Seven Days, October 7, 2020

RAMPING DOWN? City decks South End skate park

VE R MO NT ’S INDE PEN DENT VO IC E OCTOBER 7-14, 2020 VOL.26 NO.2 SEVENDAYSVT.COM

PAGE 13

Has Phil Scott made Vermont more

B Y PAU L H EI N T Z , PA G E 30

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‘20/20 Hindsight’ at Kent Museum

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WEEK IN REVIEW SEPTEMBER 30-OCTOBER 7, 2020 COMPILED BY SASHA GOLDSTEIN, MATTHEW ROY & ANDREA SUOZZO COURTNEY LAMDIN

Volunteers cleaning up Battery Park on Monday

emoji that BEST BUDS

An Addison County hemp farmer gave 50 plants to a Moretown grower who lost dozens of her own to a thief.

Harvest time.

$58.5 million

That’s the amount scandal-scarred Jay Peak Resort wants to pay of its $120.8 million property tax bill. Good luck with that!

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LOCK ’N’ LOAD

Parro’s Gun Shop in Waterbury has broken ground on Vermont’s first indoor shooting range. Just in time for the apocalypse.

PROTESTERS BREAK CAMP

The occupation of Burlington’s Battery Park is over. After approximately 35 days camped out in the green space, racial justice protesters called it quits on September 30. They spent hours taking down a tent city that had sprouted toward the end of a summer marked by national incidents of police violence against people of color.

But leaders said their fight against racism and other inequities wasn’t over.

“We are not fucking done, people,” organizer Zanevia Wilcox told a crowd of about 60 protesters in the park.

“There’s a lot of work that needs to be done. And we may not be sleeping here 24-7, but just know, this will be our beacon. This will be the space we come to when we call for events, the space we come to when we want to inform folks of what’s happening.”

For weeks, the protesters were a fixture in the park that abuts the city’s 1 North Avenue police headquarters. They’ve participated in regular evening rallies, marching to Burlington City Hall and even to Mayor Miro Weinberger’s home in the Hill Section. On September 23, they tore up and burned copies of Seven Days at the downtown Black Lives Matter mural on Main Street, protesting a cover story about the movement.

Several tents remained in the park through the weekend, including some belonging to homeless people who

WORKING ON IT

Town officials expressed concern after a picture showed maskless people at the Woodstock Inn & Resort during a wedding ceremony.

In sickness and in health...

FIRE STARTER

Authorities in Stowe are on the hunt for a serial arsonist who’s set nearly a dozen blazes since 2016. A $30,000 reward goes to whoever smokes out the suspect.

2. “Middlebury College Faces Class-Action Suit Over Tuition Refunds” by Colin Flanders. A lawsuit filed last month accuses the school of failing to adequately reimburse students sent home in the spring due to the coronavirus pandemic.

3. “Zuckerman’s Spouse Slams Gray on Social Media” by Colin Flanders. In a Facebook post, Rachel Nevitt wrote that Democratic lieutenant gubernatorial nominee Molly Gray is “slimy” and “manipulative.”

4. “Red Onion Café to Leave Church Street, Open in Charlotte” by Jordan Barry. After 30 years in Burlington, the sandwich shop is moving south to a new Route 7 spot.

5. “Resolution Would Allow Backyard Fires in Burlington This Winter” by Sasha Goldstein.

A new Queen City proposal seeks to make it easier to gather with friends while social distancing this winter.

tweet of the week

@lovecrossbones

I love driving down Riverside, because you never know if it’s gonna smell like the #BTV water treatment plant or #KoffeeKup donuts being made.

Maybe both! It’s a fun guessing game on my way to and from work.

FOLLOW US ON TWITTER @SEVENDAYSVT OUR TWEEPLE: SEVENDAYSVT.COM/TWITTER

WHAT’S KIND IN VERMONT

CO U RTE

Founded in 1983, Associates for Training & Development now operates in five Northeastern states and served more than 1,000 clients last year. The U.S. Department of Labor is funding the nonprofit to the tune of $9.5 million a year — into 2023.

In Vermont alone, about 200 older folks accepted internships at what the nonprofit calls “host agencies” — other nonprofits SY

OF M

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Melodie Lewis had been unemployed for more than three years before she started a paid internship this summer at the Community of Vermont Elders in Montpelier. The 59-yearold Barre woman had experience working in an office but needed to brush up on her computer skills.

About two months later, she’d landed a part-time gig as a dispatcher at West Motor Freight in Barre. And Lewis said she has the Senior Community Service Employment Program to thank.

Run by the St. Albans-based nonprofit Associates for Training & Development, the program “provides critical job training

and related services to low-income, unemployed job seekers,” according to Mary Branagan, the organization’s assistant vice president of communications and policy.

“There’s no cost to the agency. There’s no cost to the participant,” Branagan said.

“And, over time, the person gets their skills updated; they get their self-confidence back; Melodie Lewis they become way more job-ready. It can absolutely be a really pivotal point for people.”

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had set up camp alongside protesters. Weinberger said last week that the city was “working with the remaining campers in the park to understand their needs and any services that we can help with.”

The detritus of the encampment was the focus of an unofficial cleanup crew on Monday afternoon. One young woman, who said she had participated in the protests but otherwise declined to comment, wore a mask and vinyl gloves as she picked up trash and other items.

Two homeless men, one of whom was packing up blankets and clothing from a tent, watched from nearby. Both men declined to share their full names; the younger, Jay, said he’d camped at the park “off and on” since before the protest started.

The police hadn’t told them to leave, but they felt pressured to move on. They said they prefer to camp because homeless shelters have too many rules.

“Mainly, I don’t want to deal with those fuckers over there,” Jay said, referring to city police officers who had come to the park to talk with a man who’d been yelling and threatening people.

Jay’s tenting companion, a grizzled and tattooed man named Preacher, agreed. “Like everybody else, we don’t know where we’re going right now,” he said. “You’re living on the edge every minute.”

Read our full stories on the protests at sevendaysvt.com.

1. “After 30-Plus Days, Protesters Pack Up Battery Park Encampment” by Sasha Goldstein.

Protesters began breaking camp in Battery Park on September 30, but leaders vowed that their fight against racism wasn’t over.

or government agencies, such as the Abenaki Self-Help Association in Swanton. Branagan’s organization pays the person’s wages and any other training costs.

After about 15 months, participants find employment elsewhere, usually “with an average starting wage significantly above the minimum wage in their areas,” Branagan said.

The program has become an important lifeline during the pandemic, due to high unemployment rates and a disease that more disproportionately impacts older people.

“It gives the person the dignity, the pride and the wages to stabilize, to really become employable again,” Branagan said. “It’s fabulous,” she added. “I love it.”

SASHA GOLDSTEIN SEVEN DAYS OCTOBER 7-14, 2020

5

SMIZE ON THE PRIZE. / 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,

Margaret Grayson, Melissa Pasanen, Ken Picard, Sally Pollak  Carolyn Fox, Elizabeth M. Seyler   Katherine Isaacs, Marisa Keller D I G I TA L & V I D E O   Andrea Suozzo    Bryan Parmelee    Eva Sollberger   James Buck DESIGN   Don Eggert   Rev. Diane Sullivan   John James  Jeff Baron, Kirsten Thompson SALES & MARKETING    Colby Roberts    Michael Bradshaw   Robyn Birgisson,

Michelle Brown, Logan Pintka

 &   Corey Grenier  &   Katie Hodges A D M I N I S T R AT I O N   Marcy Carton    Matt Weiner   Jeff Baron CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Luke Baynes, Justin Boland, Alex Brown, Chris Farnsworth, Rick Kisonak, Jacqueline Lawler, Amy Lilly, Bryan Parmelee, Jim Schley, Julia Shipley, Molly Zapp CONTRIBUTING ARTISTS Luke Awtry, Harry Bliss, James Buck, Rob Donnelly, Luke Eastman, Caleb Kenna, Sean Metcalf, Matt Mignanelli, Marc Nadel, Tim Newcomb, Oliver Parini, Sarah Priestap, Kim Scafuro, Michael Tonn, Jeb Wallace-Brodeur C I R C U L AT I O N : 3 5 , 0 0 0 Seven Days is published by Da Capo Publishing Inc. every Wednesday. It is distributed free of charge in greater Burlington, Middlebury, Montpelier, Northeast Kingdom, Stowe, the Mad River Valley, Rutland, St. Albans, St. Johnsbury, White River Junction and Plattsburgh, N.Y.

Seven Days is printed at Quebecor Media Printing in Laval, Québec.

DELIVERY TECHNICIANS Harry Applegate, Monica Ashworth, Jeff Baron, Joe Bouffard, Pat Bouffard, Colin Clary, Elana Coppola-Dyer, Donna Delmoora, Matt Hagen, Nat Michael, Bill Mullins, Dan Nesbitt, Dan Thayer With additional circulation support from PP&D. SUBSCRIPTIONS 6- 1 : $175. 1- 1 : $275.

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DISCLOSURE: Seven Days publisher and coeditor Paula Routly is the domestic partner of Vermont Senate President Pro Tempore Tim Ashe. Routly abstains from involvement in the newspaper’s Statehouse and state political coverage. Find our conflict of interest policy here: sevendaysvt.com/disclosure.

P.O. BOX 1164, BURLINGTON, VT 05402-1164 802-864-5684 SEVENDAYSVT.COM @SEVENDAYSVT

FEEDback READER REACTION TO RECENT ARTICLES

CORRECT STATS?

Thank you for reporting on the frightening increase in opioid use and related deaths [“Relapse in Recovery,” September 16]. I was horrified by the statistics, especially the chart for opioid deaths by county, which lists Windsor, my county of residence, as increased significantly from six in 2019 to 15 in 2020. Unfortunately, the text of the article does not agree with these statistics. In the paragraph reporting opioid overdoses, three of the four statistics cited are different than what is shown on the graph. Can you please clarify which of these sets of statistics is correct?

Tom Warhol

BETHEL

Editor’s note: The chart compares deaths from January to July of 2019 and 2020. The text explains that deaths through July of this year in some places have already surpassed total deaths from last year. The text and chart are different comparisons.

We apologize for the confusion.

SOME SCIENCE

[Re Off Message: “Vermont House Votes to Override Scott’s Veto of Climate Bill,” September 17]: I have been disappointed

by Gov. Phil Scott’s constant references to science concerning his team handling COVID-19 while he selectively ignores the science on a heating planet, solely because of and related to its human population adding greenhouse gases. Well, no more.

We totally understand the GOP has a worldview of “whatever” when it comes to using our atmosphere as industry’s open sewer without ramifications. If Scott really wanted to use the science he likes to talk up, he would consider the myriad data sets and trends on the overheating of our climate — its wide-ranging ramifications that are currently affecting Vermont — and act on it as a solution. It’s high time the legislature got off the dime and we moved off fossil fuels. Vermont should add infrastructure to support more EVs and not just kick the can down the road, which it seems to do while calling itself “green.”

To vote GOP is to essentially do nothing or worse.

Roger Hill

©2020 Da Capo Publishing Inc. All rights reserved.

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SEVEN DAYS OCTOBER 7-14, 2020

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WORCESTER

WEEK IN REVIEW

TIM NEWCOMB

We deserve better. We deserve a city administration ready to guarantee we can vote, and vote safely, and vote early.

Huck Gutman

BURLINGTON

SAY CHEESE

GRAY EXPECTATIONS

NOT FORGOTTEN

I really enjoyed Molly Zapp’s essay about walking through the cemetery [“Turn Right for Connection,” May 27]. Lots of good stuff here to ponder. Thanks for publishing.

Evan Grimes

WHEAT RIDGE, CO

SEX POSITIVES

[Re Live Culture: “UVM Sex Educator Jenna Emerson Releases New Comedy Music Video,” September 18]: Jenna Emerson is a goddess and a queen! I laughed so hard! It’s wonderful to see her intelligent and inclusive approach, not only focused on warnings about everything that can go wrong. Super cool.

Joy Yonan-Renold

TEACHING HISTORY

[Re Live Culture: “Survey of Young Vermonters Highlights Ignorance of the Holocaust,” September 16]: A survey of books used in teaching American history in public schools over the last 13 years or so might be useful in revealing and explaining why there seems to be such a knowledge gap about the Holocaust, on many educational levels.

For younger teachers who are graduates of Vermont high schools, a paragraph to half a page was all that was devoted to the Holocaust when they were in school, and the public libraries’ supplemental collections were no better.

While that situation may have changed, is it possible that this deficit, along with those in other socially significant areas, could explain the lack of a firm foundation for teaching this history?

Identifying the number and quality of available materials in school libraries and quantifying their circulation might also be informative. These supplemental resources could augment the Holocaust studies curriculum, were teachers and their students to fully utilize them.

Lois Whitmore

ESSEX JUNCTION

WINOOSKI

LIMITED HOURS FOR DEMOCRACY

[Voters’ Guide 2020: “Voting by Mail: How to Make It Count,” September 30]: Everywhere we turn, we hear and read that we should get our ballots, if we are voting absentee, and turn them in early. “Make a plan,” we are told.

Meanwhile, since the U.S. Postal Service is under assault and President Donald Trump has said he will not be counting mail ballots, my plan was to get the ballot from Vermont’s secretary of state, fill it out, and then turn my ballot in at Burlington City Hall.

Burlington seems not to understand that an entire election is at risk and that voters need to be certain their ballot will be counted.

I was stunned to learn that, in Burlington, one can turn in a ballot at the city clerk’s office — but that the clerk’s office is only open one and a half days a week.

What about a ballot box, in which one can drop off a ballot? Well, the clerk’s office thinks it may be ready by mid-October.

Maybe.

So my plan to vote, to drop off my ballot at city hall, is thwarted by city bureaucracy, which will go at its own pace whether our democracy is imperiled or not.

SHOP OUR SALES LISTS SCAN CODE

[Re “Soapbox Derby,” September 30]: I met Molly Gray a few years ago, and our first conversation ranged from climate change, workers’ rights, racial justice and women’s reproductive freedom to Vermont’s economy. I thought to myself: Molly Gray is destined to do great things in her life in order to better the lives of others.

And here she is, running for lieutenant governor of Vermont. There is a deep, potent intelligence and wisdom that radiates from Molly. She is honest, fair, kind and brilliant. She looks at the world through an inclusive lens and broadens her reflections to account for all sides of an equation. She is strong and steady, and she uses reason in her deliberations.

Molly wants to balance her own frugality with a bold vision of investing in a new economy that will transform Vermont’s economy. She will put into practice a wide spectrum of initiatives that will excite and expand our workforce and bring our youth back to Vermont. She believes in family and medical leave, accessible and affordable childcare, an increase in the minimum wage, and protecting our beautiful environment by building a renewable energy future for Vermont that will strengthen our economy.

She will commit to reforming our policing policies, ending mass incarceration and transforming our criminal justice system.

Molly is a woman of the 21st century. She is a true and dynamic leader with a very exciting, enthusiastic and noble vision. I am so hopeful we get to see Molly Gray as our next lieutenant governor of Vermont.

Melinda Moulton

HUNTINGTON

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contents OCTOBER 7-14, 2020 VOL.26 NO.2

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Bottom Line Side Dishes Soundbites Album Reviews Movie Review Ask the Reverend

Life Lines Food + Drink Music + Nightlife Movies Classes Classifieds + Puzzles 72 Fun Stuff 76 Personals

FOOD

Growing Healthy Habits Burlington program connects gardening, food and wellness

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NEWS & POLITICS 11

OCTOBER 2020

From the Deputy Publisher The City of South Burlington starts an online “newspaper” amid a spat with a local weekly

Digging

IT!

Info Wars

You might have seen Amir Malik, aka Sonic, SUPPORTED BY: on the TV show “American Ninja Warrior.” The 20-year-old Essex Junction resident made his debut on the show on October 5; he’ll appear in the upcoming semifinals. Eva spoke with him at the local gym where he trains and teaches.

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ARTS NEWS 26 Page 32

Pipe Down

Short takes on five Vermont books

Bureaucracy, construction threaten a beloved Burlington skate spot

Perfect Visions

Artists respond to technology in Art at the Kent’s outdoor show “20/20 Hindsight”

The Tracker

A Midd kid is shedding light on the White House coronavirus outbreak

FEATURES 30 Mountain Hi

Vermonting: Socially conscious art, shopping and history in Brattleboro

TIPS FOR A FUN AND ECO-FRIENDLY HALLOWEEN PAGE 8

SONGS FOR A SPOOKY PLAYLIST PAGE 14

EASY APPLE CAKE RECIPE PAGE 15

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FROM THE DEPUTY PUBLISHER

Civics Pride

After this year’s presidential election, the next one takes place in 2024. The other day I realized that my son will be able to vote in it.

That blew my mind! Graham is 14 now, and though he’s almost a foot taller than me, I still think of him as a kid. But in four years, he’ll be getting his own ballot in the mail — or driving himself to the polls.

I think he’ll be ready. For the last three years, both he and his younger sister, Ivy, have been helping me develop activities for the Good Citizen Challenge, a youth civics initiative organized by Seven Days and Kids VT and funded by the Vermont Community Foundation.

We started it to bolster students’ knowledge of our government and how it works. If they can memorize arcane Harry Potter trivia, surely they can grasp the difference between the House and the Senate, right?

The Good Citizen Challenge also addresses political polarization by focusing on our shared civic heritage, from the First Amendment to the Gettysburg Address. It encourages young Vermonters to practice writing letters to elected officials, having civil conversations with people who disagree with them, and learning how to spot sources of reliable, fact-based journalism.

Seventy-seven students finished the first Challenge over the summer of 2018 and attended a celebratory day at the Statehouse the following spring.

The second Challenge started in the fall of 2019 and ended in March, two weeks before the schools shut down. About 800 kids from all across the state participated, and more than 200 finished it. Sadly, we had to cancel the gathering in Montpelier.

In response to the coronavirus pandemic, the project went remote. To aid parents and teachers with in-home learning, we created a weekly Coronavirus Challenge, with support from the Evslin Family Foundation. For 10 weeks in the spring, we introduced weekly activities focused on history, news literacy and making positive contributions to the community. My kids helped me raffle off prizes during Wednesday afternoon Facebook Live broadcasts.

Over the summer, we switched to easier-to-organize monthly Challenges.

In September, we invited participants to create a poster encouraging adults to vote. We got a bunch of sweet submissions; this one appeared in Seven Days’ 2020 Voters’ Guide, Jeffersonville fourth grader published in last week’s paper. We showcase more of them on page 22 of the October Kids VT, Sophia Rodriguez drew this poster which is inside this week’s Seven Days. encouraging adults to vote as part For this month’s Challenge, we’re asking students to contact their legislative candidates — of the September Good Citizen Challenge. with their parents’ or teacher’s permission and assistance — to find out about the issues driving their campaigns. We hope to organize another, more ambitious Challenge again soon.

In the meantime, if you’d like to try some of the activities we’ve developed, find them at goodcitizenvt.com. Or improvise your own.

For example, on Saturday morning, I sat down with Graham to review candidate Q&As in our Voters’ Guide. I asked him to study their photos Interested in becoming a Super Reader? and responses. What kind of experiences did the Look for the “Give Now” buttons at the top of candidates cite? Who seemed trustworthy, and why? sevendaysvt.com. Or send a check with your What did all those acronyms mean? Those questions address and contact info to: led us in interesting and unexpected directions.

SEVEN DAYS, C/O SUPER READERS Such conversations have grounded me during P.O. BOX 1164 this tumultuous election year. I can’t control what’s BURLINGTON, VT 05402-1164 happening in Washington, D.C., but I can help my For more information on making a financial kids decipher what’s going on and show them how to participate in our democracy. contribution to Seven Days, please contact This is no time to sit on the sidelines. Our country Corey Grenier: needs all the Good Citizens it can muster.

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OUTDOOR FIRES THIS WINTER IN BTV? PAGE 14

STATEHOUSE

Scott Vetoes Act 250 Reform Bill

NO CHARGES IN PRISON STUDENT TRACES INVESTIGATION WHITE HOUSE CASES PAGE 16

PAGE 18

B Y K EV IN M C C A LLU M

FILE: TIM NEWCOMB

Info Wars

The City of South Burlington starts an online “newspaper” amid a spat with the local weekly B Y DER EK B R O UWER

C

12

SEVEN DAYS OCTOBER 7-14, 2020

LUKE EASTMAN

ity leaders in South Burlington think the local newspaper has stopped doing its job. Other Paper reporters are skipping government meetings, they say, and the publication’s Stowe-based editors are serving up too many irrelevant stories.

So the city leaders have started a news outlet of their own.

Last week, Vermont’s second-largest city published the inaugural issue of the South Burlington Times, a biweekly publication about city business that is written by city officials.

For the most part, the first issue’s contents mirrored those in any government newsletter. It included a notice about an Interstate 89 corridor study, a listing of library hours and a link to a proposal to amend the city’s sewer ordinance.

Yet the city packaged those municipal tidbits in an unusual way. Underneath the slogan, “Local Government News Direct to You,” city manager Kevin Dorn introduced the Times to readers as a “fully electronic newspaper” that will be “presented at no cost to the taxpayer.”

Next to his column were “commentaries” from “two distinguished South Burlington residents expressing concern over the decline in local coverage by the newspaper published in our community.”

In one of those columns, retired Southern Vermont College president and seasonal SoBu resident Barbara Sirvis argued that the Other Paper’s advertisers were no longer getting their money’s worth. In the other, longtime municipal board appointee Jennifer Kochman said that more reporting was needed to help restore residents’ connection to their local government.

South Burlington officials insist that the Times will not become their propaganda arm, nor that its launch is intended to undermine the Other Paper. It is published on the city website, and people can sign up to receive an emailed copy.

During an interview for this story, Dorn was quick to backtrack on his published description of the project as a “newspaper” with its journalistic connotations, instead saying “e-newsletter” is a more appropriate term. He and other city leaders nonetheless believe it will take on the role of a newspaper.

“When a void is created in local news, we need to fill that,” Dorn said.

The venture comes as the Other Paper, like most local newspapers in Vermont, faces financial struggles that have been compounded by the pandemic. Started in 1977 as a hyper-local alternative to the Burlington Free Press, the Other Paper was sold in 2018 to the Vermont Community Newspaper Group, which operates the Stowe Reporter and several other weekly papers.

As the coronavirus lockdown took hold

in March, publisher Greg Popa shuttered the Waterbury Record, then laid off several editorial employees over the summer.

Now just three full-time reporters and two editors produce content for five weekly publications, managing editor Jessie Forand said.

Popa’s status at the company, meanwhile, remains unsettled. The publisher walked out of the company’s Stowe offices last week and raised the possibility of resigning, according to Bob Miller, majority owner of the Vermont Community Newspaper Group.

“Clearly something was going on and he wasn’t happy, and I don’t know if he’s

MEDIA

INFO WARS

» P.16

Gov. Phil Scott vetoed a bill on Monday evening that he said failed to deliver on the legislature’s long-promised makeover of the state’s signature land-use law.

Instead, he issued an executive order suspending certain reviews of trail networks under Act 250 until an alternate program for assessing impacts of trail construction can be established.

“Nothing in this bill modernizes or improves the Act 250 process – something that is widely agreed to be necessary after fifty years of existence,” Scott wrote in his veto message to lawmakers.

Scott had made his objections to H.926 well known, especially its additional regulations on the development of forestland that environmental groups say are needed to protect from continued fragmentation.

But he said the comprehensive package of reforms his administration and lawmakers worked for years to craft had been so whittled down that he couldn’t support the final product.

“H.926 ignores all the work and collaboration put into Act 250 reform and is counter to the important outcomes we collectively sought,” Scott wrote.

Brian Shupe, executive director of the Vermont Natural Resources Council, acknowledged that the final bill was a far cry from the sweeping reform package originally envisioned to help Act 250 better address modern threats such as the climate crisis.

But the more modest bill still included key protections for forests and wildlife, as well as regulatory clarity for trail networks that the Scott administration had sought, Shupe said.

In a statement last Thursday, Senate President Pro Tempore Tim Ashe (D/P-Chittenden) called the governor’s veto “surprising” given his previous support for the trails and forest fragmentation measures when included in earlier drafts of the bill.

Ashe also said the governor’s move to issue an executive order in place of legislation passed by lawmakers “raises concerns about the separation of powers between the Executive and Legislative branches.”

Contact: kevin@sevendaysvt.com

Pipe Down

Infant and Toddler Openings!

Bureaucracy, construction threaten a beloved Burlington skate spot STORY & PHOT OS BY COURT NEY L AM D I N

BURLINGTON

Ava Foster, 9, at the Barriers quarter-pipe

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n a secluded slice of roadway in Burlington last week, Ava Foster stepped to the edge of a sevenfoot-tall quarter-pipe and slid down the ramp on her skateboard.

The 9-year-old is a regular at this South End spot known as the Barriers, an unsanctioned skate park on a stretch of the still-unbuilt Champlain Parkway. But its days might be numbered, threatened by imminent plans for construction, unhappy neighbors and the city, which plans to dismantle the quarter-pipe, the newest park feature and one that flies in the face of local ordinances.

Ava’s father, Brendan COLLIN Foster, hopes the city will change course and inspect the ramp before tearing it down.

“If it’s safe, why not keep it, at least until that becomes a highway?” said Foster, who owns the Maven skate shop on Church Street. “[That] could be next year. It could be another five years. We have no idea.”

Construction of the parkway, a 2.8-mile road that would connect Interstate 189 and Route 7 with downtown Burlington, got under way years ago.

But the work was halted, and whether it should be completed has been discussed for decades. Since the 1990s, skaters have created jumps, ramps and rails on an otherwise-forgotten 1,000-foot paved stretch of the road between Home Avenue and Pine Street.

City officials had generally tolerated the DIY park until this summer, when a neighbor complained about the quarterpipe, a sloped ramp that skaters use to perform tricks. On Monday, the Burlington City Council ordered the Department of Public Works to remove the structure. And city officials now say the entire park could be shut down.

Outspoken neighbors have HALE blamed the skaters for making noise, starting fires and dumping trash, and they say the city has been too lenient for too long. The best way to stop the activity, Public Works Director Chapin Spencer told one resident, is to build the parkway. That construction could begin as soon as next spring.

The crackdown has ignited familiar tensions between skaters and the public

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news BURLINGTON

A skater named Mateo, who did not give his last name, at the Barriers

Resolution Would Allow Backyard Fires in Burlington This Winter

BY S A S H A GO L D S TE I N

Get ready to gather ’round an outdoor fire this winter — maybe even in Burlington.

A new Queen City proposal would allow backyard blazes in “fire safe receptacles” from November through April of next year. The resolution would temporarily change an effective ban on outdoor fires that’s been on the books since 1977.

This is the year for such a change, said Burlington City Councilor Joan Shannon (D-South District), who wrote and introduced the resolution, which is cosponsored by three Democratic colleagues.

She referred to them as “COVID fires” and noted that a warm outdoor gathering place would encourage healthy socialization habits during the cold winter months of the coronavirus pandemic.

“This is not going to endorse every existing fire pit out there,” Shannon said. “But it creates a legitimate process for you to go through and get an approved outdoor fire.”

After hearing on Monday from several people concerned about the health effects of the woodsmoke, the council referred the resolution to the city’s Board of Health. A vote may come at the next council meeting, on October 19.

“We’re in a global ecological crisis and a global respiratory pandemic, and we live in a state with one of the highest rates of asthma,” resident Al Larsen said during Monday’s meeting.

“If we want to find ways to commune outdoors, we have to do so in ways that don’t contribute to and exacerbate the problems we already face.”

Burlingtonians interested in setting up an outdoor fireplace would need to apply for a permit from Fire Chief Steven Locke. He would visit the residence to ensure that there is sufficient space to burn untreated, unpainted wood in a fire-safe receptacle kept at an as-yet-undetermined distance from structures, fences and property lines.

Further, the fire must be attended at all times, a water source must be nearby, and all fires must be put out by 10 p.m.

The resolution would only apply for the coming winter. The key, according to Shannon, is that the measure would limit the fires to the colder months, when people have their windows closed and are less likely to be bothered by smoke from their neighbors’ yard.

Contact: sasha@sevendaysvt.com

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SEVEN DAYS OCTOBER 7-14, 2020

Pipe Down « P.13

Christian Cantrell at the Barriers

and renewed scrutiny of a beloved park already endangered by the highway project. For some die-hard skaters, the slated removal of the quarter-pipe is a harbinger of things to come.

“It’s really just been a matter of time. I’ve just been waiting for a bulldozer to go back there and destroy everything,” said Evan Litsios, 30, who has skated at the Barriers for more than a decade. “I don’t know what the skate community in Burlington looks like after the Champlain Parkway goes through.”

Burlington-area skaters have long fought for a place to call their own. In 1989, it was illegal to skate downtown, so they began lobbying the city to build them a park.

In 1997, the city council approved a spot on the waterfront, east of the Moran Plant. The planning commission rubberstamped those plans the following year, but three dozen residents appealed the permit and sued in Vermont Superior Court over concerns that the noise would reach their nearby homes.

In June 1998, skaters caught a break when then-governor Howard Dean signed a lease allowing construction of a temporary park where the Barriers is today. The city’s 6,500-square-foot venue featured ramps and jumps, all covered by its insurance policy, the Burlington Free Press reported then.

“Skateboarding is a positive activity, and I think we ought to have positive activities available to kids,” Dean told the paper. “It’s

unfair to prevent skateboarding downtown if there’s no other place that you can do this.”

The waterfront skate park opened in 2000, after the city and neighbors reached a compromise on the park’s operating hours.

In 2015, the city debuted a new $1 million park dedicated to prominent Burlington skateboarder, artist and DJ Andy “A_Dog” Williams, who had died of leukemia the year before.

Many skaters dug the new park’s polished concrete bowl and world-class features — blessed by OG pro skater Tony Hawk, no less.

Others were loyal to Talent, a family-friendly indoor park that opened in South Burlington in 2001 and has launched numerous pro

skating careers. But the Barriers’ grittier, less-perfect structures appealed to the antiestablishment ethos at every skater’s core.

“The fact that everything back there was designed and built by skateboarders, it just [makes for] ideal conditions,” longtime skater Litsios said.

Skaters tend to be creative do-it-yourselfers, said Litsios, who publishes a zine about Queen City skateboard culture. The Barriers was born from necessity — by a bunch of teenagers looking for an outlet — and has endured as an escape.

“It was always a good place to go, where nobody would hassle you. You could be free,” said Collin Hale, 34, a Cambridge

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IT SETS A DANGEROUS PRECEDENT

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resident who grew up skating in BurlingA handful of neighbors urged the counton and later went pro. “It’s become sort cil’s License Committee last week to close of a building block for the community, the park. where somebody can make something to “We purchased this home knowing that share.” there might be a road but not knowing that This summer, more than 100 skat- individuals would be allowed to just do ers donated money to the quarter-pipe whatever they want,” said Jennifer Jorgeneffort, the most ambitious project at the son, Fisher’s next-door neighbor. “There Barriers in years. They hauled in bags of are plenty of places to be able to skateboard cement and shaped the concrete into a in the city,” she added. vertical ramp. Building the 7-by-10-foot “The building of this structure created ramp took just two days, but the neigh- much, much more activity in the area,” bors noticed. said Katy Wallace, another South Crest In mid-June, Jay Fisher filed a complaint Drive resident. “I worry about the safety on SeeClickFix, an app that Burlingtonians of our community just being in that space use to report issues such as at this point.” Neither neighbor responded to Seven Days’ interpotholes and illegal dumping.

Although it’s buffered by a view requests. copse of trees, Fisher’s home Sam Watson, who spoke for on South Crest Drive is about the skateboarding crew, told 200 feet from the skate park. councilors that skaters aren’t Fisher has coexisted with responsible for all of the issues the skateboarders for three that have vexed the neighbors. decades, but he says the park He argued that skaters actually has increasingly become a deter unsavory characters — a nuisance. Besides the typical sentiment that other longtime scraping sounds, Fisher says skaters shared in follow-up he frequently hears yelling, interviews with Seven Days. cussing and music from radios Watson, who declined a — and once, even bagpipes request for comment, told — from the skate park. A few councilors that the Barriers years ago, someone shot fireprovides a place to socially JAY FISHER works onto his roof. He’s found distance during the pandemic. human excrement and burned spray paint He asked if they could keep the ramp cans around the park. intact until the parkway construction For Fisher, the quarter-pipe was the last begins, but they turned him down. The straw. full council agreed on Monday, voting “It sets a dangerous precedent for the to direct city public works crews to city to allow this kind of activity to grow to remove it. fruition,” he said.

Meantime, the parkway’s construcAfter visiting the site in June, City Engi- tion start date is inching ever closer. In neer Norm Baldwin determined that the July, the city hosted a public hearing ramp violated a city ordinance that bans on the project’s design after residents unpermitted structures from public rights- complained that it would increase traffic of-way. He wrote the skaters a letter, giving in the Maple and King streets area — the them 30 days to agree to remove the ramp most diverse and second-poorest neighor ask the city council’s License Committee borhood along the parkway’s route. The for an encumbrance permit, which would Federal Highway Administration is require that the skaters have their own expected to release a final environmeninsurance policy. Unlike in the 1990s, the tal impact statement in December or city’s insurance carrier was unwilling to January. The report could either require cover the park ramp. design changes or allow the project to “There’s a greater measure of physical go forward. The city hopes to start liability to the city with this quarter-pipe construction in May 2021. than all of the other things they have out Litsios, the longtime Barriers skater, there,” Baldwin said last week. lamented that his beloved skate park’s But the city’s insurance carrier later demise is a consequence of Burlington’s advised Baldwin that the other ramps and development. That’s led the proverbial jumps may create just as much exposure to fences to get taller and people to treat risk as the quarter-pipe. Baldwin said city each other like business partners instead staff will have to evaluate the entire park of neighbors. The quarter-pipe debacle with this in mind. illustrated that firsthand.

“It’s unclear what the resulting outcome “We start losing the value that spaces will be,” he said, adding, “My general take like these bring to the community,” he said. was to leave it as is and to not unearth the “It’s a sad thing to see.” whole thing, but that’s not necessarily my decision.”

Contact: courtney@sevendaysvt.com

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State’s Attorney Declines to Prosecute Chittenden Corrections Officer

BY C O L I N F L A N D E R S

Chittenden County State’s Attorney Sarah George has declined to prosecute a corrections officer who was at the center of a Seven Days investigation into alleged sexual misconduct, drug abuse and retribution inside Vermont’s only women’s prison.

Daniel Zorzi, a shift supervisor at the Chittenden Regional Correctional Facility, had been accused of wide-ranging misconduct, including abusing drugs on the job and having sex with women while they were under supervision of the Department of Corrections.

But in a letter to Corrections Commissioner Jim Baker last Thursday, George wrote that she had determined that a Vermont State Police investigation into Zorzi had not uncovered “sufficient evidence” to prove “beyond a reasonable doubt” that he had committed a crime.

George, however, left the door open for future prosecution, emphasizing that her decision was based on the information available “at this time.”

“If further information is provided to the Vermont State Police, we will review that evidence and re-evaluate the strength of our case,” George wrote.

And citing “multiple instances of concerning behavior” detailed by state police, she added that she would no longer consider Zorzi a credible witness.

“I want to make sure it is clear that my office is unwilling to call him as a witness on behalf of the State and will not accept any criminal cases from him going forward,” George wrote.

More than a dozen current and former corrections officers and inmates told Seven Days last year that Zorzi appeared to be intoxicated while on duty at the Chittenden Regional Correctional Facility. But while records showed that prison officials had received several reports of Zorzi’s alleged misconduct over the years, he had continued to climb the ranks.

Zorzi was finally suspended in October 2019 after a longtime inmate filed a complaint accusing him of taking her and another woman to a Colchester camp to engage in drug use and sex.

Both women were under DOC supervision at the time.

Baker said Zorzi will remain on leave pending the results of an internal human resources investigation. The commissioner expected that review would be finished within the next 30 days.

Contact: colin@sevendaysvt.com

16

SEVEN DAYS OCTOBER 7-14, 2020

Info Wars « P.12 resigned or not,” Miller said on Monday afternoon.

After the two dined together that night, according to Miller, Popa agreed to stay on as publisher. “We’ve been chatting for a while about refocusing his responsibilities, and we’re in the process of finalizing that,” Miller said on Tuesday.

Popa did not respond to requests for comment.

The Other Paper,, which still maintains a South Burlington advertising office on Williston Road, also uses freelancers and student reporters to help fill the paper. It is mailed at no cost to every residence in the city and is distributed for free on racks at local businesses.

For decades, the Other Paper had a strict editorial mantra. Founder Ruth Poger used to quip that her paper wouldn’t write about Burlington if the Queen City disappeared into Lake Champlain “unless it happened to pull the city of South Burlington into the lake, too,” longtime resident and Vermont Press Association executive director Mike Donoghue recalled.

Since its sale to a regional newspaper group, the Other Paper now reprints some stories from its sister publications in Stowe, Shelburne, Morrisville and Hinesburg, and it has scrapped the detailed meeting recaps that were once a fixture of its coverage in favor of issue-driven reporting.

“We are here to ask questions to hold our elected officials and our government officials accountable,” Forand said. “If someone wants meeting minutes, they are readily available on city websites.”

The changes distressed Kochman, who has served as chair of the library board and recreation and parks committees. She thinks “piecemeal” coverage of municipal business by the Other Paper is allowing public trust in city officials to fray.

Kochman cofounded an alternative newspaper, the Vermont Freeman, in the early 1970s. It fashioned itself as an anti-war counterpart to the Free Press. Despite her anti-establishment media roots, Kochman said it makes sense today for the city to “put out the news” if independent outlets won’t.

“We’ve got a hardworking city staff and a lot of very involved people who give a lot of time and talent to making the city work,” she said. “That should be out there consistently and easily made available to people.”

Kochman complained to Popa this summer about the Other Paper’s lack of municipal coverage, then forwarded their email exchange to city officials, who said they shared her frustration.

At the time, the newspaper and the city were engaged in a dispute over public

records after South Burlington police initially declined to release the names of several residents whom police had discovered dead in their homes. The Other Paper pressed for the disclosures on its editorial page and through its attorney.

During a mediation meeting about the records dispute, city officials decided to raise their more general critique of the paper’s coverage, Dorn said.

“We kind of got the stiff arm,” he said.

“Their perspective was, ‘We’re not going to

WHEN A VOID IS CREATED IN LOCAL NEWS,

WE NEED TO FILL THAT. K E VIN D O R N

have the city tell us what we should cover.’”

Dorn described the meeting as a “precipitating event” for the city’s own newspaper.

City Council chair Helen Riehle, meanwhile, strenuously argued that the new publication is unrelated to the records dispute.

In explaining her support for the project, Riehle described the city-run publication as a kind of alternative news source.

“So as a newspaper, as a journalist, you spin the story — and I don’t mean that in a pejorative way — but you find different perspectives to add to a story,” she said.

“This isn’t meant to be that.” It’s intended to report news from the perspective of city employees and elected officials, she said.

Dorn, who is retiring next year, anticipates that the city manager, communications team and department heads will hold regular meetings to plan coverage decisions.

Future stories could include profiles of city employees and columns in which elected officials offer their thoughts on key issues.

Dorn said he’s looking forward to a video

feature that showcases a snowplow driver in action, “so the public can see what it’s like to sit in these machines when it’s snowing like hell.”

Officials also plan to cover city council and other committee meetings, though it’s not clear what that will look like.

Riehle told Seven Days that, despite the critical words included in the first edition, the city’s publication isn’t intended to hurt the Other Paper.

She isn’t particularly concerned about its survival, though.

“We can’t save everything, I guess, in this COVID world,” she said.

In an interview, Forand questioned why officials used city resources to criticize a local business, especially given the obvious financial crunch caused by COVID-19.

“We have pending litigation, and this comes out of nowhere, it seems,” Forand said. “I think it’s very convenient to say it’s done on behalf of transparency when the city is actively refusing to be transparent.”

Donoghue, who also freelances for the Other Paper, Paper further doubted Dorn’s assertion that the city-run newspaper wouldn’t cost taxpayers money, given that city employees will create it on city time.

“It appears the city has managed to do something that nobody else has done in the history of this country: They claim they’re going to produce a newspaper at no cost,” he said mockingly.

Riehle said the use of staff time is warranted. “It’s part of the job description of every employee,” she said. “They’re supposed to keep everyone informed, and I think this is just adding a connection to the public.”

Whether taxpayers agree with her judgment is unclear. Sirvis, the commentary writer for the new paper, presented her complaint about the Other Paper during the public comment portion of a September 21 city council meeting.

“We can potentially, at another meeting, discuss some of the issues that Barb raised,” Riehle said after Sirvis finished speaking.

The concept of a city-run newspaper was not discussed.

The first issue of the Times appeared eight days later, before the next council meeting.

Riehle explained that councilors offered their “blessing” to Dorn’s concept.

“He came up with a plan and shared it with us through email, and I think people responded back by email,” she said. “It probably was not a public public conversation.”

For whatever reason, that detail didn’t make it into the city’s paper.

Paul Heintz contributed reporting.

Contact: derek@sevendaysvt.com

J

We chose

Mascoma.

Erik Hoekstra REDSTONE, MANAGING PARTNER

888.627.2662 mascomabank.com

ake’s ONE Market in Burlington’s Old North End has Mascoma Bank written all over it.

The project’s developer, Erik Hoekstra of Redstone, knew how badly the North Winooski Avenue neighborhood needed a grocery store; for 17 years, he lived around the corner on Crombie Street. He also knew there was nowhere to bank in the area.

To solve both problems, he turned to Mascoma, which at the time was looking to expand in Chittenden County. Hoekstra knew the project was the perfect fit.

Redstone, which builds and manages real estate properties, owns 500 residential units, 600 beds of student housing, two hotels and about a million square feet of retail, office and warehouse space in greater Burlington. Forty-two-year-old Hoekstra, a Chicago native who came to Vermont by way of New York City, has been with Redstone for almost 15 years — most recently, as managing partner.

Jake’s ONE Market worked with Mascoma Community Development to finance tenant improvements for the grocery store using an innovative loan product. Then, at Hoekstra’s suggestion, the bank decided to set up shop inside the market. At the end of the frozen food aisle, by the checkout registers, is a full-service branch with a live teller and comfortable seating.

Right outside is an ATM. That’s convenient for the people who live across the street in Redstone apartments, also financed by Mascoma, above Sangha Studio yoga. Per city mandate, 15 percent of the units are considered “affordable.” Hoekstra said the bank made the project possible by agreeing to work with the Vermont Community Loan Fund and the EPA. Although Redstone works with almost every financial institution in the area, “I like Mascoma because it’s local. Like other Vermont lenders, you can have a conversation with the real decision makers there. You’re not dealing with somebody who has to go up the ladder,” Hoekstra said. The result is: “They have the ability to be more flexible and creative.”

Burlington’s Hilton Garden Inn is a case in point.

In 2001, Redstone started buying and developing properties within the downtown block once owned by the Howard Bank. It built the Hinds Lofts, collaborated with Champlain Housing Trust on what is now their headquarters and 20 affordable apartments. The hotel was next when “the world fell apart,” in 2008.

Hoekstra tried for years to get financing for the project, but “no one would touch it.”

Finally, in 2011, he got a chance to pitch a group of Mascoma bankers on a tour of the site.

They approved. “Mascoma had the vision and was willing to give it a shot,” he said.

Even now, during the economic fallout from the pandemic, the relationship feels collaborative according to Hoekstra. “Until now I’d never experienced firsthand what older colleagues have told me: It’s really important to have the right bank when the s#*t hits the fan.”

* All credit requests subject to commercial underwriting standards established by Mascoma Bank.

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news

The Tracker

A Midd kid is shedding light on the White House coronavirus outbreak

P

ublic health officials have long stressed that contact tracing is key to suppressing the coronavirus pandemic, which has made all the more concerning the White House’s apparent failure to track the spread of an outbreak that has sickened President Donald Trump and people around him.

While the Trump administration initially claimed it was conducting “full contact tracing,” it has instead been slow to inform hundreds of people that they may have been exposed to the virus at several recent events.

Chris Christie, the former New Jersey governor who tested positive over the weekend after serving as the president’s debate coach, told CNN that the administration had given him no formal directions on how to assist contact-tracing efforts. A New York Times journalist who tested positive after attending an event at the White House said he had not been contacted even days after the president’s diagnosis.

So how are Americans supposed to understand the extent of an outbreak impacting their top levels of government when those very people haven’t made that information public?

To Benjy Renton, the answer is simple: Do it yourself.

Renton, a 21-year-old Middlebury College senior described by colleagues as a “walking news aggregator,” is one of three people behind a new COVID-19 dashboard that sources publicly available data to track who may have been exposed to the virus at six key events attended by the president. The tracker, which has been viewed nearly 500,000 times so far, represents one of the most comprehensive attempts to gauge the extent of the White House outbreak. It is only the latest of Renton’s pandemic-related projects to earn him national recognition.

“He’s just such a powerhouse,” said Amelia Pollard, 21, who works on the Middlebury student newspaper, the Middlebury Campus, with Renton. “He’s totally unparalleled.”

Renton first began tracking the president’s contacts in a PowerPoint spreadsheet last Friday with the help of Dr. Jesse O’Shea, an infectious disease specialist at the Emory University School of Medicine. Peter Walker, the data visualization coleader of the COVID Tracking Project, a volunteer project launched by the Atlantic magazine, stumbled upon the data set and 18

SEVEN DAYS OCTOBER 7-14, 2020

COURTESY OF SABINE POUX

B Y C O LI N FL A N D ER S

HEALTH

Benjy Renton

offered his expertise. The three men have never met and communicate only on Twitter, but they share a desire to bring transparency to the White House outbreak.

“It’s a complicated puzzle with a lot of moving parts,” O’Shea said. Renton added, “People obviously want this information, and we hope that they are able to get it all in one place.”

Renton is in charge of adding information to the dashboard, relying on public news reports and a virtual tip line that has yielded more than 250 submissions over the last few days.

Some are duplicates of high-profile cases; a flood of tips arrived on Monday about White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany’s positive COVID-19 diagnosis. Others include harder-to-find information. One submission linked to Instagram photos of several well-known Republican donors at an October 1 fundraising event that Trump attended in New Jersey. The dashboard names a handful of GOP donors who were at that event. It labels as-yet-unidentified attendees with

monikers such as “New Jersey fundraiser donor 17.”

Renton, Walker and O’Shea make clear that the dashboard is not a scientific contact-tracing effort. They are not contacting people who may have been exposed. Still, the trio says one of its main goals is similar to that of public health officials: saving lives.

“If these people, or whoever is doing a contact investigation, happens to see their name on this list that was at an event, maybe they’ll get tested or self-quarantine,” O’Shea said.

Renton’s involvement stems from his monthslong fascination with the pandemic, which began well before COVID-19 had engulfed American life.

Back in January, he was one of 11 American students enrolled in Middlebury’s language program in Beijing. On January 21, Renton wrote his first blog post referencing the deadly virus.

“We are aware of and are actively monitoring an outbreak of pneumonia originating in Wuhan, Hubei Province,” Renton

wrote, adding that it appeared the illnesses had been caused by “a novel coronavirus.”

Renton, whose family lives in Rye, N.Y., moved to Hong Kong at age 6 and lived there until he was 11. He has visited China nearly 20 times and spent summers there traveling, working and studying. As an East Asia studies major, he had hoped his latest trip would be a six- to eight-month journey spent advancing his Mandarin proficiency and learning more about China’s history.

But on January 28, Middlebury abruptly suspended Renton’s program and urged students to quickly return to the United States. Given his familiarity with the country, Renton helped his peers close out bank accounts and cellphone plans and arrange cars to the airport. He went on grocery trips and cooked meals for the group — efforts that were documented in an NPR story about students a broad scrambling to return home. The Middlebury contingent left in waves over the next three days. The last to depart, Renton caught a flight home on February 1.

A month later, as college officials around the country raced to determine their spring plans, Renton kept track of campus-by-campus decisions in a spreadsheet that was widely shared online in mid-March, when virtually all American colleges pulled the plug.

Renton then started a weekly newsletter — he’s sent 25 — that aggregates national news reports about the coronavirus. He spent the spring collaborating with student journalists on a series of webinars about covering college campuses amid the pandemic.

He also coauthored a scientific paper with researchers at the California Institute of Technology and Johns Hopkins University comparing COVID-19 testing plans across hundreds of American universities, work that has been cited in the Washington Post and the New York Times. And he has continued to monitor case counts at more than 80 campuses through the fall, frequently updating an interactive map.

Since the White House tracker launched last Friday, Renton has been consumed with media appearances.

Speaking to Seven Days on Monday afternoon, he recounted eating his last four meals in his dorm room, where he has set up a wall with a map of Vermont THE TRACKER

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Wake Robin residents are engaged every day, practicing yoga, swimming, and keeping their bodies and minds well nourished. With over 40 resident driven activities, you’re bound to exercise your passions, discover new ones, and make great friends.

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9/28/20 10:03 AM

news The Tracker « P.18 and a stack of books in hopes of scoring points with the Twitter account Room Rater, which assesses users on their video backgrounds. After a virtual interview with nonprofit news organization Democracy Now! on Tuesday morning, Renton tweeted a screenshot of his video appearance and tagged Room Rater asking for its take.

“Good spartan college dorm room look,” the account responded, giving him a score of eight out of 10. “Maps are art.”

Renton has also earned the praise of his colleagues. Asked to describe the young journalist, Walker said, “Impressive is an understatement.”

“He’s got a bright future,” he said. On second thought, he added, “He’s got a bright now.”

O’Shea agreed. “His ability to sift through data, sift through news, his networking with journalists — it’s been so incredibly impressive.”

Even before the White House tracker, Renton was well known on campus for his news prowess, according to Pollard, who, as an editor at large of the Middlebury Campus, cowrites a weekly newsletter

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SEVEN DAYS OCTOBER 7-14, 2020

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with Renton that spotlights the student publication’s content.

“He has taken it upon himself to document every single event in town and in the college community at large, even if it’s not for the student newspaper,” Pollard said of Renton, who is the paper’s digital director.

AS A COLLEGE JOURNALIST, SOMETIMES YOU PUT YOUR SCHOOLWORK ON THE BACK BURNER. FOR HIM,

THIS SEMESTER, IT’S NOT EVEN ON THE STOVETOP. AME L IA P O L L AR D

“This White House tracker is just the most recent development of his insanely hard work.”

That work ethic manifests itself in Renton’s Twitter persona. He constantly shares news stories from national and Vermont media outlets while posting screenshots

of CNN’s livestream, which he watches using his parents’ cable login. Renton fired off several tweets without skipping a beat during a phone interview with Seven Days earlier this summer related to college reopenings. And on Monday, just minutes before a live interview with Vermont Public Radio, he updated a pair of graphs he keeps on Vermont’s coronavirus figures and tweeted several times about a reported spike in COVID-19 cases in Addison County.

“It just is insane,” Pollard said of the amount of news Renton consumes, recalling how he has texted her breaking stories “countless times” before she has even received an alert on her phone from national media organizations.

Case in point: Renton broke the news to her about Trump’s COVID-19 diagnosis, FaceTiming her at 1:30 a.m. last Friday to give her “the rundown of everyone [the president] had come into contact with.”

“He already knew,” Pollard said.

Renton describes his news diet more abashedly. He says he watches CNN “way too often” and concedes that his schoolwork has suffered a bit amid the craziness of the last week. (Pollard put it more bluntly: “As a college journalist,

sometimes you put your schoolwork on the back burner. For him, this semester, it’s not even on the stovetop.”)

Renton said it has helped that Middlebury’s stringent COVID-19-related restrictions have dampened activity on campus.

But he said he’s still working to ensure he has a balance between work and life that is “sustainable.”

Renton wants to find a job in journalism after graduation. He assumes the tracker will eventually fizzle out once — or rather, if — people associated with the outbreak begin quarantining. He and his colleagues may recruit a few more people to enter data if the news continues at such a breakneck pace.

Once the news cycle has moved on, Renton expects his next big project to be a deep dive on why some colleges have had more success in reopening without major outbreaks than others. For now, he plans to keep chugging along on the tracker, hoping that it will make a difference.

“The virus is always ahead of us,” Renton said. “It’s a question of: How fast can you act to slow the spread and take appropriate action before it really gets out of control?”

Contact: colin@sevendaysvt.com

10/5/20 2:21 PM

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10/6/20

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STARTS OCTOBER 19

Wanna be on the “nice” list?

Get vocal about gifting local!

Vermont merchants have faced mandatory store closures and other challenges during the pandemic, but many are open for business now and need your support — especially this holiday season.

Starting October 19* tell us where you’re shopping locally in person or online for the holidays, and you’ll be entered to win a $500 gift card to the Vermont retailer of your choice!

The shops with the most vocal support will be featured in the Seven Days Holiday Gift Guide on November 18.

Attention, Retailers:

We’re using our online shopping directory to help readers recommend their favorite shops. If you’re not yet on the Register, now is the time to get listed!

Go to shoptheregister.com and add your business before October 14.

ThE ReGiStEr Is GeNeRoUsLy SuPpOrTeD By:

*Shopping for gifts will be different this year. Gotta start early!

SEVEN DAYS OCTOBER 7-14, 2020

21

lifelines

OBITUARIES, VOWS, CELEBRATIONS

City of Burlington as a public relations and tour guide at the airport. She gave many airport tours to local schoolchildren.

It was during this period that she was asked to take photographs of airport events.

She soon discovered she had a talent for photography, not

realizing where it would lead later in life.

One day, a visiting pilot offered to take her on a flight to Portland, Maine, and she jumped at the chance.

Unfortunately, the return flight did not go well on that particular day, and it left

Shirley terrified of flying. In 1980, another visiting pilot found out about her fear of flying and offered to help her overcome it. She decided to give it one more try and, in small steps, slowly conquered her fear of flying. She then decided to take flying lessons, and in 1983 she successfully earned her pilot’s license. By then, she had become enamored with the sense of freedom, control and beauty that flying in Vermont’s Champlain Valley brought. Shirley went on to teach an “Overcoming Fear of Flight” course to others, and her success rate attracted the notice of others, bringing more people to her courses.

In 1984, Shirley purchased her own airplane, a 1959 Champion aircraft. It was older but dependable and became the replacement for her horse, Babe. Shirley spent many days and hours flying the Vermont skies.

In 2001, she brought in a partner in her beloved Champ, and it was taken to Rutland, Vt., for a full restoration, which took two and a half years.

In June of 2004, her Champ returned to its new hanger home at Burlington airport, fully restored to “brand-new” condition.

Shirley soon discovered that her Champ’s ability to fly low and slow made it a perfect platform for aerial photography. Shirley combined her natural talent for “seeing the

local trails, exploring back roads in his pickup or just mowing his lawn.

Bo graduated from Frankfurt American High School in Germany and Western Maryland College.

After college, he began and then blew off a doctoral fellowship at Emory when he realized the bureaucratic academic lifestyle was not for him, and he went on to

complete his education with a master’s degree in English as a second language (ESL) at Hunter College in New York City. Bo spent his working years writing, editing and teaching English to immigrants. He made many lasting friendships through his work with the Bosnian community in Vermont.

He had an interest in all of the arts and an eclectic taste in music; he liked blues, country and their hybrids, but he also enjoyed everything from John Coltrane to Tchaikovsky.

He was deeply passionate about the English language and its rich literature, and he had numerous volumes of books both rare and mundane. He was also proud of the fact that he spoke Spanish like a native Puerto Rican, thanks to his many buddies in Hoboken, N.J. Bo always had a powerful drive to give back to his community and dedicated many hours throughout his life

to volunteering for various organizations, including the Trail Around Middlebury and the Weybridge Volunteer Fire Department, where he liked to boast that he underwent grueling training exercises side by side with “strong young folks.”

His life adventures included a tour in Vietnam as a Bronze Star-decorated army war correspondent (followed by several arrests for protesting the war after his return home); a brief stint at a hippie commune in Brooklyn (until he was kicked out for having less than favorable views of chairman Mao); a job running an ESL program in Hoboken that required him to cut his flowing ’60s-era hair; six years teaching English in Saudi Arabia while learning Arabic and making liquor in the bathtub to skirt the country’s alcohol ban; 17 years as a small-time real estate mogul in fast-gentrifying Hoboken, N.J.; and exciting trips with

OBITUARIES Shirley A. Chevalier

FEBRUARY 27,1942SEPTEMBER 22, 2020 COLCHESTER, VT. Shirley was born on February 27, 1942, to Leroy and Josephine Guyette in Berlin, Vt. The Guyette family moved to Amsden, Vt., where they purchased and operated the town general store for many years.

Shirley’s family purchased a horse for her, which she named “Babe.” Shirley joined the local 4H club and became very good at riding in Gymkhanas, with its timed speed events. She spent many hours riding her horse, and she could even stand on Babe’s back at a gallop.

Shirley’s schooling began in the one-room schoolhouse in Amsden, and she attended Springfield High School in Vermont.

Shirley began her professional career working for a rental car company at the Burlington airport and was subsequently hired by the

Bo Knepp

OCTOBER 17, 1943SEPTEMBER 26, 2020 WEYBRIDGE, VT. Lester J. Knepp Jr. of Weybridge, Vt., known to everyone as “Bo,” passed away Saturday, September 26, 2020, after a fall on his property. He was 76 years old. Bo was a gregarious and friendly soul and a larger-than-life character who enjoyed good music; good books; and the company of neighbors, friends and family.

He was the son of Colonel Lester J. Knepp and Nicky Knepp, both deceased, and was brought up as an army brat, traveling the country and the world with his brothers Greg and Joel Knepp.

Although he had lived in Germany, Saudi Arabia and all over the United States, Bo felt right at home as what he called a “Vermont bubba,” swimming in Otter Creek every warm day, walking the

22

SEVEN DAYS OCTOBER 7-14, 2020

picture” with her airplane and the new high-resolution digital cameras — and presto, FliRite Aviation was born.

During this time, Shirley and FliRite Aviation became well known and the subject of newspaper and magazine articles, as well as video segments on local television. Many of these can still be viewed on her website of flirite.net. Shirley had a chapter written about her in a book entitled Women of the Green Mountain State, about notable Vermont women.

Shirley’s second love was her Honda Gold Wing motorcycle, which she spent many hours riding throughout Vermont and New England with her many friends.

Shirley received a diagnosis of lung cancer in the late summer of 2018. Following robotic lung surgery at Dartmouth-Hitchcock in Lebanon, N.H., on November 5, 2018, the diagnosis was changed to stage IV lung cancer. Her response was typical Shirley. She was not going to spend her remaining time in fruitless pursuit of some miraculous cure but instead would live every remaining day to the fullest, which she did. Shirley died September 22, 2020, at the McClure Miller Respite House in Colchester.

Shirley leaves behind her close friend and aviation business partner, Hobart “Hobie” Tomlinson of Huntington,

Vt.; her sister, Janice Cook, of Bedford, N.H.; her daughters, Tamara Heath and husband Randy of Milton, Vt., and Shari Mullen, of Burlington, Vt.; and stepsons, Brian Chevalier and wife Leslie of Denver, Colo., John Chevalier and wife Anne of St. Albans, Vt., and Daniel Chevalier of South Burlington, Vt.; as well as nine grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren.

Shirley’s family wants to thank her many friends who provided moral support, food and conversations; Shirley’s caregivers, Sandra, Melinda and Jeanne, from hospice; and Little Lou. We also want to thank the entire staff at the McClure Miller Respite House for their compassionate care; Shirley’s daughters, Shari and Tammi, who spent many hours with Shirley in her final days; her friend of 45 years, Sandy (Sam) Rotella; and Anne Lavigne, one of Shirley’s many flying buddies.

A memorial service for Shirley will be held in the Heritage West Side Maintenance Hangar located at 1130 Airport Dr., South Burlington, VT, at 1 p.m. on Saturday, October 17. All attendees are requested to wear a face covering and maintain social distance.

In lieu of flowers, Shirley requested that donations be made in her name to Chapter 613, Experimental Aircraft Association, 658 Airport Rd., Swanton, VT 05488.

his young family to India, Egypt and beyond.

Bo is survived by daughter Veronica Knepp, daughter Tanya Knepp and son-in-law Dylan Mader, and grandsons Santiago, Joaquin, Octavio and Viggo, all of Hoboken, N.J.; and brother Greg Knepp and his partner, Kathleen Baylis, niece Roxanne Knepp, brother Joel Knepp and his wife, Lynda McClanahan, all of Columbus, Ohio. He grieved the premature loss of his beloved son Danny at the age of 22 in 2004. He will be terribly missed by all who knew and loved him.

If you would like to make a donation in Bo’s memory, please consider the Middlebury Area Land Trust (maltvt.org/donate-1) and the Weybridge Volunteer Fire Department (paypal.me/ weybridgefire).

Condolences, photos and memories can be shared through sandersonfuneralservice.com.

BIRTH ANNOUNCEMENT On September 27, 2020, at Porter Medical Center, Autumn (Aines) Simpson and Tyler Simpson welcomed a girl, Aleena Rae Simpson.

Mark your family’s milestones in lifelines. sevendaysvt.com/ lifelines

READ, POST, SHARE + COMMENT: SEVENDAYSVT.COM/LIFELINES

Margaret Taliaferro NOVEMBER 26, 1926OCTOBER 1, 2020 COCKEYSVILLE, MD.

On October 1, 2020, at the age of 93, at the peak of fall foliage and in the fullness of the harvest moon, Margaret C. “Peggy” Taliaferro died peacefully in Burlington, Vt. Viewing the end of her life as her “last great adventure,” Peggy welcomed her children to bring her to Vermont from her home of 15 years at Broadmead, a residential care community in Cockeysville, Md. Peggy had a rich life, full of close friends, travel, environmental and social causes, nonprofit boards, churches, and her gardens, but nothing meant more to her than her family. She is survived by her four children and their partners/ spouses: Meg Tipper (John) of Burlington, Vt.; Kendal Tipper (Janet) of Bonita Springs, Fla.; Bill Tipper (Liz) of Costa Rica; and Charlie Tipper (Mima) of Waitsfield and South Hero, Vt.; as well as six grandchildren: Stephen Feiss (Jacqueline), Ben Tipper, Jack Tipper, Mike Tipper, William Tipper and Marley Tipper, with one,

Maggie Feiss, predeceased; and two great-grandchildren: Olivia and Zoë Feiss.

Peggy was married twice — in her words, “blessed with two wonderful husbands” — first to Albert Tipper, who died in 1974 and was the father of her children, then to Austin Taliaferro, who died in 1988, father

of her four dear stepdaughters.

Peggy never remarried, but she had a beloved companion in Don Smyth, who died in 2019.

Peggy enjoyed lifelong friendships, from childhood friends and extended family members to her schoolmates from Bryn Mawr School in Baltimore (class of 1945).

Though she lived a long life and survived many people whom she was close to, she continued to develop new and important relationships, from her church community to the members of her “cluster” and the wider circle of staff and residents at Broadmead. She loved to arrange flowers for people in Broadmead’s hospital care and to brighten the common living areas, and she always had time for a smile and a kind word to anyone she passed along her way.

Peggy delighted in decades of travel and adventures, including trips with her family to the Galapagos Islands, French Alps, Alaska and Costa Rica. She was a passionate birder and loved marking off “first sightings” in her bird books.

She cherished her summer family reunions at “Paupac” in Greentown, Pa. Fiercely competitive, she loved

games, especially tennis, bridge and a family favorite called fantan.

Peggy wanted to leave the world a better place. After graduating from Sweet Briar College in 1949 with a degree in sociology, she spent a postgraduate year studying the Swedish social welfare system at the University of Stockholm. She returned to Baltimore to work for the Children’s Aid Society of Baltimore County and serve as a director of the Woodbourne Residential Treatment Center. Over the years, she served on many boards and was an active volunteer, supporting mission-driven organizations generously with her time, talent and treasure.

Peggy’s commitment to being a good citizen lasted a lifetime. In her later years, when her alarm went off in the morning, it was tuned to NPR news; she was always eager to engage in lively discussion of current events. A lover of nature and the outdoors all her life, Peggy’s greatest activism was as an advocate for the environment.

All Peggy’s life, she demonstrated to her family and friends how to see and appreciate the beauty and wonder of the natural world. This was something her children loved

to tease her about when they were young but then came to treasure.

And now they watch themselves passing this very trait along to their own children and grandchildren.

When asked at a family-reunion roundtable what she considered most important in one’s approach to life, she replied, “Having an open mind.” Peggy spent her life affirming the worth and dignity of all people through her work and through her genuine interest in and kindness toward everyone.

Another cause Peggy strongly supported was death with dignity. She and other residents at Broadmead organized speakers, information sessions, and support groups for Compassion & Choices.

Peggy’s children feel immense pride and stand in awe of their mother’s steadfast commitment to this principle, and they express their sincere gratitude to Dr. Zail Berry and the University of Vermont Health Network Hospice. Gifts in Peggy’s memory may be made to Compassion & Choices at compassionandchoices.org.

Due to COVID-19, there will be no plans for a memorial service until a later date.

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Or contact us at lifelines@sevendaysvt.com or 865-1020 ext. 10.

SEVEN DAYS OCTOBER 7-14, 2020

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8/20/19 4:06 PM

WEEK IN REVIEW

FEEDback READER REACTION TO RECENT ARTICLES

« P.7

‘IN WHAT HANDS’?

[Re Off Message: “Protesters Round Up Copies of Seven Days for Evening Demonstration,” September 25]: My solidarity with Seven Days! I am very worried about in what hands America will be. Taking down statues, vandalizing murals, stopping police arrests, burning newspapers when the information is not favorable with its narrow agenda…

In what hands will America be? Think about that at the moment you stamp your vote. All extremism is bad!

JuanCarlos Vallejo

BURLINGTON

JOURNALISM 101

As an old former Vermont newspaper reporter, I’d like to briefly comment on the reaction to Chelsea Edgar’s lead story on the Burlington demonstrations [“Feedback: “Hear Our Voices”; From the Publisher: “Words’ Worth,” September 30]. First, many movements, such as Black Lives Matter, tend to misunderstand the role of journalism in the United States.

Most U.S. reporters subscribe to a code of ethics requiring that they report the facts “without fear or favor” toward any group or person. When an organization attempts to manage the news by insisting a reporter be an advocate or do public relations or propaganda, some pushback, if not outright hostility, can be expected.

During much of the 20th century, reporters scrupulously avoided “I” narratives in news columns in the name of objectivity.

That changed with the popularity of “new

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Something about Chelsea Edgar’s article on the Battery Park protests rankles me [“Battery Power,” September 23]. It’s hard to put a finger on it because I am still learning about the characteristics of white supremacy that all we white folks unconsciously swim in.

I don’t support attempts at censorship, but I feel we are in a delicate time of negotiation and recognition between BIPOC and white communities. For Edgar to make her article about the fissures or questions among the leaders of the protest in order to make her story more “interesting” strikes me as unnecessarily insensitive and undermining.

Undoubtedly, there can be misunderstandings and mistakes among the leaders.

Leadership is a messy business at best.

Imagine trying to shepherd a varied and changing group of individual personalities of different ages and agendas and daily make decisions and strategies, staying flexible and responsive in a very charged situation.

As I attempt to educate myself on the experience of BIPOC in the dominant white culture, I understand better the pain of being continuously misinterpreted, BIPOC’s credibility questioned or dismissed. I believe that is what Edgar has perpetuated in her article. It might be helpful for her to read Me and White Supremacy by Layla F. Saad and dig deeper into the question of: “Why are BIPOC leaders so wary of the media?”

How Black Lives Matter protesters occupied a park, captivated a city — and got some of what they wanted

BY CHELSEA EDGAR, PAGE 26

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Can Vermont producers keep up?

journalism” writers such as Tom Wolfe, Norman Mailer, Joan Didion and others.

These writers also made snarkiness — like Edgar’s “white girls” observation — a feature, to the secret delight of readers. So the “I,” the snarkiness and the refusal to be used may be unattractive to some, but in Edgar’s story it is, at any rate, traditional in today’s journalism.

On another note, the Black Lives Matter leaders should remember that the elimination of segregation and other legal obstacles to Black equality was accomplished by people who used their intelligence, selfdiscipline and immense personal courage.

Vandalism, gutter language and totalitarian tactics like burning disapproved literature were never part of the successful work of Martin Luther King Jr., Rosa Parks, Thurgood Marshall and many other civil rights activists.

Andy Leader

MIDDLESEX

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SEVEN DAYS OCTOBER 7-14, 2020

‘THAT’S RACISM’

A fan of Chelsea Edgar, I eagerly read “Battery Power,” subtitled “How Black Lives Matter protesters occupied a park, captivated a city — and got some of what they wanted” [September 23]. Its lofty subtitle had me seeking the type of solid journalism I’ve come to expect from Edgar. However, what unfolded came across as petty. In that pettiness, Edgar confusingly dismissed the larger issue of racism in Burlington and what it takes to move our proudly progressive city to repair the injustices that our BIPOC community has experienced.

Edgar could have covered any angle about the calls for racial justice, from a human-interest story about the victims of the Burlington Police Department’s violence to how it was civil disobedience, not the polite dialogue of years past, that moved Burlington leaders into action.

Instead, Edgar and Seven Days delivered a confused swirl of mockery with the seeming intent of stripping the authentic voices and power of BTV’s BIPOC community. In case you’re wondering, that’s racism.

Further, Paula Routly’s assertion that protesters represent the “authoritarian behavior they are protesting” is an attempt to deflect attention from the larger issue, which is Seven Days’ role in distributing what is essentially propaganda for Vermont’s dominant, white culture [Off Message: “Protesters Round Up Copies of Seven Days for Evening Demonstration,” September 25]. Seven Days may hold up the First Amendment as a shield, but when the nearly all-white staff and editorial leadership poke fun at BTV’s BIPOC community, they have abused the responsibility that comes with the First Amendment. What are you to do about it?

Robyn Freedner-Maguire

BURLINGTON

‘FINE REPORTING’

Many thanks to Chelsea Edgar and Courtney Lamdin for the fine reporting of the Battery Park encampment and protesters [“Battery Power,” September 23; Off Message: “Protesters Round Up Copies of Seven Days for Evening Demonstration,” September 25]. What a heap of vitriol hurled at you! Every other letter to the editor threw the misogyny card. Really?

Two young women writing about other women, and you get tagged with hatred of women? I don’t buy it. You reported the facts. The sour letter writers didn’t like your tone, your approach, your attitude, the color in your words, but I suspect they were mostly rattled by the truth of your writing: The organizers and protesters failed the righteous cause.

They failed to identify themselves at the city council meeting. Refused to talk policy and substance with the media.

Chased the public from Battery Park. Took over the streets at their own whim. And then danced like autocrats on the flaming issues of Seven Days in their $200 Blundstones! To quote singer Jenni Johnson in Chelsea’s article: “Go to city council, with a document, with a proposal, and take it to Montpelier. Go to where the power is.” For the sake of the movement to honor Black lives, time to pack up your tents.

Chelsea and Courtney, keep up the good writing.

Bill Drislane

JERICHO

APOLOGIZE FOR STORY

“Battery Power” [September 23] does not accomplish what the author told the protesters she was trying to accomplish.

She frames BIPOC females in a horrible light and frames a male as a hero in a strange way. It does not tell a story of the protesters or really a story of Anthony Marques. It is obvious the journalist did not take the time to watch and learn and observe and listen to the protesters. I am disappointed and disgusted with how this article was written. The opening paragraph is disgusting and rude to all women.

I don’t understand what a TikTok demographic is, but it is insulting to compare women to a social media platform as their demographic. This should be taken down, and an apology letter should be published.

Julianna O’Flaherty

BURLINGTON

FREE PRESS

As someone who has done my share of marching and protesting, I was disappointed to see the negative reaction to “Battery Power” [September 23] from the Battery Park organizers, particularly when it took the form of hoarding issues of the paper, defacing the paper and burning it in the street. The article wasn’t particularly flattering of the movement, but journalism does not exist to flatter. Seven Days is one of the last holdouts of the free press, and suppression of the free press is never the appropriate response to what has been published. If journalism is expected to do nothing but parrot ideologies, our democracy has truly failed, no matter how right or just those ideologies may be.

Sena Meilleur

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arts news

Footnotes Douglas Hyde, Antrim House, 114 pages. $17.

You supply the footnotes.

Short Takes on Five Vermont Books B Y BEN A LESHI R E, DAN BOLL ES, MA RGO T HA R R I SON, PAMEL A P O L STO N & K R I STEN RAVIN

S

even Days writers can’t possibly read, much less review, all the books that arrive in a steady stream by post, email and, in one memorable case, a committee of raccoons. So this monthly feature is our way of introducing you to a handful of books by Vermont authors. To do that, we contextualize each book just a little and quote a single representative sentence from, yes, page 32.

Inclusion here implies neither approval nor derision on our part, but simply: Here are a bunch of books, arranged alphabetically by authors’ names, that Seven Days readers might like to know about.

I Don’t Get … Music Technology!: A Self-Help Desperation Guide Dennis Bathory-Kitsz, Westleaf Edition, 172 pages. $21.95.

Tape may have left us, but its advances live on.

Anyone who’s ever been confounded by byzantine instructions for setting up a new TV or stereo knows how advances in technology can create as many frustrations as they solve. That’s especially true in the world of music, where gadgets and gear evolve with the speed of a fast-forward button. To help musicians, engineers and producers keep up, DENNIS BATHORYKITSZ recently released the second book in his series of immersive music-related instruction manuals: I Don’t Get … Music Technology!: A Self-Help Desperation Guide.

Bathory-Kitsz is a composer, writer and advocate of contemporary “non-pop” music — a sort of experimental wing of the contemporary classical sphere.

After teaching an Introduction to Music Technology course at Northern Vermont University-Johnson, he realized that no book adequately covered the entirety of music production, from creation to presentation, in a comprehensive and accessible way. I Don’t Get … Music Technology! attempts to fill that gap.

In straightforward, conversational language, Bathory-Kitsz covers everything from the history and evolution of recording tech to the latest developments in studio wizardry. Intended for a general audience, the book offers plenty of techie detail to intrigue seasoned engineers while also demystifying the process for homerecording newbs.

D.B.

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SEVEN DAYS OCTOBER 7-14, 2020

DOUGLAS HYDE ’s poetry collection Footnotes is a curious debut, filled with memories of family and meditations on mortality. The title refers to a long poem in dialogue about two people disputing the veracity of their holiday letterwriting tradition. The strongest moments are those that confront the fear of death: In the striking “The Pledge,” for example, a woman in a wheelchair keeps up her end of a death pact by smothering her husband with a plastic bag.

Other moments feel awkward.

The final poem recounts an anecdote in which a grandfather accidentally appears nude during a video call with his family. Earlier, there’s a retelling of an adolescent’s first encounter with a naked woman — a stripper at a rural carnival outside Montpelier — that might have been fascinating if not for the prudish way the story is framed. (The “seedy revelations” of the woman’s “swiveling breasts” are in danger of corrupting the speaker’s “dreams of romance.”)

The collection offers lovely lines here and there: “The house shoulders its silence,” for example. But surrounding them are descriptions and observations that often feel trivial: hiking with dogs and grandkids, yard chores, vacations, and skiing.

B.A.

Through the Window Across the Road Arranged by Amy Königbauer & Beck Norman, self-published, 100 pages. $39.99.

During your hunt for the gods, you may have come upon the realization that the hunt is futile.

It has become a standard not-joke that this year feels impossibly attenuated; life before March seems so very long ago, like a lost childhood. Indeed, the onslaught of 2020 has exhausted our collective amygdalae. And so this selection of photographs, writing and drawings by 23 contributors — created and compiled over five months this year, March through July — feels oddly nostalgic. It also offers something like comfort, measured in relatable responses to the quarantine imposed by COVID-19.

Photographers AMY KÖNIGBAUER and BECK NORMAN, who assembled the collection, contribute black-and-white images of individuals and families seen through windows or posed on porches and front yards, some with chickens, dogs or cats.

With no explication necessary, the photos convey the remove of “social distance.”

The poems, essays and snatches of memoir included here speak to fear, loneliness and isolation but also to resilience, love and gratitude. Some entries, such as KRISTINA MARTZKE ’s “Beloved Seeker,” quoted above, suggest existential searching. The blunt exasperation in B. FOX’s hand-drawn text says it for all of us: “SUPERCALIFRAGILISTICEXPIALIDOHFUCKALLTHISALREADY.” P.P.

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Sicilian Dreams Vincent Panella, Bordighera Press, 228 pages. $18.

He closed his eyes and tried to shut out the talk of strikes and revenge and whether they could reach New Orleans.

Social inequities serve as a catalyst in Marlboro author VINCENT PANELLA’s historical novel Sicilian Dreams, to be published on November 10.

Set in 1907, the story centers on Santo Regina, a working-class widower in Sicily whose worldview changes after an encounter with real-life mafia boss Vito Cascio Ferro. In the U.S., Regina reconnects with Cascio Ferro — and tangles with another historical figure, New York City organized crime detective Joseph Petrosino.

Panella uses straightforward language sprinkled with Italian terms to spin this fast-moving narrative that acknowledges issues of racial, economic and gender inequality.

Supposedly free Black men exist in slave-like conditions, Sicilian workers are cheated out of wages, and women such as Regina’s daughter, Mariana, have limited sovereignty over their lives and bodies.

Readers may find themselves transported to another time and place by this story that, in some ways, channels today’s pressing issues.

K. R.

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Renato Wakim, Onion River Press, 428 pages. $19.99.

Part of my pursuit during this period was to not only understand why we do the things we do — and the way we do — but also, what makes the birthplaces where we are brought up to be the way they are.

In July 2018, RENATO WAKIM’s family home in Essex Junction was destroyed by fire. Wakim uses that upheaval to frame his memoir, which chronicles a life of “migration journeys” that eventually brought him to Vermont. “I never felt like an immigrant myself,” he writes, “but, rather, one that had the opportunity to choose his own destiny.”

Born in Brazil to parents of Lebanese descent, Wakim was drawn during his college years to Berkeley, Calif., where he played his acoustic guitar and washed dishes at the now-defunct Good Earth restaurant. Later, he toured Europe and lived on a kibbutz. After he settled down, the wanderlust remained. So did the “quest for meaning”: Wakim peppers his account with quotes from thinkers who influenced him, ranging from psychiatrist Bernard Lievegoed to Albert Einstein to Jethro Tull.

Along with travel, music is a thread through the memoir. “I can’t think of a better way to bring people together,” Wakim writes — reminding us, as he describes Brazil’s tradition of protest songs, that music can be resistance, too.

M . H.

Contact: dan@sevendaysvt.com, kravin@sevendaysvt.com, margot@sevendaysvt.com, pamela@sevendaysvt.com

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arts news

Perfect Visions

Artists respond to technology in Art at the Kent’s outdoor show “20/20 Hindsight” AMY LILLY

B Y AMY LI LLY

ART

I

t was a measure of how starved for art Vermonters are that, on a recent Tuesday morning, a steady stream of people showed up to tour ART AT THE KENT in Calais. The beloved annual exhibition, begun 12 years ago by curators NEL EMLEN, ALLYSON EVANS and DAVID SCHUTZ (also the state curator) is entirely outdoors this year. Called “20/20 Hindsight,” the show consists of artists’ responses to pre-industrial trades and the hand tools used in them that were recovered from its charming backdrop: Kents Corner State Historic Site, a cluster of brick and clapboard mid-19th-century buildings that once served as an inn, general store, shoe factory and blacksmith shop.

Before the pandemic, the curators planned to hold a much larger version of “20/20 Hindsight” inside the buildings, whose unique spaces act like a fourth curator, they like to say. That show has been postponed until fall 2021.

Meanwhile, the curators asked the artists to rethink their art for the outdoors. One, Stowe-based sculptor CHRIS CURTIS, didn’t have to; his quartzite 28

SEVEN DAYS OCTOBER 7-14, 2020

“Cairn” by Thea Alvin seen through Chris Jeffrey’s “In a New Light” AMY LILLY

monolith, “Windows,” is Emlen and Evans created prominently sited as “Old West” in homage planned. to the meetinghouse, Another 10 artists using three blocks of created new work; wood they rescued three existing from the steeple’s outdoor sculp “burn pile,” they tures sited for said during a tour earlier Art at the with Seven Days.

Kent shows were The unadulterintegrated into the ated stack of flow, and the curahistory lies between tors rounded out the Curtis’ “Windows,” Nel Emlen (left) and Allyson Evans exhibition with four which will survive with “Laundry: Homage to Christo” sculptural homages of eternity, and the bravely their own. unweatherized “Fractured” Visitors, be warned: This part

by TREVOR CORP — a pair of acrylic of Vermont is devastatingly beautiful on paintings on canvases that fill the frames a fall day, and the Kent’s bathrooms are of a window and door. closed. A day trip should include lunch Corp, based in Wolcott and on staff from the Maple Corner Community Store at VERMONT STUDIO CENTER in Johnson, was & Whammy Bar, a swing by the 1803 named one of 10 “2020 Vermont Artists Robinson sawmill — the oldest operable to Watch,” a project of RIC KASINI KADOUR sawmill in Vermont — and a visit to the in partnership with the VERMONT ARTS Old West Church, an 1823 meetinghouse COUNCIL. According his artist statement, whose steeple is newly restored. All three Corp is “drawn to objects that show their age and their interaction with … sites lie within a half mile of the Kent.

COURTESY OF ALLYSON EVANS

“Hammered, Welded, and Sprung" by Flywheel Industrial Arts

the elements.” The latter effect should soon become apparent in “Fractured,” as it is slated, along with most of the exhibition, to remain up through the summer of 2021. (A few pieces will come down on November 1.)

Corp’s work, with its repeating star shapes that are never whole, evokes the current culture’s fractured sense of focus, a reference by opposition to the technology theme of “20/20 Hindsight.” “Less and less of what we surround ourselves with has the handmade touch,” Corp wrote.

The exhibition is part of “2020 Vision,” the statewide, yearlong, technologythemed exhibition project of the VERMONT CURATORS GROUP. Recently relaunched with a new, pandemic-oriented subtitle — “Reflecting on a World-Changing Year” — the expanded project now encompasses exhibitions at 47 participating institutions in the state.

The curators’ group hopes to encourage visits to those sites through its passport program. Visitors to the Kent and other sites listed on the group’s website can post a photo to a public social media account and tag it

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with “@vermontcurators” to be entered in a prize drawing scheduled for July 2021.

Several artists responded strikingly to the Kent’s technology-and-hindsight theme. Working from a historical photo of a 19th-century trade sign depicting a giant spring-clip clothespin, which was mounted on the roof of the National Clothespin Factory in Montpelier, the trio who make up that city’s FLYWHEEL INDUSTRIAL ARTS (CHRIS EATON, BEN CHENEY and JESSE COOPER) created “Hammered, Welded, and Sprung.”

The work consists of three eight-foot-tall clothespins, complete with spring clips, beautifully fashioned from wood and metal. The objects were fully operable, Emlen and Evans reported, before the craftsmen affixed them in a Claes Oldenburg-like arrangement to a rail base.

Nearby stands an echo of “Hammered” in words. Usually, Art at the Kent holds a poetry series, WORDS OUT LOUD, at the Old West Church. Taking its place this year are two odes, “Clothespin” and “Outdoor Shower,” by Putney poet MEGAN BUCHANAN. Rendered as an artwork by Montpelier letterpress designer KELLY MCMAHON, the handmade paper sheet hangs from two clothespins inside a roofed display case fashioned by JOHN PARKER, a custom builder in Chelsea. (Parker also created “Revolutions,” a pair of abstract assemblages of 19th-century tradesmen’s tools and signifiers, elsewhere on the grounds.)

EVE JACOBS-CARNAHAN responded to the technology theme by knitting a yellow cozy for the lamp that stands on a post outside the Kent’s north door. The Montpelier artist’s work, “Energy,” references three sources of power: the sun, through its color; gas, in the knitted shapes of flames; and wind, specifically the world’s first megawatt-size wind turbine, which was erected on Grandpa Knob in Castleton in 1941.

The color of “Energy” is echoed across the road in the curators’ “Laundry: Homage to Christo,” one of their two homages to artists who died in 2020. The other, “In the Woods: Homage to Wolf Kahn,” is an assemblage of vertical sticks with horizontal branches painted lavender and vermilion; it lines the woods on the opposite side of the Kent.

In “Laundry,” the curators evoke Christo’s “The Gates” and other large-scale installations in the minimal language of bolts of fabric, which they cut to between six and 15 feet and strung on a line. Fabric artist KAREN HENDERSON dyed them yellow — the original color of the barn they extend

from — in a washing machine. On a clear day, the cheerful installation can be seen blowing in the background of almost every other work in the exhibition.

Self-taught sculptor CINDY BLAKESLEE of Bradford uses the humor of scale and unexpected texture in her two technologythemed works: “#176,” a rusty faucet spouting lengths of piano wire; and “#146,” a four-foot paintbrush whose bristles she made from old maps shredded in a pasta machine.

The curators hung “#146” in a window and displayed a ladder and paint can in the adjacent one. In a normal year, Emlen said, “Our piece is hanging the show and trying to marry the space and the work.” Figuring out how to accomplish that outdoors made up for the interrupted mission.

CHRIS JEFFREY, a Montpelier stained-glass artist, created three framed rectangular pieces that line the foundation walls below Blakeslee’s window installation. Called “In a New Light,” the trio appears to be formed from tinted circular mirrors of varied diameters. They’re actually lenses manufactured in Vermont for medical imaging and space exploration, which have been used on the Mars rover. The lenses change color with light and viewing angle while reflecting ambient color, creating a miasma of hues to which it puzzles the mind to assign depth.

“I created this installation to enliven these historic buildings with space-age technology, allowing the structures to be seen literally in a new light,” Jeffrey wrote in an artist statement.

The colorful works equally reflect and alter images of surrounding fall foliage and nearby sculptures, including THEA ALVIN’s stone “Cairn” from 2012 and LESLIE FRY’s “Dust to Dust,” an arced arrangement of plaster-cast objects piled on one another in the grass. Fry installed the work in 2018 and has allowed the curators to rename and rearrange it each year. This year, they were pleased to discover the shapes of numerous old tools among the casts, including a saw, hammer, screwdriver, vise and light switch plate.

Anyone can experience such delight in looking and finding at “20/20 Hindsight” — a rare non-digital opportunity these days.

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Contact: lilly@sevendaysvt.com

INFO “20/20 Hindsight” at the Kent Museum in Calais; most pieces will remain on view outdoors until summer 2021. kentscorner.org

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employer or the government into your checking account. Refer to the Schedule of Deposit Account Charges for minimum balance requirements to avoid the monthly service charge. The Reward will be credited to your checking account 6-8 weeks after the account has been open for 60 days if your account is open and has a positive balance at the time of reward payout. The account must remain as the original account type opened to receive the reward payment. If the checking account is closed within 6 months of opening, we may deduct the bonus amount at the time of account closing. One reward per household. Reward is considered interest and will be reported on IRS Form 1099-INT. 2To qualify for the $100 savings reward, you must 1) Open a savings or money market account linked to a new Advantage, Advantage Plus or Premier Advantage checking account within 5 business days of opening the checking account with a $25 minimum opening deposit between 9/19/2020 and 11/30/2020; 2) Mention promo code SEPT20NE; AND 3) Maintain a Minimum Daily Balance in the account of at least $10,000 for 60 continuous days following account opening. The account must be opened with funds not currently held at People’s United Bank or its subsidiaries. Transfers from existing People’s United Bank accounts do not qualify. This offer is not available to existing People’s United Bank personal savings or money market account customers, which means any account owner cannot currently have or have had a People’s United personal savings or money market account within the last 365 days. Fiduciary accounts are not eligible. This offer may not be combined with other offers. Offer expires 11/30/20; however, People’s United Bank may change or discontinue this offer at any time before this date without notice. This offer is not valid for multiple accounts and is only available for one savings or money market account per checking account and per household. Interest rates are variable and subject to change. We reserve the right to convert the account to a Statement Savings account without prior notice if the linked checking account is closed. Reward will be credited to your savings or money market account 6-8 weeks after the account has been open for 60 days if your account is open and has a positive balance at the time of reward payout. The account must remain as the original account type opened to receive the reward payment. If the savings account is closed within 6 months of opening, we may deduct the bonus amount at the time of account closing. One reward per household. Reward is considered interest and will be reported on IRS Form 1099-INT. 3Available as long as you have an open personal checking account. Enrollment is required.

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SEVEN DAYS OCTOBER 7-14, 2020

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Has Phil Scott made Vermont more

AFFORDABLE? B Y PAUL HEINT Z

D

ays before he was sworn in as Vermont’s 82nd governor, Phil Scott considered for a moment the pledge that had defined his rise to power. For years, the Berlin Republican had been promising to make Vermont more affordable — but what exactly did he mean when he invoked the state’s “crisis of affordability,” and how did he intend to solve it?

“It’s clearly difficult to define the term in a sentence or two, because it does mean different things to different people,” Scott said in a January 2017 interview in his Montpelier transition offices, just down the street from the Statehouse.

Indeed, as omnipresent as “affordability” had become in Vermont’s political discourse, there was — and remains — no clear consensus around how precisely to measure it. How then, Seven Days asked at the time, should Scott be judged on whether he had delivered on his central campaign pledge?

“I think voters will decide that,” the governor-elect said.

In the coming weeks, Vermonters will have the opportunity to do just that.

As Scott seeks a third two-year term, he faces a Progressive/Democratic rival, Lt. Gov. David Zuckerman, who holds starkly 30

SEVEN DAYS OCTOBER 7-14, 2020

different economic views and who argues that the governor has failed to make the state more affordable for working-class Vermonters.

“I think it’s important for folks to think about: Are they better off today than they were four years ago?” Zuckerman said at a

I think it’s important for folks to think about: Are they better off today than they were four years ago?

LT. GOV. DAVID ZUC K E R MAN

debate last week. “Is Vermont more affordable? Are your wages higher, or could they have been yet higher?”

Complicating these questions is the deadly pandemic that, over the past six months, has upended the state’s economy

and undermined the financial security of its residents. Though Scott has earned high marks for his handling of the public health crisis, he readily admits that — due to circumstances outside of his control — many Vermonters are doing worse now than they were four years ago.

“When I became governor, my hope was that when I left office I would leave Vermont in a better shape than when I found it,” Scott said at a debate last month.

“Then along came COVID-19 and a oncein-a-century health and economic crisis with it, which eroded many of the gains we’d made over the last three years.”

At times during this muted gubernatorial campaign, it has sounded quaint or even discordant to hear the candidates relitigate pre-pandemic disputes. In an era of breadlines and bankruptcies, who cares about Scott’s 2017 budget vetoes?

But the person voters choose to lead the state for the next two years is likely to face nearly unprecedented economic challenges, and the policies they proffer could have an enduring influence on the state’s affordability — however it’s defined.

How better to anticipate the course they will chart than to examine the approach that has steered them thus far?

As he’s campaigned for reelection, Scott has spoken less in recent months about affordability and more about consistency. In turbulent times, he has argued, Vermonters need a “steady hand on the wheel.” But in an interview late last month, the governor said he was no less focused on addressing the state’s “crisis of affordability” and still intends to leave Vermonters more financially secure than they were when he took office.

“People know and have come to trust that I’m making good on what I said I would do,” he said. “And I will continue to fight for them and for the economy of the state.”

IS IT A THING?

Tom Kavet, the legislature’s chief economist, doesn’t think much of the term “affordability.”

“I think it’s a good sound bite in the political sphere,” he said. But, he added, “There’s no prescriptive definition of affordability in economics.”

While most politicians seem to agree that it represents the relative amount of one’s income and expenses, they often diverge over which side of the ledger deserves their attention.

Gov. Phil Scott in 2017

FILE: JEB WALLACE-BRODUER

Vermont Has Lower-Than-Average WAGES and Higher-Than-Average COST OF LIVING How the average wage and cost of living in six New England states compared to the U.S. in 2018 Massachusetts

Connecticut

New Hampshire

Rhode Island

Vermont

Maine

← LOWER THAN U.S. AVERAGE

HIGHER THAN U.S. AVERAGE →

26.8%

20

10

18.3%

9.7% 6%

6.1%

3% 0%

0 −0.7%

−0.8% −6.2% −10

−16.8%

−20

−20.8% CHART: ANDREA SUOZZO / DATA: U.S. BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS, U.S. BUREAU OF ECONOMIC ANALYSIS

“I think we all want Vermonters to keep more of what they earn,” Scott said. “We just have a different method of doing it.” In his view, the key is to restrain the growth of government and the taxes that fund it.

In Zuckerman’s, it’s to raise wages and provide new economic safety nets.

Even four years into his governorship, Scott continues to paint the state as hostile to taxpayers and businesses, comparing it unfavorably to neighboring New Hampshire. “Statistics will show that we’re one of the highest-taxed states in the nation,” he said.

That’s true if you simply divide total tax collections by the number of residents.

But that approach obscures the nuances of state tax policy — and the actual amount typical taxpayers fork over.

According to the nonpartisan Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, Vermont has one of the most progressive, or equitable, tax systems in the country. In 2018, the institute found, the poorest 20 percent of Vermonters spent 8.7 percent of their income on state and local taxes; in New Hampshire, the same group paid 9.1 percent. The wealthiest 1 percent of Vermonters, meanwhile, devoted 10.4 percent of their income to state and local taxes, while their counterparts in New Hampshire were on the hook for just 3 percent.

“Affordability has become one of those buzzwords that is used by many to lead into a discussion about very predictable issues: ‘It’s unaffordable. We have to cut taxes,’” said state Auditor Doug Hoffer, a Democrat/ Progressive. “But for people at the low end, taxes are not a big deal at all.” The actual cost drivers, he maintains, are housing, health care and — for those with young kids — childcare. “Those are the things I wish we had more conversation about,” Hoffer said.

The real threat to affordability, according to House Speaker Mitzi Johnson (D-South Hero) is the slow growth of wages, the rise in income inequality and the concentration of wealth in the hands of the few. “What we are seeing overall in Vermont and nationwide is that people who have more are getting more, and that gap is widening and growing,” she said.

A recent study by the RAND Corporation found that if income distribution had remained steady since 1975, the median full-time worker in Vermont would have earned $108,000 in 2018, rather than the $60,000 that worker actually made.

Jack Hoffman, senior policy analyst at the Montpelier-based Public Assets Institute, points to the discrepancy between prices and wages in Vermont to explain why many find the state unaffordable. In 2018, according to the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, the price of a broad range of goods was just 3 percent higher in Vermont than the national average. At the same time, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, wages in the state were nearly 17 percent lower than the national average.

“The key is that people need more money in their pockets,” Hoffman said.

The coronavirus pandemic has almost certainly exacerbated income inequality, according to Kavet. Vermont has already benefited from a “staggering” $3.5 billion in federal aid, he said, “but a lot of that money went to the wealthiest people in society.”

The stock market is surging, real estate prices are up, and luxury goods are in

demand. Meanwhile, according to weekly surveys by the U.S. Census Bureau, more than one in five Vermont adults live in households where the pandemic has made it difficult to pay for ordinary expenses, and nearly one in four live in households where eviction or foreclosure appears likely in the next two months.

The pandemic has also illustrated both the power and powerlessness of any governor. It seems likely that Scott’s successful response to the public health crisis has averted even greater financial calamity.

It’s also true that, after benefiting for three years from a roaring national economy, he has been stymied by a global health crisis and an inept federal response. Whether state budget cuts or tax hikes will be necessary next year has far less to do with any decision the next governor makes than whether the next Congress and president approve another round of aid to the states.

“No governor wants to admit this, but they have very few meaningful tools that produce short-term benefits to the economy,” Hoffer said. “There are so many ways the federal government can prime the pump. States can’t do that.”

According to Zuckerman, a governor can only do so much to address the challenges that make the state feel unaffordable.

“This is a nationwide problem,” the lieutenant governor said, calling it the inevitable consequence of trickle-down economic policies popularized by president Ronald Reagan. “I think sometimes we hyper-focus on Vermont as if the struggles are unique, and it’s then defined by people, like our governor, that it’s government that’s the problem. And I just think that’s an exploitation of people’s struggle for political purposes.”

INACTION HERO

Scott and his allies are quick to highlight the initiatives he has championed to make Vermont more affordable: a major housing bond, increased childcare subsidies and a slate of income tax reforms.

The governor’s opponents, on the other hand, tend to focus on the proposals he has stymied. In four years, Scott has already vetoed 20 bills. That’s only one fewer than the record holder, former governor Howard Dean, issued during nearly a dozen years in office.

Democrats and Progressives appear particularly aggrieved by Scott’s decision to veto bills establishing a paid family leave program and raising the minimum wage — initiatives they believe would make Vermont more affordable. (After AFFORDABILITY SEVEN DAYS OCTOBER 7-14, 2020

» P.32 31

JEB WALLACE-BRODUER

Affordability « P.31 the governor in February vetoed a second, more modest minimum wage bill that would raise the rate from $10.96 to $12.55 over the next two years, the legislature successfully overrode the veto.)

As lawmakers debated the paid leave bill last year, Sarah Fisher Snow began discussing with her husband, Tony Snow, the possibility of having a baby.

“We were really excited,” the 33-year-old Berlin resident said. “We really thought that would make a big impact on our ability to start a family.”

As educators with student loans, property taxes and a mortgage to pay, there wasn’t much give in their budget. “Right now, we could not live on our savings for three months while one or both of us stay home with a baby,” Fisher Snow said. “It’s just not possible.”

The legislation, H.107, would have provided 12 weeks of paid leave to new parents or eight weeks to those caring for a seriously ill family member. It also would have established a voluntary program providing six weeks of medical leave to those addressing their own illness.

After Scott vetoed the bill, the Snows decided to put off having children. “If it means delaying a year or two to see how things play out, then I think that’s the direction we’re going in right now,” she said.

In his veto message, the governor cited the 0.2 percent payroll tax that would have funded the $30 million program. “We cannot continue to make the state less affordable for working Vermonters and more difficult for employers to employ them — even for well-intentioned programs like this one,” he wrote.

According to Speaker Johnson, Scott had it backward. “For the governor, it wasn’t affordable because it had a very small tax in it that was shared across all Vermonters,” she said. “For me, that was a critical step to affordability for the many, many Vermonters who cannot afford a $500 emergency.”

Scott clearly takes pride in serving as a check on Democratic and Progressive lawmakers. In a perfect world, the governor said, he would have done more to reduce the tax burden Vermonters face.

“But, unfortunately, I haven’t had a willing partner in the legislature, so I’ve had to play the prevention role,” he said.

When it comes to making the state more affordable, Scott argued, legislators tend to take the easy way out. “It’s very difficult finding efficiencies and putting into place strategies to live within your 32

SEVEN DAYS OCTOBER 7-14, 2020

Sarah Fisher Snow and Tony Snow at their home in Berlin

Vermont’s Tax System Is More Equitable Than the U.S. Average Share of household income spent on state and local taxes, by income bracket Vermont

15%

10%

10% 8.7%

5%

9%

Lowest 20%

10.1%

9.1%

Middle 20%

10.4%

The top 1 percent of earners in Vermont pay 10.4 percent of their household income on state and local taxes.

Top 20%

United States

15% 10%

11.4%

10.1%

9.9%

5% Lowest 20%

9.5%

8% 8.9%

The top-earning U.S. households pay 7.4 percent of their annual income on state and local taxes.

Middle 20% Top 20% ← Lower-income households

Higher-income households →

CHART: ANDREA SUOZZO/SOURCE: INSTITUTE ON TAXATION AND ECONOMIC POLICY

means,” he said. “From a practical standpoint, it’s just easier to raise a tax to pay for it.”

Rob Roper, president of the conservative Ethan Allen Institute, credits Scott with slowing the growth of government. “I think

he’s done as good a job as he can putting brakes on the legislature,” said Roper, a former chair of the Vermont Republican Party. “If I were in his place, might I be a bit more bold? Easy for me to say, because I don’t have to face the voters.”

Fisher Snow has never before voted for Scott, she said, and her views generally align with Zuckerman’s. But even though the governor vetoed the paid leave bill she was counting on, Fisher Snow is leaning toward voting for him this fall.

I think right now Phil Scott might be the steady leader that Vermont needs.

Probably not in two years after that.

S A R A H FI SHER SNOW

“He’s doing his best to balance health and safety with the economy,” she said, referring to his response to the pandemic.

“I think right now Phil Scott might be the steady leader that Vermont needs.” She added, “Probably not in two years after that.”

TAX MAN

Arnela Lander was tired of Chittenden County’s high rental rates and was looking for a safe community in which to raise her two kids. “We wanted to be a little more established and drop our roots,” she said.

So three years ago, the 28-year-old insurance agent and her husband, a mechanic, bought a three-bedroom converted farmhouse in Vergennes. “We were expecting it to be affordable,” she said. “But the taxes are just ridiculous.”

Even though the family’s income entitles them to a break on their property tax bill, the couple still pays roughly $5,000 a year. That has Lander pondering whether to leave Vermont, as many of her friends have. “If we could afford it — if the taxes weren’t so crazy — I would absolutely stay here,” she said.

Stories like Lander’s have animated Scott for years. In his view, a high tax burden pushes families like hers out of state, further diminishing Vermont’s labor force and tax base, which in turn prompts lawmakers to raise taxes even higher.

To slow that cycle, Scott has attempted — with partial success — to hold state budget growth to a six-year rolling average of wage growth. “We’ve been very disciplined in living within our means, which for us means not having to raise taxes or fees to afford the services that we need to deliver and the programs that we

provide as government,” said Secretary of Administration Susanne Young.

The governor has also succeeded at trimming several taxes, including those targeting Social Security benefits, estates and the sale of land. At the same time, despite previously pledging to avoid raising new revenue, Scott did in his second term propose and sign into law taxes on e-cigarettes and online sales.

Perhaps the most significant changes to Vermont’s tax code during Scott’s tenure came after Congress approved President Donald Trump’s tax overhaul in December 2017. The federal legislation would have resulted in Vermont collecting $30 million more from its residents, but the Scott administration worked with the legislature to redistribute the revenue in the form of tax breaks. Among other things, the state plan cut income tax rates across the board by 0.2 percent and expanded the Earned Income Tax Credit, which is generally viewed as a highly effective anti-poverty measure.

According to Deputy Tax Commissioner Doug Farnham, the package “made Vermont just a little more affordable for low- and moderate-income Vermonters.”

The governor and legislature have not seen eye to eye on the property tax, which helps pay for K-12 schools and which Scott views as the greatest obstacle to affordability. During his first term, he repeatedly vetoed budgets in an effort to forestall rate increases, and he now claims to have averted tens of millions of dollars’ worth of property tax hikes.

But in what Johnson calls “a sleight of hand,” Scott has also attempted to fund childcare, higher education and corrections programs through the education fund, which would only put more pressure on property taxes. “Consistently, the administration has made recommendations that would actually increase property taxes, not reduce them,” said Rep. Janet Ancel (D-Calais), who chairs the House Ways and Means Committee.

Whether Vermont’s tax burden is really driving residents to flee the state is a matter of some dispute. According to Kavet, state taxes are “such a minor determinant” of where people choose to live.

He points to the relatively prosperous community of Norwich, which is separated from Hanover, N.H., only by the Connecticut River. “Why doesn’t everybody move to the other side of the river if it’s so dramatically better and advantageous?” Kavet asked.

Even Scott’s own tax commissioner, Craig Bolio, sounds skeptical that workingclass Vermonters are better off elsewhere.

AFFORDABILITY

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Danielle Hume with her children Skylar (left) and Corbin Houghton

Affordability « P.33 “I think if you are lower- or middleincome, Vermont is relatively competitive,” he said. “Vermont has a very progressive tax system, so if you’re in the higher end, that’s where you find interstate competitiveness issues.”

MARKET FAILURE

ADAM LUKOWSKI

For many Vermonters, the cost of housing dwarfs all other expenses — and too many are paying too much for a place to live.

According to a February report commissioned by the state Department of Housing and Community Development, 36 percent of Vermont families are costburdened by housing. That is, they spend more than 30 percent of their income on shelter. A full 16 percent spend more than half their income on it.

To afford a two-bedroom apartment at the fair-market rent of $1,215 a month, a Vermonter would have to make $23.36 per hour, according to the National Low Income Housing Coalition. In Chittenden County, the epicenter of the state’s housing crunch, one would have to make $30.25.

Rising rents have pushed Suzanna Levine and her family to the hinterland of Huntington, a 30-minute drive from her job in Williston and her son’s daycare in Shelburne. The 27-year-old social worker and her husband, a property manager, can afford the $1,250 rent they pay for a two-bedroom house, but the $1,000 they pay for childcare puts them close to the edge.

“It drains my bank account,” she said.

“The way we’re doing this right now — it’s not a really good long-term solution.”

Levine would like to buy a home, but given the amount of student loans she and her husband have accrued, they don’t qualify for a mortgage.

According to Housing Commissioner Josh Hanford, Vermont doesn’t have just one housing problem; it has two. In Chittenden County and its neighboring regions, there simply aren’t enough places to live. Elsewhere in the state — particularly in aging downtowns such as Springfield, Rutland and St. Johnsbury — there’s plenty of housing, but it’s in exceedingly poor condition. “So the problem is very different from county to county,” he said.

Overall, according to Hanford, “Our new housing production is not keeping up with the loss of existing housing stock on a yearly basis.” The shortage is particularly acute in what he refers to as “the missing middle.”

“The market doesn’t work for that housing because there aren’t these public

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incentives to build them, and the margins for contractors to build them really aren’t there,” Hanford said. “It’s really a market failure.”

Not long after taking office, Scott sought to alleviate the shortage by working with the legislature to issue $37 million worth of housing bonds. The initiative front-loaded funding to support the construction of 850 affordable homes in three years, and it indirectly supported the construction of another 300 market-rate homes.

But that has hardly alleviated the demand for housing. Even before the pandemic prompted a run on Vermont real estate, Hanford’s department estimated that the state needed 5,800 units by 2025.

“Is housing more affordable today?”

asked Chris Donnelly, director of community relations for Champlain Housing Trust. “It’s not, even though we spent $37 million to create housing. That was just helping us dig out of a big, big hole.”

Though the housing bond initiative found broad support in the legislature, some question its long-term implications.

It will be financed for 20 years by $2.5 million in annual revenue from the property transfer tax, which would otherwise fund housing on a year-to-year basis. “It’s robbing Peter to pay Paul,” Zuckerman said.

The lieutenant governor has proposed rolling back the Trump tax cuts for the highest-income Vermonters and devoting a portion of that revenue, $20 million, to housing each year. To capitalize on the

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influx of pandemic refugees, he would also add another property transfer tax on homes worth more than $700,000.

If anything, according to those who work in the field, COVID-19 exacerbated and illuminated Vermont’s housing problem. “When the governor says ‘Stay Home, Stay Safe,’ — for folks who don’t have an affordable place, they just can’t do that,” Hanford said.

Federal aid helped alleviate some of the most immediate crises: The state spent $25 million of its Coronavirus Relief Fund appropriation on back rent

When you actually get something like childcare right, it’s so foundational that it has an outsize impact on affordability.

A LY R ICHAR D S

to prevent evictions, $16 million to put up homeless Vermonters in motels, and $5 million to cover mortgage and property tax payments.

The aid also enabled the state to address the underlying problem.

Lawmakers directed $33 million to quickly build new housing for the homeless and $6 million to rehabilitate aging housing stock.

“I am very optimistic about all of the work within the housing field since the pandemic,” Hanford said. “We can do this and make a real difference.”

CARE PACKAGE

Amber Bollman realized she needed to make a change when her car broke down and she couldn’t afford the $5,000 repair bill. She had been working as a childcare provider for years but couldn’t earn a livable wage, so she decided to start her own program in her Burke home.

Now, the 32-year-old mother of three looks after 10 children and is already booking slots for 2021. “We’re thriving,” she said.

Bollman credits Scott and the legislature for adding $7.4 million last year to the state’s Child Care Financial Assistance Program, which increased subsidies to low-income parents and added to the number of families who could participate.

When Bollman learned that the program would be expanded, she contacted a client, Danielle Hume. “She said, ‘You might be eligible for this now.

You should look into this,’” Hume recalled.

“But we were still just over the line.”

Hume, the 32-year-old director of an AmeriCorps program, lives in the tiny Northeast Kingdom town of Kirby with her partner, who works in manufacturing, and their two children. They make enough money to pay the mortgage on their 940-square-foot home and to sock away a little for retirement. But without a state subsidy, they cannot afford full-time childcare for their 4-year-old son and 8-month-old daughter, so they send their kids to Bollman just three days a week — and to nearby grandparents for two.

“It’s always on my mind about the bills being due and the fact that childcare costs us more than our mortgage does,” Hume said. “We get by and we’re OK, but we certainly don’t make enough money to be well off.”

According to Aly Richards, CEO of the childcare advocacy group Let’s Grow Kids, last year’s infusion of cash into state subsidies was “historic,” but it doesn’t come close to meeting the need. “That was a baby step,” she said. “That was a dress rehearsal.”

Even before COVID-19 shuttered childcare centers for months this spring, 65 percent of infants and toddlers and 23 percent of preschoolers did not have access to regulated childcare programs, according to a 2019 report from the nonprofit Building Bright Futures.

Scott has proposed additional funding increases for childcare subsidies, but he often employs the traditional gubernatorial tactic of attaching the money to revenue schemes he knows the legislature won’t embrace, such as legalizing and taxing keno gambling.

“This administration has been kind of savvy about saying they’re addressing a number of related issues — housing, childcare — but they devote very little resources to it,” said Hoffer, the state auditor. “So that enables them to say, ‘We’re working on it, but there’s not a lot of money available right now.’”

Richards praises Scott and the legislature for propping up childcare providers at the height of the pandemic, arguing that Vermont did more for the sector than any other state. “We basically prevented AFFORDABILITY

» P.36

“A good leader inspires people to have confidence in the leader, a great leader inspires people to have confidence in themselves.”

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Affordability « P.35 the total collapse of this industry in Vermont,” she said.

Now Richards is hoping the state will continue to make it a priority. “When you actually get something like childcare right, it’s so foundational that it has an outsize impact on affordability,” she said.

Increased assistance would certainly make Vermont more affordable for Hume.

“My partner and I feel very proud that we’re able to be successful without qualifying for or needing any subsidies,” she said. “However, things would be a whole lot easier if we were eligible.”

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If there’s one piece of the affordability puzzle that Scott has conspicuously avoided, it’s the ever-increasing cost of health care. That’s surprising given that — along with housing, childcare, food and transportation — it ranks as one of the largest expenses borne by a typical low-income family, according to the legislature’s Joint Fiscal Office.

Scott’s reluctance to engage on the subject could be a consequence of the political pitfalls his predecessor, former governor Peter Shumlin, faced after overpromising and underdelivering on health care reform. When Scott first campaigned for governor in 2016, he made clear he would not make the same mistake.

Rep. Bill Lippert (D-Hinesburg), who chairs the House Health Care Committee, defends the governor’s relative inaction, arguing that the state has been preoccupied with warding off Trump’s attacks on the Affordable Care Act. “I don’t think there’s too much any administration could be doing right now to really, substantially impact health care in the way that Vermonters deserve to have it addressed,” he said.

Throughout his tenure, Scott has served as a seemingly reluctant steward of the all-payer model, a six-year experiment Shumlin initiated to tie health care payments to patient outcomes.

The federal-state partnership enables Medicare, Medicaid and commercial insurers to move away from a fee-forservice system and pay providers for the patients they treat, not the procedures they undertake.

The effort hasn’t yet proven successful. The federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services issued a warning last month that OneCare Vermont, the accountable care organization that administers the program, served only 30

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percent of the patients it should have in its first two years. The Scott administration has promised an overhaul.

Meanwhile, the cost of health insurance continues to rise. In a July filing with the Green Mountain Care Board, the Office of the Health Care Advocate found that premium rates for Blue Cross Blue Shield of Vermont’s individual and small group plan had grown by nearly 46 percent from 2014 through 2019, while wages had grown by just 7 percent. The insurance company was seeking another 6.3 percent rate increase — even as its customers were grappling with the economic impact of COVID-19.

“It’s just stark,” said chief health care advocate Mike Fisher. “We aren’t keeping pace.”

In recent years, the number of uninsured Vermonters dropped from 8 percent to 3 percent, according to a 2018 survey by the Vermont Department of Health — likely due to the increased access to health insurance made possible by the federal Affordable Care Act. But the number of underinsured Vermonters, whose policies do not sufficiently cover their medical costs, has grown to 36 percent.

According to Fisher, Scott’s team has “put a lot of their eggs in the all-payer ACO model” and failed to advance other ideas. “I have not seen real efforts by the administration or the legislature, for that matter, to address the very real affordability challenges that we see playing out,” he said.

Asked at a debate last week what he would “actually do to address the cost of health insurance for the working class,” Scott deflected, noting that costs are high throughout the country. “A lot of people have tried to address those concerns,” he said.

OUR CORN MAZE IS OPEN DAILY The only solution, the governor suggested, was a demographic one. “At the end of the day, what we need is more people. We have too few people paying in this state,” he said. “That, in itself — a younger, healthier population — will help the state lower the cost of health care.”

The issue is more than academic for Kent Scrivener, a 61-year-old man who recently moved from Fairfax to Jericho.

Last summer, after getting a second part-time job and a slight bump in his income, Scrivener no longer qualified for Medicaid. He briefly signed up for a high-deductible plan from Blue Cross Blue Shield but let it lapse because the cost was too high and the coverage poor.

In May, Scrivener tripped over an extension cord at home, injured his rotator cuff and broke his arm. A bacterial infection exacerbated the problem, and his arm remains in a splint. Scrivener quickly racked up tens of thousands of dollars’ worth of bills and hasn’t been able to return to work.

People have no cushion left.

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Nearly four years into his tenure, Scott still seems unsure how to define his original campaign pledge. Asked last month whether Vermont is more affordable now than when he took office, the governor said, “It depends, really, on how you measure that.”

He then provided two seemingly contradictory answers. While he may not have made the state more affordable, the governor said at first, he had prevented the legislature from making it less so. “I

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According to Scrivener, Vermont’s health insurance system works fine for those at the top and the bottom of the income ladder. “The people that are caught in the middle are the people that work a lot, work hard, make decent amounts of money but can’t afford health insurance because they’re trying to pay their bills, trying to keep food on the table and trying to pay their mortgage,” he said.

Scrivener, who has lived in 16 states, says he doesn’t see Vermont as particularly expensive. He just thinks wages are too low.

As for Scott? “I think he really cares about people,” Scrivener said. “As far as affordability, I presume he’s doing the best he can.”

would say that we’ve changed the trajectory dramatically,” he said. “We’ve leveled it off. We’ve been able to take a breather.”

Then, citing metrics his administration has come up with, Scott argued that, in fact, the percentage of Vermonters’ paychecks devoted to housing, health care and taxes had actually declined under his watch — at least, prior to the pandemic. “If you look at the years of Shumlin, for instance, all those costs were higher than after I took office,” Scott said.

Hoffer, the state auditor, takes issue with the administration’s methodology, which only considers out-of-pocket health care costs — and does not take into account childcare, transportation or food costs. Kavet, the legislature’s economist, notes that “averages can be very misleading.”

“You can have a lot of people at the lower end that are really hurting and others doing really well at the high end, and the average looks just fine,” he said.

Such disparities have only been heightened by the lingering effects of COVID-19. Even as wealthy pandemic refugees snatch up homes throughout the state, many Vermonters remain unemployed and hungry.

“People have no cushion left,” said John Sayles, CEO of the Vermont Foodbank. “And even if COVID were to go away and the economy were to turn around tomorrow, it’s going to take a long time for people to build that cushion up.”

And yet, the pandemic appears to have made at least some Vermonters more optimistic about the future of their state.

In a poll conducted last summer for Vermont Public Radio and Vermont PBS, only 35 percent of those surveyed said they would advise an 18-year-old to remain in the state to “build a successful life and career,” while 49 percent said they would recommend leaving.

Asked the same question last month, 47 percent said they’d advise staying, while only 36 percent would recommend leaving.

According to Kavet, people have long chosen to live in Vermont with the understanding that they would earn less than they would elsewhere. “There’s something about the quality of life that makes it attractive,” he said. “And that’s really real.”

The manner in which Vermonters have responded to COVID-19 — and the resulting public health outcomes — has made the state even more attractive, Kavet believes. “Those are intangibles that are really hard to capture in monetary terms,” he said.

Those hoping to avoid the worst of the pandemic, it seems, can’t afford to leave.

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Peter Edelmann (left) and Tim Cece

P

eter Edelmann has shown many disaster movies since he first opened the Essex Cinemas All sales support the in October 2001. He never Vermont Foodbank. imagined that one day he’d be trying to survive a perfect storm of his own: COVID-19.

When Essex Cinemas premiered as Vermont’s first movie theater with stadium seating, Netflix was still delivering DVDs by the U.S. Postal Service to a modest base of subscribers. Other video-streaming services, such as Hulu and Amazon Prime, were years away from launching. “[The theater] did extremely well in the first couple of years,” recalled 6v-onecowVT092320.indd Say you1 saw it in... 9/21/20 10:29 AMEdelmann, who also owns the Essex Experience, which includes a shopping center, public green, and the Essex Culinary Resort & Spa. “There wasn’t much sevendaysvt.com

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competition. No one had really invested … in theaters in the Burlington area.”

Then, as other multiplexes opened in Chittenden County and nearby competitors upgraded older theaters, Edelmann tried to stay ahead of the curve. In November 2010, he added a 10th auditorium — the 400-seat T-Rex Theater, with 3D digital capability and a 60-foot curved screen, which he says is still the largest in the state.

But when the coronavirus arrived in Vermont, the writing was on the wall.

Edelmann shuttered Essex Cinemas even before Gov. Phil Scott’s “Stay Home, Stay Safe” order put an end to large indoor gatherings. And as the pandemic lingered into spring, Edelmann furloughed, then laid off, most of his staff of 50.

“Back at the end of March, early

April, it was pretty doom and gloom,” he recalled. “We had no idea how bad it was going to be, or how long it would last.”

But even as the screens went dark, Edelmann conceived of other ways of bringing people together. On a Saturday night in April, he fired up the popcorn machine and invited the public to drive by the theater and grab a bag.

The popcorn was free but he suggested donations of $5 apiece to benefit the Vermont Foodbank. Hundreds of cars queued up, and people contributed more than $3,000.

With the arrival of summer, Edelmann invested in a 40-foot inflatable screen to project movies outdoors on the center green, and he set up an FM broadcast signal as well as an outdoor PA system. Moviegoers could either

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watch from inside their vehicles, worked. As of October 5, K-5 students drive-in-theater style, or sit outside in Essex were back in school full time. in folding chairs. Though the pop-up “It doesn’t help your bottom line,” drive-in never quite reached its 72-car Edelmann noted, “but I feel good about maximum capacity, Edelmann said it doing it.” helped keep the lights on. The inflatable Still, the future remains uncertain screen finally had to be packed up once for Essex Cinemas, especially as it heads temperatures dipped below 50 degrees. into what is normally a lucrative holiday

By August 28, Essex Cinemas was season. As the Hollywood Reporter noted able to reopen its indoor theaters by last month, the research and accountadopting a host of new safety proto- ing firm PricewaterhouseCoopers has cols. In keeping with state Depart- predicted a nearly 66 percent drop in ment of Health regulations, seats are global cinema revenues for 2020, as many d i st a n c e d , w i t h theaters close and alternating rows major Hollywood kept vacant and the releases are delayed auditorium filled until 2021. to no more than 50 For Edelmann, percent capacity, state and federal or a maximum of 75 COVID -19 assispeople. (Normally, tance has eased the PE TE R EDE LMANN three of the 10 pain somewhat. In auditoriums seat the spring, Essex 200 people each, or more.) Custom- Cinemas secured a Paycheck Protecers must purchase concessions before tion Program loan of $89,000 and their movie starts and cannot leave the a $50,000 grant from the Vermont auditorium except to use the restrooms. Agency of Commerce and Community Masks are required throughout the Development. building, except when patrons are in “It sounds like a lot … but you’ve got their seats and eating or drinking. your mortgages, 200 grand in property The multiplex also upgraded its taxes — the town can’t waive those — HVAC system, Edelmann said, and plus all the maintenance and utilities installed line spacers and protective and all that,” he said. “It’s not a good shields at the ticket and concession time to be in the movie business right counter. Staff even use foggers to now.” disinfect the theaters between film Despite the pandemic’s multifarious showings. challenges, Edelmann said he remains “We lose money every day,” Edel- an optimist by nature. mann lamented, “so I’m going to have “I do believe that people want to to cut back and be open just Friday, come back, and I believe people will go Saturday and Sunday.” to the movies again,” he said. “We are In pre-pandemic times, Essex herd animals, and that’s why people Cinemas derived about 60 percent of like to go to festivals and concerts and its income from children, teens and movies — because we love that commutwentysomethings. When the Essex nity. I hope [the pandemic] doesn’t Westford School District reopened in shatter that part of our psyche too late August using a hybrid in-person deeply. But I don’t think so.” and online model, Edelmann heard that hundreds of local families were without Contact: ken@sevendaysvt.com childcare — so he opened the theaters for them.

INFO For weeks, Essex Cinemas hosted Learn more at essexcinemas.com.

400 to 500 students, kindergarten through eighth grade, showing them Bottom Line is a series on how movies during the day and offering Vermont businesses are faring them a safe, comfortable and famil- during the pandemic. Got a tip? Email iar environment while their parents bottomline@sevendaysvt.com.

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10/6/20 12:10 PM

VERMONTING

BY PAMELA POLSTON

Mountain Hi Socially conscious art, shopping and history in Brattleboro

HELLO, VERMONTING Even as Vermont has opened up from the pandemic shutdown, Gov. Phil Scott still encourages residents to stay home as much as possible. And so this 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 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 be there when the pandemic is finally over.

Happy traveling, and stay safe.

B

40

SEVEN DAYS OCTOBER 7-14, 2020

“Gbongar, Plastic Goods Vendor in Monrovia, Liberia (2014),” by Alison Wright

The 14,580-square-foot downtown anchor encourages one-way traffic in and out; its café is currently closed. I made my way to a picnic table behind the parking lot to consume my lunch of kale salad and pomegranate juice, wondering why I hadn’t purchased something made of chocolate.

My next destination, the BRATTLEBORO MUSEUM & ART CENTER , lay just across a converging pair of streets, one of which doubles as Route 5. Pro tip: The town’s bossy pedestrian signals must be obeyed.

One of my favorite art venues in the state, the BMAC is located in a rescued former train station. Two new exhibits opened there just as the coronavirus occasioned a monthslong shutdown. While some of the works can be seen online, I was glad the shows were extended through October 12 for in-person viewing.

In the museum’s front gallery, Steven

Kinder’s large-scale portraits of unsheltered individuals hang suspended from the ceiling on canvases the size of bedsheets.

The subjects are rendered in neutral hues, as if to denote their remove from more privileged society. But the strategic installation of Kinder’s paintings requires viewers to look up to these humans. As a museum brochure states, “He simply asks us to see them.” In turn, their direct gaze is aimed back at us.

The title of the exhibit, “552,830,” refers to the number of Americans who experienced homelessness in 2018.

Alison Wright’s color photographs, in an adjacent gallery, depict female laborers in developing countries around the world.

“Grit and Grace, Women at Work” documents deprivation, but more importantly the resilience, ingenuity and strength of this global sisterhood. Both exhibits are powerful and affecting.

PHOTOS: PAMELA POLSTON

rattleboro, situated at the nexus of the West and Connecticut rivers in southeastern Vermont, has a unique and dramatic topography. The downtown bears some resemblance to a ladder: a steep angle up Main Street with perpendicular streets forming flat rungs at different levels. And always, to the east, New Hampshire shoulders its way into view.

At a height of some 1,000 feet, forestcovered Mount Wantastiquet looms over Brattleboro in the way that massive cruise ships temporarily dominate island ports.

To a visitor from Burlington, accustomed to distant views across Lake Champlain, this permanent presence is almost unnerving — the geographical analogue of a stranger walking behind you.

According to tourist info, a short drive across the Connecticut River and a climb to the mountaintop afford an expansive aerial look at this Windham County town of about 12,000 souls. But my objectives for this overnight excursion were earthbound: looking at art, visiting friends and poking around the inviting cluster of downtown shops. After that, I would take a scenic route home, visiting a couple of historic sites and gawking at fall foliage along the way.

I arrived too early to check into my room at the venerable LATCHIS HOTEL, whose pandemic-era concierge services run 3 to 10 p.m. So I parked in the hotel lot and walked a block to the BRATTLEBORO FOOD CO-OP for a snack, pausing to admire the seasonal display of weird squashes outside.

Installation view of “552,830”

by Steven Kinder

Poster of president Calvin Coolidge

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Having returned to the Latchis to check in, I was still contemplating injustice and privilege when Biff diverted me with a wet snout. The resident Weimaraner and apparent official greeter took two seconds to OK my entrance and then leaned against me, insisting on head pats. This lasted until the next person arrived. Biff is affectionate but easily distracted.

I was given a “Mountain View” room, which sounds lovely. But it must be said that the mountain could only be viewed through dusty windows and was foregrounded by a pink Chinese massage establishment across the street. And, as I would discover in the nighttime, the soundtrack was of trucks lumbering down Route 5. Perhaps that’s why my room was equipped with a turntable and Barry Manilow, Neil Diamond, and Peter, Paul and Mary on vinyl?

I had researched food options in advance and considered takeout from T.J. BUCKLEY’S — alas, it was closed the night I was in town — or dining indoors at DUO RESTAURANT. Instead, my friends Tracy and John treated me to a pasta dinner and rosé at their home just up the street. (Conveniently, everything is “just up the street” in Brattleboro.)

The next morning, I grabbed a superlative latte at MOCHA JOE’S and sat on the stoop of a still-closed boutique to caffeinate. I rang up Tracy, who met me at the WORKS BAKERY CAFÉ so we could carb up on

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since mid-March, I’ve done my share of paring down and donating stuff to charities. But I’m bored with my furniture. So I bought a couple of colorful pillows to pep up the living room, along with a jaunty on-sale hat for a friend.

It was time for my acquisitions and me to hit the road. I’d zipped down interstates 89 and 91 to Brattleboro, but for the return I chose pokier routes: 5 to 30 to 100. I sought out Rudyard Kipling’s former home, NAULAKHA, in nearby Dummerston, but the property was gated.

Farther north, in Plymouth Notch, the PRESIDENT CALVIN COOLIDGE STATE HISTORIC SITE

was open, mostly. While the pandemic has closed some of the buildings on the grounds, the museum and a video about America’s 30th president are more than worth the price of admission ($8). It was here, at his boyhood home, that vice president Coolidge learned of the death of president Warren Harding. Col. John Coolidge, a notary public, administered the presidential oath of office to his son.

The homestead lives on, preserved in the amber of 1923 by the Vermont Division for Historic Preservation. I departed with visions of “Silent Cal” in a milieu of flirty flappers and nascent American jazz.

Dozens of miles and zillions of pretty leaves later, I crossed over the Lincoln Gap to Route 116. Moments afterward, in Bristol, a police officer clocked me going 41 in a 30 mph zone. (This would take $110 from my bank account and two points from my driver’s license. Gah.) I had to stop at LANTMAN’S MARKET in Hinesburg for consolation: Molasses cookies and apple cider almost did the trick.

Contact: pamela@sevendaysvt.com

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

Harris Hill Ski Jump

Political signs in a Brattleboro storefront

breakfast sandwiches. Then she led me on a long, often steep walk around town, past a cavorting-sheep yard display and residents decorating their homes for Halloween, out to the HARRIS HILL SKI JUMP and back again.

Wait, a ski jump in Brattleboro? Who knew? Well, the athletes and spectators who’ve shown up for annual jumping competitions for nearly a century knew, to name thousands.

Local institutions that I did know about include the famous BRATTLEBORO RETREAT — a psychiatric and addiction hospital — the NEW ENGLAND CENTER FOR CIRCUS ARTS, the ESTEY ORGAN MUSEUM, the VERMONT CENTER FOR PHOTOGRAPHY and the newish arts center in a former church, EPSILON SPIRES. The first I hope never to enter; the others I’ll catch next visit.

Instead, I indulged in a bit of shopping. I’ve always been overwhelmed by the massive collection of gear at SAM’S OUTDOOR OUTFITTERS, though one item has tempted me — a cunning, life-size molded raccoon that is technically a decoy. This time, I zeroed in on a New Hampshire/ Vermont gazetteer, to help me navigate future rambles, and a thermal shoulder bag for future picnics.

Since the stacks of unread books in my house — many purchased during the shutdown — are approaching hoarder levels, I avoided the temptation of Brattleboro’s bookstores. I cannot say the same of PENELOPE WURR. Named after its charismatic and chatty owner, this small shop is pleasantly crammed with glass and ceramic works, textiles, clothing, cards, gift wrap, jewelry, and more. A selection of imported specialty foods indicates Wurr’s British heritage, as does her accent.

Like many other people stuck at home

Penelope Wurr

Sheep tableau at a Brattleboro residence SEVEN DAYS OCTOBER 7-14, 2020

41

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Gretchen Berry speaking at a Gardening for Health program at the University of Vermont Medical Center

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SEVEN DAYS OCTOBER 7-14, 2020

PHOTOS: JAMES BUCK

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he rooftop garden at the University of Vermont Medical Center is an unexpected oasis on top of a concrete and steel structure. On a late September morning, within view of the hospital’s grand entrance, bees buzzed among bright-blue borage flowers and scarlet bee balm. Sunlight shone through translucent crimson Swiss chard stems. A raised bed of Savoy cabbages bloomed like giant green roses.

“I feel like a Cabbage Patch Kid is going to pop out of one,” said Lisa Hoare, the medical center’s garden educator, laughing. She had been weeding while waiting to start the final meeting of the inaugural eight-week Gardening for Health program.

A blackboard on the garden shed wall read, “Welcome, gardeners! Today’s class: organic pest & weed control.” As the 14 participants gathered on the rooftop, they helped themselves from a cooler of ice water that was flavored with watermelon chunks and lime slices.

Hoare kicked off the meeting by asking

Grilled apple with mint

how the preceding week’s suggested home activity, quick pickling, had gone.

One participant had made bread-andbutter refrigerator pickles; another had tried a provided recipe for three-bean salad. “It didn’t even get all the way pickled before we ate it all,” she said.

After some discussion of unexpected garden produce that could be pickled (unripe cherry tomatoes, chard stems), the group chatted about raised-bed construction and how to deal with tomato-loving woodchucks. Then Hoare led participants through a gentle stretching routine.

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The Gardening for Health curriculum includes meditation and light physical activity along with vegetable gardening, nutrition and cooking activities. It was developed by the UVM Medical Center and the Vermont Community Garden Network, and the pilot year is supported by a grant from the medical center’s foundation. (Due to the pandemic, the June/ July session planned for this year was bumped to 2021. The August/September session ran as scheduled.)

The program is free to all participants who qualify based on preexisting health conditions, including pre-diabetes, diabetes, high blood pressure and being overweight.

Vegetable gardening checks a lot of positive health boxes: It produces foods that everyone should eat more of, gets people outside and gives them more control over what they eat.

“Gardening and nutrition and culinary education are so closely linked,”

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Moving On-ion RED ONION CAFÉ TO LEAVE CHURCH STREET, OPEN IN CHARLOTTE

After 30 years on the Church Street Marketplace in Burlington, the RED ONION CAFÉ will move to Charlotte at the end of October. Starting in midNovember, it will sell its beloved sandwiches, soups, salads and homemade breads at a retail location in Charlotte Crossings, the multiuse commercial building at 3488 Route 7.

Owner MICKEY WEST announced the move in a press release last Thursday. In July, West told Seven Days she was looking to relocate because of the pandemic.

“I’m not going to be here this winter,” she said at the time, referring to the pink-walled café on Church Street.

“I can’t afford this place.”

Business had fallen to roughly 30 percent of pre-pandemic levels, West explained.

Typically, the café relies on summer foot traffic on the marketplace to sustain it through the year.

With reduced tourism in 2020, the business didn’t see its usual seasonal bump.

“I didn’t want to do this,” West said in July, after launching a GoFundMe online campaign to raise money to pay back rent and move the restaurant to a cheaper location. The high rent on Church Street had her “in a hole” with her landlord even before the COVID-19 shutdown, she added.

Moving to Charlotte

was a “no-brainer,” West said in the release.

“I’ll be closer to home, on busy Route 7, serving my food to a great community.”

In addition to hefty sandwiches such as the Famous Red Onion, the new location will offer prepared foods to reheat at home, breakfast items, coffee and Vermont merchandise.

Charlotte Crossings hosted several food-truck and pop-up restaurant events this summer. The turnout showed building owner MIKE DUNBAR that “the greater Charlotte area is hungry for food options,” he said in the release. “We’re thrilled that Mickey will bring breakfast, lunch and to-go prepared foods to Charlotte.”

CONNECT Follow us for the latest food gossip! On Twitter: Sally Pollak: @vtpollak. On Instagram: Seven Days: @7deatsvt; Jordan Barry: @jordankbarry.

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burlington

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That’s It

C’est Ça hits the spot with French-accented takeout B Y J O R D AN BAR RY

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PHOTOS: JAMES BUCK

W

hen I was growing up, my mother often punctuated her statements with the French phrase c’est ça. The literal translation is “it’s that,” meaning “yes, exactly, that’s it” — though it can just as easily be a sarcastic “yeah, right.” She said it as a sort of verbal shrug — it is what it is — usually as she pulled a burnt batch of cookies out of the oven.

When I heard the new restaurant taking over the ¡Duino! (Duende) space in Burlington would be called C’est Ça, my mind went straight to my mom’s interpretation.

It’s hard not to see a resigned shrug in ¡Duino! (Duende) owner Lee Anderson’s decision to temporarily rename his streetfood spot ¿Do We Know? during the pandmic. In July, he explained the rebranding as a “nod to all that is unknown about the current situation.” Soon after, the restaurant closed, to be reborn as C’est Ça with chef Justin Wright at the helm.

Now, after my first takeout meal from the new North Winooski Avenue restaurant, I’m finally using the phrase properly: Yes. Exactly. That’s it.

On a rainy Tuesday — the first in ages — I placed an online order for pickup. C’est Ça also offers delivery, but I needed to get out of the house.

Dodging raindrops, I dashed up to the pickup counter at the restaurant’s entrance, and the first thing I noticed was its makeover. Where ¡Duino! (Duende) was dark enough to feel like it radiated a magnetic force sucking you in off the street, C’est Ça is bright and open, inviting you in. Or it would be, if we weren’t stuck in a global pandemic.

C’est Ça operates entirely to-go, by design. When he announced the new restaurant this summer, Anderson told Seven Days he wouldn’t be comfortable hosting indoor dining until the summer of 2021. (His companion business Cherry, a new café, retail shop and artist market next door to C’est Ça in the former Light Club Lamp Shop, is open for walk-in customers.)

For chef Wright, the takeout-only aspect was a draw. He moved back to Vermont with his wife this summer after several years in California, where he was most recently chef de cuisine at Oakland restaurant Sister.

“Everything else I looked at was like, ‘Oh, we need to pivot. We need to pivot,’”

Lee Anderson at C’est Ça’s to-go counter

Wright said last week of his job search.

At C’est Ça, he continued, “We’re not just pivoting. We’re starting something brand-new.”

Wright was able to design the menu with takeout in mind, rather than adapt existing dishes to survive the demands of to-go boxes.

“When I was back in California, I started planning dishes like our gem-wedge salad,” Wright said. In Vermont, he knew he could expect to find little gem lettuces from Pitchfork Farm and Knee Deep Farm, places he remembered from his time working at both branches of Hen of the Wood before he moved to the West Coast.

“If I just cut [the lettuce] in half and serve it as a wedge — put some dressing on it, put a bunch of crunchy stuff on it — it will travel well. It won’t wilt. It’s not like a salad green that’s going to die in a heartbeat,” he said.

Wright described C’est Ça as a “casual French eatery that has some Eastern touches.” Many of the preparations and techniques are noticeably French, even if the ingredients aren’t. A selection of sandwiches ($12 each) are served on Frenchstyle rolls made in-house. The Francophone

The front window at C’est Ça

pan bagnat, for instance, is a smoked-bluefish sandwich with arugula, niçoise olives, sweet peppers and a jammy egg.

“The moniker C’est Ça gives us the flexibility to be like, ‘Oh, that’s it,’” Wright said.

“It really leaves it wide open, and there’s room for interpretation as long as it’s kind of French.”

When I try a restaurant for the first time, I like to graze, ordering as many

food+drink dishes as I reasonably can to see what about not being able to find at most it’s all about. At C’est Ça, grazing meant restaurants. ordering most of the Snacks & Salads The wine skews natural, including portion of the vegetable-forward menu. bottles from the Czech Republic, Sicily, The Farmer’s Cukes ($6), potato salad France and Vermont. I nearly ordered a ($6), carrot salad ($8) and fried green toma- bottle of the skin-contact Tectonic from toes ($8) were full of the “Eastern touches” Shelburne’s Vineyard’s Iapetus label Wright mentioned. The marinated cucum- before remembering I already had one at bers were garnished with seaweed, Sichuan home. Instead, I went with a lambrusco chile crisp, toasted sesame seeds, peanuts ($26) — largely because one of the tasting and fresh herbs; the dish had both a cool notes was “fuzzy,” which felt right for a crunch and a building heat that kept draw- rainy night. ing me in for another bite. The potato salad I also ordered a three-pack of Underappeared classically mayo-dressed at first berg ($7.50), the aromatic German glance, but this was Japanese Kewpie mayo, digestif, because I was so happy to see made with egg yolks, vinegar and MSG — a it on the menu. (My dining companwelcome update. ions were new to The carrot salad Underberg’s bitter looked like it came delights and were Good To-Go is a straight from a less enthused.) series featuring well-made takeout meals French deli case — To top things that highlights how TO-GO off, I chose a sewhere Wright drew VERMONT restaurants and other food lection of skewthe dish’s inspiraestablishments are adapting tion, he later told ers from the Off during the COVID-19 era. me. But daikon, the Grill section Check out GOODTOGOVERMONT.COM to see what your favorite eateries are serving of the menu: yuzu preserved lemon, up via takeout, delivery or curbside pickup. shrimp, miso tofu pickled jalapeño and chicken yakiand sumac gave it an Asian twist and tori ($12 for three). a sour brightness that paired well with Wright admittedVERMONT that the skewers are the richer fried green tomatoes. best eaten quickly, straight off the yakitori “I love when you go to French-style grill. I enjoyed them but made a mental delis or bakeries and they have cold note to order an extra set to eat in the car vegetable preparations,” Wright said. next time. After all, stick food is ideal for “There’s always these sort of staples, like driving. julienne carrots with a little bit of vine“When you think about where dishes gar. Our version is shredded-up local like that originated, it’s these casual little vegetables. It can be dressed and sit in a bars throughout Japan, these izakayas,” to-go box, and if it’s eaten an hour later, Wright said. “It’s just, like, a hangout it’s not going to be a soggy, watery mess spot where we would go get pitchers of of vegetables.” beer and chicken wings. But they eat stuff It didn’t take me an hour to get home, grilled on charcoal, and they eat it right but each of the vegetable dishes did hold away.” its character during my drive. The fried Wright spends a lot of time considgreen tomatoes and okonomiyaki ($10) ering how to strike a balance between — a savory Japanese pancake griddled dishes that work for takeout and others with kimchi and garnished with bonito that might work when — someday, hopeflakes — were expectedly warm rather fully — C’est Ça starts seating diners than screaming hot, but they were textur- inside. Once people have gotten to know ally sound when I unpacked them. the restaurant, revamping the menu for The packaging itself was a joy to open. on-site dining could be the same level of I’m a big fan of clear takeout boxes that pivot that other restaurants were forced allow me to see what I’m getting before to make during the early days of the I fiddle with the lid; it builds suspense, pandemic. like glimpsing the dish as a server carries “At a certain point, you just have to it across the dining room. Of all the to-go think about food like you always do,” experiences I’ve had since March, open- Wright said. “I didn’t foresee doing this ing these boxes and spreading the dishes ever in my career, you know? I just want out on the table felt the most akin to to make stuff that tastes good.” restaurant dining.

Oui. C’est ça. It does.

The drinks list at C’est Ça helped bring the bistro vibe home, too. DevelContact: jbarry@sevendaysvt.com oped by Jenn Kufa, it was full of cocktails I wanted to order (I’m looking INFO at you, Ferrari Spritz and Octopus’s C’est Ça, 10 N. Winooski Ave., Burlington, Garden), beer I love to drink, and 660-9346, radiobean.com. Open Tuesday bottles of wine and sake that I complain through Saturday, noon to 8 p.m.

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The Vermont Department of Liquor & Lottery, Division of Liquor Control is seeking interested parties in or near the below locations who may have an interest in and a suitable location to operate a State Liquor Agency in Newport, VT. The VDLC requires retail space and storage space all devoted to retailing liquor; plus adequate parking, signage, loading and unloading facilities.

Interested parties should apply by letter to: Kim Walker, Director of Retail Operations Vermont Department of Liquor & Lottery, Division of Liquor Control 13 Green Mountain Drive, Montpelier, VT 05620-4501 Applications can be found at liquorcontrol.vermont.gov Please send a LETTER OF INTEREST to Ms. Walker before 4pm on October 23rd, 2020.

FORMAL APPLICATIONS must be received Before 2pm on November 6th,2020.

Further information can be obtained by calling 800-642-3134 (In VT) or 802-828-4923 and ask for Kim Walker, Director of Retail Operations or email kim.walker@vermont.gov The Vermont Department of Liquor & Lottery and its respective Board reserve the right to reject any and all applications and to change the terms of the request for applications without notice to any person.

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Growing Healthy Habits

CHOCOLATE HUMMUS

Adapted from a recipe by Leah Pryor, executive chef, University of Vermont Medical Center INGREDIENTS

• • • • • • •

1 (15-ounce) can chickpeas, drained and rinsed 1/3 cup tahini 1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil 1/3 cup water 2 tablespoons maple syrup 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract 4 ounces bittersweet chocolate, melted

DIRECTIONS

Chocolate hummus with fruit

1. Place chickpeas, tahini, olive oil, water, maple syrup and vanilla extract in the bowl of a food processor. Process, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed, until smooth.

2. With the processor running, add the melted chocolate and process until smooth, again scraping down the sides as needed. Serve with fresh fruit or spread on toasted whole-grain bread. Makes about 2 1/2 cups hummus.

Note: The chocolate makes hummus set up fairly hard when chilled.

Microwave it briefly at low power and stir aggressively to soften it.

Lisa Hoare at a Gardening for Health session

JAMES BUCK

said Hoare. “When people grow their own food, they have a closer connection to it and eat more of it. It’s fresher, better for you, and it tastes better.”

A key program goal, she continued, is “giving people the culinary skills to make healthy food taste delicious … It’s not about wagging fingers. It’s about empowering people.”

Homegrown produce can save money, too, especially compared with the organic options in a grocery store, Hoare added.

Gardening can also provide social connections.

During the August/September Gardening for Health session, 56 participants, divided into four groups, planted Swiss chard seedlings and radish seeds.

They learned how to prune tomato plants and add more legumes to their diet. They grew microgreens at home and shared observations from exploring their neighborhoods.

One participant, Leslie Kaigle, 62, arrived a little late to the final meeting after walking over from her chemotherapy appointment at the hospital. “I have a couple cancers,” she said matter-of-factly.

While Kaigle said she has always loved growing flowers and has several fruit trees and berry bushes at her home in Vergennes, vegetable gardening was new to her.

“I would like to know more where my food’s coming from,” she said. “I never had Swiss chard before, and I really love it.”

Asked how she would prepare it, Kaigle said she’d probably sauté the chard, add it to fresh tomato sauce with garlic, and serve it with white beans and penne pasta.

“I’m definitely vegetable gardening next summer, and chard will definitely be on the list,” she said enthusiastically.

MELISSA PASANEN

« P.42

Gardening for Health was born out of a growing recognition within the medical community that routine health care should include active support of healthy habits, including better eating habits.

In addition to Hoare, the project leaders are Michelle Gates, executive director of the Vermont Community Garden Network, who coleads the meetings; and Michael Latreille, a primary care doctor at UVM Medical Center. A physical therapist and a registered dietitian are also involved, and both medical and nutrition students from UVM contributed to a participant booklet filled with information, activities and recipes.

After several years of working with hospitalized patients, Latreille said it became clear to him that a significant percentage of the issues putting people in the hospital were preventable. Those

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STEPS FOR SOCIAL CHANGE

food+drink

with Bia Diagnostics + Steps to End Domestic Violence

include cardiovascular disease leading Deprivation often backfires by creatto heart attacks, strokes and high blood ing cravings; eating more of the good stuff pressure, as well as type 2 diabetes. leaves less room for less-healthy items, “We spend a lot of time fixing prob- Berry said. Healthy fats, whole grains, lems,” Latreille said, noting that the root beans and other legumes, and nuts and causes of those problems should be given seeds “give us staying power, help us more attention. In many cases, he added, feel satisfied and keep blood sugar more “our efforts [would be] better spent in stable,” she said. prevention than in treatment.

During the discussion of vegetables “I felt compelled to help people for dessert, participant Wrigley Witmer change habits that help them live of South Burlington mentioned one of their healthiest lives,” the physician his favorite recipes: carrot and sweet explained. potato pie.

Gardening for Health builds on existAs the meeting wound down, Witmer, ing programs, including the Learn- 37, happily filled a couple of bags with ing Garden program at UVM Medical chard he had planted, plus some carrots Center’s Fanny Allen and spinach. He shared campus, which Hoare that he has Ehlershas run for several Danlos syndrome, years, and the Vermont a connective tissue Community Garden disorder, and described Network’s Commuhimself as overweight. nity Teaching Garden “I’m trying to find at the Ethan Allen healthy ways to lose Homestead. weight while also tryDuring the Septeming to be as self-sufLISA HOARE ber morning meeting, ficient as possible,” Hoare encouraged the Witmer said. “This group to taste flower petals from the borage [program] has definitely given me a litand bee balm. “Edible flowers are a super- tle more confidence and tools for garfun thing to grow,” she said, suggesting that dening.” they can be tossed into salads. Gates said Linda Menard, 69, recounted that she she likes to fold them into Vietnamese-style had cultivated a huge garden until health summer rolls, in which they show through problems prevented her from tending it. the rice-paper wrappers. “We eat with our “It was a tremendous loss,” she said. eyes,” Hoare said.

Menard credited the Gardening for Gates grilled up the recipe of the day Health program with restarting her interwhile Gretchen Berry, a UVM Medical est in gardening. As a senior, she said, it Center registered dietitian based at Fanny helped her see how she could overcome Allen, shared healthy eating tips includ- physical and financial limitations. She ing fruit-centered desserts. especially appreciated the potted herbs Everyone received a grilled apple slice and seeds each participant had received. sprinkled with cinnamon, brown sugar “It’s amazing what you can do with and a touch of salt and served with a herbs,” Menard continued, describdollop of vanilla bean Greek yogurt and ing a salad she had made with a a mint leaf. “honey-lemon-parsley-oregano-basilSalt, Berry explained, can be “a really chive” dressing and seeds for crunch and powerful tool to enhance the sweetness a nutrition boost. “You can start small,” and reduce the need for sugar. A little she noted. goes a long way.”

Berry, the dietitian, said the program The group brainstormed other fruits makes healthy eating tangible and that could be grilled, including peaches approachable. “We miss something in and pineapple, and ways to include vege- nutrition when we focus just on nutritables in desserts, such as beet brown- ents,” she said. “This brings nutrition and ies and zucchini or carrot cakes. Berry the food system full circle. It helps people explained how to substitute applesauce understand where their food comes from for oil in muffins and quick breads. and how to grow and prepare their own Hoare mentioned that she sometimes food.” adds butternut squash to apple crisp and shredded zucchini and applesauce to Contact: pasanen@sevendaysvt.com chocolate cake.

Berry reminded everyone of how INFO much she loves legumes and referenced Registration for the June/July 2021 a favorite chocolate hummus recipe (see Gardening for Health session begins in sidebar). She emphasized that to sustain March 2021. uvmhealth.org/medcenter/ improved eating habits, “It’s about adding wellness-resources/classes-and-events/ things, not taking them away.” gardening-for-health

OBER ALL OCT

FUEL UP Commit to acts of physical wellness that will energize + motivate you to sustain the work to end domestic violence. Start your journey on October 1st and accomplish something big on Saturday, October 24th.

FUNDRAISE

IT’S NOT ABOUT WAGGING FINGERS.

IT’S ABOUT EMPOWERING PEOPLE.

LONG!

Ask your friends + family to sponsor your journey and join us for vritual wellness events to help us continue to provide free + confidential services to those affected by domestic violence.

REGISTER & DONATE: www.stepsvt.org/steps-for-social-change r ou s! to sor u n o o k y sp an rous h T ne ge

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music+nightlife JORDAN ADAMS

Buch Spieler Records in Montpelier

S UNDbites

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

Record Store Daze

At a certain point, I stopped going to record stores intending to walk away with a certain title. I’d love to enter a shop and be handed whatever disc I wanted, no matter how mainstream or obscure. But that’s not the way it works. To be fair, I used to go to a store called Rooky Ricardo’s Records in San Francisco that’s like, as we used to say, the iTunes store of 45s. Walk in, name any single from the ’60s to the ’80s, and they’ll hand it to you. Now, when I want something specific, I order it online.

Shame me if you must.

For me, the whole point of going to a record store is to find something you didn’t know you wanted. XAVIER JIMENEZ, co-owner of Montpelier’s Buch Spieler Records, said that’s related to a concept he calls “record store amnesia.” In other words, maybe you walk into a shop with a particular album in mind, but after you start digging for a few minutes, you forget all about it and get lost in the treasures at your fingertips. Did I know my recent visit to Buch Spieler would end with snagging The Golden Hits of 48

SEVEN DAYS OCTOBER 7-14, 2020

a number of local record stores. But, as Lesley Gore and the B-52’S’ Wild Planet?

No, but I’m glad it did. iTunes and the streaming era ushered in I’ve wanted to show some love to a dramatic industry shift, publishing that Vermont’s record stores in this column information became irrelevant. for a while now. In May, when we were Nonetheless, I thought it might be fun in the grip of uncertainty and pushing to visit our local record vendors and ask the limits of sanity about any consumer at home, I started trends, new releases checking in with some that have done well and local record stores other fun nuggets of to find out how they record store wisdom. were doing, how they “We curate a lot planned to operate around here,” Jimenez without actually said. “Some shops opening their doors, might just have a world and generally what section, but we break it things were looking up: Africa, Brazil, Asia like at the time. A and so on.” couple of days later, Indeed, the shop is X AVIE R J IME NE Z Vermont rolled back its full of niches. I noticed restrictions on retail. it considerably divides Shops could open up, albeit with new up records that might otherwise be precautions and restrictions. So my story lumped together as “rock.” For instance, kind of fizzled.

Buch Spieler has a designated postBut the other day, I began to think punk/new-wave section, which I greatly about record shops again, as well as the appreciate. album sales charts that disappeared from Jimenez also said that he and his these pages more than a decade ago. Yes, business partner, KNAYTE LANDER, like once upon a time, Seven Days’ music to experiment with what they display section published weekly album sales at on their walls. Recently, they featured

THERE ARE A LOT OF NEW LISTENERS

TO THE CULTURE OF VINYL.

records with faces on the sleeves. When I stopped by, albums with landscapes dominated the display. I felt the cohesion added a bit of calm to the sometimes chaotic and stressful task of digging through stacks of vinyl.

Lovers of ’80s music should be pleased to know that the store has doubled its cache just in the past couple of weeks. The flush stacks of bargain records have flourished lately, too. And though it’s not a super-recent addition, Jimenez pointed out the shop’s Americana section, which didn’t even exist until a few years ago.

“There are a lot of new listeners to the culture of vinyl,” he said, noting that the store has been selling a lot of stereo equipment and had sold out of its topselling turntable, Audio Technica’s ATLP60, a few minutes before I walked in.

Speaking of Americana and selling turntables, Jimenez also mentioned that the soundtrack to the 2000 film O Brother, Where Art Thou? is often a new vinyl listener’s first purchase.

“People are finding that they still have the budget for getting into this, [and] that’s a genuinely nice thing to see,” he said.

GOT MUSIC NEWS? JORDAN@SEVENDAYSVT.COM

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Willverine

These recent titles are reportedly selling pretty well: WASHED OUT, Purple Noon; NATHANIEL RATELIFF, And It’s Still Alright; and BRIGHT EYES, Down in the Weeds, Where the World Once Was. Some perennial movers include MILES DAVIS, Kind of Blue; PRINCE, Purple Rain; and JOY DIVISION, Unknown Pleasures, not to mention any and all works by KENDRICK LAMAR, GORILLAZ and DAFT PUNK. Additionally, Buch Spieler’s vinyl subscription service has done well during the pandemic. Customers can sign up to have a curated selection of wax sent right to their door, with variable pricing. After telling Jimenez and Lander a little bit about your taste, they’ll mail you one new and one used record per month. Eventually, they understand customers’ sensibilities.

“We can see the arc of what works for them over time,” Jimenez said.

I’ll be checking in with other record shops in weeks to come. I hope my wallet can handle it.

Will Do

Be sure to listen to “Hope It All,” the new single from WILLVERINE, aka JAPHY RYDER’s WILL ANDREWS. The spacey electro-R&B tune features vocals from frequent collaborator FRANCESCA BLANCHARD, as well as Andrews’

signature forlorn trumpet. The track is the first single from his forthcoming mini-album, Goodnow. The new EP also features vocals from MADAILA’s MARK DALY and BLACKMER’s SAM DUPONT. “[The track] is a kind of somber love song about relationships being tough,” Andrews wrote in an email. “Most of my songs boil down to being about growing up, moving on, looking back, feeling nostalgic, etc.”

Watch for coverage of the new record soon.

Listening In If I were a superhero, my superpower would be the ability to get songs stuck in other people’s heads. Here are five songs that have been stuck in my head this week. May they also get stuck in yours.

SAULT, “Free” DANIEL WILSON, “Wedding Daze” DENT MAY, “Eastover Wives” DIANA ROSS, “Upside Down” SHAMIR, “If It Wasn’t True”

7 5

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top news stories ARTS NEWS + VIEWS

For up-to-the-minute news about the local music scene, read the Live Culture blog: sevendaysvt.com/liveculture.

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GET YOUR MUSIC REVIEWED: MUSIC@SEVENDAYSVT.COM

REVIEW this Will for Short, Crawl Inside (SELF-RELEASED, DIGITAL)

I can’t help being a little bit jealous of today’s queer youth. Artists like Montpelier’s Zak Kline, 21, have likely benefited from growing up in a world with queer visibility like never before. That’s not to say he owes a piece of his identity to someone else, but it must be a different (that is, better) experience to come of age with artists such as Shamir, King Princess, Troye Sivan, Arca and Sophie taking up lots of space.

That said, Kline, who makes music as Will for Short, mentions by email that his latest album, Crawl Inside, “…encapsulates the desire so many feel to be someone else” and that “growing up as a queer kid in Vermont I always looked elsewhere to

Kevin Lewis, Music Destroyer (SELF-RELEASED, DIGITAL)

The age of the grand recording studio has largely passed. Gone are the days of bands holing up in some decadent mansion or dank studio to craft sounds. Now, factoring in quarantine life as well, more artists are making music alone from home, with varying degrees of success.

Kevin Lewis has been doing it solo for a while. His previous record, Songs From the Fireplace, was also a DIY effort.

The Burlington-via-Plattsburgh, N.Y., musician mixed and mastered the record by himself — no small feat — as he did for his new one, Music Destroyer. The result is a supremely mixed bag of inconsistencies: good ideas, bad execution, promising bits and occasional moments of true inspiration

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discover who I wanted to be. Will for Short is the first step in looking to myself for the guidance I need.” Clearly, everyone has challenges.

For Kline, making pop music seemingly isn’t one of them. He fluently glides between styles across the album’s nine tracks, oscillating through piano- and guitarled tunes that center his ascendant vocals and poetry.

He seasons his earnest lyrics with just enough ambiguity to make them relatable yet still aesthetically pleasing. As a producer, Kline has clearly made huge strides on his own, but he could benefit from collaborating with a pro — perhaps Christopher Hawthorn, known for his recent triumph with singersongwriter Francesca Blanchard, whom Kline names as a mentor.

The first time we hear Kline’s voice on the opening, title track, he pitch-bends himself into a squirrelly high register. While initially alienating, it seems to signal not a desire to hide but a penchant for theatricality.

The album is a grand pageant, with Kline working himself through many roles.

“Still Gonna Love Me” is a thinking person’s club banger about unconditional love. Its bass line is thick, its beats charged with urgency.

“Watch Me Leave” and “Angel (in the Sky)” are spiritual siblings, both calling on the essence of trip-hop’s lavender stain on mainstream ’90s pop.

Subject-wise, they hit opposite ends of the spectrum: The first claws its way out of darkness, and the second soars over silverlined clouds.

Drawing out the tension with clicks and snaps over MIDI organ, “Just a Memory” builds with intensity that explodes once the kick and snare arrive halfway through. Lyrically, Kline is on the edge of a breakdown (“I’m losing grip on where I’d like to be … I don’t know where to go”), but vindication and self-acceptance are implied as the song picks up speed and power.

Kline also makes room for politics on the protest piano ballad “Elm Street,” a timely inclusion. He closes with “Georgia,” a spacious, radio-ready anthem with a juxtaposition of kinetic beats and richly strummed guitar.

Stacked with earworms and tantalizing ideas, Crawl Inside establishes Kline as an artist with incredible promise. Let’s hope he continues.

Listen to Crawl Inside on Spotify.

that can only hope to break up the more unlistenable moments of the record.

“This Way” comes out of the gate with a laid-back groove straight from the ’90s, all acoustic guitar and off-the-cuff singing. It’s sloppy but charming, with Lewis singing a melody in his comfort zone. That’s something a producer might have pointed out to him before moving on to other tracks, such as “Mermaids.”

I can imagine a scenario in which I find myself being tortured by the CIA and the waterboarding just ain’t cutting it. All they’d have to do is play “Mermaids” on repeat, and I’d admit to faking the moon landing — anything to make this song stop. It starts out fine enough, coming in like a lo-fi Dinosaur

Jr. track, full of energy and fuzz. About halfway through the guitar solo, Lewis decides to say “Fuck it” and finds every bad note available.

It seems like a conscious decision, as if he decided dissonance would service his songs. That thought has merit. There are certainly times to pop out of key and just get violently weird with one’s playing. But the tactic doesn’t work in what is essentially pop rock. It’s even more misplaced when Lewis does it vocally on songs such as “Change Me.” Lewis has a distinctive voice, capable and effective when used properly. But when he attempts to push it out of that comfort zone, the results can be tough to deal with.

A good songwriter lurks behind these missteps, however. “Sunflower” is a slice of breezy chords with somber, introspective lyrics about enjoying life before it’s all over. “Treat yourself while the rose is in bloom / Treat yourself and howl at the moon,” Lewis sings. He delivers those lines with self-confidence. And he steps up his production skills on this track, as well as on the bizarre yet intriguing “Catch Lightning.”

Though afflicted by the requisite inconsistencies of a DIY record, these two tracks are high-water marks on Music Destroyer, featuring Lewis’ best playing, singing and producing.

His albums are full of promise but also poor decisions. If Lewis can just shift the balance a little, he’ll be onto something.

Stream Music Destroyer at kevinlewis. bandcamp.com.

JORDAN ADAMS

CHRIS FARNSWORTH

10/5/20 11:50 AM

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Major Arcana ★★★★★ COURTESY OF GOOD DEED ENTERTAINMENT

REVIEW

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LUCK OF THE DRAW Rekindling a romance proves challenging for a man trying to rebuild his life in Melrod’s Vermont-made film.

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O

ur streaming entertainment options are overwhelming — and not always easy to sort through. This week, I preview a Vermont-made film from Barnard director Josh Melrod. Major Arcana will be screened at Montpelier’s Savoy 3:40 PM Theater on Thursday, October 8, 7 p.m., followed by a Q&A with Melrod and stars Ujon Tokarski (also of Barnard) and Tara Summers. Reserve tickets for the limitedattendance event at savoytheater.com.

After that, the movie will be streamable from the Savoy’s virtual cinema through October, one of a slew of such engagements around the country.

Mon-Sat: 8am-4pm Sunday: 10am-4pm

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The deal

After years on the road, a carpenter named Dink (Tokarski) returns to his Vermont hometown. His father has recently died, leaving him 54 acres, a decent wad of cash, and a trailer crammed with overflowing ashtrays and junk.

One of the first things Dink does is remove his dad’s six-pack of beer from the fridge and pour it down the drain.

That accomplished, he leaves the trailer, pitches a tent in the woods and starts felling trees to build a cabin of his own.

Dink’s long days of labor get less solitary and more complicated when he reconnects with an old flame, Sierra (Tara Summers), who works at the general store and reads tarot on the side.

While he’s serious about his sobriety, she drinks — a lot. And she’s not happy with the abrupt way he left her last time.

Is romance in the cards, or just more heartbreak?

Will you like it?

Want to watch a guy hang out in the woods and build a cabin from scratch? What if it’s more interesting than I just made it sound?

Major Arcana is basically a two-character drama and for long stretches a solo one, with leisurely scenes of Dink turning tree trunks into beams or raising the cabin’s frame. And it’s oddly mesmerizing, whether you’re into carpentry or not.

While the movie is, to a degree, about a man struggling with the demons of his past, it’s more about the joy and restorative power of working to create something from nothing. Tokarski, an actual carpenter who had never acted before Major Arcana, has a natural, unforced presence. While Dink is moody and sometimes despairing, we get the sense that he always feels better when he’s working with his hands.

The movie views Dink head-on, without romanticizing his status as a lone woodsman, and it treats his relationship with Sierra the same way. A TV veteran with a résumé that includes “Boston Legal” and “Damages,” Summers somehow looks perfectly at home working the counter of a small-town general store.

Sierra’s sly wit and grounded presence seem like exactly what Dink needs — until we learn that “getting hammered” is a way of life for her.

While Sierra is still angry at the drunk Dink used to be, the sober Dink unsettles her on a deeper level. In its quiet way, the movie hints at the difficulty of breaking intergenerational cycles of poverty and addiction. Dink’s strung-out mom (Lane Bradbury) wants to get her hands on his inheritance so she can gamble it away, but

even she isn’t a villain so much as a cautionary reminder of who he used to be.

This is the first narrative feature for Melrod, who codirected the 2012 documentary Cartoon College (about the Center for Cartoon Studies in White River Junction), and his extensive editing background serves him well. Slow and contemplative as it is, Major Arcana never gets bogged down. Melrod makes spare, lyrical use of the Vermont landscape — neon-green maples, mist rising from a lake — without hiding the darker side of rural living. If you care about homegrown cinema, check out this promising debut.

If you like this, try...

• Build the Wall (2020; Vimeo): I reviewed this no-budget drama from “mumblecore” pioneer Joe Swanberg in August. Shot in Hardwick, Vt., it also features a guy hanging out in the woods and painstakingly building something — in this case, a traditional stone wall.

• Her Smell (2019; HBO Max, rentable): Here’s a movie about the struggle to stay sober in a whole different milieu. Elisabeth Moss won critical acclaim as a ’90s punk queen in a movie that Recovery Unplugged calls “a very real depiction of the hardships with which many active and recovering addicts are faced.”

• “Rectify” (2013-16; Netflix, rentable): In this quietly powerful SundanceTV series, Aden Young plays a man trying to rebuild his life after 20 years on death row. I can’t recommend it highly enough to anyone who likes thoughtful, slowburn dramas like Major Arcana.

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LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS (Sunset Drive-In)

HENCHMEN: A henchman-in-training must stop a supervillain in this family animation featuring the voices of Thomas Middleditch, James Marsden and Rosario Dawson. Adam Wood directed. (89 min, NR; Essex Cinemas)

THE ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW (Sunset Drive-In)

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MONTY PYTHON AND THE HOLY GRAIL (Essex Cinemas Drive-In at the Mansfield Barn, Sat only)

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THE WOMAN WHO LOVES GIRAFFES (Savoy Theater, Sat & Mon only)

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ESSEX CINEMAS DRIVE-IN AT THE MANSFIELD BARN: 3 Irish Farm Rd., Jericho, 879-6543, ROUGH ROAD DURABILITY essexcinemas.com SEVERE WEATHER TRACTION

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THE CALL: In this fright flick set in 1987, an accident brings a group of friends to a home where evil lurks.

Horror stalwarts Lin Shaye and Tobin Bell play the proprietors. Timothy Woodward Jr. directed. (Essex Cinemas)

THE SAVOY THEATER: 26 Main St., Montpelier, tire has the durability you need for Small/Midsize SUVs 229-0598, savoytheater.com whatever the road has in store.

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*For complete product and warranty details, please visit www.coopertire.com or coopertire.ca. ©2020 Cooper Tire & Rubber Company. All Rights Reserved.

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TREADWEAR WARRANTY*

CONFIDENT HANDLING

South Burlington

uneven surfaces, giving you better contact A durable internal helps the tire a full tire life withconstruction the road and achieving keep its shapethrough when driving over rough and even wear. uneven surfaces, giving you better contact with the road and achieving a full tire life through even wear.

to stand up to rough roads, and can help Extra strength steel belts, like the ones in to improve handling control. our off-road tires, provide the tire strength to stand up to rough roads, and can help to improve handling control.

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ESSEX CINEMAS & T-REX THEATER: 21 Essex Way, Suite 300, Essex, 879-6543, essexcinemas.com

Slush-Covered Roads - Exceptionally Quiet - Superior Grip On Ice And Snow

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NOW PLAYING

KAJILLIONAIREHHHH Miranda July (The Future) wrote and directed this unusual heist comedy about a con-artist couple (Debra Winger and Richard Jenkins) who have trained their daughter (Evan Rachel Wood) to follow in their footsteps.

With Gina Rodriguez. (106 min, R; Essex Cinemas)

Small/Midsize SUVs

Evolution Winter

OPEN THEATERS AND POP-UPS DISCOVERER

THE WAR WITH GRANDPA: Forced to share a room with his grandfather (Robert De Niro), a kid (Oakes Fegley) goes on the offensive to get his space back in this family comedy directed by Tim Hill (Hop).

With Uma Thurman and Rob Riggle. (94 min, PG; Essex Cinemas)

ITH1/2 Half of Stephen King’s horror novel, about a gang of misfit kids fighting a monster that takes on the likeness of a creepy clown, comes to the big screen. Jaeden Lieberher, Jeremy Ray Taylor and Bill Skarsgård star. Andy Muschietti (Mama) directed. (135 min, R; reviewed by Rick Kisonak 9/13/17. Sunset Drive-In)

TM

- Plows Through Snow - Studdable For Extreme Ice Traction - Made In The USA

TOTAL RECALL 30TH ANNIVERSARY (Essex Cinemas, Fri & Sat only)

TIME: An award winner at the Sundance Film Festival, this documentary follows a woman’s fight for her husband’s release from prison, where he’s serving 60 years for a bank robbery. Garrett Bradley directed. (Savoy Theater)

COCOHHHH In this Disney-Pixar family animation, a boy must explore the Land of the Dead to find out why his family opposes his musical aspirations.

With the voices of Anthony Gonzalez, Gael García Bernal and Benjamin Bratt. Lee Unkrich (Toy Story 3) and Adrian Molina directed. (109 min, PG; Essex Cinemas)

DISCOVERER TS R REPOR ENDURAMAX CONSUMEP PICK DISCOVERER Final Season SUVs Small/Midsize O T ENDURAMAX Get them while they - Exceptional Wet Traction For

TCM BIG SCREEN CLASSICS PRESENTS: PSYCHO (Essex Cinemas, Sun only)

ON THE ROCKS: Writer-director Sofia Coppola reunites with Bill Murray for this bittersweet comedy in which a woman (Rashida Jones) enlists her playboy dad to help her find out if her husband (Marlon Wayons) is cheating on her. (96 min, R; Savoy Theater)

Nordman 7

Hakkapeliitta 9

*For complete product and warranty details, please visit www.coopertire.com or coopertire.ca. ©2020 Cooper Tire & Rubber Company. All Rights Reserved.

Montpelier 90 River St.

1877From Williston Rd. rough city streets to gravel

229-4941 1800-639-1900

roads the Discoverer EnduraMax 658-1333 tire has the durability you need Mon.-for Fri. 7:30am-5pm Sat. 8am-12pm 1800-639-1901 whatever the road has in store. ™

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60,000 mile / 96,000 km

TREADWEAR WARRANTY* DURABLE-TREAD™ TECHNOLOGY Highway I City/Rural Streets I Rough Roads Helps to extend the life of your tire tread with Uneven Pavement I Gravel ultra-durable materials that resist wear and tear from rough road conditions like gravel and uneven city streets, which can quickly wear out other tires.

EXCEPTIONALLY QUIET TREAD Remarkably quiet on the road, thanks to the unique tread pattern that minimizes tire noise.

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Confidently tackle the changing seasons with sawtooth grooves to enhance snow traction and control in wintery conditions.

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ROUGH ROAD DURABILITY

SMOOTH, QUIET RIDE

SEVERE WEATHER CONFIDENT HANDLING Made with the durability of off-road tires, for on-road driving.

TRACTION

Severe Weather Rated

THE NEW MUTANTSHH In the last entry in the current X-Men film series, young mutants must use their abilities to escape from a secret facility.

With Maisie Williams, Anya Taylor-Joy and Charlie Heaton. Josh Boone directed. (98 min, PG-13; Essex Cinemas)

DURABLE-TREAD™ TECHNOLOGY Helps to extend the life of your tire tread with ultra-durable materials that resist wear and tear

Nordman 7 Studded

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Uneven PavementIn WINTER GRIP™ I Gravel *

TENETHH1/2 Christopher Nolan (Interstellar) brings us a new high-concept spectacular in which John David Washington plays a mysterious agent who appears to be fighting for the very nature of time and reality. With Elizabeth Debicki, Robert Pattinson and Kenneth Branagh. (150 min, PG-13; Essex Cinemas, Sunset Drive-In)

A durable internal construction helps the tire TECHNOLOGY keep its shape when driving over rough and Confidently tackle the changing seasons *For complete product and warranty details, please visit www.coopertire.com or coopertire.ca. ©2020 Cooper Tire & Rubber Company. All Rights Reserved.uneven surfaces, giving you better contact with sawtooth grooves to enhance with the road and achieving a full tire life snow traction and control in through even wear. wintery conditions.

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UNHINGEDHH Caren Pistorius plays a woman unlucky enough to become the target of an unstable man (Russell Crowe) after a traffic encounter in this thriller from director Derrick Borte (American Dreamer). (90 min, R; Essex Cinemas)

ultra-durable materials that resist wear and tear from rough road conditions like gravel and uneven city streets, which can quickly wear out other tires.

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OLDER FILMS

*For complete product and warranty details, please visit www.coopertire.com or coopertire.ca. ©2020 Cooper Tire & Rubber Company. All Rights Reserved.

BEETLEJUICE (Sunset Drive-In) HOCUS POCUS (Bijou Drive-In, Fri & Sat only; Essex Cinemas; Sunset Drive-In)

Evan Rachel Wood in Kajillionaire

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classes

CLASS PLANS MAY CHANGE DUE TO THE PANDEMIC. PLEASE CHECK WITH ORGANIZERS IN ADVANCE.

THE FOLLOWING CLASS LISTINGS ARE PAID ADVERTISEMENTS. ANNOUNCE YOUR CLASS FOR AS LITTLE AS $16.75/WEEK (INCLUDES SIX PHOTOS AND UNLIMITED DESCRIPTION ONLINE). SUBMIT YOUR CLASS AD AT SEVENDAYSVT.COM/POSTCLASS.

art ONLINE ANIMATION WORKSHOP: Animation allows you to tell powerful visual stories. In this workshop, you’ll try your hand at stop-motion animation, claymation, rotoscoping and time-lapse photography while learning the 12 Principles of Animation. You will develop foundational animation skills and apply those techniques to group and independent work.

Oct. 14-Nov. 18, Wed., 7-9 p.m.

EST. Cost: $300/person for 5 2-hour classes. Location: Putney School, online. Info: Putney School Summer Arts, Peter Wallis, 779-1112, pwallis@meca. edu, summer.putneyschool.org/ workshops/#animation.

dance RESILIENT DANCING: ONLINE FALL DANCE CLASS SERIES: Presenting three new Zoom October classes: Composition for Teens; 3 Ways to Party: A Hip Hop and House Dance Experience; and Somatic Explorations and Art for Culture Shift. All classes are open level/drop-in friendly. Email info@ vermontdance.org for accessibility requests or to apply for a scholarship or group rate. Sep.Dec. Cost: $10/person to drop in; $200/person for unlimited class card. Location: Zoom, online.

Info: VT Dance Alliance, Hanna Satterlee, 410-458-3672, info@ vermontdance.org, vermont dance.org/events.

language LEARN SPANISH LIVE & ONLINE: Broaden your world.

Learn Spanish online via live videoconferencing. High-quality, affordable instruction in the Spanish language for adults, students and children. Travelers lesson package. Our 14th year.

Personal small group and individual instruction with a native speaker. See our website for complete information, or contact us for details. Location: Spanish in Waterbury Center, Waterbury Center. Info: 585-1025, spanishparavos@gmail.com, spanishwaterburycenter.com.

yoga

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 JiuJitsu, 55 Leroy Rd., Williston. Info: 598-2839, julio@bjjusa. com, vermontbjj.com.

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: $0-15. 10-class pass: $120. $5 new student special. Flexible pricing, scholarships avail.

Location: Evolution Yoga, 20 Kilburn St., Burlington. Info: 8649642, evolutionvt.com.

massage CHINESE MEDICAL MASSAGE: This program teaches two forms of East Asian 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. 2021. Cost: $6,000/625-hour program. Location: Elements of Healing, 21 Essex Way, Suite 109, Essex Jct.. Info: Scott Moylan, 2888160, scott@elementsofhealing. net, elementsofhealing.net.

martial arts VERMONT BRAZILIAN JIU-JITSU: Brazilian jiujitsu is a martial arts combat style based entirely on leverage and 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

STONE ART

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INTRODUCING BURLINGTON’S FIRST

+ROCK SOLID 20th Annual Exhibit +ART STROLL 16 Sculpture City Tour

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CENTRAL VT’S DYNAMIC ART CENTER

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Humane

Society of Chittenden County

Harriett AGE/SEX: 17-year-old spayed female ARRIVAL DATE: September 11, 2020 REASON HERE: She did not get along with other cats in the home.

SUMMARY: This “Golden Girl” is looking for a top-notch retirement home with all of the amenities a cat could want: cozy spots to nap, treats at the ready and someone to hang out with (just no other feline roommates, please!).

Harriett may be 17 years old, but she still has plenty of purrsonality and pep in her step — and just wait until you see her amazing floofy tail! If you have room in your heart and home for a mature lady in her golden years, schedule a meeting with Harriett today!

housing »

APARTMENTS, CONDOS & HOMES

DID YOU KNOW?

Keeping an eye on your pet’s weight is important in recognizing potential health issues. While small variations might be due to simple lifestyle changes (such as going on more walks now that their owner is working from home, or enjoying a bit too many table scraps), sudden or significant weight gain/loss is cause for concern. If you notice a change in your furry friend’s waistline, call your veterinarian for a checkup!

Sponsored by:

DOGS/CATS: Harriett will likely do best in a home without other cats. She has no known history living with dogs.

on the road »

CARS, TRUCKS, MOTORCYCLES

pro services »

CHILDCARE, HEALTH/ WELLNESS, PAINTING

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APPLIANCES, KID STUFF, ELECTRONICS, FURNITURE

music »

INSTRUCTION, CASTING, INSTRUMENTS FOR SALE

jobs »

NO SCAMS, ALL LOCAL, POSTINGS DAILY

NEW STUFF ONLINE EVERY DAY! PLACE YOUR ADS 24-7 AT SEVENDAYSVT.COM.

SEVEN DAYS OCTOBER 7-14, 2020

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CLASSIFIEDS

housing ads: $25 (25 words) legals: 52¢/word buy this stuff: free online services: $12 (25 words)

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

FOR RENT

3-BR NOW, 2-BR SOON, 2004 FORD RANGER BURLINGTON FOR SALE Roomy 3-BR, now, 1st RUST-FREE SUBARU Ford Ranger Edge. 4-liter sm-allmetals060811.indd 7/20/15 1 5:02 PM floor, prime location, LEGACY OUTBACK engine, 52K miles, mint Burlington. Roomy 2- & 1996 Subaru Legacy interior. Needs body 3-BR will be avail. soon, Outback. Ready for work. Great project great location, 2nd floor. winter & to pass or parts vehicle. For Burlington. Call Joe at inspection. 260K miles, more info, call Steve at 802-318-8916 or Jackie 5-speed. Timing belt, 434-2348. at 802-238-0004. rear brakes, e-brakes & more recently done.

CASH FOR CARS! AFFORDABLE Anthony, 279-6449.

We buy all cars! Junk, 2-BR APT. AVAIL. high-end, totaled: It At Keen’s Crossing. doesn’t matter. Get free 2-BR: $1,266/mo., heat & towing & same-day HW incl. Open floor plan, cash. Newer models, fully applianced kitchen, 2012 HONDA CBR250R too. Call 1-866-535fi tness center, pet MOTORCYCLE 9689. (AAN CAN) friendly, garage parking.

2-cylinder, black.

Income restrictions 8,851 miles. Great apply. 802-655-1810, condition. 1 women’s keenscrossing.com. small JHC helmet, 1 medium women’s fly BASEMENT APT. racing helmet, women’s DOWNTOWN padded jacket, riding $1,000/mo., $1,000 gloves incl. $2,500. sec. dep. Avail. now. squintal26@gmail.com.

Artsy furnished apt.,

MOTORCYCLES

coin laundry, paid utils., Wi-Fi/TV, shared outside decks, green area. Call Don at 802-233-1334.

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

BURLINGTON Single room, Hill Section, on bus line.

No cooking. Linens furnished. 862-2389.

No pets.

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

TAFT FARM SENIOR LIVING COMMUNITY 10 Tyler Way, Williston, independent senior living. Newly remodeled 1-BR unit on the main floor avail., $1,185/ mo. incl. utils. & cable.

NS/pets. Must be 55+ years of age. cintry@ fullcirclevt.com or 802-879-3333.

print deadline: Mondays at 4:30 p.m. post ads online 24/7 at: sevendaysvt.com/classifieds questions? classifieds@sevendaysvt.com 865-1020 x10

WINOOSKI 2-BR 2-BR, 2nd-floor apt. in Winooski. Gas stove, gas heat, full BA, LR. No pets. $1,200/mo. Call 864-0341.

services

HOUSEMATES NEED A ROOMMATE? Roommates.com will help you find your perfect match today!

(AAN CAN)

TAFT FARM SENIOR LIVING COMMUNITY 10 Tyler Way, Williston, independent senior living. Newly remodeled 1-BR unit on the ground floor, w/ restricted view avail., $1,095/mo. incl. utils. & cable. NS/pets.

Must be 55+ years of age. cintry@fullcirclevt. com, 802-879-3333.

OFFICE/ COMMERCIAL 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.

AUTO DONATE YOUR CAR TO CHARITY Receive maximum value of write-off for your taxes. Running or not!

All conditions accepted.

Free pickup. Call for details. 855-978-0215.

(AAN CAN)

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)

EDUCATION Contact Robbi for your Real Estate needs.

Let’s make it happen.

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)

FINANCIAL/LEGAL

AUTO INSURANCE KEEN’S CROSSING IS Starting at $49/mo.!

Robbi Handy Holmes • 802-951-2128 NOW LEASING! Call for your fee rate 1-BR, $1,054/mo.; 2-BR, robbihandyholmes@vtregroup.com comparison to see how $1,266/mo.; 3-BR, Client focused much you can save. Call $1,397/mo. Spacious 855-569-1909. (AAN Making it happen for you! interiors, fully appliCAN) anced kitchen, fi tness center, heat & HW incl.

Income restrictions apply. 802-655-1810,16t-robbihandyholmes100720-2.indd 1 10/2/20 11:05 AM keenscrossing.com.

PINECREST AT ESSEX 9 Joshua Way, Essex Jct. Independent senior living for those 55+ years. 1-BR avail. now, $1,240/mo. incl. utils. & parking garage. NS/ pets. 802-872-9197 or rae@fullcirclevt.com.

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) 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) OVER $10K IN DEBT? Be debt-free in 24-48 mos. Pay a fraction of what you owe. A+ BBB rated. Call National Debt Relief: 877-590-1202.

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Call today for a free consultation. 1-866-9912581. (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)

Homeshares

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

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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 OCTOBER 7-14, 2020

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.com, 802-234-8000 (call/ text). Milton.

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) HALLOWEEN MASSAGE RAFFLE! Feeling twisted? Get a massage! Schedule yours today. mountain lakemassage.com.

Angel, 370-9258; James, 393-7154.

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.

VIRTUAL TAROT READINGS Looking for deeper meaning in your life?

Feeling unsatisfied w/ the lack of balance & disconnection of the modern world?

Connect w/ your inner, sacred self. Schedule a virtual tarot reading & kick-start your personal & spiritual evolution.

802-881-8976, tarotwitherika@ outlook.com

BURLINGTON Avid sports fan in his 80s seeking housemate to cook 3-4 evening meals/wk & be available for daytime transportation. $250/mo. Private BA. No pets/smoking.

SHOREHAM EQUAL HOUSING OPPORTUNITY

HEALTH/ WELLNESS

Share a home w/ a kind senior man. No rent in exchange for evening meal prep & light help around the house. No smoking. Private BA.

WARREN Share condo w/ professional woman & her pets. Minimal rent in exchange for housekeeping, pet care & occas. transportation. Furnished BR, private BA. No smoking.

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

9/25/20 12:15 PM

buy this stuff

GARAGE/ESTATE SALES GARAGE SALE, SAT., OCT. 10 8 a.m.-2 p.m. 199 Nice Way, Colchester.

Antiques, drum kit, bass guitar, kayak, household stuff.

BUY THIS STUFF »

Calcoku SEVENDAYSVT.COM/CLASSIFIEDS »

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DIFFICULTY THIS WEEK: HH

DIFFICULTY THIS WEEK: HH

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Sudoku

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SEVENDAYSVT.COM/DAILY7 8v-daily7-coffee.indd 1

SEVEN DAYS OCTOBER 7-14, 2020

1/13/14 1:45 PM

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Public Auto Auction Every Friday @ 9AM Register from 7:30AM

298 J Brown Dr., Williston, VT 802-878-9200  800-474-6132

Consign YOUR Vehicle Today!

Former 6-Unit Apartment Building Thursday, October 15 @ 11AM Register from 10AM

2572 VT-15, Cambridge, VT

Property close to Smuggler’s Notch and Burlington. 0.43± acre parcel. Owner says present offers.

End of Season Job Completion Construction & Drilling Equipment Simulcast Thurs., Oct. 22 @ 10AM Register and Inspect from 8AM

VT-100, Morristown, VT

300+ Lots

buy this stuff [CONTINUED] GARAGE SALE, THE WOODLANDS 15 Lida Dr., Essex. Oct 10 & 11. Kitchen items, furniture, video games, computers, toys & lots more. Use masks & sanitizer.

HOUSEHOLD ITEMS FURNACE, MINI FRIDGE & MORE Miller furnace, 40-gallon hot water tank, small chest freezer, mini fridge & electric clothes dryer. Prices negotiable. Contact Jeff at 802-373-2466.

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)

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@burlington musicdojo.com.

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.

STUDIO/ REHEARSAL 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.

PETS Foreclosure: 2BR/1BA Condo Chittenden County

Thursday, October 22 @ 11AM 100 Kennedy Dr., Unit 6, S. Burlington, VT

Turn key 790±SF, 2BR/1BA ground level condo. Located in Manor Woods.

3BR/1BA Home on 25± Acres Friday, October 30 @ 3PM Register and Inspect from 2PM

28 Church St., Swanton, VT Open House: Fri., Oct. 16 from 2-4PM Village home in need of renovations.

1,544±SF, full basement, barn and outbuildings. 3.5± acres are in the village, and the remaining acres are in the town, totaling 25± acres. 0.61± mile frontage on Missisquoi River close to downtown Swanton. Missisiquoi Rail Trail bisects this property.

THCAuction.com 800-634-7653 58

PET FOR SALE Exotic shorthair female orange tabby. CFA reg.

All shots up-to-date. 4 years old. I purchased breeding rights, & cat is still intact.

Please leave message: 802-359-3805.

music

INSTRUCTION ANDY’S MOUNTAIN MUSIC Online lessons!

Affordable, accessible, no-stress instruction in banjo, guitar, mandolin, more. All ages/skill levels/interests welcome.

Dedicated teacher; refs., convenience. Andy Greene, 802-658-2462, guitboy75@hotmail. com, andysmountain music.com.

BASS, GUITAR, DRUMS, VOICE LESSONS & MORE Remote music lessons are an amazing way to spend time at home! Learn guitar, bass, piano, voice,

SEVEN DAYS OCTOBER 7-14, 2020

4v-hirchakbrothers100720 1

10/5/20 9:28 AM

ACT 250 NOTICE MINOR APPLICATION #4C0497-2 10 V.S.A. §§ 6001-6093 On December 31, 2019, the Champlain Water District, filed application number 4C0497-2 for a project generally described as the construction of a 30 foot x 30 foot building to house a new water booster pump station, construction of approximately 976 feet of electric power line, construction of approximately 1,454 feet of 12” water main, and related improvements.

The project is located at 20 Upper Main Street in Essex Junction, Vermont. The application was deemed complete on September 25, 2020 The 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 office listed below.

The 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 “4C0497-2.”

Vermont this 29th day of September, 2020.

No hearing will be held and a permit may be issued unless, on or before October 21, 2020, a person notifies 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.

By: _/s/Rachel Lomonaco__ Rachel Lomonaco, District Coordinator 111 West Street Essex Junction, VT 05452 802-879-5658 Rachel.Lomonaco@ vermont.gov

If you feel that any of the District Commission members listed on the attached Certificate of Service under “For Your Information” may have 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 October 21, 2020. 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.

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).

Dated at Essex Junction,

AUCTION - MOBILE HOME Sale Date & Location: Wednesday, 10/14/2020 at 11:00 a.m. – Sunset Lake Mobile Home Park, Lot #31, 58 Wile Street in Hinesburg, VT. For more info. call (802) 860-9536.

1970, 3-bedroom, 1 bath, 12’ x 65’, Min. bid $11,732.93.

Must be moved 5 days after sale.

Auctioneer: Uriah Wallace – Lic. #057-0002460 STATE OF VERMONT SUPERIOR COURT CHITTENDEN UNIT PROBATE DIVISION DOCKET NO.: 786-7-20 CNPR IN RE ESTATE OF: GREGORY A. BLAIR NOTICE TO CREDITORS To the creditors of: Gregory A. Blair, late of Williston, Vermont.

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: September 30, 2020 Signature of Fiduciary: /s/_Ryan Blair Executor/Administrator: Ryan Blair, 272 South Road, Williston, VT 05495 Name of Publication: Seven Days Publication Date: 10/7/20 Probate Court: Vermont Superior Court, Chittenden Unit, Probate Division, PO Box 511, Burlington, VT 05402 NOTICE OF PUBLIC AUCTION: Booska Movers, Inc. is holding a public auction on October 24, 2020 8:00am at 180 Flynn Ave Burlington, VT 05401.

Anyone wanting to settle these account by paying the amount due in full by cash or cashier’s check can do

so by October 23, 2020 close of business day 5:00pm in person.

Anoec Corvo or Winooski, VT Mary Gagne of Colchester, VT These account will be auctioned on October 24, 2020 at 8:00 AM due to none payment in rent Booska Movers, Inc. Anyone interested in satisfying this account should do so before October 23, 2020 at Booska Movers, Inc., 180 Flynn Ave., Burlington, VT. NOTICE OF SELF STORAGE LIEN SALE FORT ETHAN ALLEN MINI STORAGE 120 HEGEMAN AVE. COLCHESTER VT. 05446 802-654-7779 Notice is hereby given that the contents of the following units will be sold to the public by sealed bid. The sale is being held to collect unpaid fees, late charges and expenses of the sale.

Linda Dyer unit 112 A.R. Bader unit 113 Helen Tehune unit 13 Deb Delisle unit 28 Jean Micheal Duga unit 27 Donald Nicoles unit 147 Storage unit sale will take place on October 16th, 2020. beginning at 10am at Fort Ethan Allen Mini Storage, 120 Hegeman Ave., Colchester,Vt. 05446 Units will be opened for viewing and all bids will opened after showings.

Contents of each unit will be sold to highest bidder. The winning bidder must remove all contents. We reserve the right to reject any bid.

SEEKING COMMENT ON 2020 CONSOLIDATED ANNUAL PERFORMANCE AND EVALUATION REPORT TO HUD The Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD) has prepared the Consolidated Annual Performance and Evaluation Report (CAPER) for submission to the U. S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) for the period ending June 30, 2020. The CAPER is the Annual report to HUD for the following programs: Community Development Block Grant (CDBG); HOME Investment Partnership Program (HOME); Housing Trust Fund (HTF) and the Emergency Solutions

Grant Program (ESG).

Upon review and approval of the CAPER, HUD will issue the new grant agreements for this year’s funding.

Interested parties are encouraged to go to the Department’s website at http://accd. vermont.gov/housing/ plans-data-rules/hud to view or download a copy of the Draft 2020 Consolidated Annual Performance Evaluation Report as of October 23, 2020.

Please email or call Cindy Blondin at Cindy.

Blondin@vermont.gov or 828-5219 or toll free at 1-866-933-6249 with any questions. Written comments for the CAPER must be received by November 13, 2020 no later than 4:30pm at the DHCD, 1 National Life Drive, Montpelier, VT 05620-0501, ATTN: Cindy Blondin, or e-mail comments at Cindy.

Blondin@vermont.gov.

SEEKING COMMENT ON ROUND 3 CARES ACT FUNDING FROM HUD AMENDMENT TO FY19 CONSOLIDATED PLAN FOR COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT BLOCK GRANT PROGRAM The Agency of Commerce and Community Development, Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD) has developed an Amendment in response to COVID-19 to the FY19 Consolidated Plan to include the additional CARES Act Funding under Public Law 116-136 dated March 27, 2020 for the Community Development Block Grant Program (CDBG-CV3). Upon review and approval of the Amendment, HUD will amend the existing grant agreement issued to the Agency to add the Round 3 funding.

The Round 3 funding includes a $400,000 set aside for the City of Burlington municipal projects, as well as $1,540,149 of additional funding for statewide municipal projects.

Interested parties are encouraged to go to the Department’s website at https://accd.vermont. gov/housing/plansdata-rules/hud to review the Draft Amendment to the Consolidated Plan FY19 Action Plan which indicates how the state intends on using the CARES Act funding.

Please email or call Cindy Blondin at Cindy.

Blondin@vermont. gov or 828-5219 or toll free at 1-866-933-6249 with any questions.

DHCD will be accepting written comments to

NOW COMES Milton Mobile Home Cooperative, Inc. (“MMHC”), by and through its counsel Nadine L. Scibek, and hereby complains as follows:

4. Shevlin is deceased.

Her date of death is March 26, 2019.

See attached Death Certificate.

5. A probate estate for Shevlin was opened in the Vermont Superior Court, Chittenden Probate Division on April 29, 2019 and Jennifer L. Ovitt was appointed as Fiduciary for the Estate of Patricia A. Shevlin.

6. MMHC had been in regular contact with Jennifer L. Ovitt and on January 10, 2020 a Final Decree of Distribution was issued by the Chittenden Probate

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Court decreeing the mobile home to Shevlin’s children, Jennifer L. Ovitt, Dustin J. Aldrich & Isaac D. Aldrich. See attached.

7. Jennifer Ovitt informed MMHC on June 30, 2020 via email that she had transferred all her rights of the property to her brothers.

However, no title transfer documentation was ever recorded with the Town of Milton according to the Town Clerk, so Shevlin remains the owner of record with the Town.

8. The last known legal occupant of the Mobile Home was Shevlin.

The mobile home is abandoned and is empty.

9. MMHC’s counsel has communicated in writing with Jennifer Ovitt to determine her intentions with respect to the Mobile Home and has received no response. See attached email dated August 21, 2020.

10. The following security interests, mortgages, liens and encumbrances appear of record with respect to the mobile home: a. Shevlin is in arrears on obligations to pay property taxes to the Town of Milton, Vermont in the aggregate amount of $1,269.48, plus interest and penalties.

The delinquent property taxes are now a lien on the property.

11. Uriah Wallace, a duly licensed Vermont auctioneer, is a person disinterested in the Mobile Home and the mobile home park who is able to sell the mobile home at a public auction.

12. Mobile home storage fees continue to accrue at the rate of $390.00 per month. Rent, storage fees and late charges due the Park as of September, 2020 total $6,492.00. Court costs and attorney’s fees incurred by the Park in this action currently exceed $750.00.

13. The Park sent written notice by certified mail to the Town of Milton on August 21, 2020 of its intent to commence this abandonment action.

See attached.

WHEREFORE, the Park Owner respectfully requests that the Honorable Court enter an order as follows: 1. Declare that the

Mobile Home has been abandoned; 2. Approve the sale of the Mobile Home at a public auction to be held within fifteen (15) days of the date of judgment, pursuant to 10 V.S.A. § 6249(h); and 3. Grant judgment in favor of the Park Owner and against the Mobile Home for past due and unpaid rent and mobile home storage charges through the date of judgment, together with Park Owner’s court costs, publication and mailing costs, auctioneer’s costs, winterization costs, lot cleanup charges, attorney’s fees incurred in connection with this matter and any other costs incurred by Park Owner herein.

DATED AT Burlington, Vermont this 30th day of September, 2020.

MILTON MOBILE HOME COOPERATIVE, INC. BY: Nadine L. Scibek, Attorney for MMHC. I declare that the above statement is true and accurate to the best of my knowledge and belief. I understand that if the above statement is false, I will be subject to the penalty of perjury or other sanctions in the discretion of the Court.

DATED this 30th day of September, 2020.

BY: Silvia Iannetta, Duly Authorized Agent for MMHC STATE OF VERMONT SUPERIOR COURT CIVIL DIVISION CHITTENDEN UNIT DOCKET NO. 4133-20 CNPR In re ESTATE of: Nettie Rebecca Lambert NOTICE TO CREDITORS To the creditors of: Nettie Rebecca Lambert, late of South Burlington, Vermont. 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: Friday, October 2, 2020 Signature of Fiduciary: /s/ Andrew H. Montroll, Esq.

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Andrew H. Montroll, Esq., P.O. Box 1045, Burlington, VT 054021045 (802) 540-0250 amontroll@mblawoffice. com Name of Publication: Seven Days Publication Date: 10/7/20 Probate Court: Vermont Superior Court, Chittenden Unit, Probate Division, PO Box 511, Burlington, VT 05402 STATE OF VERMONT SUPERIOR COURT PROBATE DIVISION CHITTENDEN UNIT DOCKET NO.: 20-PR01045 IN RE ESTATE OF: ELISE M. MCGREGOR NOTICE TO CREDITORS To the creditors of: Elise M. McGregor, late of Essex Junction. 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: 9/29/20 Signature of Fiduciary: /s/Kenneth Palmer Executor/Administrator: Kenneth Palmer, Dinse PC 209 Battery Street Burlington, VT 05401 mlangan@dinse.com (802) 864-5751 Name of Publication: Seven Days Publication Date:10/7/20 Probate Court: Vermont Superior Court, Probate Court, PO Box 511, Burlington, VT 05402 TOWN OF DUXBURY WARNING DEVELOPMENT REVIEW BOARD OCTOBER 27TH – 7:00 P.M. Hearing will be held at town office. Please wear mask and observe distance recommendations.

Sam & Kerry Jackson – Ward Hill Rd – Preexisting small lot – Timber Mgmt.

District – Setback Variance. Nathan Howells – Devlin Rd – Timber Mgmt. District.

Ellen Ross – Marshall Rd – Preexisting small lot.

Executor/Administrator:

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PUZZLE ANSWERS

VERIFIED COMPLAINT FOR ABANDONMENT PURSUANT TO 10 V.S.A. § 6249(h) (Auction)

6

By virtue and in execution of the Power of Sale contained in a certain mortgage given by Andrew S. Ward, Trustee of the Robert E. Ward Living Trust, to People’s United Bank, N. A., dated July 28, 2016 and recorded on August 15, 2016 in Volume 1336 at pages 330-338 of the South Burlington Land Records, of

TO: Keith Gaston, father of E.G. and A.G., you are hereby notified that a hearing to consider the termination of all your parental rights to E.G. and A.G. will be held on November 6, 2020 @ 9:00 a.m., at the Superior Court of Vermont, Family Division, Chittenden County, Costello Courthouse, 32 Cherry St. Burlington, Vermont.

You are notified to

3. Shevlin leased the Lot in the Park from MMHC for her mobile home pursuant to an oral lease. A membership fee of $100.00 was paid.

4

NOTICE OF SALE

Purchaser at the sale shall pay cash or certified funds, or produce a commitment letter from a bank or mortgage company or other lender licensed to do business in the State of Vermont at the time of the sale for the amount of the winning bid. In any case the winning bidder shall be required to produce $10,000.00 (ten thousand dollars) cash or certified funds at the close of the auction as the deposit against the sale. The property will be sold subject to all unpaid property taxes and town/village

STATE OF VERMONT CHITTENDEN COUNTY IN RE: E.G. AND A.G. VERMONT SUPERIOR COURT FAMILY DIVISION DOCKET NOS. 113/114-10-19 CNJV Notice of Hearing

A hearing on Milton Mobile Home Cooperative, Inc.’s Verified Complaint to declare as abandoned the mobile home of Patricia A. Shevlin located at the Milton Mobile Home Co-op, Lot #2, 13 Pecor Avenue in Milton, Vermont and authorize the sale by auction has been scheduled on October 19, 2020 at 8:30 a.m. at the Vermont Superior Court, Chittenden Civil Division, 175 Main Street in Burlington, Vermont.

Date: October 2, 2020 Nancy J. Bean, Docket Clerk

2. Patricia A. Shevlin (“Shevlin”) is the record owner of a certain mobile home described as a 1982 Skyline, Model Custom Villa, bearing serial No. S/N0910-0200R (the “Mobile Home”), located on Lot #2, Milton Mobile Home Co-Op, 13 Pecor Avenue in Milton, Vermont. See attached recorded Final Decree of Distribution.

2

ANDREW S. WARD, TRUSTEE OF THE ROBERT E. WARD LIVING TRUST; MANOR WOODS ASSOCIATION. Defendants

Terms of Sale:

NOTICE OF HEARING

1. MMHC, a Vermont cooperative corporation with a principal place of business in Milton, County of Chittenden, State of Vermont, is the record owner of a mobile home park known as the Milton Mobile Home Co-op (the “Park”) located in the Town of Milton, Vermont.

1

v.

Dated at Essex Junction, Vermont this 16th day of September, 2020.

PEOPLE’S UNITED BANK, N.A. By: _Gordon C. Gebauer, Esq Attorney for Plaintiff

STATE OF VERMONT SUPERIOR COURT CIVIL DIVISION CHITTENDEN UNIT DOCKET NO. 20-CV-00540 IN RE: ABANDONED MOBILE HOME OF PATRICIA A. SHEVLIN

2

STATE OF VERMONT SUPERIOR COURT CIVIL DIVISION CHITTENDEN UNIT DOCKET NO. 6668-19 CNCV PEOPLE’S UNITED BANK, N. A. Plaintiff

Being all the lands and premises conveyed to Robert E. Ward, Trustee of the Robert E. Ward Living Trust dated November 25, 2008,

by Warranty Deed of Robert E. Ward dated November 25, 2008 and recorded on November 26, 2008 in Volume 829 at pages 381-382 of the South Burlington Land Records.

Other terms to be announced at the sale, or inquire at Gordon C. Gebauer, Esq., 4 Park Street, Suite 201, Essex Junction, VT 05452.

802-871-5482

/s/_Thomas J. Devine, Superior Court Judge, 9/17/20

5

Easy Self Storage, 46 Swift, South Burlington, VT 05403 802-863-8300

To Wit:

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.

appear in this case.

Failure to appear may result in the termination of your parental rights to E.G. and A.G.

1

Tara Anne Parizo Unit #18

assessments, if any.

The sale will be subject to Confirmation Order of the Superior Court, Chittenden Unit, Civil Division.

3

NOTICE OF LEGAL SALE View Date 10/22/2020 Sale Date 10/23/2020

which mortgage the undersigned is the present holder; and for breach of the conditions of said mortgages and for the purpose of foreclosing the same, the mortgaged premises will be sold all and singular as a whole at Public Auction at 11:00 A.M. on Thursday October 22, 2020 at 100 Kennedy Drive, Unit 6, South Burlington, Vermont.

View and post up to 6 photos per ad online.

4

the Amendment but they must be received

by October 16, 2020 no later than 4:30pm at the DHCD, 1 National Life Drive, Montpelier, VT 05620-0501, ATTN: Cindy Blondin, or e-mail comments at Cindy.

Blondin@vermont.gov.

Show and tell.

»

6

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[CONTINUED] TOWN OF DUXBURY NOTICE OF EXAMINATION OF PREMISES AND PUBLIC HEARING FOR DISCONTINUANCE OF A +/-600-FOOT PORTION OF THE RIGHT-OF-WAY FOR CROSSETT HILL ROAD (TOWN HIGHWAY #4) Pursuant to the requirements of Title 19, Chapter 7 of the Vermont Statutes Annotated, the Town of Duxbury Selectboard will conduct an examination of the premises on Monday, October 12, 2020, at 9:00 A.M., and a public hearing on Tuesday, October 13, 2020, at 6:00 P.M. to consider the discontinuance of a +/-600-foot portion of the right-of-way for Crossett Hill Road (Town Highay # 4), which is a Class 3 town highway. In September 1999, the Crossett Hill Road right-of-way was relocated to the south, and shortly thereafter, it was opened for travel in its current location; however, the Town never discontinued the former town highway right-of-way from the property at 417 Crossett Hill Road. The portion of the right-of-way to be discontinued is U-shaped and three rods (49.5 feet) wide.

It is shown as “Existing Easement Across Wilsons’ To Be Abandoned (3 Rod R.O.W.)” on a survey entitled, “Survey of Relocated Highway Easement – Town of Duxbury – Crossett Hill Road ‘Wilson Corner Improvements,’” dated August 1999, prepared

by Charles Grenier, Consulting Engineer, P.C., and recorded in Map Book 4, Page 36 of the Town of Duxbury Land Records. All interested parties are hereby notified to meet for the following:

following the inspection of the premises at 6:00 PM on October 13, 2020, at the Municipal Meeting Room, 5421 Route 100, Duxbury, Vermont, to receive testimony from all persons abutting, owning or interested in the matter of discontinuing this +/-600-foot portion of the right-of-way for Crossett Hill Road (Town Highway #4).

Persons wishing to comment, provide testimony or give evidence regarding the proposal may do so in person during the hearing, or by filing their comments, in writing, prior to the hearing.

For those who wish to attend the public hearing electronically, a Zoom meeting link will be provided on the Selectboard’s Agenda for the October 13 th Selectboard meeting, on or about October 9 th . If you have questions regarding this matter, please contact Selectboard Vice-Chair Mari Pratt at 802-279-6470.

If, after examining the premises and hearing from any and all interested persons, the Selectboard judges that the public good, necessity and convenience of the inhabitants of the Town of Duxbury warrants discontinuing the +/-600-foot portion of the right-of-way for Crossett Hill Road (Town Highway #4), it will be so ordered.

Dated at Duxbury, Vermont, this 4 th day of September, 2020. /s/ Mari Pratt, Selectboard Vice-Chair TOWN OF ESSEX PLANNING COMMISSION AGENDA OCTOBER 22, 2020 6:30 P.M. COVID-19 UPDATE: Due to the COVID-19 / coronavirus pandemic, this meeting will be held remotely and recorded via Microsoft Stream.

Available options to watch or join the meeting: Join via Microsoft Teams. Depending on your browser, you may need to call in for audio (below).

1. An inspection of the premises at 9:00 AM on October 12, 2020, at 417 Crossett Hill Road, Duxbury, Vermont, at the property of the Sharon H. Wilson Living Trust.

Join via conference call (audio only): (802) 377-3784 | Conference ID: 590879654#

2. A public hearing

Town Meeting TV is

Watch the live stream video on Town Meeting TV’s YouTube Channel.

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Contact Nikki 802-651-6888 ext. 2 Email: info@neddere.com aired on Comcast channel 1087.

Public wifi is available at the Essex municipal offices, libraries, and hotspots listed here: https://publicservice. vermont.gov/content/ public-wifi-hotspotsvermont.

1. Public Comment 2. SITE PLAN AMENDMENT-PUBLIC HEARING: Andrew Hood & Mansfield Industrial Associates, LLC: Proposal to amend width of access off the curb cut located at 1 Allen Martin Drive in the RPD-I. Tax Maps 71, Parcels 3. DISCUSSION: Update on Completion of ETC|NEXT. 4. Minutes: September 10, 2020.

5. Other Business.

Note: Please visit our website at www.essex. org to view agendas, application materials, and minutes.

WARNING POLICY ADOPTION CHAMPLAIN VALLEY SCHOOL DISTRICT The Board of School Directors gives public notice of its intent to adopt local district policies dealing with the following at its regular meeting scheduled on October 20, 2020: Prevention of Sexual Harassment As Prohibited by Title IX Copies of the above policies may be obtained for public review at the

Office of the Human Resources Dept. in Shelburne, VT. STATE OF VERMONT SUPERIOR COURT PROBATE DIVISION CHITTENDEN UNIT DOCKET NO.: 739-7-20 CNPR In re ESTATE of: Joyce P. Bair NOTICE TO CREDITORS To the creditors of: Joyce P. Bair, late of Essex Junction. 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: 9/17/20 Signature of Fiduciary: /s/ Janice B. Mejia Executor/Administrator: Janice B. Mejia, c/o Unsworth LaPlante, PLLC, 26 Railroad Ave, Essex Jct., VT 05452 802-879-7133 carisa@ unsworthlaplante.com Name of Publication: Seven Days Publication Date: 9/23/20 Probate Court: Vermont Superior Court, Probate Court, PO Box 511, Burlington, VT 05402

61 OCTOBER 7-14, 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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MULTIPLE POSITIONS OPEN

Northeastern Vermont Regional Hospital (NVRH) has a variety of openings available, including RNs, LNAs, Ultrasound Technologist, Echocardiographer and Sr. Multi-Modality Technologist.

10:29 AM 2h-ACHathorne080520.indd 1 NVRH also has Administrative OPEN Positions, Information Services, Food Service and Environmental Services openings.

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MOVING PROFESSIONALS Local moving company looking for movers! Previous experience is not required. We will train the right candidates! Applicants must have a valid driver’s license, have the highest level of customer service and work well in a team atmosphere.

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8/4/20 2:59 PM

Maintenance Engineer Environmental, Health, & Safety Manager

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GRADE 5 TEACHER

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ESSEX WESTFORD SCHOOL DISTRICT Are you committed to the success of ALL students? Do you understand the importance of social and emotional learning (SEL) and have the ability to effectively integrate SEL into the classroom?

To apply, please call 802-479-9371 or apply online at: careers.landolakesinc.com/vermontcreamery.

Our Founders Memorial School in Essex, Vermont is seeking a passionate teacher to fill a temporary one-year opening for grade 5. The ideal candidate will have experience and training in 4t-VTCreamery100720.indd 1 Responsive Classroom/PBIS practices, will be well versed in early literacy and mathematics theory and practice and possess a strong understanding of the Common Core State Standards. Educators with training and experience with differentiation and/or Universal Design for Learning are ideal. Experience with and understanding of professional collaboration as exemplified by Professional Learning Communities is an essential skill, as is experience with and use of data driven decision making.

Full-time

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Qualified candidates must hold (or be eligible to hold) a valid VT educator license with an elementary education endorsement (100). Individuals who hold a corresponding teaching license outside the state of VT shall be considered equally. Strong background on PLC and Social and Emotional Learning preferred.

10/5/20 3:29 PM

Immediate openings and flexible part-time schedules Days, early evenings, & weekend shifts

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 committed to the success of all students you are encouraged to apply.

Manufacturing Call Center Warehouse

Apply in person 210 East Main Street, Richmond, VT

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10/6/20 4t-Harringtons092320.indd 10:41 AM 1

9/18/20 3:34 PM

ATTENTION RECRUITERS:

62

POST YOUR JOBS AT JOBS.SEVENDAYSVT.COM FOR FAST RESULTS, OR CONTACT MICHELLE BROWN: MICHELLE@SEVENDAYSVT.COM

OCTOBER 7-14, 2020

PROGRAM DIRECTOR MAINTENANCE TECHNICIAN BREAD BAKER If you derive satisfaction from working with your hands and being able to appreciate the fruits of your labor every day, you might want to bake bread with us! Professional food experience is required.

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HallKeen Management is seeking a qualified, motivated and experienced 40 hours - full time Maintenance Technician for a 213 unit apartment complex in Winooski, VT. Responsibilities are quite diverse including but not limited to completing service requests from residents and office staff; making apartments ready for occupancy; daily paper pick up and various janitorial duties; appliance, electrical, heating, plumbing and safety equipment repair and replacement; preventive maintenance; assisting with inspection of apartments, buildings and grounds; painting; repair and replacement of window screens and glass and must accompany contractors on site as necessary and provide assistance at other company properties when needed.

10/6/20 12:41 PM

Beverage Manufacturing Assistant

Must have reliable transportation and have the ability to assist in carrying appliances and climb ladders as needed.

The Program Director is a leadership position in the organization for all aspects of the CSC’s Signature Programs, Summer Youth Camps, Adult Classes, High School Sailing, and any other Education-related events, classes, or camps. The Program Director leads the innovation and development of new programs, ensures that existing programs are staffed and operating safely, and has the ability to adjust and adapt to meet needs in the community.

Compensation: Salaried; Health, Dental, and Wellness benefits; annual leave policy; retirement benefits; pay commensurate with experience.

• Minimum of a Bachelor’s degree; or 5+ years’ experience leading in an educational field For full job description and to apply go to: communitysailingcenter.org/about/jobs.

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Reporting directly to the property Maintenance Director this position offers the right candidate the opportunity to enhance his/her current skills acquire new knowledge and grow with our company. This is not just a job but a career in residential property maintenance offering new and interesting challenges on a daily basis.

10/6/20 10:34 AM

CUSTOMER SERVICE REPRESENTATIVE

Concept2, a market-leading manufacturer of stationary fitness Local beverage copack Please e-mail resume to dfinnigan@hallkeen.com. ergometers and composite racing oars, seeks a talented and looking for help in our motivated individual to join our Customer Service team. production kitchen. Daily The position is based in our Morrisville, VT headquarters. tasks range from working COMMUNITY PROJECTS kettles, washing dishes, 5v-Hallkeen100720.indd 1 10/5/20 4:39 PM However, due to COVID-19 precautions most of the work is expected to be done remotely in the near term. working bottling line, ASSOCIATE canning line and so VCRD is seeking a dedicated, energetic Responsibilities include: much more. and hardworking Community Projects • Serve on the Customer Service team; this includes taking Associate to provide facilitation, technical Monday through Friday, orders for indoor rowers, ski and bike ergometers, composite assistance, coaching, resource connections, grant drafting, 8:00 am to 4:30 pm. racing oars, and spare parts, helping troubleshoot problems, and other support to local leaders who are driving projects and providing a wide range of information to our customers Starting at $13 - $14 per hour forward for community and economic recovery.

Required Qualifications include: Hiring@adropofjoy.com We’re looking for someone who: • One or more years of experience in a professional setting, • Demonstrates excellent project development and preferably in a customer service role communication skills • Is a self-starter able to work independently and • Solid computer skills (MS Word, Excel, Outlook) EXPERIENCED 2v-ADropofJoy100720.indd 1 10/6/20 10:11 AM as part of a team • Basic mechanical skills K-1 TEACHER • Is eager to work with communities and local leaders Concept2 has an informal setting, a friendly and professional in all their diversity Burlington Holistic Elementary work environment, and excellent compensation and benefits, • Is dedicated to the progress of rural Vermont School seeks candidate for full including fully paid medical, dental, and vision The position, based in Montpelier and remotely, will include time Kindergarten-1st Grade premiums for employees and their families. regular evening meetings. Salary range of $42-52K based on teaching position! skills and experience; attractive benefit package.

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Strong school community that celebrates every child's unique4t-VTRuralDevelopment100720.indd 1 10/5/205v-Concept2100720.indd 9:07 AM 1 10/5/20 individuality.

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9:10 AM

9/11/18 12:16 PM

FOLLOW US ON TWITTER @SEVENDAYSJOBS, SUBSCRIBE TO RSS, OR BROWSE POSTS ON YOUR PHONE AT JOBS.SEVENDAYSVT.COM

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Education and Training Resources (ETR) is seeking to fill the following positions at

Licensed Clinical Social Worker WORK WITH YOUTH at the Northlands Job Corps Center in Vergennes, VT. Work one or two, 6-7 hour shifts each week (your choice). $50.00/hour. Please contact Dan W. Hauben ASAP for more information. Thank you!

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9/8/20 12:40 PM

NORTHLANDS JOB CORPS DATA INTEGRITY

Student Records Specialist (Full Time) – High School Diploma required. 1-year experience working with heavy data entry/office setting.

HUMAN RESOURCES

HR Assistant (Full Time) – High School Diploma Required. Two years of administrative support or business office experience. Human Resource experience preferred.

FOOD SERVICES

LNA TRAINING Wake Robin is happy to announce our next LNA training program.

Wake Robin ranks among the top 100 nursing homes in the country; an award reflecting our excellent staff and facility.We provide training and work opportunities consistent with Wake Robin’s unique brand of resident-centered care. Our trainees will have the opportunity to work for us while taking classes, for a unique blend of training and hands-on experience in the areas of assistance with activities of daily living, light housekeeping, and dietary coaching.

If you have at least two years’ experience in caregiving, and wish to grow your skills among the best, it’s time to begin your career as an LNA. Contact us.

HOUSEKEEPER (FULL-TIME)

Cook Assistant (2 Full Time positions available!) – High School Diploma required.

Cook Assistant (On-Call) – High School Diploma required.

FACILITY MAINTENANCE Custodial Assistant (Full Time) – High School Diploma Required Custodial Assistant (Full Time) – High School Diploma Required

UTILITY (FULL-TIME) This service position performs a variety of custodial, floor maintenance, light maintenance and repair duties under general supervision throughout the Wake Robin campus, common areas, independent living units, and health center. A minimum of one year of hands-on experience as custodian/housekeeper or an equivalent combination of education and experience is required.

Wake Robin offers an excellent compensation and benefits package and an opportunity to build strong relationships with staff and residents in a dynamic community setting.

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Wake Robin is an Equal Opportunity Employer.

Lead Residential Counselor (1 Full Time) – Bachelor’s degree and 15 semester hours of social work/social science courses required.

Residential Counselors (3 Full Time/ starting at $50,000/yr) - Bachelor’s degree and 15 semester hours of social work/social science courses required Independent Living Advisor (5 Full Time/All shifts starting at $18/hr) High School Diploma required.

Split Shift Independent Living Advisor (On-Call) - High School Diploma

SECURITY, SAFETY & TRANSPORTATION

Campus Monitors (On-Call) - High School Diploma required

RECREATION

10/6/20 11:10 AM

APPLY TODAY Please submit all applications to our applicant portal at www.etrky.com for all roles in Vergennes, VT. Employment will be at a Federal Department of Labor facility. All applicants will be subject to drug testing and a full background check.

**Recreation Aide (On-Call) – High School Diploma required

100A MacDonough Dr. • Vergennes, VT 05491 • 802-877-0159 ETR/NORTHLANDS JOB CORPS IS AN EQUAL OPPORTUNITY EMPLOYER OF FEMALES AND MINORITIES 10/6/20 11:07 AM

Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner In collaboration with the Psychiatrist, this full-time position will perform psychiatric nursing assessments to accurately diagnose acute and chronic psychiatric and mental health issues, and develop treatment plans based on practice guidelines and evidence based standards of care. The PMHNP will prescribe necessary medications based on clinical indicators and will provide individual, couple or family psychotherapy. A master’s degree in nursing, and board certification in psychiatric mental health are required. Vermont certification as a PMHNP (preference for certification in both adult and child/adolescent areas) is also required for this position. Applicants must have or be willing to obtain a Suboxone waiver. Two or more years’ experience in provision of public or private mental/behavioral health clinical services is preferred. A sign-on/relocation bonus and a generous base salary are offered for this position. CEU/CME allowance and paid continuing education time is also included.

Northeast Kingdom Human Services (NKHS) is a Designated Agency contracted with the State of Vermont with the purpose of promoting a high quality, comprehensive community mental health program in Vermont’s beautiful Northeast Kingdom. Northern Vermont offers quaint and friendly, small town living and a dream location to live and work in for the outdoor enthusiast! Located in the beautiful Green Mountains, there is access to hiking, the world class Kingdom Trails network for mountain biking, as well as Stowe, Jay Peak and Burke Mountain Ski resorts. This area also boasts several pristine Vermont lakes for summer fun!

Benefits include: Health insurance (vision and prescription coverage included), dental insurance, life insurance, short-term and long-term disability, long-term care, AFLAC supplemental insurance plans, 125 Flex Plan-medical and dependent care flexible spending accounts, 403(b) retirement plan with company match, generous paid time off (including 12 paid holidays) and an outstanding employee wellness program. Join our team and advance your career today!

To learn more about current job openings, please visit nkhs.org. Apply through our website or send cover letter and CV to jobs@nkhs.net.

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INDEPENDENT LIVING

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Vermont’s premier continuing Care Retirement Community seeks members to join our Environmental Services Team!

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. Candidates must have housekeeping and/ or industrial cleaning or industrial laundry experience.

Wake Robin offers an excellent compensation and benefits package and an opportunity to build strong relationships with staff and residents in a dynamic community setting.

63 OCTOBER 7-14, 2020

10/2/20 3:20 PM

ATTENTION RECRUITERS:

64

POST YOUR JOBS AT JOBS.SEVENDAYSVT.COM FOR FAST RESULTS, OR CONTACT MICHELLE BROWN: MICHELLE@SEVENDAYSVT.COM

OCTOBER 7-14, 2020

PART-TIME AND FULL-TIME POSITIONS AVAILABLE ESSEX WESTFORD SCHOOL DISTRICT

DELIVERY DRIVERS F/T & P/T available

We currently have several different shifts available. These shifts could result in a full-time schedule or part-time schedule depending on what candidates are looking for.

Are you committed to serving your community? Do you enjoy working with school-aged children? Our Essex Westford School District is seeking friendly, committed and responsible individuals to fill a variety of part-time positions in our school district. Some of the key positions are outlined below:

Please stop into our office at 54 Echo Place, Suite 1, Williston, VT 05495 to fill out an application and speak with Justin.

Email Justin; Justin@shipgmm.com.

WE ARE SEEKING CANDIDATES FOR THE FOLLOWING POSITIONS:

Applications can also be submitted via our website: Shipgmm.com.

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10/5/20 12:10 PM

• Food Service Workers (Job ID 3359695) – Pays $15.13/hour, 4 to 5 hours/day • Cafeteria Coordinator (Job ID 3358218) – Pays $16.07/hour, 5.75 hours/day • Bus Aides (Job ID 3361872) – Pays $18.00/hour, approximately 2 hour shifts AM and/or PM • Bus or Minivan Drivers (Job ID 3358227) – Pays $18 to $20/hour • Lunch/Playground Supervisors (Job ID 3346827) – Pays $16.07/hour, 3 hours/day mid-day • Crossing Guards (Job ID 3243119) – Pays $23.60/hour, one hour shifts before and/ or after school • Substitute Teachers and Paraeducators (Job ID 3332237) – Pays $126/day

WE ALSO HAVE A VARIETY OF FULL-TIME POSITONS AVAILABLE INCLUDING:

FINANCE DIRECTOR

• COVID-19 Cleaning Support (Job ID 3346140) – Pays $15.40/hour, 8 hours/day

TOWN OF NORWICH, VT Norwich, VT has an immediate job opening for Finance Director. This is a full-time, salaried position responsible for all aspects of the Town’s finances. It is a key position in the Town, interacting with residents and Town departments under the supervision of the Town Manager. Many of the position’s duties are similar to those of a senior account manager.

Minimum qualifications: BA/BS in a related field (e.g., accounting, finance, business or administration) and at least 3-5 years of experience. Familiarity in governmental finance (modified accrual basis of accounting) is a plus. Experience with accounting software is required, NEMRC software even better. The selected candidate will be expected to “hit the road running” on higher level financial functions (e.g., forecasting, reporting, collaborating with the Town Manager on issues important to the Selectboard and its Finance Committee, etc.), while working with an existing individual who currently takes care of the day-to-day operations.

Salary commensurate with experience, with excellent benefits.

The position remains open until filled. Applicants submitting a cover letter, resume, and professional references before Noon, Monday, October 19, 2020 will be given preference.

• COVID-19 Response Assistants (Job ID 3324404) – Pays $18.00/hour, up to 8 hours/ day • Web Management Specialist (Job ID 3359889) – Pays $19.50 to $21.60/hour, up to 8 hours/day • Mainstream Instructional Assistants (Job ID 33636844, 3360926, 3354617) – Pays $16.07/hour, 6.5 to 7.5 hours/day • Classroom Instructional Assistant – Elementary (Job ID 3359689, 3346838) – Pays $16.07/hour, 6.5 to 7.5 hrs/day • School Bus Driver (Job ID 3367304) – Pays $20/hour ($18/hour for driving the minivan), up to 8 hours/day EWSD is committed to building a culturally diverse and inclusive environment. If you are committed to the success of all students but do not meet all qualifications in the job description, you are still encouraged to apply. For a full list of positions, please visit ewsd.org/jobs.

For more information or to apply, please visit schoolspring.com and enter the job ID of the position you are interested in as outlined above, or mail cover letter and resume to:

Essex Westford School District - Human Resource Department 51 Park Street, Essex Jct., VT 05452.

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In confidence, send or email application to: Herbert A. Durfee, III, Town Manager Attn: Finance Director Search Town of Norwich, PO Box 376 Norwich, VT 05055-0376 hdurfee@norwich.vt.us

Looking for a Sweet Job?

For additional information, including job description, visit: norwich.vt.us.

Equal Opportunity Employer

Our mobile-friendly job board is buzzing with excitement.

Start applying at jobs.sevendaysvt.com 3h_JobFiller_Bee.indd 1

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9/25/20 1:02 PM

10/5/20 9:05 AM

6/9/20 3:27 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

65 OCTOBER 7-14, 2020

DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC WORKS

HIGHWAY FOREPERSON TOWN OF COLCHESTER, VT

CARPENTER Chores & More, LLC is looking for a member to join our team working on various construction and home remodeling projects, wages based on experience. Looking for eager candidates who are willing to work hard and who want to learn. Customer service and attention to detail are required for the type of projects we manage.

Please contact David Matot at choresandmorevt@gmail.com to learn more.

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FOOD SERVICE ASSISTANT

Under the direction of the Operations Manager, this position serves as a Working Foreperson who will supervise, oversee and coordinate the day to day operations of the town’s highway and stormwater maintenance operations. The position requires availability to receive after hours calls for unplanned work, and the ability to assess the problem and assign work as needed. Must have knowledge of supervisory practices including public infrastructure maintenance and repair, ability to plan, organize and schedule routine maintenance. High school graduation with basic computer skills; significant experience in municipal snow and ice removal procedures.

Harwood Unified Union School District has a vacancy for Food Service Assistant. This is a 35 hour/week position, 5 days per week when school is in session, plus additional training and/ or meeting times as requested or required. Job requires food preparation, cleaning, and transportation. Candidates must be able to work in a high pressure environment, maintain health code standards, work as part of a team, stand during their whole shift, and lift 50 lbs. Prior cooking experience is preferable, but not required. Must be able to check school personal email and keep up with school announcements and regulations. Must have a vehicle and be a licensed driver. The ideal candidate must have the desire to provide healthy meals to children.

A valid Commercial Driver’s License is required. Hourly rate of pay is $26.85. Submit application and resume to slabarge@colchestervt.gov.

Application deadline: 10/12/2020. For application and full job description: colchestervt.gov/321/Human-Resources. E.O.E.

Please apply on schoolspring.com, Job ID #3374268. Include a letter of interest, resume, and 3 current letters of reference.

For more information on this position, please contact our HUUSD Co-Director Paul Morris at pmorris@huusd.org or 802-583-8171.

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BRANCH ADMINISTRATOR

10/2/20 11:18 AM

100% EMPLOYEE-OWNED 100% EMPLOYEE-OWNED 100% EMPLOYEE-OWNED

Established in 1891 and continuing the tradition of being a local Vermont bank, Union Bank provides a full array of banking products and services for consumer and business customers. We pride ourselves in being an employer of choice by offering challenging and rewarding career opportunities.

We are seeking a Branch Administrator to provide management support as we expand our geographic footprint and the number of branch offices. The Branch Administrator will be responsible for managing branch operations and supervisory personnel. Other areas of responsibility will include: providing leadership with branch deposit and retail products growth initiatives; work in collaboration with branch managers to identify, address and resolve branch related issues; serve as a communication conduit with branch staff; make recommendations regarding branch policies and procedures; ensure regulatory compliance; and provide support for the Human Resources Training Officer with branch training initiatives.

Qualified candidates should have a minimum of five years of retail branch management experience. A college degree in Business, Finance or related field is preferred but not required. Excellent written and oral (both in person and by telephone) communication skills are essential. The ability to work in a confidential environment, and the ability to anticipate and meet deadlines is critical for success. The ability to interact well with all bank personnel while performing these duties is also important. The position requires an individual who is organized and able to work on multiple projects simultaneously.

The ability to travel to branch locations within the Bank’s market footprint is required.

Salary and potential for cash bonus for this position will be commensurate with experience.

Union Bank offers a comprehensive benefits program for full time employees, including three options of medical insurance, dental insurance, life and disability coverage, a robust 401(k) plan with generous company matching, and paid vacation, personal and sick leave.

To be considered for this position, please submit a cover letter, resume, references and salary requirements to:

Human Resources-Union Bank P.O. Box 667 Morrisville, Vermont 05661 – 0667 careers@unionbanknh.com

E.O.E. - MEMBER FDIC 9t-UnionBankBRANCHAdmin100720.indd 1

Join Join the the team team at at Gardener’s Gardener’s Supply!

Supply!

We have immediate openings in Call team at Gardener’s WeJoin havethe immediate openings in our our Supply!

Call Center!

Center!

We have immediate openings in our Call Center!

We We are are looking looking for for part-time part-time and and full-time, full-time, We are looking for part-time and full-time, seasonal SALES & SERVICE SPECIALISTS seasonal SALES & SERVICE SPECIALISTS to to seasonalexceptional SALES & SERVICE SPECIALISTS to provide customer service to provide exceptional customer service to our our provide exceptional customer service to our customers over the phone at our Call Center customers over the phone at our Call Center customersBurlington, over the phone at our Call Center located located in in Burlington, VT. VT. located in Burlington, VT. We We offer: offer: We offer: •• Very Very flexible flexible scheduling scheduling •• Very flexible scheduling Competitive • Competitive pay pay •• Competitive pay Huge discount • Huge discount on on product product •• Huge discount onand product Amazing culture • Amazing culture and the the best best co-workers co-workers •• Amazing culture and the best co-workers Positions thru the month of December • Positions thru the month of December • Positions thru the month of December We are are 100% 100% employee-owned employee-owned and and aa We We are B100% employee-owned a Certified Corporation.

Please go goand to our our Certified B Corporation.

Please to Certified B Corporation.

Please go to our careers page at www.gardeners.com/careers www.gardeners.com/careers careers page at careers page at www.gardeners.com/careers and apply apply online! online! and and apply online!

10/2/20 2:16 PM CCC_051820.indd 1

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5/18/20 2:26 PM 5/18/20 2:26 PM 5/18/20 2:26 PM

9/8/20 10:16 AM

ATTENTION RECRUITERS:

66

POST YOUR JOBS AT JOBS.SEVENDAYSVT.COM FOR FAST RESULTS, OR CONTACT MICHELLE BROWN: MICHELLE@SEVENDAYSVT.COM

OCTOBER 7-14, 2020

AFFORDABLE HOUSING ASSOCIATE DEVELOPER Evernorth has created a new position for an Associate Developer to join our amazing development team. This position reports to the SVP of Real Estate. The successful candidate will be an excellent communicator with experience in real estate development, excel and financial analysis.

We believe in equal access to affordable housing and economic opportunities; the power of partnerships based on integrity, respect and professionalism; a collaborative workplace with professional, skilled and dedicated staff.

Please send a cover letter and resume with salary requirements to Kathy Beyer, hr@evernorthus.org. E.O.E.

- JOIN OUR TEAM -

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10/5/20 4:31 PM

275 Main St, Warren, VT

The Pitcher Inn and The Warren Store now belong to a new generation of owners and managers. Predominantly Vermonters, they are intent on breathing new energy and resources into the long history of both properties.

We have taken into account the new facts made clear by the COVID-19 virus, noting essential workers deserve higher pay. We are inviting interested applicants to apply today and join our teams and village community. Be part of history as we give these iconic Mad River Valley establishments some well-deserved TLC!

Let us hear from you as we are filling the following important positions: FINE DINING ROOM MANAGER: Full time with not less than 3 years’ experience in similar position.

FINE DINING ROOM STAFF: Server / Hostess / Food Runner FINE DINING LINE COOK

SENIOR ACCOUNTANT Union Bank, a full service community bank headquartered in Morrisville, VT, is dedicated to providing superior banking and financial services. As a local Vermont business, we offer challenging and rewarding career opportunities.

We are seeking an experienced Senior Accountant for a full-time position.

RESIDENTIAL MORTGAGE Remote working options may be available with a home base at one of our LOAN ASSISTANT branch locations. This position includes the following responsibilities:

We are seeking a full time Residential Mortgage Loan Assistant for our level growing South Burlington Loan Offi ce.

• Preparing or reviewing Bank and holding company consolidated This individual will be responsible for performing a vareconciliations, schedules, internal, external and regulatory reports. riety of administrative duties to provide loan origina• The quarterly preparation, review and filing Call Report tion and documentation support forof ourthe Mortgage Loan with the FDIC and the financialOffi statements with the SEC (10-Qs, 10-Ks, other cers. Other responsibilities include overseeing the SEC filings). completion andrequirements accuracy of loan process• Ensure compliance with SOX anddocuments, manage the certification process. ing loans and ensuring proper loan documentation in• Preparation or cluding review input of various monthly quarterly internal Management of information andand preparing all related and Board reports. loan documents, follow up on verifications and credit reports, preparation of loans for underwriting, as well • Assist with the budget process and analysis of actual results compared to budget. as commitment letters, notes, and other loan documen• Prepare or review various subsidiary reconciliations and the federal tation and setother up, assisting customers with advances on home construction lines and providing all other loan and state tax analysis. support needed. Requirements include excellent writ• Review, analysis, communication and implementation of GAAP, SEC and ten and oral communication, and a minimum of 2 years regulatory pronouncements as assigned. of prior residential loan experience with a familiarity of secondary market mortgage loan products is preferable A Bachelor’s degree in Accounting or Finance is required. CPA or CPA candidate and but not required. Attention to detail, strong organizafinancial institution experience is desirable. Experience with financial application tional skills, and the ability to multi-task are essential.

software and the ability to work independently are essential. Required traits include being detail oriented, analytical, organized, deadline oriented and efficient.

Excellent verbal and written communication skills are critical for success, as is the ability to interact with various levels at the Bank or external organization.

Union Bank offers wages, a comprehensive Salary will be commensurate withcompetitive experience.

Union Bank also offers ts package, professional developa comprehensive benefi benefits programtraining for fullfor time employees, including ment, strong advancement potential, stable hours and comprehensive medical and dental insurance, fully paid life and disability a supportive work environment. Qualified applications insurance, paid vacation and sick leave and a robust 401(k) plan with generous may apply with a cover letter, resume, professional refcompany matching.

To be considered for this position, please submit a cover erences and salary requirements to: letter, resume,references and salary requirements to:

PO Box 667

Human ResourcesMorrisville, - Union Bank, P.O. Box 667 Human VT 05661-0667 Morrisville, Vermont 05661 – 0667 Resources careers@unionbankvt.com careers@unionbankvt.com

BAR TENDER: Full or part time with not less than 3 years’ experience in similar position.

FRONT DESK / RECEPTION

DELI ASSOCIATE

HOUSEKEEPING

BAKERY ASSOCIATE

VALET / BELLMAN

RETAIL SALES ASSOCIATE

Please send resumes and inquiries to: info @ pitcherinn.com

Member FDIC

Equal Opportunity Employer

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Residential Mortgage Loan Assistant - LPO Seven Days, 3.83 x 7 8.13.13

9/28/20 3:39 PM

ATTENTION RECRUITERS:

VERY COMPETITIVE SALARIES

FULL TIME EMPLOYEES MAY QUALIFY FOR HOUSING OR HOUSING ALLOWANCE

POST YOUR JOBS AT: PRINT DEADLINE: FOR RATES & INFO:

FULL TIME EMPLOYEES HAVE BENEFITS INCLUDING PAID VACATION AND BLUE CROSS/BLUE SHIELD HEALTH BENEFITS

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Equal Housing Lender

10/5/20 9:37 AM

SEVENDAYSVT.COM/POSTMYJOB NOON ON MONDAYS (INCLUDING HOLIDAYS) MICHELLE BROWN, 802-865-1020 X21, MICHELLE@SEVENDAYSVT.COM

6/29/15 5:11 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

67 OCTOBER 7-14, 2020

DR Power Equipment now hiring Call Center Representatives COMMUNICATIONS MANAGER & COMMUNICATIONS COORDINATOR The Green Mountain Club is hiring for two positions on its Communications Team. Both positions will work on GMC’s communications channels and strategy, with the Manager’s primary responsibility focused on GMC’s quarterly magazine.

Visit greenmontainclub.org/jobs for full position descriptions and to apply. Applications accepted until October 20.

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to join our South Burlington team!

SHARED LIVING PROVIDER Howard Center is seeking a Shared Living Provider for a female client in her 30s. The client is actively involved in Special Olympics and community self-advocacy, and has two part-time jobs. The ideal provider will: be able to provide clear boundaries and clinical support; help the client develop independent living skills; be a single female or couple; and have no children and no other clients in the home (pets are okay). A home on or near a bus line is preferred.

Compensation includes a generous tax-free annual stipend, monthly room and board payments, and a respite budget. For more information or to request an application, please contact Patrick Fraser at patfraser@howardcenter.org or 802-871-2902.

Looking to take your customer service and sales experience to the next level? Searching for a new opportunity at a fun and dynamic company? We have the job for you!

APPLY TODAY FOR ONE OF OUR OPPORTUNITIES:

• Customer Service Representative • Product & Customer Service Representative • Call Center Sales Representative PERKS: Paid Training * Paid Time Off * Product Discounts * And More!

To apply and for details visit: drpower. com/careers Questions? Email: jobs@drpower.com

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9/14/20 10:58 AM

EARLY HEAD START TODDLER TEACHER BURLINGTON CHILDREN'S SPACE – BURLINGTON

BUSINESS ANALYST Full Time

PCC, a private, Winooski-based healthcare IT Benefit Corporation, seeks a full time Business Analyst (BA) to join our growing team.

A BA at PCC combines the skills of a Business Analyst, Project Manager, Scrum Master, Product Owner, and Quality Analyst, gathering information from multiple sources to understand how our clients work, what they care about, and how we can help them. Often working directly with clients, PCC’s BAs research, organize, prioritize, and shepherd new features through our team-based development process. In addition to defining business requirements and developing scope statements, PCC’s BAs facilitate the design, development, and testing work within our Agile Development Teams and ensure effective communication between team members, across teams, and with all key stakeholders. If this appeals to you and you have the skills we’re looking for, we’d love to hear from you!

While the pandemic continues, we will conduct televideo interviews for this position. Once our office is fully open, we expect the Business Analyst position to be onsite at our Winooski office.

Head Start is a federally-funded, national child and family development program which provides comprehensive services for pregnant women, children from birth to age five, and their families. Services for children promote school readiness, and include early education, health, nutrition, mental health, and services for children with special needs. Services for parents promote family engagement, and include parent leadership and social service supports.

As an Early Head Start Toddler Teacher, you will serve as co-teacher in an outcomesoriented, team environment, and provide safe, healthy, friendly, and developmentally appropriate environments and experiences for infants and toddlers. Motivated Head Start teachers improve the trajectory of children’s lives, including children’s learning outcomes, living standards, and later academic and professional success. If you want to make a difference in the lives of young children and their families, consider joining the Head Start community.

As a Benefit Corporation, PCC fosters a friendly, casual, hardworking environment that values our employees, clients, community, and the environment. We offer competitive benefits as well as some uncommon perks.

REQUIREMENTS: Bachelor’s degree in Early

Childhood Education or related education field; Infant toddler specific education and experience that meets or exceeds the requirements for an Infant Toddler CDA Credential; knowledge and experience in developmentally appropriate early childhood practice, child outcome assessment, child behavior management, and curriculum planning, development and implementation; a commitment to social justice and to working with families with limited financial resources; excellent verbal and written communication (bilingual abilities a plus!), documentation, and record-keeping skills; valid driver’s license, clean driving record and access to reliable transportation; physical ability to carry out required tasks, and a can-do, extramile attitude.

40 hours/week, 52 weeks/year.

Starting wage upon completion of 60-working day period: $20.28-$24.22/hour, depending on qualifications.

Health plan and excellent benefits.

Please submit cover letter, resume, and three work references to: hdstjobs@cvoeo.org.

No phone calls, please.

To learn more about PCC and this position, please visit our website pcc.com/careers. Position open until filled.

No phone calls, please. AA/EOE.

THIS INSTITUTION IS AN EQUAL OPPORTUNITY EMPLOYER.

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9/28/20 2:31 PM

10/5/20 9:43 AM

68

ATTENTION RECRUITERS:

POST YOUR JOBS AT JOBS.SEVENDAYSVT.COM FOR FAST RESULTS, OR CONTACT MICHELLE BROWN: MICHELLE@SEVENDAYSVT.COM

OCTOBER 7-14, 2020

DENTAL ASSISTANT Middlebury Pediatric Dentistry is looking for a dental assistant to join our team. Full time. Health insurance.

Paid vacation. Please contact us by email and include your resume:

Ready to enjoy your job, be appreciated by your employer, feel good about what you do, and receive a comprehensive benefits package?

frontdesk@middleburypediatricdentistry.com Champlain Community Services, named one of the “Best Places to Work in Vermont” for the second year in a row, wants you to be a part of our team. Our current openings for All people share a powerful1need for the basic necessities of a good life and 2h-MiddleburyPediatricDentistry100720.indd 10/2/20 7spot.indd 3:51 PM 1 Service Coordinator, Direct Support Professional, & Overnight a place that understands that good health starts with a caring touch and a kind word. Since 1971, the Community Health Centers of Burlington (CHCB) Supports offer opportunities to make a positive impact on has provided access to high quality health care regardless of financial someone’s life, and in yours. status or life circumstance. We strive to improve the health of all within the communities we serve in an environment that conveys respect, offers support, and encourages people to be actively involved in their own health care. Our positive, mission-minded staff make CHCB a great place to work!

Work at CCS and support, and live, our mission; “to build a community where everyone participates and belongs.”

Be a part of it and apply today at www.ccs-vt.org.

ccs-vt.org

PRODUCTION MANAGER AGRICULTURAL INOCULANT

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10/29/19 12:12 PM

CHCB is an innovative Federally Qualified Health Center with eight sites throughout Chittenden County and southern Grand Isle County. We are an Equal Opportunity Employer and are especially interested in candidates who can contribute to the diversity and excellence of the organization.

We offer a generous benefits package to eligible employees and a 10:27 AM competitive minimum hourly wage for entry-level positions.

E.O.E.

10/6/20

PATIENT ACCOUNTS REPRESENTATIVE II DENTAL BILLING

Full Circle Microbes, Inc. is a mission driven Ag Biotech startup working to transform organic waste that harms our planet into sustainable fertilizer that helps it. We use microbes to help farmers recycle waste biomass into a fertilizer substitute that increases sellable yield while reducing nutrient costs and improving sustainability.

Essential Duties We are looking for an energetic, team player to join our billing staff. This position is responsible for overseeing the complete revenue cycle for assigned categories, ensuring that the days in accounts receivable stay within set guidelines. If you are someone who likes the challenge of claims processing and thrives in the ever changing world of medical billing, come join our team, this job is for you!

Job Description: We are looking for a Production Manager able to quickly understand our production needs, design a batch production process, and manage its implementation, ongoing operation, and quality assurance. The Production Manager will be responsible for inoculant output in line with sales goals as we multiply revenue several times in the next 18 months. This is an opportunity to be among the first five staff for a highgrowth startup with proven market traction and national funding.

Compensation will be commensurate with experience, and will include both salary and equity components.

Basic Qualifications

Required Qualifications: 2+ years’ experience in industrial microbiology, such as enzyme production, brewing, or synthetic biology (other similar experience may meet this requirement). Ready to tackle open ended problems to design and implement a microbial production process for a leading-edge agricultural inoculant. Desire to be part of a dynamic, growing team with a culture of collaboration, open communication & teamwork. Excellent attention to detail and clear sense of responsibility. Willingness to go above and beyond to meet those responsibilities and critical business needs. Alignment with company values including environmental sustainability and equity, diversity, and inclusion.

Community Health Centers of Burlington is seeking multiple Medical Assistants to join the team!

Medical Assistants are responsible for facilitating patient care and flow, thorough and accurate patient documentation and for performing as a contributing member of the team!

Preferred Qualifications: 3+ years proven track record of managing microbial production systems, with ultimate responsibility for production successes and failures. Experience managing logistics and fulfillment a plus. Demonstrated experience designing and standing up production processes.Undergraduate degree in a relevant field. Advanced degrees a plus.

Minority, female, and/or LGBTQIA+ candidates strongly encouraged to apply. Recruiting@fullcirclemicrobes.com

• High School Diploma plus 3 years’ (or Associate’s Degree & one year) experience in Medical Billing Management • Minimum one year experience with third party insurance billing • Familiarity/experience with third party insurance billing

Medical Assistant Essential Duties

Basic Qualifications Education: • High School Graduate with vocational training in or ability to be trained as a Medical Assistant.

• Prior Medical Assistant experience highly preferred.

Skills & Abilities: • Ability to acquire knowledge of medical terminology and standardized testing procedures.

• BLS Certified.

• Must possess or be willing to acquire clinical and organizational skills.

• Must work accurately and efficiently in a fast paced environment.

• Ability to seek out appropriate resources to problem solve effectively.

• Willing to work with a variety to ethnic and socioeconomic groups with various special needs.

To apply for this position, please send a resume and cover letter to: HR@CHCB.org The Human Resources Department will contact applicants who have been chosen to continue through the applicant selection process. Learn More! See our Website at chcb.org/careers/positions-available.

Read more about us at: http://bit.ly/7dFCMarticle

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10/6/20 10:48 AM

9/29/20 11:57 AM

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NEW JOBS POSTED DAILY! JOBS.SEVENDAYSVT.COM

Geographic Information Systems Planner & IT Manager The Addison County Regional Planning Commission (ACRPC) is seeking a Planner to lead its GIS program and manage its technology. This position provides GIS services and comprehensive spatial analyses to ACRPC, its 21 member municipalities, and other stakeholders. It also plans for the long-range GIS needs of the region, including the maintenance and improvement of ACRPC’s spatial databases, related map products and management of ACRPC’s technology including hardware, software, databases and website.

Competitive candidates will have a degree in planning, geography or related field and at least five years’ professional experience with GIS technology and applications. Experience with PC-based GIS systems, ESRI, spatial analysis, and cartographic principles is required; experience with IT administration strongly preferred. Demonstrated abilities to work with complex regulations and issues, to work individually and as part of a team, and to represent the Commission in its work with stakeholders and the public are essential. Candidates must have excellent interpersonal, oral, and written communication skills; experience using Microsoft products is required. Attendance at outside meetings and limited field work required.

Position is open until filled; candidate review begins immediately for a job starting December 1st at 20 hours per week for training with our retiring GIS Manager and transitioning to full time (37.5 hrs/wk) starting January 1, 2021.

Full-Time Finance/Office Manager The Addison County Regional Planning Commission (ACRPC) seeks a highly skilled, self-motivated, full-time (37.5 hrs/wk) Finance/Office Manager to join our team of dedicated professionals in a public service organization. Working directly with the Executive Director, responsibilities include management of ACRPC’s financial accounts, organizational budget development and oversight, development of indirect cost rate proposals, financial reporting to the Executive Director and Board, grant budgets and contract management, financial aspects of grant reporting, management of payroll and staff benefits, annual audit preparation, and general oversight of office financial operations. Knowledge of Quickbooks or other reputable accounting software is required. Knowledge of government accounting methods and federal or state procurement standards and grants management is preferable. Ability to work and communicate well with staff and the public is essential.

Please email a letter of interest, resume with three references and contact information and salary requirements in a single pdf to Adam Lougee, Executive Director at alougee@acrpc.org. These positions will remain open until filled. ACRPC is an Equal Opportunity Employer.

ACRPC is the regional planning commission for a 21-town area of west central Vermont in Addison County. ACRPC’s mission is to provide ACRPC’s region and municipal members with resources to address priorities in a variety of planning disciplines, including transportation, land use, housing, energy, disaster recovery, water quality and health. Our office is centrally located in downtown Middlebury, the shire town of Addison County. Our workplace is friendly and highly flexible. We offer competitive compensation and excellent benefits.

Complete job descriptions can be found at: acrpc.org/about-acrpc/job-opportunities 10v-AddisonCtyRegionalPlanningCommission100720.indd 1

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WASTE REDUCTION PROGRAM MANAGER The Rutland County Solid Waste District (RCSWD) seeks a passionate and highly organized self-starter with exceptional planning, project management, and communications skills to serve as RCSWD’s Program Manager. This position will work closely with the outreach coordinator to coordinate all phases of assigned programs in areas such as community and business materials management, education and community outreach, research, grant management, and technical assistance. This is a full-time, salary position based in our office in Rutland, Vermont.

We support best management practices for solid waste management and resource recovery in communities; build capacity in the recycling and composting industries; advocate for better policies; and provide technical assistance to individuals, businesses, educational institutions, and 17 regional municipal town stakeholders.

The ideal candidate will be a creative problem-solver motivated to create solutions for maximizing the benefits of resource recovery. This role requires excellent communication skills and the ability to convey complex ideas into clear and compelling reports, articles, proposals, and presentations; and an ability to lead with a passion for working collaboratively with State agencies, and people from all walks of life to promote waste reduction and sustainability.

Total Compensation Package: Benefits: RCSWD offers medical, vision, and life insurance; retirement benefits after one full year of employment; paid vacation, holidays, and flextime; continuous learning opportunities with trainings and conferences; and a great work-life balance!

How to Apply: For job details: rcswd.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/ Waste-Reduction-Program-Manager-AD-.pdf Please email your cover letter, resume, and one writing sample to Mark S. Shea, District Manager at mshea@rcswd.com. Applications will be accepted before October 16, 2020, or until position is filled.

RCSWD is an Equal Opportunity Employer

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OCTOBER 7-14, 2020

Grant Writer

Henry Sheldon Museum Middlebury Middlebury’s Sheldon Museum seeks a parttime, experienced and accomplished grant writer and researcher familiar with funds available through Vermont foundations, businesses, individual donors, and state agencies, as well as federal sources.

Knowledge of funding for capital improvements, historic preservation, museum education, art exhibit sponsorship, historical research, endowment growth, and staff enrichment extremely helpful.

Send resume and contact information for three references to wbrooks@ henrysheldonmuseum.org.

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TOWN OF WILLISTON PUBLIC WORKS DEPARTMENT

LICENSED NURSE ASSISTANT

WATER & SEWER DIVISION

Full-time, part-time & per-diem positions may be available*

Sign On Bonus - Up to $2,000

The Nursing Assistant is responsible for The Public Works specific aspects of direct and indirect Department is accepting patient care under the direct supervision applications for a Water & of a Registered Nurse.

Sewer Division position.

This is a full-time High School diploma or equivalent. position with an excellent LNA, licensed in Vermont. benefit package. The LEARN MORE & APPLY: ideal candidate should uvmmed.hn/sevendays be experienced in the operation and maintenance of public water and sewer 10/5/20 2v-FredsEnergy093020.indd 11:58 AM systems and reside within4t-UVMMedCenterLNA100720.indd 1 25 miles of Williston.

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Applications are available at:

https://www.town.williston.vt.us

Applications will be received until the position is filled. EOE

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Seven Days Issue: 10/7 Due: 10/5 by 11am Size: 3.83 x 5.25 Cost: $476.85 (with 1 week online)

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Engaging minds that change the world

The Regional Coordinator works collaboratively with Migrant Education Program and Bridges to Health staff to facilitate access to educational and health services for migrant farmworkers in Northwestern Vermont.

This individual will be responsible for identifying and enrolling eligible migrant farmworkers living in the identified region. Functions include coordinating educational and health services for enrolled participants, and offering educational services to enrolled clients when appropriate.

High School Diploma and two to three years’ related experience required.

Proficiency in Spanish/English, basic computer skills and ability to travel within the region required. The University is especially interested in candidates who can contribute to the diversity and excellence of the institution. Applicants are encouraged to include in their cover letter information about how they will further this goal.

New, local, scam-free jobs posted every day!

For further information on this position and others currently available, or to apply online, please visit www.uvmjobs.com. Applicants must apply for positions electronically. Paper resumes are not accepted.

Open positions are updated daily. Please call 802-656-3150 or email employment@uvm.edu for technical support with the online application.

jobs.sevendaysvt.com

Seeking a position with a quality employer? Consider The University of Vermont, a stimulating and diverse workplace. We offer a comprehensive benefit package including tuition remission for on-going, full-time positions.

NW Migrant Regional Coordinator - UVM Extension #S2584PO - UVM Extension is hiring a Regional Coordinator for the Northwest Region of Vermont. This position will be located in UVM Extension’s South Burlington Office, but will have extensive travel throughout NW region (Franklin, Grand Isle, Lamoille and Chittenden counties).

The University of Vermont is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer.

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World Mental Health Day is 10.10.20.

Join us throughout October for:

Free Speaker Series Community Engagement Resources

Bassey Ikpi I’m Telling the Truth, but I’m Lying

Get up to speed on Vermont news in under 15 minutes.

NATIONAL SPEAKER

Start your day with VPR’s daily news podcast:

A moderated conversation with Bassey Ikpi and Dr. Jude Smith Rachele October 13, 2020 • 6-7:15pm

Parenting and Education During COVID-19 Building Family Resilience During Times of Toxic Stress

Cara Gleason Krebs, LICSW and Feyza Basoglu, MD, plus panel October 20, 2020 • 12-1pm

Exercise and Other ‘Leisure Activities’ and Mental Health John Koutras, MD

Advance registration for all Zoom webinars is required at howardcenter.org.

October 26, 2020 • 11am-12pm

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CALCOKU & SUDOKU (P.57) CROSSWORD (P.57)

Great Deals!

Giveaways!

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Good Vibes!

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Montpelier Madness October 15th - 17th 20 Landgon Street, Montelier, VT - (802)-225-6736 - onionriver.com 4T-OROutdoors100720 1

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PUBLIC UTILITY COMMISSION NOTICE OF PUBLIC HEARING

Re: Renewal of Waitsfield-Fayston Telephone Company, Inc.’s Certificate of Public Good PUC Case No. 20-2092-PET The Public Utility Commission will hold a public hearing to receive input concerning the renewal of the Certificate of Public Good of Waitsfield-Fayston Telephone Company, Inc., to provide cable television service in the Town of Bolton, Vermont.

The hearing will be held on Monday, October 12, 2020, commencing at 6:30 P.M., utilizing GoToMeeting video conference with a telephone call-in option.

Participants and members of the public may access the public hearing online at https://global.gotomeeting.com/join/857877901, or call in by telephone using the following information: phone number: 1 (872) 240-3212; access code: 857-877901. Participants may wish to download the GoToMeeting software application in advance of the hearing at https://global.gotomeeting.com/install/857877901.

Guidance on how to join the meeting and system requirements may be found at https://www.gotomeeting.com/meeting/online-meeting-support.

The hearing officer will join the meeting 30 minutes before the scheduled start time and will be available to assist with any technical issues related to accessing the hearing. We encourage you to try to access the video conference during this 30-minute period. If you are unable to access the hearing, please call in using the phone number and access code provided above or send an email to micah.howe@vermont.gov. If you have questions before the hearing date, please contact the Commission at (802) 828-2358.

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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 OCTOBER 8-14

coming weeks will be an excellent time for you to take a vacation in reverse. What’s that? It’s when you devote yourself to renewing and reinvigorating your relationship with the work you love. You intensify your excitement for the vocation or job or long-term quest that teaches you important life lessons. You apply yourself with sublime enthusiasm to honing the discipline you need to fulfill the assignments you came to earth to accomplish.

LIBRA

GEMINI

(SEPT. 23-OCT. 22):

Libran author Ursula K. Le Guin said that we don’t just naturally know how to create our destinies. It takes research and hard work. “All of us have to learn how to invent our lives, make them up, imagine them,” she wrote.

“We need to be taught these skills; we need guides to show us how. If we don’t, our lives get made up for us by other people.” I bring this to your attention, Libra, because the coming weeks will be an excellent time to upgrade and refine your mastery of these essential powers. What can you do to enhance your capacity to invent your life? Which teachers and information sources might be helpful?

ARIES (March 21-April 19): “A person’s best ally is someone who takes care of herself,” says actress Susan Clark. I heartily agree.

The people with whom you can cultivate the most resilient bonds and most interesting synergy are those who have a high degree of self-sufficiency — those who take rigorous responsibility for themselves and treat themselves with tender compassion. In the coming weeks, Aries, I think it’s especially important for you to emphasize relationships with allies who fit that description. Bonus!

Their exemplary self-care will influence you to vigorously attend to your own self-care.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): According to my reading of the astrological potentials, the

(May 21-June 20): “If you are not having fun you are doing something wrong,” said comedian Groucho Marx. He was exaggerating so as to drive home his humorous point, but his idea contains some truth — and will be especially applicable to you in the immediate future. According to my analysis of the astrological omens, you have a temporary exemption from feeling frantically dour and unpleasantly dutiful. As crazy as the world is right now, you have a cosmic mandate to enjoy more playtime and amusement than usual. The rest of us are depending on you to provide us with doses of casual cheer.

CANCER (June 21-July 22): “Leave the door open for the unknown, the door into the dark,” writes Cancerian author Rebecca Solnit, adding, “That’s where the most important things come from.” I think this is good advice for you in the coming weeks. What exactly does it mean?

How and why should you do what she advises?

My first suggestion is to reframe your conception of the unknown and the dark. Imagine them as the source of everything new, as the place from which the future comes, as the origin of creative changes. Then instruct your imagination to be adventurous as it explores brewing possibilities in the dark and the unknown.

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): “If something comes to life in others because of you, then you have made an approach to immortality,” wrote author Norman Cousins. Whether or not you believe the “immortality” part of his formulation, I’m sure you understand how fabulous it is when you help activate beauty and vitality in someone. You may even feel that inspiring people to unleash their dormant potential is one of the most noble pleasures possible. I

bring these thoughts to your attention, Leo, because I suspect that you now have exceptional power to perform services like these for your allies, friends and loved ones. I dare you to make it one of your top priorities.

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): “The messiah will come when we don’t need him any more,” said author Franz Kafka. In that spirit, and in alignment with current astrological omens, I will tell you that the precise help you wish you could attract into your life will show up as soon as you make initial efforts to provide that help to yourself. Here are some additional nuances: The gift or blessing you think you need most will be offered to you by fate once you begin giving that gift or blessing to yourself. A rescuer will arrive not too long after you take steps to rescue yourself. You’ll finally figure out how to make practical use of a key lesson as you’re teaching that lesson to someone you care for.

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): In 1984, hip-hop group Run-DMC was the first to achieve a gold record in their genre, meaning they sold more than 500,000 albums. Their next album sold over a million. They were pioneers. In 1986, legendary producer Rick Rubin encouraged them to do a remake of “Walk This Way,” a song by the hard rock band Aerosmith. The members of Run-DMC didn’t want to do it; they felt the tune was in a genre too unlike their own. But Rubin eventually convinced them, and the cross-pollination was phenomenally successful. The RunDMC-meets-Aerosmith collaboration launched a new genre that sold very well. The song was later voted into the Grammy Hall of Fame. In this spirit, and in accordance with current cosmic rhythms, I urge you to try a bold hybrid or two yourself, Scorpio: blends of elements or influences that may seem a bit improbable. They could ultimately yield big dividends.

SAGITTARIUS

(Nov. 22-Dec. 21): You Sagittarians periodically go through phases when you specialize in stirring up fresh intuitions. I mean, you’re always one of the zodiac’s Intuition Champions, but during these special times, your flow becomes an overflow. You have a knack for seeking and finding visions of the interesting future; you

get excited by possibilities that are on the frontiers of your confidence. From what I can tell, your life in recent weeks has been bringing you these delights — and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future. Take maximum advantage. Aggressively gather in the gifts being offered by your inner teacher.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): Calling on my expert knowledge of healing language and imaginative psychology, I have formulated a mantra for you to use in the next six weeks. I suggest you say it five times after you wake up, and again at midday, and before dinner, and before sleep. It should help keep you intimately aligned with the dynamic groove that the cosmos will be conspiring to provide for you. For best results, picture yourself as glowing inside with the qualities named in the mantra. Here it is: StrongBrightFree ClearBoldBrisk DeepNimbleKind AdroitSteadyWarm.

AQUARIUS

(Jan. 20-Feb. 18): The Grammy Museum in Los Angeles features displays that extol the musicians who’ve won Grammy Awards over the years. A few years ago, a distinctly unfamous musician named Paz Dylan made professional-looking fake posters touting his own magnificent accomplishments and managed to sneakily hang them on the museum walls. They remained there for a month before anyone noticed. I’m going to encourage you to engage in similar gamesmanship in the coming weeks, Aquarius. It’ll be a favorable time to use ingenuity and unconventional approaches to boost your confidence and enhance your reputation.

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): “Relationships never stop being a work in progress,” writes author Nora Roberts. That’s bad news and good news. It’s bad news because even for the most loving bond, you must tirelessly persist in the challenging task of reinventing the ways the two of you fit together. It’s good news because few activities can make you more emotionally intelligent and soulfully wise than continually reinventing the ways the two of you fit together. I bring these thoughts to your attention because the coming weeks will be a fertile time for such daunting and rewarding work.

CHECK OUT ROB BREZSNY’S EXPANDED WEEKLY AUDIO HOROSCOPES & DAILY TEXT MESSAGE HOROSCOPES: REALASTROLOGY.COM OR 1-877-873-4888

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Time4somethingNew, 44, seeking: M

HARDWORKING, NIGHT LIFE, HONEST I’m 55, looking for adventure with a friend with benefits. orking for the future for financial independence.

Woodbury55vt, 53, seeking: M, W SPOIL MY PARTNER I am a very fit lifelong passable closeted cross-dressing cougar, non op trans woman seeking a discreet, fit, kind partner to spoil rotten. I have much to give and love to please my mate first and foremost. Ha e very private home and love to entertain. Looking for trustworthy partner for fun to start, maybe more. Susan123, 55, seeking: M, W GOOD-LOOKING BI Just looking for a friend-with-benefits 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 ears 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

TRANS WOMEN seeking...

GENEROUS, OPEN, EASYGOING Warm, giving trans female with an abundance of yum to share (and already sharing it with lovers) seeks ecstatic connection for playtimes, connections, copulations, exploration and generally wonderful occasional times together.

Clear communication, a willingness to venture into the whole self of you is wanted.

Possibilities are wide-ranging: three, four, explorations, dreaming up an adventure are on the list! DoubleUp, 63, seeking: M, Cp, l

COUPLES seeking...

CUTE COUPLE LOOKING FOR FUN 33-y/o couple looking for female friend or couple. Mojovt, 33, seeking: W, Cp, l HELP US BRANCH OUT We are a couple of over 30 years. We love to spend time together, enjoying good food, good beer/wine and good company. We enjoy the outdoors, camping, hiking, skiing. Looking for other couples to become friends with that can help us explore and branch out. We love each other very deeply and want to share that love with others.

CentralVTCpl, 54, seeking: Cp, Gp LOOKING FOR SOMEONE AMAZING We are a couple in an open relationship seeking a bi male, gay male or couple to join us in kinky play. Cuckholds, DP, etc. Are you a playmate (or playmates) who are open to safe, sane and crazy experiences.

Lets fulfi l each others fantasies. We’ll try anything twice! We are two clean, professional adults. Discretion given and expected. vtfuncouple, 44, seeking: M, Cp EXPERIENCE SOMETHING NEW We are a loving couple of over fi e years.

Love to play and try new things. Spend free time at the ledges. Looking for people to play with. Perhaps dinner, night out and maybe breakfast in the morning.

Looking for open-minded men, women or couples who enjoy fun times and new experiences. 2newAdventurers, 52, seeking: M, W, Cp, Gp OPEN-MINDED ROLE-PLAY We are an open-minded couple looking for others. Must be discreet. Please let us know your interests. If you are a male replying, you must be bi or bicurious. VTroleplaying, 47, seeking: W

i SPY

If you’ve been spied, go online to contact your admirer!

dating.sevendaysvt.com

WHIPPLE HOLLOW MAN You look like you have a great sense of humor with your concrete banjo.

Spied you in Seven Days, and you sparked my interest. We could share a brew and learn more. When: Friday, October 2, 2020. Where: Seven Days.

You: Man. Me: Woman. #915157 TRACTOR SUPPLY GUY I did need a belt but remembered it a little differently. Wondered if you saw a white-haired woman. Coffee, perhaps, if you did — or a brew? When: Friday, June 5, 2020. Where: Berlin Tractor Supply.

You: Man. Me: Woman. #915156 MOUNT ABE WITH OLLIE I was hiking with a good friend, and you, your buddy and dog Ollie were doing the same. We passed each other at least four times, counting on the road afterward, and exchanged big (masked) smiles. Probably you’re just naturally generous with smiles, but it’s worth asking if you’d like to go on a hike together? When: Saturday, September 26, 2020. Where: Mount Abe. You: Man. Me: Woman. #915155

JIM AND HIS HARLEY DAVIDSON Over six years ago, closeness developed between you and me at our church on Williston Road. Ironically, we see each other again years later in Cumberland Farms on Riverside (you were working at U-Haul at that time) — only to cross paths again in front of the bank. Did God answer you this time? When: Saturday, June 20, 2020. Where: on his motorcycle.

You: Man. Me: Woman. #915152 MANDY, CHARLOTTE BRICK STORE Hey there. I get coffee sometimes on my work break. Over the course of the winter, your smile, friendliness and very cute face have put you in my mind far more times than I have gotten coffee.

I’d love to know you. When: Saturday, August 1, 2020. Where: Brick Store.

You: Woman. Me: Man. #915150

SCARED AT SAXON HILL You scared me at Saxon Hill. You were walking, and I was on my bike. We joked about you scaring me. I would enjoy joking about this some more. Hope to see you there again. When: Saturday, September 26, 2020. Where: Saxon Hill. You: Woman. Me: Man. #915154

BURNT ROCK MOUNTAIN You were out enjoying a picture-perfect day on the trail with Lainey, and we crossed paths a few times. After you helped me with some directions in the parking lot, we went our separate ways, but I haven’t been able to shake your beautiful smile. I’ve never I-Spied anyone before, but figured, “Why not?” Join me for a hike sometime?

When: Saturday, September 19, 2020. Where: North Fayston. You: Woman. Me: Man. #915149

GREAT LEGS ON A SATURDAY You were parked in the VNA parking lot.

Had to come around and see those legs again in that black dress. You were getting ready to go to a function. Would love to see those legs again. What function were you going to, and what type of car were you driving? (To know it’s you.) When: Saturday, September 26, 2020. Where: Colchester.

You: Woman. Me: Man. #915153

NEK BOUNDARIES Passed by each other several times hiking on a beautiful sunny Sunday.

Would like to go on a hike with you next time, and we can debate the extents of the Northeast Kingdom. Hopefully talk about lots of other things, as well, and see more foliage. When: Sunday, September 20, 2020. Where: on the trail. You: Woman. Me: Man. #915148

BIKER WOMAN IN DANVILLE I saw you biking, and we spoke a few times on the trail and at the road where you got off. Let’s ride together sometime!

You pedal pretty fast. When: Saturday, September 5, 2020. Where: West Danville. You: Woman. Me: Man. #915147

SAXON HILL You: orange shirt. Me: orange bike.

We crossed paths at Saxon Saturday morning. Would enjoy hearing from you. When: Saturday, August 22, 2020. Where: Saxon Hill. You: Woman. Me: Man. #915134

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

BLUE HAIR I saw you with your blue hair and thought you’d match my purple hair nicely. When: Friday, September 18, 2020. Where: the co-op. You: Man. Me: Woman. #915146

FOUR_SEASONS Well, Miss Four_Seasons, you have been spied today on here. Your profile has caught my attention, and I am interested in knowing more about you.

I am open to any ideas or thoughts that you have. When: Monday, August 17, 2020. Where: Seven Days.

You: Woman. Me: Man. #915132

RAIL TRAIL Thank 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

MONTPELIER DOMINO’S You were picking up pizza while I was waiting for mine. You had red hair and a fun personality. Your name may have been Margo. How about a pizza with me sometime? When: Friday, September 11, 2020. Where: Montpelier.

You: Woman. Me: Man. #915145 PA TEACHER ON STEPS Sorry to stare as I went by on the motorcycle; you seemed so familiar. ˜ anks for the friendly wave. When: ˜ ursday, September 3, 2020. Where: PA. You: Woman. Me: Man. #915144 SHAVED HEAD CO-OP CUTIE You caught my eye with your sick outsider style at the co-op. You said you liked my outfit. Wanna chat about weird feminist art and music over coffee sometime?

Signed, ˜ e Freak With the Yellow Crocs.

When: Wednesday, September 2, 2020. Where: Middlebury co-op. You: Nonbinary person. Me: Woman. #915141 COCHRAN’S PARKING LOT You were enthusiastically supportive of your buddy after mountain biking. I liked your bright blue biking shorts and infectious pep and passion. I smiled as I walked by in my blue flowered tank and white sunglasses. As I drove away in my Crosstrek, we smiled again. Want to smile together over a beer or coffee?

When: Saturday, August 15, 2020. Where: Cochran’s. You: Man. Me: Woman. #915138 JAKE AT TJ’S We talked about swimming holes and the unbearable lightness of being 32.

You make the mask mandate look good! I know it’s part of the gig to connect with shoppers, but I enjoyed our convo, and if you did, too, I’d love to meet up for more. When: Friday, August 21, 2020. Where: Trader Joe’s.

You: Man. Me: Woman. #915135

Ask REVEREND Dear Sticker Shocked, °˛˝

Irreverent counsel on life’s conundrums

Dear Reverend,

˜ e crossing guard who parks in front of my house recently put a Trump/Pence bumper sticker on his car. I find it totally offensive, and I would like him to park elsewhere. Should I complain to the school?

Sticker Shocked (MALE, 53)

I get where you’re coming from, and I can’t say that I blame ya, but do me a favor: Read your letter as if someone else wrote it, and replace “Trump/Pence” with any politician or movement you support. Th ˜ at person sounds like a big jerk, don’t they?

As the philosopher Voltaire said in his Treatise on Tolerance,, “Th “˜ ink for yourselves and let others enjoy the privilege to do so, too” — even if it pisses you off.

But that doesn’t mean you can’t do anything.

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 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 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 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

Complaining to the school probably wouldn’t do you any good. I suppose you could argue that the bumper sticker qualifies as hate speech, but I doubt that would fl fly. If you really want the guy to move his car, I think you’ll

LAKE CARMI I saw a blond woman in a rowing boat in rough waters in a black-andwhite 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 A BRIDGE TOO FAR? Bike path bridge between Burlington and Colchester. You: on bike. Me: walking with a M/F couple. You appeared interested. I was. There were geese. When: Saturday, July 25, 2020. Where: Burlington-Colchester bridge. You: Man. Me: Man. #915106 WALK BY ME DAILY ALMOST You: female, and name starts with a C. You always say hi with a smile. You live up the street from me, and we know each other through my work (North Ave. area). I feel like you have that cartoon bubble over your head that is saying more, lol. I’m down if you are. Just ask, and I will play. When: Wednesday, July 22, 2020. Where: North Ave. area.

You: Woman. Me: Man. #915103 DANIELLE Before COVID I came in to drink coffee and read. It was always special when our eyes met. Once, as you rode up on the escalator, you turned, and I, on the first floor, smiled and said hi to you.

What fuels that extraordinary smile of yours that lights up the world around you? Let’s meet. When: Wednesday, March 11, 2020. Where: Barnes & Noble. You: Woman. Me: Man. #915100

have to talk to him directly. It’s nice to imagine that the two of you would wind up having a friendly debate about politics, but my gut tells me it could go horribly wrong.

I don’t usually condone passiveaggressive behavior, but it might be the way to go in this case. I suggest you get a whole bunch of yard signs that express your opposing view and stick them right in front of where he parks. Hopefully that will shoo him away.

Good luck and God bless,

The Reverend What’s your problem?

Send it to asktherev@sevendaysvt.com.

SEVEN DAYS OCTOBER 7-14, 2020

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I’m a mid-aged male seeking a M or F any age or gender.

Wonderful youth, caring person. Male, 5’9, 147. Older mid-aged loves long-distance running, writing, literature, poetry, drawing, folk and jazz.

Looking for a great friendship for hikes, walks, talks. Best to all. #L1446 I’m a single female, mid60s, seeking a male for companionship and adventure.

Retired educator who loves kayaking, swimming, skiing and travel. Well read. Life is short; let’s have fun. #L1445

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. #L1451 SWF seeks conservative male age 62 to 72, Addison/ Burlington area only. Turnons: har cut, shave, outdoorsy, hunter, camper. Turn-offs: smoker, drugs, tattoos. Me: 5’8, average build, blue/brown, glasses, enjoy nature, have a Shelty, birds, old Jeep, farm raised. Need phone number, please. #L1450

I’m a bicurious 41-y/o male seeking bicurious married or single men, 18 to 45, for some very discreet fun. Good hygiene, hung and H&W proportional a must. Let’s text discreetly and have some DL NSA fun. #L1449 Attractive SWM, 51, living around the Burlington area.

Seeking a curvaceous female for some casual fun with no strings attached. All it takes is some good chemistry... #L1447 I’m a petite blonde. Healthy, active SWF seeking a kind, honest SWM for conversation, walks, dinners and short trips.

70 to 80. #L1438

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.

MAIL TO: Seven Days Love Letters

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PUBLISH YOUR MESSAGE ON THIS PAGE!

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Submit your FREE message at sevendaysvt.com/loveletters or use the handy form at right.

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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 OCTOBER 7-14, 2020

Staff researcher at UVM on biostatistics. 29-y/o Chinese male. INFJ personality. Seeking a female of similar age for longterm relationship. Love is kind.

Love is patient. May we all stay healthy and be happy. #L1444 SWF, 37, seeking M for some casual fun, no strings attached.

I just got out of an LTR, and I’ve forgotten how it feels to be physically and sexually alive.

Can you remind me? Creative meetups and play a must. #L1443 Very unique lady in early 70s seeks male. I’m a people person and very active. Love to cook, garden, read and watch good movies. Very friendly with a lot of empathy. I love to walk and the outdoors. Looking for someone who enjoys the same. #L1442

Internet-Free Dating!

Reply to these messages with real, honest-to-goodness letters. DETAILS BELOW. I’m a GM looking for guys seeking fun and adventure in mid-Vermont. No text/email.

Hope to hear from you. #L1441 I’m 42-y/o looking for someone who can start and show me the way to a new life sexually.

Looking to start with someone experienced. #L1440 I’m a GM, 62, seeking a GM 45 to 65. Bright, bearish build with bookish interests. Still growing spiritually. Love to walk, hike, write — always learning. Looking for pen pals.

Please write and share your passions in life. #L1439 I’m a man, 30, seeking a woman. Math-brained, tall, working. Seeking long-term relationship and date for Thanksgiving. #L1437 I’m a 58-y/o SWF seeking a 55- to 63-y/o SM. I enjoy all seasons outside, hiking, biking, skiing, riding, kayaking, gardening. Looking for someone to share good food and good books and travel.

NEK. #L1435

54-y/o educated SWF seeks SM for friendship, possible LTR. Enjoy walks, hiking, camping, good food, art, movies, travel, occasional concerts and gardening. I lean politically left and am environmentally conscious.

Seeking M to have fun with, enjoy activities and conversation.

Ideally you’re compassionate, emotionally intelligent, capable of healthy communication, responsible, and have a good sense of humor and adventure. #L1436 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 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

Describe yourself and who you’re looking for in 40 words below:

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THIS FORM IS FOR LOVE LETTERS ONLY. Messages for the Personals and I-Spy sections must be submitted online at dating.sevendaysvt.com.

SHOP SAVVY AND KEEP VERMONT STRONG.

Shopping from home?

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: COMMON DEER, 210 COLLEGE ST., BURLINGTON, COMMONDEERVT.COM (JAMES BUCK)

1t-TheRegister-CommonDeer.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 SEVEN DAYS OCTOBER 7-14, 2020

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9/1/20 12:57 PM

WHERE LEARNING AND EXPERIENCE CONVERGE. Champlain Communication & Creative Media graduate, Katie Boynton, interned at HRVST, a Montreal branding agency, while studying abroad at Champlain’s Montreal campus.

Make your mark on the world, starting on day one.

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10/6/20 10:18 AM