Sports preview
Plumage palette
Redhawks look to winning spring season
Wood ducks return, give Vermont lakes, ponds touch of color
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April 14, 2022
Weekly news coverage for Charlotte and Hinesburg
Hinesburg police debate continues
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Spring beauties
Residents accuse town of ignoring voters’ will COREY MCDONALD STAFF WRITER
Debates over policing in Hinesburg continued last week as the selectboard resumed an ongoing public forum for residents and officials to speak and come to a consensus on what kind of police services the town needs. The meeting was often tense, with residents expressing frustration that the town is ignoring the will of the voters in proposing a relatively similar budget to the one they vetoed on town meeting day. “I think the voters spoke on town meeting, and you have to take into account what the voters said,” Richard Watts, the director of the Center for Research on Vermont at the University of Vermont and a Hinesburg resident, said. “Cutting
the budget by 1.5 percent is not really acknowledging what people said. I just don’t really feel the selectboard has taken that into account.” (Editor’s note: The Citizen has a working relationship with the university Community News Service, which Watts also oversees.) Voters in March narrowly voted down the department’s $815,483 budget, 431-484. Since then, the town has proposed a budget roughly $15,000 less that keeps six fulltime officers as well as a part-time administrative assistant, but cuts back on salary benefits to reduce the overall budget to $800,491. The town has until July 1 to finalize a budget, although that is not a hard deadline. The town can See POLICE on page 12
Charlotte selectboard wades into noise issue Officials hope to resolve decadeslong conflict at Laberge range COREY MCDONALD STAFF WRITER
The Charlotte selectboard Monday voted to facilitate a conversation between two groups over an issue that has loomed for decades — noise complaints emanating from the Laberge Shooting Range. The private, open-air shooting range located on a 287-acre family farm on Lime Kiln Road has existed since 1950, part of a large parcel
of land owned by Laberge and Sons, Inc. It has a controversial, decades-long judicial history, both with the state of Vermont as well as concerned neighbors. The range has been victorious in lawsuits, but dozens of neighbors in Charlotte say they are still affected by the noise. A motion put forth by selectboard Chair Jim Faulkner authoSee SHOOTING RANGE on page 12
PHOTO BY LEE KROHN
Is there a more delightful sight than a patch of crocus in April?