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Kenney considers run for Chittenden prosecutor’s seat Williston lawyer exploring challenge to Sarah George BY JACK LYONS VTDIGGER
Williston Community Theatre players — from left to right, Alexis Suker, Grace Freeman, Sean Reeks, Helen Weston and Gloria Kamencik — prepare to perform ‘Tales and Things,’ a musical written by Douglas Anderson, artistic director of the Opera Company of Middlebury and the Middlebury Town Hall Theater. COURTESY PHOTO BY KENNETH JANSON
The stage is set for a new Williston community theater Inaugural performance coming in June BY SUSAN COTE Observer Staff Theater for the community and by the community is the goal of the newly established Williston Community Theatre.
June 23-25 will mark the first production staged by the entity, a musical titled “Tales and Things,” written by Douglas Anderson, the artistic director of the Opera Company of Middlebury and Middlebury Town Hall Theater. “Tales and Things” – about a monster who doesn’t want to be
one anymore and is looking for friends – will delight children and adults alike, according to theater founder, Helen Weston. Written in the late 1970s, the musical has been performed just twice before. Weston envisioned the community theater as the second see THEATER page 24
After more than five years as Chittenden County state’s attorney, Sarah George — a reform-minded prosecutor who has drawn praise and condemnation for her positions on criminal justice issues — could be facing a challenge for her seat. Ted Kenney, Williston selectboard vice chair and a lawyer, is considering a run for the office, he told VTDigger on Tuesday in response to an inquiry, mounting a challenge to George in the Democratic primary Aug. 9. Kenney declined to offer more information about his potential bid. But any challenge to George could spur support from voters who believe the Democratic prosecutor’s progressive views have made the Burlington area less safe. Since taking office in January 2017, George has used the tool of
Ted Kenney
“prosecutorial discretion” to create new standards for what type of law-breaking gets a day in court. In 2020, she ended cash bail for defendants awaiting a trial. As a result, defendants charged with a misdemeanor, such as retail theft, cannot be detained under Vermont law. The practice has angered local store owners, who say George’s decision has led to a spike in individuals repeatedly stealing from them without fear of consequences. George has also tangled with elected officials for her decision see KENNEY page 2
Why a man who’s been to over 100 countries calls Williston home BY KARSON PETTY Community News Service
Steven Shepard
OBSERVER COURTESY PHOTO
On a chilly evening in a pueblo outside of Madrid, Spain, villagers crowded into a one-room apartment to sing and dance flamenco with an American family. With stomachs full of authentic Spanish cuisine, bodies warmed by a charcoal brazier, and hearts warmed by good company, they could forget their poverty under the reign of Generalissimo Francisco Franco. A 14-year-old Steven Shepard, in 1969, couldn’t believe a family of seven crammed into a sparse apartment could keep on smiling. His family had moved into a hacienda in a Madrid suburb after his father, who was a petroleum geologist, got assigned to work in
Spain. Two decades later Shepard would end up raising a family of his own in Williston. A CHILDHOOD ON THE MOVE
Shepard recalls that he moved 16 times, following the oil across the American Southwest, before ending up in Madrid. “There were times when the movers came and brought in all the boxes, my mom started opening the boxes, and my dad called and said, ‘Don’t open anything, we’re moving again’,” he said. He spent his high school years attending the American School of Madrid, a monumental change from his former hometown of Midland, Texas. He learned that it was customary for well-off families living in
big houses to employ a maid. After Shepard’s family had formed a relationship with theirs, she invited them to her house for dinner. After young Shepard had eaten the best food he had ever had and experienced the impromptu flamenco dancing, he realized something that completely changed his worldview. “I came to realize that the measure of a person is not how much money they make,” he said. “The measure of a person is the impact they have on others.” A CAREER OF INTERNATIONAL TRAVEL AND STORYTELLING
His formative years in Madrid also kindled a lifetime passion for travel. Before the COVID-19 pansee SHEPARD page 2