Thursday, Aug. 17, 2017

Page 1

On screen

FESTIVAL PROGRAM

Foreign films

Grappling

See new perspectives at the third Middlebury New Filmmakers Festival. The program is inside.

International filmmakers have their own take on cinema. See what drives them in Arts+Leisure.

More than 200 people competed in the Field Days armwrestling contest. See who won, Page 1B.

THURSDAY-SUNDAY

AUGUST 24-27, 2017 middfilmfest.org

ADDISON COUNTY

Vol. 71 No. 33

INDEPENDENT Middlebury, Vermont

Thursday, August 17, 2017 

80 Pages

$1.00

Confederate flags draw local rebuke East Middlebury residents voice concerns

EAST MIDDLEBURY RESIDENTS have expressed concerns about confederate flags that have been flying at two different homes. This flag has been seen at 32 Schoolhouse Hill Road.

Independent photo/John Flowers

By JOHN FLOWERS EAST MIDDLEBURY — The recent flying of Confederate flags on at least two private properties in Middlebury is being condemned by many area residents still reeling in the aftermath of a white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Va., that left one woman dead, numerous people injured, and a nation in need of healing. Locals noted the Confederate flags flying this past weekend at a Case Street home in the village of East Middlebury and another that was still flying on Wednesday at a School House Hill Road residence east of the airport. Patricia Sprague said her visiting son was responsible for the Confederate flag that flew at her Case Street home last Friday and into the weekend. She said she removed

the flag when she became aware of its presence. Her son — whom she said resides in North Carolina — has now left the area. “I am a very good person and I am not prejudiced,” Sprague told the Independent. “I’m really very sorry, and there’s nothing else I can say.” While the flag was up for a relatively short period of time, it had a visceral impact among some in the neighborhood. Kemi Fuentes-George placed his infant daughter into her car seat last Friday for a familiar drive down Case Street/Route 116 to pick up his wife from work. But as he pulled past the Case Street home, Fuentes-George — who hails from Jamaica and is black — saw something that was unfamiliar, unsettling and very unwelcome: A (See Flags, Page 3A)

A CONFEDERATE FLAG flying on a Case Street home in East Middlebury has recently been taken down.

Courtesy photo

Vermonters raise their voices against bigotry

PEOPLE GATHER IN College Park in Middlebury Monday evening to denounce racism and promote democratic values in response to weekend events in Charlottesville, Va.

Independent photo/Trent Campbell

By the way Middlebury Union High School science teacher Carl Engvall, a Bristol resident, will lead viewing of the solar eclipse this coming Monday afternoon in an event at the Mount Abraham Union High School track. A hands-on activity that explains what happens during an eclipse will start at 2:15 p.m. The eclipse itself begins at 1:24, will reach its maximum at 2:41, (See By the way, Page 12A)

Index Obituaries................................. 6A Classifieds........................ 7B-11B Service Directory............... 8B-9B Entertainment.........Arts + Leisure Community Calendar......... 8A-9A Arts Calendar.........Arts + Leisure Sports................................. 1B-3B

By GAEN MURPHREE This past Friday and Saturday, MIDDLEBURY — Close to hundreds of neo-Nazis, Ku 100 people gathered Monday Klux Klan members and white evening in Middlebury for a rally nationalists came together in in solidarity with those opposing Charlottesville under the “Unite white nationalists, in response to the Right” banner, ostensibly to the weekend’s tragic protest the removal of events in Charlottesville, “We are here a Robert E. Lee statue Va. from Emancipation “People needed to to affirm our Park in the home of the share their indignation values — our University of Virginia. and dismay,” said democratic On Saturday, one Ariane van Driel van counter-protester was values.” Wageningen, one of killed and 19 wounded — Gloria when a man who the organizers of the Gonzalez apparently was a white demonstration and a Zenteno supremacist plowed his leader with Middlebury Indivisible. vehicle into a crowd of The rally in Middlebury, held counter-protesters. Two Virginia in the new park near the traffic state troopers died later in the circle, was one of several rallies in day when their helicopter crashed Vermont. Burlington, Rutland and while they were monitoring Barre also held events in sympathy the demonstration. Skirmishes with counter-protesters on Monday. between white nationalists and Indivisible organizers in counter-protesters resulted in at Middlebury decided to hold a rally least 15 other persons being treated in place of a regularly scheduled for injuries at the University of meeting and spread the word Virginia Medical Center. Later that on social media. Indivisible is a day, Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe nationwide progressive activist declared a state of emergency and organization. (See Rally, Page 13A)

State police crack down on careless, drunk driving

Makeshift gun ranges draw fire Need for safe shooting grows as problems arise By WILL DIGRAVIO ADDISON COUNTY — The sound of gunfire way off in the woods is not unfamiliar to folks who enjoy trekking through the forests of Addison County. For Bill Mathis, who lives adjacent to a gravel pit turned shooting range in Goshen, that distant salvo has turned into bullets flying past as he sits on his porch. “It’s (happened) “These areas probably four or five are not shooting times,” Mathis said. “It ranges, formal is a bit disconcerting to or informal.” have bullets whiz over — John Sinclair, your head.” Green Mountain Another informal National Forest shooting range can supervisor be found in Ripton, in a sand pit named Sparks Pit, near the home of Chris Pike, who says the range poses a safety hazard and does not meet National Rifle Association (NRA) standards. “If you look at the trees over the berm, they’re riddled with holes, and all of those bullets are going out towards (a nearby) campsite and house,” Pike said. Informal, unregulated shooting ranges like these

DOZENS OF BULLETS and casings litter the ground of a sand pit in Ripton, which is one of several informal shooting ranges throughout Addison County. Town officials and residents are concerned that the range is posing an environmental and safety risk to the area.

Photo courtesy of Chris Pike

exist around Addison County, and increasingly draw attention from those who say safe, wellregulated alternatives are needed. Cases in Lincoln, Bristol and Whiting in particular have been in the spotlight. This past winter, Green Mountain National Forest and Vermont Fish and Wildlife Department officials held a meeting to discuss turning an informal shooting range in a Lincoln gravel pit into a properly designed range. “The National Forest would provide the land and the state would get it built and managed,”

Pike said. “The residents near the range said no and it was dropped.” Shooting near homes in Bristol last spring prompted the town’s selectboard to consider a local ordinance regulating discharging firearms within a specific distance of other people’s property. On Aug. 10, the Bristol selectboard unanimously rejected the proposed gun ordinance. In Whiting, an individual allegedly operated an illegal, commercial gun range on his property that, according to town officials, poses a (See Gun ranges, Page 14A)

By JOHN FLOWERS MIDDLEBURY — Vermont State Police are stepping up their traffic patrols in Addison County and beyond in wake of some recent fatal car crashes, including one on Route 22A in Bridport on Aug. 7 that claimed the lives of four people. Lt. Jeffrey Danoski, commander of the VSP’s New Haven barracks, said the Aug. 7 crash remains under investigation. The four victims — all out-of-staters headed for jobs at Addison County Fair and Field Days — were traveling in a Volkswagen Beetle that crossed the center line of Route 22A and collided with an oncoming pickup truck. All four people in the Beetle were unbuckled. Both of the people in the pickup truck were buckled and survived the crash. Danoski is concerned with some of the driving infractions his troopers are seeing in the field. Drivers aren’t maintaining the recommended three (See Drivers, Page 12A)


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