December 6, 2017

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The Mountain Times • Dec. 6-12, 2017 • 1

Mounta in Times Volume 46, Number 49

I’m FREE - Pick me up and be prepared. Paper beats rock.

Dec. 6-12, 2017

Wassail Weekend to fill Woodstock with holiday spirit

Santa’s around town As Christmas approaches, Santa Claus is making many appearances in the area this week, where he will be available for children to greet and have photos taken with. Enjoy a magical breakfast with him Saturday morning in Poultney or Sunday morning in West Pawlet, and he’ll be at Ted’s Pizza in Rutland, Friday, during the Christmas Fundraiser. Or, catch him Saturday late morning at the library in Clarendon. Pages 8-10

By Polly Lynn

Riders dressed in Victorian-era costumes trot through the village of Woodstock during the annual Wassail Parade.

WOODSTOCK—Woodstock’s 33rd annual Wassail Weekend takes place Dec. 8-10. The weekend is filled with twinkling lights, historic decorated homes, breakfast with Santa, holiday spirit, and highlighted with sleigh bells and the clip-clop of hooves as riders dressed in Victorian-era costumes ride through and around the Village Green during the Wassail Parade. Full schedule of events is as follows: Friday, Dec. 8 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Christmas at the Billings Farm & Museum 4 p.m. Scott Davidson, storyteller, at Norman Williams Public Library 5-7 p.m. Holiday Open House at Woodstock History Center 7:30 p.m. BarnArts presents “A Holiday Cabaret” evening at the Grange Hall Saturday, Dec. 9 8-11 a.m. Breakfast with Santa at the Little Theater

Woodstock Wassail, page 11

Leahy secures $1.3 million for police heroin task force Senate Appropriations Committee Vice Chairman Patrick Leahy announced a grant of more than $1.3 million for the Vermont State Police to continue its aggressive work fighting the opioid epidemic in Vermont on Wednesday, Nov. 29. This was the second-largest of only eight grants awarded nationwide through the COPS Anti-Heroin Task Force (AHTF) grant program that Leahy created in the fiscal year 2015 Commerce, Justice, and Science

(CJS) appropriations bill. In his new role as the vice chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, Leahy fought to fund the program at $10 million in the fiscal year 2017 enacted CJS appropriations act, despite the Department of Justice proposing to eliminate the program. VSP will use the $1.3 million award to continue funding the five troopers and one analyst hired with the first grant of more than $1.4 million that it received in 2015

through the AHTF grant program. Leahy also is a leading champion of this and other COPS programs on the Judiciary Committee, which oversees the program. “I designed the Anti-Heroin Task Force grant program specifically with the Vermont State Police’s Drug Task Force in mind,” Leahy said. “The vital and highly successful investigative work that the Task Force does in Vermont is a key component of our fight against the scourge of addic-

Heroin task force, page 7

Proposed tax on tuition waivers alarms students, colleges Elizabeth Hewitt, VTDigger

By Robin Alberti

Toys gathered for area kids A pile of toys stands tall at the 31st Ted Arbo’s “Toys For Tots” event held Saturday, Dec. 2 at the Foundry. Joey Leone performed.

Tatiana Gladkikh is in her first year of studying for her doctorate in natural resources at the University of Vermont. The 27-year-old, a Russian citizen, receives a stipend for her studies and work at the university. But a change to tax law that is under consideration in Congress could significantly increase her tax burden, which she said would put her in a financial bind. “The money I’m going to have left for my expenses is, it’s nothing,” she said. Under the tax reform bill the

ing or research work – a third of the total number of graduate students. Gladkikh is anxious about what the change could mean for her. As an international student, she is restricted under her visa from picking up a job on the side to earn cash. “There’s not a lot of options,” Gladkikh said. “There’s no other income we can get. Our stipend is the only thing we have for financially sustaining ourselves.” Rep. Kevin Brady, R-Texas, chair of the House Ways and

Living A.D.E. What’s happening? Find local Arts, Dining & Entertainment Pages 16-25

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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$25,000 grant to enable more students to ski, snowboard at Pico By Karen D. Lorentz

Means Committee, explained the reasoning behind the measure in the House bill at an event at the American Enterprise Institute on Tuesday. Brady said there is a question of fairness: Why should one student pursuing a higher degree not pay taxes on tuition that is waived, when another who is working and paying tuition has to pay income tax? “Is that fair?” Brady said. “Same type of people pursuing the same great degrees, working equally hard, one tax-free, one not.” However, he acknowledged concerns raised about

Pico may have just turned 80 years old, but the area is still young at heart. True to its long history, Pico Mountain continues to foster lessons for children that the National Winter Sports Education Foundation (NWSEF) has awarded a $25,000 grant to expand the Pico School Program. The program offers a weekly ski/snowboard lesson to students in grades one through 12 on Mondays, Thursdays, and Fridays. NWSEF has a mission to improve the lives, health, and fitness of youth through winter sports. Since 2012, NWSEF has provided financial resources and program support to Youth Learn to Ski and Snowboard programs across the country. This year, approximately 25,000 youth will learn to ski or snowboard through their grantee programs. “This is an opportunity many students may not get otherwise, and through this program we are developing a passion for winter sports and love of the outdoors,” said Katherine MacLauchlan, manager of Pico Snowsports, Competitions and Child Care. Addressing the need for the grant, MacLauchlan told the Mountain Times that sometimes a school will send a busload of students but not have the money to pay for a second bus so that school is limited in how many children can enjoy the program. Or they may have students who cannot afford the $60 fee for the series of six lessons over six weeks. So she applied for the grant and now schools will have the opportunity to apply for financial help, whether for more transportation or student fees. Schools will apply directly to the National Winter Sports Education Foundation, MacLauchlan said, noting “it is a simple application.” She also noted that local school children often stay with the program

Tuition tax, page 30

Grant, page 3

SPAULDING SAID THE CHANGE IN THE LAW MEANS STUDENTS WHO USE THE TUITION BENEFIT WOULD SEE THEIR TAXABLE INCOME INCREASE BY BETWEEN $10,000 AND $11,000 ANNUALLY. U.S. House passed earlier this month, students whose tuition is waived could see higher tax bills – which some say would be a significant barrier to their studies. The change to the federal tax code would be a big shift for many graduate students and for students who receive tuition waivers through a family member’s employment. According to Cindy Forehand, the dean of the graduate college at UVM, about 500 graduate students at the university have their tuition waived in exchange for teach-

Courtesy of Karen D. Lorentz

Pico welcomes students to encourage winter sports wellness.


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