Thursday, April 12, 2018

Page 1

Large legacy

Aiming high

The co-founder of the A.R.T. theater arts program is returning to acting. See Arts + Leisure.

One of Mount Abe’s best athletes ever has an amazing résumé and a sense of humor. See Page 1B.

Mentors Grown-ups are giving some Mount Abe students a little gentle direction. See Page 2A.

ADDISON COUNTY

Vol. 72 No. 15

INDEPENDENT Middlebury, Vermont

Thursday, April 12, 2018  50 Pages

$1.00

Students endure lockdown drills

Shooter preparation can be stressful

By CHRISTOPHER ROSS the drill had been longer, so they ADDISON COUNTY — On could nap. It wasn’t until after class, March 28 Mount Abraham Union as she was walking down the hall Middle/High School conducted a with a friend, that she realized the lockdown drill — “locks, lights and extent of the fear she’d felt. out of sight.” “I then went and Tenth-grader Mae took a math test,” she Peterson knew it was “I turned my said. a drill, she said. Mount Abe phone brightness “My teacher asked all the way down eleventh-grader Evan us, ‘Which one is this? Laurent was afraid to and became Is this the one where sit with his back to the you go in the corner?’ super aware of door, he said. He didn’t know. all my classmates “I turned my phone Someone said it was, doing the same. brightness all the way so we turned the lights My heart was down and became off and huddled in the beating pretty super aware of all my corner. As I sat in the classmates doing the dark, hearing others fast and I was same. My heart was whisper and giggle, pretty stressed.” beating pretty fast and — Mount Abe I was pretty stressed.” I began to think. I began to wait for the Fellow junior 11th-grader Evan gunshots. A part of me Jackman Laurent Chessley knew they wouldn’t found herself in a come, but a part of me double room near the screamed, ‘But what if they do?’” library when the drill began. The When the drill ended, Peterson room had four doorways. said, she had a hard time laughing “We quickly realized we needed with those classmates who wished (See Shooter drills, Page 13A)

Thorn to leave CSAC after 40-year career

Helped bring agency into 21st century By JOHN FLOWERS MIDDLEBURY — Counseling Services of Addison County Executive Director Robert Thorn has come to work each day for the past 39 years with a simple professional priority that’s had a huge payoff. “It’s not hard in this job to do good; there are opportunities each day,” Thorn said. The thousands of people Thorn’s efforts have touched over the years — whether they be colleagues or mental health clients — would undoubtedly acknowledge he has accomplished his daily mission, and much more. But starting next fall, someone will have to carry on for Thorn, who at age 69 has given his one-year notice.

The Counseling Service has created a committee to ask constituents about the qualities they’d like to see in a new director. He’s confident the agency will have a replacement by next spring, but has offered to stay on for a while if there’s a hitch in the hiring process. “I’m not going anywhere,” said the New Haven resident. “The board has a very thoughtful process that will ensure client services will go on uninterrupted.” One could argue that Thorn’s appearance and demeanor were made for the profession he has chosen. He has a very kind visage, crowned by a full head of gray (See CSAC’s Thorn, Page 10A)

RUNNING A COUNTRY store is more than a job — it’s a way of life. Dick Collitt and his spouse, Sue, know that; they have owned and faithfully operated the Ripton Country Store since 1976. Now in their early 70s, they are ready to retire and looking to sell the iconic store on Route 125 in the heart of the Green Mountains.

Ripton store comes with slice of history Collitts ready to retire; McKibben article in N.Y. Times spurs nationwide interest By JOHN FLOWERS a rustic wood stove, a hot cup of said of the national exposure the RIPTON — If nationally coffee and the reminiscences of a Ripton County Store has received renowned environmental activist friendly store-keep to warm your during the past few weeks. and bestselling author Bill heart on a frigid winter morning. “(Our real estate agen) has been McKibben ever decides to do some “Residents are supportive; they getting so many calls right now that moonlighting, he might consider think it’s pretty cool,” Dick Collitt he’s asking (buyers) to email him,” donning a Realtor’s jacket. When the Middlebury College scholar in residence learned Dick and Sue Collitt were having some trouble finding a solid buyer for the Ripton Country Store, he offered to write an editorial on their behalf for The New York Times. Less than a week after McKibben’s editorial appeared in the March 30 issue of the Times, the Collitts had received 50 offers deemed credible enough to warrant follow-ups. The couple’s phone has been ringing virtually non-stop with calls from people hoping to acquire the property. Others have been stopping by the big red clapboard building right on Route 125 in Ripton village wanting to simply have a folksy conversation with them about what it’s like to run a small country store. There’s THE STORE HAS boasted 215 post office boxes for around three something particularly inviting decades. Store owners say many folks buy something while picking about a non-descript rocking chair, up their mail.

Vote online to win big More sewage spills prize for hockey rink into Neshobe River

ROBERT THORN, LONGTIME executive director of the Counseling Service of Addison County, will retire next spring after 40 years with the Middlebury-based mental health services agency.

Independent photo/John S. McCright

Independent photo/Trent Campbell

MIDDLEBURY — Backers of the bid to win $150,000 for renovations of the Memorial Sports Center in Middlebury have organized a viewing party for the 3 p.m. Saturday afternoon NHL game during which the winner of the Kraft Hockeyville contest will be announced. The rink is guaranteed at least $10,000, but could win $30,000 for a second-place finish. And the grand prize also includes an NHL preseason game at the winning rink. Friends of Middlebury Hockey have arranged for a food truck at the rink at the viewing party, plus free Ben & Jerry’s ice cream. According to organizers, the Boston Bruins also donated a team-autographed jersey that they’ll be giving away. And anyone, whether they can make it or not, can support the effort by voting between 12 a.m. Friday (that is very early in the morning) and 11 a.m. on Saturday. Just log onto krafthockeyville.com and follow links to vote through the website as often as possible, according to organizers, who hope to use the winnings to fund public restroom and a heated familyfriendly viewing area overlooking the ice. This community must outvote supporters of rinks in Shreveport, La.; Brandon, S.D.; and Clinton, N.Y.

Brandon has 2nd big incident By POLLY MIKULA BRANDON — Old pipes and erosion led to a break in a Brandon sewer pipe, spilling over 1 million gallons of sewage into the Neshobe River last week. This is the second time in a month that over a million gallons of wastewater has dumped into the river, which leads into Otter Creek and ultimately into Lake Champlain. The most recent break occurred April 4-5 in two locations. At 500 Union St. over 1 million gallons of discharged treated and partially disinfected effluent spilled into the Neshobe, and at Mill Street and Conant Square 500,000-1 million gallons of discharged untreated sewage spilled into the river. Less than a month earlier, on March 7, another spill of over a million gallons of raw sewage went into the Neshobe. Brandon Town Manager Dave Atherton then said the area around the pipe, down past Mill Lane almost to the post office, had eroded and exposed the 12-inch concrete sewer pipe, which dates back to the 1930s. The pipe was broken open in two places where it runs along the Neshobe between two manholes. That pipe was repaired but the patch broke less than (See Brandon sewage, Page 10A)

Collitt added. Dick Collitt was a banker living in suburban Philadelphia in 1976 when he saw the Ripton store advertised for sale in the Wall Street Journal. He and Sue went to check the place out. Two months later they and their two sons, Michael and Matthew, had moved into the apartment above the store. “We just fell in love with it and bought it,” he said. The previous two owners had parted with the property after only three years each. Some townspeople saw it as trend likely to be repeated. “People were skeptical about our being able to stick with it,” Collitt said. “A lot of people at that time bought little country inns and stores, stuff like that, and they thought it would be cool to be in the boondocks. And a lot of those people didn’t stick.” But the Collitts knew they wouldn’t be short-timers. “We were here for the duration,” Collitt said of the couple’s dedication to the small enterprise that first opened in 1879. “We (See Ripton, Page 14A)

By the way Beeman Elementary School in New Haven will host a U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services naturalization ceremony this Thursday, April 12, at 1 p.m., at (See By the way, Page 10A)

Index Obituaries................................. 6A Classifieds.......................... 5B-9B Service Directory............... 6B-7B Entertainment.........Arts + Leisure Community Calendar......... 8A-9A Arts Calendar.........Arts + Leisure Sports................................. 1B-3B


Turn static files into dynamic content formats.

Create a flipbook
Issuu converts static files into: digital portfolios, online yearbooks, online catalogs, digital photo albums and more. Sign up and create your flipbook.