The Mountain Times • April 11-17, 2018
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M ou nta i n T i m e s
Volume 47, Number 15
Get started on some FREEquent reader miles.
April 11-17, 2018
“Do not drink” order issued for Rutland Airport Business Park
got me thinking about what I wanted to do and where I wanted to go with my education and what I wanted to do for a career. I don’t think I would be where I am right now if I didn’t take the class.” Now, a junior in college at age 18 years old, looking back, she said she doesn’t have many regrets. “As a freshman people think it’s a little early [to take ICS], but it really opens doors to be able to further your education sooner, and then you can get into doing what you really want to do.”
RUTLAND—The State of Vermont has issued a “Do not drink” order to tenants of the Rutland Airport Business Park after per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) were found in the business park’s water system. PFAS were not found in any of the wells tested along Airport Road and the Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) notified all the well owners of these results. No additional testing on Airport Road is planned at this time and residents should feel safe to continue drinking their well water. The only samples that tested positive for PFAS came from the water system serving the Rutland Airport Business Park. The state sampled the business park’s two wells and detected PFAS in both. Because PFAS were found in the business park wells, the state will test drinking water supplies along Route 7B adjacent to the business park. The state will be reaching out to residents along Route 7B and the testing results will be made public. Immediately after receiving the sampling results, the state worked with the system operator to shut down the well that tested above the 20 parts-per-trillion (ppt) Drinking Water Health Advisory. All business park tenants have been offered bottled water and the state is working with the water system operator and consultants to swiftly design and install a treatment system that will remove the contaminants from the water system. PFAS are a family of chemicals associated with firefighting foam and other manufactur-
Belle Kidder, page 7A
Do not drink, page 10A
SPRING FIX Spring means it is time to get a start on home improvement projects! Section B
By Josh Larkin
Belle Kidder, a home-schooler prior to her freshman year at Fair Haven U.H.S., took advantage of college study classes available to high schoolers, enabling her to get a head start on her future.
Belle Kidder gets a jump on higher ed She’s a college junior at 18, thanks to dual enrollment By Katie Powers
FISH ON
Courtesy VTF&W
Vermont’s trout season opens Saturday, April 14. Officials suggest fishing low and slow, as the wild trout will be big and deep in the cold water. Page 15A
IT’S FRIDAY THE 13TH
Belle Kidder was 14 years old when she took Introduction to College Studies (ICS) at Fair Haven Union High School—she was the only freshman in the class. “When I signed up for the class I had no idea what I was getting myself into,” said Kidder, who had been homeschooled before joining the class at Fair Haven. For that reason, she said, “I didn’t have a lot of knowledge about school systems and how they work,” she said. “But it turned out to be a really great stepping stone and it really
Downtown Rutland welcomes six new businesses in six months RUTLAND—Spring may be missing in action, but businesses continue to sprout in downtown Rutland at a healthy pace. For the sixth month in a row, downtown has seen a new business open its doors each month. They’re all different and each is working to meet the demands of the local community in diverse ways. “We’re seeing a rise in entrepreneurs creating businesses focused
on unique experiences, niche products and specialized services,” said Steve Peters, executive director of the Downtown Rutland Partnership. “These are exactly the qualities experts say will bring people into downtowns, despite the ever-changing landscape of online shopping and the difficulties plaguing national retailers.” Starting back in November, The Bakery knocked down the
back walls of its West Street café to create an offshoot business at 58 Merchants Row called The Bakery Annex. Owned and operated by Donald Billings of Roots and The Bakery, The Annex features a full service, sit down breakfast experience that includes omelets, specialty eggs Benedict, hashes, French toast with house made sourdough bread, craft cocktails and much more. As always, Billings
prominently features fresh ingredients from local Vermont farms. The Annex is helping to meet the growing demand for breakfast and brunch within downtown while supporting the local farm and food economy. Then, in December, Juice Amour opened at 29 Center Street in a portion of the recently remodeled former home of Hawley’s Florist. Juice Amour is an organic New businesses, page 10A
Living a de
LIVING ADE What’s happening? Find local Arts, Dining & Entertainment Pages 13-18
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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Woodstock Union High School Middle School opens new Innovation Lab WOODSTOCK—Innovation is in the air at Woodstock Union High School/Middle School (WUHSMS) with the completion of the new 2,000-square foot state-of-the-art Innovation Lab, a modern natural light-filled space, which officially opened this month within a former woodshop/classroom at the school. While the school operated a temporary Innovation Lab all year, the newly completed space is much larger and includes three distinct areas: production space, a media space for recording and remote conferencing, and a teaming/presentation area. The production space includes 3-D printers, a laser-cutter, various hand tools, and electronic components. Last week, some educators from around the region participating in an Innovation in Learning Conference hosted by the Windsor Central Supervisory Union at the Woodstock Inn, got to check out the new lab as an offsite portion of their course. Students have gotten busy in the space ,with some seventh graders creating kinetic creatures and others working on stop-animation films to show possible effects of climate change in Vermont by 2030. Seventh grader Oliver Szott and his partner created a kinetic armadillo using cardboard, a laser cutter, specialized software, and a motor. “We realized cardboard does not really bend but we figured out a way to represent movement,” he said, adding that he enjoyed “the freedom to create a project in a way that worked for us.” Submitted Eighth grade students designed historical markers to commemorate Seventh grade students work on kinetic creatures in the new InnoInnovation lab, page 11A vation Lab.