MONDAY EDITION
ADDISON COUNTY
INDEPENDENT
Vol. 29 No. 6
Middlebury, Vermont
Monday, May 22, 2017
32 Pages
$1.00
Middlebury construction Sculptures and puppets season here • Bristol’s WalkOver Gallery is holding a retrospective of Grace Spring’s work. See Arts Beat on Pages 10-11 .
Many trees cut in town right of way • Ferrisburgh is deciding what to do about 2,000 trees and shrubs cut down illegally along a town road. See Page 2.
Downtown bridge work is top project
By JOHN FLOWERS MIDDLEBURY — Middlebury residents this spring and summer will experience the first of several strong doses of construction work that will cause some temporary inconveniences but some long-term upgrades to the town’s infrastructure. The “main event” will be a $52 million project to replace the Main Street and Merchants Row rail bridges with a 350-foot-long concrete tunnel. That massive project is tentatively slated to get under way next spring, but downtown merchants, travelers and shoppers will get a sneak preview beginning next month. That’s when work crews will begin installing temporary spans at the Main Street and Merchants Row locations. It’s a project that will require some detours and some long-term changes in downtown traffic options. For example, the Main Street temporary span will result in Printer’s Alley being relegated to pedestrian access until the final bridge work (See Middlebury, Page 32)
HIGH WINDS LEFT this Addison home in splinters last Thursday evening. The winds, along with hail, caused extensive damage in the area. The owner, who was home at the time, suffered cuts and bruises but is recovering.
Independent photo/Trent Campbell
Storm slams Addison lakefront
By ANDY KIRKALDY ADDISON — Scattered thunderstorms and high winds struck the northern half of Addison County on Thursday evening, causing some damage to property and trees. Nowhere were their effects felt like they were in the Addison lakeside neighborhood of Potash Bay, where
winds blew a home off its foundation, lifted a pickup truck over a barn, ripped roofing and siding off another estimated 10 homes, and tore down power and phone lines. And hail of at least a half-inch in diameter dented vehicles and broke their windows and that of homes, (See Storm, Page 30)
America, Brandon welcome immigrants Five dozen sworn in as citizens at Neshobe School ceremony
Athletes go faster, higher & further • The MUHS track and field teams hosted athletes from Vergennes and three other schools. See results on Page 16.
STANDING UNDER THE big American flag in the gym at Neshobe School in Brandon, 62 candidates took the oath to become U.S. citizens on May 10.
Photo by Evan Johnson
By EVAN JOHNSON BRANDON — They came from Thailand, Somalia, the Philippines, Canada, Sweden, Mali, Bhutan and more, but at the end of the May 10 naturalization ceremony at the Neshobe Elementary School in Brandon, 62 candidates from 29 countries left as Americans. The event filled the school auditorium with elected officials, area residents, students and teachers. Even U.S. Rep. Peter Welch was on hand to be the first to welcome the newest citizens, the largest group ever gathered for the annual ceremony in Brandon. “We say thank you, we say we welcome you, and we say you are going to make our strong country stronger,” Welch said. (See Americans, Page 15)