd.org, or email cover letter and resume to: Essex Westford School District - Attn: Maxine Breuer 51 Park Street, Essex Jct., VT 05452 10v-EssexWestfordSDcovid19Response081920.indd 1

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Our mobile-friendly job board is buzzing with excitement.

Start applying at jobs.sevendaysvt.com

No phone calls, please. AA/EOE.

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FOLLOW US ON TWITTER @SEVENDAYSJOBS, SUBSCRIBE TO RSS, OR BROWSE POSTS ON YOUR PHONE AT JOBS.SEVENDAYSVT.COM

NEW JOBS POSTED DAILY! JOBS.SEVENDAYSVT.COM

65 AUGUST 19-26, 2020

FULL-TIME CASE MANAGER (based in Burlington)

Is currently seeking:

JOBS Clinician Full Time

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Vermont’s premier continuing Care Retirement Community seeks members to join our Environmental Services Team!

Dynamic position working with HIV+ individuals to facilitate medical connections, financial stability, and housing; some HIV testing, harm reduction, and HIV education. Knowledge of HIV/AIDS, community resources, and harm reduction philosophy necessary. Reliable transportation required. Full time position (37.5 hours/wk) based in Burlington with generous benefits (health, vision, PTO). Salary range: $29,00030,000. All those looking for challenging role that directly impacts HIV/AIDS in Vermont, please apply.

Full-Time

Position open until filled. Please email cover letter and resume by September 4th to: Peter Jacobsen, Executive Director, Vermont CARES at peter@vtcares.org.

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HOUSEKEEPER

8/17/20

MILTON TOWN SCHOOL DISTRICT

JOB OPENINGS

Housekeepers support residents who live independently by providing contactless housekeeping services in their homes while they are away.

Housekeepers are critical to the wellbeing of residents in a setting that utilizes best practices to maintain our Covid Free environment.

9:44 AM Candidates must have housekeeping and/or industrial cleaning or industrial laundry experience.

SECURITY OFFICER

Milton Town School District is seeking highly qualified candidates to fill the following openings.

Full Time Nights

We are seeking an experienced Security Officer to ensure the wellbeing of the community and the safety of our residents. Duties include addressing emergency or comfort concerns of residents, responding to and assessing situations involving the physical plant, ensuring that all buildings are secured, and checking in vehicles at entry. We seek an individual with a background in security or as a first responder, with the compassion and problem solving skills to interact with our senior population. At least 2 years of relevant experience is required.

(1) Elementary School Guidance Counselor (1) Elementary Physical Education Teacher (1) School Nurse for FY21 Only (1) Middle School Administrative Office Assistant (3) Special Needs Programming Specialists (4) Paraprofessionals - PreK-5 (1) Transportation Aide

HVAC CERTIFIED TECHNICIAN

(1) Full-time Custodian (11 am to 7 pm shift)

Full-Time

Visit SchoolSpring.com for more details or request a copy of the job description from Human Resources. Apply online through SchoolSpring.com or by email to Human Resources listed below with all application materials that include your cover letter, resume, transcripts, and three letters of references.

This maintenance position requires a certification in HVAC. Our maintenance team utilizes a variety of technical skills to repair and maintain electrical, plumbing, security, and air quality systems throughout the facility and in resident homes. Qualified candidate will have well rounded maintenance skills and must have specific training and certification in HVAC systems, as well as a strong aptitude for computerbased operational systems.This position is contactless with residents and utilizes best practices to maintain our Covid Free environment This is an opportunity to join a stable and talented team of individuals dedicated to doing good work, for great people, in a beautiful setting.

“All offers of employment are not binding until the approval by the School Board Trustees.”

Milton Town School District is committed to maintaining a work and learning environment free from discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, pregnancy, gender identity, sexual orientation, marital/civil union status, ancestry, place of birth, age, citizenship status, veteran status, political affiliation, genetic information or disability, as defined and required by state and federal laws. Additionally, we prohibit retaliation against individuals who oppose such discrimination and harassment or who participate in an equal opportunity investigation. Email to: tmazza@mymtsd-vt.org or US mail to:

Milton Town School District Terry Mazza, Human Resources Director 12 Bradley St., Milton, VT 05468 802-893-5304 FAX: 802-893-3020 9t-MiltonSchoolDistrict081920.indd 1

MILTON TOWN SCHOOL DISTRICT

Interested candidates please send resume and cover letter to HR@wakerobin.com or visit our website, wakerobin.com, to complete an application.

Wake Robin is an Equal Opportunity Employer.

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8/18/20 2:11 PM

ATTENTION RECRUITERS:

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POST YOUR JOBS AT JOBS.SEVENDAYSVT.COM FOR FAST RESULTS, OR CONTACT MICHELLE BROWN: MICHELLE@SEVENDAYSVT.COM

AUGUST 19-26, 2020

WORKFORCE SOLUTIONS SUPPORT SPECIALIST

BUS AIDES AND SUBSTITUTE BUS DRIVERS NEEDED!

Client Service Department

ESSEX WESTFORD SCHOOL DISTRICT

If you are organized, like the challenge of learning new concepts, and enjoy building PayData is looking for an additional team member to relationships in a strong team focusedWorkforce environment,Solutions PayData may be your next employer. join Client Service Department a Payroll Processor/Client Service PayData Workforce Solutions is aour locally owned Vermont Business andas is proud to have won Do you love working with children? Are you looking for part-time Representative.

Vermont’s Best Payroll Service Provider 4 years in a row! We are looking for an additional team employment? The Essex Westford School District is seeking partmember(s) to join our Client Service Department. time bus aides who would substitute as a school bus or minivan

Our Client Representatives closely with our clientsdriver to produce to transport special needs students to and from school. This Our Client Service Representatives workService closely with our clients to helpwork manage and produce position accurate payrolls utilizing import methods entry,will have additional duties related to COVID-19 such as accurate payrolls using a variety of applications.

Our team various provides one on one productincluding data students, ensuring students are following COVID safety Excel worksheets, time clock The ability to performscreening multiple support of our timekeeping, payroll, & HR related and technologies.

The imports. ability to efficiently practices, and assisting with sanitization of vehicles. tasks efficiently andtomanage ongoing projects is necessary. Attention to manage multiple tasks & projects while adhering daily deadlines is necessary.

Attention to detail is critical to your success.

Candidates must possess prior payroll experience and a detail is a must.

Work schedule may include split shifts beginning as early as 6:00 working knowledge of the “Evolution” payroll software is desirable. am and ending as late as 5:00 pm. Hours worked as a driver pay $20.00/hour.

Hours worked as a bus aide pay $18.00/hour.

Candidates must have prior payroll experience asawell as customer service Team oriented candidates should have proven troubleshooting skills, experience handling experience strongadapt communication and organizational skills.with a CDL class B with Passenger and School Bus large volume of telephone calls and e-mailsand and possess be able to quickly to new and changing Candidates should also have proven troubleshooting skills and endorsements be able to preferred, but we would consider candidates with technology. If you take prideCandidates in your work, and you possess excellent communication and organizational skills, we want to heartofrom you.

Experience withtechnology.

Windows including Excel, adapt new and changing OurWord, Client Service a Class C and/or no CDL who would be willing to drive a minivan. and Outlook is required as well as strong keyboarding position is a mid-leveland position and office Training towards CDL available for interested applicants.

Representatives workskills. in aThis team environment cubicle setting. is paid on an hourly basis.

For consideration, please complete and submit a Schoolspring

Experience handling a large volume of telephone calls, as well application as havingto this job (Job ID 3342869), email cover letter and PayData is a pet friendly environment...must love dogs!

After introductory training period, flexible schedule (includingstrong telecommunicating) may a possibility. join our is local and number skills orbe prior payroll Come experience required; working resume to jsmith2@ewsd.org, or email cover letter and resume to: award-winning team! knowledge of the “Evolution” payroll software is desirable. Experience with Westford School District - Attn: Maxine Breuer Windows and Outlook is required as well as Essex strong Please send a cover letter with resume including by applyingWord, on-lineExcel, at: paydatapayroll.

51 Park Street, Essex Jct., VT 05452 keyboarding skills. companycareersite.com/JobList.aspx 7t-PayData081920.indd 1

Apply on line at https://paydatapayroll.companycareersite.com/JobList.aspx 8/14/20 12:41 PM 5v-EssexWestfordBUSaides081920.indd 1

DIRECTOR OF OPERATIONS Want to help save the planet? THE NATURE CONSERVANCY in Vermont seeks a dynamic professional to serve as its full-time Director of Operations. This is an exceptional career opportunity for a highly motivated and skilled individual interested in joining the world’s leading conservation organization.

The Director of Operations (DOO) provides strategic direction and leadership for all activities related to General Office Operations, Human Resources, Finance, Facilities and Office Management for the Vermont Chapter. They are a member of the Vermont Leadership Team and will provide consultation to them on strategy and day to day tasks. The DOO reports directly to the State Director and acts as Leader for all staff on all people related needs within the Business Unit. They will be fully responsible for the oversight of human resources administrative and management needs, including staff performance and development programs. They will direct, lead, and operationalize a Diversity, Equity and Inclusion initiative for the Chapter. The DOO will work closely with the leadership team to foster a strong workplace culture that is conducive to collaborative teamwork and high staff engagement.

The Nature Conservancy is a global non-profit that works in all 50 states and in over 70 countries. Join a growing team that is committed to building a future where both nature and people thrive. We offer a competitive salary with a comprehensive benefits package and professional development opportunities. A bachelor’s degree and 6 years related experience or equivalent combination required. For a complete position description and to apply, visit tinyurl.com/y2sxtjnb.

Application deadline is Midnight EST August 28, 2020.

5v-NatureConservancy081220.indd 1

8/17/20 8:53 AM

Burlington Kids Afterschool Core Staff Positions Available!

Ideal applicants will have a passion for working with elementary age children, an enthusiasm for creating and leading meaningful activities and experience working in afterschool and/ or licensed childcare settings.

These are part-time positions working with students at five Burlington School District elementary schools, MondayFriday, 15-20 hours/week.

Hourly rate commensurate with skills and experience.

For more information please email Karlie Gunderson, Senior Site Director: kgunders@bsdvt.org.

To apply and join our team: bsdvt.org/careers or apply on SchoolSpring.com, Job Posting #2739086.

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Support Your Community:

Get It To-Go!

The restrictions placed on restaurants are evolving, but many Vermont businesses are still making delicious food and drinks.

INTRODUCES SPONSORED BY

Check GoodToGoVermont.com to see which businesses are serving up takeout, delivery, curbside pickup or on-site dining.

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SEVEN DAYS AUGUST 19-26, 2020

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6/8/20 4:42 PM

fun stuff

RACHEL LINDSAY

68

SEVEN DAYS AUGUST 19-26, 2020

CALCOKU & SUDOKU (P.53) CROSSWORD (P.53)

HARRY BLISS & STEVE MARTIN

Feel Good.

Do Good!

Feeling disappointed about the things you can’t do this season? Here’s how to have a feel-good summer:

Step One: Explore Vermont.

Step Two: Learn something new.

Step Three: Be a Good Citizen.

JEN SORENSEN

TAKE THE GOOD CITIZEN CHALLENGE, a youth civics program for young people in grades K-12. Each month we’ll announce new activities focusing on history, community, government, advocacy and news literacy to keep you and your family active and engaged.

Summer

2020 With support from:

Powered by:

New activities posted at goodcitizenvt.com Evslin Family Foundation

SEVEN DAYS AUGUST 19-26, 2020

69

fun stuff RYAN RIDDLE

is

Making it is not :( Keep this newspaper free for all.

Join the Seven Days Super Readers at sevendaysvt.com/super-readers or call us at 802-864-5684.

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7/14/20 3:32 PM

Have a deep, dark fear of your own? Submit it to cartoonist Fran Krause at deep-dark-fears.tumblr.com, and you may see your neurosis illustrated in these pages.

FREE WILL ASTROLOGY BY ROB BREZSNY REAL AUGUST 20-26

gam of 91 intertwined novels, stories and essays. For this vast enterprise, he dreamed up the personalities of more than 2,000 characters, many of whom appeared in multiple volumes. I bring this to your attention, Taurus, because I believe that the next 15 months will be an excellent time for you to imagine and carry out a Balzac-like project of your own.

Do you have an inkling of what that might be? Now’s a good time to start ruminating.

LEO

GEMINI

(JULY 23-AUG. 22):

“Magic lies in challenging what seems impossible,” says Leo politician Carol Moseley Braun. I agree with her but will also suggest there’s an even higher magic: when you devise a detailed plan for achieving success by challenging the impossible, and then actually carry out that plan. Judging from the current astrological omens, I suspect you’re in an unusually favorable position to do just that in the coming weeks. Be bold in rising to the challenge; be practical and strategic in winning the challenge.

(May 21-June 20): Not until the 19th century did humans begin to take organized actions to protect animals from cruelty.

Even those were sparse. The latter part of the 20th century brought more concerted efforts to promote animal welfare, but the rise of factory farms, toxic slaughterhouses, zoos, circuses and cosmetic testing has shunted us into a dark age of animal abuse. I suspect our descendants will look back with horror at our barbarism. This problem incurs psychological wounds in us all in ways that aren’t totally conscious. And I think this is an especially key issue for you right now. I beg you, for your own sake, as well as for the animals’, to upgrade your practical love and compassion for animals. I bet you’ll find it inspires you to treat your own body with more reverence.

CANCER (June 21-July 22): Cancerian literARIES (March 21-April 19): “We never know

what is enough until we know what’s more than enough,” said Aries singer Billie Holiday. I don’t think that applies to everyone, although it’s more likely to be true about the Aries tribe than maybe any other sign of the zodiac. And I’m guessing that the coming weeks could be a time when you will indeed be vivid proof of its validity. That’s why I’m issuing a “Too Much of a Good Thing” alert for you. I don’t think it’ll be harmful to go a bit too far and get a little too much of the good things; it may even be wise and healthy to do so. But please don’t go waaayyyy too far and get waaayyyy too much of the good things.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): Taurus author Honoré de Balzac (1799-1850) took many years to write The Human Comedy, an amal-

ary critic Harold Bloom bragged to the New York Times that his speed-reading skills were so advanced that he could finish a 500-page book in an hour. While I believe he has indeed devoured thousand of books, I also wonder if he lied about his quickness. Nonetheless, I’ll offer him up as an inspirational role model for you in the coming weeks. Why? Because you’re likely to be able to absorb and integrate far more new information and fresh experiences than usual — and at a rapid pace.

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): “Joy is a mystery because it can happen anywhere, anytime, even under the most unpromising circumstances,” writes author Frederick Buechner.

What he doesn’t say is that you must be receptive and open to the possibility of joy arriving anywhere and anytime. If you’re shut down to its surprising influx, if you’re convinced that joy

is out of reach, it won’t break through the barriers you’ve put up; it won’t be able to land in your midst. I think this is especially important counsel for you in the coming weeks, Virgo. Please make yourself available for joy. P.S. Here’s another clue from Buechner: “Joy is where the whole being is pointed in one direction.”

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): “I transformed stillnesses and darknesses into words,” wrote Libran poet Arthur Rimbaud. “What was unspeakable, I named. I made the whirling world pause.” In accordance with current astrological potentials, I have turned his thoughts into a message for you. In the coming weeks, I hope you will translate silences and mysteries into clear language. What is unfathomable and inaccessible, you will convert into understandings and revelations. Gently, without force or violence, you will help heal the inarticulate agitation around you with the power of your smooth, resonant tenderness.

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): “Your desires, whether or not you achieve them, will determine who you become,” wrote author Octavia E. Butler. Now is a fertile time for you to meditate on that truth. So I dare you to take an inventory of all your major desires, from the noblest to the most trivial. Be honest. If one of your burning yearnings is to have 100,000 followers on Instagram or to eat chocolatecovered bacon that is served to you in bed, admit it. After you’re through tallying up the wonders you want most, the next step is to decide whether they are essential to you becoming the person you truly want to be. If some aren’t, consider replacing them with desires that will be a better influence on you as you evolve.

SAGITTARIUS

(Nov. 22-Dec. 21): If you can manage it, I recommend taking a break from business as usual. I’d love to see you give yourself the gift of amusement and play — a luxurious sabbatical that will help you feel free of every burden, excused from every duty and exempt from every fixation. The spirit I hope you will embody is captured well in this passage from author Okakura Kakuzo: “Let us have a sip of tea. The afternoon glow is brightening the bamboos, the fountains are bubbling with

delight, the soughing of the pines is heard in our kettle. Let us dream of evanescence, and linger in the beautiful foolishness of things.”

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): Rapper Eminem advises us, “Never take ecstasy, beer, Bacardi, weed, Pepto-Bismol, Vivarin, Tums, Tagamet HB, Xanax, and Valium in the same day.”

What’s his rationale? That quaffing this toxic mix might kill us or make us psychotic? No. He says you shouldn’t do that because “It makes it difficult to sleep at night.” I’m going to suggest that you abide by his counsel for yet another reason: According to my analysis, you have the potential to experience some wondrous and abundant natural highs in the coming weeks.

Your capacity for beautiful perceptions, exhilarating thoughts and breakthrough epiphanies will be at a peak. But none of that is likely to happen if you’re loaded up with inebriants.

AQUARIUS

(Jan. 20-Feb. 18): “Everyone who has ever built a new heaven first found the power to do so in his own hell,” declared philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche. That’s a rather histrionic statement! But then Nietzsche was a maestro of melodrama. He was inclined to portray human life as a heroic struggle for boldness and liberation. He imagined that we were engaged in an epic quest to express our highest nature. In accordance with your astrological potentials, I propose that you regard Nietzsche as your power creature during the coming weeks. You have a mandate to adopt his lionhearted perspective. And yes, you also have a poetic license to build a new heaven based on the lessons you learned and the power you gained in your own hell.

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): Here’s some knowledge from author John le Carré: “In every operation there is an above the line and a below the line. Above the line is what you do by the book. Below the line is how you do the job.”

According to my analysis, you have, at least for now, done all you can in your work above the line. That’s great! It was crucial for you to follow the rules and honor tradition. But now it’s time for a shift in emphasis. In the coming weeks, I hope you will specialize in finessing the details and massaging the nuances below the line.

CHECK OUT ROB BREZSNY’S EXPANDED WEEKLY AUDIO HOROSCOPES & DAILY TEXT MESSAGE HOROSCOPES: REALASTROLOGY.COM OR 1-877-873-4888

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I have much to give and love to please my mate first and foremost.

Have very private home and love to entertain. Looking for trustworthy partner for fun to start, maybe more.

Susan123, 55, seeking: M, W TIME FLIES Newly retired, not so newly single.

Used to be OK with the patient method of meeting people spontaneously, but during these unusual times that has become almost impossible. I would really like to meet someone who enjoys traveling or just hanging out. A good conversationalist is a must. Someone informed and openminded. Spontaneous nature and adventurous are wonderful qualities.

Strangetimes, 57, seeking: W P/E RATIO I enjoy spontaneous travel, reading biographies, learning new things, new places, daily exercise, bike riding, the gym, movies and your company.

I am seeking a funny, educated woman with a successful career and/ or financial security who shares some of the above characteristics.

OAAG, 63, seeking: W, l GOOD-LOOKING BI Just looking for a friend-withbenefits situation. Must be discreet. OK-looking and fun-loving.

Mright, 44, seeking: M, Cp WHY NOT? Last year I made a life change that some have called brave. Now I’m looking for that one special person to share real intimacy with. I’m passionate about being fit in my later years so that I can enjoy them.

I’m also fascinated by people. “Why not?” is my headline, because I would just like to meet as many people as possible. POvt, 51, seeking: W, l SEEKING SWEET MOTHER WITH MILK Hello, I’m seeking a sweet connection with a lactating mother. This has been something I’ve craved for a long time. Safe, sane, attractive professional man. We can take things very slowly. Would love to hear from you. sweetconnect, 45, seeking: W PANDEMIC REAPPRAISAL Inquisitive bi guy, 68, in a reflective period actively exploring cinema before 1970, music before 1964, Zen and American noir also. FWB possibilities beyond limiting dualities. And you?

NotTooOldToExplore, 68, seeking: M, l STRANGER THINGS HAVE HAPPENED A crisis tends to make one do what they should’ve been doing all along.

So, here I am. Looking for someone(s) to get to know. Sense of humor a must, creativity a plus. Please be able to talk about current events — not necessarily pop culture. Don’t be upset if I don’t reply. VTBOB, 64, seeking: M RURAL CARHARTT KINDA GUY Fit guy who loves dogs, snowboarding, hiking, nature, good food and wine, travel, and regular dudes. The only thing gay about me is that I like men.

Ideal guy? Strongly prefer stocky, bearded and inked Chevy pickup kinda guy who has his act together.

Just looking for a regular, rural Vermont dude. NEK area preferred.

WashCtyHomesteader, 57, seeking: M

LOOKING FOR BURLINGTON DREADED BRANDY In late February we sat next to each other and chatted on an early morning fligh to DC. You: headed to KC for the week to work. Dreads, beautiful, smart, computer person. Me: Headed to DC for the day to do political consulting. Would love to continue that talk over coffee or a drink or a walk by the lake. adnaZ, 58, seeking: W FUN AND RELAXED I have had submissive woman, and they were fun. But their end game was to give and not receive. One didn’t like my wallet, and others liked my pocket.

They were a l about the head and not the heart. timage, 50, seeking: W LET’S HAVE FUN Easygoing and lots of fun.

802chef, 41, seeking: W QUIET, ANTISOCIAL, LONELY, LONER, HEADCASE Life’s a mess. Comfortable with silence.

Have been described as creepy. I love comics and cartoons of all sorts. PC gamer/computer addict. Jaded cynic.

Animal lover. Pro-gun liberal. Can’t stand authoritarians. Not financia ly stable. If you want to date me, there’s probably something wrong with you. I’m just here to try to get my hugs/year average above one. QuietIntrovert, 31, seeking: W, TW COUPLE SEEKING GUY OR GIRL We are very open and honest. Clean, safe and totally discreet. We are looking for a man with a big dick or a woman who wants to try new adult things with a couple.

We want to role-play and try some kink.

Newboytoyvt, 50, seeking: M, W, TM, Cp

TRANS WOMEN seeking...

BE MY CUDDLE BUDDY? Cute 50-y/o vegan straight-edge polyam ace enby trans girl. Love my parallel polyam primary nesting partner, so I’m looking for a part-time snuggle buddy for walks and talks and handholding and kissing and romance! I fall in love really easily! I’m half in love with you already just because you’re reading this!

Anyone but cis guys. EnbyTransgirl, 51, seeking: W, TM, TW, Q, NBP, l

COUPLES seeking...

TO MAKING IT COUNT! We’re a couple exploring and adding something exciting to our lives. She is 31 y/o, 5’6, curvy and beautiful. He is 32 y/o, 6’, average athletic and handsome.

We’re looking for friends and friends with benefits. e love movies, board games, hanging out, outdoor activities, stimulating conversation, sex, family and a bunch more. We’re clean, disease-free and tobacco-free. LetLoose, 31, seeking: W, Cp ATTRACTIVE MARRIED COUPLE Attractive, caring and honest married couple looking to meet a female for fun times both in and out of the bedroom.

She is bi-curious; he is straight. We are very easygoing and fun to be around. Will share a photo once we communicate. Let’s see what happens.

VTcouple4fun, 49, seeking: W SEASONED, REASONED, FRIENDSHIP AND CONVERSATION Older couple seeks new friends to enjoy honest conversation. Couples, women, or men. We are not seeking benefits thoug we are open to discussion if all are inspired.

We’d love to meet and converse over a nice meal. We love warmth and open people. Our place has a hot tub for cold winters, and we have a massage table.

Seasoned, 70, seeking: M, W, Cp, Gp, l

i SPY

If you’ve been spied, go online to contact your admirer!

dating.sevendaysvt.com

FRIEND OF A FRIEND, WINOOSKI I met you last night outside Monkey House — you’re a friend of a friend I was meeting for drinks. I sensed your energy and was attracted to it, and to your kind brown eyes. We were with your two friends, so I didn’t want to say anything to make anyone uncomfortable.

All I know is your first name, Weston.

When: Friday, August 14, 2020.

Where: Monkey House, Winooski.

You: Man. Me: Woman. #915131 I STAND WITH PLANNED PARENTHOOD You were doing some balancing on your head (and some not) with an “I Stand With Planned Parenthood” tattoo on your ... cheek. I was playing Spikeball nearby; your friend returned the ball to me. I was probably getting hit by the ball as I was distracted by you. Talk reproductive rights over distanced drinks? I’ll get a matching tattoo... When: Friday, August 14, 2020. Where: North Beach, evening.

You: Woman. Me: Man. #915130 SAW YOU WALKING BY DRIFTERS At 11:45, I was walking down North Winooski and saw you across the street walking past Drifters. We were both wearing masks but shamelessly looked back at each other. If only I hadn’t crossed the street a block prior maybe I could have asked for your number. How about a socially distanced date? When: Friday, August 14, 2020. Where: passing by Drifters. You: Man. Me: Woman. #915129 NORTH BURLINGTON DREADED BRANDY In late February we sat next to each other and chatted on an early morning flight to D.C. You were headed to KC for work.

You: dreads, beautiful, smart, computer person. I would love to continue our talk over coffee or a drink or a walk by the lake. When: Saturday, February 22, 2020. Where: Burlington flight to D.C. You: Man. Me: Man. #915128

CITY MARKET WINK! I was just stopping by for a snack, and a pretty cashier winked at me, and my gay little heart is soaring!

I should have winked back. When: Monday, August 10, 2020. Where: South End City Market. You: Woman. Me: Woman. #915127 GOT OAT MILK? I was wearing a blue face shield. You had strawberry blond hair, a blackand-white top, and jorts. We were flirting about low-sugar-content oat milk. Would love to share a glass and cook some vegan meals for you. :) When: Sunday, August 9, 2020. Where: Healthy Living.

You: Woman. Me: Man. #915126 CAN’T STAND THE HEAT? You once promised me another redhot batch of your Mexican hominy stew — a shame you never got around to it. Give me a call if you ever do, and don’t be afraid to leave a VM if I don’t answer. The sultry timbre of your voice is a secret pleasure, and it’s almost as sexy as your smile. Light my fire. When: Tuesday, August 7, 2018.

Where: Le Creuset in your kitchen.

You: Woman. Me: Man. #915125 MALLETTS BAY You were docking; we chatted a little.

Love to continue the conversation. You: blond hair, some sexy tattoos on the arm, green swimsuit. When: Monday, August 3, 2020. Where: Malletts Bay. You: Woman. Me: Man. #915117 RT.7 DELI REDHEAD It was around 4. You were wearing an Army green tank top. You headed south on 7 toward Shelburne.

When: Wednesday, July 29, 2020.

Where: Rt.7 Deli, Shelburne Rd. You: Woman. Me: Man. #915119

Ask REVEREND °˛˝

Irreverent counsel on life’s conundrums

Dear Reverend,

A good friend of mine is a professional chef. Every time I go to her house, she cooks amazing food for everybody there, whether it’s just me or a bunch of our friends.

She says she enjoys doing it, but I feel bad that she cooks all day and then winds up in the kitchen at home while everybody else is hanging out having fun.

Pantry Raider (MALE, 34)

...WAFFLES...

My World At Large feels too big without you in it. A warrior’s broken Valkyrie heart ... Your Queen is trying — the resistance makes me no better than a pawn. I’d Follow You Into The Dark, if you’d love yourself enough. It’s All So Incredibly Loud, Green Eyes.

Remember that the Revolution is in your Mind. This is my last iSpy. When: Monday, August 3, 2020. Where: at The End Of The F***ing World.

You: Man. Me: Woman. #915124 MEMORIES OF QUÉBEC I was in love with you. Québec, then Massachusetts for Christmas with your family. Out of nowhere, you ended it. Yes, it was moving fast.

When you go through life not knowing that feeling and find what’s missing, you don’t want to waste time! I think of you often. I wish I knew why, and think about what could have been.

When: Wednesday, December 25, 2019. Where: everywhere. You: Woman. Me: Man. #915123 A WALK AROUND THE COURSE I joined your group for 9. I thoroughly enjoyed the time. Bit of an age difference, and I didn’t want to seem creepy. You’re very attractive. I loved your voice, and I find myself lost in thought thinking about you. Thought you may have felt an attraction, too.

Would love to play again, maybe have a drink after. When: Friday, August 7, 2020. Where: golf course.

You: Woman. Me: Man. #915122 ‘THE BACHELOR’ & CROSSWORDS For months I looked forward to seeing you most Monday nights for dinner.

Hearing about how fascinating “The Bachelor” is and trying to sound smart helping you with crossword puzzles.

Then the world turned upside down, and I don’t know where to find you. I’d love to get back in touch. Let me know where I might run into you! When: Monday, March 9, 2020. Where: Rí Rá’s. You: Woman. Me: Man. #915121 RUNNER ON MOUNT PISGAH In the early morning, we met at the overlook. You were training, and I was on my first mountain hike in years. Will our paths cross again? When: Saturday, August 1, 2020. Where: Mount Pisgah.

You: Woman. Me: Man. #915116

Dear Pantry Raider,

My late husband was a photographer.

Everywhere he went, he was constantly taking pictures of everything and everybody.

Photography wasn’t just his profession, it was a big part of who he was. I imagine the same goes for your chef pal. Why would she lie when she says she enjoys what she’s doing?

I’ve known a few chefs in my day, and they all seem to really love sharing their talent, whether they’re at work

CANADA EX Chatted briefly as you were walking your Portuguese/spaniel mix pup. I was eating lunch with my neighbor, a bit sweaty from working. Would love to join you for a dog walk and chat more. Haven’t seen you walk by again. When: Sunday, July 12, 2020. Where: near North St. You: Woman. Me: Man. #915115 TRACTOR SUPPLY IN MONTPELIER We were both looking for mower belts.

Tried to help you figure out which one. You knew it was a Craftsman but didn’t know the model number. And the book didn’t even list part numbers for Craftsman! I tried to help, had to let you head off to customer service. Should have asked for your number. Kicking myself now. When: Wednesday, August 5, 2020. Where: Montpelier Tractor Supply. You: Woman. Me: Man. #915120 THOUGHTS OF AN OLDER MAN You are a stream-of-conscious poet.

You nimbly weave together ideas, insights and humor, from Marble to Mozart. Kindness and love flow out of you like a stream. I want to be with you in your hedonistic adventures and join the energy of your being. You wowed me when we met. FaceTime is not enough. When: Friday, July 17, 2020. Where: in my apartment.

You: Man. Me: Woman. #915114 WHEN WE WERE FOXES...

Love, I wonder why are we in this quagmire? I wish I had remained wild like you; free. Every day I wait for you to come home to me, me alone; to stay. Please find me again in our next lives. I’ll still be your vixen in moonlight awaiting your kisses sweet. Pull my hair and bite my neck so I know. When: Tuesday, July 28, 2020. Where: Plattsburgh.

You: Man. Me: Woman. #915110 TELL ME SOMETHING Anne, I know you didn’t pick me all those months ago. I know why you didn’t, but all I want is another shot. You make me feel like no one has before. This is me asking you to pick me, pick us, because you’re the closest thing to magic I’ve ever found. When: Sunday, July 28, 2019. Where: Switchback brewery.

You: Woman. Me: Man. #915112

or not. Be that as it may, there are plenty of ways you can contribute.

Next time you’re invited over, bring a delightful dessert.

If your friend imbibes, show up with a bottle or two of her favorite wine.

You could also offer to pitch in with the prep work —

SPLASH You were having lunch with a young companion. You were wearing a black top and jeans shorts and have a moon tattoo on the back of your left arm. I don’t know anything else about you, other than that you have a strikingly beautiful smile.

I may have been staring, and you may have noticed. If so, let me know! When: Wednesday, July 29, 2020. Where: Splash. You: Woman. Me: Man. #915111 AN BLONDE AT AMERICAN FLATBREAD You were a tan, cute and happy blonde having dinner with your girlfriends. You made a risqué joke and gave me a playful smile before dancing down the sidewalk.

Made my night. When: ˙ ursday, July 30, 2020. Where: American Flatbread.

You: Woman. Me: Man. #915113 WHEN WE WERE FOXES...

Love, I wonder why are we in this quagmire? I wish I had remained wild like you; free. Every day I wait for you to come home to me, me alone; to stay.

Please find me again in our next lives. I’ll still be your vixen in moonlight awaiting your kisses sweet. Pull my hair and bite my neck so I know. When: Tuesday, July 28, 2020. Where: Plattsburgh.

You: Man. Me: Woman. #915110 ITALIAN RACE BIKE, BURLINGTON-COLCHESTER BRIDGE Wow, talking to you made my day!

Wouldn’t mind meeting you again.

When: Monday, July 27, 2020.

Where: Burlington bike path. You: Woman. Me: Man. #915109 RAIL TRAIL ˛ ank you to the good-looking guy from CACR who flashed me a handsome smile while saying hello and also for petting my dog. It made my day! When: Wednesday, July 22, 2020. Where: LVRT, Jeffersonville.

You: Man. Me: Woman. #915108 LAKE CARMI I saw a blond woman in a rowing boat in rough waters in a black-and-white bathing suit keeping in great physical shape. I was fishing. Too bad we couldn’t have been closer. Certainly would like to get to know her. I wonder if she has a camp on the lake. I have been renting at Sunnybank Lodge this month. When: Sunday, July 26, 2020. Where: Lake Carmi. You: Woman. Me: Man. #915107

chop some veggies or set the table.

If you want to be a real hero, you could do the after-dinner cleanup.

If she’s one of those people who insists that you just relax, you could still hang out and keep her company in the kitchen. It’s usually the most fun place to be at a party anyway. And while you’re in there, pay attention. You might learn something that could help when you invite her over to your house and make her a meal.

Good luck and God bless,

The Reverend What’s your problem?

Send it to asktherev@sevendaysvt.com.

SEVEN DAYS AUGUST 19-26, 2020

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I’m a 61-y/o female seeking a male 58 to 62. I have had vivid dreams of someone named Mark. 58 to 62 y/o, tall, gray hair, kindhearted, active, honest. NEK. #L1431 Me: man — successful, innovative, liberal — just finalizing several years of R&D; preparing to introduce my findings internationally; ISO long-term companion/ helpmate/lover. You: woman — friendly, intelligent, empathetic, adventurous; enjoy challenges, travel, sex.

Driver’s license, passport required. All replies answered — USPS only. #L1428

Artistic/intellectual SWM, 68, possessing a wide range of metaphysical interests, seeks female companion for conversations, viewing good cinema, listening to classical music and taking walks in scenic places. A passion for literature, cats and/or the sea is a plus. I’m genuine, curious, creative and considerate. You are unique. I appreciate your response. #L1433 I’m a bi-curious male seeking Bobby. I see your ad in the Personals, and I would love to hear from you. I can only text or call. I’m shy but a good listener. Open-minded and nonjudgmental. Contact me. #L1432

I’m a 59-y/o GWM seeking out new guys for friendship and camaraderie! Outgoing, fun-loving and gregarious.

Varied interests. Open to new social ventures. Value intimate conversations and close friendships. Let’s get together! #L1430 Petite, attractive WF, 39, seeks bright, fit WM, 30 to 50, for friendship and lasting love.

Politically liberal, personally conservative, homebody and globe-trotter. Loves cats, books, laughter and vegetarian food.

Observing social distancing, so any friendship will evolve slowly. #L1429

HOW TO REPLY TO THESE LOVE LETTERS: Seal your reply — including your preferred contact info — inside an envelope. Write your penpal’s box number on the outside of that envelope and place it inside another envelope with payment. Responses for Love Letters must begin with the #L box number.

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PUBLISH YOUR MESSAGE ON THIS PAGE!

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We’ll publish as many messages as we can in the Love Letters section above.

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Interested readers will send you letters in the mail. No internet required!

SEVEN DAYS AUGUST 19-26, 2020

SWF, mid-60s, seeking SM. I am tall with striking auburn hair. In good health. Average build. Lying in a hammock watching the love of nature and the nature of love. Wanting to expand on the intimacy of another willing to partake in gradual knowing of each other. Someone of intelligence, interested in arts, science, hand-powered tools, nature, or surprise me. Living the life off the grid, in more ways than one. My skills and time spent are in furniture and chair repair, weaving, maintenance of household. Bicycling, kayaking, cross-country skiing, snowshoeing, gardens. All reasonable responses will be answered. #L1426

Internet-Free Dating!

Reply to these messages with real, honest-to-goodness letters. DETAILS BELOW. I’m a male, 58, seeking a woman, 58. SSS Skipper. I enjoy a woman who is not afraid to take control. Enjoy role-play, dressing up, quiet times at home. #L1427

38-y/o Plattsburgh, N.Y., man here. I am looking for a man my age. Reserved, happy man here, just looking for someone to bring some excitement to my life and complete me. #L1422

I’m a bi-curious male seeking a guy for summer fun, maybe more. Seeking age group 18 to 35. Need a guy to teach me the ropes. Really eager to try a lollipop, if you know what I mean. Write, please. #L1425

I’m an older male seeking a sporty 50-plus woman. I’m affectionate and enjoy long walks and conversation, trivia, Scrabble, horseshoes, reading, the beach.

420-friendly, microbrews. Please write. Love to meet you. #L1421

37 M seeks F. I’m a do-ityourselfer, sushi taco eater, nutrition enthusiast, Tuesday night bowler-ist, amateur thespian, butting libertarian, Bob Ross watcher, Emannuel Levinas talker, not much of a clubber, beer-drinking, poolplaying bocce ball thrower.

Seeking same. #L1424

I’m a mid-50s man seeking a 45to 60-y/o female. Searching for fit, grounded, at-home country girl. I own a home, land and toys.

Desire to travel. Love to garden. #L1420

I’m a bi male seeking a bi or gay male. Enjoy reading, Scrabble, long walks and conversation, horse shoes, bench, 420 friendly, microbrews, scrabble, University of Vermont, psychology. Please write. #L1423

53-y/o discreet SWM, 5’10, 156 pounds. Brown and blue. Seeking any guys 18 to 60 who like to receive oral and who are a good top. Well hung guys a plus.

Chittenden County and around.

No computer. Phone only, but can text or call. #L1419 I’m a single WM seeking 65- to 70y/o woman to share mutual oral with. Retired physician. In my home or yours. #L1417

Describe yourself and who you’re looking for in 40 words below:

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