PAGE 2 — Addison Independent, Monday, January 30, 2017
Orwell man faces ‘life’ in sexual assault case
VHB to lead inspection of rail bridges project area
Kolts found guilty by a county jury By MIKE DONOGHUE MIDDLEBURY — A 70-yearold former coach and bus driver at Shoreham Elementary School is facing a mandatory 25 years to life in jail after he was found guilty by an Addison County Superior Court jury for repeated aggravated sexual assaults on a young girl between 2012 and 2014. Rein Kolts of Orwell committed the sexual assaults on the girl when she was 11 to 13 years old, according to the charges filed by the Addison County State’s Attorney. She was not a student at the school nor even from the area. During a hearing Friday, Judge Sam Hoar postponed a decision on releasing Kolts pending sentencing. Hoar is expected to rule on Wednesday when the hearing resumes at 8:45 a.m. The Addison County Sheriff’s Department returned Kolts after the hearing to the Marble Valley Regional Correctional Facility in Rutland, where he has been held without bail since his conviction Jan. 20. A jury deliberated 90 minutes before returning the verdict on the fourth day of trial. Defense lawyer Mark Furlan is seeking to have Kolts released to live at his home with his wife pending sentencing. The sexual assaults happened at Kolts’ home on Vermont 73 in Orwell. Furlan also said he plans to appeal the conviction to the Vermont Supreme Court. Addison County State’s Attorney Dennis Wygmans said the evidence of guilt was great, an assessment the judge acknowledged. Besides the victim’s testimony, police had two confessions from Kolts, including one on video about 30 minutes into his initial
FORMER SCHOOL BUS driver Rein Kolts, left, and his lawyer Mark Furlan listen as Addison County State’s Attorney Dennis Wygmans makes a point during a hearing Friday. Kolts was convicted by an Addison County jury of multiple sexual assaults on a girl.
Photo by Mike Donoghue
police interview. Two probation officials conWygmans told the court Kolts firmed Wygmans’ assessment has no reason to stay at his home about the monitoring system. The because of the mandatory 25-year defense suggested the Rutland ofminimum sentence fice could monitor that cannot be susKolts, but that office pended or reduced. He Besides also is unstaffed on also has an enhanced the victim’s weekends the court driver’s license that testimony, was told. allows him into Can- police had two Sgt. Ruth Whitney ada or Mexico, the confessions of the Addison Counprosecutor noted. Sheriff’s Departfrom Rein Kolts, ty He also noted that ment testified briefly electronic monitor- including one Friday that Kolts had ing proposed by the on video about threatened her when defense would be in- 30 minutes into she went to his reseffective. He said the his initial police idence to ensure he Vermont Probation interview. was complying with and Parole Office a court order. A judge would attach a monihad refused Kolts’ retoring bracelet on Kolts, but it is quest to go to his high school class checked only once a day and not reunion out of state. on weekends so the defendant “He would make me pay for could have a long head start be- this,” Whitney said Kolts stated fore his disappearance would be as she left the residence. Whitney known. is assigned to the Addison Coun-
ty Unit for Special Investigations, which conducted the investigation. The defense did not question Whitney. Whitney’s investigation showed Kolts had sexual intercourse with the girl at his home over a couple of years, court records show. During the trial, the victim’s mother, a medical nurse who examined the girl and three police officers testified for the state. The defendant did not take the stand during the trial. His wife, Karen Hall-Kolts, another relative, a doctor and a neighbor all testified for the defendant. After the arrest of Kolts, prosecutors and Shoreham school officials reached out to families in the community because he had served as a bus driver and a basketball coach for boys and girls. The school said he was replaced on his Bet-Cha bus route during the investigation.
By JOHN FLOWERS MIDDLEBURY — At a Tuesday meeting, the Middlebury selectboard received an update from community Liaison Jim Gish on plans to replace the Main Street and Merchants Row rail bridges. The project — originally slated to get under way in 2013 — calls for replacing the two deteriorating, 1920s-era bridges with a 360-foot-long concrete tunnel. It will be made up of 100 pieces of precast concrete, each weighing around 25 tons. Work will encompass a total of 3,500 feet of the rail line. The plan also calls for a drainage system for the rail bed that will result in the undergrounding of various utilities near Printer’s Alley. Preliminary work on the project was scheduled to begin within a few months. But some concerned downtown property owners successfully argued for an environmental analysis of the project area that will delay construction for another year. Gish on Tuesday said the assessment will be led by VHB Engineers. Wayne Symonds, project manager for the Vermont Agency of Transportation, is scheduled to explain the environmental assessment process to town officials at a Feb. 27 meeting. Meanwhile, town officials will soon solicit engineering firms interested in doing an independent assessment of the rail bridges replacement project. Middlebury College has agreed to help fund that assessment. The Middlebury selectboard on Tuesday also OK’d a modified agreement with VTrans governing the project.
Career center budget plan reflects spending decrease By JOHN FLOWERS MIDDLEBURY — Patricia Hannaford Career Center directors are proposing a 2017-2018 spending plan of $3,482,549 to deliver vocational and technical education to students in 17 Addison County towns. That is a spending level that essentially preserves existing programs and represents a 1.39-percent decrease in spending compared to this year. Career Center Superintendent Lynn Coale cited an already-implemented reduction of one full-time-equivalent position in the
agriculture program and $30,000 to $40,000 in anticipated savings in health care expenses as two driving forces behind the proposed spending decrease. The health care savings are expected to result from a change in insurance plans offered through the Vermont Education Health Initiative program. “The dynamics of health care are changing dramatically,” said Coale, who will be stepping down from his position this June. It should also be noted that new teacher contracts are being negotiated in districts throughout Ver-
mont, to take effect for the 20172018 academic year. So the career center, like other schools, is having to estimate potential salary and benefits costs. “Putting together budgets this year is a challenge,” Coale said. Career center officials are also proposing to apply $40,000 in surplus from the fiscal year 2016 budget to the soften the property tax impact of the 2017-2018 spending plan. The aforementioned savings are expected to result in a 2-percent decrease in tuition assessments for the students the center serves
from the Addison Central, Addison Northeast and Addison Northwest supervisory unions. Directors are anticipating an enrollment of around 135 full-time-equivalent students, down from this year’s number of 136.6. The proposed 2017-2018 tuition rate has been set at $20,268, down from this year’s rate of $20,304. “I think it’s a reasonable budget, given all the unknowns,” Coale said. “There are a fair number of moving parts.” Residents will vote on the Hannaford Career Center budget on Town Meeting Day this March.
Meanwhile, career center officials are enlisting help from the Vermont School Boards Association in their search for a new center manager. The career center conducted a community survey — through SurveyMonkey — and held a Jan. 14 meeting to get public feedback on future center priorities and the qualities they expect to see in the new Hannaford superintendent. Plans call for a new superintendent to start by July 1. Reporter John Flowers is at johnf@addisonindependent.com.