The Charlotte News | December 13, 2017

The

VOlUMe LX NUMBer 12 | WedneSday, DeceMBer 13, 2017

Charlotte News Charlotte’s award-winning community newspaper

All I Want For Christmas . . .

Children line-up to visit with Santa at Charlotte Fire and Rescue. Page 2

Local Legislators Honored

The News is Searching Volunteer Vermont for a New Editor Reunion page 1 page 4 page 20

CharlotteNewsVT.org

Vol. 60, no. 12

December 13, 2017

Charlotte News

The

Vermont’s oldest nonprofit community newspaper, bringing you local news and views since 1958

Business Group Honors VT Legislators for Climate Action Work

It’s now official

Local legislators named ‘Climate Champions’ Vermont Businesses for Social Responsibility (VBSR) has honored two dozen Vermont House legislators, including Michael Yantachka, as “Climate Champions’” for their efforts to grow the economy and create green jobs by putting a price on carbon pollution.

In accepting the award, Rep. Yantachka said, “Climate change is the most significant global environmental threat the human race has faced in its history. It is caused by human consumption of fossil fuels, which have pumped extraordinary amounts of CO2 and other greenhouse gases into the atmosphere since the beginning of the industrial revolution. We have to reduce our consumption of fossil fuels for the sake of future generations. Today’s fuel prices do not reflect the inherent environmental

Rep.MikeYantachka

Climate change is the most significant global environmental threat the human race has faced in its history.

Rep. Michael Yantachka

and health costs. Pricing carbon realistically will reduce demand for fossil fuels and at the same time help us transition to cleaner renewable energy sources and create good jobs.”

VBSR Public Policy Manager Daniel Barlow said that President Trump’s decision this year to exit the Paris Climate Agreement sparked serious concerns in the business community and has spurred renewed attention to the important issue of fighting climate change.

“We thought it was important to recognize these forward-looking Vermont legislators who support putting a price on carbon pollution.”

VBSR presented the awards December 6 at the organization’s annual Legislative Breakfast in Burlington.

Andrew Thurber, who along with his wife, Kit Perkins, owns Strong House, the new home of The Charlotte News, hangs our sign on the wall facing GreenbushRoad.Keepingeverythingaslocalaspossible,thesignwasmade by another Charlotter Jenny Cole.

Photo by Meg Smith

Town Plan proceeds Susan Crockenberg CONTRIBUTOR

In a harmonious and productive first public meeting on the Town Plan on Monday, December 11, the Charlotte Selectboard and the town’s assembled citizens reached consensus that the plan would be voted on at Town Meeting, 2018. If the process proceeds as expected, the Planning Commission will incorporate

by January 3 the changes to the plan recommended at Monday’s meeting. After that date no further substantive changes can be made in the document prior to the vote. The Selectboard will host a final informational hearing on the amended Plan on January 22.

The suggested changes centered on three main issues: 1) the importance of the 2010 East Charlotte study and discrepancies between two maps each

purporting to indicate the boundaries of the East Charlotte Village; 2) inclusion of the much discussed ideas for economic development in Charlotte; and 3) estimation of the funds needed to implement the plan.

Speaking first from the audience, Clark Hinsdale argued that implementing the 2010 E. Charlotte study should be a high priority in the Town Plan, as it would allow landowners to decide how to make use of their properties. He pointed out further that it should be clear in the Plan that the Town has no jurisdiction in the implementation of “standard agricultural practices.”

Mike Russell sent a ripple of laughter through the assembly by suggesting that the section on “Economic Development Strategies” would better be titled “Economic Stagnation” in view of the singular emphasis on agriculture in the

plan and the failure to mention any of ideas proposed by citizens to attract non-agricultural businesses to the West Charlotte Village.

Nancy Wood added that people want certain services in the Charlotte, such as a gas station (akin to the Blacksmith she recalls from her early years in Charlotte) and places where they can get together socially. The goal, she suggested, is a vibrant village, not urbanization. In line with this distinction, Isaiah Kiley proposed adding the phrase “and to limit development where significant environmental resources exist or in other areas of high public value” to the current bullet under Vision and Goals “focusing growth in the East and West Villages”.

Fritz Tegatz pointed out that, as currently written, the plan included no funds for implementation and suggested adding a section on what may be needed.

As the meeting wound down, Bill Stuono expressed concern that the goal of obtaining 40 percent of town electricity from renewables by 2020 was overly optimistic. Planning Commission member Marty Illick responded that the energy goals were aspirational and that the Energy Committee was working toward them.

In other business, Town Clerk/ Treasurer Mary Mead reviewed likely Town Hall revenues and expenditures as an initial step in creating the FY 18/19 budget. She forecast a slight drop in Town Hall revenue and an increase in expenditures over the current budget, but it is too early in the process to specify this with certainty.

The board also approved a Certificate of Adoption pertaining to the 2017 County All-Hazard Mitigation Plans, which allows FEMA to reimburse the town and its people in case of a natural disaster.

Commentary 3 • The News is Searching for a New Editor 4 • Around Town 6 • Sports 17

2 • December 13, 2017 • The Charlotte News

Charlotte Vol Fire & Rescue Hosts Free Blood Pressure Clinics

Best wishes from The News All of us at The News extend our best wishes to our readers and advertisers for a happy holiday and New Year.

Thanks for your wonderful support in 2017—see you again on January 10, 2018.

And a reminder: If you haven’t yet made your annual tax-deductible contribution to The Charlotte News, now is the time to do so. You can contribute online at charlottenewsvt. org, or you can send a check to The Friends of The Charlotte News, Box 211, Charlotte, VT 05445.

PUBLICATION DATES January 10

Photo contributed Charlotte Vol Fire & Rescue is hosting a series of blood pressure clinics at Town Hall and the Library this month as part of their HeartSafe Community education program. Clinic dates and times are as follows:

The Charlotte Library Dec 14 2:00 - 3:00 Dec 19 9:00 - 10:00 Dec 21 2:00 - 3:00 Dec 27 10:30 - 11:30 Town Hall Dec 29 11:00 -12:00

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The Charlotte News is a nonprofit community-based newspaper dedicated to informing townspeople of current events and issues. It serves as a forum for the free exchange of views of town residents and celebrates the people, places and happenings that make the Town of Charlotte unique.

Contributions in the form of articles, press releases and photographs pertaining to Charlotte-related people and events are accepted and encouraged. For submission guidelines and deadlines, please visit our website or contact the editor at news@thecharlottenews.org.

The Charlotte News is published in Charlotte by The Charlotte News, Inc., a Vermont domestic 501(c)(4) nonprofit corporation. Distribution is made every other Wednesday to all households and businesses in Charlotte and to more than 50 outlets in Shelburne, Hinesburg, North Ferrisburgh, Ferrisburgh, Vergennes and Burlington. The Charlotte News relies on the generous financial contributions of its readers, subscriptions and advertising revenue to sustain its operations.

Editorial Staff news@thecharlottenews.org Contributing Editor: Edd Merritt Copy editors: Beth Merritt, Vince Crockenberg, Edd Merritt, Mike & Janet Yantachka

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Layout Manager: Anna Cyr Staff writer: Keith Morrill Archives: Liz Fotouhi Business Staff ads@thecharlottenews.org / 343-0279 Ad manager: Monica Marshall Business manager: Jessica Lucia

ON THE COVER:

Santa stopped by for a visit Sunday at the Charlotte Fire and Rescue station. Children of all ages spent time with him sharing their Christmas wishes. See more photos on our website.

Photo by Monica Marshall

Correction:

In an obituary of Mary-Beth Orben in the November 29 issue, we said she and her family spent summers in Charlotte on Thompson’s Point. In fact the Orben family dwelling was on Cedar Beach. We apologize for our error.

Board Members President: Vince Crockenberg Secretaries: Rick Detwiler, Carol Hanley Treasurer: Patrice Machavern Board members: Rachel Allard, Bob Bloch, Gay Regan, Louisa Schibli Subscription Information The Charlotte News is delivered at no cost to all Charlotte residences. Subscriptions are available for first-class delivery at $40 per calendar year. Want a subscription?

Please send a check payable to The Charlotte News, P.O. Box 251 Charlotte, VT 05445.

Postmaster/Send address changes to: The Charlotte News P.O. Box 251, Charlotte, VT 05445 Telephone: 425-4949 Circulation: 3,000 copies per issue.

Copyright © 2017 The Charlotte News, Inc. Printed in Burlington, Vermont, by Gannet Publishing Services Member of the New England Newspaper and Press Association and the Vermont Press Association.

The Charlotte News • Decembe 13, 2017 • 3

Commentary Some Dissent on Gun Control

Technology Building computer literacy We asked Melissa Mendelsohn of Orchard Road Computers to write a column for the growing number of us aging Charlotters explaining what often comes across as “computer speak” in a language we can better understand. She did so happily, and her “non-geek” column follows.

River Segel

While reading Edd Merritt’s commentary in the November 29 issue of The Charlotte News, titled “There are guns, and there are guns?” I discovered several instances of arguable and nonfactual ideas which I would like to address here.

The first example of the author’s unawareness about certain gun control laws was when he said that he is “of the opinion that our ability to buy automatic war rifles on the street is the first thing we ought to ban in the way of gun control.” First of all, numerous gun control measures have been in place since 1934 when the National Firearms Act was signed into law. This law severely regulated all fully automatic weapons, and later in 1986 the production of machine guns was explicitly banned altogether. Although machine guns made before 1986 are still obtainable, they are extremely hard to get under existing law.

And saying that machine guns pose a grave danger would ignore the fact that since 1984 machine guns have been used in just one mass shooting.

The second arguable idea occurred when he says that we must “control the [killers’] tools of destruction,” while ignoring the fact that criminals will by definition ignore law. Despite America’s 40-year “war on drugs,” for example, more than 59,000 people are estimated to have died of drug overdoses in 2016, according to The New York Times, despite annual anti-drug spending of more than $50 billion annually. Any ban of a product will always open up a lucrative black market that lawbreakers will take advantage of.

Finally Mr. Merritt’s commentary failed to address, let alone rebut, the common arguments of gun ownership as a means of self-defense and a safeguard against a potential fascist state. The majority of gun owners are simply individuals taking steps to defend themselves from home invasions. Would the author want to deprive people of the fundamental right of self-protection? If we do not have the power to protect ourselves then we are helpless to the whims of the few maniacs.

This basic right of self-defense also extends to defense from authoritarian governments. Mao famously said that “All political power comes from the barrel of a gun. The communist party must command all the guns, that way, no guns can ever be used to command the party.” Gun control is all about giving the government more power and taking away the people’s chance to fight for a free society.

If you think that a dictatorship could not happen in America then you have failed to learn from the fatal mistakes of the democratically elected regimes of Germany, Egypt and Venezuela. Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it.

CONTRIBUTOR

So, you want to buy a new computer?

Here’s what to look for.

Storage The part in your computer that holds all your storage/all your files is either a hard disk drive (HDD) or a solid state drive (SSD). HDDs are also known as spinning mechanical Hard Drives.

They have moving parts that consist of metal platters (the platter looks similar to a CD/DVD). If the moving parts should touch each other or rattle around (think about every time you move your laptop from one place to another) you can get data loss.

SSDs have no moving parts. Hence they are more resistant to damage than HDDs and they run more silently.

You don’t hear the “spinning of the platters.” Your wait time to bring up applications and files is also quicker.

And of course, being much newer, they are more expensive than HDDs. Whether you purchase a HDD or SSD, the next decision to make is how much storage (how big a drive) you will

Ram/Memory RAM stands for random access memory. How do we get to see the files from our drive on our computer screens? We thank the RAM for this!

RAM is basically the conduit between the drive and the computer to read or to write the files on your drive to the computer. The higher the RAM, the faster your computer can process many files at a time.

The standard amount of ram/memory today is 8 GBs. You have options in many computers to upgrade RAM at the time of purchase to 16 GBs, 32 GBs and more. Ram can always be upgraded (at time of this article) in the future on Windows PCs but not on Macs. Apple now solders their RAM to the motherboard, and it cannot be replaced. If you are purchasing a Mac, I suggest you upgrade to 16 GB of

see TECHNOLOGY page 23

[Go to https://riversegel.wixsite.com/ citations for supporting documentation.]

River Segel is a 15-year-old homeschooler who enjoys politics and playing the piano. He lives in Charlotte.

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need. HDD/SSDs come in sizes called GB (gigabytes) and T (terabytes— 2T, 3T, etc). Each gigabyte equals 1 billion bytes. One terabyte is 1,000 gigabytes. The trick is to find out how much storage you are using on your old computer and then determine if you need more storage for the future. To check how much storage you have on a Windows PC, go to windowscentral. com/windows-10-check-free-spacehard-disk. For a Mac, go to osxdaily. com/2014/01/11/see-mac-disk-usagestorage-summary-os-x/.

4 • December 13, 2017 • The Charlotte News

Town The Charlotte News seeks a new editor The Charlotte News Board of Directors The Charlotte News is seeking a new editor to plan, create and publish our everyother-week community newspaper. The deadline for applications is Saturday, Dec. 16, at 5 p.m. The board plans to interview selected candidates during the week of Dec. 17 and appoint the new editor by Thursday, December 21, though it may expedite the process if a desired candidate is identified earlier. The new editor will commence editing the paper with the Jan. 10, 2018 issue.

Procedures for filing application Candidates interested is applying for the editor position are invited to submit by email attachment a cover letter describing their interest and background, a current resume and contact details for two references to the editor search facilitator, Rick Detwiler, at rickdetwiler2@gmail.com, no later than Saturday, Dec. 16. Questions about the position or requests for the full position description should be directed to Rick no later than Saturday, December 16.

About The Charlotte News The Charlotte News was founded in 1958 and is Vermont’s oldest nonprofit community newspaper. The paper strives to publish interesting, informative and well-written stories and commentaries and to serve as a forum for the free exchange of views of town residents and community volunteer organizations on matters of local concern.

Contributions in the form of articles, press releases and photographs of Charlotterelated people and events are accepted and encouraged. The News is published in Charlotte by The Charlotte News Inc., a Vermont domestic nonprofit corporation, and works closely with the Friends of The Charlotte News, a tax-exempt public charity.

Distribution Twenty-five issues per year (every other

Wednesday); distributed to all households and businesses in Charlotte and to outlets in Shelburne, Hinesburg, North Ferrisburgh, Ferrisburgh, Vergennes, South Burlington and Burlington; circulation of 2,800.

The editor position The Charlotte News is governed by a nine-member board of directors, which exercises fiduciary and strategic oversight and direction of the paper. Under the direction of the board, the editor bears prime responsibility for publishing a high quality community newspaper serving the Town of Charlotte. The editor coordinates the work of the layout manager and the contributing editor (who are hired by the board in consultation with the editor), finds and assigns stories to freelance writers, and identifies and works with a large group of community volunteers to help with the editorial, production and circulation for the paper.

Qualifications • Prior experience in the publishing industry • Ability to research, develop and write stories of interest to the Town of Charlotte • Demonstrated organizational skills and capacity for meeting deadlines • Leadership/teamwork skills • Collaborative work ethic • Ability to effectively represent The News in the community and at large • Strong interpersonal and communication skills and a willingness to reach out to members of the Charlotte community in developing stories of interest to the community • Commitment to serve for at least two years.

Work Conditions The editor is an independent contractor.

The editor’s stipend per issue is commensurate with experience.

HANDS Reaches Out to Older Adults with Annual Holiday Dinner

Photo contributed In collaboration with Age Well, the Burlington School Food Project, the Elks Lodge, and Temple Sinai, among many others, HANDS (Helping and Nurturing Diverse Seniors) is pleased to offer both a delivered meal and a sit-down dinner again this year on Christmas Day. “The need continues to rise among the seniors we serve,” said HANDS Executive Director Megan Humphrey. “We hope to serve at least 400 meals,” she continued.

The free holiday dinner will be held on Christmas Day any time from noon to 3 p.m. at the Elks Lodge at 925 North Avenue in Burlington. There will be a special gathering there at 1p.m. for seniors.

If you need transportation, please call Megan Humphrey at 864-7528 or email meganjhumphrey@gmail. com.

If you are 50 or older, live in Chittenden County and would like the free meal delivered to your home (either ham or vegetarian lasagna), please call Age Well at 865-0360

by Dec. 15. After December 15, call Megan Humphrey at 864-7528 or email meganjhumphrey@gmail. com. “Hundreds of volunteers and organizations come together to make this happen and we couldn’t do it without them,” explained Ms. Humphrey.

For more information or to donate, please check handsvt.org.

The Charlotte News • December 13, 2017 • 5

Town Ricin danger at Wake Robin is under control The resident at Wake Robin, who manufactured the toxic drug ricin and tested it on at least three neighboring residents to determine whether it had the desired poisonous effect before using it on herself, has been removed from the residence and is in custody awaiting trial. The state Health Department said last Friday that no one has become ill from the ricin. According to the December 7 Burlington Free Press, federal prosecutors said that tests on those exposed returned positive results for “ricinine, as opposed to ricin.” Ricinine may indicate ricin exposure, but it may also indicate nontoxic exposure to other derivatives such as castor oil.

Charlotte News reporter John Hammer, a resident of Wake Robin, said the investigative bodies had been very thorough and had presented their findings to all members of the community. He felt comfortable that cleanup and security measures were more than sufficient. “In fact,” he said, “the detainee Betty Miller’s apartment may be the cleanest in the complex at this point.” He did, however, answer my phone call with the greeting, “Hello, this is John at Wake Ricin.”

A year’s investigation results in arrest of Charlotte Ferry Dock assaulters A little over a year ago at 3:30 in the morning, two masked individuals robbed the ferry dock station in Charlotte, holding at gunpoint two security employees whom they also sprayed with pepper spray. After obtaining cash, the robbers fled, leaving the guards with minor injuries from the pepper

spray. The two suspects, age 22 and 21, from South Burlington were arrested on Friday, Dec. 1, in their home there. Richard West, the 22- year-old, was released and scheduled to appear in court in January.

The other suspect, Tiera Herron, is being held at the Chittenden County Regional Correctional Center on $7,500 bail.

Transition Charlotte is part of a national transition movement

Like many others, Charlotte residents are increasingly concerned about the challenges presented us by disruptions in our climate and by economic stresses. How can individuals and small communities make a difference?

One answer is to become part of the Transition Movement, which offers hopeful solutions to regional, national and international issues by starting at the local level.

Transition is a movement of communities coming together to reimagine and rebuild our world. Since 2005 thousands of community groups around the world have come together to nurture a caring culture, one focused on supporting each other as groups or as wider communities. By weaving together many small “crowd-source” solutions they have boosted their impact on global problems. Transition initiatives are reclaiming their local economies, sparking entrepreneurship, reimagining work, reskilling themselves and weaving webs of connection and support.

Transition Town Charlotte began in the early 2000s as a local “sustainable living network.” We’ve collaborated with other organizations in Charlotte, such as the energy committee, the conservation commission, the library, the Grange, the Senior Center and the Congregational

Church. We’ve held “reskilling” workshops where people have learned how to preserve foods, compost, use a scythe, care for goats and chickens and more. We’ve shared documentaries, held parties, collected electronic waste on Vermont Green-up Day, and created a food garden on town land to serve the Charlotte Food Shelf.

On Saturday Nov. 11, we held a “repair café,” at the town hall where townsfolk brought their broken, dull and ripped goods to be fixed, rather than sending them to the landfill. All shared coffee, baked goods and soup. There was no charge for repairs but a donation to the Charlotte Food Shelf was suggested. We made $190 and had lots of fun!

We’re now reaching out to our neighbors in Hinesburg asking how we can work together to create resilience in our communities. How can we better know one another and find where our common concerns lie? How can we learn from each other’s successes? One of the key ways that Transition spreads is through telling inspiring stories—and that’s what we will be doing starting Jan. 9 at 6:00 p.m. at the Hinesburgh Public House. At the first gathering we’ll watch a 25-minute video that explains more about the Transition Movement and inspires us all to think creatively. One phrase often heard in Transition circles is that we “unleash the collective genius in our communities.” You can learn more about the movement at transitionus.org and more about Transition Charlotte at transitioncharlottevt.org.

Knowing that many people are doing good work in neighboring communities, this will be a chance to exchange ideas in a relaxed atmosphere and see where we

may grow together.

Bill McKibben’s book gets a review in the New York Times December 9 saw a lengthy review of Bill McKibben’s recently published book, Radio Free Vermont, in The New York Times Arts section. A novel, it does draw heavily from the secession movement promoted by our late Charlotte neighbor Thomas Naylor. The main character of McKibben’s novel is Vern Barclay, a septuagenarian radio host from St. Albans, who tries to get the secessionist movement going again in our state. The article’s author suggests that McKibben never proposes that secession is the best way to go, not a solution in “times of political turmoil.” Barclay uses the idea to get readers to “ponder the virtues of smallness in an age of military and corporate gigantism.”

The reviewer pooh-poohs Naylor’s secession proclivities, saying it was a “minor-league attempt” that “failed spectacularly.” Given the direction of our national government, however, secession may raise its antennae again.

Rob Williams, co-author of the book, Most Likely to Secede, may yet feed his yaks on grain from a small nation, and Thomas may smile in his grave.

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6 • December 13, 2017 • The Charlotte News

Around Town Sympathy:

is extended to family and friends of Sarah Ramsden of Prosper, Texas, who passed away November 27 at the age of 83. Sally, as she was known, was a Charlotte resident for a number of years, living on Mt. Philo Road. She served on the Charlotte Fire and Rescue Squad and worked with the Boy Scouts. Her surviving family includes her son, Randy, his wife, Karen, and their daughters, Audrey and Kerry, who live in Charlotte. is extended to family and friends of

Joan Cawley of Burlington, who passed away Dec. 6 at the age of 87. Born in Massachusetts, Joan moved north with her husband, an educator who took a job in 1963 with newly formed CVU High School. They moved to Charlotte where they lived for the next 38 years. Joan was a customer-support representative for Charlotte-owned EatingWell Magazine and Camden House Publishing. The family suggests that those wishing to honor Joan’s memory consider sponsoring a family in need this holiday season.

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The Charlotte News • December 13, 2017 • 7

Town Charlotte Girl Scouts off to a busy beginning

By Cindy Bradley As fall ends for another year one has to reflect on all of the activities that have happened within the past few months. One of my favorites is the re-start of Girl Scout meetings, and for this small group of young ladies in grades K-4 known as Charlotte Girl Scout Troop 30066 it has been a very busy, yet informative, time.

Last year the girls started working on a 12 patch program called “A Year in the Life of Juliette Gordon Low.” Juliette was the founder of the Girl Scouts when it began in the year 1912, and these patches are all designed around activities that she found to be of importance to her. Having already earned four of those 12, the girls came back this fall ready to begin working on the next one, Promote Our Promise, which requires them to learn about how to design and deliver a public service announcement.

At our first meeting in September we went to visit WCAX-TV. While there, we were given a tour of the station, met the WCAX team, learned about the different responsibilities involved in producing the news and sat in on a live interview and news broadcast. The girls then chose to design their own PSA depicting the various activities offered through Girl Scouting using photographs. Perhaps you had the opportunity to view this large display if you stopped by our Girl Scout table during the Charlotte Tractor Parade.

October proved to be just as busy as

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we found ourselves hiking through the Great Vermont Corn Maze in Danville on a gorgeous, sunny Saturday morning following the clues that would eventually help us to escape from the miles of rows of corn stalks to ring the “I made it” bell waiting at the end. Later in the month we tested our building and designing skills and, occasionally, our patience too while constructing haunted Halloween gingerbread houses.

Just as exciting was our decision to join the Girl Scout postcard exchange. Our own personal troop challenge through this group is to send out and receive a postcard from each of the 50 states. What better way to learn facts about other states and the scouts in them? So far we have connected with all but eight of the 50 states and have received postcards back from 25 of them.

Joining this program has also led to contact with scouts from Canada, England, Italy and Australia, as well as a request from a troop in Arizona asking us to become pen pals.

November found us at Camp Twin Hills in Richmond with troops from neighboring towns working on our archery skills, and later in the month we were at Burlington Paint and Sip learning about painting tips and techniques to create a painting of our choice. The girls have combined the lessons learned at the Paint and Sip and experimentation with other art mediums, such as chalk, charcoal, colored pencils and water color paints, to work toward their Juliette Gordon Low Art All-Around patch and their Brownie Painting and Junior Drawing Badges.

Because December proves to be a very busy month for most people, we decided to keep things fun and festive. On Saturday, December 9, we were in Hinesburg where Vicki Mobbs of Vicki’s Country Wreaths graciously donated her time to teach us how to make and decorate holiday wreaths.

Our final troop meeting for 2017 centered on holiday crafts and games and friendship and laughter.

Happy holidays everyone!

Troop 30066 proudly show the wreaths they learned how to decorate on Dec. 9 at Vicki’s Country Wreaths.

Photo by Cindy Bradley

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8 • December 13, 2017 • The Charlotte News

Charlotters embrace the clean energy revolution Carrie Fenn

COMMUNITY ORGANIZER SUNCOMMON

Vermont’s aggressive energy policy As a solar community organizer, I spend a lot of time talking to people about renewable energy. The question I get most frequently is, “Why is there so much wind and solar energy in Vermont?” Folks from out of state, or those who spend time in other places, are surprised by the number of wind projects on our mountains and solar installations on our homes and businesses.

While our sensibilities tell us we are just a state full of green-minded people (as evidenced by the number of Toyota Priuses and Chevy Bolts on our roads), the reality is that Vermont benefits from a strategic blend of savvy energy policy and economic foresight. Simply put, implementing aggressive renewable-energy policy is good for our state on a number of levels, and our legislature has embraced the possibilities that renewable energy can provide.

Vermont sees on average over 100 million megawatt hours of free solar energy every day, which is complemented by higher than average wind speeds during the winter months. These factors, combined with a comprehensive plan focused on realizing Vermont’s economic, environmental and health goals, create an incredible opportunity for our state to be on the leading edge of the clean energy revolution.

Vermont’s “2016 Comprehensive Energy Plan” is a 469-page strategy to decrease our state’s greenhouse gas levels, improve our economy and limit our reliance on

fossil fuels. A multifaceted document covering every sector of energy (including heating, transportation, electricity and weatherization), the CEP expands the statutory goal of 25 percent of our state’s energy to come from renewable resources by 2025 to include reductions of total energy consumption, a goal of 90 percent of our state’s energy needs met by renewables in 2050, and a breakout of end-use sector goals by 2025 (I encourage everyone to at least take a glance of the 14-page Executive Summary found on the Department of Public Service website publicservice.vermont.gov.).

While these goals are great for reducing GHG levels, they are even better for Vermont’s economy. Every year $1.7 billion dollars leave our state to purchase petroleum products for heating and transportation.

Locally produced renewable energy means most of those dollars would stay here, creating new jobs and as much as $2,000 annually per household in energy savings.

In addition, renewable energy reduces pollutants, leading to better public health.

When that energy is locally produced, it is more efficient, in part because electricity generated by micro-production centers such as residential and commercial solar arrays goes to the first available need, which in most cases will be the generator or a close neighbor. Clean energy is also a fast-growing industry and a job creator in Vermont, with about 18,000 Vermonters employed in the sector.

Local utility plays a huge role in advancing state’s goals I often liken the Clean Energy Revolution to the Industrial Revolution. The potential

for economic growth, job creation, advances in technology and infrastructure and quality of life for humanity cannot be understated as renewables become more commonplace in the United States and the world. Vermont is fortunate to have a progressive utility— Green Mountain Power—leading the charge here. GMP’s CEO Mary Powell has embraced the potential for renewables.

Powell said that GMP energy innovation projects are part of a statewide initiative to reduce fossil fuel usage and greenhouse gas emission through Act 56, passed by the Vermont Legislature in 2015.

“Vermont’s carbon reduction targets are aggressive,” Powell allowed. “But GMP’s goals are as well. By the end of 2032, GMP’s Energy Innovation efforts, including our partnerships with Vermont businesses, will result in an offset of almost 200,000 metric tons of carbon per year, which is the equivalent of removing almost 39,000 cars from the road.”

GMP is working to help everyone take part in the clean energy revolution by providing reduced priced energy to low-income households through shares in community solar arrays hosted by GMP. Vermonters at 200 percent of the federal poverty level can receive a seven-percent savings on their energy costs in addition to the 25-percent discount offered through GMP’s lowincome energy assistance program.

Charlotters making the switch Charlotters, for their part, are coming on board. The town’s active Energy Committee has drafted an energy chapter for the Town Plan that lays out a strategy for Charlotte to help meet the state’s goal of 90 percent renewable energy by 2050, as well as plans for siting renewable energy projects. The committee’s plan includes a strategic vision to move municipal buildings to net zero through weatherization, increased energy efficiency and renewable energy sources.

The Energy Committee offers workshops throughout the year to help Charlotters become more energy efficient; a recent series at the Charlotte Library focused on heat pumps, electric vehicles and solar installation.

Charlotte is an incredibly easy place for solar. Over 65 percent of Charlotte homes are viable for solar installations,

and while many Charlotters have embraced photovoltaics for their residences, many more can take advantage of free, clean energy from the sun. Solar is now the least expensive way to heat and cool one’s home or business, and installing solar has never been more cost effective with prices as low as $2.50 per watt. Financing options make going solar more affordable than ever, with no upfront cost financing and low interest rates. Incentives such Vermont’s favorable net metering policies and a federal tax credit of 30 percent of renewable energy costs have helped thousands of Vermonters switch to photovoltaics at home.

Business owners in Charlotte are embracing solar incentives as well. The Old Lantern, Adam’s Berry Farm, Cumbancha Records, Fenn & Company, Charlotte Real Estate and Stony Loam Farm are powered by solar. Businesses are able to take advantage of tax credits and accelerated depreciation with their arrays and can better manage fluctuations in energy needs with solar power. While large-scale solar arrays have come under attack in Charlotte, new rules developed by the Public Utility Commission address community concerns by creating new regulations that effectively shut down green field siting and allowing towns input for siting using land-use goals and town plans for guidance.

It’s not all about climate change Climate change debate aside, clean energy is an effective economic driver in our state.

A recent study by the Vermont Energy Investment Corporation found that with only one-tenth of one percent of Vermont’s land area Vermont could generate 20 percent of our electricity with solar. Reaching this goal by 2025 would result in a net benefit of $8 billion, primarily by reducing our need to purchase petroleum products like gas and oil. As technology advances, we can expect to see an increase of solar on our homes, more electric vehicles on our roads, better air quality in our communities, and a cleaner, efficient grid, all helping to create a vibrant, clean energy economy.

Carrie Fenn is a solar community organizer with SunCommon. She loves answering questions about solar and can be reached at carrie.fenn@suncommon.com

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The Charlotte News • December 13, 2017 • 9

OutTakes Edd Merritt CONTRIBUTING EDITOR

Water, water everywhere

“The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald” The legend lives on from the Chippewa on down Of the big lake they call Gitche Gumee The lake, it is said, never gives up her dead When the skies of November turn gloomy –Gordon Lightfoot From oceans, lakes (“great” and “pretty good”) to rivers, ponds, creeks, icecaps, glaciers and, yes, the human body itself, water is a central element in our planet’s structure and function.

We don’t always appreciate how much of a role water plays in our existence, and it has taken warming trends in the atmosphere to jolt us awake.

Having tuned into my Gordon Lightfoot CD recently, I was carried back to the water world of my youth, Lake Superior, the greatest of the Great Lakes.

It has been 42 years since the Edmund Fitzgerald met its doom there. As a son of Superior whose father worked in his youth on ore boats, I thought it would be interesting to look back on some of my family’s experiences on the great Gitche Gumee and what a major role water has played in our lives.

Let me begin with a few pieces of scientific evidence, beginning right here in the human body. To say that water is a central part of both our bodies and our culture is an understatement. The Journal of Biological Chemistry says our bodies are over half water, generally around 60 percent. Of individual organs, the brain and heart are 73 percent, the lungs 83 percent, muscles and kidneys, 79 percent, even our bones—supposedly solid items—are made up of 31 percent water. Babies and children have the highest percentage of water, followed by adult men. Adult women carry a slightly lower percentage than either men or babies, and obese folks have less water than lean ones.

According to Anne Marie Helmenstine, Ph.D., a writer and scientific consultant who wrote an article titled “How Much of Your Body is Water?” for ThoughtCo.com, between 30 and 40 percent of the weight of our bodies is in our skeleton. However, if the water that is bound up in our bones

were to be removed, half of that weight would go with it.

We are pretty liquid items.

Well, so what? What does this water do—just slosh around? No, it actually carries out a number of important functions. It’s a primary building block of our cells. It serves as an insulator to regulate our body’s temperature.

It lubricates joints and is necessary if we are to metabolize proteins and carbohydrates. A major component of saliva, it aids in digesting carbohydrates and in swallowing food. (How often do you say you have a dry throat and can’t get anything down?) Water is a shock absorber for vital organs such as the brain and spinal cord as well as for unborn fetuses. It comes in handy in the “biffy” when we need to flush our own wastes and urine. “We aim to please.

You aim, too, please.”

Growing up on Gitche Gumee, however, put water in a different context.

It was our major means of transportation since there were no roads on the island where our camp stood. It was the source of income for the commercial fisherman who lived in our harbor and set his nets and collected his catch daily. It also contributed to his downfall when the lamprey eels found Superior’s lake trout to be plentiful and tasty.

My dad spent several summers of his youth working on ore boats that carried iron ore from Minnesota and Wisconsin east through the Great Lakes to refineries in Michigan and Ohio. The Canadian long boats went past our island (Isle Royale) regularly, honking as they carried their ore between the north end of the island and a smaller island called Passage Island. We often went up to the end of our harbor to watch them go through the straits. Isle Royale was a summer vacation for us, we missed seeing the Edmund Fitzgerald on its ill-fated voyage in November. Since it sailed out of Superior, Wisconsin, it went south of us on its way to Whitefish Bay at the east end of the lake.

Many summers, a good portion of our vacation was spent seeking out the wrecks that went down near us. Isle Royale, with its cliffs, rocks and reefs, was the site of numerous ship disasters.

Each year we would get in our 18foot outboard we named “Handy” and cruise around the island’s northeastern point to a spot about 100 yards out in the lake, where Canoe Rocks jutted from the water. The rocks were where the Emperor, a 525-foot Canadian ore boat, the largest Canadian vessel at the time, went down. The first summers after its sinking, parts of the ship’s cabin remained above water, and we tied up to its radio antenna sticking out of the water to explore what was left

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Edmund Fitzgerald underneath. There were crew members trapped beneath the ship’s cabin at the time of the collision who drowned with it. Because Superior is such a clear, cold lake, one could see the ship’s body as it lay on the reef next to Canoe Rocks.

Soon after its sinking, it became a prime fishing spot as the lake trout swam around its hull.

A second Gitche Gumee vessel sank not far away under sheer cliffs called the Palisades. This boat, a wooden ship, was a Canadian passenger and cargo vessel that normally carried people and goods between Sarnia, Ontario, and Duluth, Minnesota. Even though it was wooden, the Monarch was still able to travel the lake in early December. The night of December 6, 1906, it ran far off course in a blinding snowstorm and crashed into The Palisades with its cargo of wheat, oats and salmon. Most of the crew and passengers escaped the wreck via a line they were able to string to the shore. They survived on the ship’s food supply and were rescued four days later.

Large pieces of the boat are still visible under water 10- to 80-feet deep, the cold Lake Superior temperature keeping the wood intact. The Monarch

Photo contributed

was always a second journey for us year after year to learn how much of it one could still see.

A third Isle Royale wreck, whose sinking may these days prove prophetic, was a boat called the America. (No, our current president was not on board—in fact, he was not yet born when it went under.)

Water and the “great lake” held a legendary piece of my early life. The lives of those who remained underneath its whitecaps were to me the spiritual leaders of an underwater universe, a symbol to us living that there is more than we have created on this space orb called Earth.

In Charlotte, being on a “pretty good lake,” we still have our own legends.

My five-year-old grandson came to visit us last week and became fascinated with Champ. His mother called to say that she asked him recently about his beliefs for the holidays. He said he was not sure about Mary and Jesus, but he did, on the other hand, absolutely believe in the reality of Champ and he has seen pictures to prove it. Hmm, science or science fiction?

10 • December 13, 2017 • The Charlotte News

Town

CARING and

REPAIRING Submitted by Ruah Swennerfelt.

On Nov. 11 Transition Town Charlotte, with help from the Charlotte Grange, the Charlotte Library and the Charlotte Congregational Church, hosted a “Repair Cafe.” The eight “fixers” helped about 30 people get repairs on clothing, small appliances, jewelry, watches, electronics, dull knives, broken chairs and more while sipping coffee and eating delicious sweets, with soups and biscuits for lunch (provided by Little Garden Market), while having great conversations. The fee-for-service was a donation to the Food Shelf. We raised $190 and three bags full of food!

Courtesy photos

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The Charlotte News • December 13, 2017 • 11

Town

Food Shelf News Kerrie Pughe CONTRIBUTOR

Holiday preparations

Please join us to assemble the holiday/ Christmas baskets for approximately 30 Charlotte families. We’ll meet in the Charlotte Congregational Church vestry on Friday, Dec.15, from 8 until about 10 a.m.

This is a festive and fun occasion and all are welcome. The baskets will be distributed to families in need the following morning.

Bring your friends and just show up, we love the help!

The Frank Beck family and Wow Toyzs will be donating age-appropriate toys for each child again this year, and the Giving Tree shoppers from Charlotte Congregational Church and Our Lady of Mt. Carmel are busy making a child’s wish come true. The Flying Pig book store will be sponsoring the Snowflake book program again this year to include children’s books in the holiday baskets. You can pick out a book or leave it to the staff at the Flying Pig to select just the right one. Thank you to all for your time and generosity.

Holiday gift idea

As the holiday season approaches, consider a donation to the Food Shelf in honor or memory of friends and family. It’s also the perfect idea for teacher gifts. Checks may be mailed to the address indicated below. We will mail a confirmation/ acknowledgment to any address provided on nice holiday themed stationery/cards.

Baking for the Food Shelf

Holly Rochefort will be starting a local chapter of “Hunger is Hard, Baking is Easy” and hopes to provide fresh baked goods year-round at the Charlotte Food Shelf.

We would like to include these items in the

holiday baskets that will be assembled on Dec. 15, so we would love your donation by Thursday, Dec. 14. Items can be dropped off at Holly’s house (86 Spear Street) or at the Food Shelf. Please label your item and indicate if it contains nuts (for allergies).

Holly is also available to pick up your items if needed. Please contact her at 802-2388035 if you are interested in baking or have any questions . She will also be looking for ongoing bakers (as much or as little as you can help). Everyone deserves a homemade sweet treat for the holidays!

Thank you

Twenty-five boxes were distributed to Charlotte families for Thanksgiving. The boxes were overflowing with everything needed for a lovely Thanksgiving meal plus a few extras! Thank you to CCS students and families for decorating boxes, grocery shopping, baking and creating a special Thanksgiving box of goodies. The Charlotte and Shelburne Rotary donated a turkey for each family, a tradition started many years ago. A special thanks to Kris Gerson for coordinating the effort at CCS and Todd Whitaker, Rotary member, for coordinating with the Shelburne Market on behalf of the Food Shelf. Thank you to the volunteers who helped assemble baskets: Katharine Cohen, John Lavigne, Ken Oboz, Lynn Cluff, Tara Mullen, Mia Sloan, Diane Cote, Susan Ohanian, Holly Rochefort, Liz Foster, Cindy Tyler, Bill Doris, Karen Doris, Kerrie Pughe, Mary Ellen Hebert, Ellen Evans, Garrett Sadler, Sue Hall, Alaina Murphy, Nancy Calcagni, Holly Palmer, Sandy Armell, Peter Richardson, Cindi Robinson, Katie Shattie, Renny Manning, Alice McEnaney, Dicey Manning, Libby Manning, Payton Shattie, and Treson McEnaney.

Thank you for the $179 donation from the Repair Cafe, hosted by Transition Town Charlotte, the Charlotte Grange and the Charlotte Library.

We appreciate the support from the following people: Jeffery and Martha Small in honor of Pati Naritomi’s birthday, Maurice Harvey and Mary Mead, Evan and Catherine Metropoulos, Charlotte Organic Coop, the Patricia Sulva Family in memory of Norm Ziegelman, Raymond and Eileen Curtis, Luella Aube and Jeanette MyersWhitney, and Waitsfield Champlain Valley

Katie Manges

Telecom.

We appreciate the generous donations from the Crosswinds neighborhood (in lieu of a neighborhood gift exchange) from Kathleen and William Posey, Myron and Lenore Sopher, Mark and Eleanor Capeless, Jan and Larry Sudbay, Karen and David Hurwitt, John and Carolyn Kovac, Heather and John Dwight, and Lell and Rex Forehand.

Will you volunteer?

We are looking for volunteers who can act as substitutes for our distribution days, as well as volunteers to help us stack shelves once a month. Please call Karen Doris at 425-3252 if you can help. This is a wonderful opportunity to work with a small group of committed individuals who are making a difference at a local level.

Wish list

We appreciate donations of healthy afterschool snacks for children, such as dried fruit, granola bars, instant oatmeal packs, butter-free popcorn, salt-free nuts, canned fruit in juice, peanut butter, juice boxes (no sugar added), and low-sodium soups. In addition we need spaghetti sauce, crackers, Cheerios and Rice Krispies cereal, pancake mix and tea. Thank you!

Donations

We are a volunteer organization, so all donations you make to the Food Shelf go directly for food or assistance to our local neighbors in need. Thank you so much for considering donating today. Checks may be mailed to Charlotte Food Shelf & Assistance, P. O. Box 83, Charlotte, VT 05445.

Donated food drop-off locations

All nonperishable food donations may

be dropped off at the Charlotte Library, the Charlotte Congregational Church vestry, Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Church (main entrance) or at the Food Shelf during the distribution mornings. We request that all fresh foods be dropped off at the Food Shelf before the Wednesday distribution hours or before 7:30 a.m. on the Thursday distribution mornings.

The Charlotte Food Shelf is located on the lower level of the Charlotte Congregational Church vestry. Distribution days/times are posted in this newspaper and on the bulletin board in the Charlotte Congregational Church hall. You may also call the Food Shelf number (425-3252) for a recording of the distribution times.

New Facebook page “Like” us at our new Facebook page, Charlotte Community Food Shelf and Assistance, to see photos and get updates on all the Food Shelf activities.

We are open to all community residents.

Privacy is very important and respected in our mission of neighbor helping neighbor.

For emergency food call John 425-3130.

For emergency assistance (electricity, fuel) call Cindi at 425-3234.

For more information call Karen at 4253252.

Charlotte Food Shelf Distribution Dates Friday, Dec. 15, 8–10 a.m. Christmas/Holiday basket set up by volunteers.

Saturday, Dec.16, 8:30 a.m. Families pick up baskets.

Wednesdays, Jan. 3 and 17, 5–7 p.m.

Thursdays, Jan. 4 and 18, 7:30–9 a.m.

The Charlotte Food Shelf is located on the lower level of the Charlotte Congregational Church vestry.

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Make Vergennes your destination this holiday season.

Moving, downsizing, redecorating, or just clea ning out ?

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12 • December 13, 2017 • The Charlotte News products to the charitable organization of your choice.

Join the Friends: Visit the Friends page on the Charlotte Library website for information about donating and participating in all that this group does to support the library mission.

Mitten tree: Our annual tree is up and adorned with warm accessories for winter temps. But there’s room for more! Drop off hats, mittens and scarves at the library until Dec. 31. All items donated to the Charlotte Food Shelf for neighbors in need.

Kids Programs & Activities

News Margaret Woodruff LIBRARY DIRECTOR

Traveling for the holidays? We’ve got a new batch of audiobooks for all members of the family. Or try the new LIBBY app for your phone or device. If you’ve been frustrated with Overdrive, check out LIBBY for one-click to reading and listening. For help getting started, drop in during Tech Help Thursdays from 2 to 4 p.m. or drop a line to our tech librarian, Susanna Kahn: susanna.charlottelibraryvt@gmail.com.

On our wish list

Adopt-an-author program: Make sure you’re first in line for the latest title from your favorite author. Adopt the author here at the library! We purchase the book at our discounted rate, you get first dibs and a tax write-off for donating.

Magazine subscriptions: We welcome gift subscriptions! Think of us when you get that “free gift” notice in between the pages of your magazines.

Amazon Smile: You can donate to the Friends of the Charlotte Library while you shop. Simply select “Friends of the Charlotte Library” from the list of charitable organizations when you first visit the site. AmazonSmile is a website operated by Amazon with the same products, prices and shopping features as Amazon.com. The difference is that when you shop on AmazonSmile, the AmazonSmile Foundation will donate 0.5 percent of the purchase price of eligible

Tuesdays @ 2:15 p.m. through Dec. 19: After School Story Explorations.

Take the bus from CCS and explore the world of stories! For kindergarten and first grade students. Registration required.

Fridays @ 10:30 a.m. through Dec. 22: Preschool Story Time. Join us for stories, songs, crafts and fun as we discover the wonder of books and the tales they tell.

For children ages three to five who are comfortable in a story time setting with or without parent/caregiver. Registration required.

Wednesdays @ 3:15 p.m. Minecraft Meet-Ups. Bring your Minecraft mania to the library and help build new worlds each week. Please come with your own device loaded with Minecraft Pocket Edition. For ages seven and up with basic knowledge of Minecraft. Meet-up date: Dec. 13.

Info & Interest for Adults

Wednesday, Dec. 13 @ 1 p.m.

Wrapping Up a Good Read: Favorite Selections from the Library. Avid readers and book sharers Georgia Edwards, Cheryl Sloan and Margaret Woodruff bring their top ideas for the holiday season in this rapid-review session. From mysteries to early readers, biography to bestsellers, you’ll get a brief synopsis and a chance to look through book selections for every reader on your list. Enjoy a relaxed afternoon of gift shopping and good cheer. Refreshments served. Book copies available for purchase thanks to the Flying Pig Bookstore. This program takes place at the Charlotte Senior Center.

Monday, Dec. 18 @ 10 a.m. Mystery Book Group: Before the Poison. This stand-alone mystery by Peter Robinson

The annual Mitten Tree has room for more donations. Drop off your hats, mittens and scarves at the Library through Dec 31.

Photo contributed “reads like a Golden Age classic crime novel, an unhurried, deliberate unraveling of a mystery paralleled by a long, slow reveal of the narrator’s own motivation, told with a ratcheting up of tension.”

Copies are available at the circulation desk.

Through December: Tech Help Thursdays, 2 to 4 p.m. Get some one-onone technology help from Tech Librarian Susanna Kahn. Learn a new skill, troubleshoot a problem on your device, find out about downloading audiobooks and ebooks with your library card, and more. Drop in or sign up in advance. Dec. 14 and 21.

Join us in January! Mindfulness sessions at the Charlotte Senior Center, Sunday Supper at the Library, Brain Teasers, Chess Club and more.

Charlotte Library Board of Trustees: Emily Ferris, Nan Mason, Danielle Conlon Menk, Jonathan Silverman and Robert Smith. Next board meeting: Thursday, Dec. 14, at 6 p.m.

Charlotte Library information Margaret Woodruff, director Cheryl Sloan, youth services librarian Susanna Kahn, tech services librarian Hours Mondays & Wednesdays: 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.

Tuesdays, Thursdays & Fridays: 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Saturdays: 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Reach us on the web at charlottepubliclibrary.org.

Like us on Facebook: facebook.com/charlottelibraryvt.

Follow us on Twitter & Instagram: @CharlotteVTLib. Holiday Schedule Saturday, Dec. 23: Closed Monday, Dec. 25: Closed Tuesday, Dec. 26: Closed Monday, Jan. 1: Closed

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The Charlotte News • December 13, 2017 • 13

Town Funding available to support career pathways for Vermont women and girls The Vermont Women’s Fund (VWF) is making funding available for new or existing projects, programs and efforts that support viable career pathways and career prospects for Vermont women and girls. Charlotte resident Meg Smith, the director of the VWF, said, “It is very exciting to be opening up the grant cycle for the Vermont Women’s Fund this year at a time when women’s rights, especially in the workplace, are so top of mind (I might add that the Women’s Fund’s featured speaker last year was Jodi Kantor, The New York Times reporter who just broke the Harvey Weinstein story!).”

The VWF was established in 1994 and has granted more than $2 million in support of its mission. The primary initiative of the Fund is Change The Story, a partnership with the Vermont Commission on Women and Vermont Works for Women, which seeks to fasttrack women’s economic security in Vermont. “The initiative,” Smith said, “provides much needed data on women’s

economic status in Vermont. For example, we discovered in our research that 40 percent of women working fulltime in Vermont cannot meet their basic needs. Think about that—40 percent is a huge number of women in our state who cannot make enough money even though they are working a full-time job!”

Consistent with that research, and in an effort to achieve a deeper and more strategic impact with its funding dollars, Smith said the Women’s Fund will focus its 2018 grantmaking on funding “nonprofits with programs that help women and girls find viable careers. Proposals may request funding for program support, for awareness-generating activities or to complete needed research as identified

by Change The Story. In some cases, multiyear funding will be considered.”

Nonprofits may apply online at any time. Applications will be accepted through Feb. 8, 2018, at 5 p.m. For more information visit vermontwomensfund. org and changethestoryvt.org.

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14 • December 13, 2017 • The Charlotte News

Education Commissioner of Taxes Releases The special sauce

Getting those college applications to rise to the top of the pile Denise Shekerjian CONTRIBUTOR

Students and parents are always asking: what’s the secret ingredient, that special sauce, that will allow a college application to rise to the top of the pile?

The assumption behind the question is that colleges want to hear certain things.

While it’s true that applications are designed to elicit the basics—grades, scores, activities, focus, an explanation for something that may have gone sideways, and more—the personal essay is another matter altogether. There is no special sauce here. Admission committees don’t want to hear certain things—they want to hear real things.

They want to hear you. Your voice. Your heart. Your mind.

Why? They want to know you before they bet on you—and you have some 650 words to accomplish this feat.

So, how do you do this? Tell a story.

But choose carefully. No one cares where you went on vacation or how you won that math competition. Accounts of how you built a Habitat house or taught English over the summer in Nepal or slaved away in a research lab are just too common to hold interest. What we crave as readers—admissions people included—is a good story well told, something we haven’t heard before that allows us to glimpse something real, something that moves us and makes us think.

A good story says something about you—it has a point of view, a tone, a beginning, middle and an end, and is well executed with pristine language.

A good story flows without a hitch like a silk scarf in the hand. Each sentence pulls you on. Each paragraph adds

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something. The beginning is riveting, the ending satisfying. Days later, you are still thinking about it. You mention it to some friends. You don’t remember it word for word, but you sure can recall how it made you feel. If it’s still on your mind a month later, a year later, it was a very good story indeed.

I can tell you all day what a good story contains, but you won’t remember it.

What you’ll remember is an example— subtle, powerful—like this one: A student, an immigrant, wrote about her father’s search for a job and how he was turned down rather summarily by a man she called “Joe.” She went on to talk about all the “Joes” her family had come across as they tried to assimilate, people who looked at her family and thought: uneducated, poor, illegal. She spoke about the Joe who assumed that they were shoplifting, the one who presumed they were the hired help, the one who spoke loudly and slowly on the assumption that she didn’t understand English. She never once used the word “discrimination.” Instead, her essay was about how she managed that sense of being made to feel “less than” and how it forged in her a resolve to succeed. She never once said “I’ll show them,” but that’s exactly what she did.

A reader would have a hard time shaking that notion of all the ignorant, arrogant “Joes” in world, the damage they do, and how it toughened her spirit, straightened her spine, and here she was, applying to an Ivy. She got in.

A mere 650 words, and we know who she is and we are rooting for her.

We know she can write. We know she is observant, resourceful and tough. We know she’s going to seize her college opportunities fully and upon graduation make something of her life and make her alma mater proud.

That’s the kind of story I want to see you write. That’s the kind of story I want to read. Don’t go looking for some secret sauce. Instead, look within.

What’s the story that has made you who you are? What’s the story you can’t stop talking about—or the one you never dared to speak aloud? What’s the secret wish, or the deeply held belief, or the point of vulnerability, or the dumb luck that has shaped you? Write that—and your application will definitely stand apart. Guaranteed.

Need help? Be in touch!

Denise Shekerjian is an awardwinning writer, lawyer and essay coach. For information on her consulting service, including one-on-one private instruction for college and graduate admission, visit soulofaword.com.

FY2019 Education Yield Letter

On Nov. 30, Commissioner of Taxes Kaj Samsom released his annual education tax rate letter, which forecasts an increase of 9.4 cents per $100 of assessed valuation for both homestead and nonresidential taxpayers for the upcoming fiscal year (FY) 2019.

This translates to about $235 per year on a $250,000 property. The median tax bill for homesteads, nonresidential properties and resident households who pay based on income is forecast to increase by 7.32 percent.

Samsom emphasizes that the projected rate increase is not inevitable. “Local voters have the final say on what they see on their property tax bills,” Voters, he said, should keep in mind two basic principles.

“First, the local homestead education tax rate is determined by your district’s perpupil education spending, not the total spending or budget. Second, those who pay based on income will generally see the same proportional change to their tax bills because of education spending decisions as those who pay based on property.”

The projected 9.4 cent average increase in education property tax rates, according to Samsom, is primarily being driven by an anticipated 3.52 percent increase ($47.5M) in education spending statewide. However, any district that can keep its per-pupil spending growth flat or modest will experience a much less severe increase to its education tax rate than the

average.

In aggregate, if all districts can arrive at a per-pupil spending growth rate that is no higher than state economic and wage growth (roughly 2.5 percent), homestead and nonresidential tax rates could be much lower than projected.

Jeanne Jenson, the Champlain Valley School District’s chief operating officer, in an email to The News, said, “It’s important for [voters] to know that almost half of the projected 9.4 cent increase is due to the Legislature’s choice to use one time money—including reserves—to fund the state Education Fund last year. About 4 cents of the 9.4 cents is required just to restore the fund reserves to statutory levels. The rest of the increase is based on a projected 3.5 percent increase in spending on declining enrollment. The budget the CVSD board is working on currently includes a 2.3 percent increase on level enrollment. Finally, taxpayers should remember that we will be receiving the second year of our district consolidation tax incentive, which will provide CVSD tax payers with an 8 cent reduction on their tax bill.”

Additional resources for understanding education tax rates are at http:// tax.vermont.gov/property-owners/ understanding-property-taxes/educationtax-rates and from the Vermont school boards association at http://www.vtvsba. org.

Vermont’s 529 college savings plan tops $350 million in assets Vermonters are giving the gift of education and earning tax credits too Investments in Vermont’s 529 college savings plan now top $350 million, the Vermont Student Assistance Corp. announced on Nov. 29. Vermont’s plan, the Vermont Higher Education Investment Plan, or VHEIP, has paid out over $143 million to help more than 5,800 students over the years to continue their education.

“We know that students from families who save even a small amount for education are three times more likely to continue their education,” said Scott Giles, president and CEO of VSAC, which administers the 529 plan for the state.

Vermont has one of the most competitive and well-run 529 plans for its size, including strong performance on the investments and the second-lowest management fee among our peers, Giles said. In addition, Vermont provides a nonrefundable tax credit of 10 percent of the first $2,500 contributed per beneficiary, per year. Contributions made by Dec. 31 qualify for a 2017 Vermont income tax credit.

“Our goal is to provide families with a college savings plan that is affordable, accessible and flexible,” Giles said.

“Every dollar saved is a dollar you don’t have to borrow.”

VHEIP accounts can be started with as little as $25. Or you can give a gift of any amount to an existing account.

VHEIP’s website, www.vheip.org, provides comprehensive account and program information, and includes online enrollment, e-gifting instructions and other services. Information and applications can also be obtained by calling 800-637-5860.

The Vermont Student Assistance Corporation is a public, nonprofit agency established by the Vermont Legislature in 1965 to help Vermonters achieve their education and training goals after high school. VSAC serves students in grades 7 through 12 and their families, as well as adults returning to school, by providing education and career planning services, need-based grants, scholarships and education loans. For more information, go to vsac.org.

The Charlotte News • December 13, 2017 • 15

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16 • December 13, 2017 • The Charlotte News

Health Matters Timothy Gould, DPT Let’s set aside for the moment the politicized hot-button talk about healthcare costs in the United States and look at the problem of controlling health care costs as perhaps your physician might look at managing an illness.

Diagnosis: Spending Acceleratitis. The latest official numbers from the National Health Expenditure Accounts (NHEA, which is responsible for the official tabulation of healthcare costs in the U.S.) show that health care spending increased to $3.2 trillion in 2015. That equates to $9,990 per woman, man and child in the country.

Early projections from the Department of Health and Human Services estimate that in 2016 that number increased to $3.35 trillion and $10,345 per person. Between 2017 and 2025, an annual rate increase of 5.8 percent is expected and will bring spending to $5.5 trillion seven years from now. This far outpaces the rate of growth of the national economy, and thus healthcare spending becomes a significantly greater percentage of GDP on a yearly basis.

Causes: Price Hyper-Inflatia / MultiFactorial. The single greatest element in these growing costs is price inflation for medical services. Charges for services go up and care gets more expensive each year.

An aging population and general population

Health Care Cost Control Starts With a Look in the Mirror growth contribute to a lesser extent.

When considering all areas of healthcare expenditure, utilization of services has been shown to have only a small effect, if any at all.

Treatment: A Healthy Dose of Healthy You. The concern about such a rate of spending increase is, of course, how we pay for it. This is where the finger pointing starts and arguments flare. The government should pay for it because health care should be a right for all citizens. The insurance companies should pay for it because their investors are profiting from the ills of others. Those that use the most should pay the most. The politicians need to step in and figure it out. The politicians need to stay out of the way and let it play out on the open market. The pharmaceutical companies should be forced to lower prices. And on and on.

No matter your perspective on the subject or who you choose to point your finger at, the enormous and growing cost of health care cannot be handled effectively by any of these entities or means. People get sick, researchers investigate cures, companies develop new drugs, engineers invent new diagnostic and intervention technologies, physicians conceive innovative treatments, and the cost goes up and up. No matter who is holding the bill at the end of the day, it is unreasonable to expect that it can continue to be paid when considering the projected rate of increase.

Therefore we have to point our fingers elsewhere. Namely, at ourselves.

We have to go back to the beginning: People get sick. Without that most crucial of factors, costs don’t skyrocket. As individuals and as a society, a greater

emphasis on wellness and prevention is essential and will undeniably decrease healthcare expense.

Consider this: According to the Department of Commerce, more health care dollars go toward treatment of cardiovascular disorders than any other diagnostic category.

(Interestingly, the category “Neoplasms,” which includes cancers, is lowest on the expenditure list, below disorders of the musculoskeletal, pulmonary, endocrine and nervous systems). And, yes, we rank among the best in the world with regard to heart attack mortality (which is not the case for many other measures of quality in our health care system). We also know that many cardiovascular conditions can be prevented altogether or improved with proper risk factor management. Managing high blood pressure and high cholesterol, eating a balanced diet, exercising regularly and addressing stress can go a long way to reduce one’s risk for a cardiovascular event. In the diagnostic category of care that is associated with the greatest cost. i.e., cardiovascular disorder, imagine what even modest lifestyle changes could do when made en masse.

As a population, however, we seem to be moving in the other direction. We take our health and our bodies for granted, assuming that modern medicine will bail us out when we find ourselves in trouble. At the level of the individual, it’s difficult to make lifestyle changes that promote personal wellness and help prevent disease; it is far easier to abide by our current habits and ask for a pill or a surgery when things go awry. It is not simply a matter of negligence, however. Often, it is a matter of lack of information. At a societal level, we don’t do a comprehensive job in

Get Your Flu Shot, Now

Vermont health officials say we may be in for a rough flu season and are advising people to get their flu shots to protect both themselves as well as others, such as children too young to be vaccinated.

“Especially now, during the holiday season of crowds and gatherings of friends and family, everyone older than six months

should get a flu shot,” said Vermont Health Commissioner Mark Levine, M.D. “Flu viruses are notoriously unpredictable, but from the information I’ve received, all indications point to a possibly severe flu season in Vermont.”

Flu is already widespread in several states. According to the Centers for Disease

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Control and Prevention, several strains of influenza virus are in circulation. The dominant flu virus strain is H3N2, which can result in more severe illnesses than other strains. While this year’s vaccine works well against many of the flu virus strains out there, recent studies indicate the vaccine is less effective against the H3N2 strain. Health officials stress that an annual flu shot can still help lessen the severity of illness, and for people at high risk of complications from flu, it can be a life saver.

Those at high risk include pregnant women, young children, adults 50 years and older, and people with chronic health conditions.

For older adults, especially those with chronic respiratory conditions, complications from flu often lead to a sharp increase in hospitalizations and potentially serious illnesses, including pneumonia and bronchitis. Such infections can dramatically increase the risk of heart attack and stroke for months after the illness has cleared.

“Human immune defenses become weaker with age, which places older people at greater risk of severe illness,” explained Dr. Levine. He encourages people age 65 and older to talk with their doctors about getting one of the vaccines designed to give older people a better immune response, and therefore, better protection against flu.

educating people on the nature of wellness, risk factor management, and prevention.

Sure, we’ve made it clear that cigarettes and excessive sugar in your diet are bad for you.

But do we value these lessons in our culture highly enough to invest resources to help people truly understand the associated risks, the practical application of management strategies and the necessary behavior modifications? I propose that we do not.

I’m not suggesting that if we all exercise, eat better and get regular check-ups that the natural state of human vulnerability and illness will cease to exist. Things out of our control—disease, accidents, aging, mutation, degeneration, genetics— will always play major roles in dictating our collective health. But when we take personal responsibility for the factors that we can control, we can effect change in our own lives as well as for the greater good.

A health teacher of mine in high school once mused, “Suppose you are given a car when you turn 16 and told that it’s the only car you’ll have for your entire life. If it breaks down, you are out of luck. You can bet people would take care of that car and treat it like gold. And yet, knowing that our bodies are the only ones we’ll ever have, we neglect and abuse them until they break down.”

We can’t simply rely on medicine to fix us up when we break down. The costs go beyond dollars when we do so. It is up to each of us to do a better job taking care of ourselves in the first place.

Timothy Gould holds a doctorate in physical therapy from SUNY Upstate Medical University in Syracuse, New York, and works at Dee Physical Therapy in Shelburne. He can be reached at timothygould@deept com.

“The absolute best thing you can do to prevent illness, hospitalizations and even death from flu complications is to get your flu shot,” said Dr. Levine. “Even if it’s not a perfect match, it’s very important, not just for yourself, but also to protect those with whom you may come in contact—including babies too young to get vaccinated and people who have weakened immune systems. It is not an understatement to say their lives may depend on you.”

“The flu vaccine takes two weeks to become fully effective,” said Dr. Levine, “so now is the time to get yours.”

Flu shots are available at more than 300 locations around Vermont, including Rite Aid in Shelburne; in addition the Charlotte Family Health Center offers the shots to its established patients. For other locations that offer flu shots, go to healthvermont.gov/flu or dial 2-1-1.

The Charlotte News • December 13, 2017 • 17

Sports Edd’s Sports Report Edd Merritt

EDITOR IN CHIEF

Redhawks gain statewide recognition

Before winter sports head into full swing, coaches and the Burlington Free Press sports writers selected players from across Vermont for their prowess this fall in field hockey, while the coaches did the same for men and women in soccer.

Field Hockey

Senior midfielder Lydia Maitland from CVU appears on many of the elite field hockey rosters. As a senior, she was named by coaches to the Twin-State team that will face New Hampshire. Teammate Bella Rieley joins her. Redhawk coach Tucker Pierson will assist Anjie Soucy, head coach from South Burlington, on the sidelines.

In the Division I Metro League, Lydia and Bella are joined by Nora ReismanRowell on the first team. Flynn Hall and Nathalie Paquette earned secondteam honors, and Julia Bryant, Caroline Reynolds and Abby Rosenthal received honorable mention. A separate coach’s honorable mention team had Nora Weisman-Rowell at defense and Bella Rieley at midfield.

Lydia Maitland was also selected by the Free Press to represent CVU on the paper’s first-team All-State roster. They noted that she played varsity field hockey for four years as a Redhawk and hopes to continue on the UVM roster next year. As a midfielder, she worked both ends of the grid equally well. Her play was recognized by the paper and coaches alike, beginning as a second team AllMetro selection in her freshman year.

Men’s and Women’s Soccer

Demonstrating CVU’s continued success in women’s soccer, four Redhawks were named to the Vermont Soccer Coaches Association (VSCA) and to the Burlington Free Press’ AllState rosters: seniors Lindsey Albertelli, Natalie Durieux and Hanna Swett, and sophomore Charlotte Hill.

The newspaper named Durieux Player of the Year. Jess Klein and goalie Charlotter Maryn Askew received honorable mention.

In the coaches’ Metro Division picks, two Redhawks earned special honors: Charlotte Hill as offensive player of the year and Natalie Durieux as one of two defensive players of the year.

Natalie, Charlotte and Hanna Swett made the divisional first-team rankings, Lindsey Albertelli, the second team, and honorable mention went to Ali Bisaccia, Sydney Jimmo, Sara Kelley and Maryn Askew.

On the men’s side of the ledger, CVU had three Redhawks earn the coaches’ recognition by being placed on the allstate roster. They are Nate Coffin, Briggs Francis and Sawyer Miller-Bottoms. The same three made the Metro Division first team, Isaac Cleveland, the second team, and Oliver Bijur and Ivan Llona received honorable mention.

Another all-state year for CVU’s Lydia Maitland as she dribbles through South Burlington in the state championship game.

Photo by Al Frey

MMU/CVU women’s hockey opens season with a win

The combined team from CVU and Mount Mansfield Union topped Rutland 5-4 on a goal by Jackie Ryan in the last ten seconds of the game. CVU’s Lydia Maitland paced the Cougar/Hawks with two goals.

Men’s hockey drops opener to Lower Canada

Lower Canada College sank CVU 9-1 at Cairns Arena Saturday. Redhawk goalies Logan Cody and Reed Dousevicz were called upon to stop 45 shots.

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Redhawks versus Whitehawks in a pre-season men’s hockey scrimmage.

Photo by Al Frey

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18 • December 13, 2017 • The Charlotte News

The Mesa

Quietly Making Noise

As Jeff turned off the pavement onto a narrow dirt road, the late afternoon sun shone into his eyes. It had been three weeks since she had collapsed Jorden Blucher on the kitchen floor, CONTRIBUTOR and this would be the twenty-second sunset he would watch without her. He squinted to better see the edges of the road and quickly rolled up his window to keep the dust from coating the inside of the dented blue Subaru. He turned the air conditioning up all the way even though he knew it was no match for the intense spring sun of the desert. The car rattled over washboard, and he reached his hand across to the passenger seat to keep the small plain wooden box from falling to the floor. As his hand touched the wood, his foot slowly came off the gas pedal, and the car coasted to a stop and stalled.

He sat motionless, one hand on the box, one on the steering wheel, and watched the dust settle around him.

She’d been making a salad when it had happened; they’d gotten her to the hospital in less than fifteen minutes. He’d come home from the hospital that night

Photo contributed and put all the baby’s clothes and diapers and toys into three black garbage bags.

Then he’d taken the crib apart and stuffed it all into the car. The only thing that was left in the room was the baby’s name on the wall. The next morning he took it all to a women’s shelter downtown.

Jeff took a deep breath and started the car; a plume of dust quickly rose into the sky as he continued down the road past the pulloff that had been their destination the weekend he’d proposed six years ago.

But there had been a couple of RVs and several ATVs parked there, so they had continued on. Jeff downshifted when he came to a fork in the road that led to their spot on top of a mesa. He let the car idle there for a moment thinking how they had never gone down the right fork of the

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road, even though it was the smoother of the two. The left had just seemed more intriguing. The road had washed out a bit since they had been there last, exposing some larger rocks and gouging the earth.

Jeff carefully guided the car around these obstacles, casting sideways glances at the box every few seconds to make sure it was not about to fall onto the floor.

After he had dropped off all of the baby’s things he had gone back home.

The house was desolate and he felt like a caged helpless animal. He had walked in the front door and gone straight out to the back porch. Later in the day some of Angie’s college friends arrived along with her parents, and they set about doing the things that needed to be done while Jeff just sat staring out at the mountains. They had only been in the house about a year; they had stumbled upon it right around the time they decided it was time to start a family. The previous owner had just stuck the For Sale by Owner sign in the yard when they drove by, and they’d moved in a month later.

Jeff parked the car in the shade of the gnarled and twisted juniper trees at the end of the road. He sat for a moment hearing the tick of the engine as it cooled

down and watching the dust settle onto the windshield. Silent tears streamed down his face and splashed into his lap, and for a few moments he was unsure if he could even get out of the car. Gradually he became aware of how hot the car was getting even in the shade, so with a deep breath and a short prayer he opened the door, picked up the plain wooden box with the gold latch and stepped out onto the hard red rock. He took a few deep breaths smelling the juniper and the desert and a calm washed over him, just as it had every time he and Angie had come down here to escape the harried life of the city.

This time, though, the calm was quickly overtaken by the brutal emptiness that now resided in him.

He clutched the box to his chest, as if hugging it, and walked over to the very edge of the cliff and looked down at the curving dry riverbed several hundred feet below. How was he going to go on?

How could he go back to the empty house where every little thing reminded him of her, of everything they had? Today he was supposed to be filled with the joy of new life, not standing alone on the side of a cliff in the middle of the desert. He let out a guttural cry that echoed off the canyon walls.

A slight breeze stirred Jeff’s shaggy dark hair as the surrounding hills and mesas cast long shadows across the desert floor in the fading light. He placed the small box on the ground, unhooked the gold clasp and opened the lid. Using a pocketknife, the first gift Angie had given him, he cut the plastic ring off the bag inside. Scooping a handful of ashes from the bag he closed the lid and stood up.

As he watched the sun slowly fall from the sky, he opened his hand slightly, and watched as the wind carried the ashes of his wife and unborn child across the desert.

The Charlotte News • December 13, 2017 • 19

Real Estate Charlotte ranks highest in average home price in Chittenden County Have you been curious about the prices of Charlotte homes compared to the rest of Chittenden County? Which Heather Morse towns have been selling the CONTRIBUTOR highest priced homes or have the quickest sales? Here’s a quick breakdown of local sales of single family homes.

Charlotte has had 79 homes listed since the first of the year. There have been 1,526 listed in all of Chittenden County, meaning Charlotte makes up just over 5 percent of the listings. Topping the list is Essex with 223 listings; South Burlington is second with 218. Together Essex and South Burlington account for almost a third of all listings.

But how many of these htouses have sold or are under contract? In Charlotte out of those 79 homes listed, 31 have sold or are currently under contract. These 31 homes spent an average of 77 days on the market; Essex homes averaged 37 days, and South Burlington 29. Bolton and Winooski homes sold fastest, averaging only 20 days on the market. In Chittenden County as a whole, homes averaged 35 days on the market, compared with Addison County at 58 days and Franklin County at 53.

A quick sale isn’t the only thing sellers are looking for, however; selling price is usually more important. Charlotte has the highest average sale price in Chittenden County, $588,495, followed

by Shelburne at $549,873 and Williston at $406,572. Countywide, the average sale price is $363,763, with Winooski at $246,214 and Bolton at $273,287. So in Charlotte you might have to wait almost twice as long to sell your house, compared with the rest of the county, but the sale price will on average be more than $200,000 higher. And then there’s this factoid: Of the top five highest priced

Property Transfers Nov. 25 Craig Bunten and Will Bunten to Alex Bunten, 14.84 acres with dwelling, 488 Monkton Road, $241,600.

Dec. 4 Estate of Charles Stearns to Hergenrother Construction LLC, 1.14 acres, land only, Lot 3 Partridge Lane, $120,000.

Dec. 6 Emily Pendergraft to David Alexander Kenyon, 0.27 acres with dwelling, 2789 Greenbush Road, $121,800.

Photo contributed houses that have recently sold in the county, three of them were in Charlotte.

So enjoy the holiday season, because listing season will be here before you know it. Hope this helps you plan for

the future, regardless of whether you’re looking to buy or sell.

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20 • December 13, 2017 • The Charlotte News

Volunteer Vermont reunion and celebration of the life of John Mack David Watts CONTRIBUTOR

Volunteer Vermont will hold a potluck reunion on Dec 27, from 3 to 7 p.m., in the vestry of the Charlotte Congregational Church. In addition to sharing memories of Summerton and the Prayer House Mission, the gathering will celebrate the extraordinary life of John Mack, the leader of Volunteer Vermont from its founding until his death on August 12, 2017.

Volunteer Vermont began as a one-time effort to help rebuild an African-American church in Summerton, South Carolina, that was one of hundred torched during a wave of racially motivated hate crimes that swept the United States during the mid-1990s.

Organized by Mark Bolles, then pastor of the Charlotte Congregational Church, 42 Vermonters spent a week in April, 1998, working with the members of the Prayer House Mission rebuilding their church. The Vermonters came home so enthused by the experience that the next year, another trip was planned. The momentum continued, and it became an April tradition for a small core of adults and successive generations of Vermont high school students primarily from CVU, but also from Mt. Abraham, the Waldorf School and Burlington High School, to journey to Summerton.

Volunteer Vermont’s accomplishments include the completion of the Prayer House Mission Church and the full construction of the adjacent Mother Bennett Fellowship Hall. The volunteers worked on a number of projects at other predominately Black churches and various community facilities.

All of these accomplishments occurred hand in hand with the Prayer House mission Church members who welcomed the visitors from Vermont as family and included them in worship services, concerts and what were easily the best barbecues in the south.

The Vermont volunteers met John

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John Mack (L) and Volunteer Vermont cofounder David Watts. Photo Meg Smith Mack when they arrived in Summerton on the founding trip in April 1998. This extraordinary man known to all as “Mack” was a recently retired contractor and a member of the Prayer House congregation.

Mack quickly found himself coming out of retirement to supervise the volunteers from Vermont and then successive groups of volunteers who completed the construction of the church over the next months.

Each year it was Mack who greeted the arriving volunteers and with extraordinary skill and openness organized and supervised a ragtag group of volunteers to complete projects that seemed impossibly complex and ambitious. By the end of the week, every volunteer knew they had worked with an extraordinary man who brought out skills and qualities they did not know they had and felt that they had met a friend for life.

Without John Mack’s leadership, Volunteer Vermont would not have been possible.

The gathering is for everyone in the community who participated in Volunteer Vermont, whether as a volunteer, a host family for visits to Vermont by the Prayer House community, by enjoying the concerts of the Prayer House Mission chorus when they sang in Charlotte, as well as those who are just curious about the program and the man who made it possible.

The Charlotte News • December 13, 2017 • 21

Taking Care Alice Outwater, Ph.D. CONTRIBUTOR

My husband, John, and I paused on Park Avenue in front of Mr. Saitys’ store with its enticing American Indian and Tibetan jewelry. I pressed the buzzer and Mr. Saity unlocked the door.

He welcomed us as if we were former friends, although we’d never met, and began sharing the history of his jewelry.

He took a prominent piece from a case.

“These turquoise mines are closed now and no more veins of this deep color remain. Look at the quality of the stones and how they match, and the unusual spider webbing. On this piece the carving of these figures is so expert—the faces look so human, the proportions of their bodies so perfect; this is my absolute favorite. And this huge turquoise and coral pendant is the oldest I’ve ever owned, so powerful, worn only by the healer of the tribe. These cannot be replaced.

“I have an Indian who travels by horseback into isolated areas where these

Mr. Saity (written 30 years later), Part 2 people live. He brings me one-of-a-kind pieces. Try this one on.”

The healer’s heavy pendant felt light around my neck in spite of its heft, as if the energy were emanating from the stones.

“When I came to the United States, the Indian jewelry was the nearest to those in my culture. So I got interested in the tribes out West and began to educate myself about their pieces.” At this point John left to meet a friend.

“During the war my family, who were Farsi, and I had gone to Israel where we would be safe. I then had to serve in the army. I was also a newspaper correspondent and wrote two books, as well as doing trading. But I shouldn’t be telling you this, it’s so personal and why would you be interested?”

“But Mr. Saity I am a psychologist and listen to people’s stories daily. I never tire of them.” I wondered about his difficulty walking. He must be in pain—perhaps a war injury. It seemed intrusive to ask.

“Then my visa came for the U.S., and I couldn’t refuse that opportunity. I had waited several years, as few are given. I started this business and have the finest collection anywhere. I am eager to have the museums acquire them so the artists’ history will be preserved. Here try this

piece on. It will suit you.”

It was a Tibetan necklace with delicate coral and turquoise stones set in silver. I felt as if it belonged on me. I asked him the price: $1,800. I gasped but agreed it looked very fine. “Mr Saity it is too expensive for me, but I promise to visit you on my next trip.”

“But no, I want you to take this Tibetan piece. You MUST have it. You cannot leave without it. The turquoise is from Derg and the coral from the Coral Sea. The stones are very old and the silver work is unusually fine. This is for you. I want to give it to you as a present.”

There was an urgency in his voice. “You are a lovely person, and very powerful.

You remind me of my beloved wife. This was her favorite piece. You have made my afternoon and I feel strengthened by your visit. I feel I know you well.

“Please, I insist. It is my great pleasure and I know the piece will give you protection because it has forceful qualities.” His voice became stronger, and I felt trapped.

I finally said: “I am greatly honored and will treasure it. But you must promise to let me know if you ever want it back. I will send it immediately.”

“No, there is no question of that. I will think of you wearing it—that is enough for

THEME: Happy Holidays ACROSS 1. Oscar, e.g.

6. Debate position 9. Judicial document 13. Hawaiian veranda 14. Deadeye’s forte 15. Capital of Egypt 16. Lumps of something soft 17. Beluga yield 18. Ar on table of elements 19. *First state to officially recognize Christmas 21. *Country which produced first artificial Christmas trees 23. Boiling emotion 24. Grain in “The House That Jack Built” 25. Equinox mo.

28. *On Christmas it often includes ham or goose 30. In style 35. Twelfth month of Jewish year 37. *Max and Santa’s Little Helper 39. Jack Black’s Libre 40. Saturnalia’s place of origin 41. Rat’s world

43. Movie spool 44. Actress ____ Perlman, pl.

46. Angler’s decoy 47. Partner of “void” 48. “A Connecticut ____ in King Arthur’s Court” 50. Speed of object divided by speed of sound 52. A layer in plywood 53. Please do not delay 55. *”____ the season to be jolly...”

57. *Beloved Montgomery Ward creation 61. *”Christmas Carol” author 65. Avoid, as in taxes 66. ENT’s first concern?

68. Alfred Hitchcock in his own movie, e.g 69. What tailor did 70. #19 Across abbreviation 71. Driver’s 180 72. Sin over cos, pl.

73. Blade drops 74. Mexican coins

DOWN 1. Aquarium dweller 2. Room border 3. Dwarf buffalo 4. Torah teacher 5. Divest one of a gun 6. “For” in Spanish 7. Orinoco or Grande 8. Opposite of alpha 9. *Like holiday memories?

10. Capital of Latvia 11. Wedge in a golfer’s bag, e.g.

12. Broadway recognition 15. Dairy aisle package 20. Bribes of rewards, in the olden days 22. Liberty Tree, e.g.

24. “Naked Lunch” creatures 25. *Like Christmas 26. Greeting in the land of “Mele Kalikimaka” 27. Part of cow’s stomach 29. *Yuletide 31. Repair, as in socks 32. Freeze over 33. Conch, e.g.

34. *Poisonous

Christmas berry 36. Plumbing problem 38. Red Cross supplies 42. Abdominal muscles 45. *Like a letter mailed to Santa 49. Sixth sense 51. Diaphragm spasm 54. Best way to shop?

56. *The kids do it in openng of “A Charlie Brown Christmas” 57. Catch your breath 58. Iris holder 59. Dracula’s bane 60. Words from Wordsworth 61. Big attraction 62. Outback birds 63. Infamous emperor of #40 Across 64. Daughters’ brothers 67. Belgian brew

me.”

I walked down Park Avenue embellished by the necklace, but puzzled: Had I somehow taken advantage of him and would he regret it later? A compliment from a stranger followed. John met me at Grand Central Station to take the bus to the airport.

“What a gorgeous piece you are wearing.”

I told him the story. He just smiled knowingly and gave me a hug.

All these years later I still don’t have the answer. I realized Mr. Saity had faced unbelievable ordeals in his life—ones that might have destroyed me. Through these adversities he had learned to savor unexpected moments of connection—and to follow his heart when they arose. Most of us take a lifetime to learn this—and some never do.

Search for your own chances to be generous and kind. Find the courage to embrace your spiritual instincts and act upon them.

Note: A few years later I read his long obituary in The New York Times and the important cultural contributions Mr Saity had made in his field. Collectors thought highly of him. The very details were just as he had reported them to me.

The first part of this story appeared in the Nov. 29 issue of The News.

on page 23

22 • December 13, 2017 • The Charlotte News

The winter schedule is in full swing as of last week, with the start of new sessions of Gentle Yoga, Chair Yoga, Tai Chi, Fitness at Any Age and Pilates, and with a full house for the Cello Quartet for the Holidays program that marked the beginning of the winter Wednesday afternoon event schedule. The schedule details are available on the town website, charlottevt.org, or at the Senior Center. You can register for classes by calling the Senior Center at 425-6345 or by stopping in at the Center.

Ongoing

Classes — Spanish Conversation, Strength Maintenance, Tai Chi Practice and Friday Morning Art Group along with Bridge and Mah Jong—continue at their usual times.

Next up on Wednesday, Dec.13, at 1 p.m. is Wrapping Up a Good Read: Favorite Gift Selections from the Charlotte Library Staff. Georgia Edwards, Cheryl Sloan and Margaret Woodruff will bring their top book ideas to this rapid-review session. You’ll get a brief synopsis of and a chance to look through book selections for

Senior Center News

all the readers on your list, with the option of buying copies brought in by the Flying Pig book store. Share gift ideas, enjoy refreshments, and take home a shopping list!

On Wednesday, Dec. 20, join us after lunch at 1 p.m. for a CCS Musical Program featuring a group of Charlotte Central School 5th graders.

January Wednesday programs

On Jan. 10 at 1 p.m., Mike Lynch will kick off the Center’s winter travelogue series with his presentation Alaska by Small Ship. He’ll share his photos of his one-week, small-boat cruise from Juneau to Glacier Bay National Park and the surrounding area and glaciers.

On Jan. 17, the travelogue is Hiking and Other Adventures in Southern Patagonia, with Sheri and Rich Larsen. Last January the Larsens traveled to Patagonia to hike the “W” trek in Torres del Paine National Park in Chile. They’ll also share details of day hikes in the Fitzroy Range in Glacier National Park and other trip highlights.

Acorn Painting Interior or exterior, simple or decorative, we can help you to paint a house that fits your style.

We are a fully insured painting company that serves the Addison and Chittenden County areas.

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New classes beginning in January

Moving Better, Living Better Through Dance, with Liesje Smith. Dance helps develop valuable skills, all of which sharpen your brain’s neuro pathways that enhance our quality of life, no matter what our age.

These skills, taught in a group with good music, can be irresistible! These classes will provide all the good things other movement classes offer—building strength, stamina, flexibility and postural stability—so you’re getting your workout. Liesje Smith, dancer, performer and certified Rolfer, is an inspiring and experienced teacher who helps you develop these skills in a relaxed atmosphere. Friday mornings, 9:30–10:30; session I starts Jan. 5. Registration is necessary; fee: $60 for the 6-week session.

Winter in Vermont—Watercolor Class with Lynn Cummings. Paint winter scenery, mountains, snow-covered barns and amazing sunsets in various “colors of white.” In addition to traditional techniques, in several classes you’ll apply paper and painting mediums to make textured surfaces to enhance the surface of your paper. All levels are welcome. Email the instructor at Lynn.Cummings@uvm.edu for supply list.

Registration necessary. Tuesdays, 9 a.m.– noon, Jan. 2 to Feb. 6; fee: $150.

A Taste of Mindfulness with Theresa Hudziak. Mindfulness is present moment awareness. What is in the present moment?

You, your loved ones, your life. Experience this practice formed by traditional-wisdom science and current evidence-based science.

Learn mindfulness practices to fold into your daily life, bringing you present-moment awareness. Class will open with gentle movement and centering and transition to a stretch of silence to experience one of the mindfulness practices. Wear comfortable clothing and your favorite socks; bring a yoga mat or a small blanket. New and experienced practitioners welcome!

Refreshments provided. Co-sponsored by the Charlotte Library. Thursdays, 2:45– 3:45 p.m., Jan.11, 18 and 25. Registration necessary. Maximum: 20. No fee.

Watercolor Video and Discussion with Lynn Cummings. Lynn Cummings,

SENIOR CENTER MENU Monday Menus (served from 11:30 a.m. to 12:45 p.m.)

Monday, Dec. 18 Vegetable soup, Green salad, Rice pudding Monday, Dec. 25 Closed for Christmas Wednesday Menus (All diners eat at noon) Wednesday, Dec. 20 Tourtière, Pineapple salsa, Homemade dessert Wednesday, Dec. 27 Cheese soufflé, Breakfast sausage, Fresh fruit skewer, Homemade dessert local artist and painting teacher, will show an instructional video by an internationally renowned watercolorist. The session includes a Q&A and discussion of techniques. All are welcome, whether you are an artist or just interested in joining the viewing and discussion. Wednesday, Jan. 17, 10–11:30 a.m. Registration required. No fee.

Blood Pressure Clinic, with Martha McAuliffe, R.N., UVM Medical Center.

This clinic is free, open to the public, and offered before the Wednesday lunch on Jan. 3, 11:30–noon. No fee.

Art Exhibit: Quilts crafted by Champlain Valley Quilt Guild quilters will be on display through January. The guild’s 2017 challenge quilt theme is “From Darkness to Light,” from a Martin Luther King, Jr. quote: “Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that.”

Holiday schedule: The Senior Center will be closed on Dec. 25, Dec. 29 and Jan. 1 and will close early at 12:30 p.m. on Dec. 22 and Dec. 28.

The Charlotte News • December 13, 2017 • 23

Community Events DECEMBER 19

Lights of Love Tree Lighting Ceremony & Open House at Homeward Bound, Addison County’s Humane Society, from 6:00-7:00PM, 236 Boardman Street, Middlebury. Share your holiday cheer with shelter animals, enjoy seasonal delights, and participate in a tree lighting ceremony to honor the animals that have so profoundly enhanced your life.

Lights in memory or in honor of your pets may be purchased anytime this month on the shelter’s website (www. homewardboundanimals.org)

DECEMBER 26

Webby’s Art Studio at the Shelburne Museum offers specialized winterthemed art activities for all ages Dec. 26 through 30 from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. in the Pizzagalli Center for Art and Education

classroom. Free with admission. 6000 Shelburne Road. 985-3346; info@ shelburnemuseum.org, shelburnemuseum. org. Regular winter museum admission, $5 to 10; free for children under 5.

JANUARY 9

One of the key ways that Transition spreads is through telling inspiring stories, and that’s what we will be doing starting Jan. 9, 6 p.m. at the Hinesburgh Public House. At the first gathering we’ll watch a 25-minute video that explains more about the Transition Movement and inspires us all to think creatively. One phrase often heard in Transition circles is that we “unleash the collective genius in our communities.” You can learn more about the movement at transitionus.org and more about Transition Charlotte at transitioncharlottevt.org.

TECHNOLOGY

Processor /CPU CPU stands for central processing unit. It is the main chip in the computer that handles all tasks we ask the computer to do, just like our brains process what is going on with all the parts in our bodies. It is “processing” all our data and other components of the computer.

CPUs have clock speeds measured in gigahertz (GHz). For example: If a CPU has a clock speed of 1 HZ, it can process one task every second. A CPU with a clock speed of 3.0 GHZ can process 3 billion tasks a second.

CPUs also have cores. There are single core processors, as well as dualcore or quad-core processors. The more cores you have, the faster your computer will process everything we want it to do.

The trick in choosing a CPU is knowing how many GHz the CPU will give you. The higher the number, the faster your computer will process, so look for something from Intel or AMD around 3.0 GHz. Touch-screen or not?

This is a personal decision for Windows users. Apple does not make a computer with touch-screen availability.

Ports We all use ports to plug in our USB devices, such as external mice and external DVD players, to charge/ sync our phones, to insert SD cards from our cameras, and so on. If the computer you choose does not have enough ports, you can always purchase a USB hub that will afford

ONGOING

Charlotte Playgroup: All children up to 5 years old, with a caregiver, are welcome for free play, stories and fun. Please bring a snack and water. Mondays from 9:30 to 11 a.m. at the Charlotte Central School.

Follows the school calendar. Email bbfcharlotteplaygroup@gmail.com for more information.

Pickleball: Step forward and whack the pickleball with purpose on Wednesdays from 6 to 8 p.m. in the Charlotte Central School’s multi-purpose room. Jugballs (the indoor version of the pickleball) and racquets will be provided to newcomers to the game. For more information call 425-6129 ext. 204 or email Recreation@ townofcharlotte.com.

Charlotte Central School Grade 6 Submissions

continued from page 3 RAM at the time of purchase, particularly because we don’t know how much RAM we really will need four to five years from now.

Classifieds

you more ports.

Then there is the HDMI (HighDefinition Multimedia Interface) port, which affords you to connect your computer to a smart TV. If you have a smart TV or are considering one in the future, please make sure the computer comes with an HDMI port.

Windows or Mac? The most common operating systems today are Microsoft’s Windows or Apple’s Mac OS. Many companies make computers running MS Windows, but only Apple makes Macs.

Someone choosing a Mac basically only has to consider the storage, RAM and processor of a Mac when choosing a computer. However, someone choosing a Windows computer not only has to choose the storage, RAM and processor of the computer but also the company making the computer.

Determining the brand is a personal decision. Please consider how smooth the track pad is (some can be hard to push down), how light in terms of weight the computer is or how slim/sleek the computer is if this is important to you.

Keep in mind very few computers come with optical drives today. An optical drive is your CD/DVD player in a computer. If you need one, purchase an external CD/DVD drive/ player that plugs into your computer via a USB port.

Many laptops today come with a screen that folds all the way back so you can use your laptop as a tablet.

These are called “2 in 1” computers which you might want to consider. I have one and enjoy using it as a tablet while lying down on the couch.

If Two Snowflakes Fell to the Ground…

Claire Sigmon If two snowflakes fell to the ground...

Would they be thrown in a big snowball?

Would they be run

over by a sled?

Would they get colder and freeze or warmer and melt?

Would they lose each other?

Would they be blown over to another place in the world?

Would they find their place?

The two snowflakes wonder...

Sometimes we wonder the same things.

The Last Play Christopher Cervi

The most amazing play happened during our championship game in Redding, CT, at the Redding Boys and Girls Club. My friend was pitching; he threw the pitch and our second base man fielded the ball and threw the ball to me. I caught the ball, and we won the championship game. My friend that was pitching and I jumped in the air, hugged each other, and then we were all bouncing up and down.

My coach said, “Be classy, boys, be classy.”

We lined up to shake hands, and then we ran into the outfield and dog piled on each other. At the pavilion, we got trophies and then had pizza, root beer and cream soda.

A couple weeks later, my family and I were moving to Vermont. We had waited to move because they did not want me to miss the championship. I will always remember that day at the baseball diamond, and now I will use the knowledge to play baseball in Vermont.

Reach your friends and neighbors for only $7 per issue. (Payment must be sent before issue date.)

Please limit your ad to 35 words or fewer and send it to The Charlotte News Classifieds, P.O. Box 251, Charlotte, VT 05445 or email ads@ thecharlottenews.org.

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Mt. Philo I nn-A unique hotel with panoramic views of Lake Champlain and private road to Mt. Philo. 1800 sq. ft. 3 bedroom suites with 2 bathrooms and a complete kitchen. By the day, week and month. $2500-$2800 monthly rates this winter. Privacy, space, tranquility. Bigger on the inside. MtPhiloInn.com, 425-3335 Does your home need a fresh coat of paint or brand new color?

LUPINE PAINTING can help with any of your painting needs. 20+ years of stress-free painting. Call for a free consultation (802)5989940.

Tree Service. Lot clearing. Tree and brush removal. Local and fully insured. Call Bud 802-734-4503.

C U T YO U R O W N C H R I S T M A S T R E E Tre e s $ 3 0 Wre at h s $ 2 5 Closed December 24 Ron and Nancy Menard 438 Dorset Street, one mile north of Carpenter Road intersection. 802-425-2334

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