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October 1, 2016
Happy 90th, Margaret Owen! Milestone celebrated at First Baptist By Lou Varricchio
lou@suncommunitynews.com
BRISTOL — A group of 68 family members and friends assembled at the First Baptist Church of Bristol on Sept. 4 to wish local resident Margaret Owen a happy 90th birthday. Music for Owen’s milestone birthday event was organized by David Henderson, Jenny Telling and Stephanie Ahern. A featured performance at the celebration was the fiddle-standard “Margaret’s Waltz”, composed in 1959 by Pat Shuldham-Shaw for the English Folk Dance and Song Society. According to event attendee Lee Comly, a special composition, titled “My Friend” written by the nonagenarian and Jenny Telling, was performed. The lyrics of the sacred song were taken from a poem Owen had written about her faith. Owen thanked church guests for organizing the party. She told attendees that she CONTINUED ON PAGE 11
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Woofstock raises $26,000 for local shelter By Hannah Manley
MIDDLEBURY —The last weekend of summer 2016 yielded great things for Woofstock, Homeward Bound-the Addison County Humane Society—annual fundraising event, as their largest fundraiser of the year raised over $26,000 to support the work of the shelter. Sixty dogs and 126 people participated in the 1-mile walk around Middlebury, but it was the festivities that followed the walk that seemed to spark the greatest excitement. “Thanks to the Town of Middlebury and their Recreation Department, we were able to add a pool party just for dogs at the conclusion of the walk and it was a huge hit� We also added live music and the A&W food cart, which rounded out a really enjoyable event for all involved,” Homeward Bound Executive Director Jess Danyow told the Eagle. “The weather was perfect, watching the dogs play in the pool was a hoot, and the generosity of our community of animal lovers was heartwarming.” According to Danyow, “The funds raised will be directed to animal care. We have already served almost 700 animals this year. That’s more than we helped in all of 2015, so this fundraiser was very important to us. We have been able to come to the aid of the Addison County animals who need us and have also been able to bring in almost 200 animals from beyond Vermont who were residing in high volume shelters. Without a community who believes in our mission, this wouldn’t CONTINUED ON PAGE 12
LOYAL EMPLOYEES — These hardworking Percheron horses, Miner and Jake, are from the stable of Thornapple Farm in New Haven. They are familiar to Middlebury residents driving along U.S. Route 7; the team help their human coworkers collect trash and recycling the old-fashioned way in the Buttolph Acres neighborhood and elsewhere. Photo by Lou Varricchio
Democrats rally for background gun checks By Michael Bielawski mbielawski@watchdog.org
MONTPELIER — All six Democrat gubernatorial and lieutenant gubernatorial candidates went out on a limb last week and called for universal background checks on gun sales of any kind in Vermont, a move unprecedented in previous election years. “Three and a half years ago there were very few lawmakers that comfortable even talking about guns,” Ann Braden, president of Gun Sense Vermont, told a small crowd of about 100 gathered at the Vermont State House. In addition to the six featured candidates, 12 Democrat legislators and one Republican legislator also were sponsors of the event. Three more state lawmakers standing in the crowd were Sen. CONTINUED ON PAGE 11