Lunch ladies
Boys of summer
Columnist pays homage to her lunchroom compatriots
CVU baseball team grabs No. 1 seed in Division I playoffs
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Volume 51 Number 22
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shelburnenews.com
June 2, 2022
PHOTOS BY LEE KROHN
Clockwise from right, Bud Ockert speaks at Shelburne’s Memorial Day event on Monday. Ockert, a 30-year Army vet, was instrumental in organizing the town’s annual commemoration. The day’s program came with a small American flag. A veteran receives a free quilt from the Quilts of Valor Foundation. Major Johanna Hipp, not pictured, was guest speaker at this year’s event.
Mike Thomas named Shelburne police chief COREY MCDONALD STAFF WRITER
Mike Thomas has been appointed Shelburne’s police chief for a period of two years, solidifying his role as head of the beleaguered department as it slowly works to a path toward stability. Thomas, who has served as acting chief of the Shelburne Police
Department since December, will serve in the permanent role through June 2024, with a possible one-year extension. “We all know the police department has had some challenges in the past year,” town manager Lee Krohn said. “In recent times, there has, I believe, been much more of a sense of stability in the department under Thomas’ guidance.”
A search for a new police chief during his two-year appointment “presumably ... might ensue at some point down the road,” Krohn said at last week’s selectboard meeting, “but I think the hope is we let Mike take the reins for real and let the dust settle and hope that things continue on the positive track that we think they are already on.”
“I’m very excited about it. I think we all are,” Selectboard Chair Mike Ashooh said. “We all feel very good about Mike’s role as chief.” Thomas, a more-than-20-year veteran of the department, took the top position in December when Aaron Noble, Shelburne’s former police chief, took a leave of absence after town officials expressed a lack
of faith in his leadership. “It’s just a title: acting chief, chief, whatever works,” Thomas said in an interview. “We really need to get moving forward and focus on hiring, recruitment, retention.” More than 15 officers and dispatchers left the department in See POLICE on page 13