The Williston Community Justice Center’s executive director has resigned and its governing “executive board” has been disbanded as the local restorative justice program begins a transition to become part of a larger, regional organization.
“We don’t want there to be a lapse
in service.”
Erik Wells Williston Town Manager
Regionalization of restorative justice — a non-punitive form of criminal justice that brings victims, perpetrators and community members together to repair the harm caused by crimes — was set in motion by the Legislature in 2024 with the passage of Act 180.
The law aims to expand restorative justice statewide, moving its funding from the Department of Corrections to the Office of the Attorney General and setting up a regional model where each of Vermont’s 14 counties has one restorative justice center. That means all restorative cases coming out of Williston — and any Chittenden County municipality — will be
managed through an expanded Burlington Community Justice Center, starting next spring.
Williston Town Manager Erik Wells is on a steering committee with neighboring municipal leaders to design the way the expanded center in Burlington will operate. He agrees with the thrust of Act 180, saying the regional approach will stabilize funding for restorative justice and expand access to it statewide.
“I think it was a good move, and it really speaks to the Legislature’s and the state’s high regard for restorative justice and its place in our judicial system,”
Wells said.
But he plans to advocate for retaining local involvement in restorative justice panels, where volunteers work with victims and perpetrators in the community where a crime occurred.
“It may be a program run through the City of Burlington, but the intent is not that everyone is going to go to Burlington to receive (restorative justice) services,” Wells said. “It’s really important to have those services delivered locally. We’ve had great volunteers here for several years, and we want to retain that volunteer structure and having local panels.”
To that end, the Williston Selectboard has created a volunteer advisory board to keep Williston Community Justice
see JUSTICE CENTER page 22
record high
Water quality and access road improvements buoy visitation
BY JASON STARR Observer staff
Nearly 1,000 season passes have been sold this summer for use of Lake Iroquois’ public beach in Williston. The record sales come two years after the lakefront homeowners association applied an herbicide to eradicate an invasive plant that had infested the waters off the beach, and about a month since the completion of an improvement project on Beebe Lane — the dirt access road that had been riddled with potholes and washout runnels.
Now the water is clear, the road is pleasantly passable and the beach is more popular than ever.
Beebe Lane and the beach,
end of the season, Labor Day weekend.
Visitation at Lake Iroquois, top, has reached record highs this year as nearly 1,000 season passes have been sold. The previous record was 850 in 2024. Season pass and day pass sales continue through the
Jacqueline and Aidan Khosla, above, “build a river” on the beach Tuesday while on a visit from Virginia to their grandparents in Williston.
The following Williston students, listed alphabetically, were honored for higher education academic achievements during the Spring 2025 semester.
Allison Bates was named to the Dean’s List at St. Lawrence University.
Will Bialowoz graduated from Vermont State University.
Kaylee Bliss was named to the President and Trustee’s List at Champlain College.
Mark Brodowski was named to the Chancellor’s List at the University of Arkansas.
ACADEMIC HONORS
Maegan Bruneau was named to the President’s List at Champlain College.
Karina Bushweller was named to the Dean’s List at St. Lawrence University.
Jack Clark was named to the Dean’s List at Champlain College.
Ally Clos was named to the Dean’s List at High Point University.
Riley Clos was named to the Dean’s List and graduated Magna Cum Laude from High Point University.
Emily Del Otero was named to the Dean’s List at Champlain College.
Brandon Duffy was named to the Dean’s List at Champlain College.
Connor East was named to the Dean’s List at Champlain College.
Samantha Evans was named to the Dean’s List at the Community College of Vermont.
Tyler Fieldsend was named to the Dean’s List at the University of Rhode Island.
Olivia Francisco was named to the Dean’s List at St. Michael’s College.
Skyler Gade was named to the Dean’s List at St. Lawrence University.
Amanda Gagne was named to the Dean’s List and graduated Magna Cum Laude from St. Lawrence University.
Shane Geraldez was named to the Dean’s List at St. Michael’s College.
McKenna Griswold was named to the President’s List at Vermont State University.
Dillon Hamrell was named to the President’s List at Norwich University.
John Haddock was named to the Dean’s List at Norwich University.
Jacob Hauenstein graduated Magna Cum Laude from California State University Northridge.
Caroline Hill graduated Summa Cum Laude from Rochester Institute of Technology.
Charlotte Hill graduated from the United States Naval Academy.
Aiden Jaremczuk was named to the Dean’s List at Siena College.
Ada Jones was named to the Dean’s List at St. Michael’s College.
Megan Laforce was named to the Dean’s List at Champlain College.
Leah Lambrecht was named to the Dean’s List and graduated Cum Laude from Clark University.
Noah LeCours was named to the Dean’s List at the University of Tampa.
Josie Pecor was named to the Dean’s List at Saint Anselm College.
Tomas Peach was named to the Dean’s List at Champlain College.
Thomas Poodiack graduated from Emerson College.
Nicholas Poplawski was named to the Dean’s List at the University of Vermont.
James Prytherch was named to the President and Trustee’s List at Champlain College.
Phoebe Racicot was named to the Dean’s List at Lincoln Memorial University.
Madison Reagan was named to the Dean’s List at the University of Rhode Island.
Daniel J. Rickert was named to the Dean’s List at St. Michael’s College.
Jack Richburg was named to the Dean’s List at Springfield College.
Shamir Rimal was named to the Dean’s List at Vermont State University.
Christopher A. Robinson was named to the Dean’s List at St. Michael’s College.
Alexander Ruwet was named to Dean’s List and graduated Cum Laude from Plymouth State University.
Sadie Sumner was named to the Dean’s List at Simmons University.
Ruben Somda was named to the President’s List and graduated from Vermont State University.
Steff Stecklare graduated from Vermont State University.
Taylor Sweeney was named to the President’s List at Vermont State University.
Cayden Tucker was named to the Dean’s List at Vermont State University.
Jacob Underhill was named to the Dean’s List at Norwich University.
Olivia Zubarik was named to the Dean’s List and graduated from Hamilton College.
Around Town
Historical society seeks fundraising maven
The Williston Historical Society is looking for a volunteer to take the lead on a building a new sponsorship program. This would mean reaching out to the local businesses and residents to seek yearly contributions, and to create a form of recognition of contributions.
Sponsors would help the organization support local history research projects and other programs.
Email willistonhistoricalsociety@ gmail.com with your interest.
Learn how to navigate Medicare
Blue Cross Blue Shield of Vermont will offer a free seminar about Medicare at the Richmond Free Library on Tuesday, Aug. 12 at 1:30 p.m. Hosted by local licensed agents, the event will cover what Medicare is and what it includes,
when and how to enroll, and what plan options are available.
To learn more, or to find other seminar locations/dates and to RSVP, visit BlueCrossVT.org/MedicareEvents.
Registration opens for Nonprofit Summit
Common Good Vermont has opened registration for the 2025 Vermont Nonprofit Summit, returning for its second year to the DoubleTree in South Burlington on Nov. 4.
The summit will bring together hundreds of nonprofit professionals, community leaders, advocates, and allies from across Vermont for a full day of inspiration, collaboration, and strategy. Nonprofit executives, staff members, board members and volunteers are invited to attend. The keynote speaker will be Tom Bodett.
Register online at bit.ly/ vtnonprofitsummit.
Iroquois
continued from page 1
along with 200 acres on the north side of the lake, are owned by the Lake Iroquois Recreation District. The district is an independent municipality funded by the four towns that border the lake: Williston, Hinesburg, St. George and Richmond. Revenue from season pass and day pass sales help the district staff the beach, manage the restrooms and maintain the road.
The district and the homeowners association contributed a small portion of the approximately $400,000 Beebe Lane improvement project cost. Primary funding came through a federal Environmental Protection Agency Grant and nonprofit support from Watersheds United Vermont.
The project included regrading the road to better shed water and direct it via ditches to vegetated buffers, as well as adding culverts to carry water beneath the road. The improvements were aimed not only at smoothing travel on the road, but also at reducing erosion and sediment flowing into the lake.
“The improvement project is a big part of making the lake cleaner and making the road safer to travel.”
Kim Conant Beach Manager Lake Iroquois Recreation District
“The improvement project is a big part of making the lake cleaner and making the road safer to travel,” said Lake Iroquois Recreation District Manager Kim Conant.
Meanwhile, the lack of milfoil, the invasive plant that was clogging the waters off the beach, has removed an impediment to swimming and paddling and improved water movement on the north end of the lake.
“The beach usage was down because the water was stagnant,” Conant said. “The water just wasn’t flowing well because the milfoil was so thick.”
Eradicating the milfoil “has made a huge difference in the water quality and the use of the lake,” he added.
VT sues Trump admin. over Planned Parenthood cuts
BY AUDITI GUHA VTDigger
Vermont and other states sued the Trump administration Tuesday over its effort to eliminate federal funding for Planned Parenthood, a day after a judge granted the health care organization’s request to block the cuts.
Advocates of health equity and access in Vermont welcome the win but said the fight is not over.
Vermont is among 22 states and Washington DC that sued the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services for continuing to target Medicaid funding for Planned Parenthood in a sweeping tax and spending bill signed into law by President Donald Trump earlier this month.
Filed in the U.S. District court in Massachusetts Tuesday, the complaint argues that the provision in the bill to defund — which prevents the use of federal funds for any health care obtained at Planned Parenthood health centers — is unconstitutional. The suit states the
administration continues “to target and punish” the nonprofit “for advocating for abortion access.”
Earlier this month, the Planned Parenthood Federation of America sued the Trump administration, and a court issued a temporary restraining order mandating that the federal government continue reimbursing Planned Parenthood clinics for Medicaid-funded services. That order expired last week, but a federal judge in Boston issued a new court order Monday to protect Medicaid funding for all Planned Parenthood clinics nationwide while the case continues.
U.S. District Court Judge Indira Talwani in Boston ruled the defund provision violates the First Amendment, the Equal Protection clause, and the prohibition on Bills of Attainder in the U.S. Constitution.
Well known for providing abortion care, Planned Parenthood plays a critical role in Vermont’s health care access, especially for low-income people, those in rural areas and those who have historically faced barriers to care.
Beyond providing abortion care and sex education, about 200 Planned Parenthood clinics across the nation — including six across Vermont — provide cancer screenings, sexually transmitted infection testing and wellness exams to those who do not have other options.
In fiscal year 2024, Planned Parenthood clinics served 16,000 patents in Vermont, of whom 24 percent were covered by the
Medicaid program. It provided 1,781 cervical cancer screenings and 1,049 breast exams to Vermonters, according to data shared by the organization.
If the nonprofit is forced to scale back or close clinics, it would create dangerous gaps in access, according to Daniel Barlow, executive director of the People’s Health and Wellness Clinic in Barre that provides free health care to uninsured and underinsured adults in Central Vermont.
“For many patients on Medicaid, Planned Parenthood is not just a provider of choice, it’s often the only provider available that offers the full range of reproductive healthcare services in a welcoming and inclusive environment,” Barlow wrote in an email. “Efforts to defund or discredit Planned Parenthood don’t just target an organization — they threaten the health, dignity and autonomy of our communities.”
More than 70 million people rely on Medicaid, the federal government’s insurance program for low-income people, according to
federal enrollment data.
Medicaid insures about 200,000 people in Vermont and costs approximately $2.4 billion, of which about 62 percent is federally funded, according to a press release from Attorney General Charity Clark’s office announcing the lawsuit. Vermont Medicaid covers reproductive health and preventative services, and Planned Parenthood “plays a critical role in delivering that care,” the release states.
“In a rural state like ours — where medical providers are few and far between — the loss of Medicaid reimbursements for Planned Parenthood will leave Vermonters without access to basic care,” Clark stated in the release.
The lawsuit argues the provision is “impermissibly ambiguous,” unlawful and would lead to “widespread disruptions in preventative care and increase health care costs.”
The continued effort to defund Planned Parenthood is “a direct attack on the health care access of millions of low-income
see PLANNED PARENTHOOD page 5
Attorney General Charity Clark
VTDIGGER FILE PHOTO
UVM Health Network announces layoffs as part of budget cuts
BY GRETA SOLSAA VTDigger
University of Vermont Health Network announced Tuesday it will cut 77 positions, including 68 staff roles and nine leadership roles, as part of its plan to reduce expenses for the coming fiscal year.
While some staff will remain in their roles until the end of the fiscal year in late September, other staff positions will end as soon as this week, said Annie Mackin, the network’s spokesperson.
The health network — which comprises three hospitals in Vermont and three in northern New York — will also not fill 69 current vacancies following Tuesday’s announcement. The network chose not to fill 120 vacant positions last year, and several hundred more positions were phased out earlier this year.
The announced staffing cuts, which amount to over $5 million in spending reductions, come a week ahead of hospital budget review hearings overseen by the Green Mountain Care Board. The state regulating body is tasked with approving the amount of patient-related income in budgets for the next
Planned
Americans, disproportionally harming women, LGBTQ+ individuals, and communities of color,” the release stated.
Planned Parenthood remains “one of the only affirming places” where young people in Vermont can access affordable and gender-affirming health care, Dana Kaplan, executive director of Outright Vermont, wrote in an email Tuesday.
“Bodily autonomy is at the heart of both reproductive rights and gender-affirming care, and in this political climate where both
fiscal year at all 14 of the state’s non-federal hospitals.
The cuts are largely to positions not involved in direct patient care, specifically in the networkwide finance, human resources and information technology teams, said Mary Broadworth, vice president of human resources for the health network. The Vermont hospitals in the health network are Central
are under attack, losing Planned Parenthood would create devastating gaps for youth— especially those on Medicaid,” he wrote.
While the lawsuits and this week’s court decision are good news for the organization, the fight is far from over, said Jessica Barquist, spokesperson for Planned Parenthood of Northern New England and the Planned Parenthood Vermont Action Fund.
The attack is politically motivated, she said, and the nonprofit remains committed to providing care to anyone who seeks it.
“During these turbulent times, we know our Medicaid-insured patients won’t be able to access care elsewhere, which is why our commitment to see them is so critical,” she said.
Vermont Medical Center in Berlin, Porter Medical Center in Middlebury and University of Vermont Medical Center in the Burlington area.
Along with layoffs, the health network aims to reduce spending through deferring capital projects, increasing efficiencies in clinical care and administrative work, reducing the number of traveling and temporary workers in favor of permanent staff, eliminating tentative, performance-based bonuses for administrative leaders, and consolidating real estate.
The plans set forth Tuesday represent approximately $185 million in expense reductions, according to the network. The cost-saving measures will help the University of Vermont Medical Center meet its proposed $2.3 billion budget for the next fiscal year.
University of Vermont Health Network is requesting the Green Mountain Care Board approve a nearly 8 percent decrease in rates charged to commercial insurers by the Burlington hospital, the largest by far in the network, according to their budget review filings.
In recent years, the network has surpassed the Green Mountain Care Board regulated
budget caps for patient revenue by millions of dollars. The regulatory board approved a settlement with the network this spring to address some of the overrages.
Staffing is the organization’s largest expense, with non-physician workforce compensation accounting for 36 cents of every dollar spent by the network. In the effort to reduce costs, staffing cuts were “unavoidable,” Broadworth said.
The health network aims to support the staff impacted by the cuts, including identifying other opportunities within the organization, and minimize the “impact on patient care as a result of this decision,” Broadworth said.
Sunny Eappen, president and CEO of the University of Vermont Health Network, said the administrative layoffs and other cost-saving measures reflect the broader affordability challenges facing the health care industry in rural areas.
“Our goal has been to be very transparent and stay focused on putting patients and communities and their health first, and keep making choices that make us be effective and efficient to support them in the long term,” Eappen said.
Sunny Eappen VTDIGGER FILE PHOTO
How to fight authoritarianism
BY SEN. BERNIE SANDERS
This country faces an unprecedented set of crises.
We have an economy in which we have a grotesque level of income and wealth inequality, where the middle class is being decimated, and more than half of our people continue to live paycheck to paycheck — many for starvation wages.
We are the only major country on earth not to guarantee health care to all people as a right, and Republicans just made matters worse by passing legislation that will kick millions more off their health care — all to give tax cuts to some of the wealthiest people and corporations in the country.
The situation in Gaza is more horrific than ever, last year was the hottest year ever recorded, the assault on a woman’s right to choose continues, gun deaths are at historic highs, and we have a corrupt campaign finance system that allows the billionaire class of this country the ability to buy our elections.
All of these issues, and others, are enormously important ... but I’m not going to talk about any of them here.
What I am going to talk about is the rapid and unprecedented movement toward authoritarianism that Trump and his administration are pushing. And how we fight back.
Look around. Stephen Colbert, the most popular latenight talk show host on television, has been taken off the air by CBS just days after he criticized the company for settling a bogus lawsuit with President Trump. It’s pretty obvious why Paramount chose to surrender to Trump. The Redstone family, the major owners of the company, will now receive $2.4 billion from the sale of Paramount to Skydance, which — surprise surprise — the FCC just approved.
NPR and PBS, two of the most independent news outlets in the country, had their budgets slashed to the tune of $1 billion by Trump and Republicans in Congress. Why? Because
Trump doesn’t like criticism. Trump has sued ABC, Meta and the Des Moines Register and threatened legal action
The American people, no matter what their political persuasion, must make it clear that American democracy will not be destroyed.
against The New York Times. Days ago he even sued Rupert Murdoch and the Wall Street Journal.
Trump, unbelievably, put out an AI generated video in which
former President Barack Obama was being arrested and is also releasing malicious information about Hillary Clinton.
Sen. Adam Schiff, who led an impeachment inquiry into Trump during his last term in Congress, is now being targeted by the Justice Department. The president says Schiff should be “brought to justice.”
Jerome Powell, chair of the Federal Reserve, is now being threatened with removal from his post because he has refused to lower interest rates and insists that the Fed maintain its independence from the White House. The Supreme Court says Trump needs a reason to fire Powell. So now Trump has come up with a ridiculous claim: that Powell mismanaged federal funds for an over-budget building renovation. Really?
That is just in the last week.
Rick Cote, Associate
EDITOR Jason Starr editor@willistonobserver.com
PRODUCTION
jan@willistonobserver.com
PUBLISHER
Susan T. Cote susan@willistonobserver.com BILLING
Member:
that we can verify the letter’s author.
But anyone paying attention knows there is more. Much more.
Trump recently hung massive, larger than life banners of himself on the U.S. Department of Agriculture for all to see. There was his $45 million military parade.
He has threatened to impeach judges who rule against his policies and his administration openly defies Supreme Court orders.
He is threatening to use the Department of Justice to take away ActBlue, the platform many Democratic campaigns, including our presidential campaigns, use to fundraise.
He has extorted millions of dollars from major law firms that represented clients who opposed Trump or his interests. He has withheld funding
see SANDERS page 7
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Brownell Road roundabout? I vote no
Many of us have endured inconvenient wait times at the intersection of Industrial Avenue and Route 2A referenced in your article of July 24 (“A half hour to go a half mile”).
Let’s pay attention to the proposal for traffic construction improvements at Marshall Avenue and Brownell Road. Something needs to be done to update the current antiquated traffic lights, rutted road and pedestrian signaling that does not function correctly. There are no marked bike lanes.
I reference a draft report (which is available by email from sean. neely@stantec.com) on the improvement project. There are three approaches outlined in the report.
The first alternative is a “no build,” do nothing approach.
Alternative 2 is a redesign of the traffic system that includes paving upgrades, new signal equipment, crosswalk upgrades, dedicated turn lanes, truck aprons installed so truck traffic does not impact curbs, drainage and culvert improvements. Right-of-way impacts are forecast to be 864 square feet. Alternative 2 would cost $3.1 million.
Alternative 3 turns the intersection into a roundabout, which could
Sanders
continued from page 6
from some of the leading universities in the country because their students and faculty hold views that Trump disagrees with.
This is a president who, alongside his fellow oligarchs in Russia, Saudi Arabia and around the globe, wants a world ruled by authoritarians in which might makes right, and where democracy and moral values cease to exist.
Dangerous stuff.
So what do we do?
First, I would ask my Republican colleagues for their help. And while I will not be holding my breath, I would urge them to not continue telling the American people how much they love America if, at this critical moment, they are not prepared to stand up to defend American democracy and our way of life.
Stop the hypocrisy. Show
temporarily increase the accident rate as people get used to it. Rightof-way impacts are forecasted to be 5,497 square feet. Alternative 3 would cost $3.6 million.
I vote for Alternative 2.
Tricia Knoll Williston
No higher honor
The July 24 article on the wonderful accomplishment of a young man who achieved the rank of Eagle Scout (“Eagle Scout project honors Williston veterans”) has an error.
The article states that the Eagle Scout is the highest honor in scouting. The correct wording should be “one of the highest honors” in scouting. Eagle Scout only applies to the organization formerly known as Boy Scouts.
The reality is that Girl Scouting has an equal honor, the Gold Award. The Girl Scout Gold Award demonstrates that a young woman has shown extraordinary leadership through remarkable projects that have a sustainable impact in her community and beyond.
To earn the Gold Award, Girl Scouts must identify an issue they care about, plan and carry out a project to address it, and demonstrate leadership and commitment. The award is a testament to the Girl
some independence. Stop worshiping Trump like he was a king.
For the rest of us, to effectively oppose right-wing authoritarianism, we cannot simply go back to the failed status quo of the last several decades. In order to fight this trend, we need to strengthen the global coalition of progressive democrats.
While authoritarians promote division and hatred, we promote unity, inclusion and an agenda based on economic, social, racial and environmental justice.
We must take the opportunity to reconceptualize a genuinely progressive global community based on human solidarity, that recognizes that every person on this planet shares a common humanity, that we all want our children to grow up healthy, to have a good education, have decent jobs, drink clean water, breathe clean air, and live in peace.
Lastly, and most importantly,
Scout’s effort to drive lasting change in her community and beyond. It is time to recognize that young women have achievements equal to those of young men. It is time to end the old-fashioned attitude of male superiority.
Ruth and Charlie Magill Williston
Letter Policy
The Williston Observer welcomes your letters to the editor.
A few ground rules: We ask that letters run no longer than 300 words. We edit for length, clarity, style, spelling and grammar.
Please include your name, town or city where you live and a daytime phone number (which we won’t print) so we can verify you wrote the letter. The deadline is Monday at noon for letters to be printed in Thursday’s paper.
Email: editor@willistonobserver.com or mail to Williston Observer, P.O Box 1401, Williston, Vt. 05495
the American people, no matter what their political persuasion, must make it clear that American democracy will not be destroyed.
I believe this is a turning point — a moment of enormous consequence in world history. Do we go forward toward a more democratic, just and humane world? Or do we retreat back into oligarchy, authoritarianism, colonialism and the rejection of international law?
As Americans, we cannot stay quiet as Trump abandons centuries of our commitment to democracy and rule of law. Together, we must fight for our long-held values and work with people around the world who share them.
Stand up. Fight back. Continue to get involved. Our job right now is to remind Trump and his allies what democracy is all about.
Bernie Sanders represents Vermont in the U.S. Senate.
Corrections commissioner to step down; Murad
BY ETHAN WEINSTEIN VTDigger
Nick Deml plans to step down next month as commissioner of the Vermont Department of Corrections. A familiar face is set to take over as interim commissioner: former Burlington Police Chief Jon Murad.
Gov. Phil Scott announced the leadership change in a press release Monday.
“Serving alongside our correctional staff has been the honor of a lifetime,” Deml said in the release.
Since November 2021, Deml has led Vermont’s six prisons. He took over from interim Commissioner Jim Baker at a tumultuous moment, shepherding a department rocked by scandal and the Covid-19 pandemic.
to reduce the city’s police force through attrition — a decision he strongly opposed.
Murad announced his intention to leave the Burlington Police Department in November and left in the spring.
“After more than two decades in municipal public service, I’m excited to move to the larger stage of serving the great state of Vermont,” he said in the press release.
Health Strategies appeared to struggle to perform CPR and use a defibrillator.
Wellpath took over the state’s prison health services contract in July 2023
Like facilities across the country, Vermont’s prisons have had acute staffing shortages since the pandemic, sometimes leading to mandatory 16hour shifts.
Murad attracted the limelight while serving as Burlington’s top cop, sometimes coming into conflict with the city’s progressive
Announcing Deml’s successor, Scott called Murad a “proven leader with a strong background in both managing and improving organizations.”
council members. He led the department during summer 2020, which saw nationwide protests against policing in the wake of George Floyd’s murder. He remained in the role after the Burlington City Council voted
Overseeing Vermont’s prisons has historically drawn scrutiny, and Deml’s tenure was no different. A spate of deaths in 2022 and 2023 at Southern State Correctional Facility in Springfield called into question the medical care provided by the prison’s health services contractor at the time. An investigation by Vermont’s Defender General’s Office later found that medical staff with VitalCore
Under Deml’s leadership, the correction’s department focused on addressing substance use disorder among people in prison. The department prioritized providing medication for opioid use disorder and worked to expand peer recovery coaching and educational opportunities.
Murad, who will serve as interim commissioner, requires the Vermont Senate’s vote to officially become commissioner. Deml’s last day is Aug. 15.
Nick Deml, left, and John Murad, right.
PHOTOS BY GLENN RUSSELL/VTDIGGER
DOC to display data on detained immigrants
BY HENRY FERNANDEZ VTDigger
The Department of Corrections is working to create a public dashboard with data on detained immigrants in Vermont after months of meetings with concerned activists — some who say the dashboard is a good first step, but doesn’t meet the most pressing needs of detained immigrants.
Demographic data is being considered, though it’s unknown whether it will be in the end product. The dashboard will not list the names of specific detainees because of privacy concerns, according to a Corrections official.
“The dashboard was originated so that we could better understand trends in this population,” said Haley Sommer, communications and legislative affairs unit director for the DOC. “They have some unique needs, that population, because there’s a lot of transfers. They’re typically in our facilities only
for a few days.”
Immigrants detained by federal authorities in Vermont are typically held at Northwest State Correctional Facility in St. Albans and Chittenden Regional Correctional Facility in South Burlington.
The department’s strong data-tracking capabilities and desire for transparency with the public were motivations for the dashboard, Sommer said. The Corrections Department runs other public dashboards, including the Incarcerated Population Interactive Dashboard that provides point-in-time data for incarcerated people at state facilities.
The dashboard comes as U.S. Immigration Customs and Enforcement has faced criticism for its lack of transparency nation- and statewide.
“It’s a clear tactic to instill fear in all of us so that we will be intimidated into submission … ICE agents, without any visible IDs, without any official markings on them, with masks,
they’re acting more like vigilantes than agents of our government.”
U.S. Rep. Becca Balint, D-Vt., said June 26 during
House floor remarks regarding ICE agents wearing face coverings to obscure their identities as they work.
A VTDigger investigation also revealed emails from Vermont Corrections officials
The Chittenden Regional Correctional Facility in South Burlington.
PHOTO BY HENRY FERNANDEZ/VTDIGGER
continued from page 9
who criticized ICE for its lack of transparency in their operations with the state.
Despite the charitable intentions behind the dashboard, advocates said the department is moving too slowly at a time when immigrants are being detained and deported at an unprecedented pace.
“The time now isn’t just for data. It’s about action,” said Jill Martin Diaz, executive director of the Vermont Asylum Assistance Project. “There are detainees being filtered through the Vermont DOC system every week who are not getting access to any legal counsel but for DOC’s inability to come to the table and make some really low-hanging fruit decisions.”
Diaz and the asylum project have pushed for block scheduling at state facilities that hold detained immigrants. This would be routine scheduling for lawyers to meet with detained immigrants so they could receive legal services.
The dashboard will include information such as the number of immigrants in custody in Vermont at any given moment, as well as the average length of stay for immigrants in DOC facilities.
In emails provided to VTDigger, Diaz proposed a “recurring weekly legal visit… during which VAAP can mobilize volunteer attorneys to conduct timely in-facility legal screenings for ICE detainees in need.”
“We’re coming to them with the solution and they’re saying, ‘No, how about this other thing that you didn’t ask for?’ So like, now we get a dashboard which is lovely, but what we actually need is block scheduling,” Diaz said.
“We are working closely with the advocates to ensure that they do have access to their clients,” Sommer said, but declined to comment on specific complaints, citing ongoing discussion between DOC and immigration advocates.
Sommer said the department will release the dashboard when it is ready, but that the department does not have a confirmed release date yet.
Trump administration releases withheld school funds
BY COREY MCDONALD VTDigger
The Trump administration last Friday announced the release of the remaining $18 million in federal education funding for the Vermont Agency of Education and the state’s local school districts.
Vermont Education Secretary Zoie Saunders said in a press release that the agency would begin its regular process for distributing the funds to school districts this week.
The U.S. Department of Education announcement comes less than a month after the agency first announced it was withholding more than $6 billion in funding for six federal grant programs nationwide. The federal government withheld roughly $26 million from Vermont school districts that help fund after-school and summer programs, and English language instruction.
A portion of those dollars also helps fund Vermont’s adult learning centers, institutions that offer residents a path to earn a high school diploma or GED certificate, as well as English language classes and workforce
PHOTO BY GLENN RUSSELL/VTDIGGER
development programs.
In the statement, Saunders called the release of the dollars “a positive development for our most vulnerable students.”
“Vermont school districts will now be equipped to begin the school year knowing they have the resources to staff critical positions and provide the meaningful and tangible opportunities that these dollars represent,” Saunders said. “Vermont schools deserve to have confidence that they will be supported with resources that have been promised.”
The release of the funds ended weeks of uncertainty for the
state’s school districts. School board officials set their fiscal year 2026 budgets assuming the federal funding would be in place. Then, on June 30 — just hours before the start of the new fiscal year on July 1, when the funds have historically been made available to states — the Trump administration announced they were withholding the money pending a review.
The transfer of the money to the state also brings to an end a brief hiring freeze implemented in the state’s Agency of Education. With the federal funding restored, the agency “now has the flexibility to begin hiring for vacant roles,” said agency spokesperson Toren Ballard.
“Let’s be clear: Today the administration solved a problem of its own making by finally releasing funding for our public schools that it illegally and unconstitutionally withheld,” Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-VT, said in a news release after the Department of Education’s announcement.
Two weeks after the funding freeze was announced, Attorney General Charity Clark joined 24 other states in a lawsuit against the Trump administration for “unlawfully freezing” those federal funds.
Last week, the U.S. Department of Education announced it was releasing some of the funding allocated for Vermont — roughly $6.5 million — specifically for afterschool programs.
But districts and adult learning centers were kept in limbo, with more than $18 million in funding still withheld. The Winooski School District, for example, relies on those federal funds as a high-poverty district.
Sarah Haven, the director of finance and operations for the Winooski School District, said the district was thankful the funding was being restored and was “once again supporting local budgets.”
“We’re relieved to move forward without disruption and hope that future decisions will protect the stability our educators, students and families rely on,” Haven said. “We look forward to a wonderful school year.”
Vermont Education Secretary Zoie Saunders speaks during a press conference in June.
Burlington officials are moving ahead with plans to replace a monument to an Abenaki chief with a new sculpture commissioned by the Abenaki Nation at Missisquoi, which is one of four groups recognized as Native American by Vermont’s state government.
But the Missisquoi group’s involvement in the project has spurred protest from one of Burlington’s state representatives, who has also been a vocal critic of the state’s past tribal recognition decisions. Independent Rep. Troy Headrick told Burlington officials last month they should seek input on the project from two Abenaki nations based in Quebec, where tribal leaders maintain that many members of Vermont’s state-recognized tribes can’t claim continuous ties to historic Abenaki people, or to any Indigenous people.
“It is deeply concerning that the Abenaki communities at Odanak and Wôlinak, whose documented ancestral ties to this region are well established, have not been consulted in this decision-making process,” Headrick wrote in an email about the monument plans to Burlington Mayor Emma Mulvaney-Stanak and her chief of staff. He shared the message with VTDigger.
Headrick’s comments have brought contentious questions about Abenaki identity in Vermont before Burlington city leaders. These questions have also colored state legislative debates in Montpelier and other nearby state capitals this year.
At issue in Burlington is a sculpture known as “Chief Greylock” that was installed in the city’s Battery Park in the late 1980s. Greylock was an Abenaki chief who is famed today for leading Abenaki people during wars against English colonists in the 18th century.
The sculpture was “named and embraced by the Abenaki community,” although it was not a direct representation of Indigenous people historically in Vermont, according to a memo about the project from Doreen Kraft, executive director of Burlington City Arts, a nonprofit that supports artists in the city.
Moreover, Kraft told the Burlington City Council earlier this month, city officials have been worried about the structural integrity of the wooden statue for years. An
analysis last fall found that it was significantly rotted inside and in danger of collapsing.
Following that report, officials decided the artwork should be taken down for public safety, Kraft said.
The sculpture was taken down last Thursday, with only its base left, according to Joe Magee, a spokesperson for the mayor’s office.
In its place, Burlington plans to put up a new wooden sculpture donated to the city by the Abenaki Nation at Missisquoi, which is based in Swanton. Under a March 2022 resolution approved by the city council, the Missisquoi group is, “the tribal authority to represent Abenaki matters” between local Abenaki people and the city government.
The new sculpture, according to photos in city council documents, has a similar shape to its predecessor though adds on clear references to the Missisquoi group, including the group’s flag and the words “Missisquoi Abenaki.” It also bears carvings of wildlife and an “Indian head,” Brenda Gagne, the Missisquoi chief, said in an interview.
The piece is meant to focus on Missisquoi’s history more broadly, rather than on Greylock, himself, Gagne said.
But Headrick told city officials in an email that decisions about the design of the new sculpture should have included input from other sources. Among those sources, he wrote, should have been Odanak and Wôlinak First Nations, both of which are headquartered northeast of Montreal but claim Vermont as part of their ancestral territory.
The First Nations’ leaders have argued for years that many members of the four groups the state of Vermont recognized as Abenaki in 2011 and 2012 are, in fact, not Indigenous. Odanak and Wôlinak leaders have accused the state-recognized groups of appropriating Abenaki culture. In letters and public statements, the First Nations’ leaders have also urged organizations in Vermont to work with them, rather than the Vermont-based groups, when seeking Indigenous people’s perspectives.
The groups that the state of Vermont has recognized have asserted that they can, in fact, claim Abenaki identities and have repeatedly urged the First Nations to stay out of their affairs. In addition to the Missisquoi, those groups include the
Elnu Abenaki, Nulhegan Abenaki and the Koasek Band of the Koas Abenaki Nation.
Several weeks after Headrick’s email to the mayor’s office, city officials pulled an item off the agenda for a July 14 city council meeting that would have allowed the city to formally accept the new sculpture already commissioned by the Missisquoi group.
In an interview Monday, Magee characterized that decision as a temporary pause so the city can do further structural analysis of the old sculpture’s base, which is set to also be used for the new one. He said the delay in formally accepting the new sculpture was not due to questions about tribal identity or legitimacy, and emphasized that the city still plans to accept the new artwork.
Magee said the city has not reached out to Odanak or Wôlinak leaders. He would not say whether or not the city planned to reach out to them. He emphasized that the city would continue to abide by the 2022 agreement to work with the Missisquoi group.
“The city has had a good working relationship with the Missisquoi Abenaki tribal council since the adoption of the resolution in 2022, and we want to continue and maintain that relationship,” he said.
“The administration is aware of the conversations happening on a larger level,” he added, referring to assertions about the Vermont groups’ legitimacy. “And the city does have an interest in figuring out how we can engage with other bands, other tribal councils, to fully honor Burlington’s history — and the history of Burlington land as Indigenous land,” he said.
Daniel Nolett, the executive director of Odanak First Nation’s tribal government, said in an interview Tuesday that he hoped Headrick’s outreach would prompt Burlington officials to contact him or someone else in his office.
Nolett said his family is directly related to Greylock. While he understands that the now removed sculpture was a public safety threat, he added, he wished he had gotten a heads-up from the city.
“The statue was in the state that it was — it posed a safety issue, so it had to be taken down,” he said. “That’s not an issue. The only issue is that we should have been part of this project for the new statue.”
Above, the monument commissioned by the Abenaki Nation at Missisquoi.
The monument to Chief Greylock that had been in place in Battery Park in Burlington since the 1980s, right, was found to be in danger of collapse.
PHOTOS COURTESY OF BURLINGTON CITY COUNCIL
How to reduce gardening stress and maintenance
BY MELINDA MYERS Special to the Observer
Every gardener has personal reasons for gardening, whether it be the hope that their garden brings joy, anticipating its productivity, appreciating its beauty or enjoying its peace throughout the growing season.
Accept and embrace the beauty of a less-thanperfect garden. Most visitors won’t notice the imperfections unless you point them out.
But weather, busy schedules and life in general can interfere with the best laid plans for any gardener.
If you are feeling overwhelmed with garden maintenance but still want seasonal benefits, consider filling garden beds with shrubs. Look for low maintenance varieties suited to your growing conditions and climate. Select those
with multiple seasons of beauty from flowers, foliage and fall color, and with interesting form or bark. Include some that provide birds with food, shelter and protection from predators. You’ll appreciate the beauty and motion these winged visitors provide.
Also, consider using fewer species of low maintenance perennials, but more of each. You’ll have fewer plants to try to identify as the garden comes to life in spring and as you weed throughout the growing season. Look for those that are disease and insect-pest resistant, need minimal or no deadheading and pruning, and attract and support pollinators as well as provide winter interest and food for songbirds in the winter.
Then add season long color with pockets or containers of annuals. With fewer to buy and maintain, you may decide your schedule and budget will allow you to change them out as the seasons change.
Accept and embrace the beauty of a less-than-perfect garden. Most visitors won’t notice the imperfections unless you point them out. Plus, faded flowers and seed pods can provide unique texture and food for songbirds.
Do minimal cleanup, which is better for the plants, pollinators and songbirds. Remove or cut back diseased and insect-infested plant material as needed, but leave fall leaves in the garden to serve as mulch, a home for some beneficial insects, and insulation for toads, queen bumblebees, and others that overwinter underground.
Allow perennials to stand for winter, increasing hardiness, providing homes for beneficial insects, food for songbirds, and adding winter interest. Leave some of these stems standing throughout the upcoming growing season to serve as homes for some of the native bees.
Ask for, or hire, help if needed. As much as you love gardening, securing help for some of the larger tasks, or those that just aren’t getting done, can help boost your enjoyment. It can be hard to find gardening help, so you may need to get creative.
Consider sharing your gardening space with someone who loves to garden but lacks a garden. Barter your knowledge and skills for help in your garden. Or plan a round robin of fun and gardening with a few friends. Take turns visiting and tending each other’s gardens. You’ll enjoy the time spent together in each other’s gardens as you tackle a gardening task or two. Then top off the visit with a favorite beverage and snack or meal. Don’t let your list of unaccomplished tasks or weeds stop you from enjoying your garden and what you have accomplished. Relish every bloom, fresh tomato or visiting bird or butterfly.
Melinda Myers is a columnist and contributing editor for Birds & Blooms magazine. For more information, visit her website at www.MelindaMyers.com.
From furniture, housewares, and supplies to jeans, shoes, and vintage, we have all of your back to school needs! And best of all, proceeds from the Habitat for Humanity ReStores go towards building affordable homes in Northwest VT for local families. Locations in Swanton, Williston, and Milton!
Embrace garden imperfections for a less stressful growing season.
Vermont’s rise in raccoon rabies crosses into Quebec
BY LINDSEY PAPASIAN Community News Service
Vermont is in the midst of a rabies resurgence — and the virus has crossed the border into Quebec, with infected animals found in the province for the first time in almost 10 years.
The state has faced an increase in cases since 2022. The last time Vermont saw a rise in rabies-positive raccoons — the primary species carrying the virus — was between 2015 and 2016. The tally plateaued for a year, then dropped for five years straight — reaching just three raccoons in 2021 — before a jump to 18 in 2022, 17 in 2023 and 37 in 2024.
Last year’s figure was the highest since Jim Douglas’ final run for governor, and for the first six months of this year, officials had recorded 18 rabid raccoons as of July 21. That’s on top of an otter, three foxes, three skunks, four bats and a woodchuck who likely carry the raccoon variant.
“Rabies in general is always a concern in Vermont — we are endemic for it,” state public health veterinarian Natalie Kwit said.
In December 2024, Quebec had its first recorded case of raccoon rabies since 2015. Officials and scientists on both sides of the border have been collaborating as they look to control the virus.
“We have the same goal, to eradicate rabies, and we all work together,” said biologist Marianne Gagnier, who coordinates rabies control for Quebec’s parks, forests and wildlife ministry.
After 2020, Quebec officials decided to suspend vaccination efforts; there hadn’t been a case in the province in five years, and those in Vermont were far from the border, Gagnier said.
Then came the surge in cases in 2022, mostly in Burlington, about 37 miles from the border with Canada.
The cases crept closer and closer to the border, according to provincial officials, and in 2024, Quebec brought back the vaccine campaign.
Despite efforts to quell the spread, last December Quebec saw its first case in a decade: a dead raccoon found in St.Armand, about a mile across the border from where, earlier that month, a case had been discovered in Highgate.
Since then, Gagnier said, “the
rabies has spread 25 kilometers into Quebec and moved from the border.”
The raccoon variant is the dominant strain present in Vermont and Quebec. Cats, dogs, skunks and foxes can all contract the virus, which is spread through contact with rabid hosts, usually bites. Once symptoms show, it is virtually 100 percent fatal in mammals.
The variant has been in the southeast U.S. since the 1950s.
The virus crawled up the coast over the decades, first confirmed in raccoons in Vermont in 1994.
In the late ’90s, the federal government approved and began distributing a vaccine that raccoons can eat. It became the primary
strategy to prevent the virus.
“When the program began, it was and still is our goal to try and stop the spread of raccoon rabies and then eventually eliminate it,” said U.S. Department of Agriculture wildlife biologist Kathy Nelson, who coordinates the National Rabies Management Program.
Sometimes the food-scented vaccine packets are dropped from planes or helicopters. Other times, they’re thrown from vehicles — or even scattered around by workers on foot.
“It’s a well-kept secret, even though it’s not a secret at all,” Nelson said. “We’ve been doing it in Vermont since 1997, and it’s amazing how many people don’t
know about it.”
Last year, the USDA started distributing vaccines in Vermont twice a year, which had never been done before, Nelson said.
“That’s what we’re doing now to try to tamp it back down,” she said.
Both Vermont and Quebec dropped vaccines in May.
Urban areas are most at risk for outbreaks due to abundant food sources attracting a dense population of critters, said Kwit. The number of hubs for animals to interact with each other or with humans adds to the risk.
In cities — even those as small as Vermont’s — raccoons often congregate in small spaces such as trash cans or alleys, where a bite or a scratch from a rabid raccoon could infect the whole group.
Last year, Chittenden, Caledonia and Franklin counties had the most cases. State data this year shows a new trend: There are positives in Orleans County for the first time since 2017. Five raccoons have tested positive there so far this year.
In Quebec, rabid animals this year have been recorded in barns, fields and orchards but not yet in cities like Montreal, Gagnier said.
Spreading to urban centers, said Gagnier, “rabies outbreaks could explode.”
Vaccines are usually dropped in the spring, when food is scarce, and in the late summer and fall, when raccoon cubs born in the spring are old enough to consume
the packets.
It takes between four and six weeks for the immunization to set in, according to Gagnier.
The main struggle with containing rabies in urban areas, said Kwit, is making sure the raccoons are actually taking their medicine.
Greater choice of food, in places where more people live, makes them less likely to choose the vaccine, she said.
Nelson and Gagnier called the rabies-control efforts in Vermont and Canada an example of cross-border cooperation.
If you come in contact with a potentially rabid animal, rPEP (rabies postexposure prophylaxis) can be administered as a treatment.
But “administering rPEP is three to four times more expensive to the (Canadian) government than oral vaccines,” Gagnier said. So avoiding the animals entirely is the best choice.
Vermont game warden Jake Johnson advises people to vaccinate pets and avoid handling any wild animals.
If you are in contact with a potentially infected animal, try to keep it in place if you can do so safely. Then call your local game warden or 1-800-4-RABIES. Experts advise against transporting nuisance animals from your property because you could inadvertently spread the virus.
Community News Service is a University of Vermont journalism internship.
Cases of rabid raccoons are on the rise in Vermont. OBSERVER COURTESY PHOTO
Making friends in low places?
Kevin White is the Garth Brooks of ‘Garth Live, The Ultimate Tribute’ who performed for the crowd at the Maple Tree Place Concert Series on Thursday. CLOCKWISE (l to r): White introduces the members of the band. The group finishes a popular number. White croons into the microphone. The crowd came prepared with lawn chairs, bug spray and snacks. Children got to wander, play and dance a little under the watchful eyes of parents. White wandered out among the crowd throughout the evening.
OBSERVER PHOTOS BY AL FREY
Vermont Green FC to host national championship game Saturday at UVM
BY THEO WELLS-SPACKMAN VTDigger
K.C. Dressing, a 31-year-old Colchester resident, spent Friday evening exhorting the loudest section of Vermont Green Football Club fans to greater heights by pounding on a limited-edition Pearl snare drum. He’s been attending Green games for several years and is a member of the “Green Mountain Bhoys,” a group of dedicated longtime supporters.
“It’s a little snapshot of what makes Vermont an incredible place and what makes me feel so lucky to live here,” Dressing said.
“I do it for the fans, man. I just love these guys so much.”
Owen O’Malley
Vermont Green Football Club
Burlington saw two ecstatic pitch invasions this weekend at the University of Vermont’s Virtue Field, after Vermont Green won two hard-fought playoff games to take the club to its first national finals in the United Soccer League’s second tier. On Sunday night, the league announced the Vermont side would retain its home field advantage again in the final against Seattle-based Ballard FC on Saturday at 7 p.m.
“We’re incredibly excited to be hosting a final,” club co-founder Patrick Infurna said. “Our soccer community in general has earned it.”
Chris Taylor, the club’s head coach, called the team’s playoff run “an amazing ride” on Sunday after the game. He praised his players and said that support from the sold-out crowds had made a profound impact.
Owen O’Malley, the scorer of the Green’s winning
penalty against Dothan United on Sunday, agreed.
“I do it for the fans, man,” O’Malley said. “I just love these guys so much.”
The feeling from fans was mutual. The club estimated Sunday’s attendance at just over 4,000. When O’Malley ran to the stands to celebrate, he was immediately surrounded by a crowd of supporters — first young kids, then parents and adults.
The boisterous home support had been quieted briefly on Friday when, deep into added time, Lionsbridge Football Club scored what would have been the winning goal. Then cheers resumed as home fans realized the official’s flag was up: The goal had been offside. Two overtime goals secured a Vermont win.
Near the front of Friday’s pitch invasion, Jacob Labowitz brandished an enormous Vermont flag. The Colchesterbased lawyer went to Vermont Green’s first-ever game in 2022.
“Freedom and unity right here,” he said, nodding up at the state coat of arms.
Melissa Gara, who works at the University of Vermont Medical Center, said Sunday she was glad to have witnessed two such successful Vermont soccer teams in the same year. The University of Vermont’s men’s team that won the NCAA national championship in December — from which Vermont Green FC has recruited several top players — was still at the forefront of her mind.
“Now I’m a die-hard fan,” Gara said.
Some supporters had been all-in long before Sunday. Jack Beach and Isaac Parker, both 18, said they had waited in a virtual line for tickets in their workplace bathroom last week. Parker, who originally found the Green through Instagram, said he was invested not just in the club, but also in the success of its athletes.
Vermont Green Football Club, above, battles Lionsbridge FC in a conference championship match in Burlington on Friday.
PHOTO BY GLENN RUSSELL/VTDIGGER
Vermont Green Football Club fans, right, celebrate after the team won its USL League Two semifinal game over Dothan United on Sunday.
PHOTO BY THEO WELLS-SPACKMAN/ VTDIGGER
“The player-fan connection is crazy,” Parker said.
Fans have also been drawn to Vermont Green’s off-the-field culture, which includes close relationships with local businesses and an emphasis on political advocacy. Several fans said they appreciate the club’s affiliation with climate and social justice movements.
The club itself has hosted fundraisers in the past for the Vermont Immigration Legal
Defense Fund and the Northeast Organic Farming Association of Vermont. Fan groups have also organized support for organizations such as Migrant Justice Vermont. Infurna said the club considers environmental justice its “North Star.”
The club has also hosted three women’s exhibition matches and is looking to expand its women’s program in the coming years.
For people like Jessica Huber,
who plays in a coed Sunday soccer league, a Vermont Green women’s team would make a difference. She went to one of the women’s matches, all of which sold out.
“I think the demand is there,” she said.
In general, Huber said, she loves the community that has formed around Vermont Green.
“Vibes are high,” she said. “Vibes are amazing.”
How To Be a Social Helper
Are you wondering what school might be like this year? Many kids get a little anxious about the new year beginning.
While it probably won’t take long for you to feel at home, we wanted to pass along some ideas that might help.
What does ‘social’ mean?
When we say someone is social (SO-shul), we mean that he or she gets along with others. They make the right choices. They respond to others’ needs. They are good companions, friends and members of the school community.
Sometimes, kids might feel that they don’t fit in or that they don’t belong. We all have social problems at one time or another.
Be
a social helper
That’s where a social helper might step in. These students are aware of the clues when a classmate is in need of a friend, a smile, a pat on the back or a compliment.
By being sensitive to the feelings of others and doing something that helps, kids get a good feeling themselves. True, kids can’t solve all problems, but they can help. It’s the job of teachers, principals and counselors to help, too.
Kids who are sensitive to others’ feelings also have these traits:
Mini Idea: Think about how good it feels for you to receive a smile or a compliment. You can make someone else feel that good!
Let’s think about some clues of social problems and what a solution might be.
On a school bus
Clue: One kid is teasing another kid, who is getting upset at being picked on.
Suggestion for social helpers: Ask the kid being teased to come and sit by you so she can move away from the teaser.
On the playground
Clue: A boy is walking around the edge of the playground by himself. He is not taking part in any games.
Suggestion for social helpers: Walk up to the kid with a smile on your face and ask him to join in your group.
In the lunchroom
Clue: A girl is sitting at a lunch table. Nobody is sitting on either side of her. She looks like she feels very alone.
Find
Next Week: Back to school
What do helpers do?
Students who are social helpers are usually also leaders in the classroom. We call these kids role models. How can you be a leader in your class?
• Volunteer for a class job. Many teachers choose students to do regular chores in the classroom. Tell your teacher you’d like to have a job.
• Offer to help others. Are you really good at math or art? Talk with your teacher about helping other students with subjects that you love.
• Follow the rules when you’re playing a game, and be kind to those who don’t play as well as you.
• Know when to say you’re sorry. If you’ve made a mistake, be willing to apologize and do what’s needed to make it right.
• Be positive. Give a compliment to someone. Smile. Share a joke.
Children who are social helpers might be likely to become teachers, school counselors, health care workers, volunteers or religious leaders.
Suggestion for social helpers: Go and sit in one of the vacant seats next to her. Talk about something you think she might be interested in. Enjoy lunchtime together.
What other ideas do you have about being a social helper? Share your thoughts with your classmates or your family.
Words that remind us of social helpers are hidden in this puzzle. Some words are hidden backward or diagonally, and some letters are used twice. See if you can find:
On the Web: • bit.ly/MPclique
At the library:
• “Empathy Is Your Super Power: A Book About Understanding the Feelings of Others” by Cori Bussolari
Sulfur-crested cockatoos in Sydney, Australia, have mastered the
and Eco Note
Founded by Betty Debnam
Try ’n’ Find
Words that remind us of social helpers are hidden in this puzzle. Some words are hidden backward or diagonally, and some letters are used twice. See if you can find:
Sulfur-crested cockatoos in Sydney, Australia, have mastered the ability to operate drinking fountains, using their feet and beaks to twist handles and sip water. Researchers observed the birds with remote cameras, capturing over 500 attempts in 44 days with about 70% of the local flock trying the technique. Scientists believe the cockatoos learned the skill by watching people and each other, turning the activity into both social and playful behaviors. This fountain-opening skill follows a previous urban innovation by the same birds — lifting garbage bin lids.
For later:
Look in your newspaper for stories about people helping each other.
Teachers:
Follow and interact with The Mini Page on Facebook!
By Jim Miller
Dear Savvy Senior, I will be enrolling in Medicare in a few months and would like to know, if I initially enroll in a Medicare Advantage
SAVVY SENIOR
Beware of the Medicare Advantage trap
plan, am I able to switch back to original Medicare and get a supplemental (Medigap) policy and prescription drug plan later without paying a fine?
Almost 65
Dear Almost, You won’t be subject to any fines for switching Medicare plans, but you will be subject to medical underwriting for the supplemental (Medigap) policy.
That means the private insurance companies that offer these plans can deny you coverage or
charge you a lot more for preexisting conditions. This is known as the Medicare Advantage trap. Here’s what you should know.
UNDERSTANDING MA PLANS
Medicare Advantage plans (also known as Medicare Part C) are government-approved health plans sold by private insurance companies that you can choose in place of original Medicare. The vast majority of Advantage plans are managed-care policies such as HMOs or PPOs that require you to get your care within a network of doctors.
If you join an Advantage plan, the plan will provide all your Part A (hospital insurance) and Part B (medical insurance) coverage like original Medicare does. But many Advantage plans also offer extra health perks like dental, hearing and vision coverage along with gym/fitness memberships, and most plans include prescription drug coverage too.
Medicare Advantage plans are also cheaper than if you have original Medicare plus a separate
Part D drug plan and a Medigap policy. This can be very attractive to new enrollees who are relatively healthy and don’t require much medical care.
But the benefits and networks of Advantage plans can change from year to year. And if you get care outside the networks, you’ll usually pay more — sometimes a lot more. Advantage plans are also criticized for pre-authorization requirements that can delay or deny patient access to medical care.
The rap on Medicare Advantage has always been that they’re great when you’re healthy and don’t require much health care, but depending on the plan, may not be so great if you get sick.
With original Medicare, benefits remain the same and you can use any provider that accepts Medicare (most doctors do). But original Medicare has coverage gaps (deductibles, coinsurance and copayments) that can be very expensive, which is why you’ll need a supplemental (Medigap) plan offered by a private insurer.
If you opt for original Medicare
when you’re first eligible, insurers are required to issue you a Medigap policy and can’t charge you more based on your health status. In most states, Medigap plans are automatically available only in the first six months after an enrollee becomes eligible for Medicare.
But if you enroll in a Medicare Advantage plan when you’re first eligible, you’ll miss the Medigap enrollment window, which means an insurer can refuse to write you a Medigap policy or charge you a lot more for signing up later. And in case you’re wondering, you can’t buy a Medigap policy while you’re in a Medicare Advantage plan.
There are, however, four states — Connecticut, Massachusetts, Maine and New York — that prohibit insurers from denying a Medigap policy to eligible applicants, including people with pre-existing conditions.
For more information on how Medigap works visit Medicare. gov/health-drug-plans/medigap.
TODAY’S HISTORY:
• In 1914, trading on the New York Stock Exchange stopped in response to the outbreak of World War I. It did not resume stock trading until December of that year.
• In 1964, the American space probe Ranger 7 transmitted the first closeup photographs of the moon.
• In 1991, the United States and the Soviet Union signed the START 1 treaty, an agreement to reduce both countries’ nuclear arms stockpiles.
• In 2006, Cuban dictator Fidel Castro underwent surgery and transferred presidential power to his brother Raul.
TODAY’S FACT:
• The first U.S. patent was issued to inventor Samuel Hopkins on this day in 1790, for a process of making potash, an ingredient used in fertilizer.
SOLUTION FOUND ON PAGE 22
Forest Service passes controversial logging plan for Green Mtn. National Forest
BY CAMRYN WOODS Community News Service
A new logging plan for the Green Mountain National Forest could harvest almost 5 million cubic feet of timber — that’s enough trees to fill 5,000 school buses.
The Telephone Gap Integrated Resource project was approved on June 13 after seven years of assessment. It will manage 72,000 acres of federal, state and private land primarily in the towns of Brandon, Chittenden, Goshen, Killington, Mendon, Pittsfield and Pittsford, according to the U.S. Forest Service’s Final Decision Notice, a document outlining the new plan.
The Forest Service said in its final plan that the Telephone Gap project will improve wildlife habitat, restore soils and wetlands, allow for prescribed burns and trail building and increase logging. The project has received both praise and pushback from environmental organizations in Vermont over the last few years of its development.
The issue over forest management has a long history in Vermont, where old-growth forests are glaringly scarce after clearcutting led to the loss of 80 percent of state trees before the 20th century. Today, less than 1 percent of New England’s forests are over 150 years old, according to Porter, and the Telephone Gap area contains many of these rare ecosystems.
Hagenbuch. When big trees fall and create gaps in the canopy, younger vegetation fills the forest floor. That’s where bird species Audubon considers under threat like wood thrush and black-throated blue warbler like to nest. But now, he said, forests are generally less complex.
The Telephone Gap project’s Final Environmental Assessment, a document that evaluates its potential environmental impact, also found that there are fewer saplings and young trees than would be ideal in a well-managed forest. The forest plan includes using “commercial timber harvest, prescribed fire and other treatments” to open space for this young growth, according to the Final Decision Notice.
for the Forest Service to try a “new model” on Vermont’s forests — one that encourages the flourishing of old growth while also diversifying age classes.
In April 2024, the two nonprofits, along with William Keeton, forestry professor at the University of Vermont, submitted formal comments to the Forest Service encouraging an alternative to the project plan. The revision, titled Alternative C, was approved by the Forest Service in December of 2024 and became the version that was implemented this summer.
Advocates are split over how these modern-day forests should be managed. Some advocates argue that forests should be left alone, while others say that they need some level of human intervention to remain ecologically healthy.
For example, forests are healthier when they include multiple age classes, according to Steve Hagenbuch, senior forest program manager at Audubon, a nonprofit that focuses on protecting birds. The age classes include the tall trees of the canopy, the shorter trees of the mid-canopy, and the shrubs, saplings and seedlings that cover the forest floor, which Hagenbuch said forests don’t necessarily have today.
Lots of species, especially birds, rely on the complexity of mixed-age classes, according to
However, these methods could also target old and mature trees that sequester carbon, increase the likelihood of introducing non-native invasive species through logging procedures and may affect air quality, according to the Final Environmental Assessment.
Vermont environmentalists worry about the harvesting of these older trees.
“We should be doing everything to protect this biodiversity hotspot,” said Annette Smith, executive director of Vermonters for a Clean Environment, a nonprofit that advocates for sustainable environmental and economic policies. “This is man’s hand in nature that should be left alone.”
But other environmental organizations like Audubon and Vermont Natural Resources Council, a nonprofit dedicated to protecting and enhancing Vermont’s natural environments, view the project as an opportunity
Alternative C deferred 661 acres of forest that display old growth characteristics from logging. With an emphasis on ecological silviculture, it includes management practices like cutting trees and leaving them on the forest floor and strategically planting trees that are better suited for the climate, according to the Final Decision Notice. It would also reduce the need for constructing temporary logging-related roadways, making it less likely for invasive species to be carried into the area by logging machinery.
“These would be opportunities to go in and do some management to accelerate these forests so that they move towards an old growth condition even more quickly than if they were left alone,” said Jamey Fidel, forest and wildlife program director at Vermont Natural Resources Council.
The plan will go into effect immediately and will last through 2030.
Community News Service is a University of Vermont journalism internship.
The Green Mountain National Forest. COMMONS
Dorothy Alling Memorial Library hours:
• Monday and Wednesday: 10 a.m.-8 p.m.
• Tuesday, Thursday, Friday: 10 a.m.-6 p.m.
• Saturday: 10 a.m.- 1 p.m. Visit www.damlvt.org to apply for a library card and register for programs. Need help? Call 878-4918 or email daml@ damlvt.org.
DOTTIE THE BOOKMOBILE
Visit your favorite library on wheels this summer. Visit damlvt. org for the full Bookmobile schedule.
YOUTH PROGRAMS
Children in fourth grade and younger must be supervised by someone over 16 years of age.
CONNECT & PLAY (THERAPLAY)
Mondays, Aug. 4 and 11, 10:30-11 a.m. Suggested for parents/caregivers and children ages 3-6. Limit 16 parent-child pairings; registration suggested. Join the Champlain Center for Play Therapy and Family Counseling for a series designed to strengthen bonds through joyful, structured play. Guided by trained facilitators.
STORYTIME
Tuesdays, Aug. 5 and 12, 10:30-11 a.m. Have fun with storytime. Outdoors when weather permits.
BABY TIME
Wednesday, Aug. 6, 10:30-11 a.m. Ages 0-18 months. Drop in
WILLISTON POLICE
June 8 at 5:06 a.m. — Assisted Williston Fire with a male who had dropped a cigarette in his vehicle, and the vehicle was filling with smoke.
June 8 at 1:07 p.m. — Male experiencing a mental health crisis on Holland Lane. Male was transported to the hospital for evaluation.
June 9 at 5:02 p.m. — Male showed up at the Community Justice Center unannounced. He left when asked and then sat outside Town Hall smoking marijuana. He was given a ride to Zephyr Place.
for gentle bonding and socializing activities with your little one.
MUSIC AND PLAYTIME
Thursdays, Aug. 7 and 14, 10:30-11:30 a.m. Enjoy Linda Bassick’s preschool music, and stay to play. Outdoors when weather permits.
FRENCH STORYTIME
Saturday, Aug. 9, 10:15-10:45 a.m. Drop in for stories read aloud by a native French speaker.
LEGO TIME
Thursday, Aug. 14, 3-4 p.m. Build something exciting with the Library’s LEGO collection.
MULTI-AGE PROGRAMS
CRAFT CIRCLE
Monday, Aug. 11, 5-6 p.m. All ages. Bring a project and work on it in the company of other crafters.
SUMMER READING CHALLENGE: COLOR OUR WORLD
Through Aug. 10. Williston and St. George residents only. All ages. Visit our damlvt.org for details. Enter raffle tickets by Aug. 10 for a chance to win raffle prizes. (Earned prizes in the Youth and Rubber Ducky challenges must be picked up by Aug. 16, but raffle prizes can be picked up later by arrangement).
ADULT PROGRAMS
For online programs or to join a book club, email daml@damlvt.org.
ADULT MEDITATION (ONLINE)
Fridays, Aug. 1 and 8, 12-12:30 p.m. Join our guided meditation to relax and recenter.
MAH JONGG
Fridays, Aug. 1 and 8, 1-3 p.m. All abilities welcome.
WORKSHOP: PARENTING THE THERAPLAY WAY
Monday, Aug. 4, 5:30-7:30 p.m. Join play therapists from Champlain Center for Play Therapy and Family Counseling
June 9 at 10:12 p.m. — Report of a suspicious vehicle on Holland Lane. Car was gone before officer’s arrival.
June 10 at 10:42 a.m. — Assisted a female who had fraudulent activity on her debit card.
June 10 at 3:43 p.m. — Retail theft reported at Marshalls. Female suspect was located and issued a citation to appear in court for retail theft.
June 10 at 6:16 p.m. — Business advised they wanted a male and female trespassed from their store. Male and female were located and issued a notice of trespass. Female also had an outstanding arrest warrant. She was transported to the correctional facility.
June 11 at 10:02 a.m. — Male in Boot Barn who was previously trespassed. Male was
to learn practical, therapeutic skills rooted in the four dimensions of Theraplay: structure, engagement, nurture and challenge. This workshop empowers caregivers with tools to enhance emotional bonding, increase trust and support their child’s social and emotional development in everyday moments.
TECH TUTOR
Tuesday, Aug. 5, 1-4 p.m. Call the library to schedule a one-hour appointment for personalized help with your technology.
ADULT CRAFTERNOON: AIR DRY CLAY FLOWER FROGS
Tuesday, Aug. 5, 2-3 p.m. Registration required. Bring a vase and design a flower frog for it to keep your flowers arranged how you want them. Register online.
ADULT RPG
Thursday, Aug. 7, 6-8 p.m. Join our fantasy role-playing game for adults. Register online.
COOK THE BOOK GOES TO THE FARM
Friday, Aug. 8, 4-6 p.m.
Explore fresh, locally grown products at the Common Roots Farmstand in South Burlington. Get a tour of the farm and hear about its community food equity mission. Then, visit the Wheeler House and split flatbread with friends. Register online for the flatbread portion.
FRENCH CONVERSATION
Saturday, Aug. 9, 10:45-11:45 a.m. Drop in to brush up on your language skills. All abilities welcome.
CURRENT EVENTS
Wednesday, Aug. 13, 10:30 a.m.-12 p.m. Drop in to discuss timely topics with other community members.
LIFE STORIES (ONLINE)
Wednesday, Aug. 13, 2-3:30 p.m. Have fun with us as we share moments from our lives.
located and issued a citation to appear in court for unlawful trespass.
June 11 at 10:08 a.m. — Retail theft reported at Simon’s. Male was located and issued a citation to appear in court for retail theft.
June 11 at 2:55 p.m. — Suspicious female at Simon’s. Female had an active arrest warrant. She was transported to corrections.
June 11 at 10:26 p.m. — Suspicious male at Marshalls. Male was located and had an active arrest warrant. He was transported to corrections.
June 12 at 2:39 a.m. — Report of a male sleeping in the drive thru of TD Bank. Male was moved along.
June 12 at 2:44 p.m. — Retail theft reported at Walmart. Male suspect was located and issued a citation to appear in court for retail theft.
OBITUARIES
Pauline Ann Bister
Pauline Ann Bister passed away Sunday afternoon, July 20, 2025, at the age of 71, surrounded by family.
Pauline was the second oldest of seven children, born in Burlington, VT, on March 4, 1954, to Robert Earl Bister and Barbara Ann Bister.
She is preceded in death by her parents and brother, Randall Bister. She is survived by her siblings, Michael Bister, Susan Lovejoy, Nancy Bister, Joan Bister, and Bonnie Pidgeon; daughter, April Leuci; grandchildren, Jason Bister and Travis Bister; and two great grandchildren, Evelyn Bister and Dawson Bister.
Pauline was a woman of quiet strength, gentle spirit, and enduring love. She found joy in the simple things - spending time with her family, creating beauty through her beloved crafts, and caring for the cats who were her constant companions. Among her many creative talents, she especially cherished diamond art and crocheting, both of which she approached with patience, care and attention to detail - a true reflection of how she lived her life. She will be missed dearly.
June 12 at 3:45 p.m. — Assisted Shaw’s in trespassing a male from the store who had stolen in the past.
June 13 at 8:45 a.m. — Male in Walmart who was previously trespassed. Male was located and issued a citation to appear in court for unlawful trespass and violation of conditions of release.
June 13 at 12:40 p.m. — Male in Staples who was previously trespassed from all of Maple Tree Place. Male was located and issued a citation to appear in court for unlawful trespass.
June 13 at 7:43 p.m. — Report of a male passed out in his vehicle on Market Street. Male was issued a citation to appear in court for suspicion of DUI and cocaine possession.
June 14 at 9:24 a.m. — Suspicious vehicle
Visiting hours will be held at Gifford Funeral Home in Richmond Saturday, Aug. 2, from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m..
Jacquelynne Utton
Jacquelynne Utton, 89, passed away on July 19, 2025, peacefully at home.
Jackie was born May 2, 1936, in Nashua, NH, raised in Barre, VT, married Kimball Utton in 1953 (who predeceased her), and lived in Montpelier, VT, until moving to Williston, VT, in 2014.
Jackie was a multi-faceted woman: a dog groomer, weaver, quilter, knitter, accomplished cook, and world traveler. She was always willing to lend a helping hand without being asked. And she could do the New York Times Sunday crossword in ink. She is survived by her two daughters, Valerie and Nancy, and her brother Robert.
If you would like to honor her passing, a Catholic Mass will be held in memoriam at St. Augustine’s Church, Montpelier, Aug.25 at 8:15 a.m.
Arrangements have been entrusted to the Ready Funeral and Cremation Services. To send online condolences please visit www.cremationsocietycc.com.
in the Walmart parking lot. Female operator gave a fake name. Female was lodged at the correctional facility until arraignment. She was charged with violation of conditions of release, suspicion of DUI, false information to a police officer, heroin possession, cocaine possession and illegal possession of a credit card. She also had an active arrest warrant.
June 14 at 11:35 p.m. — Suspicious vehicle on Williston Road. Vehicle broke down and drivers were trying to fix it.
Officers also conducted 26 traffic stops and responded to eight alarm activations and seven motor vehicle crashes during this time frame.
FSA is looking for temporary office assistance to help deliver “The American Relief Act of 2025,” which was signed into law on Dec. 21, 2024 and provided the U.S. Department of Agriculture with more than $30 billion to deliver disaster recovery assistance for farmers and livestock producers.
This position will help support the implementation of the Emergency Livestock Relief Program and the Supplemental Disaster Relief Program which will provide assistance to producers for necessary expenses due to losses due to weather-related events in 2023 and 2024.
Center volunteers engaged through the transition. The town is currently accepting applications to serve on that board.
The selectboard’s charge to the group states, in part: “The board provides advisory input to the Williston Town Manager and WCJC staff on matters specifically related to the Town’s transition to the regional governance
structure established under Act 180.”
The group’s work will sunset next June, when the Burlington Community Justice Center is expected to begin operations as a regional center.
OFFICE ASSISTANT CLASSIFIEDS
VEHICLE FOR SALE
Resumes can be submitted by email to Lawrence.parker@usda.gov.
SUDOKU SOLUTION
2014 TOYOTA VENZA LE—AWD V6, white, 99,000 miles. Well taken care of. MOTIVATED SELLER. $12,500-OBO. (802) 310-0567.
SALE off Route 2A. Saturday, Aug. 2, 8 a.m. to 3 p.m.
FOR SALE
DINING ROOM TABLE— dark brown, excellent condition $225. Cash only. Please call or text 802-829-9712.
Through this transition year, the Williston Community Justice Center will continue taking cases, Wells said.
With the June resignation of Executive Director Cristalee McSweeney, the center is down
from two staff members to one. But Program Manager Mandy Ferland and the center’s volunteers will continue to operate restorative justice panels, with referrals coming from the Williston Police Department.
“We don’t want there to be a lapse in service,” Wells said. “There will still be referrals made by our officers and a good, timely process with local volunteers to hear those cases.”
LEGAL
TOWN OF WILLISTON Selectboard
Public Hearing Notices 2025-2033 Williston Comprehensive Plan
The Williston Selectboard, pursuant to 24 V.S.A. §§ 4384 and 4385, will hold two public hearings to receive public comment and consider adoption of the proposed 2025–2033 Williston Comprehensive Plan.
The hearings will be held in the Beckett/ McGuire Meeting Room on the 2nd floor of Williston Town Hall, 7900 Williston Road, Williston, VT 05495. Remote participation will also be available via Zoom, as detailed below.
Public Hearing Schedule:
First Hearing: Tuesday, July 15, 2025, at 7:05 PM Zoom Link: www.zoom.us/join Meeting ID: 894 1702 7594
Second Hearing: Tuesday, August 19, 2025, at 7:05 PM Zoom Link: www.zoom.us/join Meeting ID: 881 8629 9634
The proposed 2025–2033 Williston
Comprehensive Plan will replace the expiring 2016-2024 Plan and was transmitted by the Williston Planning Commission. It was developed with the assistance of Planning staff, and with input from other Town departments, boards, committees, and extensive community engagement. The Plan addresses key topics including population trends, housing, economic development, transportation, utilities, land use, conservation, climate resilience, and municipal services.
Per Vermont statute, the plan will become effective upon adoption by the Selectboard, unless a later effective date is specified at the time of adoption.
The complete transmittal draft and supporting documents can be viewed online at https:// www.town.williston.vt.us/ (Public Records & Documents/Legal Notices). A binder with the full proposed Plan is available for review at the Planning & Zoning Office at 7878 Williston Road, Williston, VT 05495.
If you have any questions, please contact Matt Boulanger at the Williston Planning Office at (802) 878-6704 or mboulanger@willistonvt.org for additional information.
In 2010, the Williston Observer celebrated its 25th anniversary. The following article recalling July news stories from the past was published on July 29 of that year.
• The July 1987 edition of the Williston Whistle included an article about resident Mike Bonfigli’s visit home from volunteer work with the Peace Corps in Honduras. In the Central American country, Bonfigli helped organize classes for lobster divers, teaching them safe scuba diving methods.
• The July 1989 issue of the Williston Whistle was dedicated to the new town plan, which was ready to be reviewed at a series of public meetings. The former town plan was adopted in 1982. Major issues included managing growth, preserving open land, providing affordable housing and protecting the historic town center.
• The Planning Commission approved the site plan for the Walmart and Sam’s Club at Taft Corners in 1991, as reported in the July 1991 edition of the Whistle. Walmart opened in 1997.
• Residents of the Lake Iroquois area organized to combat the spread of the invasive aquatic plant Eurasian milfoil, according to an article in the July 15, 1992 issue of the Whistle. Volunteer divers pulled plants out by the roots, which are
Headlines of bygone Julys
about the size of a basketball, near the boat access and a cove at the southern end of the lake.
• The Williston Selectboard used an ice cream truck to reach out to residents, according to the July 27, 1995 issue of the Whistle. The selectboard visited several neighborhoods, giving out free ice cream, in an effort to be more visible and boost attendance at its often-empty meetings.
• The Williston Planning Commission approved the final subdivision and site plan for the Maple Tree Place development in a 6-1 decision just before midnight on July 8, as reported in the July 10, 1997 issue of the Whistle. According to the article, “a vocal majority of Williston residents” and town officials were supportive of the project.
• The July 15, 1999 edition of the Williston Whistle included a story about Rachel Salvatori, the first girl to make Williston’s District I Little League Tournament Team. Rachel, then 10 years old, had been playing baseball for six years and said she wasn’t surprised to have made the team.
• The July 7, 2000 issue of the Whistle contained an article about Williston residents Eileen Blackwood and Lynn Goyette. The two “became one of the first gay and lesbian couples in U.S. history to be joined in civil union,” the Whistle reported. The Saturday morning
ceremony took place in Monkton, hours after the couple obtained a license at Williston Town Hall.
• The Haunted Forest reached an agreement to move to Catamount Outdoor Family Center in Williston, the Whistle reported on July 25, 2002. The annual Halloween event, which features spooky skits, had been located at the Audubon Nature Center in Huntington.
• On July 31, 2003, the Williston Whistle changed its name to the Williston Observer. The change had been announced the previous week “to better reflect the paper’s role in the community.” Over the previous
18 years, the community newspaper had evolved from a volunteer monthly publication to a weekly staffed by journalists, graphic artists, account executives and publishers. Some readers still refer to the paper as the Whistle.
• Champlain Valley Union High School gained a new mascot in 2005. The Redhawks replaced the Crusaders, the Observer reported on July 14 that year. The new name beat out the Red Wolves and the Bobcats in a district-wide survey.
• Williston’s 11- and 12-year-old Little League All-Star team won the state championship in 2008, with
a story appearing in the Observer on July 31. The team had won the District I title a week earlier with a 6-4 win over South Burlington. Williston’s All-Stars were eventually knocked out of the New England Regional Little League Tournament, played in Connecticut.
• The July Fourth preview in the July 2, 2009 edition of the Observer noted that the town’s annual Ice Cream Social would for the first time be a waste-free event. The Williston Historical Society and Williston Green Initiatives partnered to offer compostable utensils and biodegradable bowls instead of Styrofoam plates and plastic spoons.
