Elsa Oppenheimer took these adorable shots of a gray fox family — mom and dad and three kits — in her Shelburne backyard. “They’ve made a den under my shed,” she said. “Gray foxes are much more elusive than red foxes, so having so much footage of them is pretty cool.” See more photos on page 9 and online at shelburnenews.com.
LIBERTY DARR STAFF WRITER
A farm in Shelburne is exploring on a deeper level what connection to the natural world can and should look like, and in this case, it means a whole lot of goat snuggles.
From birth and new beginnings to death and grief, the team at New Village Farm envisions a world in which farming is a community activity that restores
connections to the land, food and, most importantly, to each other. And this mission is now taking on a completely new meaning for the staff as they enter their second-year hosting goat snuggle sessions for those who wish to break free from the digital world of screens and texts and tap into a new community. What began as a creative way
See GOATS on page 12
KATE KAMPNER COMMUNITY NEWS SERVICE
Fair skies last Thursday might have suggested a good day on the lake for boaters. But toward the mouth of the Winooski River, a clear cut of gray across the blue waves was hard to miss.
Flooding last week caused the river to overflow into Lake Champlain and with it came an influx of phosphorus and sediment such as dirt and bits of landscape. Together, fine particles from the debris
created a string of murky, chocolate-colored plumes across the water.
The cloudy water will likely take about two weeks to clear up. That was according to several researchers hosting the equivalent of a floating press conference on the lake that morning. The five experts — several affiliated with the University of Vermont — took members of the press on the
See LAKE CHAMPLAIN on page 11
Shelburne Road, S. Burlington Maple Tree Place, Williston
Busking, Music, and Laughter for the Entire Family!
The Shelburne Museum tells the American railroad story in a deep red room where over 40 paintings from around the country hang on the walls.
Landscapes show artists’ first impressions of rail in the 19th century, with unimposing steam engines crawling through the distance. Rising cities and men laboring along tracks depict increased industrialization. Later pieces offer reflections on the railroad as a marvel that transformed from a machine to a vehicle for human interaction.
“Short of the digital revolution in the last 20 years, I don’t think there’s been a moment of introduction of new technology in American history that rivals the railroad for what it did to the social topography, the cultural topography of the United States,” Thomas Denenberg, the museum’s director, said.
The collection of paintings is part of “All Aboard: The Railroad in American Art, 1840-1955,” an exhibition that opened in Shelburne last month as the first stop on its national tour and will run until Oct. 20. The show is a collaboration between Shelburne and two other museums set to display the collection: the Dixon Gallery and Gardens in Memphis and the Joslyn Art Museum in Omaha.
“It’s a little bit of a march through time,” Julie Pierotti, curator at the Dixon, said.
The unveiling of “All Aboard” comes as Americans consider the sustainability of automobile
culture — and how transportation infrastructure has reconfigured our landscape. Railroads defied
physical and social distances in the 19th and 20th centuries, but similarly “they were a doubleedged sword,” said Thomas Busciglio-Ritter, the assistant curator at the Joslyn Museum who specializes in art from the American West.
“It reflected both the best and the worst of its times: mobility yet segregation, speed yet environmental damage, economic growth yet inequality,” he said.
Shelburne is first to see the exhibition before it arrives at the Dixon and later at the Joslyn. The partnership allowed the museums to split costs and draw from 37 artwork lenders. The museums even published a book featuring essays on paintings from the exhibition by curators from each. That wouldn’t have normally been possible without collaborating, Denenberg said.
Each of the host cities also carries a special history with its rail lines.
RAILROAD ART continued from page 2
“Amtrak and the freight trains go right through Shelburne and literally split the museum in half,” Denenberg said.
Tracks winding along Lake Champlain first connected Montreal to New York City in the 19th century, replacing waterway travel.
“The reason the town of Shelburne exists is it was the whistle stop” between the cities, Denenberg said.
The railroad also runs through the middle of Memphis, making it a part of everyday life in the Tennessee city, Pierotti said. The Union Pacific Railroad ties Memphis to Omaha, and is central to Omaha’s commercial economy.
“Omaha was chosen as the terminal of the First Transcontinental Railroad, which eventually connected the Great Plains to California when it was completed in 1869,” Busciglio-Ritter said. Union Pacific remains the most expansive railroad in
North America, the company says, spanning 23 states.
“All Aboard” is the first exhibition on the East Coast to look at the relationship between the railroad and American art since the 1980s, Denenberg said. The time was right, the organizers said, as intense conversation about the risk and reward of new technology dominates the public sphere.
“There’s something for everybody, and something for everybody to learn,” Pierotti said.
“All Aboard” will open at the Dixon this November and at the Joslyn in February 2025.
Busy Anderson is an intern with the Community News Service, a University of Vermont journalism program, on assignment for the Vermont Community Newspaper Group.
Total reported incidents: 62 Medical emergencies: 14
Shelburne police are warning residents that a man identifying himself as local police officer and calling them on the telephone to say they have an outstanding arrest warrant is a scam.
Several people reported interacting with the fake officer.
Police do not contact anyone by phone regarding outstanding arrest warrants, nor do they contact citizens requesting personal identification information like Social Security numbers, bank account numbers, or any other financial information, police chief Mike Thomas said.
If you receive one of these calls and are suspicious of the call, ask for the caller’s name and contact the department at 802-985-8051.
July 15 at 12:10 p.m., someone reported a theft from their car on Edward Drive.
July 15 at 12:39 p.m., a stray dog was running loose on Ridgefield Road. The pup was located and reunited with the owner.
July 15 at 4:50 p.m., a man on Brentwood Drive reported his girlfriend was being aggressive and took his keys. The officers mediated the dispute.
July 17 at 9:32 a.m., a caller reported a trailer parked in Morgan Drive was creating a traffic hazard. The owner removed the trailer from the road.
July 17 at 12:31 p.m., someone on Shelburne Road reported
receiving threatening calls and text messages.
July 19 at 9:50 a.m., a resident on Hullcrest Road reported vehicles were parking on their lawn while delivering to a neighboring business. An officer was unable to locate any vehicles on the caller’s property.
July 19 at 1:23 p.m., a caller reported a dog inside a vehicle outside Pierson Library.
July 19 at 6:31 p.m., Shelburne Police assisted Addison County Family Court with the service of an abuse prevention order on Harbor Road.
July 20 at 12:57 p.m., the U.S. Coast Guard requested a search for an abandoned boat in Shelburne Bay. Shelburne police and fire checked the area, but nothing was found.
July 20 at 3:28 p.m., a caller reported a dog inside a vehicle parked at Shelburne Bay Plaza. The owner was leaving when the officer arrived.
July 29 at 4:18 p.m., the U.S. Coast Guard requested a search for a boat having difficulty near Rock Dunder. Shelburne fire checked the area, and nothing was found.
July 20 at 6:37 p.m., a theft from a motor vehicle was reported on Bay Road.
July 21 at 11:25 p.m., a 911 caller reported a domestic disturbance at the T-Bird Motel. The officers located the woman, who was injured, and Shelburne Rescue transported her to the hospital. The case is under investigation.
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MIKE DONOGHUE
CORRESPONDENT
The boyfriend of a former Monkton woman, who authorities said gunned down her husband five years ago, has been arrested on federal conspiracy charges.
John Turner, 45, of Milton is the third person charged in connection with the fatal nighttime ambush killing of David Auclair, 45, in July 2019.
Auclair’s bullet-riddled body was found at the LaPlatte Headwaters Town Forest trailhead parking lot off Gilman Road in Hinesburg.
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and Vermont State Police arrested Turner last Wednesday at a Hinesburg golf course where he has worked for many years.
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in the commission of first-degree murder and obstruction of justice.
Her son, Kory Lee George, 36, was sentenced to 18 years to life in prison after admitting to conspiracy to commit first-degree murder of his stepfather in Hinesburg. George, a five-time felon, was convicted separately in federal court for illegal possession of a firearm in connection with the homicide.
At his change of plea hearing, George said his mother fired all the shots into David Auclair. She initially claimed she was home when her husband was gunned down.
Turner faces two federal charges: conspiracy to possess stolen firearms and receiving stolen firearms in July 2019.
Turner appeared in U.S. District Court later that afternoon and plead not guilty to the charges.
His defense lawyer, Karen Shingler, asked for four months to investigate the case and consider filing pre-trial motions.
Turner was released on conditions.
The victim’s estranged wife, Angela M. Auclair, 52, initially pleaded guilty to a charge of conspiracy to commit first-degree murder and was expected to be sentenced to 18 years to life in prison, but she withdrew her plea earlier this year and fired her lawyer.
She is awaiting trial.
Other charges, which were to be dismissed, have been restored against Auclair, including aiding
“It’s about as bad as it gets,” Judge Kevin Griffin told George at his sentencing.
David Auclair was shot 11 times, and no shell casings were left behind from the shooting, Vermont State Police said.
He was the son of a well-known South Burlington family that operated a large farm on Vermont 116 near the Shelburne line.
The victim was lured to the scene of his execution through a pre-paid burner cellphone that was traced to a Milton store where George bought it, state police said.
Auclair tried to crawl under his 2017 GMC pickup truck to get away from the shooting by his wife, deputy state’s attorney Susan G. Hardin said in court when George pleaded guilty.
Turner faces two federal charges: conspiracy to possess stolen firearms and receiving stolen firearms in July 2019.
Vermont State Police had reported earlier that Turner had
driven George to the Colchester home of James Synott on July 10, 2019, one night before the homicide.
George broke into the unoccupied home on Arbor Lane and stole five firearms, according to court records. The home was unattended because Angela Auclair had set up a dinner with Synott and her estranged husband at the Lighthouse Restaurant in Colchester. The three were mutual friends.
Turner drove his Chevrolet Suburban to the Spanked Puppy restaurant in Colchester, where he met George, records showed. Turner drove George in his own car to the Synott neighborhood and dropped him off near the home.
George stole five guns, including two 9-mm Beretta handguns, a Davis Warner Arms .32 handgun, and a Llama .380 handgun. The guns were later transferred to Turner’s Chevy Suburban, according to the indictment.
Also with them was George’s then girlfriend, who he later married, state police said.
The stolen guns were stored for the night at a trailer used by the co-conspirators in Milton, and the next day Angela Auclair used one of the stolen Berettas to kill her husband, the indictment read.
The day after the shooting, one of the co-conspirators attempted to dispose of the Beretta used in the shooting and one day later a co-conspirator attempted to dispose of the other handguns stolen from the Synott residence, the indictment noted.
The second count in the indictment charges Turner with possessing four of the stolen handguns.
Before David Auclair’s death, his estranged wife had a romantic interest in Turner, who would visit the couple’s home on Vermont 116 in Williston, records showed.
MIKE DONOGHUE
CORRESPONDENT
A tractor-trailer containing compressed gas was destroyed after it ignited for unknown reasons on Route 7 in North Ferrisburgh south of the Charlotte town line.
Mark E. Laflam, 64, of St. Albans, was taken to University of Vermont Medical Center with unspecified injuries July 15, officials said.
The trailer was owned by NG Advantage of Colchester, while the tractor belonged to KAG Merchant Gas Group in
Canton, Ohio.
The massive fire and subsequent explosion forced the closure of Route 7 between Greenbush and Dakin roads shortly after the 2:50 p.m. alarm.
The location was about the same place as another big natural gas fire in June 2023 involving a tanker owned by the KAG Merchant Gas Group out of Lansdale, Penn., the Vermont Department of Motor Vehicles said.
DMV Investigators reported the Monday fire started for unknown reasons.
After the explosion, the flames soon spread to a nearby small
building on the west side of Route 7, investigators said.
State police said one lane of Route 7 between Greenbush and Dakin roads reopened about 7:30 p.m.
Department of Motor Vehicles Lt. Matt Nesto, who is heading the investigation, said Ferrisburgh Fire Department received assistance from multiple volunteer fire departments including Vergennes, Monkton, Addison, Shelburne and Hinesburg.
Also assisting were Vermont State Police and Vergennes police. Emergency medical services also came from Vergennes and Bristol.
A man who held a South Burlington woman at knife point has been arrested on multiple felony charges.
Shannon Edwards, 39, of Montpelier, was arrested for resisting arrest, felony aggravated operation without the owner’s consent, felony attempting to elude, felony burglary, felony unlawful restraint, felony kidnapping and three charges of felony aggravated assault.
He was also reported to be an escapee of the Vermont Department of Corrections for violating furlough conditions.
he was able to drive to a residential neighborhood off Shelburne Road.
He abandoned the vehicle on Brewer Parkway, went into a home, and assaulted its 74-year-old homeowner, holding her at knife point before the officers physically disarmed him.
On July 22 around 5:25 p.m., South Burlington police responded to Hannaford Drive for a disturbance and located a man wanted on an unrelated aggravated domestic assault. While taking him into custody, the man said that Edwards had threatened him and others with a knife in the nearby woods.
Edwards had outstanding warrants for multiple violent offenses, police said.
Officers began a perimeter search with help from University of Vermont, Colchester and Burlington police departments. Edwards fled and then reportedly confronted a Champlain Water District employee and stole a pickup, police said.
Officers used tire deflation devices as Edwards left the water district property, but
“Two South Burlington officers were immediately confronted by Edwards holding the homeowner against her will at knife point stating he was going to kill her,” police said in a statement.
The victim received significant lacerations to her face and neck during the struggle and contusions to her head and knee.
A Burlington police detective received a deep laceration to his arm and a South Burlington officer was also injured.
They were all treated at the University of Vermont Medical Center.
Edwards has an extensive criminal history in Vermont, including 10 felony convictions, 15 misdemeanor convictions, and 12 violations of release resulting in four convictions.
At the time of Monday’s incident Edwards was under the supervision of the Department of Corrections, Barre Probation and Parole, and had been considered an escapee since July 10 for violating the conditions of his release.
“We can see clearly now the rain is gone!”
In Musing
Carole Vasta Folley
Recently I went shopping with friends, women I adore, and once again reveled in the magical enclave called dressing rooms. It makes no thread of difference whether the dressing room is in a department or discount store or a boutique or thrift shop, this women-only space creates an intimate one-of-a-kind type of connection I’ve rarely experienced elsewhere.
congenial conversations drift over partitions, from exclamations of delight and appreciation to offerings of assurance and encouragement. Everyone there is privy to the generosity of women among women.
Carole Vasta Folley
I’m not sure how to describe the camaraderie that manifests out of thin air in between these mirrored cubicles. Even in a dressing room by myself, I hear kinship all around me. Mothers and daughters, sisters by birth or by heart, and friends of all ages sharing with an ease and authenticity that’s both dynamic and comforting.
Snippets of supportive and
In that private space, insecurities are shared. How our bodies have changed over time. How our bellies belie our self-worth. We speak in intimacies, revealing ravages left behind from illness, surgery and childbirth or just plain ole life. Baring souls and bodies, we admit how we often dress to hide when really, we want to twirl and twirl in a rainbow-colored skirt or never again wear an undergarment labeled “supportive.” A misnomer if ever there was one.
We laugh too. The best laughter to be found. The healing kind. The kind you never forget because, to this day, it still makes you laugh. Hilarity from
the clothes themselves, including their fit — or should I say unfit?
Cracking up over ensembles that make you look like Half Pint on “Little House on the Prairie,” or worse, a character on “Gilligan’s Island,” and by that, I mean, Thurston Howell the Third.
Then there’s the ridiculousness of sizes; how a 6 and a 14 in different brands are exactly the same dimensions. Or it could be you can’t take off a dress you tried on.
Then there’s the ridiculousness of sizes; how a 6 and a 14 in different brands are exactly the same dimensions. Or it could be you can’t take off a dress you tried on. You’re stuck with your arms straight up in the air and the skirt over your head. I’m not saying this happened to me once, because it’s happened repeatedly. I can assure you it gets funnier each time, but only when you’re with friends. And it’s not just those I know.
Women, who are strangers, have shared with me about themselves, their bodies, their hopes, their needs, asking if they look OK for a first date, a job interview, a wedding or a funeral. It’s akin to holding someone’s hand. An opportunity to say something that matters.
Maybe that is the magic of women’s dressing rooms. They enable us to be seen when sometimes we can’t see ourselves. Especially without the lens of societal scrutiny of what we’re supposed to look like. I saw an article last week that advised women to stop looking in mirrors at themselves in profile. Sure, it’s the quickest way to assess the size of our stomachs.
Plus, a lifelong habit for many of us who were taught to critique ourselves from the side or back view because that is how others judge us.
Though painful in its practice and impact, sadly, in our culture it’s a valid reality. The shame outside a dressing room is real. We’re told throughout our lives that we women are too big, too small, too much, too over-dressed, too under-dressed, too loose, too tight, too short, too long, etc. Clearly, too evaluated to simply be.
But inside that changing room, there are women who believe no such thing. Women who see and praise the beauty, the individuality and the fullness of other women. And, just maybe, this sisterhood of affirmation can help us all get a little closer to being, in Anne Lamott’s words, a constant tender-hearted wife to ourselves. Outside a dressing room.
Carole Vasta Folley is an award-winning columnist and playwright. Visit carolevf.com.
Guest Perspective
Walt Amses
Last Saturday evening the Village Harmony Teen Chorus transcended the sparse crowd and sweltering confines of the Unitarian Church in Montpelier for an exuberant celebration of pure joy with a program of music from around the world. Soul-stirring Georgian harmonies, emotional Russian wedding songs, as well as Bulgarian, Ukrainian, sacred harp and South African traditional choral arrangements offered a wide-ranging meditation on the healing potential of song and the extraordinary power of the human voice.
When fireworks lit the orange, midsummer dusk over the Capitol City as the gathering headed home, it felt part of the show: a near perfect finale to a joyous, two-hour concert. But as we quickly learned, while angelic voices tugged at heartstrings at the Unitarian, pure evil was at work in Pennsylvania where a 20-year-old, would-be assassin fired into the crowd at a Donald Trump campaign rally killing a man and wounding several others, including the former president.
will span generations of T-shirts, coffee mugs and MAGA tattoos, likely winning the photographer a second Pulitzer Prize.
“The rhetoric around him over the last few weeks, that if he wins the election our country will end, our democracy will end. These things have consequences.”
— Scott Jennings
Claiming to be more “spiritual,” Trump claimed, “God alone prevented the unthinkable from happening,” suggesting that he would deliver a message of unity at this week’s Republican National Convention in Milwaukee. GOP supporters and Congressional Republicans who normally chastise anyone politicizing gun violence were suddenly anxious to politicize gun violence. Their go-to bromide of “thoughts and prayers” was nowhere to be seen as they lashed out at Democrats with newly named vice-presidential pick JD Vance leading the charge. The freshman Ohio senator tweeted almost immediately after Trump’s narrow escape that “Today is not some isolated incident. The central premise of the Biden campaign is that President Donald Trump is an authoritarian fascist who must be stopped at all costs. That led directly to President Trump’s attempted assassination.”
Whether the shock of the moment or his inherent showmanship, ghastly chaos aside, Trump emerged from a heap of Secret Service agents bloodied but unbowed, an American Flag waving behind him, fist pumping and screaming “fight, fight, fight,” the former president had somehow meticulously crafted an iconic photograph: an image that
Trump’s son Don Jr., quickly leaped in, posting: “Don’t tell me they didn’t know what they were doing with this crap. Calling my dad a ‘dictator’ and a ‘threat to democracy’ wasn’t some one-off comment. It has been the MAIN MESSAGE of the Biden-Kamala campaign and Democrats across the country.”
Slate reported CNN contributor and Republican political consultant Scott Jennings said:
“The rhetoric around him over the last few weeks, that if he wins the election our country will end, our democracy will end, it’s the last election we’ll ever have. These things have consequences.”
The consequences the GOP brain trust is hoping for include blunting even legitimate criticism of Trump; redirecting the nation’s focus from Project 2025, the conservative template for a Republican presidential administration; and distracting voters from the stark reality that conservatives have been fetishizing firearms for years, especially the AR-15, the tool of choice for mass shooters and the gun used in Saturday’s assassination attempt.
The GOP would like people to forget that House Republican Barry Moore of Alabama introduced a bill that would enshrine the AR-15 as the “National Gun of the United States.” Colorado’s Lauren Boebert, who tried, through her “Shall not be infringed act,” to repeal or defund almost all gun control, cosponsored the initiative saying, “We must send a message that we will meet every attack on any of our constitutional rights.”
When teenager Kyle Rittenhouse traveled from his Illinois home to Kenosha, Wis., purportedly to “stand his ground” and murdering two people at a Black Lives Matter demonstration, he not only was acquitted of the charges but celebrated as a hero by shameless Republicans who have glorified political violence for years. Rittenhouse was the guest of honor at a GOP rally in Idaho a year ago where he signed an AR-15 auctioned off as part of a fundraiser. Attendees could also buy tickets to Trigger Time, a Rittenhouse-hosted shooting event at a local gun range. Although conservatives are using the shooting to blunt criticism of their own agenda
and reinforce the acquisition of the Republican Party by Trump as though it’s just another golf course or hotel, the tragedy that unfolded in Pennsylvania fit the agonizing pattern that has become commonplace in the United States. The only thing out of the ordinary was the target. There was no apparent political motivation — the would-be assassin was a registered Republican, unaffiliated with any radical groups or organizations.
Thomas Matthew Crooks was a 20-year-old who lived with his parents, working a low wage job at a nursing home. He was isolated, picked on and bullied in high school. He lived in a country where — thanks to conservatives and the National Rifle Association — weapons of war are easily accessible and shooting people has become just another problem-solving option. Crooks’ decision to pick up a weapon points to the impulsivity of young males, documented in mass shootings and school
massacres from Uvalde, Texas to Parkland, Fla. to Newtown, Conn. to Columbine, Colo.
As a newly invigorated Trump waltzed through the Republican Convention amid the cheering multitudes, touting divine intervention to the delight of Christian Nationalists waiting to take over the country, every one of us should unequivocally denounce political violence.
What happened in Pennsylvania was deplorable and easily could have been tragic but shouldn’t give the former president a pass. He remains a serious threat to democracy. He led a coup to overturn the results of a legitimate election, and his chilling 2025 policy agenda provides him with near unlimited power. He is completely unfit for office. He needs to be stopped.
He also shouldn’t have been shot. But for that, Republicans have only themselves to blame.
Walt Amses is a Vermontbased writer.
On Sunday, July 14, Sister Elizabeth was invited to add a
of
to the garden tour
Tara
Fields
Sister Elizabeth, also known as Betty Giroux, a longtime resident of Shelburne, has been spreading her love of comedy for years now by dressing in her nun habit and sharing her comedy with anyone who passes by. Fields, also a longtime resident of Shelburne, has cultivated a beautiful flower garden in the backyard of her home on Falls Road full of spinning artwork and other garden treasures. The garden has several relaxing areas to sit and once a year Fields invites the local community to visit.
The Vermont Green Mountain Care Board hosts a discussion on the future of health care in Vermont on Monday, July 29, 4:30-6 p.m., at the South Burlington Public Library.
Despite rising insurance costs, Vermont’s hospitals and health systems face financial pressures and the health system requires revitalization.
Join local community leaders, hospital leaders, legislators, state officials and neighbors in discussing the options your community has for supporting the future of health care in Vermont.
Learn more at bit.ly/46i4sku.
Dwight + Nicole play American soul and blues at the summer’s last Free First Friday at Shelburne Museum, 5 p.m. to 7 p.m.
It’s the perfect time to visit galleries, enjoy a picnic on the grounds, stroll through gardens and take in the splendor of a summer’s evening.
For more information, visit shelburnemuseum.org.
Do you love local food and farms? Do you want to get to know your farmer better and get a behindthe-scenes look into Vermont’s
working agricultural landscape?
During the 2024 Vermont Open Farm Week, Aug. 4-11, meet the farmers, plants and animals that bring your favorite Vermont products to your plate.
Milk a cow and harvest a carrot at one farm, sit on a tractor and take in the smell of freshly cut hay at another and then head over to another for wood-fired pizza night and a garden tour. Events are happening across the state, so it’s a great time to get out and explore.
A complete list of open farm week events will be posted are posted at bit.ly/4d7OITb.
Sign up now for Shelburne grab and go meal
Age Well and St. Catherine’s of Siena Parish in Shelburne are teaming up to provide a meal to go for anyone age 60 and older on Tuesday, Aug. 13.
Meals will be available for pick up in the parking lot at 72 Church St. from 11 a.m. until noon and are available for anyone 60 or older. Suggested donation is $5.
The menu features roast turkey with gravy, potatoes with ranch dressing, mixed vegetables, dinner roll, date raisin cookie and milk.
To order a meal, contact Kathleen at agewellstcath@gmail.com or 802-503-1107. Deadline to order is Wednesday, Aug. 7. If this is a first-time order, provide your name, address, phone number and date of birth.
Learn about restaurant tickets to dine at participating restaurants at agewellvt.org.
Shelburne church, Age well host July luncheon
Age Well is offering a luncheon on Tuesday, Aug. 20, in the St Catherine of Siena Parish Hall, 72 Church St. in Shelburne.
Entertainment will be provided by Gerry Ortego on guitar.
The menu is barbecue chicken sandwich on a roll, potato salad, broccoli salad with Italian dressing, watermelon, pumpkin chip cookie and milk.
You must register by Wednesday, Aug. 14, to Kerry Batres, nutrition coordinator, 802-6625283 or email kbatres@agewellvt. org. Tickets are also available at the Age Well Office, 875 Roosevelt Highway, Suite 210, Colchester. Check-in time is 11:30 a.m. and the meal will be served at noon. There is a $5 suggested donation.
West African dance and drum tonight
Jeh Kulu is performing tonight in town hall at the Pierson Library as part of the library’s summer concert series.
In the Bambara language of Mali “jeh kulu” means community and that’s just what they offer. If you haven’t seen one of their performances, you’re in for a real treat.
Traditional rhythms and dances from Guinea, Senegal and Mali await. Doors open at 5:45 p.m. and the show starts at 6.
If you haven’t picked up your reading logs yet it’s not too late. The Pierson is holding a reading contest for kids, teens and adults.
Grab a log and write down thoughts on three books read between June 15 and Aug. 17. Turn your log in by Aug. 17 to be eligible to win. The prize for kids is a $50 gift card to a local business. Same prize for teens. The prize for adults is a one-night getaway and
dinner in Stowe.
Anyone can enter, not just library members. Logs are ready to pick-up at the front desk.
Internationally acclaimed magician Tom Verner and his crew of apprentice wizards visit the library to perform magic up close.
Having performed for vulnerable communities around the world, Verner has spent the last months performing around Ukraine.
No advanced registration is necessary. The show is Saturday, July 27, 1 p.m.
On Monday, July 29, the library’s very own Patrice MaComber will share her story of coming around late to travel, offer dispatches from a recent journey and discuss her lifelong love of animals.
Who needs a plane ticket and a lot of pesky vaccinations when you can come to the Pierson and be transported by one of their librarians free of charge.
Rough Suspects headline last summer concert
Vermont Teddy Bear and Mack Farm will host its final summer concert and fireworks on Tuesday, July 30.
You won’t want to miss the food and ice cream trucks serving from 5- 9 p.m. The Rough Suspects will play from 7-9 p.m. and be sure to stick around for the fireworks show.
Early in the evening, Vermont Teddy Bear store will offer free tours.
Donations are welcome at the entrance to support Shelburne Parks and Recreation Special Event Series. The rain date is Wednesday, July 31.
Last call for musical theatre camp
This is a singing and dancing workshop of show tunes and Broadway favorites directed by Sean Moran. The community is invited to the kids’ creation, a 60-minute show for friends and family, on Saturday, Aug. 3, at 11 a.m.
Meet new friends and old and join the cast of Broadway Bound 2024. No experience necessary, just come and have fun. Camp dates are July 29 to Aug. 3, noon to 4 p.m., and the day of the show, 9:30 arrival for the 11 a.m. show.
Saturday, 9:30 a.m. arrival for
11:00 a.m. show
Cost is $250 for kids entering fifth to eighth grade in the fall. Visit www.shelburnevt. org/160/parks-recreation for information.
SUSAN DUNNING
CONTRIBUTOR
Last month, emerald ash borer was officially detected and confirmed in Shelburne.
Emerald ash borer is an invasive wood borer that feeds on all species of ash (Fraxinus genus) and kills them, usually within five years of infestation. It is expected to kill more than 99 percent of all ash trees in Vermont.
In 2020, the Shelburne Tree Committee, with the assistance of the Vermont Urban and Community Forestry Program, developed the Shelburne EAB Management Plan. This plan outlines the proactive removal of ash trees in the municipal rights-of way and public spaces, injections every two to three years of a limited number of high-valued, healthy ash trees in the town center and on the Parade Ground, and the planting of replacement trees, including interplanting between existing ash trees.
The management plan was designed to optimize town aesthetics and safety, at the lowest longterm cost to the taxpayer, and was subsequently approved by the selectboard.
As of today, Shelburne has removed approximately 400 of approximately 750 ill-fated ash trees within the municipal rightsof way and public spaces. This is important because as the ash
trees die, they become increasingly hazardous and expensive to remove. Shelburne has also planted countless trees to offset the loss of the ash trees.
This year, The Shelburne Tree Committee applied for a grant from the Vermont Urban & Community Forestry Program to help defray costs due to the loss of ash trees in the landscape. The grant, titled:
“2024 Growing Urban Forests in
the Face of Emerald Ash Borer,” stipulated that the work “must take place within a 1-mile radius of designated areas through the VT Agency of Commerce & Community Development’s Designation Programs.”
Shelburne was one of seven Vermont towns awarded funds and will receive $23,000. The town will contribute the required match from the tree committee’s 2024
and 2025 budget.
Last spring, Shelburne removed most of the ash trees that were in the municipal rights-ofway within the 1-mile radius of the town center, thereby fulfilling part of the work outlined in the grant. We will also be planting 21 shade trees within that radius by fall and completing root invigoration work at the Parade Ground.
We are always seeking ways
to make the Town of Shelburne a beautiful place to live. If you are interested in having a tree planted in the municipal rights-of-way in front of your property, let us know. Send all questions, concerns or suggestions to Kit Luster at kluster@shelburnevt.org.
And finally, Shelburne has been awarded Tree USA City recognition for the seventh year in a row.
To learn more about the emerald ask borer, go to vtinvasives.org. To read Shelburne’s ash management plan, go to bit.ly/3WyyA85.
Susan Dunning is a member of the Shelburne Tree Committee.
Do you have photos you would like to share with the community? Send them to us: news@shelburnenews.com
college’s new hybrid-electric boat to talk about water quality risks to the lake.
The researchers also announced the Lake Champlain Sea Grant was awarded just under $300,000 from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to launch a community-action coalition focused on reducing plastic pollution into Lake Champlain.
One of the indicators of bad water quality can be raised counts of E. coli or chloroform bacteria, which are brought in with river sediment and hazardous if ingested. The plumes also prevent photosynthesizing organisms from getting the energy they need by limiting how much light fully passes through the water.
Matthew Vaughan, chief scientist of the Lake Champlain Basin Program, was surprised how the lake recovered after last year’s catastrophic floods.
“There’s a shorter timescale of recovery where the lake can bounce back, but in the long run we are battling against an increase in flow over time and more nutrients coming downstream,” he said.
Vaughan said last year on July 11, the Winooski River had the highest flow researchers had seen since 1990.
“When we ran the numbers, we determined that half of the annual phosphorus’ (total maximum daily load) was deposited in Lake Champlain in a week’s time from the storm last year,” he said, referencing the highest amount of the mineral the lake can take in a day before exceeding water quality standards.
With the flooding this month, the flow level reached the 10th highest measure since 1990, Vaughan said. “The flow overall of the lake was about two-thirds of what it was last year,” he said, and he expects the amount of phosphorus in the lake to be lower this year.
“Although we saw infrastructure damage, it was higher up in the watershed and in steeper areas,” he said.
Vaughan noted that this year’s extreme rainfall was a byproduct of Hurricane Beryl, the earliest Category 5 hurricane on record since the 1850s. Category 5 storms feature winds greater than 157 mph.
“This really can be tied to climate change, increasing air and ocean water temperatures, and that’s part of why you’re seeing an increase in flooding here in the Lake Champlain Basin,” he said. “It’s part of a larger trend.”
Devastating cycles
To determine water visibility, UVM researchers use a Secchi
disk — a black-and-white disk that is lowered into the water until you lose sight of it.
In some of the most recent tests after the early July floods, disks disappeared at just 0.3 meters in one spot of the lake and 1.7 meters in another. A typical clear water average would be between 3.5 and 7.5 meters, Vaughan said.
Lake Champlain Sea Grant Director Anne Jefferson, a UVM professor, said flows that carry debris into the lake can sometimes be natural.
“Rivers moving things like sediment and wood are natural and good processes; that dynamic landscape is a functioning landscape,” Jefferson said.
But when those flows pass through developed land, they can contort the natural processes into devastating cycles.
“Anytime that we’ve gotten water moving over our urban areas or causing erosion in the rural areas — taking out pieces of buildings or even just flowing over a parking lot in a heavy rainstorm,” she said. “We are picking up all of the human pollution, including trash, and delivering it to our streams and rivers and eventually Lake Champlain.”
Organisms can struggle to digest plastic, if they can at all, meaning it remains inside them and causes nutrition problems, Jefferson said. Plastics in the water also provide homes for bacteria and algae that otherwise wouldn’t get to set up colonies, she said.
Rebecca Diehl, a UVM research assistant professor, said it’s natural to regularly have a small amount of sediment moving through the watershed, but with extreme weather events, there’s an excessive amount of sediment and nutrients.
In her research, she looks at natural processes in the landscape that help mitigate sediment runoff. “Floodplains themselves when they’re properly functioning. They can do a lot to slow floodwaters and capture those nutrients and sediments and keep them on the landscape.”
Last year, Vermont floodplains captured about six times more phosphorus than during more routine floods, Diehl said.
“If we open up our floodplains, if we can take advantage and harness that natural function, we potentially can put a dent in the massive amount of sediments that are moving through our landscape,” she said.
Kate Kampner is a reporter with the Community News Service, a program in which
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for the farm to generate more financial resources in the middle of what New Village Farm calls “whacky weather,” has turned into a fan-favorite among camp kiddos and families who frequent the farm’s other annual programs. The sessions have also grown in popularity as gifts for holidays like Mother’s Day or Valentine’s Day.
While Shelburne emerged relatively unscathed from historic flooding last year and the most recent floods this month, the farm team is assessing new and creative ways to generate revenue at a time when growing crops seems more complicated and unreliable than ever.
As the designated program director at the farm, these creative initiatives are partially the role of Maggie Joseph, a local farmer who has had her hands in the dirt for most of her adult life.
“Animals have been such a core part of our programming,” she said. “They can teach lessons
better than we ever, ever could. This was an opportunity that came about, actually, just by helping financially after last year’s weather year that we’re kind of getting creative. Yes, it can make some more income, but it’s so much.”
She explained that during the pandemic, around the same time she hopped on board at New Village Farm, she noticed how people, more than ever, craved time with animals.
She joked, “People were just like, ‘Can I just lean against your cow for 10 minutes?’”
During the cruelest months of the pandemic, she said, the farm was using unique techniques to bring farm animals to people who didn’t feel comfortable being out in public.
The therapeutic benefits of farm work are something that owner Michaela Ryan has sought to tie together as she straddles two roles of farmer and grief recovery specialist, and the goat snuggling sessions are just a new way for
the farm to bring humans back to the natural world.
It was her own relationship with life and death on the farm that led her to ultimately purchase in 2011 the 99 acres where the farm sits today. She leased the property three years prior before officially making it her own.
“It actually came out of my becoming a grief recovery specialist, working with people around loss and death, and I think resolving my own relationship to loss and death on the farm as a kid,” she said. “It kind of brought me back to what’s important to me.”
The small raw milk cow and goat dairies, poultry operations, gardens and wilderness areas of the property create an immersive educational experience for people of all ages.
Both Ryan and Joseph reiterated that the educational aspects
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remain a primary focus of the farm. For example, the farm hosts a farm school, after-school programming, summer camps, family workshops and other yearround programming, including the goat snuggle sessions, which happen all year, but taper off in popularity in the winter months.
“I think that as we move further and further away from nature and how we live, we lose a little bit of our connection to ourselves in that,” Ryan said. “I think it just helps our nervous systems connect to that part of ourselves that knows how to be fun and alive and vibrant and meet the day in that way.”
For children, who may find themselves connecting with the kids a bit easier, the snuggle sessions are an instant hit. But for adults, whose layers of stress take longer to peel off, that’s where the real magic happens, Ryan said.
Goat snuggle sessions are available on the farm’s website for most Saturdays throughout the summer. The babies’ names follow a musical theme this year: Dolly Parton, Shania Twain, Phil Collins and soon, Billie Goat Eilish.
The week-long bait drop is a coopera tive effort between Vermont and the U.S. Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services to stop the spread of the potentially fatal disease.
ways fatal in humans and animals. However, treatment with the rabies vaccine is nearly 100 percent effective when given soon after
So far this year, 23 animals in Vermont have tested positive for rabies, and 14 of those have been raccoons.
continued
Rabies is a deadly viral disease of the brain that infects mammals. It is most often seen in raccoons, skunks, foxes, and bats, but unvaccinated pets and livestock can also get rabies.The virus is spread through the bite of an infected animal or contact with its
According to wildlife officials, rabid animals often show a change in their normal behavior, but you cannot tell whether an animal has rabies simply by looking at it. People should not touch or pick up wild animals or strays – even baby animals.
lead
As longtime community partners with local roots, O’Brien Brothers is dedicated to honoring and supporting Shelburne’s vision for its future: Shelburne Forward Together.
Our latest residential community project proposal aligns all three key priorities of the Shelburne Forward Together plan:
The plan includes the permanent conservation of 60% of the existing site, including its wildlife habitat, river, and wildlife corridors.
Our proposal creates housing growth and affordability through perpetually affordable units, as well as homes across a broad spectrum of market-based price points suited for all ages and stages of life. These homes will operate 100% carbon-free, be energy efficient, and be resilient against climate change with rooftop solar and backup energy storage.
Shelburne neighborhoods will be more connected to the village and community school through miles of new sidewalks, bike paths, and trails.
obrienbrothersvt.com/shelburne-project/
