The ColChesTer sun
May 26, 2016 • The Colchester Sun • 1
Vol. 15 No. 21
Prsrt Std ECRWSS U.S. Postage Paid Permit No. 266 Burlington, VT 05401 Postal Patron-Residential
Thursday, May 26, 2016
Colchester declines merger study with Winooski By Jason starr
Oh, what a night
Colchester High School students strike a pose on prom night at Hilton Burlington last Saturday.
the Colchester school Board decided against partnering with the Winooski Board of school trustees on a state-funded study of merging their two neighboring school districts. the Vermont agency of Education is providing incentives for districts to consolidate under act 46, a school spending law passed by the legislature last year. the Colchester board met with its counterparts in Winooski earlier this month to discuss the possibility. It then took up the idea at last week’s school board meeting in Colchester. “nobody brought forth a motion See MERGER, page 10
Photo by Harjit Dhaliwal
Running to Open Studio Weekend By MICHaELa HaLnon
t
he impossibly tall ceilings and blowing lace curtains in Ginny Joyner’s breezy Fort Ethan allen homestudio invoke a dreamlike state upon entry. Clusters of cobalt blue glass bottles nestle in the corner of the artist’s bright yellow kitchen, and her own framed prints cover nearly every inch of the peach and white entryway. It’s a thursday evening, and three students are seated in the heart of the home, preparing their watercolor stations with careful guidance from Joyner. a black scottish terrier named rocco weaves between their legs under the massive wooden table – big enough to comfortably sit 30 – begging for treats. Joyner’s doors are often open as she hosts summer watercolor classes multiple times a week. See STUDIO, page 2
Photo by Jason Starr At 17, Jace Laquerre is expected to be the youngest deleage at the Republican Natoonal Convention in July.
Junior Republican CHS student to cast major vote By Jason starr
Photo by Michaela Halnon Colchester artist Ginny Joyner works in her Fort Ethan Allen home-studio last week; she will open her doors for Open Studio Weekend on May 28-29.
Fishing derby deepens lake programs’ pockets
Jace Laquerre is just old enough to vote, and in July he will have a direct say in who becomes the republican nominee for president. at 17, the Colchester High school junior will likely be the youngest delegate at the republican national Convention in July, predicts Jeff Bartley, a Colchester selectboard member who is also the executive director of the Vermont republican Party. Laquerre registered to vote about a month after his 17th See VOTE, page 10
By aVErY BLIss For The Colchester Sun
Photo by Avery Bliss Chittenden County Sen. David Zuckerman casts a line at the Lake Champlain International Governor's Cup fishing derby last Friday in Colchester.
Lake Champlain International hosted its ninth annual Governor’s Cup fishing derby on Friday with a slew of officials and fishermen in attendance on a wide bend in the Winooski river. the money raised by the competitors’ donations will be split evenly between two programs, the Healthy Water Healthy Children program and the Bring Back the Brookies initiative, both which champion a healthier lake.
Hosted by LCI director James Ehlers and 2015 Miss Vermont alayna Westcom, the competition crowned the Myers Container services’ team winners. the group reclaimed the trophy from the 2015 winners, the Green Mountain Water Environment association. at 10 a.m., Ehlers kicked off the derby, saying, “the only rules are that you can’t break the Fish and Wildlife laws.” Competitors were given 75 minutes to catch the most fish, See DERby, page 5
CHS mock DUI turns focus to drugged driving By MICHaELa HaLnon the call came over the police scanner at 9 a.m. last Friday morning: a two-car crash had occurred on Laker Lane, with possible fatalities. then, a reassuring caveat rang out: this is a drill. Juniors and seniors at Colchester High school sat in bleachers set up in
the parking lot, directly opposite two wrecked cars filled with fellow students. Colchester police Lt. Doug allen acted as narrator for the mock DUI skit, setting the scene and giving a step-by-step explanation of events as they unfolded. Police officers were the first to arrive, sirens
blaring, followed by a pair of ambulances and fire trucks. swarms of firefighters and rescue crewmembers descended on the crash with Jaws of Life and empty stretchers at the ready. senior Dakota navari held still, lying on the hood of one vehicle. He was covered in fake blood, simulating an unbuck-
led passenger who was killed after being thrown through the windshield. Junior amber sicard acted as the impaired but uninjured driver and was pulled aside by police officers for questioning. the remaining participants – two teachers and two other students – were treated for varying degrees of injury.
“this may seem like excessive personnel,” allen said to the crowd. “But in fact this is a smaller team than we would see at a real crash of this magnitude.” the mock DUI is held at CHs every two years on the last school day before prom. organizers hope it reminds students See DUI, page 3
Land records go digital Colchester transitions to searchable, online databases By Jason starr the digital age has transformed the town of Colchester’s voluminous stockpile of land records into bytes of information on thirdparty computer servers. any building permit, development review board application, zoning permit and more that a citizen submits will no longer have a paper record. It will only exist in a searchable online archive. the planning and zoning department has nearly completed scanning and indexing all of its files dating back to the origins of zoning in Colchester, the mid 1950s. “ninety-nine percent of our See RECORDS, page 10