The Citizen - 06-16-22

Congratulations Class of 2022!

Graduating high school prompts smiles all around. Story and photos follow on page 11.

Hinesburg supports study on wake boats

Boats create environmental harm, says environmental group

COREY MCDONALD

STAFF WRITER

Hinesburg has sent a letter of support to the Vermont Agency of Natural Resources asking it to study the issue of wake boats on lake ecosystems, and to potentially develop statewide regulations in response to a push from a group looking to mitigate wake boats’ effect on Vermont’s lakes and ponds.

The group, Responsible Wakes for Vermont Lakes, petitioned the Vermont Agency of Natural Resources in March urging the group to study the effect wake boats have on the ecosystems of lakes and ponds, and potentially manage or restrict wake boat activity in the state.

See BOATS on page 7

Zoning admin resigns again in Charlotte

Fourth to leave in four years

COREY MCDONALD

STAFF WRITER

Charlotte’s zoning administrator, Keith Oborne, has submitted his resignation, making him the fourth person to resign from the position since 2019.

Town administrator Dean Bloch didn’t answer questions about the resignation but confirmed on social media that Oborne was planning to leave, adding that his “performance has been excellent, and that he is leaving for personal reasons, he was not asked to leave.”

Oborne was hired in January, jumping

See OBORNE on page 10

The Champlain Valley Union High School Class of 2022 graduation took place at Patrick Gymnasium Friday on the University of Vermont campus.

PHOTOS BY AL FREY

Rice Memorial hires new interim principal

Dr. Andrew Keough has been picked to be interim principal next year at Rice Memorial High School in South Burlington.

He officially takes the helm July 5.

A school administrator from Sherborn, Mass., his experience includes serving both as a high school principal — Medfield High School and Wellesley High School — and as a school superintendent at both Easton public schools and Dover Sherborn regional schools. Most recently he has been coaching a new principal at Harmony Grove Elementary School in Framingham, Mass.

“I am grateful for all the hard work and commitment of Father Patrick Forman and the search committee to find the right person

for the role with limited time,” said Burlington Bishop Christopher Coyne.

Keough and his wife, Christine, have three grown daughters — Julia, Mary and Sophia.

EARLY DEADLINES

Welch, local solar leaders optimistic about industry amid slowdown

MAGGIE CALZARETTA COMMUNITY NEWS SERVICE

U.S. Rep. Peter Welch on Friday praised President Joe Biden’s recent moves to boost solar energy in the wake of the administration’s trade inquiry into Southeast Asian producers, which industry leaders say has stymied solar installations.

“Federal policies must be helpful, not harmful,” said Welch, one of 80 lawmakers who signed a letter to the president last month urging the administration to soften the inquiry’s blow on domestic solar energy.

Welch, who is running for Vermont’s open Senate seat, spoke about those issues outside Green Mountain Solar in South Burl-

ington that morning alongside the company’s president and founder, Paul Lesure, and Chad Farrel, CEO of Encore Renewable Energy in Burlington.

Biden on Monday, June 6, issued a two-year pause on tariffs against solar products from Southeast Asia and invoked the federal Defense Production Act, which allows the White House to direct production from manufacturers to jumpstart alternative energy sectors. The moves came in response to a Department of Commerce investigation examining whether solar imports from Cambodia, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam contained Chinese parts, which are subject to tariffs.

Solar industry leaders believe

the inquiry could threaten scores of planned projects and lead to thousands of layoffs.

“It’s all scary for financials, but also for customers and employees,” Lesure said. “Without panels, installers have no jobs.”

Lesure and Farrel said they believed their companies’ futures were jeopardized by the trade inquiry.

The business owners described times when they had to tell employees they wouldn’t have work for the next week because solar installations were down. Biden’s actions, they said, gave them hope that the domestic supply chain for alternative energy products would continue to grow.

Both Lesure and Farrel called for greater federal control over renewable power sources.

“We need a strong domestic solar supply chain,” Farrel said. “Jobs around the country must not be outsourced overseas.”

Welch stressed his appreciation for the administration’s response and said the hold on import tariffs is good for homeowners, the clean energy initiative and affordable energy efforts.

He also focused on the importance of manufacturing and installing affordable electric parts domestically, especially crystalline silicon photovoltaic cells and panels, which had been under tariff.

The next steps? The trio stressed two points: the continued use of the Domestic Production Act to expand American clean energy manufacturing and passing environmental legislation with incentives for adopting renewable energy.

PHOTO BY MAGGIE CALZARETTA

Chad Farrel and Paul Lesure chat with Rep. Peter Welch before last Friday’s press conference.

Dr. Andrew Keough

A Charlotte Central School science teacher was named a Rising Star from Vermont Association of Middle Level Education. Andrew Lounsbury, a middle level science teacher at the school, was nominated by his colleague and mentor, Allan Miller, during the 20202021 school year. Lounsbury, above, with the association’s executive director Dave F. Brown and Charlotte Central School principals Jen Roth and Stephanie Sumner. In his nomination of Lounsbury, Miller, now at Williston Central School, said, “As we know, middle level students are unique, and not all educators have the passion to connect with them in all their quirkiness, emotions and energy. But it’s clear from being online or in-person with Andrew that he gets them and that he is about connecting with them. Students show up to his office hours just to tell jokes, to share about their new dog or come to be part of the online chess club he started just because they enjoy being around him.”

Charlotte native named Central School’s assistant principal

Courtney Krahn is the new assistant principal of Charlotte Central School.

She

Krahn starts her job July 1.

Krahn was recently curriculum leader for the Addison Central School District, director of the the school’s p Proficiency Recovery School, language and literature teacher at Middlebury Union Middle School and English teacher and literacy coach at Leland and Gray Union Middle and High School. She held additional teaching positions in Wisconsin.

She has a Vermont principal’s license and attended the Snelling Center for Government’s Vermont

School Leadership Program in 2022.

Krahn earned a bachelor’s degree from Dickenson College and a master’s degree in English

from the Middlebury College Bread Loaf School of English.

She is originally from Charlotte and attended Champlain Valley School District schools.

“I first got to know Courtney during our time at Snelling’s Vermont School Leadership Project. She is a thoughtful listener with a deep understanding of how to foster curiosity and engagement in learners,” said Roth.

“As an alumna of both Charlotte Central School and Champlain Valley Union, I am proud of the formative learning experiences I had in this school district, and I am humbled by the opportunity to return to where my educational journey began. I very much look forward to meeting everyone,” Krahn said.

5797 Route 7 in Ferrisburgh (9.5 miles south of the Shelburne Museum)

RIBS CABOT SAUSAGE PULLED PORK BACON SYRUP • • • • •

joins principal Jennifer Roth and special education director Beth Slater on the school’s leadership team.

COURTESY PHOTO

Courtney Krahn

CRIME & COURTS

Custodian honored by peers Hinesburg Police Blotter

May 23 at 7 p.m., police helped mediate an issue over a property on Enos Road that was being shown by a realtor who had complained that a neighbor’s dogs were out and about disturbing the showing.

May 23 at 4 p.m., a strange man visited a woman’s house on Piette Road asking for help regarding another address. A few hours later she called police worried that the stranger was assessing possible burglary victims, but officers patrolled the area for several days and never saw anyone or any vehicle that matched the description, nor have there been any burglaries on that road.

May 25 at 3:30 p.m., no one was injured after a car backed into another car in the parking lot of the Jiffy Mart.

May 26 at 11 a.m., a resident on Route 116 reported his firearm missing but he wasn’t sure if it was missing from his car or his house or when it went missing. Police are still investigating.

May 26 at 10 a.m., a kiddo walked home from the Hinesburg Community School, which

apparently he’s prone to do, but the student returned to school on his own before police located him.

May 26 at 7:15 p.m., officers responded to a residence on North Road for a report of two neighbors yelling at each other. Both parties were separated by the time police arrived and there were no charges resulting.

May 27 at 10:20 a.m., a student called in a possible threat to CVU over some allegedly threatening text messages about shooting students. Officers patrolled the school a few days after the threat. They believe it to be unfounded, but the case is still under investigation.

May 29 at 9:45 a.m., officers responded to a residence on Hillview Terrace where a couple was verbally fighting. Neither party wanted to leave the residence, so police checked in a couple more times that day. No charges resulted.

May 29 at 4 p.m., a loose golden retriever was spotted in a yard on Hidden Pasture Road.

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COURTESY PHOTO

Carrie Justice, a custodian at Hinesburg Community School, was chosen by the Vermont Agency of Education and the Vermont School Custodians & Maintenance Association as the 2022 Vermont Custodian of the Year.

Death of stare decisis and demise of 4th Amendment

Guest Perspective

Elayne Clift

I was away when news of the U.S. Supreme Court leak went viral. I hadn’t watched TV for a week and barely signed onto social media but when I did, I read astute and deeply troubling reactions to the policy document designed to overturn Roe v. Wade, which has been considered established law for 50 years.

The document, drafted by conservative Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito, was supported by four of his court colleagues, revealing that a majority of the court concurred with ending women’s right to abortion. The timing of the leak was significant; it occurred when the court is scheduled to rule on the constitutionality of a Mississippi abortion law that prohibits abortion after 15 weeks of pregnancy.

If the court finds that the Mississippi law stands, it will have sanctioned ending Roe v. Wade, allowing states to make their own laws regarding abortion. Some states have already established Draconian laws that include charging women with murder if they miscarry or have an abortion. Some have ruled that physicians who perform abortions can be charged with a felony crime and some have set up vigilante laws that could affect anyone who helps a woman get an abortion.

Essentially the demise of the constitutional right to abortion up to 24 weeks of pregnancy will end women’s right to abortion in over half the states in this country. The implications are huge, not only for American women but for the future of the country, and they are abundantly clear.

Many analysts and pundits have written cogently and urgently about the legal, physical, economic and emotional consequences for women and others in this country, and for all of us with respect to our civil and human rights. As a women’s health educator and advocate I am all too familiar with those consequences. I have heard women’s testimonials, read their memoirs, listened to their stories. I have helped them access abortion care and as a doula I have helped them give birth to much-wanted babies.

After the Alito document was revealed — and during the last confirmation

hearings — I thought about the great legal minds of the past who had served on the Supreme Court, justices like Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr., Thurgood Marshall, Ruth Bader Ginsburg among them. Now I mourn what has become of that institution, where several judges lied under oath to Congress regarding precedent, and where many are willing to ignore the Constitution’s 4th amendment right of Americans to be “secure in their persons” and to “not be violated or subjected to unreasonable searches and seizures.”

It pains and frightens me that faulty — some might say puerile logic — superficial, antiquated, cliched justifications, overt sexism and religious ideology are blatantly on display. It is worth noting that seven of the current justices are Catholic and no Protestants are on the bench.

Couple that with the less than stellar records and legal experience of several justices, the alleged sexual harassment conduct of two justices, the conflict of interest on the part of a justice whose wife actively supported the Jan. 6 insurrection, along with the majority’s willing abrogation of civil and human rights and one can question where “liberty and justice for all” has gone.

How, I ask myself in these traumatic judgment days, has this largely trusted American institution so quickly deteriorated into depravity? How did its majority come to rely on bumper sticker taglines, social media tropes and arguments so weak and sloppy that they wouldn’t pass muster in a law school? Where has compassionate consideration in difficult matters gone? Why have context, untoward consequences and the reality of people’s lives disappeared?

The fact is the Supreme Court has become a political organization with its own dark agenda and its reputation will forever be tarnished, all because four men and one woman who should know better, appointed by a far right, self-serving autocrat, are now seated for life on the highest court in the land, along with several hundred inappropriate federal judges.

The price we’ll all pay for judicial travesties, individually and together, grows ever clearer and more threatening. If Roe v. Wade is overturned, many

women’s lives will be destroyed. Precedent in other matters — gay and interracial marriage, LGBTQ rights and more — will no longer be valid, and revision of laws that wreak havoc because of ignorance and a taste for punishment will return.

It is no stretch to say that we will become an even more divided and dangerous nation, two-tiered and binary in ways that we can’t yet imagine. Violence is likely to flourish along with racism, antisemitism, sexism and increased marginalization. The elderly, young, disabled and mentally ill will suffer even more profoundly. Murder charges, incarcerations and suicides will become commonplace. Poverty will prevail for those in the 99 percent, while corporations and billionaires flourish. Family structures

will be deeply and sadly impacted. The earth will be at risk sooner than predicted.

This is not solely about women’s rights, and it is not hyperbole. It’s a harbinger of what is to come because of laws we must live with, who makes and enforces those laws, who adjudicates disputes, what national priorities are established and by whom. It is about the future, which now is in the hands of the U.S. Supreme Court — a court plunged into decline that endangers us all.

It’s a court that is beyond disappointing, a court with extraordinary power to shape our lives, and it grows ever more dangerous.

Elayne Clift writes about women, health, politics and social issues. More at elayne-clift.com.

Dresses

It is no stretch to say that we will become an even more divided and dangerous nation, two-tiered and binary in ways that we can’t yet imagine.

PHOTO BY LEE KROHN Shelburne Town Manager Lee Krohn captured this shot of an osprey coming back to

BOATS

continued from page 1

The group asked the selectboard to sign a letter of support of the petition, which is being reviewed by the agency.

Wake boats are motorboats designed specifically to produce large waves for wakeboarding and wake surfing. These boats create waves “much greater than that produced by other boats or by wind-driven waves,” the petition read.

Wake boarding and wake surfing are the fastest growing segment of the watercraft and recreational boating industries, according to the National Marine Manufacturers Association.

Responsible Wakes for Vermont Lakes identified Lake Iroquois in Hinesburg as one of 11 lakes throughout the state where wake boats and wake-enhancing devices “can cause environmental damage, degrade water quality, create safety hazards for people in or on the water and near shore, and cause physical damage to property and shorelines,” the group wrote, citing several academic studies.

The boats, the group argues, help erode shorelines, increase algal blooms due to stirred up sediment, destroy habitat and disrupt aquatic plants, as well as threaten lake and pond wildlife.

In their petition, the group cites a first-hand report from William Wright, of Shelburne, who said that in 2020 his then 4-year-old grandson was playing in the water next to his dock on Lake Iroquois when a “large wave from a wake boat washed him under the dock.”

“As he was wearing a life jacket he was caught between the water and the underside of the dock. One of his cousins pulled him out before other waves arrived so he was not hurt, but easily could have been,” he said. “This event reinforced my concern over the generation of such large wakes on small lakes.”

There’s a history of the selectboard taking up environmental issues on Lake Iroquois. In 2020, the selectboard debated the dangers of applying the herbicide ProcellaCOR to areas of the lake.

The selectboard has been “interested in what’s happening in Lake Iroquois and wanting to make it the best possible resource for humans and for wildlife that live around the lake,” selectboard chair Merrily Lovell said. “I think there’s a lot of evidence that wake boats are pretty detrimental to

birds, like loons, that nest on the edges of the lake.”

Currently, the only limitation on wakes is a 200-foot no wake zone from a shoreline, according

to Meg Handler, a member of the group that lobbied the Hinesburg selectboard asking for its support to “help prevent the degradation of the water quality in Lake Iroquois and other lakes and ponds.”

Handler previously pushed against the use of herbicide ProcellaCOR in the lake.

“This 200-foot zone is inadequate for a new class of boat called a wake boat,” she said. “We are asking the state to address this growing problem now by managing wake boat activities sooner rather than later before it gets to be too big a problem to solve.

Water quality at Lake Iroquois depends on your protection and you can do a lot to help us by supporting this petition.”

At its June 1 meeting, the selectboard received pushback from property owners on Lake Iroquois, arguing against any support for regulations on wake boats.

“This may be a bigger issue elsewhere, but I’d like to call on what I think is the localized picture of Lake Iroquois,” said Rodney Putnam, a Lake Iroquois resident and member of the town’s recreation committee who owns a wake boat. “On our lake there’s maybe 90 properties in that neighborhood, there’s approximately 30 power boats, and of those numbers there’s only three wake boats — mine being one of them.”

He called parts of the group’s petition “sensationalized,” and argued that the larger boats causing environmental damage are not present on the small Lake Iroquois. He also wondered if curtailing wake boats would “affect my property (and) my resale value ... does it limit the number of people who might be interested in my property and the value declines?”

“Every lake is different and to paint a broad brush of every lake in the state and say, ‘you can’t do this anymore’ across the board isn’t necessarily fair,” he said. “Every lake should be looked at differently and surveyed.”

Michael Summers, another homeowner on the lake who owns a wake boat, told the selectboard that there is an etiquette on Lake Iroquois since he’s been there, and all the boat owners respect each other.

“I’ve never seen anybody not

follow that etiquette. We’re all held to these boating standards, we all follow them, and I think it’s unfair to ban a certain thing with the understanding that people are following the rules,” he said. “To put out blanket mandates, it’s not the right thing to do.”

Jack Widness, the head of Responsible Wakes for Vermont Lakes, said during the June 1 meeting that according to the data, wake boats “have doubled in terms of their power. As the wakes get bigger, the damage we talk about that’s included here by reputable academic researchers, indicates that there are significant damage to the environment on the lake shores, the bottom of the lake, as well as interfering with other people that are on the lake.”

“Our position is based on the evidence we’ve presented through our petition,” he said.

The selectboard, in its decision, walked back writing a letter asking for regulations on wake boats and instead wrote a letter expressing support for the study of the issue. Selectboard member Mike Loner expressed caution about “the appropriateness of the selectboard” being asked to write a letter in support of a ban.

“In supporting this, I would like to see the state go through a thorough investigation and decide statewide — not just one body of water — what the impact is from these wake boats and what they believe should be done,” selectboard member Phil Pouech said.

“Lake Iroquois has some unwritten rules and people are following them. That’s good and I believe that’s probably true,” he said, “but it sounds like there should be some real rules written and applied appropriately.”

An aerial shot of Lake Iroquois.

“Every lake should be looked at differently and surveyed.”

— Rodney Putnam, Lake Iroquois homeowner

PUBLIC NOTICE

Notice is hereby given that the Champlain Valley School District (formerly Chittenden South Supervisory Union) including the towns of Charlotte, Hinesburg, St. George, Shelburne, and Williston intends to destroy the special education records of all students who exited from any special education program during the 20162017 school year.

A permanent record of the student’s name, address, phone number, grades, attendance record, and year completed is maintained without time limitation.

Any former student, who has reached 18 years of age, may review and/or receive these records upon request. Also, any parent of a student who is 18 years of age or older, who has retained parental rights, may obtain these records.

Please contact the Champlain Valley Union High School Special Services Office at (802) 482-7115 by July 31, 2022. If no student, parent, or guardian responds to this public notice prior to or by July 31, 2022, the school district will assume consent to destroy the entire record specific to the student.

Are trees individuals? Or more complex?

Into the Woods Ethan Tapper

Are trees individuals? I started to think about this question after hearing a researcher say that trees are “colonial organisms” — more like colonies of autonomous branches than individuals. As I struggled to find answers, I found

that this topic is as nuanced and as complex as our forests.

While humans and other animals are unitary organisms — with a single body — plants and trees are modular organisms, comprised of repeating modules. Unlike unitary organisms, modular organisms like trees are unconstrained by the determinate growth of a human or

animal body. Instead, they have an indeterminate growth pattern, able to repeat themselves over and over again by creating new roots, branches, buds and sometimes trunks.

While branches are connected to a common trunk and root system, they may also behave

PHOTO BY COREY MCDONALD

A so-called wolf tree at Red Rocks Park.

Local firms honored for landscape designs

Several Charlotte-based landscape architects were recently recognized by the Vermont chapter of the American Society of Landscape Architects through its biennial awards program, including the Charlotte Library rain garden.

The Charlotte Library rain garden, designed by Broadreach Planning & Design of Charlotte, won the Planning, Research and Analysis Merit Award, with assistance from Karen Tuininga, Linda Hamilton and the late Marty Ilick.

The Charlotte Library landscape project created, in a very public way, educational workshops, classes and community events and used the expansion of the library to educate the community about green infrastructure.

Over 50 community members participated directly in one or more educational activities over the course of a year and countless other library patrons watched and read educational panels as the rain garden and landscape were planned, installed and began to

INTO THE WOODS

continued from page 8

autonomously, competing with each other for light and satisfying their own energetic needs before exporting resources to the rest of the tree. When they are shaded, or otherwise consume more than they produce, they die.

Through they have some autonomy, a branch is also part of a tree, an organism which must maintain its overall shape and growth pattern to survive. Trees regulate their overall growth largely through processes known as apical dominance and apical control, using hormones to suppress the growth of certain buds and branches.

Trees with high apical dominance and apical control — like conifers — are excurrent, resulting in a relatively symmetrical shape. Shrubs are decurrent, with low apical dominance and low apical control creating an asymmetrical growth pattern of many competing stems. Deciduous trees fall in between these extremes, with a more-or-less symmetrical (excurrent) overall growth pattern within which each branch is somewhat decurrent.

With some species of trees,

thrive around the well-used Charlotte Library.

Heritage Landscapes, LLC, also of Charlotte, won the Planning, Research and Analysis Honor Award for a project at the Cane River Creole National Historic Park, part of the National Park System in Cloutierville, La.

The firm’s Magnolia Plantation Cultural Landscape Report analyzed the elaborate history and evolved landscape of an 18th-century plantation in central Louisiana to make stewardship recommendations and schematic designs for a unit of the Cane River Creole National Historical Park.

This year the Landscape Architectural Design Award of Excellence went to the Horse Country Hilltop Retreat in Wassaic, N.Y., designed by Wagner Hodgson Landscape Architecture in Burlington. The Planning, Research and Analysis Award of Excellence was given to the Minnesota Discovery Center in Chisholm, Minn., completed by the SE Group, also of Burlington.

such as eastern white cedar, branch autonomy is especially pronounced. Cedars form stem strips: sections of bark that connect groups of branches directly to groups of roots. When exposed to drought or other stressors a single stem strip, and its associated roots and branches, may die while the rest of the tree is relatively unaffected.

Some tree species produce clones, sprouting groups of genetically identical trees from their root system. Covering over 100 acres in Utah, an aspen clone called Pando is the most massive and perhaps the oldest organism — some would say clonal organism — on Earth, weighing an estimated 13 million pounds and thought to be between 14,000 and 80,000 years old.

While Pando looks like a forest of young aspen trees, each tree is a ramet — genetically-identical and connected, at least initially, to the same root system. To think of these ramets as individuals is both right and wrong: they compete for light and even for resources within their common root system but are also indisputably part of a

In Hinesburg, Tiny Art Auction brings little canvasses to masses

Responsible Growth Hinesburg is holding its 5th Tiny Art Auction to benefit the Hinesburg Food Shelf. Each original piece of art in the auction measures just 4 inches by 4 inches. This year’s artists include Mary Azarian, Cynthia Guild-Kling, Marcy Kass, Gregory Maguire, Sarah Morrison-Yates, Nola Parker, John Penoyar, Ashley Wolff

larger entity.

Many of us have been captivated by the idea of the “wood wide web,” the underground networks of mycorrhizal fungi that can connect trees together, even facilitating communication and resource-sharing between trees. While some have taken this research to mean that forests are unified entities, or that they are entirely cooperative and altruistic, the truth is more complicated: While they cooperate at times, trees also compete with each other, often to the death.

Like a branch on a tree, a tree in a forest is both autonomous and dependent on a larger system.

and more!

The art will be on display on July 4 at the United Church Osborne Parish Hall, the location for the library book sale. Bidding for the auction, which begins July 4 and ends July 18, will be done online at biddingowl.com/RGHinesburg.

The mission of Responsible Growth Hinesburg is to

preserve the rural nature and small-town feel of Hinesburg and to ensure that new development protects Lake Champlain, its tributaries and other natural systems, is scaled to meet the needs of the town, and is located so that it complements its surroundings, protects the working landscape and recreational lands, and is designed to foster a sense of community.

Even a small forest is comprised of billions or trillions of organisms, each living an autonomous, complex life. Trees rely on other organisms to build soils, to regulate populations of pests, for pollination and seed dispersal, and much more. Together, these countless independent organisms, their environment and natural processes form a natural community: an entity with behavior and properties of its own. As the fate of a branch is linked to the fate of the tree to which it is attached, the fate of a tree is inextricably linked to the fate of this natural community.

Like us, a branch on a tree or

a tree in a forest is an individual but also part of something greater. As we exercise our autonomy as forest stewards, it’s up to us to recognize our part in the bigger picture, to learn how to sustain ourselves while also sustaining the trees, the forests and the living landscape to which we are connected.

Ethan Tapper is the Chittenden County forester for the Vermont Department of Forests, Parks and Recreation. See what he’s been up to, check out his YouTube channel, sign up for his eNews and read articles he’s written at linktr.ee/ chittendencountyforester.

Like a branch on a tree, a tree in a forest is both autonomous and dependent on a larger system.

802-888-7012

Charlotte town official seeks Chittenden County Senate seat

Political Notebook Lewis

The overarching reason I’ve decided to run for Senate is because my years of experience in Africa have taught me that the democratic process thrives with healthy competition.

There was an open seat in the district until the very last minute and I could have dropped out when Kesha Ram Hinsdale got back in the race, but I thought about the reasons why I was interested in serving, principally that Montpelier doesn’t have enough representation from working parents.

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My parents moved to Orange County in the late 1990s and there was a thriving high school nearby. It’s now closed. We are going to be the oldest state in the country by 2030 and we need to put our demographic crisis up front and start to encourage working parents to come here. This is the best place in the world to raise kids: it’s beautiful, it’s safe, we value community connections and education.

I think we need more people in the capital that have an eye toward the future and what kind of state we can become.

I’m looking forward to having conversations across the newly formed district. We have a choice

OBORNE

continued from page 1

from Richmond where he was working as zoning administrator. He was previously a director at International Paper in Paul Smiths, N.Y., director of planning and zoning for Lake George, N.Y., and land use planner for Queensbury, N.Y.

Oborne did not respond to multiple emails and phone messages seeking comment.

His departure marks another setback for a position that has been in flux for years.

The position previously functioned as both the zoning administrator and town planner, “which was definitely too much for one position,” Bloch said. Those positions have since been separated, and Larry Lewack has been the town planner since June 2020.

of three votes in this election. I’m not running against any of the incumbents as they all bring something positive to the table. What I am offering though is a new and under-represented voice in Montpelier. We need Vermonters who are working, who have kids in child care, who are paying a mortgage.

Some of the issues that are key to me:

• We need safe, affordable housing in the district close to where people work.

• We need to be resilient and proactive toward climate change. I’ve seen the effects of climate change firsthand in Africa. We are so lucky here in the West that we can adjust for this change and take as many steps as possible toward mitigating its effects.

• Broadband and reliable cellular service must be a reality for all in Chittenden County. We aren’t going to get industry at a scale needed to attract workers. People will need the ability to telecommute. I was doing it for years before the pandemic.

• Early child care providers in Chittenden County need a living wage and families need support with this critical service. My wife and I had, at one point, three kids in child care and the expenses were considerable. This issue is very close to me based on our personal experience and

seeing others struggle with the costs. We also need to recognize the critical role these providers serve in preparing our kids for the next step.

• Investments and economic plans must prioritize our aging population and working parents. We need to look hard at the consequences of the demographic shift in other parts of the state, like in Orange County, and understand that is going to put a strain on us in Chittenden County. Getting people here is tied into our housing crisis, but our demographic challenges must be a priority.

• The tactical gun culture in our country is bizarre and foreign to me. As someone who responsibly owns guns and who hunts every year, I think I have legitimacy as a Democrat in calling for Vermont to take steps toward guns laws that protect our constitutional rights and ensure that only responsible people own firearms. Gov. Phil Scott may have taken a first step, but we can do more on this.

(Mudge is running for one of three seats in the newly formed Chittenden Southeast District, which includes South Burlington, Bolton, Burlington’s South-End, Charlotte, Hinesburg, Shelburne, Jericho, Richmond, St. George, Williston and Underhill. Other candidates include newcomer Steve May, and incumbents Thomas Chittenden, Virginia Lyons and Hinsdale.)

Jeannine McCrumb worked as the zoning administrator from 2013 to 2016, Bloch said. Aaron Brown then worked from March 2018 to July 2019 but left to take a higher-paying job.

He was replaced by Daniel Morgan, who resigned in January 2021 after less than two years on the job. Wendy Pelletier, who was hired a few months later, stepped down in December 2021 because of family health issues.

“The position is a difficult job — perhaps the hardest in town hall,” Bloch said in his social media post. “There are constant time pressures, complex town and state regulations that require interpretation, conflicting goals between parties, and occasionally difficult personalities.

“The permitting and enforce-

ment processes can be stressful for all parties, and this can bring out the less pleasant side of people going through the process,” he added. “Sometimes doing a good job means taking unpopular positions.”

Bloch said that the selectboard has reached out to the planning commission and development review board “to see what can be improved upon.”

“The position of zoning administrator in a small town is not one that a lot of people aspire to. Vermont is a small state with a limited number of land use professionals,” Bloch said. “It’s certainly hoped that we will find a good zoning administrator who will stay for several years; but there are many factors at play, and that’s not guaranteed.”

Mudge

Lewis Mudge

‘Resist despair’ CVU graduation speaker says

Ceremony at UVM features Olympian Megan Nick, student speakers, diplomas

It would be hard to argue that another graduating high school class has lived through more tumultuous times in U.S. history.

Champlain Valley Union High School’s Class of 2022, having been abruptly sent home in March 2020 thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic, “saw and still see widespread economic strife and the amplification of crumbling social support systems,” said graduating senior and Hinesburg resident Eva Frazier, and have witnessed an explosion of racial strife and the confrontation with their country’s dark history of racism.

“Just weeks ago, a white nationalist took 10 Black lives in the name of replacement theory, fearing a multiracial America,”

she said. Then, while writing her speech, reports of 21 dead in Uvalde, Texas, most schoolchildren, hit her social media feed.

“As a young person, the past two years have been enough to inspire doom, depression and despair,” Frazier said in her speech to her fellow 285 graduates and hundreds of audience members.

“When witnessing these events, often through a screen, it is easy to be paralyzed by the bleakness of the world around you — I felt this countless times, distraught by the posts on my Instagram grid and newsfeed.”

“But today, I urge you to resist the despair you feel and move through hope toward action. We must feel and then act alongside our pain,” she said. “So today, I say

See GRADUATION on page 15

COREY MCDONALD STAFF WRITER

PHOTOS BY AL FREY

As tradition dictates, graduates toss their mortarboards into the air at Champlain Valley Union High School’s graduation on Friday at Patrick Gymnasium on the University of Vermont campus. Senior speaker Eva Frazier addresses the class.

Friday, June 10, 2022 | Patrick Gymnasium, University of Vermont

Liam R. Achilles

Jared A. Anderson

Rory J. Anderson

Zackery T. Aubin

Jack C. Averill

Nolan P. Avery

Vivienne F. Babbott

Riley K. Bagnato *++

Sophie Ballard

Alex L. Baraby-Putnam

Grace Barrett

Ava K. Bartlett

William A. Bartley

Andrew N. Bastress *

Holden Batchelder

Allison M. Bates *++

Celilo Bauman Swain *

Jacob R. Beauchamp

Hope S. Beaudoin

Olivia J. Beaudry

Lindsay Beer *

Eva L. Benway

Makai Bertrand

Jake S. Bialowoz

Ari Bick

Patrick Bilodeau

John R. Bingel *

Aidan Blasius *

Emily H. Bliss ***

Keagan R. Bothwell

Morghan L. Bourgeois

Jake R. Bowen

Olivia C. Brand

Sabina E. Brochu *

Eliza H. Brooks

Annalise M. Brown

Ethan Bryce

Andrew Buley ++

Kayden Bushey

Duncan R. Campbell

Ryan J. Canty

Brodie Cardinal

Angelos W. Carroll

Brendan J. Chalmers

Isabel C. Charlson

Elizabeth M. Charney *

Logan Claffy

Liliana Clark

Brandon L. Clodgoe

Elliott S. Clow

Oliver R. Cobden

Caille Comeau

Paige Comeau

Quinn A. Connolly

Rory F. Connolly

Griffin L. Cote ***

Kayla R. Cousino

Larson Couture

Moises A. Cowart

Emma L. Crum *++

Isaac D. Curschmann

Philip I. Davis ++

Gracie M. Deavitt

Gerasimos Delaportas

Audrey A. Delp

Koy O. Denis

Phoebe B. Dennison *++

Sachi Depot

Mason O. Desautels

Avery G. Devereux

William P. Devereux

Aidan H. Devine *

Kai J. DeVoe-Talluto

Kristen M. Donnelly

Claudia R. Dornbierer

Ian Dunkley

Hayden T. Durgin

Kaylee M. Eaton

Turner B. Elliott *++

Evelyn R. Emmons *

Nora A. Engisch *

Evan J. Ferrara

Benjamin J. Fox

Eva C. Frazier *++

Spencer J. Freeman

Kwadwo Frimpong

Abigail S. Gagnon

Karen S. Galvez

Karyssa Garafano-Lapan

Riley J. Gauthier

Loa E. Georgsdottir

Shane Geraldez *

Isabel L. Glickman

Demi I. Godbout

Rowan C. Godbout

Gregory S. Goldsmith

Mya A. Greenfield *

Aidan J. Greer **

Eric P. Guczek-Nasab **

Jalan Gurung

Samiksha Gurung +

Isabella L. Hackerman *++

Renzo Hall

Phebe Hardy

Madeline M. Haydock *

Dylan J. Hayes-Francis

Johannes G. Hemmett

Phoebe M. Henderson

Alexander H. Hilgerdt

Hayden A. Hilgerdt

Kai Hillier

Abigail F. Hillmulh

Sam G. Holmes ++

Aiden P. Jaremczuk

Kassidy J. Jay ***++

Erik N. Jensen **

Braedon C. Jones **

Elijah B. Jones ***

Peyton R. Jones *++

Leif J. Jurgenson

Katrina H. Kajenski

Jared P. Kartschoke

Saoirse C. Kearney

Jonas W. Keim

Rachel A. Kelley

Amelia J. Kenney

Leigh M. Kerbaugh *++

Myleigh E. Kilbon *++

Henry R. Kramer

James W. Kreider

Nicolas L. Krieger

Maxwell J. Krupp

Carson L. LaBarre

Emmett M. LaChapelle

Zander LaDue

Benjamin K. Ladue

Elizabeth A. LaDue

Aden LaGro

Finnegan M. Lahey

Jack H. Lamphere **

Emily A. Lang

Emma M. LaPierre ***

Alyssana C. Lasek *++

Lily R. Lawson

Noah S. LeCours ***

Chase A. Lehman

Luke A. Leonard ***

Alexander D. Lewis

Ray E. Lindsley

Zachary C. Loftus

Jacob M. Ludwar

Maggie Madden *

Jack T. Mahar***

Henry T. Marcoe

Erin C. Marino

Carmella R. Martone

Sydney C. Mast

Alexander G. Matthews

Daniel Maynard

Benjamin McAuliffe

Isabella E. McCaslin

Zander R. McClain

Eliza McLean

Evan B. McMahan *

Mary E. McNamara *

Evan J. Mead

Ayesha Memoli

Bridget G. Merchant

Eliza M. Merrill

Luka E. Mester

Samuel Metevier

Raymond S. Michalak

Zoe R. Milboer

Molly Milne-Gerlaugh *++

Tristan K. Minehart

River E. Mitchell

Gannon A. Mitton

Charlie Y. Mjaanes

Nakobe Morgan Parmett ++

Heather K. Moss

Clayton Murphy

Adia C. Murray

Jasmine G. Nails

Marin A. Napoliello

Innogen Naylor *++

Griffin L. Newberry

Steven Nguyen

Nicole Noonan

Trinity A. Nye

Cody J. O’Neil

Collin S. O’Neil

Olivia C. O’Rourke

Diego L. Ortiz

Hailey Q. Palmer *++

Ryan P. Paradee

Lauren M. Parent *

Tarik Pasic

Skyler J. Paya

Nickerson F. Peach

Tomas G. Peach

Anna C. Perrotta

Myles Peterson

Sophie K. Pidgeon

Owen B. Pierce

Nina W. Pike

Tristan R. Pillsbury

Gabrielle J. Pockette

Jake Potter

Mina Pricer-Coan *

Oliver C. Pudvar **

Mina Radivojevic

Nicholas Rakochy

Ethan T. Ravlin

Scott A. Reynolds

Donovan A. Richardson

Emma S. Richling

Briege A. Riley

Olivia A. Roberts

Max C. Robertson

Emily A. Roth-Longe

Emily A. Roth-Longe

Maddison Russell

Jack H. Rutz

Jackson F. Ruwet

Eric W. Sandage

Schye Sanderson

Leo V. Sarandos

Kelsie M. Schug

Remy C. Schulz *

Anthony J. Seidita

Gregory Seraus

Augustine D. Serinese

Alexandra Servis

Nolan M. Shea **

Chloe E. Silverman *

Avery G. Smith ++

Chloe E. Snipes

Olivia M. St. Peter *

Emery Sterling

Sophia N. Stevens *++

Chloe G. Stidsen

Zoe Stief

Richard T. Stoddard

Hailey G. Stokes

Kennady R. Sweeney

Lila S. Taylor**

Chance L. Therrien

Konstantin J. Thurber

Jasmin Y. Townsend-Ng

Isabella Trello

Sean M. Trifaro

Asja Tuco

Connor B. Turnbaugh

Kalin A. Turner

Erin Tuvell

Mia E. Twarog

Veronica Valliere

Anna G. Van Buren*

Eleanor Van Vranken *

Taylor N. Vincent

Ruby M. Volzer

Felix Walberg*++

Ryan S. Walker

Kyrell J. Ward

Carson T. Webster

Fritz J. Wetzell

Samuel W. Whitcomb

Griffin Wilczynski

Celia P. Williams

Neva Williams *++

Abigail G. Willis ***

James P. Wilson

Kahlyn A. Wilson

Ryan Winegar

Isaac R. Winsten-Pinel

Gabrielle R. Witt ***

Luna Wood

Phineas R. Wormser

Amelia J. Worth

Tyler G. Wuthrich

Anika W. Zia

Malcolm G. Ziter

Colin B. Zouck

Charlotte-Shelburne-Hinesburg Rotary J.

Coach David Bremner Awards

Craig Sampson Memorial Award

Creative Writing Awards

Luke Leonard, Kennady Sweeney

Design Technology Award

Diligence Awards

Direction Center Award

Donald Moore Cross Country Scholarships

Dylan Peters Visual Arts Memorial Scholarship

El Premio de Espanol

Aidan Devine, Turner Elliott, Alyssana Lasek, Chloe Environmental Activism Award

Excellence in Mathematical Thinking Awards

Excellence in Science Awards Turner Elliott, Excellence in Scientific Inquiry Awards Lindsay Faculty Awards

Family and Consumer Science Award

French V Language Awards

Felix Walberg, Isabel Charlson, Myleigh Kilbon

Friends of CVU School Spirit Award

Gov. Phil Hoff Vermont Honor Scholarship

Greg Cluff Award

Hart Athletic Awards Humanities Award Integrity Awards

Allen Rotary Award Ryan Canty

Emma Crum, Chance Therrien

Eric Guczek-Nasab

Elizabeth Charney, Aidan Devine, Philip Davis

Hope Beaudoin, Alexandra Servis

Renzo Hall

Scholarships Kai Hillier, Jasmine Nails

Scholarship Jasmin Townsend-Ng

Rory Anderson, Phoebe Dennison, Chloe Stidsen

Olivia Brand

Awards Myleigh Kilbon, Felix Walberg

Elliott, Isabella Hackerman, Alyssana Lasek

Lindsay Beer, Angelos Carroll, Anika Zia

Sabina Brochu, Augustine Serinese

Kahlyn Wilson

Andrew Bastress, Mya Greenfield, Augustine Serinese

Scholarship Alyssana Lasek

Eva Frazier

Turner Elliott, Sophia Stevens

Phoebe Dennison, Olivia St. Peter

Moises Cowart, Tristan Minehart

John Phillip Souza Band Award

Journalism Award

Kathy M. Stringer Devost Scholarship

Kevin Riel! Memorial Scholarships

Larry Wagner Math Awards

Louis Armstrong Jazz Award

National Federation of High Schools

Award of Excellence

Michael G. Hart Baseball Scholarship

Outstanding Business Student Awards

Isabella Hackerman

Myleigh Kilbon

Briege Riley

Chloe Stidsen

Andrew Bastress, Philip Davis

Avery Smith

Alyssana Lasek, Felix Walberg

Braedon Jones

Lila Taylor, Aidan Greer

Outstanding English Student Awards Alyssana Lasek, Carmella Martone, Eliza Merrill, Celilo Bauman Swain

The Seal of Biliteracy Samiksha Gurung

Theatre Award Eliza Brooks, Mina Pricer-Coan, Amelia Worth

Tom Titus Track and Field Award Gregory Seraus

Tomorrow’s Business Leader Award: (FBLA) Oliver Pudvar

Twenty-First Century Social Studies awards Jack Averill, Nora Engisch, Myleigh Kilbon, Jake Potter, Amelia Worth

University of Vermont Green and Gold Scholarship Eva Frazier Vergilian Latin awards Duncan Campbell, Isabella McCaslin, Donovan Richardson

Visual Arts Department Award Jasmin Townsend-Ng Waitsfield & Champlain Valley

Telecom Eunice B. Farr Incentive Award

Volunteer Outreach Club Award

Heather Moss

Leigh Kerbaugh

Outstanding Essayist Awards

Riley Bagnato, Finnegan Lahey, Gregory Goldsmith, Felix Walberg

Palmer Athletic Awards

Pat Mraz Library Award

Principal’s Leadership Award

Redhawk Football Award

Renaissance Artist Award

Resilience Award

Robert J. Pepper awards

Sara Grayson Memorial Award

School Directors awards

Ryan Canty, Chloe Snipes

Amelia Worth

Myleigh Kilbon

Angelos Carroll

Ruby Volzer

Zoe Milboer

Jack Averill, Kalin Turner

Ray Lindsley

Celilo Bauman Swain, Avery Smith

The Director’s Award for Chorus Duncan Campbell

The Peter Marsh Foundation

Silent Servant Award Allison Bates, Phoebe Dennison

Williston-Richmond Rotary Scholarship

Zeke Kassel Memorial Awards

Amelia Worth

Audrey Delp, Karen Galvez

VSADA Scholar/Athlete Awards Jack Averill, Vivienne Babbott, Ava Bartlett, William Bartley, Andrew Bastress, Allison Bates, Lindsay Beer, John Bingel, Aidan Blasius, Sabina Brochu, Andrew Buley, Ryan Canty, Emma Crum, Phoebe Dennison, Rowan Godbout, Aidan Greer, Kai Hillier, Samuel Holmes, Jared Kartschoke, Jonas Keim, Mary McNamara, Charlie Mjaanes, Angelos Carroll, Paige Comeau Turner Elliott, Nora Engisch, Madeline Haydock, Phoebe Henderson, Peyton Jones, Braedon Jones, Alyssana Lasek, Benjamin McAuliffe, Nakobe Morgan Parmett, Clayton Murphy, Innogen Naylor, Trinity Nye, Hailey Palmer, Lauren Parent, Sophie Pidgeon, Oliver Pudvar, Remy Schulz, Augustine Serinese, Chloe Silverman, Chloe Snipes, Sophia Stevens, Chloe Stidsen, Lila Taylor, Isabella Trello, Anna Van Buren, Felix Walberg, Fritz Wetzell, Samuel Whitcomb, Neva Williams, Abigail Willis, Tyler Wuthrich, Anika Zia

PHOTO BY AL FREY

Nora Van Vranken, Oliver Pudvar and Jack Averill make the presentation of the class gift at Champlain Valley Union High School’s graduation Friday. Olympian Megan Nick was CVU’s featured speaker.

Haysen Arnoldy

Camden Ayer

Adeline Baker

Cooper Berard

Aidan Bezio

Reese Blasich

Renjiro Bosmenier

Logan Brace

Leo Bush

Marlea Busier

Evan Butchino

Wyatt Cardinal

Brendan Chevrier

Blake Companion

Owen Cook

Sawyer Cudney

Jack Daly

Eighth Grade Graduation

June 9, 2022, 6 p.m.

Gavin Davies

Aliya Densmore

Rebecca (Clay) Douglas

Kasey Dunshee

Jasmine Dye

Zoe Epstein

Mariah Ferguson

Quintin Fortier

Logan Francis

Sophie Frost

Moses Glade

Aidin Hodzic

Grant Jacobs

Annika Johnson

Makayla Johnson

Brady Jones

Jack Kiedaisch

Emma Kuhn

Kyle Lafleur

Amelia LaMothe

Brooke Loftus

Dakota Lowell

Trey Lundquist

Bennett Lustgarten

Emma Main

Haylee Maring

Dylan Martin

Mason McClain

Quinn Miller

Stephanie Miskavage

Althea Neill

Ella O/Neill

Tucker Polli

Giavanna Provost

Ava Rolland

Ruby Sausville

Kate Sayre

Ella Silvia

Evan Spivack

Nathan Stewart

Clement Stine

Levi Therrien

Soloman Thorpe

Jacob Villeneuve

Fyn Walker

Kyle Walker

William Wallace

Evans Walsh

Noah Wheeler

Ryan Wood

Emma Main, Emma Kuhn, Jack Daly, Zoe Epstein, Ava Rolland, Ella O’Neill, Sophie Frost, Kate Sayre and William Wallace

President’s Outstanding Academic Excellence Award

Presented to students who display the highest level of performance in all classes throughout the seventh and eighth grade years

Academic Growth Award

Camden Ayer, Addie Baker and Ruby Sausville

Presented to students who have demonstrated exceptional academic growth during eighth grade.

Community Action Award

Emma Main

Given to students who consistently demonstrate citizenship and the “Be A Star” qualities of belonging, sharing, trust, accepting responsibility and respect. They showed outstanding leadership through their organizational voice and enthusiastic actions.

French Award

Emma Main

Recognizes students who best demonstrated academic excellence and positive contribution to the class.

Spanish Award

Sophie Frost and Annika Johnson

Recognizes the student who best demonstrated academic excellence and positive contribution to the class.

Music Award

Emma Main

Presented to the student with the most outstanding level of participation and positive contribution to the class.

Art Award

Clay Douglas and Dylan Martin

Presented to the students who best displayed a strong creative sense, outstanding enthusiasm, and who excelled in using different media.

Physical Education Award

Blake Companion

Presented to the student who best demonstrated outstanding leadership skills, sportsmanship, responsible personal & social behavior, and who exhibited a physically active lifestyle.

Athletic Award William Wallace, Bennett Lustgarten, Zoe Epstein and Ella O’Neil

Presented to the student who best demonstrated outstanding sportsmanship, attitude and dedication in at least two interscholastic sports.

Drama Award Moses Glade

Presented to either an actor or someone who participated in a technical capacity. This student was incredibly dedicated to the program and supportive of the cast and crew.

Stuart Allard

Emma Jean Armstrong

Jenny Blanshine

Brian Bora

Deacon Brown

Rio Centeno

William Cervi

Liam ooley

Nora Cullen

Lydia Donahue

Ruby Flinn

Max Ford

Jordan French

Maddy Frere

Maya Giangregorio

Griffin Hengelsberg

Deirdre Higgins

Wylie Higgins

Kenna Hutchins

Grace Kahm

Augie Lang

Brahm Lasek

Rebekah Lucia

Lark McCarron

Emma Metzler

Charlie Miner

Lilyanna Mittelstadt

Sam Moore

Sullivan Morris

Audrey Neilson

Henry Palmer

Alexis Pearce

Coleton Pizzagalli

Leah Rauch

Levi Russell

Ceci Scriver

Lena Smith

Tristan Spear

Jenna Sweeney

Apryl Tuiqere

Veronica Weston

Rowan Williams

Will Wygmans

Grace Zappala

PHOTOS BY AL FREY

Grads cheer on their classmates. Superintendent Rene Sanchez awards diplomas to the graduates.

GRADUATION

continued from page 11

take the time to recognize the hate around us. But, instead of despair, I like to advocate for action caused by a vote for a stronger future.”

Frazier this year was selected for the U.S. Senate Youth Program, where she worked with Vermont Sens. Patrick Leahy and Bernie Sanders, and she is set to attend Harvard University this fall.

She was among Champlain Valley Union High School’s nearly 300 students who on Friday received their high school diplomas dressed in cap and gown in the University of Vermont’s Patrick Gymnasium. Frazier was one of several student speakers, joining Luke Leonard and Sophia Stevens, to address the audience.

“When you walk across the stage today, it’s for you, but it’s not yours alone,” principal Adam Bunting said. “This short walk is for your families, your friends, your mentors, teachers, guardians, siblings — the walk reflects the efforts of your community past and the promise to your communities in the future.”

This year’s graduates were the recipients of dozens of awards: the environmental activism award, the outstanding business student award, the resilience award, and the diligence award, to name just a few.

The ceremony also featured

speaker Megan Nick, who won Olympic bronze in aerial skiing in Beijing this winter.

Only seven years ago, Nick was among those graduating from Champlain Valley. She spent her high school years seeing her dream of being an Olympic gymnast come to an end, but then discovered a skill and affinity for aerial skiing.

“Looking back now, I realized that during these formative years of my life, it wasn’t so much about which sport I was best at, or what extracurriculars might fit into the best college — it was about how I challenged myself that made me the athlete and the person I am today,” she said.

“It is important to tell you all that in many ways my story is less about winning the bronze medal and more about the countless failures I endured,” she said. “What mattered most throughout this process was the perseverance and will to become a better version of myself by overcoming the endless crashes, the painful injuries, the long recoveries from surgery and the competitions where I came up short.”

“As long as I have the fortitude to keep trying my best, I can walk away from this chapter as a better person in all aspects of my life, which is something I think we all should be striving toward.”

Rice Memorial High School graduation

COURTESY PHOTO

Of 94 graduates at Rice High School, five are from Charlotte, and included Christian Allard (above), Noah Jordan, Caroline Krahl, Celeste Slauterbeck (top left) — voted “Miss Rice”— and Caitlyn Smith. Rice graduates from Hinesburg included Riley Powell and Libby Stevens (top right), salutatorian and winner of Society of Women Engineers Honors and Student Council Award.

Get jazzy with Ray Vega Community Notes

lin, bass and vocals, and brings a rib-tickling blend of traditional Bluegrass and Americana classics, along with original songs of their own.

Featuring Thomas Bryce (banjo), Jordan Duffy (mandolin), Charlie Wilson (guitar) and Jeremy Hobart (bass).

Women’s fund grants advance gender equity

Vermont’s largest philanthropic resource dedicated to women and girls has handed out $311,190 in grants for 2022.

McKibben speaks about new book at Pierson

Shelburne’s Pierson Library welcomes Bill McKibben for its first third Sunday adult summer reading event, Sunday, June 19 at 6:30 p.m. in the historic town hall attached to the library.

McKibben will be speaking about his new book, “The Flag, the Cross, and the Station Wagon: A Graying American Looks Back at His Suburban Boyhood and Wonders What the Hell Happened.”

Learn how to protect yourself online

If you use the internet, it is important to know how to keep your accounts secure and your information safe.

Join tech librarian Susanna Kahn and learn how to recognize and avoid online scams, steps to take to protect yourself from identity theft, and what to do if you think you’ve been scammed, Wednesday, June 22, 1-2:30 p.m.,at the Charlotte Library.

The event is cosponsored by the Charlotte Senior Center.

Senior center dials up the tunes in June

The Charlotte Senior Center offers an eclectic mix of musical offerings in June.

On June 23 and June 30, Don Helgesen explores the Great American Songbook on piano, including a wide range of early 20th-century American jazz standards, popular songs and show tunes.

Light refreshments are included in the 1 p.m. concerts.

Then, on Sunday, June 19, also at 1 p.m., the Mansfield Mountain Band from Richmond comes armed with banjo, guitar, mando-

In all, 35 Vermont nonprofit organizations that advance gender equity and justice received grants from the Vermont Women’s Fund.

“We approach our annual grant funding as the engine that drives positive change,” director Meg Smith said. “At the heart of this work are the nonprofits who deliver the services — and the opportunities they provide for women and girls in Vermont.”

Locally, Vermont Women’s Fund 2022 grant recipients included The Safety Team, South Burlington, $10,000.

Register ahead for Age Well meals

The Age Well meal pickup for Thursday, June 16, is from 10-11 a.m., Charlotte Senior Center, 212 Ferry Road, and features meatloaf with brown sauce, mashed potatoes, mixed vegetables, wheat bread with butter, apple crisp with topping and milk.

You must have pre-registered by Monday, June 13, with Lori York, 802-425-6371 or lyork@ charlotteseniorcentervt.org

The meal on Thursday, June 23 — register by June 20 — is Italian chicken breast, duck sauce, rice with beans and vegetables, broccoli florets, cranberry sauce, wheat bread with butter, strawberry shortcake with cream and milk.

Check the website for last-minute cancellations at charlotteseniorcentervt.org.

Need a boost? Free vax clinics in June

There is a free, walk-in COVID-19 vaccine clinic with Garnet Healthcare at the Charlotte Senior Center Tuesday, June 28, 12:30-4:30 p.m.

No appointment is necessary. Vaccines and boosters are available for pediatric Pfizer (ages

5-11), and adult Pfizer (12 and up) and Moderna (18 and up).

Charlotte Makes Music all day on June 21

Charlotte Makes Music is an afternoon and evening of music in celebration of Vermont Make Music & World Music Day on Tuesday, June 21.

From 1-8 p.m., musicians will play in the Charlotte Senior Center and on the Charlotte Library porch.

All types of music are welcome, and organizers will try to accommodate groups as well as individuals. A public address system will be available on the porch; the senior center will be acoustic only.

The deadline to book a time slot to play — for as little as five minutes or as many as 30 — was June 15, but reach out to Lori York at lyork@charlotteseniorcentervt.

org or charlottegrangevt@gmail. com to see if there are still open time periods. Describe the type of performance, number of participants, length of time, and preferred times.

Charlotte Makes Music is a joint program of the Charlotte Grange, Charlotte Library and Charlotte Senior Center.

Community Foundation grants spark community

The Spark Connecting Community Program has awarded $79,000 in grants to organizations and municipalities across the state.

The grants go to projects that strengthen community connections and build social capital — where a small amount can fuel connections that make a bigger impact over time.

“The central themes of these

grants are sparking community engagement and supporting Vermont’s youth and families,” said Holly Morehouse, vice president of grants and community impact at the Vermont Community Foundation. “How these organizations plan to accomplish this range from outdoor recreation to visual arts and music to growing food.

Local grant recipients included:

• Audubon Vermont received $1,658 to support Gender Creative Kids Outings organized by Outright Vermont for youth under 13 and their parents and caregivers.

• HOPE Works received $2,000 to support the HOPE Works healing garden, which will provide a safe space

survivors of sexual violence to share in community. All produce

for

and flowers will be made available to survivors.

PHOTO BY RAY VEGA

Jazz trumpeter Ray Vega and his quartet will perform at the First Congregational Church of Essex Junction, 39 Main St., on Sunday, July 10, 7 p.m. The Ray Vega QuARTet plays a variety of jazz styles. Vega has established himself as one of the innovators of the international jazz and Latin music scenes. A trumpeter, percussionist, composer and arranger, he presents jazz from an original and contemporary perspective. The performance is part of the Community Concerts at First music series celebrating artists from Vermont and New England. Suggested donation of $20 per adult; children under 18 free. Concert proceeds support the church community outreach and Dismas House. Space is limited. Reservations can be made in advance (fccej.org) or at the door. For information, contact Ann Gray, grayann8@aol.com or (802) 878-4088.

Bill McKibben

Clinched!

Above: The Angels won the Shelburne Little League championship game to clinch the Majors Tournament Championship on June 5. Almost 400 kids turned out this year for Shelburne Little League, which includes kids from Hinesburg and Charlotte. Top row, from left, assistant coach Mike Dupee, Zeke Dupee-Negron, Jaime Nassar, Isaac Russell, assistant coach Ken McAvey, Reid McAvey, Parker Trono, Amadeo Bird Matarazzo, head coach Jamie Nassar and Sawyer Jennings. Bottom row, from left, Brigs Page, Evan Foster, Jacob Osekoski and Drew Friesen. Not pictured: Tate Gardner.

Right: Reid Kenneth McAvey, 11, bats while Owen Daley, 12, mans the plate in the June 5 championshop game for the Majors. The photo was captured by volunteer board president Mike Niebur.

Below: Little League AAA winners, back row, from left: assistant coach Justin Bessette, Devyn Coolidge, Nico Lucier, Finn Wolff, Grayson DiGuglielmo, Gunnar Spear, head coach Jonathan Wolff and assistant coach Shon DiGuglielmo. Front row, from left, Henry Wolff, Graham Saraceno, Lane Edelbaum, Noah Bessette, Owen Brill, Oliver Holoch and Oakley the mascot.

PHOTOS BY MIKE NIEBUR

CVU boys’ lacrosse makes it nine in a row

LAUREN READ CORRESPONDENT

When you play in 17 Division I state championship games, you learn a few lessons.

When you win 11 of those games — and the title that comes with it — you pick up a few more.

If you’re on a team that wins eight DI state titles in a row, you might know how to win another.

The Champlain Valley boys’ lacrosse program added to its cache of trophies Saturday, beating Burr and Burton 13-11 in the championship game to win its ninth straight title and 12th overall.

“It’s just crazy,” senior Turner

Elliott said. “It’s hard to believe in some ways. We’ve just been able to go for so long, but it’s just been a blast every year.”

Matias Williams scored three times for the Redhawks, while Elliot added two goals and two assists. Nolan Shea, Peter Gilliam and Owen Pierce each tallied twice on the team’s road to the title.

“We had a tremendous offensive game plan and a good face off game plan so when we were in pressure situations that helped us to shine through,” coach Tom Garvey said. “I was not surprised to see new guys step up and fill in those roles and take advantage of those opportunities today.”

The Redhawks offense took advantage of a few lucky bounces early, getting on the board with two quick strikes from Colin Zouck and Elliott and then scored two more at the end of the first quarter for a 4-2 lead.

CVU never trailed in the game.

“Lacrosse is a game of runs and a game of momentum,’ Garvey said. “A lot of credit to Burr and Burton, they’re a very, very good team, a very well coached team and formidable opponent so we feel very fortunate to have one today.”

Leading 11-7 to start the fourth, CVU faced a comeback from the Bulldogs, who narrowed the score to 13-11 with just over four

minutes remaining in the game.

Goalie Jake Bowen had eight saves for the Redhawks.

“Jake, he’s a captain and a leader for us. He’s been a rock in there all year,” Garvey said. “He just made some tremendous saves at big points in the game. We allowed them to get back within two and he stepped up and made really good saves.”

After the Bulldogs hit the post with three minutes remaining CVU took control of the ball and moved it around the field to kill the clock, counting down the seconds until they could celebrate the title.

“We had to fight this one to the end,” Bowen said. “Once we got

the ball, running it up with like 10, 20 seconds left, that’s when I kind of knew. But up until that point, I was having a heart attack. I was focused the entire way, but oh my god, it was stressful.”

The Redhawks finished with a 18-1 record this season and continued the program’s winning legacy.

“CVU has such a strong history in sports and athletics and especially lacrosse,” Garvey said. “These boys work hard all year round and this is the culmination of a lot of hard work and sacrifice that happened throughout the year. What you saw here today was product of that.

“I couldn’t be prouder as a coach.”

PHOTO BY AL FREY

The CVU boys’ lacrosse team poses for a team photo after the school’s ninth straight Division I title. See more photos online.

115 Ferry Road, Charlotte. 802-425-3864. Register at charlottepubliclibrary.org or info@ charlottepubliclibrary.org.

All programs will take place via Zoom unless noted until further notice. Links can be found on the library website.

Grange on the Green: The Hokum Brothers

Thursday, June 16, 5:30-7 p.m.

NEW DATE: The Hokum Brothers open the summer series with music and vaudeville for all ages. Bring a picnic supper.

Mystery book group: Poe short stories

Monday, June 20, 10-11 a.m.

The short story packet includes “The Black Cat,” “The Telltale Heart,” “The Cask of Amontillado” and “The Pit and the Pendulum.” Poe scholar and UVM professor Sidney Poger shares his expertise. Make

music day

Tuesday, June 21, 4-8 p.m.

Musicians of all ages from all over the world play music for their communities, celebrating how music crosses borders and brings people together. Share your music indoors at the Charlotte Senior Center, 1-4 p.m. and outdoors on the Charlotte Library porch, 4-8 p.m. To sign up, email lyork@ charlotteseniorcentervt.org at the senior center or charlottegrangevt@gmail.com for a time on the library porch.

Knitting drop-in

Wednesdays, June 22 and 29, 5:30-7 p.m.

Swing by for knitting night at the library. Jessica Card, a local knitting teacher at Shelburne Craft

School, helps people both get started and with existing projects.

Super power critters

Wednesday, June 22, 1-2 p.m.

Faster than a speeding car, able to leap tall fences in a single bound … Look! It’s an animal superhero.

Discover the amazing adaptations animals have to make to be the heroes of the natural world. With the Vermont Institute of Natural Science. Live animals will include a bird of prey and snake or turtle. No registration needed for this outdoor event.

Men’s book discussion:

‘All the Pretty Horses’

Wednesday, June 22, 7:30-9 p.m.

Cormac McCarthy’s tale of young John Grady Cole, the last of a long line of Texas ranchers.

with a new home at Harborview Senior Living

Harborview is a great choice for adults 55+ looking for:

• Spacious and airy one and two bedroom independent living apartments

• Large fully applianced kitchens

• Balconies or walkout patios

• Highly attractive rental rates

• Wonderful social opportunities

• Varied daily exercise and fitness classes

• Gardening plot and raised beds to enjoy

• Delicious high quality chef prepared meals

• Resident focused stimulating intellectual and entertainment programming

• Attentive and friendly staff

• Natural setting, walking areas and beautiful sunsets

Across the border Mexico beckons — beautiful and desolate, rugged and cruelly civilized. With two companions, he sets off on an idyllic, sometimes comic adventure, to a place where dreams are paid for in blood.

Job Announcement Water and Wastewater Operator

The Town of Hinesburg, Vermont seeks qualified applicants for the position of Water and Wastewater Operator. Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis and the position will remain open until filled. Materials should be submitted electronically to todit@ hinesburg.org.

The position requires a State of Vermont Class III Public Water System Operator Certificate and a State of Vermont Grade 2 DM Pollution Abatement Facility Operator Certificate. The Town offers a comprehensive benefits package and the hourly rate of pay is dependent upon qualifications and experience. The Town of Hinesburg is an Equal Opportunity Employer and women and minorities are encouraged to apply. A full job description can be found under about/employment at Hinesburg.org.

SALES SUPPORT

Full-time position for a customer-service expert, general office support, all-around jack-or-jill-of-all-trades for busy newspaper office. Responsibilities include ad management and traffic flow, working the phones, directing customers, some basic website data entry, and other office-related duties.

Computer skills and knowledge of MS Office applications required. Familiarity with html a bonus. Flexibility and welcoming disposition a must.

Send a resume and cover letter to: Stowe Reporter, POB 489, Stowe VT 05672; or leslie@stowereporter.com. No phone calls please.

REPORTER STOWE

To register, reserve books or for more information, contact Meg Malone at meg@carpentercarse. org. Masks required indoors.

Hands and needles

Mondays in June, 10 a.m.-noon Bring whatever project you are working on — quilting, knitting, embroidery, etc. No registration required.

Weekly storytime

Tuesdays, June 21 and 28, 9:30-10 a.m.

Stories, songs, rhymes, and crafts. Contact jen@carpentercarse.org to sign up.

Summer reading club

Wednesdays, June 22 and 29, 10:30-11:45 a.m.

June 22: Super-Power Critters with Vermont Institute of Natural Science. June 29: Off-site adventure at Shelburne Pond.

Garden gathering

Why not have a job you love?

Join our dedicated team and together we’ll build a community where everyone participates and belongs.

Positions include a $500 sign on bonus, a strong benefits package and the opportunity to work at one of the “Best Places to Work in Vermont”.

Service Coordinator: Continue your career in human services in a supportive environment by providing case management for individuals. The ideal candidate will have strong clinical, organizational & leadership skills and enjoy working in a teamoriented position. $45,000 annual salary.

Direct Support Professional: Provide 1:1 supports to help individuals reach their goals. Full and part time positions available starting at $18/hr.

Residential Direct Support Professional: Work just two days, receive full benefits and have five days off each week! Provide supports to an individual in their home and in the community in 24 hr shifts including asleep overnights in a private, furnished bedroom. Starting wage is $18/hr.

Employment Specialist: Be a part of Vermont’s leading supported employment program and help individuals discover their career path. The successful candidate will demonstrate reliability, strong communication skills, and the ability to solve problems effectively and professionally. Starting wage $19/hr.

Shared Living Provider: Open your home to someone with an intellectual disability or autism and open a whole world to them, and to you. There are a variety of opportunities available that could be the perfect match for you and your household.

Make a career making a difference and join our team today!

https://ccs-vt.org/current-openings/

Community Bankers – Chittenden County

There is no better time to join our Team!

Northfield Savings Bank, founded in 1867, is the largest banking institution headquartered in Vermont. We are committed to providing a welcoming work environment for all. Are you looking to start or continue a career in the finance industry? Consider joining our team as a Community Banker!

Job Responsibilities & Requirements

This frontline position is crucial in creating a positive, welcoming and inclusive experience for NSB customers. The successful candidate will have exceptional customer service and communication skills. The Community Banker will be responsible for receiving and processing customers’ financial transactions as well as opening and maintaining customer accounts and services. We are looking for someone who can develop and maintain relationships with our valued customers, protect bank and customer information, and uphold customer confidentiality. A high school diploma, general education degree (GED), or equivalent is required. Previous cash handling or banking experience is preferred!

Opportunity for Growth

NSB has training opportunities to engage employees and assist with professional development within our company. The average years of service for an NSB employee is 9! If you’re looking for a career in an environment that promotes growth, join our team!

What NSB Can Offer You

Competitive compensation based on experience. Well-rounded benefits package. Profit-Sharing opportunity. Excellent 401(k) matching retirement program. Commitment to professional development. Opportunities to volunteer and support our communities. Work-Life balance!

We understand the importance of having evenings and weekends with our friends, families, and the communities we serve!

Please send an NSB Application & your resume in confidence to: Careers@nsbvt.com or Northfield Savings Bank | Human Resources PO Box 7180, Barre, VT 05641

Saturday, June 18, 9-10:30 a.m.

Friends of the Carpenter-Carse Library host informal Saturday morning gatherings for gardeners to ask questions and learn from one another. On June 18, the gathering will take place in Ginny Roberts’s woodland garden. Advance registration is required. Rain or shine.

Vermont Reads: ‘We Contain Multitudes’

Thursday, June 23, 7-8 p.m.

In conjunction with Charlotte Public Library, community members join in a facilitated book discussion of “We Contain Multitudes” by Sarah Henstra. Takes place on Zoom. Register on the library website.

News from Carpenter-Carse Library

If it’s important to you or your community look for it in The Citizen.

COMBINED NOTICE OF FINDING OF NO SIGNIFCANT IMPACT AND NOTICE OF INTENT TO REQUEST RELEASE OF FUNDS STATE OF VERMONT

June 16, 2022

Todd Odit, Town Manager

Town of Hinesburg

10632 Route 116

Hinesburg, VT 05461

Phone: 802-482-2281

Vermont Agency of Commerce and Community Development

Josh Hanford, Commissioner, VT Department of Housing and Community Development

One National Life Drive, Davis Building, 6th Floor Montpelier, VT 05620 802-828-3080

The purpose of this notice is to satisfy two separate but related procedural requirements for activities to be undertaken by the Town of Hinesburg and the State of Vermont Agency of Commerce and Community Development.

Request for Release of Funds

On or about July 2, 2022, the Town of Hinesburg will submit a request to the Agency to release funds under Title I of the Housing and Community Development Act of 1974 (PL93-383), the National Affordable Housing Act as amended; and the Agency will submit a request to HUD to release HOME Investment Partnership Program funds under Title II of the Cranston-Gonzalez National Affordable Housing Act, as amended to undertake a project known as the Kelley’s Field II project located at 87 Kelley’s Field Road, Hinesburg, VT, which comprises approximately 6.49 acres. Project activities include new construction of an approximately 24 unit senior housing residential building, parking lot, sidewalks, and a relocated pavilion. The property is currently developed with three affordable senior housing apartment buildings. Radon mitigation will be completed if warranted. Tree cutting is not anticipated but if there is tree cutting there are restrictions in timing or prior to additional assessment. This proposed project is not anticipated to impact endangered or threatened species or their habitat.

The estimated total cost of the project is approximately $9,526,300 including anticipated amounts of approximately $600,000 in Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) Funds and approximately $675,000 in HOME funds. The project also anticipates approximately 8 Section 8 Project-Based Vouchers.

Finding of No Significant Impact

The Town of Hinesburg and the Agency have determined that the project will have no significant impact on the human environment. Therefore, an Environmental Impact Statement under the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA) is not required. Additional project information is contained in the Environmental Review Record (ERR) which will be made available to the public for review either electronically or by U.S. mail. Please submit your request by U.S. mail to the Town of Hinesburg, 10632 Route 116, Hinesburg, VT 05461 or via email at todit@ hinesburg.org or via U.S. mail to Environmental Officer, Department of Housing and Community Development, National Life Building, One National Life Drive, Davis Building 6th floor, Montpelier, Vermont 05620 or via email at Grace.Vinson@vermont. gov.

Public Comments

Any individual, group, or agency may submit written comments on the ERR to the Town of Hinesburg regarding the use of CDBG funds, attn. Mr. Todd Odit, Town Manager, 10632 Route 116, Hinesburg, VT 05461, or via email at todit@hinesburg. org or to the Agency for the use of HOME funds, Attn: Environmental Officer, Department of Housing and Community Development, National Life Building, One National Life Drive, Davis Building 6th floor, Montpelier, Vermont 05620, or via email at Grace.Vinson@vermont.gov. All comments received by July 1, 2022 will be considered by the Town of Hinesburg and the Agency prior to authorizing the submission of a request for release of funds. Comments must specify which Notice they are addressing—the Finding of No Significant Impact or the Request for the Release of Funds.

Environmental Certification

The Town of Hinesburg is certifying to the Agency that the Town of Hinesburg and Todd Odit, in his official capacity as Town Manager, and the Agency is certifying to HUD that the Agency and Josh Hanford, in his official capacity as Commissioner of the VT Department of Housing and Community Development, consent to accept the jurisdiction of the Federal Courts if an action is brought to enforce responsibilities in relation to the environmental review process and that these responsibilities have been satisfied. The Agency’s/HUD’s approval of the certification satisfies its responsibilities under the National Environmental Policy Act and related laws and authorities and allows the Town of Hinesburg to use CDBG funds and the Agency to use the HOME funds.

Objections to Release of Funds

The Agency will accept objections to its approval of the release of funds and acceptance of the Town of Hinesburg’s certification, and HUD will accept objections to its approval of the release of funds and the State’s certification for a period of fifteen days following the anticipated submission date or its actual receipt of the request (whichever is later) only if they are on one of the following bases: (a) the certification was not executed by the Certifying Officers Todd Odit / Josh Hanford; (b) the Town/Agency has omitted a step or failed to make a decision or finding required by HUD regulations at 24 CFR part 58; (c) the grant recipient or other participants in the development process have committed funds, incurred costs or undertaken activities not authorized by 24 CFR Part 58 before approval of a release of funds by the Agency/HUD; or (d) another Federal agency acting pursuant to 40 CFR Part 1504 has submitted a written finding that the project is unsatisfactory from the standpoint of environmental quality.

Objections must be prepared and submitted via email in accordance with the required procedures (24 CFR Part 58, Sec. 58.76) and shall be addressed to the HUD Director of Community Planning and Development CPD_COVID-19OEE-BOS@hud. gov for the HOME funds. Potential objectors should contact HUD via email to verify the last day of the objection period.

ARIES

March 21 - April 20

If a dif cult problem arises in the days ahead, seek the council of someone older or with more experience, Aries. He or she can guide you accordingly and assuage doubts.

TAURUS

April 21 - May 21

Realize that you may have to tone down your reactions and behaviors this week, Taurus. This will earn the respect of those around you. Others are seeking calm and stability.

GEMINI

May 22 - June 21

Some of your to-do items may need to be postponed this week, Gemini. You simply have too much going on and no wiggle room if projects or meetings run late.

CANCER

June 22 - July 22

It could be time to focus on self-improvement, Cancer. Spend a few days guring out where you can do better. Maybe that’s focusing on spirituality or relationships.

LEO

July 23 - Aug. 23

This is an ideal time to spend with your family, Leo. Plan a grand meal with extended family members and host a reunion of sorts. Catch up and share memories.

VIRGO

Aug. 24 - Sept. 22

Virgo, change may be a tad scary at rst. But before you know it, you will be an old hand at what you are delving into. Just stick with it until reach your comfort level.

LIBRA

Sept. 23 - Oct. 23

There may be misunderstandings with others unless you are very clear with your words and intentions, Libra. Watch your tone so things are not misconstrued.

SCORPIO

Oct. 24 - Nov. 22

Don’t get too caught up on your cash ow right now, Scorpio. You have certain projects on the horizon that may bring in more money that will tide you over for some time.

SUDOKU

Here’s How It Works:

Sudoku puzzles are formatted as a 9x9 grid, broken down into nine 3x3 boxes. To solve a sudoku, the numbers 1 through 9 must ll each row, column and box. Each number can appear only once in each row, column and box. You can gure out the order in which the numbers will appear by using the numeric clues already provided in the boxes. The more numbers you name, the easier it gets to solve the puzzle!

CROSSWORD

SAGITTARIUS

Nov. 23 - Dec. 21

Sagittarius, you may discover you have been spending a lot of time focused on the job or another task that pulling you away from loved ones. Reconsider your priorities.

CAPRICORN

Dec. 22 - Jan. 20

Inspiration and imagination are soaring for you this week, Capricorn. Now is the time to put any creative ideas in play and see how they turn out.

AQUARIUS

Jan. 21 - Feb. 18

Aquarius, you may be hoping to improve communication with a loved one, whether a child or even a sibling. Engage in conversation when you are distraction-free.

PISCES

Feb. 19 - March 20

Someone who visits you could bring interesting news that ends up being the focus of the conversation. You’ll get your say with time.

CLUES ACROSS

1. Moved quickly

4. Ocean temperature

7. Scholarly book series

12. Irregular

15. Hairstyle

16. Indigestion xer

18. Special therapy

19. Mock

20. Partner to Pa

21. Strays

24. Swedish currency (abbr.)

27. Desired

30. Soap product

31. Traditional shing boat

33. No (Scottish)

34. Spy organization

35. Spiritual leader of a Jewish congregation

37. Married woman 39. Blood relation 41. German river 42. Genus of clams 44. Parts of a movie 47. Residue 48. Ethnic group of Laos and Thailand 49. Atomic #77 50. Where wrestlers

work

52. Northeast

53. Type of lettuce

56. Abstain

61. Communication between two

63. One who administers medicine

64. Sun up in New York

65. Having eight

CLUES DOWN

1. He played “Milton”

2. Elsa’s sister

3. Digital wallet

4. About backbone

5. Type of weapon

6. __ Turner, rock singer

7. Microgram

8. Hair product

9. Health care pro

10. Holy re

11. Military ID (abbr.)

12. __ the ante

13. Containing nitrogen

14. Green citrus fruit

17. Male parent

22. Bring up

23. Murdered

24. Soviet Socialist

ANSWERS

Republic

25. Supreme ruler Genghis

26. Social media hand gesture

28. Semitic Sun god

29. Land

32. Database management system

36. Similar

38. Nice to look at

Covered with mud

Simple dry fruit

Title of respect

Type of footwear

Most lucid

Exam

Extinct ightless bird of New Zealand

“Rule, Britannia” composer

Small Eurasian deer

insect

Federally threatened orchid found in

A population of small whorled pogonia — believed to be extinct in Vermont since 1902 and listed as threatened under the Federal Endangered Species Act — has been documented on Winooski Valley Park District conservation land in Chittenden County.

“Discovering a viable population of a federally threatened species unknown in our state for over a century is astounding,” said Vermont Fish and Wildlife Department botanist Bob Popp. “It’s Vermont’s equivalent of rediscovering the ivory-billed woodpecker.”

The small whorled pogonia is a globally rare orchid historically found across the eastern states and Ontario. Previous searches for the species in Vermont have been unsuccessful. As with many orchids, little is understood about the species’ habitat needs. Populations in Maine and New Hampshire are found in areas of partial sun including forest edges and openings.

“A challenge of locating rare orchid populations for conservation is that so much of where they grow is determined by things we can’t easily see or measure,

like networks of fungi in the soil,” Vermont Fish and Wildlife Department assistant botanist Aaron Marcus said. “These kinds of discoveries are only possible because of the vibrant communities of enthusiasts and professional botanists who work together to understand and document Vermont’s plant diversity.”

Marcus says the department was first notified of a possible small whorled pogonia population in Vermont thanks to the observations of two community scientists: John Gange of Shelburne and Tom Doubleday of Colchester.

“John is a passionate and skilled botanist who specializes in orchids and closely follows the sightings people report on the community science app iNaturalist,” said Marcus. “John noticed that birder and retired greenhouse manager Tom Doubleday had used the app to ask for help identifying an unfamiliar wildflower last July and reached out to us with the news that the small whorled pogonia had very likely just been discovered in Vermont.”

Popp, Marcus, Doubleday and Gange returned to the site together this spring and confirmed the pres-

ence of small whorled pogonia, which was in bloom at the time. Rare orchids are at high risk from illegal collection and accidental trampling by passive visitors, according to Marcus. To protect the pogonia’s location from potential disturbances, Doubleday removed the public coordinates from his post.

The department’s next steps will be to work with the Winooski Valley Park District to look for the small whorled pogonia on nearby conservation land and monitor the population to make sure this species has the best possible opportunity to flourish in Vermont’s portion of its native range.

“We’re incredibly fortunate that this small whorled pogonia population is on land protected by the Winooski Valley Park District,” said Popp. “It speaks to the importance of habitat conservation. When we conserve a piece of land, we rarely know all the species that are there, but we do know that conserving intact natural communities yields the best odds for supporting Vermont’s biodiversity, from common species to rare ones.”

PHOTO BY JOHN GANGE

A small whorled pogonia blooms on Winooski Valley Park District conservation land.