Brewing drama
Ruling the pool
Coffee and theater enthusiasts can blend those passions as a java roaster opens a playhouse. See Arts+Leisure.
The Vergennes Champs enjoyed dipping in their own pool on Tuesday evening. See Page 1B.
Candidate A New Haven man seeks write-in votes for the House seat representing his town. See Page 3A.
ADDISON COUNTY
INDEPENDENT Vol. 70 No. 28
Middlebury, Vermont
◆
Thursday, July 14, 2016
◆
Wetlands save Middlebury millions Prevent damage from Irene, other floods By ANDY KIRKALDY MIDDLEBURY — Wetlands like the Cornwall swamp and floodplains like those near the Salisbury flats have saved the town of Middlebury between $126,000 and $450,000 a year in flood damage over the past 80 years, plus up to $1.8 million when Tropical Storm Irene struck in
2011, according to a unique University of Vermont study recently made public. And, said lead study author Keri Bryan Watson, those figures include only private property that would have been flooded without buffering and water absorption from wetlands and floodplains along Otter Creek
between Rutland and Middlebury. Watson said in an interview with the Independent that the study only measured damage from “inundation of buildings” using federal flood insurance models, and not what floodwaters could have done to public infrastructure such as roads, bridges and utilities. She called the damage estimates “really conservative.”
“What we know is that in Vermont most damages are occurring from erosion that occurs in flood events or from damages to infrastructure,” said Watson, a Ph.D. candidate in UVM’s Gund Institute and Rubenstein School of Environment and Natural Resources. “We just didn’t have the ability with our methodology to measure that kind of damage.” (See Wetlands, Page 15A)
46 Pages
75¢
After escape from the Third Reich, local artist lets her artwork bloom By JOHN FLOWERS among those who suffered during MIDDLEBURY — Some of the the Nazi occupation of their namost beautiful flowers can bloom tive Austria before escaping to the in the darkness. United States in 1939. Klara Calitri will “I think seeing all show you. the horrendous things Just give her some makes me appreciate paint and a brush and the little things in life,” her fragile, diminutive, Calitri said during an 93-year-old hands will interview at the Town send water lilies floatHall Theater’s Jacking across the canvass son Gallery, where and help some scarlet many of her paintings, geraniums stretching monotypes and ceramtoward the sky. She’ll ics are now on exhibit give them friends, through Aug. 6. such as a contempla“I think my (advice) tive cat or some deterwould be to try to have mined dragonflies. a joie de vivre,” she CALITRI Calitri dives into her added. “And I would own soul for the rainbow of colors like to leave some of that behind she imagines on her tableau. And with my art.” the reservoir remains plentiful and Calitri was born in Vienna in diverse in spite of her early years 1922. She and her parents lived 10 living in the shadows of the Third minutes away from Schonbrunn, (See Calitri, Page 16A) Reich. Calitri and her family were
Report lays out unification plan for Bristol-area schools
On the green PERFORMERS TOOK TO the annual Festival on-the-Green stage this week to entertain large crowds spread out in chairs and on blankets across the Middlebury town green. Marie Savoie Levac, above left, Béatrix Méthé and Eléonore Pitre performed as part of Les Poules á Colin on Tuesday night. The week-long festival kicked off Sunday with a performance by Kiflu Kidane and the New Nile Orchestra featuring percussionist Steve Ferraris, left, and John McConnell and Kidane, below. The festival runs through Saturday night. See more photos on Page 13A. Independent photos/Trent Campbell
By JOHN FLOWERS BRISTOL — Addison Northeast Supervisory Union officials next Monday will officially unveil a proposed blueprint for uniting all of the district’s schools into a single entity governed by one board and financed through a global budget. The July 18 forum will be held from 6 to 8 p.m. at the Lincoln Community School. The school governance unification plan is outlined in a final report and “articles of agreement” released this week by the ANeSU Act 46 Study Committee. That 14-member panel — featuring representatives from the ANeSU communities of Bristol, Lincoln, Monkton, New Haven and Starksboro — has spent the past several months determining whether the district’s five elementary schools and
Mount Abraham Union High School could reasonably merge their respective boards into a single panel to more efficiently manage the educational needs of area students. “I feel very hopeful that we’ll be able to provide even more great educational opportunities to our students by forming a larger union,” ANeSU Act 46 Committee Chairperson Jennifer Stanley said during an interview with the Independent. “I feel excited about the opportunities that this could bring for our schools.” On May 4 the committee voted 9-3 to advocate for school governance unification, recommending such a merger be put to ANeSU voters on Election Day, Nov. 8. The panel then held a series of meetings at which (See Schools, Page 11A)
Vt. is special to Fresh Air kids By ELLIE REINHARDT ADDISON COUNTY — Ulysses Suazo, a 15-year-old from Bronx, N.Y., calls Vermont his second home thanks to Rebecca Kodis and her son, Darius Kainen-Kodis, 13. For Suazo, Vermont is an escape from the chaotic pace of New York City living. “In the South Bronx, people have a problem with you even if you just
By the way Main Street in Middlebury from Merchants Row to Seymour Street will be closed on Saturday evening between 6 and 10:30 p.m. for the concluding event of this year’s Festival on-the-Green: the street dance. With musicians hailing from all corners of the Green Mountain State, (See By the way, Page 14A)
Index Obituaries .......................... 6A-7A Classifieds ......................... 3B-7B Service Directory .............. 4B-5B Entertainment ........Arts + Leisure Community Calendar ........ 8A-9A Arts Calendar ........Arts + Leisure Sports ................................ 1B-2B
look at them. Over here, it’s just peaceful,” he said. Suazo came to Vermont thanks to the Fresh Air Fund, a nonprofit organization that brings children from New York City — ages 7 to 18 — to New England, where they can attend one of five camps in Fishkill, N.Y., or, alternatively, spend a week or more with a host family in any of 14 (See Kids, Page 14A)
Local volunteers make repairs to Charter House Work to give boost to homeless shelter By JOHN FLOWERS MIDDLEBURY — Members of the Congregational Church of Middlebury have logged a lot of miles during their annual service trips to such places as New Orleans, West Virginia and Missouri to help rebuild communities torn asunder by natural disasters and poverty. This year, they’ve selected a philanthropic mission within mere steps of their majestic church in downtown Middlebury: The Charter House on North Pleasant Street. Owned by the church, the Charter House during the next few weeks will get a major facelift that will allow it — and the homeless who seek refuge there — to weather many more Vermont winters. It’s all about giving back, and sometimes that means giving one-
self a hand up, noted Congregational Church of Middlebury Trustee Dan Brown, one of around 15 people who on Monday were diligently peeling away the old, outer layer of the Charter House to prepare it for a sturdier surface. “This is a way to bond and learn more about each other, our members and fellowship,” said Brown. Volunteers are trying to replicate an experience they would enjoy on a typical service trip hundreds of miles away. While they’ll be able to sleep in their own homes, they will eat breakfasts and lunches together for the two-week duration of the work, which will involve removing the current exterior siding, putting in insulation, then installing HardiePlank siding and new windows and board trim. They’ll also paint the porch and pillars, the external doors, and — time permitting (See Service, Page 11A)
MIDDLEBURY’S CHARTER HOUSE, owned by the Congregational Church, is undergoing a major exterior renovation. The Charter House Coalition offers services to the homeless and organizes free community meals. Independent photo/Trent Campbell