The Commons/issue of Nov. 3, 2010 by Jeff Potter

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Brattleboro, Vermont Wednesday, November 3, 2010 • Vol. V, No. 27 • Issue #74

W ind h am C ounty ’ s A W A R D - W I N N I N G , I ndependent S ource for N ews and V iews

Brattleboro

Community Thanksgiving dinner needs volunteers page 2

Voices Memoir

The many trials of a small-town doctor page 6

Brattleboro charter plans keep evolving

ELECTION 2010

News

Charter Review Commission gathers public comment for final vote this winter By Olga Peters The Commons

Randolph T. Holhut/The Commons

Olive Anderson reminds Londonderry voters not to fold their ballots. The town uses an electronic scanner for tabulating votes.

The Arts Shumlin holds narrow lead in close gubernatorial race

making tracks

Forester tries her hand at novel writing for children

page 11

Life and Work Fall food

Celebrating the humble squash page 16 adventure

Student sets her sights on wilderness expedition page 14

By Randolph T. Holhut The Commons

(699–181). No results could be obtained from Wardsboro at press time. The closeness of the race raised the spectre of a recount, since Dubie and Shumlin are within 2 percent of each other — the threshold for a losing candidate to seek one. There is also a chance that the Legislature might have to officially decide the election. According to the state constitution, lawmakers have the final say if neither candidate wins more than 50 percent of

the vote. If Shumlin hangs on, it will be only the fourth time in the last 75 years that the governor of Vermont hails from Windham County. Shumlin, 54, could follow in the footsteps of Republicans George Aiken of Putney and Ernest W. Gibson of Brattleboro and Democrat Thomas P. Salmon of Bellows Falls. Aiken held the office from 1937 to 1941 before embarking

lose finishes are getting to be a habit with Peter Shumlin. After prevailing in one of the closest Democratic primaries in years, the Senate President Pro Tem from Putney held less than a 4,000-vote lead over his Republican challenger, Lt. Gov. Brian Dubie, in Tuesday’s gubernatorial election. n see governor, page 5 According to Vermont Public Radio, with 89 percent of the vote counted at press time early Wednesday morning, Shumlin held a 103,136– 99,533 lead on Dubie. In Windham County results, Shumlin won in Brattleboro (3,073–1,172), Rockingham (1,024–574), Guilford (565–279), Brookline (118–81), Windham (111– 59), Dummerston (636– 292), Townshend (288–199), Westminster (898–370), Marlboro (340–102), Newfane (550–236), Grafton (148–140), Halifax (184–113), and Putney (851–210). Dubie won in Athens (54– 47), Dover (334–208) Stratton (72–28), Wilmington (381– Randolph T. Holhut/The Commons 334), Whitingham (230–182), Peter Shumlin winds up his speech to local Londonderry (370–305), supporters at a campaign rally at the River Garden Jamaica (187–174) and Vernon in Brattleboro on Sunday.

Sports

BRATTLEBORO—Based on public suggestions and comments, the committee reviewing the town charter has altered some of the changes it has already proposed to the form and structure of town government. According to member Larry Bloch, the Charter Review Commission has been reviewing public comment from meetings held at the start of the month. Originally, the commission suggested the town manager oversee an annual report on the progress of the town plan, the document that defines the town’s long-range goals and provides a strategic basis for zoning and other regulations [The Commons, Sept. 22].

Terriers win ‘The Trophy’ and get home playoff game page 9

Wilmington keeps town manager gov’t Opponents said state law gave too much authority to unelected town employee By Olga Peters The Commons

WILMINGTON—Voters cast their ballots in favor of keeping the Town Manger form of government at the Nov. 2 election, 527 to 226. Wilmington approved the town manager form of government, as defined by state statute, in 1967. By state law, towns must also vote to dissolve the town manager form of government.

By Randolph T. Holhut

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n see CHARTER, page 2

In September, a group of citizens petitioned the Selectboard to do just that. According to Mary Jane Finnegan, owner of the Wilmington Village Pub on South Main Street, a group of a dozen people concerned with the amount of power given to the unelected position circulated the petition in early 2010, in time for the March annual town meeting. “The town manager position n see town manager, page 8

Rebels advance, Colonels fall in boys soccer semifinals

football

Vermont Independent Media

Based on public feedback, the commission will recommend that the Selectboard, as the representative body elected by the people and with the authority to approach various town departments, oversee the report on the document. The proposed alteration “resonated with us fairly quickly,” said Bloch. The commission has also removed its original suggestion to move the Representative Town Meeting to an earlier date. The group has also changed the proposed preamble language from “requiring” to “encouraging” compliance with the town plan. But, said Bloch, based on recent public comment, the language may change a third time. “We will continue the process

BRATTLEBORO—The Leland & Gray Rebels will play for their first state boys soccer championship in five years, while the Brattleboro Colonels playoff run ended abruptly. In a pair of Election Day soccer semifinals on Tuesday, the top-seeded Rebels knocked off Stowe, 2-1, in overtime in Division III play in Townshend. They will face BFA-Fairfax for Randolph T. Holhut/The Commons the state title on Saturday. Essex midfielder Nolan Frey, right, celebrates after knocking the ball past At Tenney Field, the sixthBrattleboro goalkeeper Evan Darling during the first half of their Division I seeded Essex Hornets upended boys soccer semifinal match Tuesday at Tenney Field. the No. 2 Colonels, 5-1, in a

Division I game that was much closer than the final score. The hero for Leland & Gray was Noah Chapin, who snapped the tie nine minutes into sudden death overtime. He gathered in a long kick from midfield at the 18-yard line, and one-timed a shot into the net to knock off the three-time defending Division III champs and send the Rebels into the final. “Noah had a quiet day up to that point,” said coach Chris Barton of his team’s leading scorer. “They did a good job defending him. But that goal was unbelievable.” n see SOCCER, page 2

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2 139 Main St. #604, P.O. Box 1212 Brattleboro, VT 05302 (802) 246-6397 fax (802) 246-1319 www.commonsnews.org Office hours by appointment 9 a.m.–5 p.m., Monday–Friday Jeff Potter, Editor

Betsy Jaffe, Manager

• Randolph T. Holhut, News Editor Olga Peters, Staff Reporter • David Shaw, Photographer • Nancy Gauthier, Advertising Manager Nancy Roberts, Advertising Sales Adrian Newkirk, Ad Composition • Cal Glover-Wessel, Distribution Deadline for the Nov. 10 issue Friday, Nov. 5 About The newspaper

The Commons is a nonprofit community newspaper published since 2006 by Vermont Independent Media, Inc., a nonprofit corporation under section 501(c)3 of the federal tax code. We now publish weekly. The newspaper is free, but it is supported by readers like you through tax-deductible donations, through advertising support, and through support of charitable foundations. SUBMITTING NEWS ITEMS/tips

We welcome story ideas and news tips. Please contact the newsroom at news@commonsnews.org or at (802) 246-6397. Most press releases and announcements of upcoming events appear on www.commonsnews.org, where they can be made available sooner. VOICES

The Commons presents a broad range of essays, memoirs, and other subjective material in Voices, our editorial and commentary section. We want the paper to provide an unpredictable variety of food for thought from all points on the political spectrum. We especially invite responses to material that we’ve printed in the paper. We do not publish unsigned or anonymous letters, and we only very rarely withhold names for other pieces. When space is an issue, our priority is to run contributions that have not yet appeared in other publications. Please check with the editor before writing essays or other original submissions of substance. Editorials represent the collective voice of The Commons and are written by the editors or by members of the Vermont Independent Media Board of Directors. The views expressed in our Voices section are those of individual contributors. Bylined commentaries by members of the Vermont Independent Media board of directors represent their individual opinions; as an organization, we are committed to providing a forum for the entire community. As a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization, Vermont Independent Media is legally prohibited from endorsing political candidates. advertising

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To create a forum for community partic ipation through publication of The Commons and Commonsnews.org; to promote local, independent journalism in Windham County; and to promote civic engagement by building media skills among Windham County residents through the Media Mentoring Project. BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Barbara S. Evans, Barry Aleshnick, Alan O. Dann, Dan DeWalt, Peter Seares, Bob Rottenberg, Curtiss Reed Jr. ————— Without our volunteers, this newspaper would exist only in our imaginations. Special thanks to: Distribution coordinator: Barry Aleshnick Editorial support: Joyce Marcel, David Shaw Special projects development: Allison Teague, Olga Peters Operations support: Simi Berman, Chris Wesolowski, Diana Bingham, Jim Maxwell, Bill Pearson, Andi Waisman, Doug Grob, Dan DeWalt, Tim Chock, Barbara Walsh, Menda Waters, Mamadou Cisse

next week,” said Bloch. Bloch said public feedback and discussion has been helpful with a lively discussion at a meeting held at Green Street school, Oct. 28, one of three such gatherings.

Volunteers prepare for annual Thankgiving dinner at River Garden By Olga Peters The Commons

BRATTLEBORO—The annual Brattleboro Community Thanksgiving Dinner committee continues a more-than30-year tradition of serving Thanksgiving Day dinner and sharing friendship. Dinner will be served buffetstyle at the River Garden on Thursday, Nov. 25, from noon until 5 p.m. Everyone is invited, and the meal is free. “Patrons are treated as special,” said committee member Katherine Barratt. “It’s organized chaos,” joked member Ray Branagan. Every year, Branagan said, he wonders if enough diners will sit down and eat the food. Then, halfway through the meal, he worries there won’t be enough food to feed all the people. The committee uses “free will” donations to rent china and silverware for the event. “They’re classier than paper plates and plastic,” said Barratt. In past years, between 500 and 700 people sat down to the community-cooked meal, feasting on favorites like turkey, roasted root vegetables, gravy, ham, mashed Gilfeather turnips, garlic potatoes, apple crisp and pies. Vegetarians also have entrees to choose from, said member Ian Bigelow. “It’s awesome. There’s lots of people. It’s nice, especially when you don’t have a family to go to,” said Abby Banks, who has attended the Community Thanksgiving for three years. The core committee meets weekly from September to Thanksgiving to ensure diners walk away with full bellies. They hope other community members would like to either help with food preparation, set up, serving or clean up. A host of volunteers prepare and serve the food. The day couldn’t happen without this “sizable crew,” said committee members. Barratt said volunteers are

needed on Wednesday, Nov. 24, to prepare vegetables and apples for desserts. On Thanksgiving Day, the committee requires volunteers to help set up, transport food between St. Michael’s School’s kitchen and the River Garden, serving at the buffet, or cleaning up. Barratt said the committee hopes to engage more young people this year and is working with school officials to establish the Community Thanksgiving as a pathway for high school students to fulfill their community service requirements. “In many different ways, people help,” said Barratt. Students in conjunction with the Brattleboro Union High School’s art department will create this year’s centerpieces. Local farmers, producers, restaurants and businesses donate ingredients, items and money. According to Branagan, donations can appear small but add up. Brigid’s Kitchen and St. Michael’s School donate kitchen

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Choice of words

How to help with the dinner BRATTLEBORO— Community members wishing to volunteer or make donations should contact the committee members listed below: • Food/supply donations; kitchen work or cooking: Ray Branagan, 802-579-4649 or ray.branagan@gmail.com ; Ian Bigelow, 802-579-7903 or ibigelow2@gmail.com. • Prepare a dessert: Michele Sulser, 802-428-4030 or notes4m@hotmail.com. • Deliver meals from St. Michael’s School on Thanksgiving: Peter Wiles, 802-254-4687 or pmw349@gmail.com. • Prep vegetables on Wednesday, Nov. 24 at

• Wednesday, November 3, 2010

n Charter

A community of thanks

www.

VIM’S MISSION

T h e C ommons

St. Michael’s School, afternoon-evening: Robin Allen, 802-579-4597 or rallen1981@gmail.com. • Musicians interested in playing on Thanksgiving Day: Ian Bigelow, 802-579-7903 or ibigelow2@gmail.com. • Thanksgiving Day volunteers, 10 a.m. set-up, event work, cleanup shifts: Katherine Barratt, 802-257-4220 or katherinebarratt@hotmail.com. Please send checks (payable to “Brattleboro Community Thanksgiving Dinner”), cash donation or gift certificates to Katherine Barratt, Committee Treasurer, P.O. Box 2384, West Brattleboro, VT 05303. space. Community members also prepare food at home. This year, the Vermont Foodbank donated refrigeration units, which helped solve a longstanding issue of where to store food, said Barratt. Committee members credit fellow member Ian Bigelow with building connections with local farms. Most of the donated food is organic. “A whole lot [of people and businesses] give a little to make the meal,” Branagan said.

Long tradition

The Community Thanksgiving Day meal has its roots in the former Common Ground restaurant. When the restaurant closed several years ago, the committee decided to continue and resettled in the River Garden. Branagan said some patrons have attended the meal every year even coming from out-ofstate like a couple from New York who has made the pilgrimage for 30 years. For students at Marlboro College or the School for International Training who are unable to go home, the dinner provides community, said Barratt. In the case of many SIT students, the event exposes them to their first Thanksgiving. Because kitchen space is tight, the committee asks anyone willing to make pies or cook turkeys at home to step forward. The committee also works with Meals on Wheels to provide home delivery for residents within a 10-mile radius of downtown. Peter Wiles, home delivery coordinator, said neighbors can also pick up boxed dinners at the River Garden for friends. Anyone interested in volunteering on Nov. 24 should contact Robin Allen. People interested in volunteering on Thanksgiving Day should contact Katherine Barratt or stop by the committee’s table during November Gallery Walk to sign up. (See sidebar.) “[It] brings everybody together. Come and eat please,” said Bigelow.

One member of the public, Selectboard member Jesse Corum, attended a meeting held at the Oak Grove School on Oct. 26. Corum expressed concerns regarding language in the preamble, increasing the Selectboard from five to seven members, and referendums. “I don’t think you can legislate morality. I don’t think it should be in the charter,” Corum said about the commission adding to the preamble, “Encouraging public service and charity among all its residents.” Commission member Orion Barber said all the suggestions at the start of the preamble are ideals, and sometimes they are met and sometimes not. Commission member Spoon Agave added ideals are worth aiming for. Corum expressed opposition to adding two more Selectboard members because it would mean “another $4,000 from a budget we can’t afford.” He said he felt five people could do the Selectboard’s work, and bringing two additional members up to speed after every election would only take valuable time from the town manager. Corum also felt, at the very least, the percentage of voters signing a petition for a referendum vote should increase from the 5 percent of town voters in the proposed document to 15 or 20 percent. He said the voters elected their representatives and the bar to overturn their decisions should be higher. Bloch pointed out that a 15 or 20 percent requirement is higher than the average voter turnout in town elections. Bloch said the public, as a branch of government with its own rights and responsibilities, deserved an effective referendum process. Without it, he said, subsidiary motions at Representative Town Meeting that amend a

from page 9

warned Town Meeting article (like the one for pay-as-youthrow) are removed from public oversight.

Missing input from public

Many public meetings on the charter have not been well attended, say commission members. Bloch said he’s been speaking with people “on the street” because “it’s too important to let those opportunities go by.” He feels people have not attended the meetings because they perceive the process is going well and “feel confident in the work of the commission,” so they don’t need to voice any concerns. Bloch also expects citizen participation to pick up as the finalization date approaches. “We feel we’ve done good job bringing changes to the charter,” said Bloch. Agave expressed a different opinion. “It’s disappointing people are so alienated from the official world around them,” he said. He said his take on the situation was people are “horrifically uniformed” about their government, and that to 99 out of 100 people, the charter is meaningless. Agave views this phenomenon as a “failure of the education system” and the lack of civics-centered courses and wondered if the lack of such classes was an “inadvertent or deliberate omission” from the curriculum.

New timeline

According to Bloch, the commission has extended its original timeline. The special town meeting for the Town Meeting Representatives to vote on the proposed changes is now scheduled for Jan. 22. The town will announce the date for an informational meeting for Town Meeting Representatives to discuss the changes in early January. The public will be invited to attend. A public meeting to discuss increasing the Board of School Directors from five to seven members and other final commission recommendations will take place Nov. 18 at 6 p.m. in the Selectboard meeting room on the second floor of the Municipal Building.

n Soccer

from page 9

Colin Nystrom put the Rebels on the board first with he scored in the 10th minute. That goal looked like it would stand up, but Nathaniel Horton got the equalizer for Stowe with three minutes left in regulation. This will be the Rebels’ first trip to the finals since 2005, when they lost to Twin Valley. For the Colonels, everything seemed stacked in their favor. They were playing at home, where they were undefeated all season. They had their biggest crowd of the season at Tenney Field. They even had the BUHS Pep Band to play. But Essex spoiled the party. “We had a 1-1 tie with 25 minutes to go, but Essex just had more talent today,” said Brattleboro coach Paul Sather. “They had excellent ball control and made the most of their chances.” Essex scored first in the eighth minute on a loose ball in front of the Brattleboro net that was

knocked in by Nolan Frey. Brattleboro had several good chances in the remainder of the first half, but could not cash in. The best one came late in the half when Travis Elliot-Knaggs put a shot on Essex goalkeeper Dan Palker that he couldn’t control. The ball bounced loose, but the Colonels couldn’t knock it in. Trailing 1-0 to start the second half, the Colonels finally got the equalizer in the 55th minute when Elliott-Knaggs chipped in the ball from about 10 yards out. But Essex came back and took the lead to stay when Dan Samardzic scored on a crossing shot from the corner that drifted into the net in the 59th minute. “That was a really good shot,” said Sather. “I was pleased we battled back for the tie, but this was a more competitive game than the final score showed.” Essex’s last three goals came in the final 18 minutes of the game. Paul Bianchi made it 3-1 with a tap-in in the crease, then scored off a direct kick a couple of minutes later. Thomas Antensaye then scored an empty netter in Janet Langdon, Southern Vermont the 77th minute to slam the door Psychoanalysis Langdon, M. Div., shut on the Colonels. Janet NCPsyA Pastoral Counseling ainting While losing their first-ever Individuals Couples M. Div.,andNCPsyA home soccer semifinal was painPsychoanalysis Janet Langdon, M. Div., NCPsyA ful, Sather had praise for his estoRation River Road, Putney VT 802-387-5547 • jliesl@myfairpoint.net Pastoral Counseling team, particularly the 12 seniors PsychoanalysisPsychoanalysis Interior & Exterior on this year’s squad. Individuals and Couples Pastoral Counseling “They brought Brattleboro Painting Pastoral Counseling soccer to new heights,” he said. CarpentryIndividuals andIndividuals and Couples Road, Putney VT Couples River M. Div., NCPsyA

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• Wednesday, November 3, 2010

Election 2010 Democrats say poll watcher removed from Vernon election Outgoing Republican state rep. working at polls calls questions and behavior intimidating, illegal By Jeff Potter The Commons

VERNON—Members of the Windham County Democrats allege that a poll watcher was improperly removed by Patricia O’Donnell, outgoing Republican state representative and county chairwoman of Brian Dubie’s gubernatorial campaign. But according to O’Donnell, a member of the town’s board of civil authority who was working at the polls on Tuesday, the poll watcher, Carolyn Gregory, did not identify herself as such and said the volunteer “came into the polls with a clipboard and said she was doing an exit poll.” She said the Democrats were making “a big screaming mess out of something that shouldn’t have happened in the first place.”

Conflicting reports

Democrat Richard Davis, who lost to Republican Michael Hebert 949–812 for the state representative seat in the Windham-1 district Tuesday (see story, page 4), had requested that the Democrats monitor the elections in Vernon. According to Ellen Tenney, of Saxtons River, Gregory attempted to monitor the voting process at the Vernon Town Hall on Tuesday, when O’Donnell and a town constable, Scott Lane, escorted her from the premises. With many town officials, O’Donnell and Hebert supporting reconsideration of a state Senate bill that forbids the Public Service Board from issuing a Certificate of Public Good to Entergy Nuclear Vermont Yankee, Democratic anti-nuclear activists had decided to monitor the elections. According to an e-mail from Tenney, Gregory had been “getting s— from” O’Donnell and others. Tenney said O’Donnell claimed a town bylaw forbids the presence of nonresidents like Gregory, a resident of Brattleboro — an assertion that Vernon Police Sgt. Bruce Gauld confirmed Tuesday afternoon, when he identified the constable as Scott Lane. “[O’Donnell] said because the poll watcher was not from Vernon, she was not allowed to be there,” Gauld said. According to the November issue of the Secretary of State’s office’s monthly newsletter, issued last week, “Poll watchers may observe the election. In Vermont, our elections are public proceedings, and so long as a person is not disruptive, he or she may observe the elections.” The opinion continues: “Representatives of political parties, candidates and political committees have a right to be present and observe voters at the entrance checklist. The town clerk and presiding officers, if any, should either set out chairs, guardrails, or mark with tape where the poll watchers can be located to observe. They have a right to hear the name of each voter restated by the entrance checklist election official.” On Tuesday night, O’Donnell said that wasn’t the issue. “She never identified herself as a poll watcher,” she said. “All she said to us [were questions like] how many people were voting and how they were voting.” “It was the way she phrased things to us,” she said. O’Donnell, who said approximately ten people witnessed the conflict, said that “everyone was very nice” to Gregory, but such questions are “against the law,” another point underscored in the Secretary of State’s newsletter. The newsletter reminded town officials that “the presiding officer is responsible for ensuring that no campaign literature, stickers, buttons, name stamps, information on candidates or other political materials are placed, handed out, displayed or allowed to remain,” and “The presiding officer is also responsible for ensuring that no candidate, election official or other person solicits voters or otherwise campaigns in the polling place.” Gregory said she called a Democratic Party attorney and the Secretary of State’s office and was assured that state law did not prohibit her objectives. Once Gregory returned to the polls and identified herself

as a poll watcher, she was given a chair and accommodated, O’Donnell said. And the only reason she intervened at all, she added, was because Town Clerk Sandy Harris had left the room for the first break she had all day. According to Gregory, she was sent outside because she was obstructing voting and asking people their parties. Gregory said she was not doing either. “I’m totally confused. I feel a little traumatized, frankly,” said Gregory.

One of ‘three or four things’

COURTESY PHOTO

Republican Michael Kathy DeWolfe, the director Democrat Richard Davis Hebert

of elections and campaign finance in the Secretary of State’s office, said that after receiving complaints from the Democrats, her office investigated the matter. “Very possibly, the constable represented himself as a police officer,” she said. “I talked to the police chief, who said, ‘I can assure you that it was not a police officer,’ so I talked to Sandy and she explained that she had been upstairs.” Harris said that DeWolfe informed her of the contretemps and urged her to invite Gregory back in as a poll watcher. “Once that happened, everything quieted down,” she said. A second poll watcher later observed without incident, according to both Harris and DeWolfe. DeWolfe described constables as “anachronisms,” noting that the state did away with laws requiring that those officials be present at elections to guard the ballot box. “Elections have evolved,” she said, dryly. “I said, number one, the law was changed more than 10 years ago,” DeWolfe said. “There’s no reason to have a constable.” She then said the division instructed Vernon to “move Patty” so she was not seated at the front door and to tell the constables, “‘thank you very much’ and send them home,” DeWolfe said. DeWolfe characterized the minor disturbance as one of “three or four things” in Vernon that could potentially give Davis, the Democratic challenger, grounds to contest the election results. In one such example, last month Davis complained that a two-page advertisement for Hebert in the Vernon Newspaper wasn’t identified as such, potentially leaving an impression that the town officially endorsed his opponent in the taxpayersupported, town-published

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newsletter. Davis could have grounds to contest the results “if anything happened that might have changed the outcome of the election,” DeWolfe said.

of both parties learned no ordinances prevented them from holding the signs on town property. At that point, Lerna said, “their side” all came over to where she was standing and one man put his sign in the ground Rancor outside right in front of her Shumlin sign. A Democrat holding a “The anger was oozing from Shumlin sign outside said the them,” Lerna said. people holding signs endorsing Republican candidates kept Uneventful “yelling” at her for standing on counting town land, but wouldn’t allow Tenney and Nancy Braus, of her to stand on adjacent private Putney, monitored the last hour property with them, per order of or so of polling and the final the landowner. count of the record 912 votes Lerna (who goes by the single cast, a process that Braus charname) said that a police officer acterized as above board. also emerged from the town hall Tenney was disappointed that and “was yelling at me.” no one was checking the readers Eventually, representatives reading off the ballots but didn’t

Olga Peters/The Commons

Vernon Town Clerk Sandra Harris stands at the entrance to the polling area at the Town Offices. think anyone was “trying to bull." Inside the polling area after the polls closed, Harris and a team of 21 people started hand counting the votes. Tenney and Braus asked the town clerk if there had been any kind of “shenanigans."

Never, Harris joked — as a former long-term bus driver, people were scared of her.

With additional reporting by Olga Peters.

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thanks to Brattleboro Memorial Hospital. —Nancy Calicchio, Putney

When Nancy Calicchio went to her doctor with stomach pains, she learned there was no time to waste. Within an hour, she was in surgery with Dr. Joseph E. Rosen and the surgical team at Brattleboro Memorial Hospital. “It was wonderful,” says Nancy. “I was home in 16 hours.” What may be surprising is that she healed nearly as fast. “I think a week later, there wasn’t anything I couldn’t do—except build stone walls.” It’s all thanks to laparoscopic surgery at BMH. Laparoscopic surgeries are minimally invasive, with tiny incisions compared to traditional surgery—sometimes less than a single centimeter! That can mean less pain, and much faster recovery times. Nancy has had a number of laparoscopic surgeries at BMH, and calls them “just an easy, marvelous thing.” “It was an embarrassingly good experience,” says Nancy. “I’d heard so many stories about painful appendectomies, it was hard to tell people I skipped over that part.” Nancy credits the BMH staff for making her experience so easy. “Without exception, everyone treated me professionally and with personal attention. I felt like I was important to everyone who cared for me.” To learn more about laparoscopic surgery at BMH, talk to your healthcare provider.

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ELECTION 2010

T h e C ommons

• Wednesday, November 3, 2010

Randolph T. Holhut/The Commons

Poll worker Dorothy Fontaine takes a breather while waiting for voters in Michelle Rubino turns in her ballot at the Dummerston Congregational Church. Brookline. Randolph T. Holhut/The Commons

Hebert, Stuart win House seats; incumbents cruise to victory By Randolph T. Holhut The Commons

n the six contested House races in Windham County on Tuesday, all the incumbents came out on top in their respective races, while Republicans picked up one of the two open seats in the county. Turnout was heavy, and more than half the towns in the county opened the polls at 9 a.m. or earlier to accommodate voters. Townshend, Vernon and Wilmington opened their respective doors at 7 a.m. Election officials in Whitingham, Halifax, Wilmington and Dover reported a steady stream of voters. Wilmington Town Clerk Susan Haughwout described the turnout as “pretty typical." Vernon set a town record, with 912 of the 1,637 registered voters casting ballots. Halifax election official Laura Gerdes said officials were surprised to find people waiting outside when the polls opened at 10 a.m. “I vote because it’s my desire to be a good citizen,” said Halifax resident Robert Rogers. “And, it cancels my wife’s vote,” Rogers added with a smile.

“Marlboro is never afraid to send a qualified person to the state senate,” said Clarence Boston of Marlboro, a Democratic committee chair who was sticking Galbraith and Shumlin signs into the ground across from the polling place. The most hotly contested race was in Windham-1, as Republican Michael Hebert of Vernon defeated Democrat Richard Davis of Guilford, 949-812, in a race to succeed Republican Patricia O’Donnell. While Davis bested Hebert by a 638-289 margin in Guilford, a heavy turnout in Vernon gave Hebert a 720-174 victory. “Not enough people voted in Guilford,” said Davis. For Hebert, it was his first successful run for statewide office. “I feel like I’m coming in after a hall-of-famer,” said Hebert. “There’s a lot I’m going to have to learn from Patty about representing this district.” Hebert said there was little doubt in his mind what was the deciding issue in this race. “It was Vermont Yankee. It’s an enormous issue, and this election was a referendum on VY.” Democrat Valerie Stuart defeated Republican Richard Morton by a 1,132-498 margin

in a battle of newcomers to take the Brattleboro District-1 seat previously held by Virginia “Gini” Milkey. “I think people wanted someone more moderate, and that showed in the results,” said Stuart. “I don’t regret running,” said Morton. “I’m glad I could give people a choice.” In Windham-4, Democratic Reps. Michael Obuchowski of Bellows Falls and Carolyn Partridge of Windham turned back a challenge from independent candidate Chris Moore to retain their seats. Rep. Richard Marek (D-Newfane) defeated Republican newcomer Gaila Gulack to win his fifth term in Windham-6. Rep. John Moran (D-Wardsboro) won a third term representing WindhamBennington-1, defeating Republican newcomer Geralyn Sniatkowski of Dover. Rep. Oliver Olsen of Jamaica defeated Democratic challenger Claire Trask of Londonderry to win his first full term representing the Windham-BenningtonWindsor-1 district. Olsen was appointed earlier this year to fill out the remainder of the term

This area’s only remaining

truly local communiTy bank

of Rick Hube, who died last December. In other contested races on the ballot in Windham County, Sheriff Keith Clark of Westminster won his second term over Republican challenger William Manch of Vernon. Clark, serving with the Vermont Army National Guard in Afghanistan, was not able to campaign this year but is expected to return by the end of the year. Incumbent Democrat Tracy Kelly Shriver of Brattleboro won her first full term as State’s Attorney over independent Gwen Harris of Brattleboro. Shriver was appointed in 2007 to fill the remainder of the term of retired State’s Attorney Dan Davis. For Harris, it was her fourth unsuccessful attempt at winning the office.

age change before it takes effect in the 2012 election. “I’m very excited,” said White. “This gets young voters involved with the democratic process while they’re excited about it.”

VY by eminent domain?

improperly voted against including the measure in this year’s Annual Town Meeting warrant, despite the petition having the required 5 percent of registered voter signatures. Kurt Daims, who presented the original petition to the Selectboard earlier this year, has maintained that the eminent domain process is the only way to determine how much it will cost to decommission Vermont Yankee and that closing the plant is an issue that directly affects the town.

Brattleboro voters approved a citizen proposal to begin a feasibility study to look at taking over the Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant by eminent domain. The margin was 2,387 yes, 1,826 no. The vote was held Tuesday after a Windham Superior Commons reporter Olga Peters Court decision ruled that contributed to this report. the Brattleboro Selectboard

Expanding the vote

In a statewide referendum, voters approved a measure to amend the state constitution to allow 17-year-olds who turn 18 before the general election to vote in primary elections. The measure, led by Windham County Sen. Jeanette White, was designed to get more younger voters involved in the electoral process. Ten other states allow 17-year-olds to vote in primaries, provided they turn 18 by the general election. Town clerks around the state had mixed opinions about the measure. Randolph T. Holhut/The Commons The amendment change, said White, will provide a framework Poll workers Kim Bank, left, and Jackie LeBlanc for the Legislature to work with review the checklist and offer intstructions to voters town clerks on the details of the at the Grafton Town Hall.

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T h e C ommons

ELECTION 2010

• Wednesday, November 3, 2010

White, Galbraith emerge as victors over Corum, Cooke in state senate race

n Governor

By Randolph T. Holhut The Commons

indham County’s two state senate seats stayed in Democratic hands on Tuesday as Sen. Jeanette White of Putney won her fifth term. She will be joined by former U.S. ambassador Peter Galbraith of Townshend. White and Galbraith defeated Republican challengers Lynn Corum and Hilary Cooke, both of Brattleboro. At press time, with 87 percent of the vote counted, Galbraith was the top vote getter with 8,557 votes. White was close behind with 8,212 votes. Cooke got 4,026 votes and Corum had 3,232. Third-party candidate Aaron Diamondstone received 664 votes. Galbraith will succeed Peter Shumlin, who gave up his seat to run for governor. “I am grateful to the voters of Windham County for hiring me,” said Galbraith. “I know there’s a tough job ahead and I am looking forward to getting down to work,” adding that health care reform, expanded broadband Internet coverage and “addressing in a responsible way the fiscal challenges our state faces” will be among the major issues he hopes to work on in office. For White, the feeling of running for office remains a humbling experience. “Whenever I see my name on a lawn sign or on a ballot, I get a little tickle inside,” she said. “I am honored that people have enough faith in me that they want me to return to Montpelier to make decisions for them.” White said she hopes to remain in her current committee assignments in the Senate. She is the chair of the Government Operations Committee, and is a member of the Government Accountability and Institutions committees. Corum, a longtime member of the Brattleboro Union High School Board, said she “knew

Randolph T. Holhut/The Commons

Sen. Jeanette White, D-Putney, interviewed by a group of students from the School for International Training. that winning my race was a long shot.” She said she didn’t invest a lot of resources into her campaign for that reason. Cooke, an insurance consultant, was making his first run for public office. Unlike Corum, he did invest much of his time and resources on this campaign and was deeply disappointed at losing. “They [White and Galbraith] ran an excellent race,” said Cooke. “The voters made a clear choice that they wanted to give Jeanette another opportunity to serve in the Senate and that they wanted to give Peter a chance to serve.”

Republican challengers Hilary Cooke and Lynn Corum.

Local towns to conduct annual VY siren tests BRATTLEBORO — The emergency sirens in Vermont Yankee’s emergency planning zone will be sounded longer than usual (three minutes) during their normal monthly testing in the first week in November in the following order: On Wednesday, Nov. 3, the Massachusetts towns of Bernardston, Colrain, Gill, Leyden, and Northfield will conduct the extended siren tests at the usual time of 7 p.m. On Saturday, Nov. 6, at noon, the extended sounding will occur in the towns of Brattleboro, Dummerston and Guilford. Also on Saturday, Nov. 6, the New Hampshire towns of Chesterfield, Richmond, Swanzey and Winchester will conduct the testing at their usual time of 12:30 p.m. Later in the month, the town of Vernon will test its sirens at 7 p.m., on Thursday, Nov. 18. Hinsdale, N.H., conducted its test in Nov. 2. The extended three-minute siren sounding test is conducted annually to verify the operability of the 37 sirens in the emergency notification system. The sirens can generate several types of tones that can be activated by the individual towns for their own purposes. The three-minute test will be a steady tone that varies slightly in volume as the siren rotates. However, several sirens are mounted on buildings and, by design, do not rotate. As stated in the emergency plan information annually distributed to residents and businesses, the purpose of the steady tone is to direct residents to tune to a local emergency alert system (EAS) radio station such as WTSA 96.7 FM, WHAI 98.3 FM or WKNE 103.7 FM. There are a total of 21 local EAS stations that would relay detailed messages from state public safety agencies about recommended public responses to an emergency. Residents who have questions on the testing to contact their town’s emergency management director or Mark Gilmore at Vermont Yankee at 802-258-4168.

on a long career in the U.S. Senate. Gibson served from 1947 to 1950, resigning before the end of his second term to take a position as a U.S. District Court judge. Salmon served two terms, from 1973 to 1977, and was an unsuccessful candidate for U.S. Senate, losing to incumbent Robert T. Stafford in 1976. For Shumlin, Tuesday was the culmination of a long political career that began with 13 years on the Putney Selectboard, three years in the Vermont House (1989–1993) and two stints in the Vermont Senate (1993–2003 and 2007 to the present). It was redemption for his last try for statewide office, an unsuccessful run for lieutenant governor in 2002. Shumlin came to Brattleboro on Sunday afternoon for one last campaign appearence in front of his local supporters. About 200 people jammed the River Garden to hear the candidate, who was introduced by his running mate, Steve Howard, and Congressman Peter Welch. In a firey 20-minute speech, Shumlin touched upon all the issues he was running on — such as single-payer health care, early childhood education, energy policy and climate change — and passed up few chances to needle his opponent. As he put it, “Brian and I come from different planets.” Shumlin went after Dubie for his plan to cut taxes for wealthy Vermonters and his lack of enthusiasm for health care reform. “No business owner has ever told me that their employees need a tax cut,” Shumlin said. “But everyone of them said they need reliable, affordable health care.” He derided Dubie for his professed skepticism on global warming, and reminded people how the Legislature focused on the issue during the 2006 session. “Remember, the Douglas/ Dubie team called this ‘a boutique issue,’” Shumlin said. “I sort of think that the future of the planet is not a boutique issue. There are opportunities as we get off our addition to oil, as we say goodbye to leaking, lying nuclear plants. We have a bright economic future.” Shumlin, who has dyslexia, emphasized the need for early childhood education by talking about how his second grade teacher at Putney Elementary School, Claire

from page 9

wikipedia.org

Ernest W. Gibson Jr., from Brattleboro, held the governor’s office from 1947 to 1950.

wikipedia.org

George David Aiken, of Putney, served as governor from 1937 to 1941.

Oglesby, “never gave up on me” and inspired him to aim high and dream big. He concluded by saying that when he took office, he would make sure that Windham County is not forgotten in Montpelier. “Vermont doesn’t end south of Route 4,” he said. If he wins, Shumlin will have to serve with a Republican lieutenant governor. State Sen. Phil Scott, R-Washington, defeated Howard, a Democratic House member from Rutland, by a 49–43 percent margin. In other contested statewide races, Republican auditor Tom Salmon was re-elected to a third term over Democratic challenger Doug Hoffer by a 51–46 percent margin, Democrat Jim Condos defeated Republican Jason Gibbs by a 54–44 percent margin and Treasurer Jeb Spaulding and Attorney General William Sorrell both turned aside a group of third-party challengers to win re-election.

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VOICES

T h e C ommons

• Wednesday, November 3, 2010

OPINION • COMMENTARY • LETTERS Join the discussion: voices@commonsnews.org MEMOIR was the invisible and intangible cost to our family. This is the story of what happened, and how it affected us, in the years between 1987 and 2003.

Max Aguilera-Hellweg/Special to The Commons

Dr. Tim Shafer treats a young patient.

Care package How a doctor and his wife ran a ‘mom-and-pop doc shop’ in Townshend — and why they gave their business away Williamsville Deborah Lee Luskin, a monthly Commons columnist, recently published her novel Into the Wilderness. She works as a freelance writer and frequently comments on Vermont Public Radio. aged my husband’s medical practice. The This piece was originally published in 2007 in Dartmouth Medicine, the Dartmouth Medical School’s alumni magazine; the 1994 photo“Mom and Pop Doc graphs of Tim Shafer that appeared with that story made their debut Shop,” I called it, because it in Hippocrates and are used here as well with the kind permission of was like an old-time general photographer Max Aguilera-Hellweg. store where the proprietors lived in back and knew who would come in when, what they would buy, and when they underserved region. literature and was unemployed would pay, if ever. The NHSC hoped that doc- and pregnant. We consulted Our office was never so tors would decide to stay and a business advisor; started a quaint as to be attached to our practice in the area where they checking account with $2,000 house, but that never stopped did their service, but the two in it; and, on July 1, 1987, patients from dropping by afprevious NHSC doctors posted opened for business. ter hours for an informal conin Townshend had left as soon To Tim’s patients, the sult. And, like a general store, as their payback period was change was seamless. The ofit took both of us to run the over. fice location and phone numpractice. By the time Tim’s three ber remained, as did the staff. Tim Shafer and I met in years were up, however, he and What changed was our need to 1984, the year he arrived in I were married, and we’d put turn a profit, since the Corps Townshend, Vt., as a doctor down roots in Townshend. We was no longer footing the bill. for the National Health Service decided to stay, so the NHSC After paying our employees’ Corps (NHSC). The Corps turned the practice over to us wages and benefits, after cov— a program funded through — lock, stock, and receivables. ering the rent and utilities, afthe U.S. Public Health Service The only problem was that ter buying the Band-Aids and — had paid Tim’s Dartmouth Tim was too busy doctoring cotton balls, we needed to have Medical School tuition in reto take care of the books. I, on enough money left over to pay turn for a commitment to the other hand, had just comourselves something. work for three years in an pleted my doctorate in English For 16 years we succeeded,

or 16 years, I man-

though sometimes by the skin of our teeth. And then, on July 1, 2003, we gave the practice away. Again, to Tim’s patients, the change was seamless. The biggest changes were for us: a regular paycheck and generous benefits for Tim, and freedom from working in health care for me. There had been significant changes in the way Tim practiced medicine during those 16 years, but far bigger changes in the operational arena — including debilitating governmental regulations and the health insurance industry’s takeover of the delivery of primary care, introducing an excess of paperwork and a reduction in payments, which made staying independent and profitable ever more difficult. Two other factors also contributed to our decision to close the “store.” One, ironically, was the cost of providing health insurance for ourselves and our employees. The other

EDITORIAL

Giving renewable energy a hand in the marketplace

umming away at the Windham Solid Waste Management District’s complex on Old Ferry Road in Brattleboro is a 250-kilowatt electrical generator powered by methane gas. The gas comes from trash that’s decaying in the former WSWMD landfill. Central Vermont Public Service is buying the electricity this generator is producing, enough to power about 300 homes. And soon, waste heat from the generator will heat a 20,000-square-foot greenhouse and aquaculture facility that will provide organic food to local markets and the Vermont Foodbank. What Burlington-based Carbon Harvest Energy has planned on Old Ferry Road — a complete, closed-loop agricultural system that will produce food and energy with virtually no waste — will be a tremendous addition to the local economy. But it likely would have never happened without Act 45.

Last year, the Vermont Legislature passed Act 45, designed to spur the development of in-state energy from solar, wind, biofuel, hydro, and methane. Under the state’s Sustainably Priced Energy Development Program, dubbed “SPEED,” Vermont’s utilities are directed to buy, at premium rates for 25 years, about 5 percent of the state’s peak electric loads. This requirement is known as a feed-in tariff (FIT). With FITs, any person or entity generating electricity from a renewable energy source — whether a homeowner, small business, or large electric utility — is able to sell that power into the grid and receive long-term payments for each kilowatt-hour produced. Payments are set at preestablished rates, often higher than what the market would ordinarily pay, to ensure that developers earn profitable returns. The rates for Vermont’s SPEED program range from

9 cents per kilowatt hour for landfill methane power projects such as Carbon Harvest’s to 24 cents per kilowatt hour for solar power. This is how world renewable energy leaders such as Denmark, Germany and Spain have been able to rapidly deploy wind and solar power over the past decade. Similar policies have since been adopted by many other countries, as FITs have become the most prevalent tool for promoting renewable energy. Critics have complained that this law forces Vermont utilities to pay more for electricity. But these critics fail to recognize that the cost of renewable energy is steadily declining. As fossil fuel prices rise, renewables have become more and more attractive to investors. They also neglect the success that European nations have seen in subsidizing such sources of power. At the same time, these critics also neglect the billions

upon billions of dollars of subsidies that our federal government has given and continues to give to nuclear power — a energy source that never has been able to compete in the so-called “free market.” Many electric consumers in Vermont say they are willing to pay more for renewable energy, and programs such as CVPS’s “Cow Power” and Green Mountain Power’s “Greener GMP” reflect this desire to support non-fossil fuel, non-nuclear sources of energy. While the current per kilowatt-hour FITs for renewable energy in the SPEED program far exceed the 4.2 cents per kilowatt-hour that Vermont Yankee charges for its electricity, two things are certain. The price of Vermont Yankee’s power — if it stays open past 2012 — will rise, and the price of renewables will decline as more projects come on line and the technology improves.

When Tim first arrived in Townshend, he was one of two family physicians covering the emergency room at Grace Cottage Hospital, a 19-bed outpost located an hour and a half southwest of DartmouthHitchcock Medical Center. In addition, Tim also took and developed whatever xrays his patients needed, drew blood, ran simple lab tests, went on ambulance calls, and served as the regional medical examiner. All of those activities took time — time away from his clinical practice, which was what generated our income. Back then, the ambulance service was a volunteer affair and the ambulance itself a retired hearse. Tim often rode in back, offering what care he could on the trip up — to either Brattleboro (20 miles away), or Dartmouth, N.H. (60 miles away) — and catching what shut-eye he could in the empty gurney on the way back. In those days, before the widespread use of statins to treat high cholesterol and of clotbusting drugs to interrupt myocardial infarctions, heart attacks — as they used to be called — were a frequent occurrence. Little could be done besides wait them out and then transport the patient to Brattleboro or Dartmouth. Yet today, heart attacks — and other formerly common emergencies — are rare events at Grace Cottage. Kevlar chaps protect loggers’ legs from chainsaw blades, reducing the number who get rushed to the ER. Antibiotics and acidreduction medications prevent bleeding ulcers, another once-popular cause of ER admissions. As a result, the number of hospital procedures Tim does for dramatic illness and injury has declined, while the amount of preventive care and disease management he provides in the office has increased — as has the cost of providing that care. In 1987, few of Tim’s patients had health insurance. Those who did were insured only against calamity; they carried major-medical policies that covered traumatic injury or illness after they’d met an annual deductible. Charges for the family doctor’s care of injury or illness could be applied to the deductible, but charges for routine wellness care could not. So annual physicals and well-child visits typically had to be paid for out of pocket, setting patients back $17 — real money in the 1980s. From a business point of view, the bookkeeping was fairly simple. As patients left the office, they paid their bill and were given a receipt to send to their insurance company for reimbursement. Except for Blue Cross Blue Shield, Medicare, and Medicaid, our office did not usually interfere in the patientinsurer relationship; we only provided health care. It is this that has dramatically changed. We had inherited some aging receivables with the practice, so we bought one of the few medical software programs then on the market and became the first computer users in the local medical community. The computer proved so much more efficient than the old manual system that we began billing insurance companies on behalf of our patients. Before long, we became intermediaries — running between insurer and subscriber in our effort to get paid. The year we went into business, 1987, was also the year that managed care came to Townshend. Tim signed on to be a provider for the managed-care company, and in the early years our monthly capitation checks — a fixed payment we received for each covered patient — were often what carried us through. We bought this same managed-care plan to cover our employees and ourselves — all of us then under 40 and healthy. The premiums were

less expensive than traditional major-medical coverage, and the out-of-pocket copay was just $2, a fee all of us could afford. At first, our business prospered and our family flourished. We quickly had three healthy children and, between the two of us, were earning a comfortable salary by local, if not medical, standards. My job at the office was parttime, but Tim worked 12- to 14-hour days and covered the ER at Grace Cottage Hospital every third night. He also delivered babies. There were days when he didn’t see his own babies. As his schedule became increasingly onerous, he yearned for family time. I craved his companionship and partnership in parenting. Neither of us recalls those years in great detail. We adjusted according to our needs: I learned to sleep through the phone ringing in the night; Tim learned to sleep through the kids’ nighttime cries. We were too tired to question this division of labor, though there were times I wondered how I’d ended up as a bookkeeper with a Ph.D. in English. We had been incredibly fortunate to start off without debt; it is unlikely we could have managed if we’d had loans to pay off. Our financial status changed in 1990, however, when we outgrew our rented office space. Unable to afford a commercial mortgage, we were lucky to negotiate a family loan. We bought and renovated a former restaurant building. Our expenses soared and our income plunged. In addition to keeping the books, I now cleaned the office at night, and Tim took the trash to the dump. Tim also started seeing more patients every week. We trained our patients to make their copays at the door. We upgraded our computers and instituted electronic billing to insurance companies. We started accepting credit cards. We hired a collection agency to pursue bad debts. Collecting bad debts has to be one of the worst jobs in the world, and fairly futile in health care. Most of those who didn’t pay couldn’t, and there is little one can do about the few who simply won’t. A good 95 percent of our patients paid their bills. The 5 percent who didn’t were almost all treated in the emergency room — people who had either no insurance, no address, or no intention of paying even if they could. This is an example of the kind of cost-shifting routinely practiced in health care; in this case, the cost of caring for the uninsured was shifted to the physicians who treated them. Unfortunately, in the fee-forservice model, trying to collect from this often fragile and usually transient population was the only way for Tim to be paid for his nights and weekends on call. So the work that cost him — and his family — the most in terms of his own health and happiness paid him the least. Our children would ask, “Is Dad on call?” on the nights when Tim wasn’t home by bedtime. If we hadn’t seen him in a few days, we’d visit the hospital and join him there for a meal, or stop by the office and raid the pediatric drawer for stickers. Tim wanted to be with his children and would rush home to give them their baths whenever he could. Then, after stories, songs, and goodnights, he’d return to the office to finish his charts. Three years after we moved into the new building, Tim was working harder, he had less family time, and our income had still not recovered. Yes, we had built equity, but equity didn’t buy our kids milk at the store. My father, a successful businessman, had counseled us that there were only three ways to increase profit: cut costs, increase productivity, or raise prices. We’d done the first two and, in the highly regulated health-care industry, there were strict limits on what we could do about the third.

T h e C ommons

• Wednesday, November 3, 2010

Medicare and Medicaid accounted for half of Tim’s practice — or “payor mix,” in the lingo of the jargon-laden industry. Medicare and Medicaid are government-funded insurance, and in our fee-for-service system the government sets the price it will pay and then takes a 20 percent discount from that price. On my most exhausted and cynical days, I proposed that after we figured our federal tax liability, we should deduct 20 percent from what we owed. Just the idea cheered me up. There was a way to improve our Medicare and Medicaid reimbursements — if we were willing to take on the added work of becoming a Rural Health Clinic. The RHC program had been established in 1977 to address an inadequate supply of physicians serving Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries in rural areas. Like the National Health Service, which brings physicians to medically underserved areas, Rural Health Clinics aim to keep them there. After considering our options — most of which included packing up and moving — we hired consultants, borrowed money to pay them, and applied to be an RHC. Though it was a program designed for small, struggling, rural practices, we had to write a policies and procedures manual befitting a Fortune 500 company and draw up an organizational chart. Every function had to have a job title and a job description. With only five employees, several of us had more than one. Tim was owner, medical director and laboratory director, trash hauler, and snow remover. I was practice manager, head of human resources and information technology, director of facilities, and safety officer. I even had to conduct an annual fire drill — and document it. Over time, we learned how to fulfill the often-redundant, sometimes-opaque reporting requirements of being an RHC. We also learned that though we had strict deadlines for our reports — with interest and penalties if we failed to meet them — Medicare and Medicaid could take forever to audit our reports and always did. Nevertheless, for several years we were able to pay our bills, pay an office cleaner, pay ourselves, raise wages, and fund a profit-sharing plan for retirement.

After two promising prospects bowed out, the Grace Cottage administration stepped in and hired a doctor — paying a salary and providing benefits, an office, and staff. Once there were four docs in the call schedule, and a guaranteed living wage, working in Townshend became more attractive. Shortly thereafter, the hospital hired a fifth doctor, then a sixth. For one spell, the call schedule included seven physicians, but that didn’t last. By that time, most insurance policies covered some wellness care — a benefit designed, in theory, to encourage better health maintenance. In fact, what these plans did was shift the administration of the benefits to the physician’s staff. In our small office, we would submit claims on behalf of our patients in order to be paid by their insurers. The increased expenses associated with this billing — in time and technology — were never reimbursed; they simply took a bigger bite out of every dollar that came in. At the same time, our patients often didn’t understand how their managed-care policies worked. Our staff worked hard both to educate them and to work the system in our patients’ favor. But it is not easy arguing with an automated answering system or explaining to a human drone that it’s burdensome at best, and sometimes impossible, for patients to get to the company’s one networked mammogram site in Burlington, three hours away. Different insurance companies and different policies also covered different services. Our staff researched the various policies to find out what a given patient’s coverage would allow Tim to do. So instead of Tim providing the care his patients’ conditions required, he was providing the care his patients’ insurers allowed.

VOICES

have accepted the grim realities of declining income, unpaid vacations, inadequate retirement savings, and expensive health insurance if it hadn’t been for two things: summers and HIPAA.

Summers had always been difficult. The kids, home from school, needed us. Even if we could have afforded summerlong camps, we didn’t want to send our kids away. While the problem of finding good summertime child care is not unique to medical families, Tim’s unpredictable job requirements created both an extra challenge and a tension, since that meant the logistics and transportation devolved on me. So I could continue to manage the office, we enrolled the kids in local day camps, creating a daily puzzle of play-dates and carpools. With the coming of good weather, Tim and I also wanted to get out and play, enjoy time with the kids, or at least get ahead of the weeds in the garden. But summer also brought an influx of tourists to Vermont — all of them hell-bent on having a good time, which often landed them in the ER. Not only was the ER busier in summer, but the on-call rotation was compressed, as at least one doctor would be on vacation each week. The summer of 2002 was the worst. We took our three kids on a service mission, helping to run a drama and arts camp for orphans in Russia. It was a threeweek trip, the longest we’d ever been away from the office. Our wonderful nurse practitioner and a skeleton crew saw patients in our absence, and I had paid bills and written the payroll checks in anticipation of our absence. The trip was a busman’s holiday, with Tim practicing medicine and me mothering a horde of children in addition to We were blessed with em- our own. ployees who worked hard for When we returned, a snafu our patients and were loyal to in the call schedule had Tim Tim and forgiving of me. The on call six days out of 12, and “Ladies,” as we called them it took us another three weeks (they were all women), really to recover. August, easily the ran the joint. They knew our busiest month in the ER, was patients well and so knew who made busier still the evening needed to be seen immediately. Tim was admitted. They could squeeze 75 minHe had wanted to check utes into every hour. on the bee hives that we’d neWorking together in a tight glected most of the summer. It space, however, they could was too hot and sticky, I told also get on each other’s nerves. him. Not good bee weather. They would complain to me I went for a walk. Tim about one another. In the early looked in on the bees by himyears, I’d jump in and try to self. Despite his suit and helWe became an RHC in 1994, fix things, bruising feelings met, the bees mobbed him, a watershed year for two other along the way. Over the years, triggering anaphylaxis. By the reasons: Tim stopped deliverI learned that all I really had to time I returned, Tim had ining babies, and a fourth doctor do was listen. jected himself with epinephcame to town. Unlike the three I also resented our employrine. He gave himself a second other local family practitioners, ees’ annual raises in the early injection as I drove him to however, this physician was not years. As we worked together, Grace Cottage, where he got in private practice but was an however, I came to appreciate further treatment. employee of the hospital. these women, wished I could The next morning, he was When I met Tim in 1984, pay them more, and considered back at work and on call. he was one of just two docthem our allies. tors covering the ER at Grace Nevertheless, the economic With the bees back in Cottage. When he asked me reality was that their hourly the hive and the kids back in to marry him, I said, “Yes — wage was only about half the school, I faced the task of trywhen there’s a third doctor in cost of their employment to ing to understand the Health town.” The third doctor mirac- us. Wages triggered taxes for Insurance Portability and ulously materialized the follow- Social Security, Medicare, Accountability Act, known as ing year, and the three of them worker’s compensation, and HIPAA. had shared call since then. unemployment. In addition, We had already weathered There had been room for a they each received six paid hol- CLIA and EMTALA, governfourth for some time, but it was idays and two to three weeks of ment regulations that made a tough sell. Sometimes phypaid vacation. We also offered providing care more difficult sicians would stumble across other benefits, such as paid for us and more expensive for Grace Cottage when they lunches, profit sharing, and our patients. were vacationing in southern health insurance. The Clinical Laboratory Vermont; others heard about The “Ladies” often chose to Improvement Amendments this tiny hospital through the forgo raises in return for full (CLIA), passed in 1988, shut medical grapevine. payment of their health insurdown our office lab, where we Whenever doctors expressed ance premiums, which rose had been able to perform siminterest in setting up shop in yearly. ple throat and urine cultures. town, we’d have them over for To stay ahead of the curve, Instead, we now were required dinner — one couple trying to we kept switching to polito send cultures to a certified seduce another to join an uncies with higher copays and lab; the results took more time questionably good life, which higher deductibles; the busiand the tests cost patients a would be so much better if only ness picked up employees’ out- great deal more money. there was one more doc with of-pocket costs after the first The Emergency Medical whom to share call. $200. In our penultimate year Treatment and Active Labor The way Tim practiced in business, three employees Act (EMTALA), known as medicine was very appealing: met the $2,500 deductible. It the “anti-dumping law,” was he was his own boss, he treated was a very lean year for us. passed in 1986 to ensure access whole families, he made house It was also a year of moreto emergency services regardcalls, and he was part of the than-usual staff illness and less of patients’ ability to pay. social fabric of the town that absence from work. So in adGrace Cottage has always he served. Other bonuses indition to my management duprovided emergency care to cluded a two-mile commute ties, I was filling in wherever all comers, regardless of their and casual dress every day of I could. Some patients loved financial status; EMTALA the week. it when I answered the phone changed how. Our small-town life was bu- and enjoyed chatting with the Before EMTALA, a patient colic: we lived in an antique doctor’s wife; others, underwho showed up at the ER durcape, grew lots of vegetables, standably, didn’t want me ining regular office hours with a tended a flock of chickens, kept volved in their care. simple laceration or common bees, and even raised our own And I didn’t want to be illness was sent to the office of pig. We were part of a commu- there. whichever doctor was on call. nity. We also lived smack in the When we married, Tim and The patient was seen promptly, midst of New England’s beauty I made a pact not to stifle each along with all the other, reguand could snowshoe out our other. Once the kids were in larly scheduled patients. back door or be in the Green school, despite the demands But EMTALA requires that Mountain National Forest of the medical practice, I had a patient be seen in the ER. within minutes. managed to draft two novels, For Tim, whose office is a mile These dinners were always a publish a number of articles, from the hospital, this means great success, followed by the and teach on a limited basis. leaving a waiting room full of inevitable morning-after of fiThose were things I was patients with appointments nancial truth. We could barely good at; I was not as good at (most made weeks before) to pay ourselves, let alone hire answering the phone. And take care of someone — usuanother physician. Short of posting payments and process- ally an out-of-towner — who’d finding a doctor with enough ing paperwork only heightwalked into the ER. savings to be self-sustaining for ened my awareness of how That patient, of course, then an indefinite time, in anticipa- fragile our finances were again incurred hospital charges as tion of an uncertain income, becoming. well as physician charges, drivwe just could not persuade But it wasn’t just the fiing up the cost of the care. anyone to join us. nances. We probably could Our experience with CLIA

Max Aguilera-Hellweg/Special to The Commons

Dr. Tim Shafer fills out paperwork, an all-too-frequent part of the life of a rural doctor. and EMTALA made us fear that HIPAA would be worse. HIPAA was initially passed in 1996, but its Privacy Rule wasn’t scheduled to go into effect until April 2003. The first conference I attended confirmed my fears that compliance with the new law would mean both more paperwork for our staff and a significant, added expense. It was not clear to me if or how the law would protect our patients’ privacy more or even any differently from how we already guarded their personal health information. Again, the rules were written with huge organizations in mind, not a small, rural practice run by a doctor and his wife. An 11th-hour reprieve for small establishments gave us an extra year before we had to have all our forms in place. But I didn’t see how another year would make any significant difference to the bottom line. Complying with HIPAA would have required us to retool our information technology yet again. It would hold us all, individually and collectively, accountable for noncompliance, including fines and criminal charges. More than once I wondered who was writing these laws! Officials in Washington were writing these laws and, briefly, in the winter and spring of 2003, I was talking with people at both the state and federal level about turning our little RHC into a Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC). This would have made it the hub of a network stretching across at least two counties in southern Vermont. It would have been a huge undertaking — thrilling and scary and much more interesting than trying to figure out

how to implement HIPAA. I purchased a power suit from the local thrift shop and wore it to a few meetings. It just didn’t fit.

certified medical billing specialist, and that’s all she does, in an isolated cubicle, every working day. To my surprise, I sometimes miss it, too. I didn’t want to be a I don’t miss my Wednesday health-care administrator, nor night pillow talk with Tim, did Tim, and I couldn’t see which was always about how we could support ourwhether or not we’d make selves through another bureau- Thursday’s payroll. I don’t cratic transition. So I made one miss the cost reports; I prefer more attempt to understand not knowing who owes money HIPAA. for care. I’m trained to read closely, But I do miss our former to see both text and subtext. staff and our teamwork — the What I saw in the language way we all pulled together to of this law was an Orwellian provide excellent, personalcorruption of meaning. The ized care for our patients and Privacy Rule presents itself as for each other. I’ve moved on, a means of protecting sensitive however, to a growing career as health information, but what a freelance teacher, researcher, it really does is grant governand writer (often writing about ment, law enforcement, and physicians and medicine). insurance companies access to For Tim, what has changed patients’ personal health reis that he now has a regular cords. This was not a game I paycheck and the freedom to wanted to play. practice medicine without the Instead of putting HIPAA in headaches of running a busiplace, we entered negotiations ness as well. with Grace Cottage to take Otherwise, much remains over our practice. At the end of the same. He has paid perthe day on June 30, 2003, we sonal days and sick days but closed up shop. The next day, has yet to use one. He is still Tim was there as usual, but as on call too often, is late for dinan employee of the hospital. ner more often than not, and It was hardest on our invariably works several hours staff. Even though the hospion his days off. Since signing tal matched their wages, ofon with Grace Cottage, he has fered them more and better been named medical director benefits, and transferred their and so spends countless hours years of service, they were used in meetings as well. to working for us, and that But what has not changed changed. is that Tim is still there, doing “It was like a family,” one what he does best: giving paformer employee later told me. tients his whole attention and “Our patients were like family. providing them with the kind Our coworkers were like famof primary care that takes good ily. I really miss it.” listening skills, sharp powers of Over the years, this woman observation, deep knowledge of had served as a receptionist, a patient’s medical — as well as bookkeeper, substitute office social history, and time to give nurse, insurance coder, and comprehensive care. n bill collector — sometimes all in the same day. Now she’s a

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n Town manager gives an unelected official much too much authority by statute,” said Finnigan. The group, however, stopped gathering signatures because people wanted more information on alternatives to the town manager position. When then-manager Bob Rusten resigned in September, the group picked up the petition once again, filing it with the town clerk on Sept. 27. Finnigan said she never had an issue with Rusten as a person but felt he was legally allowed to stand between her and the Selectboard on an issue she had with another town department head.

‘Significant restructuring’

Town managers act like a professional arm of the Selectboard and have a legal responsibility to administer and manage the duties invested in the Selectboard under state statue. Their broad set of responsibilities include serving as the head of town departments, taking on fiscal responsibilities and, if the town approves the duties as part of the job description, collector of taxes from delinquent taxpayers. “It’s a pretty significant restructuring of local government,” said Jim Barlow, senior staff attorney with the Vermont League of Cities and Towns. According to Barlow, the prime responsibility of the position is to free the Selectboard to focus on the bigger picture of town development and voters’ concerns by managing the

day-to-day town operations. The town held an informational meeting for residents curious about the pros and cons of the town manager form of government. The Selectboard, at the suggestion of Chair Thomas P. Consolino, invited Barlow to explain the statute. More than 30 people attended the Oct. 27 meeting. “I have no opinion what way is better or best. We [VLCT] embrace and love all of you,” said Barlow. The audience laughed. According to Barlow, Vermont adopted the town manager statue in 1917. He speculates the state crafted the law because as towns grew they needed a professional manager position to help Selectboards execute town business. “What you’re considering doing is very unique,” said Barlow who usually speaks to officials looking to adopt a town manager form of government, not dissolve it. Windsor returned to the town manager form of government after it voted to remove the position.

• Wednesday, November 3, 2010

www.members1cu.com 10 Browne CT PO Box 8245 N. Brattleboro, VT 05304

from page 9

Wilmington’s population of 2,300 falls at the lower end of the spectrum of towns with town managers. But towns experiencing large seasonal shifts in population, like Killington (1,100), tend to have town managers regardless of size, said Barlow. “For your population, you can have a lot going on,” said Barlow. In Barlow’s view, the town manager form of government creates a system of accountability. A town manager holds office at the will of the Selectboard and can be removed by majority. Members of the public expressed concern that the town manager could make policy-level decisions, taking the town in directions voters didn’t approve and couldn’t stop because the position is unelected. “Policy-level decisions are left to the Selectboard,” Barlow said. Barlow explained smart town managers wouldn’t use statute as leverage against their Selectboards’ directives, despite the ability to do so, thus putting their jobs at risk. Barlow said a pro of having a town administrator role is the customized job description. But

An unusual direction

Some towns opt for town ‘Ultimate shopping administrator positions, which Barlow described as “creatures experience’ in of local decision.” Dummerston Unlike town managers, town administrators are not covered DUMMERSTON — The by statute, and towns do not re- Dummerston PTFO is sponquire voter approval to hire such soring an “Ultimate Shopping employees. The choice to hire an Experience” on Saturday, Nov. administrator, designing a job 13, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. at description and assigning duties the Dummerston School on lies solely with the Selectboard. Schoolhouse Road. Barlow said VLCT colleagues The “Ultimate Shopping could think of only one example Experience” is a gathering of — Brighton, in the Northeast home party vendors, quality Memory writing Kingdom — of a town switching crafts, a luncheon, bake/candy workshop offered from a town manager to hiring a sale, raffle and a Scholastic Book town administrator. Fair. Come and get a head start SAXTONS RIVER — Main Dover also moved from a town on holiday gift buying. Contact Street Arts is offering a work- manager to an administrator in Krista Jarosak at k_jarosak@yashop to draw out the writer in the 1960s. hoo.com for more information. everyone. Writer Elayne Clift will lead Shop with us for the Holidays! With an ever-widening selection Memory Writing: Gateways to of conventional groceries, Creativity on Saturday, Nov. 6, and our deeper-than-ever from 10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. The commitment to local products, participants will draw upon senyou’ll find more of what you want sory memory to coax out their on every aisle. Order your Thanksgiving turkey inner writers. by November 11th! Clift is an award-winning author, journalist and adjunct proEasy highway access, fessor at several New England Exit 4 off I-91, colleges. open 7:30 am to 8 pm, http://putneyfood.coop “Memory is often a writMonday through Saturday, find us on facebook open at 8 am on Sundays. er’s best friend,” Clift says. 802-387-5866 “Memories can be summoned to help us find beauty, express true feelings, laugh at our foibles, and understand our world through an adult lens. Indeed, writer William Giraldi says imagination is impotent without memory.” The fee for the workshop is $15 for members and $20 for non-members. Pre-registration is required and can be made by calling MSA at 802- 869-2960 or e-mailing MSA@sover.net. Participants are asked to bring pen, pad and pictures for remembering upon the page.

he described a con by likening the role to building a custombuilt car — if it breaks down, where’s the mechanic and parts dealer? Town Managers, on the other hand, come with professional support networks. Public comment after Barlow left reflected favor for maintaining the Town Manager form of government. Those in favor felt the position gave town government stability as Selectboard members and state laws changed. Other residents also felt running a town had become more complicated than a five-member volunteer Selectboard should be expected to keep up with. Before the polls closed, Finnigan said, “Whatever happens, happens.”

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Wednesday, November 3, 2010

SPORTS & RECREATION

Randolph T. Holhut/The Commons

Brattleboro forward Jose-Diego Silva (7) prepares to boot a crossing pass as Colchester defender Taylor Whitcomb moves in during the second half of their playoff game Friday at Tenney Field.

Colonel boys stop Colchester, 3-1 By Randolph T. Holhut

during the regular season, the second-seeded Colonels kept the streak going in the postB R A T T L E B O R O — season with a 3-1 win over There’s been no place like the seven-seeded Colchester home for the Brattleboro Lakers in a Division I quarterColonels this season. final match on Friday. Undefeated at Tenney Field n see BOYS SOCCER, page 10 The Commons

Brattleboro goalkeeper Maddie Hawes stops a penalty kick.

Randolph T. Holhut/The Commons

Colonel girls lose to Lakers on penalty kicks, 3-2 By Randolph T. Holhut The Commons

BRATTLEBORO—What’s more agonizing than losing a soccer game on penalty kicks? How about having to go to a second round of penalty kicks. That’s how the Brattleboro Colonels’ season ended last Thursday, losing in a penalty kick shootout, 3-2, to the South Burlington Rebels in their first round Division I girls soccer playoff game at Tenney Field. After playing to a 1-1 tie in regulation and after playing 30 minutes of scoreless overtime, the No. 7 Colonels and the No. 10 Rebels had to decide this closely played match on penalty kicks. For the Colonels’ goalkeeper, junior Maddie Hawes, it was her Randolph T. Holhut/The Commons first time facing the most gut- Brattleboro forward Ariel Kane tries to get the ball past South Burlington wrenching moment in soccer. goalkeeper Amy Simendinger as defenders Angela Elcan (22) and Ashley Norris She rose to the occasion, making give chase during the first overtime period of their playoff game Thursday at n see girls soccer, page 10

Tenney Field.

Randolph T. Holhut/The Commons

Brattleboro’s Greg Reuter, left, heads the ball away from a pair of Colchester defenders as teammate Rodrigo Ruiz trails the play during the second half of their playoff game on Friday at Tenney Field.

Terriers clinch top seed in football playoffs

he Bellows Falls Terriers capped off a successful regular season Saturday with a 42-24 demolition of the undermanned Springfield Cosmos at Hadley Field. It was the 99th game between these long-time rivals, and BF holds a 50-45-4 lead in the series. Springfield only dressed 19 players for this game, and they had few answers against the top team in Division III. Normally, the Terriers give teams a heavy dose of running back Ryan Hayward. But after he scored the first two touchdowns on runs of 20 and 37 yards, junior quarterback Jeremy Kilburn took over. Kilburn threw for three touchdowns and ran for another. Will Bourne hauled in two of those touchdown passes, while Brendan Hackett reeled in the third. With the win, the Terriers t - bigger (6-3 overall, 6-1 in division play) took possession of “The GTP pro- Trophy” and earned a home playoff game on Saturday at 1 p.m. against Oxbow. • The Brattleboro Colonels

RANDOLPH T. HOLHUT Sports Roundup ended a disappointing season on Friday night with a 40-13 loss to archrival Mount Anthony at Natowich Field. Junior running back Alex Cross gave the Patriots their first win of the season with 244 yards of rushing and three touchdowns. Brattleboro quarterback Nate Forrett threw for two touchdowns, a 30-yarder to Josh LaValley and a 36-yarder to Griffin Sparks. The Colonels ended the season at 0-9.

Cross country

• The Vermont Cross Country Championships were held at Thetford Academy on Saturday, and our local competitors did well. Brattleboro’s Jacob Ellis finished sixth in the state with a time of 18 minutes, 4 seconds on a muddy 5-kilometer

course. That time allowed him to qualify for the New England championships, and helped the Colonel boys to finish ninth in Division I. Rounding out the Colonel top five were Zeke Fitzgerald (51st in 19:41), Allen Unaitis, Spencer Olson and Austin Lester, Brattleboro’s Hannah Reichel was the top local girls finisher, she was 41st in 22:54. She led the Brattleboro girls to a 13th place finish in Division I. Placing in the team scoring was Maud Benit (54th in 23:50), Helen Manning (81st in 25:44). Leah Silverman (86th in 27:28) and Emma Straus (87th in 27:54). Bellows Falls sent four runners to compete in the Division III event. Jon Punger took fourth in the boys race with a time of 18:50. Colin Johnson was 28th in 20:18 and Tim Jones finished 29th in 20:31. Becky O’Neill came in 21st in the girls race in 20:31.

get a win. Noah Chapin, the Rebels’ scoring machine, was held to only one goal, but that all that was needed as top-seeded Leland & Gray advanced to the semis with a 1-0 win over the No. 8 Enosburg Falls Hornets. Chapin scored in the 21st minute off a nice pass from Matt Bizon. The goal stood up as Rebels goalkeeper Jared Van Osdol made seven saves. It was rainy and windy for most of the match, which negated some of the speed of both teams, and set things up for a tense defensive struggle. The Rebels were scheduled to host fifth-seeded Stowe on Tuesday in the semifinals. • Twin Valley’s playoff run ended far earlier than many thought it would when the second-seeded Wildcats were upset in the opening round of the Division IV playoffs last Tuesday by the No. 15 Black River Presidents, in a tense overtime match that ended up Boys soccer being decided on penalty kicks, • Leland & Gray has been 3-1. a high scoring team all season, The game was tied 1-1 at the but in their Division III quarend of regulation. Freshman terfinal game in Townshend on Colin Lozito scored first for the Friday, they needed defense to Wildcats in the 26th minute.

Noah Schmidt then got the equalizer for the Presidents in the 65th minute. After two scoreless overtime periods, it all came down to the most pressure packed moment in soccer. Schmidt and Tim Rumrill converted their penalty kicks before George Molner found the net to make it 2-1. That turned out to be the only successful penalty kick for the Wildcats as Victor Cucullo drilled in the decisive kick to end Twin Valley’s season. Twin Valley entered the game with plenty of momentum — 10 straight wins to finish the regular season at 11-3. Instead, a familiar foe from Marble Valley League play pulled off a shocker.

Finegan and Cassidy Anderson played their final game. • Twin Valley also had an early exit with a 3-1 road loss to BFA-Fairfax. After Devin Logan scored in the seventh minute, the Bullets scored the next three goals. The Wildcats ended the season with a 8-6-1 record as seniors Logan, Sam Bernard, Bryer-Lyn Crawford, Kylie-blu Crawford and Emily Furlon finished their high school careers.

Field hockey

• It was a challenging season for first-year coach Deb Patria, but she and the Colonels kept their heads held high despite all the adversity they faced. Brattleboro’s playoff run ended in the first round of the Division I playoffs with a 5-0 Girls soccer road loss to Colchester last • Leland & Gray’s playoff Wednesday. The Lakers scored run ended early with a 3-0 road three goals in the first 10 minloss to Oxbow in the first round utes to put the game away. of the Division III tournament. Brattleboro ended its year The Olympians scored all of with a 3-9-2 record, as seniors their goals in the first half. The Brenna DeVincentis, Kelsey Rebels ended the season with a Kinsman, Tatiana Frizzell and 5-7-3 record, as seniors Keira Jessie Woodcock played their Capponcelli, Aly Marcucci, final game. Chelsea Cox, Sarah Seaton, Michaela Tietz, Kathryn

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SPORTS

T h e C ommons

• Wednesday, November 3, 2010

Westminster vote: ‘knee-jerk’ decision Bellows Falls should consider Not harmless Confronting youth attitudes about marijuana n Boys Obuchowski asks forSchool’s your vote proposal Compass WeLife all need to see the world A shameful shade of green Honoring son in Afghanistan lessons Activists’ Shumlin cherry picks worthy jobs soccer through the lens of gender the massive Hydro-Québec qualifyMaking downtown Uneasy neighbors Touring voicesShould missing from an forbeing the state’s ‘renewable energy’ status? safer for everyone from page 9 On a redneck A room Happy birthday, Like many Vermonters, Coyote is a mixture fromRuralVY story AfricanDover! dancer identity as a badge of honor Vermont of good‘helping’ and bad, ugliness and beauty As was the case the day beWhy one adult is working to create a skateboard park, stop usfore The legislature makes Please the of her own Early education: An investment Encountering good will in the Brattleboro/South Yankee and why Brattleboro should support and respect the effort official town’s bicentennial that pays huge dividends Blinded For with CaroVernon Diallo residents know the town, and Burlington girls soccer playoff byone young woman, Wishful thinkingAdoes makefrom youngnot journalist VY, better than Peter Shumlin does match, there was a stiff wind a chance for stability, Weary of elections Galbraith brings depth from the west. Colonels coach Our literary campfire Northpower Carolina offers us safe with nuclear privacy, and a home the need for Paul Sather watched that match, Taking life to economic development Festival, Vermont Reads program offer The political process discourages some impressions and took note. Racine: No empty ways to view our lives, our histories, our world Marching for peace Public art, an honest debate about the issues Sather elected to go into the someone special for granted pie-in-the-sky promises in every wind for the first half, taking his Legislature was paying attention • We should have brought the soldiers home An older chances that the score would be sense of single woman in in Bellows Falls A birthday present Democracythe worked in VY votefor a good cause How might a once-industrial space by the at least even at the half — which Embracing search of companionship the phrase One race ends, Among Connecticut River be used for the good of the is exactly what happened. Students write about their reactions falls for a scammer and whole community? Some citizens respond. Colchester struck first in the and a bigger race begins social model of disability to a memoir about suffering and survival. schoolchildren pays for her mistake The women of Argentina RESOLUTION

The feeling of freedom

Renewing the riverfront

Art work

VOICES

Decoding the eighth minute, as junior Colin Businesses learn about alcohol, tobacco sales Burns booted a wind-assisted Nixing Enexus ‘If you are typically abled, I sometimes feel that we live A snarky, gay Jew confronts Rove-style politics in Vermont? 30-yarder from the left side that Follow the charter Thanks worlds apart. But it doesn’t have to be that way.’ warmist agenda some culture shock whileits denial sailed into the upper right corner The Public Service Board discusses of a What if? Festival of Squashes raises funds for library

How did they relate the book to their lives?

of the net. volunteering atfor afrom school no uncertain language’ Certificate of Public Good now-off-the-table VY plan A fog of blind faith prevails, despite An honest mistake that‘Simply The evidence for the World Trade Center tragedy as a demolition Brattleboro patiently counterin rural Uganda The changing role parade Judge of rules that Brattleboro Selectboard erred in keeping fromquestions even proponents job is overwhelming, yet it is treated solely as a theory of kooks raisesstatistics deeper attacked and got the equalizer at citizen referendum question from town ballot What would make us truly happy? man-made globalof warmingof education in aNew life for the old Grange The perils organizers Demanding change to state’s the 20 minute mark when senior • A voice against a $60 billion tragic misuse forward Travis Elliot-Knaggs got Republican transportation policies big money in elections Call the pain the cure behind the Laker defense, ran global society Lost souls in the woods The company I work forAnti-global-warming writer down a long lead pass and beat Coming to understand an increasingly Asembraces the school goalkeeper Matt McBride Feeling hot, hot, hotyear starts, Vermont’sElectronic devices steer us wrong, in many ways popular Japanese dance — one that responds to rebuttal ‘Uninformed’? We just didn’t agree Lakers with a shot to the left corner of the contradictions in our complexTeacher world of the Year offers some thoughts An apostrophe — please! the net. What if VY had to apply Union: Shumlin used VY stance MMI benefit concert Former volunteer With the wind at their backs A veteran broadcaster volunteers test for other labor issues disillusioned with Salmon ‘a total success’for the second half, the Colonels for original approval today? as litmus at Brattleboro Community Radio Vermont Yankee needs to remain dominated play and got two and what he seeslook (and hears)at mental illness Alikeslocal Plastic bags litter the Skeptics who Learning from the Lessons from the partquestion of state’s energy mix goals in the process. Dummerston needs strong plan country and take oil Telling kids that it gets better In the 53rd minute, Elliotclimate change Woodwardwith case open-space protection in the 19th century Northeast Kingdom How Vermont avoided Knaggs got to the ball just beto manufacture substitute rhetoric for What other areas of Vermont can learn YoungInadults supportand of their faith fore it rolled over the end line the worst of the recession about making agriculture viable and sent a pass out in front of the A pastor ponders her spiritual-but-not-religious Disabled scientific like me evidence A tale of two nuclear power plants Obuchowski, Partridgegeneration Lakers goal crease. Senior for‘Where do we fit in?’ Taxation in Vermont: An autistic woman searches for kindred souls Oyster Creek and Friel did a great job ward Jose-Diego Silva couldn’t Takingplatform On the A search for a place to go, upLet stand against asks one college student Growing gaycommunity inThe the numbers VY are both ofRepublican the at Oak Grove School VY signs go far beyond a foot on it, but junior middon’t lie measures To the poorhouse get a place beyond hollowness message of anti-semitic graffiti same vintage — fielder Cesar Moore could, and war horse,

Hot enough Harder to say for you?

than The God within‘I’m gay’

A different way to run More than a station weThe need border-lands of insanity Engaging young voters VIEWPOINT

VIEWPOINT

LETTERS FROM READERS

against an Lessons learned from working for it in for the go-ahead blasted and emptiness,South when was bad. The constant Kruger not given appropriate respect and both must go Shumlin consistently backs early-childhood education the rich and famous on Poverty goal. Row galloping epidemic Auditor candidate says: the silence speaks Town should help dogs in cars bullying? That was worse. Pay-as-you-throw The emotional harpoon for Moran: a politician who gets and the will invest It’s about the ethics Shumlin in all the Lakers came in the 74th minacross the globe Restorative Justice program: into the gutter — literally Making broadband available to everyone rising cost of trash disposal infrastructure ute, when senior midfielder Matt technology a no-brainer for society LETTERS FROM READERS Diplomacy at Dunn got a feed from Elliotresources in Vermont makes good economic sense Card fees drain Tired of ridiculous, false arguments Knaggs and blasted a shot past the dinner table, Who really cares about the companyfrom small businesses McBride for an insurmountable Would you the Cleavers come here? State representative urges you to vote courtesy of Fox News work for if it can’t tell the truth? 3-1 lead. Winning over conservative parents A guy who sacrifices for others “We haven’t had many games A squandered opportunity Memorial Day thanks with universal small-town values Celebrating Windham College’s legacy Stop settling for like this all year,” said Sather. What could be going underground with the sewer pipes “The wind was definitely wearWhite has championed mental health issues would continue county’s Shumlin offers leadership L E T T E Ra S F man ROM REA ofD E action, RGalbraith S priorities, and values The long dance of farmers and customers, lack of Racine: leadership ing [Colchester] down in the ‘Buy local’ role of leadership in Montpelier all building relationships around food second half, and when you get this election on Vermont Yankee issue Come on, Selectboard — reconsider lights feelsout budget sting Robbing Peter,The paying Paul changes that need to GulfLibrary oil spill points need for down by a goal, it’s tough to over-reaching White, Young for Senate seat With David Snow’s death, new energy measures, candidate says be made must be done on a national level come back.” Sather credited the Colonels’ family forever changed

The last 5 percent

Can dairy crisis To market, to market become a catalyst for change?

n Voices, we offer an unusual editorial and op-ed section, one that presents a wonderfully sprawling array of personal expression. That’s only fitting, because Windham County readers have a wonderfully sprawling array of ideals, political views, and interests. Are you a radical, a reformed hippie, a liberal Republican, a moderate, a Progressive, a Reagan Democrat, a Tea Partier, a none-of-the-abovewhat-business-is-it-of-yours-anyway? Name your label — we don’t care. If your opinion is relevant or interesting, if your life experience is compelling, we want to hear from you, because we believe we can all learn from one another even if we don’t always agree. And if you value a feisty and provocative Voices section that will keep the county on its toes, become a member of Vermont Independent Media, and help us keep this nonprofit newspaper’s voice clear and strong.

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defenders — Alex Phomnath, Charles Greene-Cramer and Colby Hescock — and the midfielders with doing a good job marking Colchester’s forwards and taking the pressure off goalkeeper Evan Darling. “It was a testiment to how well we played that we got three goals against a team that didn’t give up many all year,” he said.

n Girls soccer

from page 9

two big stops. Halle Lange and Kara Piergentili buried their kicks and the first round of kicks ended in a 2-2 tie. So, it went to the second round, only now, the first team that scored would win. South Burlington goalkeeper Amy Simedinger, who also made two nifty saves in the first round of penalty kicks, stopped Lange’s second try. Jen Arnold, who scored in the first round, was up next and beat Hawes with a drive to the left post to win the game. Brattleboro showed considerable grit to take the match to penalty kicks. Playing into a stiff wind in the first half, the Colonels were under constant attack by the Rebels. They were outshot 8-2, but the Colonels led 1-0 at the half on a quick strike from Taylor Kerlow in the 25th minute. The Colonels had the wind in the second half, but it was the Rebels who got the equalizer as Sarah Shiman got behind the defense and scored. Both teams had scoring chances in the overtime, but Hawes and Simedinger stood fast. Brattleboro ended its season at 7-6-2. It was the final game for seniors Kerylow, Erin LeBlanc, Ariel Kane, Kelsey Patterson, Ashley Watson, Lauren Mabie, Maddi Shaw, Caitlyn Wood and Candis Field. The story would normally end here, except for an interesting development that came up on Friday. Brattleboro coach Edwin de Bruijn learned that the referees had erred in immediately going to a sudden-death round of penalty kicks and also erred in letting the same shooters that participated in the first round kick again in the second round. De Bruijn had no comment about the officiating slip-up. As far as he was concerned, the outcome was just. “It was a hard game for us to lose, but the truth is that South Burlington was the better team,” he said. “They controlled the play and had more chances to score than we did.”

T h e C ommons

• Wednesday, November 3, 2010

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT BOOKS & AUTHORS

CLASSICAL MUSIC

Johannes String Quartet to perform at BMC

Tony Reczek/Special to The Commons

Author/forester helps kids uncover secrets in the snow Lynn Levine wants to ‘connect people to the woods’

Chamber Series audiences with Mozart’s Hoffmeister, Janacek’s Quartet no. 2, and Dvorak’s E-flat major quartet, op. 51. American violinist Soovin Kim is increasingly sought after for the character, nuance, and excitement of his performances as concerto soloist, chamber musician and recitalist, both in the U.S. and abroad. Violinist Jessica Lee, the first prize winner of the 2005 Concert Artists Guild International Competition, was featured in the “Launch Pad” column of The Strad as the magazine’s “pick of upand-coming musicians” for June 2007. An active chamber musician, Jessica Lee became a member of the Johannes String Quartet in 2006. Choong-Jin (C.J.) Chang was appointed Principal Viola of The Philadelphia Orchestra

in April 2006. He previously served as Associate Principal Viola in Philadelphia for twelve years. He was a double major in violin and viola at the Curtis Institute of Music, studying with the late Jascha Brodsky and Joseph dePasquale. Peter Stumpf enjoys as multi-faceted a career as any cellist. After serving 12 years as the Associate Principal Cellist of the Philadelphia Orchestra, Stumpf became the Principal Cellist of the Los Angeles Philharmonic at the beginning of the 2002-2003 season. He is in great demand as a chamber musician around the world. Johannes String Quartet tickets ($30, $20, $10) are available by calling the Brattleboro Music Center at 802-257-4523 or online at Brattleborotix.com. For additional information, visit www.bmcvt.org.

Sunday concert to feature Bach’s greatest works

By Nell Curley The Commons

a mentor for me, and when she presentation on wildlife tracking told me she loved the book, it in Pisgah, N.H. Levine says she was the ultimate praise for me.” is hoping to “do more [natureLevine says if readers are un- based] programs in schools.” On the writing front, Levine is able to put the book down after the first chapter, then she knows considering making Snow Secrets into a seasonally-based series, she has written a good story. She is also very invested in in which Jasmine and Sarah portraying “different kinds of go through the seasons honing learners” in her characters. The their skills. “I want to have the girls find two girls in Snow Secrets are Sarah, described as “school out and uncover more secrets. smart,” and Jasmine, who is They’ll have to go by all sorts of more familiar with “outdoor other clues in the spring.” learning.” The girls become closer as Lynn Levine will offer a trackthey search for Sarah’s missing presentation, “Solving Snow ing cat, whom her mother be- Secrets,” and a reading from Snow lieves was taken by a fisher. With Secrets at the Book Cellar, 120 the help of an Abenaki woman Main St., Brattleboro on Saturday, named Tess, they use their new Nov. 6. wildlife tracking skills to find the cat. Weddings Barbecues “The end mystery [of Secrets] is that fisher cats get blamed for Family Gatherings every cat that disappears,” the Snow Secrets author hints. “Is that true? That’s RESERVE YOUR TENT Levine’s most recent fiction part of the storyline.” Tent sizes 10’x10’ to 40’x100’ book, Snow Secrets, about two We set up dance floors, young girls using their wildlife- Teaching skills identifying skills to find one girl’s through books portable stages, tables, missing cat, draws its plot from a Levine, who lives in chairs, lighting, portable “conglomeration” of all the sto- Dummerston, Vermont with toilets, sinks, and tableware. ries Levine has heard about do- her husband and daughter, mestic pets falling prey to wild hopes that both children and Contact John Evans at animals. adult readers of Secrets will take Both books took Levine 2½ away the knowledge that nothyears to write, and she benefitted ing in her books is made up, from a support system of writers and she hopes they will be inwho provided constructive criti- spired to explore the outdoors Townshend Park cism along the way. for themselves. “Snow Secrets was about revi“All the tracking is accurate,” Townshend, VT sion and getting critique from she says. “My passion is teachwonderful people like Eileen ing skills and getting people inChristeow, Jesse Haas, Karen volved with the natural world. I Hesse and Michael Daley,” she want people to get out [of doors] said of the four well-established after reading my books!” gmtents@svcable.net Windham County children’s True to her philosophy, www.greenmtntents.com book authors. Levine has helped to build five “We’re part of a critique group interpretive nature trails around that meets once a week, and the Brattleboro, and recently a book changed dramatically with feedback,” Levine says. “I was willing to listen to what people A Book is a Gift You Can Open had to say. Karen Hesse has been

BRATTLEBORO—What could be better than Bach on a November afternoon? Eight musicians heartily agree that an hour with the master composer is a sublime experience. To that end, they have gathered their forces in order to present an afternoon concert featuring the music of J.S. Bach, composer of composers. On Sunday, Nov. 7, at 3 p.m., Peggy Spencer, violin, organists Clark Anderson and Susan Dedell, and contralto Jennifer Hansen will perform in a concert that also includes musicians Marcia Cassidy, violin; Barbara Wright, viola, Zon Eastes, cello, and special guest Alison Doane, oboe. The program consists of three of Bach’s finest compositions, the Sonata in E Major for Violin and Keyboard, the

Prelude and Fugue in D Major for organ, and Cantata 82, “Ich habe genug.” Bach’s music spans the gamut of expression, and organizers selected these three pieces as examples that amply demonstrate his skill as a extraordinary communicator of thought and feeling. The Sonata for Violin and Keyboard will be played by former New England Bach Festival concertmaster Peggy Spencer, violin, and Susan Dedell, organ. The Prelude and Fugue in D Major, played by organist Clark Anderson, is considered a dazzling example of Bach’s writing for that instrument. Anderson, who served as University Organist and Assistant Conductor at Princeton University, describes the piece as “pretty flashy,” while an earlier commentator

on the work observed that “one must let the feet kick around a lot.” The program concludes with Cantata 82, “Ich habe genug,” a cantata for solo voice and sung by noted contralto Jennifer Hansen. It features an oboe obligato, which weaves with the voice throughout the piece. Boston-based oboist Alison Doane will be joined by string players Peggy Spencer, Marcia Cassidy, Barbara Wright, and Zon Eastes, and organist Susan Dedell. Admission to the concert is $10, or by donation. The concert takes place at St. Michael’s Catholic Church at 20 Walnut St., and is handicapped accessible. For more information, call Winged Productions at 802-348-7735.

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A B S E TI S

UMMERSTON— Lynn Levine, an author who has just released her second book, has been passionate about nature and wildlife since she was a junior in college. “Someone pointed out a tree to me and told me it had a name,” she recalls. “That just hit my heart. I had never known that plants had names.” Levine became a forester, and for 32 years, she has run her own business, Forest Care. “My job involves working with private landowners and their woodlands,” says Levine, the first woman consulting forester in New England. “I help them manage for long-term interest goals, take inventory of the wildlife, mark trees, supervise harvests, and listen a lot.” Levine, who also describes herself as an environmental educator, has written curriculum for Vermont Institute of Natural Science and the Learning Tree Project. “Connecting people to the woods is my passion,” she says. Levine’s first nonfiction wildlife reference book, Mammal Tracks and Scat, was inspired by her interest in learning to identify animal tracks in the woods while she worked. She studied the art and science of identifying tracks and scat under people like Paul Rezendes and Sue Morse, both nationally recognized trackers.

JOHN

Lynn Levine, author of Snow Secrets.

BRATTLEBORO—On Friday, Nov. 5, at 7:30 p.m., the Brattleboro Music Center will present the Johannes String Quartet at Centre Congregational Church in Brattleboro, Vermont. The Johannes String Quartet, comprised of four impressively gifted instrumentalists in their own right, have come together to form one of the great chamber music groups of our time. Their lineage weaves through Marlboro Music Festival, Jaime Laredo, Curtis Institute, and other performers on the BMC Chamber Music Concert Series, good friends all. Arnold Steinhardt, of the Guarneri Quartet comments, “The Johannes is all I could ever dream of in a string quartet.” Soovin Kim, Jessica Lee, Choong-Jin Chang, and Peter Stumpf, will be regaling BMC

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THE ARTS

T h e C ommons

• Wednesday, November 3, 2010

Moving forward on an uncharted path “Hey! where can i pick up the Commons?” BrattleBoro

American Legion Amy’s Bakery Arts Café Avenue Grocery Backside Café Bagelworks Baker Office Supplies Baskets Bookstore Blue Moose Book Cellar Boy’s and Girl’s Club Brattleboro Area Chamber of Commerce Brattleboro Food Co-op Brattleboro Memorial Hospital Front Lobby Brattleboro Pharmacy Brattleboro Post Office Brattleboro Savings and Loan Brattleboro Subaru Brattleboro Sunoco Brattleboro Tire Brattleboro Union High School Brattleboro Village Pizza Brooks Library Chelsea Royal Diner Chittenden Bank Coffee Country Colonial Pool Community College of Vermont Curves Dutton Farm Stand Elliot Street Café First Run Video Brattleboro Fleming Oil Forty Putney Rd. Bed and Breakfast Gibson-Aiken Senior Center Glen Mobile Park Hooker Dunham Bldg. Hotel Pharmacy House of Pizza Latchis Theatre Marlboro College Tech Center Melrose Terrace Members First Credit Union Mocha Joe’s Morningside House North End Butcher One Stop Outlet Center Pine Heights Price Chopper River Garden Thompson House VABEC VT Liquor Store Walgreens West Brattleboro Pizza Westgate Housing World Learning Bellows Falls

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Author chronicles an autistic life and her journey to understanding a different self By Nell Curley The Commons

RATTLEBORO—At the age of 50, Rachel Cohen-Rottenberg was diagnosed with the neurological disorder known as Asperger’s Syndrome, a type of autism. She experienced profound relief and joy, as well as grief, over the knowledge of what had caused her constant social and emotional struggles throughout her entire life. People who live on the autism spectrum find they have great difficulty with social interaction and communication and a tendency for repetitive behavior, among a constellation of other symptoms. In the case of CohenRottenberg, the diagnosis of Asperger’s — a milder form of the disorder — explained a lot about her life, and the knowledge gave her the context to adapt the way she lives and works. Cohen-Rottenberg, who moved to Brattleboro in 2009 and lives with her husband, Bob Rottenberg, and her daughter, Ashlynne, has documented her experience before and after the diagnosis in her new autobiography The Uncharted Path: My Journey with Late-Diagnosed Autism. “I’ve been a writer for most of my life,” says Cohen-Rottenberg, who has a master’s degree in English, and who worked a technical writer and editor in the software industry for 15 years. After leaving her career, Cohen-Rottenberg published her first book, A Sense of Place: The Story of the Williams Family Farm, in 2007, chronicling the history of a farm in rural western Massachusetts and the family that owned it for generations. In Path, she describes the ways in which autism affects her senses, her ability to form new relationships with people, and honestly describes the challenges it puts on various aspects of her life. “Little by little, my life

began to make sense,” CohenRottenberg describes in her first chapterr. “Try as I might, I’d never known how to navigate the social world. Staying in sync with the rhythm of a conversation, even in a small social gathering, had always been difficult. Worse still, I’d always felt frightened, overwhelmed, and disoriented in large crowds. “Take my daughter to the mall? Forget it. Enjoy contradancing? Impossible. Make small talk at a wedding reception? I could never fi gure out how—or why. At every social event, I’d end up in the same place: leaning against a wall and looking for someone else who seemed equally dazed. If there were a library in the building, all the better. I’d go there and hide.”

A great relief

In her book, CohenRottenberg — who describes herself in the first sentence of Path as “wife, mother, writer, singer, artist, and community volunteer” — also discusses the changes in her life when her own suspicions were confirmed by the diagnosis. The experience introduced her to more people who had been diagnosed with autism after struggling for years to understand what was “wrong” with them. “I have been in contact with a number of people who were diagnosed in mid-life, and for many of us, the diagnosis comes as a great relief,” Cohen-Rottenberg says. “For the general public, it might seem odd to welcome an autism diagnosis,” she adds. “For those of us who have spent our lives not understanding our differences from other people, finding our place on the wide and varied autism spectrum has been a tremendous help.” Cohen-Rottenberg feels fortunate that her book is already inspiring and encouraging many people living with autism. “I’ve received a number of responses to my book along the lines of ‘I see myself in so much of what you write. It’s

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such a relief! I didn’t think anyone else in the world was like me,’” she says. “When I get a response like that, I know I’ve been successful.”

Making sense of one’s self

Cohen-Rottenberg, who also maintains a blog, www.journeyswithautism.com, eventually began using the term “autism” instead of Asperger’s because “far too many Aspies seek to distance themselves from the stigma of autism,” she explained on her blog this month. “Trust me, I understand the impulse, but it’s just plain wrong to abandon people who are on the spectrum with us, especially people who are even more marginalized than we are because they don’t have the ability to ‘pass’ for a moment,” she wrote. “And the more I feel how wrong it is, the more I feel the vulnerability of the autism label.” Cohen-Rottenberg describes the process of writing Path, which chronicles her struggles with autism from early childhood through her adult life, as “very healing.” “To paraphrase Rilke, the feeling was one of weaving together the disparate strands of my life into a single cloth. I didn’t find it particularly difficult to narrate my own experience,” she says. “I’d been doing it internally all my life, just to make sense of how I felt when I couldn’t find anyone who understood,” CohenRottenberg noted. While researching Asperger’s syndrome, Cohen-Rottenberg came across many outdated but still popular beliefs regarding the disorder. She herself does not identify with them, and hopes that her own account of life with Asperger’s will help to “dispel stereotypes.” “There are so many dehumanizing stereotypes about autistic people: that we lack empathy, that we don’t understand different modes of thought, that we’re overly logical, that we don’t have feelings, that we’re not social beings, that we’re not imaginative, that we can’t be fully included in the world,” she says. “It’s very painful to have people believe these kinds of things,” she continues. “Many misconceptions are based on outdated research, failures to ask the right questions, or overly simplistic interpretations of the answers.” In the book, she devotes a

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Modelling respect

Rottenberg offers plenty of advice for people who want to know how to relate to people with Asperger’s and other autism-spectrum disorders. “The key to any good relationship is respect. It’s not enough to tolerate a person, or even to accept a person, with or without disabilities. You have to model respect,” she says. “Be sensitive. Find out what

the person needs. Listen to the answers. Don’t minimize or dismiss the person’s experience. Don’t look at the person as broken, impaired, abnormal, or wrong,” Cohen-Rottenberg adds. Finally, she advises people to “see the person as a whole human being, just like you. And remember that human diversity is something to be celebrated, not feared.” For more information about The Uncharted Path and to purchase the book ($17.95 paperback, $8.95 as a PDF), visit www.journeyswithautism.com . By way of disclosure, CohenRottenberg has begun volunteering as a copy editor and proofreader for The Commons, and her husband, Bob, serves on the board of directors of Vermont Independent Media, the nonprofit that publishes the newspaper.

Hospice presents seminar on pet loss, end of life care BRATTLEBORO — Dr. Ronald Svec of the VT/NH Veterinary Clinic and Cheryl Richards, MA, CT an end of life and grief counselor, will offer a free presentation on pet loss on Monday, Nov. 8, from 7-9 p.m. The session is sponsored by Brattleboro Area Hospice and will be held in the newly renovated and relocated Brew Barry Conference Center at Brattleboro Memorial Hospital. Research has shown that pets provide both physical and psychological health benefits to their caregivers and deep bonds are often formed between animal and human. However, anyone who has experienced the intimate connection that can occur with their companion animals must also face the sorrow that comes when it’s time to say goodbye. This evening is appropriate

for people who love, live or work with animals and who are facing the upcoming death of their pet. This includes parents and teachers who want to support their children through a pet loss. Many times the death of an animal friend is a young person’s first experience with mortality. How a child is or is not helped during this time can deeply impact their feelings about death as they grow older. The session offers information and resources for: supporting your pet as they near the end of their lives; knowing when and if euthanasia is appropriate; preparing and involving children in their pet’s dying process; and moving through the grief that accompanies learning to say goodbye. Register for this free session by calling 802-257-0775.

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chapter, “Our Deficits: Strengths in Disguise,” to the process of turning liabilities into assets or appreciating the different way through which people who are not “neurotypical” perceive the world. So often, Cohen-Rottenberg says, “people talk about us without ever actually talking to us. I very much hope that my book helps to give people a clearer picture of what it means to be on the spectrum.”

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T h e C ommons

• Wednesday, November 3, 2010

THE ARTS

‘Playing Outside the Box’ at Neighborhood Schoolhouse

ARTS CALENDAR objects of no great concern as Visual arts items can not be returned. The altar will remain open • Vietnamese contempo- at Experienced Goods Home rar y art exhibit comes to Furnishings until Saturday, Marlboro College: Marlboro Nov. 13. For more information, College will host an exhibit of call Brattleboro Area Hospice at woodblock prints by contempo- 802-257-0775. rary Vietnamese artists in Drury Gallery through Nov. 28. An opening reception will take place Music in the gallery on Wednesday, Nov. 3, at 4 p.m. • Youth Battle of Bands at The prints are on loan from Gallery Walk: Area youth bands the personal collection of Judith can launch their musical careers Hughes-Day, a New York City- by competing at Youth Services’ based collector specializing in Battle of the Bands at the River contemporary Vietnamese art- Garden on Friday, Nov. 5, durists. The exhibit will focus on ing Gallery Walk night, from a series of prints by artist Phan 7 to 10 p.m. The public is enCam Thoung entitled A Sixty Year couraged to attend and vote for Cycle, which were printed in black their favorite group with their and white using ink made from applause. bamboo leave ashes. In addition to the audience In conjunction with the ex- and youth judges, several indihibit, Marlboro will present a viduals from both the recordvideo of Thoung discussing A ing and music industry will help Sixty Year Cycle, which was shot choose the top band. First prize by alumna Von Ferguson. is five hours of professional re“According to the ancient cording time donated by engiChinese calendar, 60 years make neer Billy Shaw of Soundesign a cycle. Having reached your together with a master copy of sixties, you may rest, go fish- the recorded songs. Second prize ing, play cards or chess, travel is a performance at a local musiover land and seas or play with cal venue, yet to be determined. kids,” Thoung explains in his artAccording to Allyson Villars, ist statement. “My 60 topics in executive director of Youth the collection were suggested by Services, this second Battle of the the philosophical, religious and Bands celebrates the entrepreeveryday life issues of the Viets, neurial nature of all youth repespecially subjects from folk bal- resented at this event by young lads and songs or idiomatic ex- musicians forming bands and expression about predestined love, pressing their musical inspiration human feelings, rituals, ethics or in a business endeavor. our people’s everyday behavior.” Admission for the general Vietnamese scholar Trian public is $4 and covers refreshNguyen will deliver a lecture on ments and door prizes. contemporary Vietnamese art • April Verch Band at NEYT: at 7 p.m. on Monday, Nov. 8, April Verch and her trio, the in Ragle Hall. Nguyen is an as- April Verch Band, are returnsistant professor of art and the ing to Brattleboro on Sunday, Luce Junior Professor of Asian Nov. 14 to perform at the New Studies at Bates College. England Youth Theater, 100 The Drury Gallery is open Flat St. from 1 to 5 p.m., Sunday through Verch, a versatile fiddler and Friday while the college is in ses- step-dancer as well as a singer sion. For more information, call who presents a blend of folk, 802-257-4333. jazz, bluegrass and roots mu• Lovett exhibit at Putney sic, will appear with her band: library: Putney photographer Clay Ross on guitar and Cody Evie Lovett (www.evielovett.com) Walters on bass and banjo. Verch will present a free slide show of hails from the Ottawa Valley in her work, “Why photography? Canada where competition-style Why people?” at the Putney fiddling and step-dancing, which Public Library on Thursday, she excels at, are well established. Nov. 4, from 7-8:30 p.m., as The show will feature some part of the library series “Words songs from Steal The Blue, Verch’s & Images: Artists Talk About seventh recording, as well as Their Work.” old favorites and some new Lovett photographs people tunes as well. Show time is 7:30 with black-and-white film using p.m. Tickets are $15 in ada 50-year-old Rolleiflex cam- vance for all, $18 at the door. era . She has photographed her Tickets can be purchased at own children, AIDS patients in Brattleborotix.com or in person, a hospital in Rwanda, Muslim cash only, at Everyone’s Books, women in France, circus arts 23 Elliot St. in Brattleboro. professionals, and drag queens. Call 802-257-1571 for more Taking photographs is her way information. of connecting with and making sense of the world. Her work has been exhib- Dance ited locally at the Brattleboro Museum and Art Center and the • Line dancing benefit for Vermont Center of Photography, First Baptist fuel fund: On in New York and as far away as Saturday, Nov. 13 from 7-10 Phnom Penh, Cambodia. The li- p.m., a line and social dancbrary is accessible. For informa- ing evening will be held at the tion, call 802-387-4102 or visit Masonic Center, 196 Main St. www.iputney.com. in Brattleboro. • Community altar honors This event is co-sponsored the departed: On Friday, Nov. by First Baptist Church and the 5, from 5:30-7:30 p.m., during Brattleboro Lodge of Masons. Gallery Walk, Brattleboro Area Special guests Deb Giaimo and Hospice will celebrate Dia de los the Monadnock Mavericks will Muertos (Day of the Dead) with demonstrate and teach dances. a community altar and live muProceeds benefit the First sic at their store, Experienced Baptist fuel fund. The church Goods Home Furnishings at 51 Elliot St. Hallowell will sing songs of remembrance and celebration at the altar at 6:30 pm. This event is free and open to the public. Dia de los Muertos has been Exotic Thai Cuisine celebrated in Mexico for over 3,000 years. It is not a somber The Far East Just occasion, but a festive event to Got a Little Closer! remember our loved ones who have died and to celebrate life 7 High Street itself. Visitors are encouraged Brattleboro, VT to bring an item on the altar to honor their loved ones. Bring (802) 251-1010 photocopied pictures and/or ThaiBambooVT.com

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provides a weekly dinner (Grace’s Kitchen), as well as Sunday morning breakfast for the community throughout the year. And for the fourth year in a row, the church will host the winter homeless shelter in Brattleboro beginning in November. Alcoholics Anonymous and the Brattleboro Pastoral Counseling Center also meet at First Baptist and, although they contribute monthly rent, the cost to heat the 143-year-old church is by no means covered. The Brattleboro Freemasons have donated the use of their building, which has a great wooden floor for dancing, and is located next door to the church.

Performing arts • R e s t o r a t i v e Ju s t i c e Week at NEYT: New England

Youth Theater partners with the Brattleboro Community Justice Center to present The Quality of Mercy, directed by Rebecca Waxman, on Nov. 12-21. An inspiring theatrical collage of disparate stories that have emerged from their Season of Restorative Justice, this production will focus on sharing awareness of restorative justice with the wider community. The performance will be a collaboration of youth and adult students, faculty, as well as alternating surprise groups from within the Brattleboro community. Scenes, monologues, songs and theatrical events explore relevant themes of justice, retribution and healing. Material is being pulled from Shakespeare’s Merchant of Venice, Lord of the Flies by William Golding, The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton, and many other great works. This production is a part of Restorative Justice Week, organized by the Brattleboro Community Justice Center. The show will be presented on Fridays and Saturdays at 7 p.m., Saturdays and Sundays at 2 p.m. Tickets will be $6 for students, $8 for seniors, and $10 for adults. Purchase advance tickets online at www.neyt.org, or at the NEYT box office on Wednesdays from noon to 5 p.m. Also, on Saturday, Nov. 13, at 5:30 p.m., high school- and college-aged young adults are invited to a free gala that begins 5:30 p.m. with food, music, and a chance to socialize with BCJC staff and volunteers, followed by a 7 p.m. performance of The Quality of Mercy. Interested participants should contact Erin Ruitenberg by Friday, Nov. 5 at 802-251-8140 or erin@brattleborocjc.org to reserve their complimentary tickets. • Taste of the Arts at MSA:

Sandglass Theater founders Eric Bass and Ines Zeller Bass will share the story of the creation of their world-renowned puppetry theater as the Taste of the Arts, Tales of a Community series continues at Main Street Arts in Saxtons River Thursday, Nov. 11, at 6 p.m. Founded in 1982 and based

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Books • Archer Mayor in Bellows Falls: Archer Mayor will be vis-

iting Village Square Booksellers in Bellows Falls to read from his 21st Joe Gunther adventure on Friday, Nov. 5 at 7 p.m. Village Square Booksellers will celebrate the Fowlers’ 10th anniversary of ownership during November with numerous events, planned including Best of Write Action, Book II , Doug Gladstone’s Bitter Cup of Coffee (former big-league ballplayers pension scandal), notecard artist Cindy Hendricks of Woodfield Prints, Willem Lange’s reprise of reading Favor Johnson, and a Thanksgiving weekend celebration party including two authors with Vermont photography books. For more information, visit www.villagesquarebooks.com.

BRATTLEBORO — Squeezed between looming budget cuts and the pressure to perform well on standardized tests, many schools are eyeing ways to make the school day more productive. Sometimes, this means reducing recess – or cutting it out altogether. That is a big mistake, says Emily Stanley, an education researcher and teacher. Stanley will discuss the short-term and long-term benefits of recess in a talk, “Playing Outside the Box: The Values of Recess,” at 11 a.m. on Saturday, Nov. 6, in Neighbors’ Hall at The Neighborhood Schoolhouse. Stanley’s talk is the first in the school’s “Learning Beyond the Schoolhouse Walls” lecture series, which celebrates the 30th anniversary of the school’s founding. Parents, teachers, administrators and the general public are invited to attend. The talk is free. “It is critical to have unstructured play time, and a variety of settings to play in,” said Stanley. As children’s lives become more and more structured, she explained, “schools should be a refuge.” Her research suggests that unstructured outdoor play has positive short-term effects on school success as well as long-term academic and social benefits. “The opportunity to engage

in social problem-solving and work out issues that arise on your own” is something that children in highly structured environments do not learn, Stanley said. “This is causing concern for children’s independent development of social competence, even into adulthood.” Recess also fosters environmental awareness, and many recent studies suggest it can boost academic performance. Her talk will address not only the benefits of recess, but also many concerns parents and educators have about it, such as safety issues, bullying, and the perceived loss of productive classroom time. Stanley is a teacher and the chair of the science department at the Jemicy School, near Baltimore. She recently completed her Ph.D. in Environmental Studies at Antioch University New England, with a focus on children’s choices of outdoor play activities during school recesses. The Neighborhood Schoolhouse is a small, private elementary and preschool that offers progressive education for children aged 3-12. The themebased curriculum promotes hands-on learning through the seasons in the classroom, in the woods and in the community. For more information, visit www. NeighborhoodSchoolhouse.com or call 802-257-5544.

BFUHS food program featured on TV broadcast WESTMINSTER — Buying foods directly from the farmer and then serving these foods to high school students not only supports local farmers and producers, it helps people understand where their food comes from. Cafe Services, the food service provider for the Bellows Falls Union High School, became a food partner in the Windham Farm and Food network this past summer. There are many local farmers and schools who have joined the cooperative to bring locally grown foods to the cafeterias of schools throughout Windham County. “Across the Fence,” the

long-running UVM Extension farm and home program on WCAX-TV, will be feature Bellows Falls Union High School and the Windham Farm and Food Network this week. For more information and show time, visit www.wcax.com. This space for rent You are looking at Windham County’s best advertising value. To promote your business in the next issue of The Commons, call Nancy at (802) 246-6397 or e-mail ads@commonsnews.org.

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in Putney, the theater combines puppets with music, actors, and visual imagery for both adult and youth audiences. It has toured 24 countries, performing in theaters, festivals, and cultural institutions and winning numerous international prizes. The theater produces the international Puppets in the Green Mountains Festival and the Winter Sunshine series of children’s shows. The series is offered as a fundraiser for Main Street Arts and features food by Harvest Moon Caterers, which can range from an assortment of gourmet pizzas to ethnic dishes. Cost of the series is $15 per event. Children accompanied by an adult are $5. Reservations are requested. Tickets are available at Main Street Arts or through PayPal at www.MainStreetArts.org. • Sandglass Theater’s newest piece, All Weather Ballads, a visual theater piece with original ballads by Eric Bass and music by Keith Murphy, will be performed Nov. 19 through 21 at Sandglass’s 60-seat theater in Putney. The five-song cycle, interpreted by Westminster West musician Nick Keil, portrays the stages of life through metaphors of the northern rural experience, whether stuck in the mud, lost in the aroma of harvest fruit, or reflected in the frozen membrane of an icy lake. The show takes place Friday and Saturday at 8 p.m., and Sunday at 4 p.m. Tickets are $15, and advance reservations highly recommended. Autumn Portraits, one of the theater’s signature pieces, returns Nov. 26 and 27 at 8 p.m. This solo performance by Eric Bass has won awards in Australia and Hungary and a Citation of Excellence from the Union Internationale de la Marionette. It is a compelling evening-long solo puppet-and-mask performance, a series of five interlocking vignettes, each exploring one puppet character and its interplay with its manipulator, who might appear as a masked figure, or simply a voice from the sky.

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T h e C ommons

• Wednesday, November 3, 2010

LIFE & WORK H E A LT H N O T E S

New nonprofit focuses on ‘brain training’ to improve healing

Courtesy photo

Bridie Carmichael fishes on the riverbank.

Student sets eyes on big wilderness adventure Bridie Carmichael raises funds to pay for expedition By Fran Lynggaard Hansen The Commons

RATTLEBORO—Bridie Carmichael is not a typical 16-year-old girl. She plays drums in the Brattleboro Union High School band and was part of the band’s trip to Washington D.C. for the inauguration of Barack Obama last year. She started her own a capella group called “Renegade.” She’s on the softball team, but that’s just the beginning. Jane Noyes of Dummerston has known Carmichael since she was an 8 years old taking piano lessons at the Brattleboro Music Center, where Noyes worked at the time. “This kid has a work ethic that is unmatched. She’s one of those kids who you just know is going to make it big in this world,” said Noyes. With so many accomplishments at such a tender age, it might not seem surprising that Bridie Carmichael is now planning her biggest adventure to date. “My greatest passion is the outdoors,” she said. “I enjoy fishing, fly tying, hunting, and want to study our interdependence with nature. I feel strongly that we all need to pay attention to these things so that they’ll be there for generations to come. My dream for this January is to attend Kroka-Expedition’s NH-VT Semester,” said Carmichael. The Kroka Expedition program is a five-month adventure in the Vermont and New Hampshire wilderness. Participating students ski the Catamount Trail from southern Vermont all the way to the Canadian border. They prepare by dehydrating and preserving a lot of the foods that they will eat on the trip. In the spring, after they make their own pack baskets, their own wood and canvas canoes and their own paddles, they return home via the Connecticut River. For their efforts, each of the students earns all the necessary credits for their semester while traveling. Kroka calls the semester “an accomplishment that will profoundly change your life.” Noyes joined the small support group Carmichael organized to help raise the funds for her trip. “Bridie needs to raise all the funds herself, and I am part of the committee of people who wanted to support this amazing 16-yearold to raise the necessary $13,000 to get her into this program,” said Noyes. “Bridie has a big heart and isn’t afraid of hard work.” While Noyes and other group members were attempting to raise the funds, “she also asked us to up the goal to $15,000 so that she could help raise the money for the next student who wanted to go,” said Noyes. “Here is this 16-year-old kid, who in the middle of attempting to fulfill a personal educational dream, still thinking of others. I was so impressed by that.” So far, the fundraising committee has sent out individual appeal letters, hosted a spaghetti dinner last February, held a Father’s Day Pancake Breakfast, did a car wash, and an “Ice-Cream and Improv” event. To date, Carmichael has raised $4,250. She is eligible for $3,900 in scholarship money from Kroka Expeditions, which she had hoped not to have to take. This leaves $4,850 left to raise. She will also need about $2,000 worth of equipment that she hopes to borrow or find used, and is trying to put by more of the food she would otherwise have to purchase. Marina and Joe Coneeny live in Walpole, N.H., and are also

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part of Carmichael’s fundraising committee. “We got to know Bridie when our daughter Meagan began taking voice lessons from Bridie’s mother, Kristen Carmichael Bowers,” Marina Coneeny said, describing Carmichael as “a really gutsy person who has unusual interests.” The Coneenys believe that Carmichael “should have the opportunity to explore her interests in a nontraditional learning environment,” she said. “She is a combination of rugged, and caring. She is determined when she peruses anything that interests her, from music to nature. She is already a role model to her peers. So many of her friends have participated in our fund raisers to help her meet her goal.” Even with so many successes, the committee is worried that they might not be able to meet their financial goals before the January program at Kroka begins. “Even though so many people have been supportive,” says Noyes, “with the economy as it is, and with so many people who need help right now, we’re behind. We’d all hate to come this far and not be able to give this girl the experience she so deserves. Everything is a go except the remainder of the funding. We’re fortunate that BUHS is broad-minded enough to allow Bridie to do a semester in the wilderness. She’s a student who knows how she needs to learn.” For Carmichael’s part, she is far from giving up. “I’m so appreciative of all the efforts that so many people have already given to me. And I’m two thirds of the way there, so I’m just going to keep moving forward,” she said. Marina Coneeny isn’t giving up, either. “You never know when you help someone like Bridie what will happen,” she said. “Bridie will be teaching people about the environment in her future profession as she wants to continue these kinds of studies in college. I think if you believe enough in her to help her go all the way, who knows what she’ll be able to accomplish and who knows what lives she’ll touch along the way?” In her fundraising letters, Carmichael included a list of work that she is willing to do to earn money for her fund. She offers babysitting services, yard work and wood stacking, catering help, beginning drum lessons, car detailing and pet sitting. The services are priced at hourly rates ranging from $7 to $12, with flat fees for some activities. “I’ve always been passionate about exploring the outdoors and wildlife, and now that I’ve gotten older, I love teaching what I’ve learned to others,” she said. “This summer, I worked as a junior counselor at Green Mountain Conservation Camp and was also the nature counselor at Green Mountain Camp for Girls. I have been a participant in Kroka’s summer programs before, and I’m looking forward to a much more challenging semester of learning.” “One way or another, I’m going to continue to work hard to make this happen,” Carmichael added. “Giving back is important. I plan to give presentations in schools, local libraries and to organizations that donate when I return. I will share what I have learned on my expedition with the community that so generously supported me.” Those who wish to support “Bridie’s Big Adventure” can help in a number of ways. Individual donations can be sent to: Bridie’s Big Adventure, P.O. Box 464, West Dummerston, VT 05357. More information can also be found on her web site and blog at bridiesbigadventure.blogspot.com, where future fundraisers will also be announced.

GREAT LOCATION! Charming Efficiency and 2 Bedroom apartment located on the third floor at 24 East Main Street, Wilmington in the Historic Laterre House. Rent is $435-533 per month including heat and hot water. Located within short walking distance to downtown Wilmington. On the Moover bus route. For more information and an application, please contact Windham Housing Trust at 254-4604 ext. 101. Income guidelines apply. Equal Housing Opportunity. AMAZING FIND! Octagon shaped carriage house with loft (1 BR). Set back from the road. This house has a lot of charm. Rent is $500 a month, utilities are not included (Gas heat and electric averaging $108/mo.). For more information and an application, please contact Windham Housing Trust at 254-4604 ext. 101. Income guidelines apply. Equal Housing Opportunity. AVAILABLE NOW! Single rooms with shared living space (kitchen, dining, and living room). Rents from $317-$363 per month including all utilities. Resident manager on site. Great locations. Many nice features. For more information and an application, please contact Windham Housing Trust at 254-4604 ext. 101. Income guidelines apply. Equal Housing Opportunity.

BRATTLEBORO—New “Train-the-Brain” support groups focusing on harnessing the power of the mind to assist in maintaining health will be offered beginning in January by a new nonprofit institute in Brattleboro. The support groups will be offered by the Northeast PNI Institute for Healing (www. nepni.org), which was established in December 2009 by therapists Michael Gigante of Brattleboro and Rupa Cousins of East Dummerston, with startup support from eight other professionals: Joanne Finkel of West Dover; Phyllis Gigante, Norb Johnston, Alexander Potter, Deborah Potter and Scott Willis, all of Brattleboro; Crystal Mansfield of Townshend; and Moon Morgan of Greenfield, Mass. PNI stands for psycho-neuro immunology, an interdisciplinary field of research, including the behavioral sciences, neuroscience, physiology, pharmacology and immunology. A major aim of the field is to examine interactions between the mind and the nervous and immune systems and how attitude affects health. “PNI embraces and extends beyond the commonly known mind-body connections by focusing on three specific systems of the human body: the nervous system, the immune system and the mental system and the effects they have on each other,” Dr. Gigante said in announcing formation of the Northeast PNI Institute for Healing. “Our brain knows how to keep us healthy; research is opening doors to that knowledge.” Each Train-the-Brain group will focus on one aspect of health maintenance and healing, including “Train the Brain to Refrain: A Conscious Eating Group,” “Train the Brain to Reduce Physical Pain: Chronic Pain Reduction,” “Train the Brain to Sustain Through Upcoming Surgery,” “Train the Brain to Regain: Post-Surgery Recovery,” and “Train the Brain to Enhance Immune System Responses.” Groups on other aspects of health maintenance will be scheduled as demand is identified. The groups will help people change their attitudes, behaviors, forms of emotional expression, thinking processes, and beliefs in order to make healthy choices and to affect their own healing. A free workshop from 7 to 8:30 p.m. on Tuesday, January 11, will provide an introduction to PNI and will highlight the techniques that will be explored

in each group. (Snow date: January 18.) The free workshop will take place in Brattleboro, Vermont. Reservations are requested by calling 802 254-8032. After the free workshop, groups will meet weekly for ten weeks at a cost of $12 per person per week. Fee waivers are available on a first-come, firstserved basis. The support groups are one of six activities the PNI Institute sponsors. Others are: • Training and community outreach to health-oriented practitioners, health care facilities and the general public to share the latest evidence-based findings in the field; • Training for business managers in how to use PNI techniques to reduce stress, decrease absenteeism and increase productivity; • Individual sessions to help clients work through blocks to their own healing, to teach proper and effective visualization techniques, and to reinforce the skills and learning they may be receiving in the educational and support groups; • Research to further demonstrate the efficacy of the institute’s work, and; • Multi-day retreats for people who want to maintain their health or who are dealing with chronic illness, as well as those who provide care. Gigante and Cousins draw on more than 60 years of combined experience in therapeutic service to conduct these activities. Gigante is a psychotherapist in private practice for the past 30 years. He came upon PNI serendipitously through his own health issues, and has since practiced and taught PNI in the U.S., Canada, Europe and Russia. He is a founding member of the Associated Psychotherapists of Vermont and the Association for the Advancement of Psychosynthesis. Cousins has been involved with body/mind integration for more than 30 years as an Alexander Technique teacher. In 1990 she became a Rubenfeld Synergist, a somatic psychotherapy. She has taught movement at Omega Institute, Rowe Conference Center and in Macedonia and Bosnia with survivors of conflict and war. She is president of the boards of the Vermont Healing Tools Project and the Associated Psychotherapists of Vermont. For more information about the Northeast PNI Institute for Healing and the support groups, visit www.nepni.org or contact Gigante at 802-254-8032 or Cousins at 802-387-5276.

Red Cross offers several courses this month BRATTLEBORO—The following is the November schedule for American Red Cross classes in Brattleboro. All classes are held at the Green Mountain Chapter office on 81 High St. For more information, or to register, contact the office at 802-254-2377 or www.redcrossvtnhuv.org. • Nov. 4, 6-10 p.m. Standard First Aid, $40 fee. Participants learn first aid skills for treating a variety of injuries and sudden illnesses. • Nov. 6, 9 a.m.-3 p.m. First Aid/CPR/AED adult $70 fee. A course for lay responders. • Nov. 7, 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Babysitter’s Training, $45 fee. If you’re 11-15, you can get the knowledge, skills and confidence to care for infants and school-age children. Includes First Aid training and resume building skills. • Nov. 8, 6-10 p.m. CPR/ AED for adults course, $60 fee. Participants learn CPR and AED skills to respond to breathing and cardiac emergencies. • Nov. 10, 6-10 p.m. CPR for Child and Infant course, $50 fee. Designed for child care providers, teachers, parents and others who care for children, this course teaches participants how to recognize and care for breathing and

cardiac emergencies in infants and children up to 12 years old. Optional pediatric AED training is also available. • Nov. 15, 6-8 p.m. CPR for the Professional Rescuer Recertification course, $50 fee. This is a refresher course for those with a current certificate. You are eligible for a recertification if you are within 12 months of your certificate’s expiration date. • Nov. 17, 6-8 p.m. CPR/ AED for Adult, Child and Infant Recertification course, $40 fee. This is a refresher course to keep yearly certifications current. You are eligible for a recertification if you are within 12 months of your certificate’s expiration date. • Nov. 20, 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Standard First Aid/CPR/ AED Adult, Child, and Infant course, $90 fee. A course for lay responders. • Nov. 21, 9 a.m.-5 p.m. CPR for the Professional Rescuer course, $110 fee. A two-year certification course covering responding to breathing and cardiac emergencies in adults, children and infants; using an AED on adults and child victims of cardiac arrest; using personal protective equipment to stop bloodborne pathogens and other diseases from spreading.

T h e C ommons

• Wednesday, November 3, 2010

LIFE & WORK

MILESTONES

Births, deaths, and news of people from Windham County Obituaries Editor’s note: The Commons will publish brief biographical information for citizens of Windham County and others, on request, as community news, free of charge. • Br ian Michael Alfonso, 45, of East Dover. Died Oct.

Messages of condolence may be sent to Atamaniuk Funeral Home at www.atamaniuk.com. • Gene Franklin Garbe, 77, of Newfane. Died Oct. 26 at Vernon Green Nursing Home. Former husband of Carolyn Allbee. Father of Kathryn Garbe and her husband, Robert Fasciano of Ellicott City, Md.; Andrea (Garbe) Baker and her husband, Charles, of Townshend; Susan (Garbe) Jones and her husband, Steven, of South Newfane; and Jennifer (Garbe) Martyn and her husband, Matthew, of Guilford. Brother of Marion Burkhardt of Meriden, Conn., and his twin sister, June O’Neil of Hartford, Conn. Predeceased by Ernest Garbe and Robert Garbe. Graduated from Wilcox Trade School in Meriden, Conn. Served in Korea in the Army. Was employed as an electrician and refrigeration mechanic with Stowell Electric Company, A.L. Tyler & Sons, and Dompier Electric, all of Brattleboro. He also owned and operated Garbe Refrigeration and Electric for a number of years. Was an EMT for Grace Cottage Ambulance in Townshend and a former member of NewBrook Fire & Rescue in Newfane. Memorial information: Services will be held at a later date. Donations to NewBrook Fire & Rescue, Newfane, VT 05345.

28 at his home. Son of Frank Alfonso of Stamford and Sandra Dawley Alfonso of Pittsfield, Mass. Husband of Traci Alfonso. Father of Aizlyn, Shaylie and Kindyl Alfonso, all of East Dover. Brother of Dwayne Alfonso and Keith Alfonso of Pittsfield, Mass.; and Linda Alfonso of Rensselaer, N.Y. Graduate of Chatham (N.Y.) High School and served in the Army. Worked for Brattleboro Haulage for many years and was extremely active in the Deerfield Valley community as the assistant fire chief of the East Dover Volunteer Fire Department and an EMT on the Deerfield Valley Rescue Squad for many years. Memorial information : A funeral service was held Nov. 3 at East Dover Baptist Church, with interment in Dover Center Cemetery. Donations to a Fund To Care For The Children or the East Dover Volunteer Fire Department, c/o Covey & Allen Funeral Home, P.O. Box 215, Wilmington, VT 05363. Messages of condolence may • Mar y MacDonald Guild, be sent to www.sheafuneral- 72, of Cambridgeport. Died homes.com. Oct. 22 at her home. Wife of • Raymond R. Bonneau, 85, Malcolm Guild for 47 years. of Brattleboro. Died Oct. 23 at Mother of Matthew Guild and Thompson House. Husband of his wife, Carol of Bellows Falls; the late Joyce Starkey. Father Jeanne Eastman and her husof Richard Bonneau of Keene, band Steve of North Chatham, N.H.; Shawna Stevens of N.H.; Katherine Kane and her Lantana, Fla., and Catherine husband Rick of Bellows Falls; Clark of Hinsdale, N.H. Brother Linda Milligan and her husof Norman Bonneau of Spofford, band David of Ashland, Maine; N.H.; Rita Kamel and Jeannine Susan Miller and her husband Guerin, both of Daytona Steve of Greensburg, Ind.; and Beach, Fla.; Estelle McKay Thaddeus Guild, and his wife Jan of Landenberg, Pa.; Nicole of Cambridgeport. Sister of Anne Gray of Hampton, N.H., Louise Jednorowicz of West Hartford, Whiting of San Diago, Calif.; Conn.; Dorothy Colavecchio of and Mereille Maxsfield of Essex Farmington, Conn.; Muriel Judd Junction. Born in Springfield, of Canton, Conn.; and Wallace Mass., he spent most of his “Pete” MacDonald of Scio, N.Y. adult life on Putney Road, start- Born in Farmington, Conn., and ing with helping his parents with graduated from Farmington the Parkway Drive-In Theater. High School and the University He was first the owner of Rays of Connecticut. A job at the Restaurant on Elliot Street and Holstein-Friesian Association later was the first owner/operator in Brattkeboro brought her to of the A&W Root Beer stand in Vermont in 1962, and she made Swanzey, N.H. He later owned her home in Cambridgeport Rays Auto Sales on Putney since 1965. Was a lifelong knitRoad. M emorial i n forma- ter, and was especially proud tion: Interment will be in May of the children she taught to at St. Michael’s Cemetery in knit, particularly the fourth and Brattleboro. fifth grade class at the Grafton • E l e a n o r M . ( S c a n l o n ) Elementary School. She was a “ H o n e y ” B u t l e r , 8 4 , o f member of Knitting Together, Shelburne Falls, Mass. Died a charitable group of knitters Oct. 23 at home. Wife of the which provides hats, mittens late Bernard Butler for 54 years. and sweaters for local schoolchilMother of daughter Mary and dren. She was also known for her son-in-law John of Florida; hand knit sweaters, which were and sons Henry and Kenneth, often made out of wool from Sister of Barbara, who lives her own sheep. Memorial inin Vermont. Born in Bellows formation : A Funeral Mass Falls, at age 13, she moved to was held at St. Charles Church Colrain, Mass., to live with her in Bellows Falls on Oct. 25. Aunt Nelly and Uncle Rob. Donations to the Windmill Hill After graduating from Arms Pinnacle Association, P.O. Box Academy, she was employed by 584, Saxtons River, VT 05154. Kendall Mills working in the of• J a m e s Arthur “Jim” fice as bookkeeper. Memorial information: A graveside serLepisto, Jr., 39, vice was held Oct. 27 in Calvary of Brattleboro. Cemetery in Shelburne Falls. Died Oct. 25 Donations to the Carl Nilman at home. Son Scholarship Fund, c/o Mohawk of D. Lynn Trail High School, Ashfield Rd., Underwood Shelburne Falls, MA 01370. and the late James A. Lepisto. • Joseph Leon “Joe” Druke, Brother of Timothy Lepisto 83, of Williamsville. Died Oct. and Mark Lepisto, both of 24 at his home. Husband of Brattleboro. Father of Zachary Dorothy Addair for 51 years. Lepisto of Hinsdale, N.H. Father of Christine Marino and Graduate of Brattleboro Union husband John of South Newfane; High School, Class of 1989. Theresa Chapman and husband Was a ASE certified mechanic Paul of West Dummerston; and and had been employed at Kia Stephen Druke and wife Lori of Keene. Previously he worked of Lancaster, N.H. Brother of at Brattleboro Tire and Autex Sister Matilda Druke, S.R.M. of Mazda in Keene. Enjoyed model/ Albany, N.Y.; Mary Dauphinais radio controlled airplanes and and Barbara Barnish, both of was a New York Yankees and Brattleboro; Theresa Druke NASCAR fan. Eas a memof Portland, Conn.; Bernard ber of the Fraternal Order Druke of Brattleboro, Edward of Eagles, Brattleboro Aerie D r u k e o f N e w f a n e , J o h n #2445. Memorial informaDruke of Kirkville, N.Y.; and tion : A memorial gathering Charles Druke of Weare, N.H. in celebration of his life was Predeceased by siblings Sister Oct. 30 at the Fraternal Order Mary Michael, O.C.D., and of Eagles. Donations to the Gertrude Druke, Frances Druke American Diabetes Association and Arthur Druke. Was a gradu- of Vermont, 77 Hegeman Ave., ate of St. Michael’s High School, Colchester, VT 05446. Messages class of 1945, and Woodrow of condolence may be sent to Wilson Rehabilitation College Atamaniuk Funeral Home at in Fisherville, Va. Served in the www.atamaniuk.com. Army during World War II. • Betty June Lyman, 79, of From 1960 to 1989, he owned South Londonderry. Died Oct. and operated Druke Insurance 26 at Grace Cottage Hospital Agency in Williamsville and in Townshend. Wife of the late served as the Williamsville post- David R. Lyman. Mother of John master. Was a member of the D. Lyman of South Londonderry Valley Lions Club and American and Betsy L. Waldo and her Legion Post 26. Memorial in- husband Marc, also of South formation : A funeral Mass Londonderry. Predeceased was held on Oct. 28 at St. by brothers Harold Roberts, Michael’s Catholic Church, Merrill Roberts, Waldo Roberts with burial in Williamsville New and Parker Roberts. Retired Cemetery. Donations to St. from the Bellows Falls Trust Michael’s School, 48 Walnut branch in Londonderry, where St., Brattleboro, VT 05301, she worked as an assistant manattn: Elaine Beam Principal, ager. Was a member of the or NewBrook Fire & Rescue, Jamaica Benefit Society for Route 30, Newfane, VT 05345. many years. Enjoyed playing

the piano, and was an avid Red Sox fan. Memorial information : A memorial service was held Oct. 31 at White Funeral Home in Townshend, with burial of her cremated remains will be at a later date. Donations to either the Grace Cottage Foundation of Townshend, or the Mountain Valley Medical Center in Londonderry. • S e a n P. O’Connell, 43, of Colrain,

Mass. Died Oct. 25 at Baystate Medical Center in Springfield, Mass. Son of Marlene (Baxter) and the late Paul O’Connell. Husband of Jennifer J. Caples. Father of Jocelyne Rickey, Jasmine O’Connell and Jannelle O’Connell, all of Colrain. Brother of Erin Ryan of Roslindale, Mass., and Shannon Jablonski of Greenfield, Mass. Was a 1985 graduate of Greenfield High School and received his bachelor’s degree in psychology from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst in 1991. Also, he received his associate’s degree in nursing from Greenfield Community College in 2004. Was a registered nurse at Brattleboro Memorial Hospital for seven years, and was a volunteer with his daughter, Jannelle, for the Windham County Humane Society. Memorial information: A funeral service was held Oct. 29 at the Kostanski Funeral Home in Greenfield, with burial in Green River Cemetery. Donations to the Jasmine and Jannelle O’Connell Educational Fund, c/o Greenfield Co-operative Bank, P.O. Box 1345, Greenfield, MA 01302. Messages of condolence may be sent to www.kostanskifuneralhome.com.

• Patr icia Catherine “Pat” Seaton, 88, of

Brattleboro. Died Oct. 24 at Thompson House in Brattleboro. Wife of the late Robert Vincent Seaton for 33 years. Mother of Robert Seaton of Norfolk, Va.; William Seaton of Hershey, Pa.; Michael Seaton of East Dover; Andrew Seaton of Hinesburg; Peter Seaton of Syracuse, N.Y.; and Patricia Seaton of Reston, Va. Predeceased by three sisters, Rosemary Hoagland, Eileen Euler and Joan Euler. M emorial i n formatio n : A memorial service will take place in the spring at the convenience of the family. Donations to the Thompson House Nursing Home Activities Fund, 80 Maple Street, Brattleboro, VT 05301 or to the Holton Home Activities Fund, 158 Western Avenue, Brattleboro, VT 05301. Messages of condolence may be sent Atamaniuk Funeral Home at www.atamaniuk.com.

• Harry Stephen Zaluzny, 83,

of Harwich, Mass. Died on Oct. 24 at Epoch Senior Healthcare of Harwich. Husband of Ruth Brooks. Father of Ann and her husband Ed Taintor of Madera, Calif. Brother of Michael and Walter Zaluzny of Vernon and Olga Williams. Predeceased by his brothers, Andrew and Stephen Zaluzny. Born in Vernon. Graduated from Mount Hermon School, Class of 1945. Joined the Navy after graduation and served on the USS Fresno. Worked for New England Power at the Vernon dam, where he was a diver and later a lineman. In 1961, he transferred to NEP’s

Shelburne Falls, Mass., location as a supervisor for transmission and distribution until his retirement in 1988. Was a selectman in Vernon and Shelburne Falls, Mass., a member of the Vernon Volunteer Fire Department and a member of the Army Reserve in Brattleboro. Was a member of the American Legion and the National Ski Patrol. Memorial information : A full military graveside service was held Nov. 1 at the Massachusetts National Cemetery in Bourne. Donations to Harwich Fire Association, 175 Sisson Road, Harwich, MA 02645 or the VNA of Cape CodHospice, 434 Rte 134, Suite D3, South Dennis, MA 02660.

Births • On Oct. 20, 2010, a son, to Michael and Heidi (Smith) Chase of Townshend; grandson to Robert Wordell of Westminster, and Louis and Richard Chase (deceased) of Townshend. • In Lebanon, N.H., (Alice Peck Day Memorial Hospital), Oct. 6, 2010, a son, Wilhelm James Linder, to Penn and Janet Linder of Westminster; grandson to Marvin and Bobbi Walters of Westminster and Craig and Vivian Linder of Coatesville, Pa. Curtis Michael Chase,

College news • Matthew CunninghamC o o k , a junior at Earlham

College in Richmond, Ind., and son of Julie Cunningham and Jay Cook of Brattleboro, has been selected as a Bonner Scholar this semester at Earlham. The Bonner Scholars Program is a four-year developmental leadership program that provides tuition and summer support for 15 Earlham students per class year who demonstrate a commitment to community service. • Katarina C. McDonald of Londonderry, enrolled at Colby College in Waterville, Maine, this fall. Before classes began, she took part in an orientation that included an introduction to Colby’s rigorous academics, rich cultural life, and community involvement opportunities as well as a three-day outdoor excursion. A graduate of Burr and Burton Academy, McDonald is the daughter of Daniel and Penelope McDonald of Londonderry.

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Windham Solid Waste Management District’s Annual Household Hazardous Waste Collection Saturday November 6, 2010 NO REGISTRATION REQUIRED All WSWMD residents are welcome to bring their household hazardous waste to one of the following locations: Brattleboro 9 - 12

Windham Solid Waste Facility, Old Ferry Rd. Townshend 9 - 11 Town Barn, Rt 35 Westminster 9 - 11 Center School, School Rd Wilmington 9 - 11 Town Garage, Beaver St. Winhall 9 - 11 Transfer Station, Old Town Rd. 10 Gallon Limit

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October 26

• Wednesday, November 3, 2010

FOOD & DRINK The comfort of winter squash Tips and tricks for cooking the various varieties of the versatile vegetable

Brattleboro

an hour, until the squash is tender and the filling is nice and golden brown. A great tip for roasting halved, filled squash is to slice a small piece from the bottom to create a nice flat surface, so the squash doesn’t roll around CHRISTOPHER in the oven. E M I LY C O U T A N T Delicata squash, a sumThe World on My Plate mer/winter bridge variety, is an oblong winter squash with a striped skin that is edible, meaning it doesn’t require a and from the oil of its seeds. maul to slice. The delicata is a variety origIt is believed that squash, inally introduced in America in like corn, developed from the late 1890s, was popular for wild plants that originated about 30 years and then disin Guatemala or Mexico appeared until the resurgence over 10,000 years ago. of interest in heirlooms. The Horticulturists have detersquash is unsuited for transmined that turban squash with portation because of its thin its gaudy coloration and proskin, but for the same reason, truding blossom end came it takes about half the time to from Brazil; the large and cus- cook as other winter varieties. tardy Valparaiso or Boston Delicata squash makes a suMarrow pumpkin is thought to perb and quick roasted vegecome from Chile; the Hubbard table. Halve them lengthwise, from the West Indies; while the remove the seeds — no need green striped and crook necked to peel — then put the squash cushaw squash was first sericut-side down and make halfously cultivated in Florida. moon slices about ½ inch Whatever their origin, it is think. Toss with some chili clear that when the pilgrims ar- paste and lime juice and bake rived in America, the Native in a 400° F oven for about 20Americans were experts at cul- 25 minutes until al dente. tivating a variety of squash Make a dressing with more plants, including the pumplime juice and olive oil, and kins that we now associate with toss the squash with baby spinThanksgiving. ach, crumbled feta, and some I find winter squash one of roasted chopped almonds. the most beautiful vegetables: Kabochas, although anknobby with warts or fluted cient in origin, have become with elongated ridges, smooth a fashionable and hip choice and fat or long and dimpled, frequently featured in food yellow-red, day-glo orange, magazines. As revered in Japan green or gray blue, striped, as our American pumpkin is muted or brilliant. All are vohere at home, it has a rich and luptuous and alluring. very sweet flavor and is slightly While the classic carved more moist than some other pumpkin is quintessential in winter squash. its seasonal appeal, I am all Steaming peeled cubes of for stacking a whole bunch of kabocha for about 30 minsquash on the steps where the utes seems to accentuate its jumbled and mismatched encreamy texture. Drain it, add semble of shapes and shades as much butter as you feel can appeals to my rebellious aesbe absorbed, 4-5 tablespoons thetic. In the kitchen, I learned of Grade B maple syrup, and long ago to handle each variety some salt and pepper. on its own. If you want to bring out the Here’s a sample of just a few kabocha’s Asian roots — it is a that are in season. staple in bento lunch boxes — Acorn squash is a readily substitute mirin, soy sauce, a available variety known for its tiny bit of fish sauce, and a few acorn-like rounded shape. The tablespoons of honey. skin of acorn squash is very Butternut — my personal fahard, and it is best to cleave vorite — offers honey-colored the squash in two, scoop out heavy variety with fewer seeds the seeds, fill it with someand a dense, sweet, rich, nutty thing like a few teaspoons of flesh that I think works espebutter; brown sugar or maple cially well in soup. It is one of syrup; or olive oil and thyme; the best pairings with apples or even something esoteric like and cider. orzo and goat cheese; or bread Peel, seed, and cut a butcubes, apple and curry; or sau- ternut into cubes and add it sage and Gruyère. to a large pot with a few tableThe formula is simple. spoons of olive oil, 2-3 peeled, Preheat the oven to 400° F. seeded, and chopped apples, Halve the squash and remove and a chopped onion. Sauté the seeds. Put whatever you until tender. want in the cavity that used to Add some spice – curry, carhold the seeds and cook on a damom, nutmeg, a cup of two baking sheet for 45 minutes to of cider and enough stock to make about 4 total cups of liquid. Cook for about 30 minutes until everything is soft and tender. Purée with an immersion blender, taste for seasoning and if you are feeling fat deprived, add ½ cup of heavy cream.

he fragrant and

delicate basil has long been dead, black and shriveled. I tore the roots up yesterday and threw them in the compost. The surviving green tomatoes have been transformed into chutney, although the plants remain as grim reminders of frost. A bit of chard still sticks up its leaves, perky, hopeful. But seriously, summer is over. I mean, it’s the beginning of November, for God’s sake. What is one to do? Think of spring. Plant bulbs. Plan a winter vacation. These solutions belie the season. After all those heads of light and ephemeral lettuce, handfuls of juicy, bursting tomatoes, and baskets of swollen peas in their pods, I need the reassuring reality of something more substantial that will help me brace for the coming cold. This is when I remember the comfort of winter squash. Squash: such a strange word. I love to say it out loud. Even stranger is the Narragansett Indian word askutasquash. My ancestors the pilgrims had trouble pronouncing that, so they shortened it to squash. Askutasquash literally means “a green thing eaten raw,” and I think it referred to what we now call summer squash: thin-skinned zucchini, yellow crookneck, patty pan. These are harvested during the regular summer season and can be “green things eaten raw” or at least with just a bit of cooking. The skin and seeds of summer squash are eaten along with the flesh. The kind of squash I am talking about is what has been named winter squash: acorn, hubbard, buttercup, butternut, pumpkin. All varieties are very nutritious and rich in vitamins, such as beta carotene and Vitamin A. These thick-skinned squash are harvested in the fall and then are aged to cure and harden for storage. They require a much-longer cooking time than the summer varieties, and their seeds need to be roasted to be edible. Squash is one of the trio of three sister vegetables that are the pillars of companion planting. Corn, beans and squash provided the basis of Native American agricultural survival. Corn provides a sturdy stalk on which the beans can climb. The beans provide nitrogen to the soil, and the squash provides a growing “mulch” that discourages weeds and holds in moisture. In the diet, corn contributes carbohydrates, the beans give protein, and the squash yields nutrition both from the fruit

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Vermont winter squash: Acorn (dark skin), delicata (yellow with green-striped skin), and hubbard (grey skin). Pumpkins this size aren’t edible, but their smaller sugar pumpkin relatives are. Hubbard squash is very thick skinned and aesthetically one of my favorites: blue/gray with lots of bumps and warts, large and irregularly shaped. Its skin is so sturdy that a hubbard will keep well for at least six months. One of the best ways to break it open is to put it whole in a paper bag and vigorously throw it on the floor, until the shell breaks into pieces. Pierce the skin all over with a skewer before roasting in a 350° F preheated oven for about 30 minutes, until tender, and then cut it into 2-inch chunks. Hubbard works miraculously in this risotto, which will serve 4 to 6 depending on appetites: Sauté a minced shallot in a few tablespoons of olive oil. Turn the heat to medium and add 1½ cups of Arborio rice and stir until the grains are translucent. Splash in a cup of dry white wine and stir until evaporated. Gradually add by the ladleful 2 to 2½ cups of hot broth – vegetable or chicken. Stir after each addition until the liquid is absorbed, then add more broth until the rice is cooked, which will take around 15 minutes. You want the rice to have a bit of resistance when bitten, tender but not mushy. Take the rice off the heat,

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So if you’re hoping to end up with something that resembles canned pumpkin, which is what you want for pies or the like, you’ll need to spread the purée evenly onto a large open baking pan and cook it down in a 350° F oven for 30-40 minutes until it has dried out and is Let’s conclude with the good and thick. sugar pumpkin: that diminutive The kitchen police will arand edible version of jack-o’rest me for this, but as much as lanterns, which are much too I love all the varieties of winter stringy and coarse to be suitsquash I find in Vermont this able in the kitchen. time of year, I am also a big fan Start with a medium-sized of canned pumpkin. pumpkin that feels dense and It’s one of the few prepared heavy. Cut it in half horizonproducts that I really think is tally. Scrape out the seeds and just as good, if not superior, to place the halves cut-side down what I make myself — withon a baking sheet. out all the trouble. I love trouSprinkle with a few tableble in the kitchen. I love long spoons of water and roast in and complicated recipes that a preheated 350° F oven for 1 fill the sink with dirty dishes. hour, until the pumpkin colBut I also love good quality, lapses and is tender when pure, unadulterated pumpkin pierced with a sharp knife. in a can. Remove from the oven and In my younger, purist years cool. Scrape the flesh from the I spent many a Thanksgiving skin and purée. Voila! serving insipid pumpkin pies You can turn this into a ter- that never really held together rific side dish by mixing in a and bled liquid all over my bit of olive oil and some herbs, lovely dessert plates. or a lot of butter, cream, and Now that I am old and cynisome herbs. cal, I make my much improved Sugar pumpkins are the clas- pumpkin pies from a can and sic pie pumpkin and if handled save my remaining culinary virproperly produce a flavorful tue and my arthritic hands for and versatile purée. Be aware, the stirring of risotto. n however, that pumpkin is about 90 percent water.

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T h e C ommons

â&#x20AC;˘ Wednesday, November 3, 2010

T h e C ommons

• Wednesday, November 3, 2010

Warming shelter seeks site manager, plans training session BELLOWS FALLS — With an opening planned for midNovember, the Greater Falls Warming Shelter is seeking a site manager to run its facility. The shelter is accepting applications for the part-time temporary position that will run through the winter season. Shelter hours will be 7 p.m. to 7 a.m. seven nights a week, with the coordinator responsible for opening and closing the shelter and working with the coordinator of volunteers to assure the shelter is staffed nightly. The shelter committee is looking for someone with experience working with the homeless population who is familiar with substance abuse and mental health issues. Maintaining confidentiality, management skills and familiarity with local and state resources are also desired attributes. Resumes and cover letters can be sent to bfwarmingshelter@yahoo.com or to B. Ternes, Parks Place, 44 School St., Bellows Falls, VT 05101. Also, two training sessions for overnight volunteers will be held Thursday, Nov. 4, and Tuesday, Nov. 9, from 5:30 to 7 p.m. at the St. Charles Parish Center (former Sacred Heart Church) at 39 Green St. Volunteers are needed to staff the shelter in two nightly shifts from 7 p.m. to 1 a.m. or 1 a.m. to 7 p.m. or for the entire evening. Volunteer duties include being awake and available to supervise those sleeping at the shelter and doing some light duties involving the serving and cleanup of the evening meal and snacks. Volunteers can sign up on a regular basis or as their schedules permit. Anyone interested in volunteering is required to attend one of the training sessions. No experience is needed other than a concern for the homeless in the community who are outside during the winter months. Volunteers will work with a staff coordinator who has overall responsibility. This training is mandatory for all volunteers, new or previous. Questions regarding the training or the shelter in general can be directed to bfwarmingshelter@yahoo.com.

Marine Corps League seeks new members

Stress relief program offered at RFPL

BRATTLEBORO — Marine Corps League Brattleboro Detachment 798 is looking for a few good men and women to join its ranks. Members of the Marine Corps League join in camaraderie and fellowship for the purpose of preserving the traditions and promoting the interests of the U.S. Marine Corps. This is accomplished by banding together those who are now service in the Marine Corps and those who have been honorably discharged from that service; voluntarily aiding and rendering assistance to all Marines and former Marines and to their widows and orphans; and by perpetuating the history of the Marines through fitting acts to observe the anniversaries of historical occasions of particular interest to Marines. The Marine Corps League was founded by Major General Commandant John A. Lejeune in 1923 and chartered by an Act of Congress on Aug. 4, 1937. Its membership of over 60,000 is comprised of honorably discharged, active duty, Reserve Marines and Navy Corpsmen who served with the USMC, with 90 days of service or more, and retired Marines. Included in the ranks are officer, enlisted, male and female members. The Brattleboro detachment meets the third Wednesday of each month throughout the year at the American Legion home on Linden Street, starting at 1930 hours. Under Commandant Richard Hodgdon, the members participate in parades and funeral services honoring deceased military veterans. They annually award scholarships to deserving local high school graduates and collect and distribute toys through their Toys for Kids program. Their work is augmented by an auxiliary team. The detachment also celebrates the annual birthday of the Marine Corps with an event on or as near as possible to Nov, 10. This year’s ball is at the American Legion on Nov. 6. Reservations are still being accepted. Members in the local detachment are primarily from southeastern Vermont, southwestern New Hampshire and northern Massachusetts. For membership information, write to Hodgdon or Adjutant Doug Reed at P.O. Box 1942, Brattleboro, VT 05302. Reed’s e-mail address is dhr2@yahoo.com; Hodgdon may be reached at Richard_Hodgdon@Comcast.net or by phone at 802-257-7549.

BELLOWS FALLS — Feeling stressed or anxious and looking for help? On Tuesday, Nov. 9, at 5 p.m., come to the Rockingham Free Public Library and find natural ways to free yourself from chronic or occasional anxiety and learn healthy ways to de-stress and untangle. This presentation is part of RFPL’s series “FEEL GREAT! Nutrition & Your Health” with educator Cindy Hebbard, and sponsored by Post Oil Solutions. It is free and open to the public. Stress and anxiety may exist in our lives — it’s how we handle them that counts. This workshop will help you address stress practically; offering healthy remedies along with simple techniques to quiet your mind, calm and balance your body, and reconnect with how it feels to be relaxed, tranquil and happy. Space is limited. Call the library at 802-463-4270 for more information.

Post Oil Solutions hosts monthly Community Conversation BRATTLEBORO — Post Oil Solutions will host its monthly Community Conversation on Wednesday, Nov. 10, 7 p.m., at the Elliot Street Cafe, corner of Elliot and Elm streets. The focus of the October discussion centered on the relationship between activism and people’s need for meaningful connection and how this translates into developing community for all people in Brattleboro. Attendees agreed to continue exploring this more deeply at the November meeting. This month’s conversation will begin with a round of introductions. A second round will follow during which you may share your vision of what you would like Brattleboro to be in 10 or 15 years. The evening will conclude with breakout groups around the main themes that were expressed and recorded during the conversation. Light refreshments will be provided.

T h e C ommons

• Wednesday, November 3, 2010

Marlboro College Graduate School hosts Capstone Fair on Nov. 13 BRATTLEBORO — Marlboro College Graduate School invites the public to its Capstone Project Fair on Saturday, Nov. 13, from 2 to 4:30 p.m. The Capstone Project is the culmination of a student’s work in a program. While it is similar to a master’s thesis, the goal of the Capstone is to solve a real problem for a real organization. For many, Capstone Projects are actual, working developments that will be applied by the student’s employer or will be used to launch a new business by the student. This Capstone Fair will feature students from the Master of Science in Information Technologies, the Master of Arts in Teaching with Technology and the MBA in Managing for Sustainability Programs. Capstone Sponsor organizations include Green Mountain Camp for Girls, Marblehead Community Charter Public School, and Vipassana Meditation Center. Visitors are encouraged to talk with the students about their projects and to critique them, providing the future graduates with objective, supportive feedback that will lead to further refinements. The Capstone Project Fair is free of charge and will take place at Marlboro College Graduate Center, 28 Vernon St., next to the Brattleboro Art Museum, between noon and 3 p.m. Refreshments will be served. Visit gradschool.marlboro.edu for more information or contact Joe Heslin, 888-258-5665, ext. 209, jheslin@marlboro.edu.

Green River Studio Registration for Sale set for Nov. 19, 20 CCV’s spring semester is underway GUILFORD — The 11th Annual Green River Studio Sale will take place on Friday, Nov. 19 from 3 to 8 p.m. and on Saturday, Nov. 20 from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Joining the crew this year will be Marta and Josh Bernbaum of West Brattleboro, who design and create unique works of blown and sculpted glass. Look for their new 2010 ornament designs being offered for the first time at the sale. Nancy Detra of Green River will show recent paintings and sell cards. Look for many old favorites. Nelly Detra will have handmade ceramic orbs and luminaria for sale. Mary Ellen Franklin of the Franklin Farm in south Guilford will have maple products, Lois Pancake will offer greeting cards featuring her unique local photographs and Carol Schnabel will offer scarves, placemats, and shawls. The sale will take place at 410 Green River Rd. Refreshments are free. For information or directions, call 802-257-1894. The studio is not handicapped accessible.

BRATTLEBORO — Registration has begun for more than 1,000 day, evening, weekend, and online class at the Community College of Vermont’s Brattleboro location. CCV’s spring schedule is now available on the college’s website, www.ccv.edu. Most classes begin the week of Jan. 24. With an open admissions policy, CCV welcomes students of all ages and backgrounds to pursue a degree, take a class to improve job skills, or explore something new. Students new to CCV may begin the free admissions process at www.ccv.edu. Since CCV classes average just 13 students, early registration is advised to ensure the availability of preferred courses. Degreeseeking students can choose from 17 associate degrees and 12 certificate programs. Academic advising is offered to prospective, new and returning students. Financial aid is available to eligible students and those interested in applying should schedule an appointment with a financial aid advisor. CCV maintains the state’s most affordable tuition rates at $205 per credit. For more information on course and degree offerings, enrollment and registration, visit www.ccv.edu, call 802-254-6370 or stop by CCV’s offices at 70 Landmark Hill.

T h e C ommons

• Wednesday, November 3, 2010

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T h e C ommons

â&#x20AC;˘ Wednesday, November 3, 2010

T h e C ommons

â&#x20AC;˘ Wednesday, November 3, 2010