The Mountain Times • Feb. 28-March 6, 2018 • 1
Mounta in Times Volume 47, Number 9
Your community free press — really, it’s FREE!
Feb. 28-March 6, 2018
CSJ to host candlelight vigil Submitted
Town Meeting Day Tuesday, March 6, is Town Meeting Day in Vermont. Read inside for local opinions and get the scoop from candidates running for election.
By Mike Dougherty, VTDigger
Meaghan Filkowski, a Harwood Union High School senior, was one of dozens of students who pressed legislators to tighten gun laws Friday, Feb. 23 at the statehouse. Teens pushed for greater safety measures.
Senate panel advances “extreme risk” gun legislation
By Alan J. Keays
Submitted
A small but mighty team The Rutland Raiders won their first state championship in wrestling in over 10 years. Dakota Peters took the title as state champion in the 160-pound weight class, Saturday, Feb. 24, at Otter Valley. The Rutland Raiders will be sending wrestlers Dakota Peters and Hunter Cameron to New Englands after placing 10th out of 19 teams— with just three wrestlers competing.
Living A.D.E. What’s happening? Find local Arts, Dining & Entertainment Pages 17-27
Mounta in Times
is a community newspaper covering Central Vermont that aims to engage and inform as well as empower community members to have a voice.
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The words of a Poultney teenager charged in a thwarted school shooting plot resonated in the small room as a Senate panel advanced a bill Friday, Feb. 23, allowing authorities to seize a firearm from a person deemed a risk to themselves or others. The Senate Judiciary Committee voted 5 to 0 to adopt S.221, a measure that establishes a civil court process for law enforcement to restrict some people from possessing firearms for up to 60 days if they are determined to pose an imminent “extreme threat.”
The bill now heads to the Senate floor for a vote this week, possibly as early as Tuesday, Feb. 27. Later this week, senators are expected to take up another piece of gun legislation calling for universal background checks before private sales of firearms in Vermont. To illustrate the importance of the S.221, Sen. Dick Sears, chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, read from a police affidavit explaining the arrest last week of Jack Sawyer, 18, who police said threatened Gun legislation, page 5
Layoffs ahead
University to cut nearly 10 percent of operating budget CASTLETON—Castleton University announced Friday, Feb. 23, that as part of a comprehensive response to a projected operating loss of $1.5 million for the current year, it will restructure its current workforce through a combination of layoffs, position eliminations, and early retirements. The restructuring will also enable the University to minimize a projected shortfall for the fiscal year 2019 and place it in a more sustainable position for future growth. Castleton has traditionally served Vermonters who seamlessly enroll right out of high school. Like many colleges and universities nationwide, Castleton is faced with a lower number of graduating high school seniors and increased competition for in-state and local out-of-state students. Many institutions similar to Castleton have recently gone through, or are engaged in, similar restructuring and rightsizing. “We will direct our resources
RUTLAND – To honor the lives lost and families affected by the tragedy at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, College of St. Joseph will host a candlelight vigil on Wednesday, Feb. 28 at 6 p.m. The entire community is invited to join students, faculty and administration in remembrance of the victims of the Feb. 14 mass shooting in Parkland, Florida. The ceremony will take place outside the front doors of Tuttle Hall on CSJ’s campus. Seventeen balloons will be released in honor of the 17 lives lost. Guests can also sign posters labeled “Douglas Strong” to send back to Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. CSJ first-year student and basketball player Rachel Bruneel is a 2017 graduate of Marjory Stoneham Douglas High School, and knew 15 of the victims personally. The vigil is also an opportunity to support Bruneel during this time of such great loss. College of St. Joseph is located at 71 Clement Drive in Rutland.
Want to live here? Free home to be given away
GMP’s Innovation Home could be yours
toward student success and those initiatives that directly impact our students,” said President Karen M. Scolforo. “We will not pass along the burden of external forces to our students. It is a difficult process to undertake, but this restructuring is necessary if we are to maintain affordability, without affecting the student experience. While the university’s previous efforts to maintain staffing levels despite enrollment declines were admirable, they are no longer sustainable. We are facing reality head-on, together, and making these decisions in service to our students.” While Castleton traditionally relied heavily upon students from Vermont and its surrounding counties and states in growing from 1,200 to more than 2,000 students from 2001-2014, the university has seen its enrollment decrease in recent years to around 1,800 full-time undergraduates. According to Scolforo and other industry experts, the down
RUTLAND—Always wanted to live in Vermont? Here’s your chance to move to the Green Mountains—and live in a free, super-efficient smart home! Green Mountain Power (GMP), Naylor & Breen Builders, the United Way of Rutland County, NBF Architects and Rutland Mayor Dave Allaire kicked off GMP’s Rutland Innovation Home Contest Monday, Feb. 26, a national contest that will award one lucky family or individual a brand new, fossil-free home in the heart of Central Vermont. Along with the deed to a mortgage-free, energy-smart home complete with solar panels, air-source heat pumps, a Tesla battery and a cutting-edge insulation package, the prize includes a local “concierge” to provide assistance with job searches, business and personal contacts and free co-working space at GMP’s Energy Innovation Center in downtown Rutland. “This home, built through an incredible collaboration involving nearly 60 parties, will be one of the most energy efficient homes in Vermont,” said GMP President and CEO Mary Powell. “It will be an example of Rutland’s incredible spirit, its ongoing rebirth and the energy and innovation that have fueled the city’s revitalization over the past several years. We hope to shine a light on the opportunities here including affordable housing and great schools, plentiful good-paying jobs, world-class skiing, the Green Mountains and Long Trail, and the glorious Killington Valley.” Tanner Romano, the vice president at Naylor & Breen Builders, who will oversee construction, lined up dozens of local subcontractors and local and national venders who will donate labor and materials. “Virtually every contractor and vender we approached stepped up,” Romano reported. “They love this community, need workers and loved the idea of the contest as a way to highlight the plentiful jobs available here,” he added. GMP Vice President Steve Costello conceived the contest while
Castleton layoffs, page 31
Free home, page 3