Hinesburg budgets for one fewer cop
PATRICK BILOW STAFF WRITER
The towns of Hinesburg and Richmond are peaking over each other’s shoulder as they draft next year’s budgets.
Under an agreement between the towns, Richmond currently pays Hinesburg for police services in Richmond, but Richmond has been eager to rebuild its department for years, leaving Hinesburg with a large projected decrease in revenue for law enforcement and a question of how many officers
the town can afford next year.
The town formed the agreement two years ago during a rocky time for Richmond’s police department. The town was cycling through police chiefs and officers were leaving the department for steadier jobs, but the agreement was always meant to be temporary.
During a Richmond Selectboard meeting last week, Anthony Cambridge, the police chief for
See BUDGET on page 7
School district eyes ban on cellphones
Measure could go into effect in September
LIBERTY DARR STAFF WRITER
Champlain Valley schools could see a bell-to-bell cellphone ban for the entire district next year.
A committee spearheaded by Champlain Valley School District superintendent Adam Bunting tasked with studying the use of cellphones in the state’s largest school district, recommended the sweeping ban to the school board last week.
A cellphone ban policy, which
caught on this summer in several of the state’s school districts — and across the nation — would extend a set of restrictions already in play, Bunting said earlier this year. In all elementary and middle schools, the district has a strict “away for the day” policy, which requires cellphones to be powered off and stored in backpacks. This administrative-led committee is separate from a
See PHONE-FREE BAN on page 5
MARKET STREET LOCATION OPENING
PHOTO BY LEE KROHN
Wintry mix
Hometown coach reflects on Cardiac Cats’ title win
PATRICK BILOW STAFF WRITER
Brad Cole grew up on Spear Street in South Burlington, right across the street from the University of Vermont’s sport complex, where he now helps coach a championship soccer team.
As the program’s associate head coach, Cole was on the sideline last week when the Catamounts won their first national championship in Cary, N.C., with an overtime goal by Maximilian Kissel that shocked the nation.
Cole said the victory was years in the making. He joined the team as associate head coach two years ago after coaching at Cornell University and the University of Portland. Before that, he played soccer at UVM and held a few early-career coaching positions with the team.
Cole is originally from South Hero, but his family moved to South Burlington when he was in sixth grade. He attended Mater Christi Elementary School, Frederick H. Tuttle Middle School and South Burlington High School, all the while playing soccer with the Far Post Soccer Club. He transitioned to a coaching career at
UVM after graduating.
The Other Paper caught up with Cole after the team’s major victory last week.
Q: How did you celebrate the big win?
BC: We had a huge gathering of friends, family and alumni supporters down in Cary, so we spent the night with everyone at the hotel after. We completely took over the lobby bar and meeting space — I mean it was ours.
Q: Can you take us to the sideline of Monday’s game?
BC: I think we had around 3,000 fans travel to the game for us, and there were probably eight to 10,000 people in the stadium. The energy was amazing. Our fans were directly behind our bench, so it felt like we were celebrating with them.
Q: And there was a lot to celebrate toward the end of the game with two late goals — Marcel Papp in the 81st minute and Maximilian Kissel in overtime to win.
BC: Marcel’s goal was huge, and the game-winner was crazy. We all saw it coming after the ball was played in from behind. You
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almost had time to see it coming, if that makes sense? It was like a three-, four-second run, which felt like a long time from the sidelines.
Q: It was a very suspenseful goal, hence the nickname “Cardiac Cats.” What was the reaction from the bench after the ball hit the net?
BC: The team went ballistic, and I collapsed where I was standing and didn’t move at all.
That moment felt like the culmination of a lot of work, you know, from myself and the other coaches and the players and all our support groups. There was just a lot of emotion and stress leaving the body all at once.
Q: What was it like to have so many fans there for that moment?
BC: It was unbelievable. Vermont is a super tight-knit community and that really showed. I played at UVM, so it
was unique to have a lot of my old teammates there, and a lot of people I looked up to.
Q: You were recruited to play at UVM after playing for the Far Post Soccer Club throughout high school and you committed to the Catamounts as a junior. It seems like you came into college with a lot of momentum, but you’ve
Feds detain man for illegal gun possession in Hinesburg
MIKE DONOGHUE
CORRESPONDENT
A convicted felon from Monkton is facing a new federal gun charge after authorities said he was found by Hinesburg police passed out in a stolen car with two firearms.
Joshua Jerger, 37, appeared in U.S. District Court in Burlington on Monday, Dec. 16 for illegally possessing two guns while being a convicted felon, according to a criminal complaint filed by U.S. Homeland Security Investigations.
Jerger is prohibited from possessing firearms because of his criminal record, which includes felony convictions in 2009 for burglary in Addison County and in 2011 for being a felon in possession of a firearm in Vermont, according to court records.
Jerger was held without bail. The prosecution argued that releasing him could endanger the community.
Hinesburg police detained
Jerger Sunday, Dec. 15, because they believed he was under the influence of drugs or alcohol, Homeland Security Investigations agent Taylor Ward said.
Hinesburg police were called to a home on Vermont Route 116 about 8:30 a.m. Sunday, after Jerger reportedly drove into the driveway, walked around the car and appeared intoxicated, Ward said.
Hinesburg officer Frank Bryan found Jerger behind the wheel and later found a Mossberg International .22-caliber AR style rifle and a Savage End .308 caliber hunting style rifle after Jerger got out of the car, according to police.
The car Jerger was driving had been reported stolen, Ward said.
Ward said he tried to interview Jerger at the Hinesburg Police Station on Sunday, but he was unable to hold a conversation.
Police also found ammunition in the car, Ward wrote in his report, in addition to drug paraphernalia, including pipes used for
crack cocaine, twisted bags used to store crack and some copper, which can be used to cook powder cocaine into crack, Ward said.
Jerger is due to appear on Jan. 21 in Vermont Superior Court on state charges of aggravated operation without the owner’s consent and unlawful trespass into a motor vehicle, according to Hinesburg police.
Most recently, Jerger was arrested for violating probation on Oct. 27, court documents noted.
In his first illegal gun possession case in 2011, Jerger received a two-year prison sentence in federal court.
Jerger, who lived in Ferrisburgh at the time, pleaded guilty to possessing a stolen 30-30 lever-action rifle, records show. Jerger stole the gun from a seasonal camp in Ferrisburgh in 2009 and later sold it for $200 to buy controlled substances, records showed.
The burglary conviction in Addison County prohibited him from possessinag firearms.
COURTESY PHOTO
Associate head coach Brad Cole erupts with joy after winning the national championship.
Bunting tapped as permanent superintendent in CVSD
LIBERTY DARR STAFF WRITER
Adam Bunting is the Champlain Valley School District’s new permanent superintendent.
As former principal of Champlain Valley Union High School for 10 years, Bunting was appointed interim superintendent in May, following the resignation of Rene Sanchez, who announced in March that he would be stepping down after three years on the job.
The 1994 CVU graduate has more than 25 years of experience in teaching and administrative roles at the high school and in Montpelier. He holds degrees in English and school leadership from Connecticut College and Harvard University, respectively.
He began his career at CVU, first as a substitute teacher and coach before becoming an English teacher for three years and a house director for nine. He served as principal of Montpelier High School from 2012 to 2015 before returning to the district in 2015, where he worked not only as principal but as leader of the design and implementation of personalized, proficiency-based learning for the school’s 1,300 students.
“I am truly honored by your trust. We
are in a difficult place,” Bunting told the Champlain Valley school board last week regarding the district’s education budget. “I also feel incredibly energized despite some of those challenges, because I can’t think of a group of human beings who I would rather navigate this really hard work with.”
The board in August tapped the board’s human resources and labor relations committee — made up of board members, staff and parents — and Laura Rice, the district’s human resources director, to head the superintendent search.
“(Rice) provided a list of all the applicants to the HR committee, which included whether or not the applicants met the requirements to be a superintendent in the state of Vermont,” Meghan Metzler, chair of the school board, said. “From there, the committee reviewed that list of applicants and identified a number of them that they wanted to interview.”
The committee interviewed three applicants but recommended Bunting, the internal candidate, for the job. The board voted unanimously for his appointment.
“I’ve been able to work with Adam, obviously since he became interim superintendent at the beginning of the year, and I
Lewis Creek wraps up frogbit season in field
KATE KELLY AND PORTIA BUTRYM CONTRIBUTERS
For yet another summer, volunteers of all ages hopped in kayaks and canoes to remove European frogbit, a non-native invasive plant species that spreads rapidly in bays and wetlands.
In 2007, Lewis Creek Association initiated the Water Quality Stewardship Program and has since worked annually to manage the invasive plants and water quality of the rivers and streams that drain directly into Lake Champlain. The volunteer-driven frogbit project is the result of cooperation between many individuals and groups, including the towns of Charlotte, Shelburne and Hinesburg, Shelburne Bay Boat Club and a supportive Charlotte property owner.
European frogbit, a common aquarium plant, spread to the United States via the St. Lawrence River after it was introduced to arboretum ponds in Ottawa in 1932. It is now considered an aquatic invasive species because it dominates native species in the competition for sunlight, nutrients and surface area.
In 2007, frogbit covered 50 percent of Town Farm Bay. Annual paddling and weeding trips, with a side of birdand turtle-watching, have reduced the coverage of frogbit to just under 4 percent. In contrast, when frogbit was discovered in the wetlands
Adam Bunting
think it was clear to myself and all the board members that he is the right leader for our district, and he’s really focused on students, the employees and the district overall,” Metzler said. “He’s the right leader for this moment.”
Bunting earned recognition as Vermont Principal of the Year in 2018, served on the Governor’s Opioid Coordination Council and has been published in numerous educational journals and books.
“We’ve got to move with a little bit of pace forward and pull ourselves, our faculty and staff out of what I would describe as this Covid financial malaise that I think has been around, and move toward a really collaborative, creative, innovative approach because our kids deserve that,” he told the board. “I can’t promise to get it perfect all the time, but I’ll tell you, I will put my full heart into this and into the human beings here. I love this district.”
of the LaPlatte Natural Area, it had a much lower percentage cover, which gave the Lewis Creek Association’s program and volunteers the opportunity for early detection and a rapid response.
Though the invasive plant will never be eradicated in either location, maintaining this low population allows native plants and animals to thrive.
This summer, volunteers spent 159 hours removing 720 pounds of frogbit from Town Farm Bay, more than what was harvested in 2023. Volunteers spent 63 hours harvesting 450 pounds of frogbit, more than seven times the amount from last year, in the LaPlatte River wetlands.
Multiple precipitation events throughout July affected the water level of Lake Champlain, greatly increasing the amount harvested by volunteers. The water quality program also includes the annual monitoring of water quality in the LaPlatte River, Patrick Brook, McCabe’s Brook, Thorp Brook, Kimball Brook and Lewis Creek and its tributaries, by volunteers for South Chittenden River Watch.
This year’s results will be available at lewiscreek.org next spring.
Kate Kelly is the Lewis Creek Association program manager. Portia Butrym is the group’s non-native invasive plant coordinator
COURTESY PHOTO
COMMUNITY
Community Notes
Mahler Festival offers Beethoven’s Ninth
The Green Mountain Mahler Festival presents a New Year’s concert of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony with orchestra and chorus under the direction of conductor Daniel Bruce and concertmaster Mary Jane Austin, Wednesday, Jan. 1, 3 p.m., at the Elley-Long Music Center in Colchester.
The annual performance of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony will feature vocal soloists Annelise Shelmandine, Nessa Rabin, Adam Hall and Erik Kroncke.
Proceeds benefit the Champlain Valley Office of Economic Opportunity.
For more information and to purchase tickets visit vtmahler.org
Shelburne Age Well hosts two luncheons
St. Catherine of Siena and Age Well are teaming up to offer luncheons on Tuesday, Jan. 14, and Tuesday, Jan. 21, for anyone 60 or older in the St. Catherine of Siena Parish Hall, 72 Church St., in Shelburne.
The check-in time is 11:30 and
the meal will be served at noon. There is a $5 suggested donation.
The menu for Jan. 14 is a pork chop with pineapple sauce, mashed sweet potatoes, green and black beans, wheat bread and pears. The deadline to register is Jan. 8
The menu for Jan. 21 is macaroni and cheese, green beans, stewed tomatoes, wheat roll and an apple. The deadline to register is Jan. 15.
Contact Molly BonGiorno, nutrition coordinator at 802-6625283 or mbongiorno@agewellvt.
org Tickets are also available at the Age Well Office, 875 Roosevelt Highway, Suite 210, Colchester. Restaurant tickets will be available for distribution for a suggested $5 donation.
Have a Flamy New Year’s Eve
Looking for a way to celebrate New Year’s with the whole family?
In a celebration of joy and new beginnings, First Congregational Church of Burlington, 38 S. Winooski Ave., hosts Flamy Grant, an award-winning and Billboard chart-topping, shame-slaying, hip-swaying, singing-songwriting drag queen from western North
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Carolina.
It promises to be a Flamy New Year’s Eve.
The evening opens at 7 p.m. with local drag performers, hosted by community favorites, Beaux Peepers and Prudie Peepers. Following Flamy’s performance, chairs will be pushed away to make space for a dance floor. At 10 p.m., the ball will drop, leaving plenty of time to get kids to bed and beat the fireworks traffic home. This event
is family-friendly and drug- and alcohol-free.
Learn more at bit.ly/FlamyNYE.
Contra Dance features Tea for Three
Ben Sachs-Hamilton will call to the sounds of Tea for Three — Abi Sandy, Hadley Stockwell and Crystal Zhu — at a contra dance in Shelburne’s town hall, 5374 Shel-
burne Road, on Friday, Dec. 27, 6:45-10 p.m.
All are welcome, all dances are taught, and no partner or experience is necessary. Bring a pair of clean, soft-soled shoes to dance in and a water bottle to keep you hydrated.
Masks welcome but optional. Please stay home if you have symptoms.
The cost is $12 for adults. Find out more at queencitycontras.com.
COURTESY PHOTO
Flamy Grant helps ring in the new year at the First Congregational Church on New Year’s Eve.
Charlotte petitioners seek to ensure local control
LIBERTY DARR STAFF WRITER
Two Charlotte residents want to solidify control over local zoning bylaws in their town forever.
Mat Citarella and Karen Frost have been collecting petition signatures and spreading awareness this month with their neighbors about bylaws and how they are — or should be — adopted in Charlotte. The issue that spurred the two into action was the HOME Act (Act 47), new legislation that has shifted some local control over development to the state to increase housing opportunities.
The petition, which has gotten over 100 signatures, asks the town to adopt a charter that states all bylaws, bylaw amendments or bylaw repeals must be adopted by a vote of the town by Australian ballot.
State statute also currently allows members of the town’s legislative body,
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school board initiative that formed in the fall with the intent of returning to the board for future policy adoption.
The committee was made up of one special services director, the district’s director of prevention and wellness, three students, four teachers and five principals from the district’s schools, who have met four times since September. The group has also visited other schools such as Harwood Union High School in Duxbury, which has already implemented a pocket device ban.
“I started this process in a place where I was wondering, is the amount of effort in banning phones, does it make sense?”
Bunting told the board. “I tried to approach this with an open mind. But I think I can speak for the entire committee that once we went to Harwood, once we saw what it looked like in action, it really changed the way that I thought personally about what we needed to do at CVSD.”
which would be the selectboard in Charlotte, to approve zoning changes without a townwide vote.
“Because we’re a small town, we have a history of engaged citizenry, and we have a historically high voter turnout,” Frost, a 40-year resident of the town, said. “So, this is a town where people have made thoughtful decisions over the years, people get involved, and people turn out and vote. So, to take the vote away is just against the values we hold as a town.”
although the current selectboard has said it would bring those changes to voters for the ultimate say, both Citarella and Frost fear that future selectboards may not uphold that same promise.
“I think that’s why it’s so important to have the citizens be engaged ... My fear is long-term, a disengagement of people from the process.”
The town is currently undergoing a revamp to the land use regulations that govern the east and west villages and
— Mat Citarella
faculty and staff garnered roughly 117 responses that showed nearly 90 percent of respondents agreeing that a bell-to-bell ban would improve student learning. A similar percentage said that the policy would make the job of a teacher more manageable, while 95 percent thought that a phone free environment would improve mental health for students. Most respondents — 89 percent — thought the district should move toward a phone-free school day as soon as September.
“Once we went to Harwood ... it really changed the way that I thought personally about what we needed to do at CVSD.”
— Adam Bunting
The group met with Harwood principals, teachers and students. One example noted was how participation in school assemblies has drastically declined in recent years. Students explained that this stems from a fear of being filmed on stage, which has made several students less likely to participate.
“I never even thought of that,” Bunting said.
Other students noted a resistance to a bell-to-bell policy simply because the comfort of having a cellphone made it easier to walk to classes and down the hall without making sometimes uncomfortable eye contact with other students.
“I think the entire committee was moved by that visit,” Bunting added.
Other research vetted by the committee indicates a rise in bullying, mental health issues and attention struggles can be linked to the rise in cellphone use in schools.
A simple five-question survey to CVU
“The bigger piece is that even if students are putting their phone away in their classes, they’re taking them out between classes, they’re taking their phone out at lunch,” interim CVU principal Katherine Riley said. “Since we went to Harwood, I now notice it more.”
While the elementary schools have adopted their overarching policy, at CVU the rules were slightly trickier, and often inconsistent from classroom to classroom.
While policies limiting the use of personal devices during instructional time are a step in the right direction, it can also place undue burden on teachers to enforce that policy.
“I think a bell to bell, phone free policy takes away that choice on the teacher part,” Riley said. “There are just no phones. I think it frees teachers to go back to doing their job. We heard that from Harwood teachers.”
The board’s policy subcommittee will now take the first look at drafting an official policy, which would then need to be adopted by the board. Prior to implementing the policy, the district plans to hold several community forums in the coming months.
“Because this technology is so powerful, we’re going to have to be linked arm to arm and students are going to have to know we really need it and it’s the faculty at the end of the day that’s going to carry that gravitas with students,” Bunting said.
For Citarella, who is a 2021 transplant to Charlotte, one of the things he has grown to love most about the Green Mountain State is strongly held local control, something he said is not the norm in many states across the country.
“It’s really special here,” he said. “It makes people have a real sense of ownership and commitment to each other, but also to the land that we’re all occupying. I think that’s why it’s so important to have the citizens be engaged by having this vote at the end because it cements their place in the process. My fear is long-term, a disengagement of people from the process.”
The group had brought the topic to the selectboard hoping that members would take up the issue for a vote on Town Meeting Day without the need for a petition, but members in December made no decisions about the topic.
“My personal opinion about it after being on the planning commission and the selectboard is this town has a tremendous
amount of public process when it’s changing land use regulations,” board member Kelly Devine said. “If you’re coming in to vote on it in the end and haven’t been involved in the process, it’s likely that since land use regulations are fairly nuanced you can vote against it, which people often do, but I don’t know how well informed that is.”
The petition, which requires residents to sign their name and provide an address, has been circulated through neighborhood canvassing and posted in public places like the Old Brick Store and the town hall. According to state law, petitions must get 5 percent of voters to be considered for a town vote.
For Charlotte, that number is 180.
Frost and Citarella plan to submit the petition to town hall by Dec. 30, where it will need to be validated by town clerk Mary Mead and then put up for a vote on Town Meeting Day.
The charter would then need to gain approval of the Legislature and the governor. Charlotte Rep. Chea Waters Evans is a member of the government operations committee, which will first review the proposed charter change.
“We think, regardless of where it goes, whether the Legislature takes it up or anything, we think that it is worth doing just because we’re trying to build connections in town on these sorts of issues,” Citarella said. “There are other things that we could do if it stalls out in the Legislature.”
Horned larks enliven winter’s sleeping fields
The Outside Story
Colby Galliher
Halloween is long past, but you may notice devilish figures hanging out in scrubby fields and open areas this winter: horned larks. These birds are North America’s only true lark species. They reside yearround in parts of the Northeast, such as Vermont’s Champlain Valley, but disperse across the region more widely in winter, when the stark landscape makes them easier to spy.
Horned larks (Eremophila alpestris) are so named for tufts of delicate black feathers along the sides of the male bird’s head. Males can raise these diminutive horns at will, likely as part of courtship. But even when perked, these adornments are small enough that they may be difficult to distinguish from afar.
Though their horns, when visible, are a telltale identification method, spotting horned larks can still be a challenge. In the winter, they flock with other species, including dark-eyed juncos, snow buntings and Lapland longspurs, meaning birdwatchers often must discern them from the rest of the crowd.
With their tawny plumage of brown and beige, horned larks often blend in with the fields where they forage for seeds and waste grain. These small birds are more likely to catch your eye when they alight on snowpack, their black eye masks and horns bold against a forehead and throat of warm yellow.
Horned larks’ habitat preferences span natural and human-disturbed environments. They need open, sparsely vegetated areas where they can forage in winter and nest in summer. Though they can live in areas of greatly varying
altitude, from deserts and Arctic tundra far below sea level to alpine zones, they tend to “avoid places where grasses grow more than a couple of inches high,” according to the Cornell Lab of Ornithology’s profile of the species. In winter in northern New England, these birds are often in fields or in large flat areas, such as airstrips.
Undeterred by cold and snow, horned larks begin breeding as early as February. Males perform a swooping flight display to demarcate and defend their territories, embellishing their acrobatics with
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a tinkling song. A female constructs a nest by digging a depression in bare ground or utilizing a preexisting one, adding a stoop made of dirt clods, stones and husks. The first brood is generally out of the nest by May, and the parents may raise two additional broods through the remainder of the breeding season.
Though the horned lark is a prodigious breeder and remains a common species, surveys indicate a rapid population decline in recent decades. The avian conservation group Partners in Flight lists horned larks as a common bird in steep decline, while the North American
Breeding Bird Survey has found a population decrease of almost 65 percent in the past half-century or so.
The reasons for this decline are multifaceted, mirroring challenges faced by other grassland birds. A major culprit is habitat conversion. The large-scale deforestation that accompanied European settlement centuries ago allowed the horned lark and other grassland birds to spread east from their traditional range in the American prairie into newly created croplands and pastures in the Northeast.
As agriculture shifted west
during the mid-19th century, and many of the Northeast’s farms were abandoned, untended fields began reverting to forest. While this trend has benefitted forest-loving bird and wildlife species, it has reduced the amount of habitat available to the horned lark and other grassland birds. Today, these remaining open spaces are prime targets for development.
Other land-use changes have also harmed horned lark populations. Earlier mowing of fields destroys nests and can kill chicks as well as adult birds, while heavy pesticide applications can diminish populations by eliminating their insect prey or killing birds via direct exposure.
The bright side is that species-specific conservation projects aimed at preserving the Northeast’s remaining grasslands, such as the Bobolink Project, are likely to benefit the horned lark by preserving both the breeding and non-breeding habitat the species needs.
When you’re out on your snowshoes or cross-country skis this winter and longing for spring migration, study bare patches in the sleeping fields you pass. You may spot a horned lark shuffling along, adding a bit of color and personality to the short, drab days of winter.
Colby Galliher is a writer who calls the woods, meadows and rivers of New England home. To learn more about his work, visit colbygalliher.com. Illustration by Adelaide Murphy Tyrol. The Outside Story is assigned and edited by Northern Woodlands magazine and sponsored by the Wellborn Ecology Fund of New Hampshire Charitable Foundation, nhcf.org.
ILLUSTRATION BY ADELAIDE MURPHY TYROL
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both towns, said he is confident that Richmond will reach its goal of hiring four officers by July, when next year’s budget kicks in.
Richmond hired one officer earlier this year and is reviewing applications for two more positions.
Meanwhile in Hinesburg, town manager Todd Odit is expecting a $166,000 deficit in law enforcement revenue as Richmond plans to redirect funds away from Hinesburg back to its own department.
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continued from page 2
been open about your struggles as a student and the mental health issues you dealt with off the field. Can you tell us more about that experience?
BC: After my first year and a half at school, I started having these off-field issues — depression — and I stopped playing soccer for two years.
I realized I made mistakes that I wanted to make right, so I set up a meeting with the coach. I mostly wanted to apologize for not giving a full explanation for why I stopped playing. I was in the coach’s office explaining how I’d gone down a wrong path and, much to my surprise, he asked if I wanted to come back to the team. I didn’t think that was even possible from an eligibility standpoint, but they helped me figure it out, and I got back on the team with one season left to play. They made me a captain. Then I got into coaching and the rest is history.
Q: Did playing soccer again help with those off-field issues, or did you address them before coming back to the sport?
BC: Soccer was always a huge part of my life and that didn’t change. When I decided to step away it was not because of soccer. It was because I didn’t want to be in school anymore. I had a therapist, which was helpful, and I worked to put all the pieces of my life back together. I didn’t necessarily envision being back on the team, but I knew I needed to finish school and try to overcome some of the obstacles that I wasn’t able to overcome previously. I felt that was part of becoming a better person.
Q: As a kid who grew up on Spear Street, and a player and early-career coach at UVM, what was it like to come back to the school and help guide the program?
BC: It has been a big goal of mine to be here and realize the success we’re having. This
As a result, Hinesburg is budgeting for one less officer than this year. The draft budget for next year includes four officers and a shared police chief with Richmond, and the town currently has five officers.
Funding for that fifth officer is contingent on the agreement with Richmond, according to Odit.
Richmond’s draft budget is not final, but Hinesburg’s assumes that the agreement to share officers will no longer be in place next year.
Still, Hinesburg is on standby to see how recruitment in Richmond shapes up, according to Odit. Despite Cambridge’s confidence, Richmond has been trying to hire officers for years with little success.
During Richmond’s selectboard meeting last week, a member of the public reminded the board that Richmond has been unsuccessful in hiring officers.
“Here we are again budgeting for officers that we haven’t hired yet and there’s a department
in Hinesburg that’s ready to go now,” said Cara LaBounty, who praised Hinesburg for its policing in Richmond. “How is it going to be different this time around?”
“It will be different,” Cambridge said, reiterating his confidence with ongoing recruitment. Eventually, he’d like to see four officers in each town.
“I think the message from Hinesburg is don’t cut personnel, especially law enforcement.”
community means a lot to me, and I wanted to give back to it. It’s a place that doesn’t have as many resources as other places, but we believe in ourselves and our ability to compete.
That’s easy to say after you’ve won a national championship, but we’ve always held that belief. We’ve recruited the players by telling them the vision was to win. At the beginning of the season, our objective was to win the regular season, the conference tournament, and the national title. It’s special to help raise the bar here and redefine what we think is doable.
Q: You were in uncharted waters as things heated up in the post season. Was the team nervous for the championship game?
BC: We didn’t play very well in the semifinal, but at the same time, you need to keep competing, keep running, keep doing your job. It got to a point where we were learning on the job a bit, but that’s the point of raising the bar, right? We just tried to bring our own identity to the field and not let any stage get too big.
Q: How would you describe that Catamount identity?
BC: We’re pretty strange. We’re weird. Our guys are super competitors, but they love each other. They love being around one another. We take the games and training very seriously, but we have fun, too. A lot of people started to travel with us in the postseason —I think our travel party at the last game was 65 people — so they all got a good look at the team. Most people said there was a good energy and brotherhood in the group and that our guys are just comfortable in their own skin.
Q: With 20 goals scored after the 76th minute this season and 16 after the 83rd, maybe you should be referred to as the “Cardio Cats.” What can you say
about the conditioning your guys go through to have that type of stamina so late in the game, when other teams are running out of juice?
BC: That’s a good question. We train hard, especially at the beginning of the season, and it tapers off a bit as the season progresses and the games ramp up. We have GPS trackers and other technology to monitor our training load, but I would say we’re pretty old school. The physical load we put on the players in the preseason is high, so it’s a very fit team.
We have a lot of depth, too. If you look at some of these late goals, a lot of times it’s a guy coming off the bench who’s fresh. Our starters will wear down a team and then we bring on more talented players who have every right to start, and they push the game forward.
We talk a lot as a team about never giving up, never lying down, never dying. I like to give the guys a quote before every game and one of my favorites is, ‘Bring them into deep water and let them drown.’ There’s another one about being a Sherpa. The gist is we want to be the team that can climb a mountain and breathe while other teams are suffocating. We talk about doing anything it takes to win. If you’re feeling tired or pain in your legs, well so is the other guy. That motivates us.
Q: What does this victory say about UVM’s program and soccer in Vermont?
BC: The big thing is that we are Vermont’s team, and we want everyone in Vermont to be proud of this victory. This isn’t just our team. I’d like to see the sport of soccer grow in Vermont and I think that’s happening. I also hope there’s a kid out there growing up in Vermont who loves soccer and sees this championship run as inspiration to be part of the team one day.
Hinesburg Selectboard member Merrily Lovell tuned into the Richmond meeting virtually and expressed her wish to uphold the current arrangement, a sentiment she said many in the community share.
referencing a perceived increase in crime throughout Hinesburg over the last year. Richmond is also budgeting for a 20-hour-per-week administrative position for the police department. The town asked Hinesburg to share in the cost of that position, but Lovell said that likely is not in the budget for next year.
— Merrily Lovell
“Our budget is tight, but I think the message from Hinesburg is don’t cut personnel, especially law enforcement,” said Lovell,
Hinesburg cut its administrative position two years ago and the department has since been bogged down with paperwork. Cambridge has frequently said that another administrative position would help the department immensely.
Hinesburg warned a budget hearing for Jan. 25.
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2024 Year in Review Charlotte and Hinesburg
Top left: Students from Williston Central School and Hinesburg Community School join over 160 youth Vermonters in the annual Our Voices Exposed/Vermont Kids Against Tobacco Statehouse rally in Montpelier in February. The event provided youth from around the state a platform to educate and inform key decision-makers and fellow Vermonters about tobacco and nicotinerelated issues, as seen and experienced firsthand.
Top right: Hinesburg Community School co-principal Tim Trevithick dons a pair of
oversized sunglasses to lead a reluctant “learner” into school.
Above: Charlotters turn out in droves for the annual beach party July 13 on a perfect summer day
Right: Kay Della Grotta talks about some of the equipment Charlotte Volunteer Fire and Rescue Services uses to fulfill its mission at an open house on Feb. 24.
OPPOSITE PAGE
Top: Champlain Valley Union High School
thespians bring the popular musical, “Footloose,” to life at the CVU Theater in November.
Bottom left: Eclipse watchers gather atop Mt. Philo in preparation for the total eclipse of the sun in April.
Bottom right: Tammy Joe Dickenson, a teacher for 31 years, becomes an honorary member of the Class of 2024 at the 60th Commencement Exercise of Champlain Valley Union High School at UVM’s Patrick Gym in June.
FILE PHOTOS
Charlotte and Hinesburg
2024 Year in Review
Top left: Teachers and staff rally outside of the Hinesburg Community School in support of a school budget vote.
Top right: Hinesburg officials assess damage from the July flood.
Above: Kaspar Meier, new co-owner of Nordic Farm, stands with his pup, Tim, in front of the old farm barn.
Middle right: Louise McCarren, a longtime public servant in Charlotte, died in February.
Bottom right: The crew at New Village Farm focuses on bringing people as close to natural connections as possible and goat snuggle sessions are just one way to make that happen.
SPORTS Year in Review
Redhawks win 13 state titles in Division I
LAUREN READ CORRESPONDENT
It was a year of honors and awards for sports teams and figures, with the Champlain Valley Union High School athletes raising 13 state championship trophies and a Shelburne native earning the state’s top sports honor.
Here’s a look at some of the highlights from a busy 2024:
CVU cross country wins state and regional titles
The Champlain Valley girls’ cross country team saw success up and down New England and New York this year, bringing home quite a haul of hardware.
The Redhawks won the Division I state title — their third in a row — and the New England championship, the program’s eighth New England crown, and fifth since 2016.
CVU then finished second in the Northeast Regionals to claim one of the two qualifying team bids for Nike Cross Nationals. The Redhawks finished 19th in the national race.
CVU football wins championship, goes undefeated
Champlain Valley football captured its second D-I state title with total dominance through the regular season and in the championship game.
Champlain Valley beat Rutland 41-14 this fall to capture the program’s second title in three years.
CVU also finished with an 11-0 record and saw quarterback Orion Yates named the Gatorade Player of the Year.
Soccer wins again
Champlain Valley won state titles in both boys’ and girls’ soccer.
First, the girls beat South Burlington to clinch the D-I girls soccer state championship, their second in three years. On top of that, the Redhawks finished the season unbeaten at 16-0-1.
The boys followed that up with a 3-0 win over Colchester to win the state title.
It was the 21st state title for both programs — a record that is tied for most in state history.
FILE PHOTOS
Above: The Champlain Valley boys’ lacrosse team after winning the Division I state championship. Below: South Burlington’s Nate Horton checks CVU’s Luke Buehler on the field in Hinesburg in May.
CVU boys’ and girls’ golf teams with Division I titles
Champlain Valley won its 13th state title in boys golf in dramatic fashion in 2024, finishing just one stroke ahead of second-place Rutland to capture the state championship.
It was the program’s first state title trophy since 2020. Cooper Guerriere shot 74, Jack Bryan, 83, Quinn Vincent finished with 86 and Camden Ayer shot 92.
For the girls, two top performances led CVU to its second straight state championship. Ryan Sleeper was the top scorer for the Redhawks, coming in with an 88, and Stella Rakochy rounded out the top two scorers with a 93.
Boys’ lacrosse returns to the top
After a one-year absence from the top of Division I, the Champlain Valley boys’ lacrosse team won a state in 2024, the program’s 13th overall.
The Redhawks scored in overtime to beat Middlebury 13-12 and win the title, the program’s 10th in 11 years.
Mattias Williams paced the offense, scoring four goals, while Peter Gilliam and Jacob Bose each had three. Alden Endres, Brian Rutherford and Niko Kapsalis each scored once for the Redhawks.
CVU
track and field wins outdoor and indoor titles
On Saturday, the Redhawks put it all together to capture the D-I girls’ track and field state championship — the program’s first in 49 years.
Buoyed by dominance in the 1,500-meter and 3,000-meter races, Champlain Valley earned 112 points for the title.
The track-and-field title comes after the CVU girls also captured the indoor track and field championship this winter, the program’s first indoor state title.
Basketballers win, Berger named Miss Basketball Champlain Valley limited its opponents to 12 points in the second half to beat No. 2 St. Johnsbury to win the state title — its second in a row.
On top of that, CVU star Elise Berger took the crown this year as the best player in girls’ high school hoops in Vermont, as selected by the Burlington Free Press.
It was the 10th title for the CVU program and the second year in a row the team has beat St. Johnsbury to capture the trophy.
It was also the swan song for coach Ute Otley, who made the move to lead the Norwich University women’s basketball program. Shelburne native named to Vermont sports hall
Native Shelburner Kevin Lepage’s need for speed landed him a spot this year in the Vermont Sports Hall of Fame.
One of 12 inductees for 2024, he’s the only Vermont-born stock car driver to compete at the highest levels of NASCAR.
Lepage had a successful run on short track in Vermont, including Thunder Road, where he won three Milk Bowls, one of the country’s toughest short-track races.
He raced 13 years in the Winston Cup Series starting in 1997 and compiled two top five finishes and nine top 10s. Between the Winston Cup series and the Busch series, Lepage has run over 560 races in his career.
Alpine champions
Champlain Valley had quite the two-day performance on the hill at Burke Mountain for the Vermont alpine state championships, winning titles for both the boys and girls.
The girls’ team placed four
FILE PHOTOS
Above: The Champlain Valley Union High School Redhawks football team won the Division I championship this year.
Below: The Champlain Valley boys’ D-I soccer champs. It’s the program’s 21st state championships, a state record, and is only matched by the CVU girls’ soccer program.
Bottom: CVU’s girls’ soccer team celebrates its title. See more photos online at thecitizenvt.com.
skiers in the top 10 on the second day to clinch the state title, while the CVU boys were named D-I co-champions along with Rutland after a delay due to a scoring error.
Ella Lisle was first overall in the slalom, Rachel Bialowoz came in third and Kate Kogut followed in fourth place in the slalom to race to the D-I title, the program’s third championship in the last four years.
CVU Nordic wins state title
The Champlain Valley Nordic ski team thought it was in rebuild mode to start the season but then skied away with the D-I state championship.
The Redhawks led from the start in the final, leading after the first day of classic racing, and then continued through the freestyle race to win it all.
Estella Laird was the top finisher for the Redhawks, coming in fourth in classic and fifth in freestyle.
Charlotte Crum, Annalise Wood, Lilyanna Mittelstadt, Maeve Parker-Clark, Annika Johnson, Senja Erickson and Kate Silverman rounded out the top CVU finishers.
• ARTWORK bittnerantiques.com • 2997 Shelburne Road • Shelburne SPORTS continued from page 12
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Above: The Champlain Valley Union High School championship girls’ basketball team. RIght: A trio of Middlebury players try to tackle Redhawks’ wide receiver Jeremy Bikule.
Below: The Champlain Valley Union soccer team celebrates its win over the South Burlington Wolves. From left, Lauren Knudsen, Ezra Dziurzynski, Sierra Rainey, Abby Bunting, Elsa Klein and Rieanna Murray.
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