SB High School seniors honored for service at Vermont Statehouse
Page 3
Police chief leaving post
LIBERTY DARR STAFF WRITER
South Burlington police chief Shawn Burke will be leaving his post at the station come March 21.
After steering the ship for six years, Burke submitted his resignation to the city department last week. He will return to the Burlington Police Department, where he served for 21 years as deputy chief of operations before moving to South Burlington. He will serve as Burlington’s interim police chief, replacing outgoing chief Jon Murad.
South Burlington’s current deputy chief, Sean Briscoe, will serve as acting chief once Burke leaves.
“We have a strong team of lieutenants and sergeants who are well prepared to continue operations under acting chief Briscoe’s leadership while we search for our next chief,” city manager Jessie Baker said.
Briscoe joined South Burlington Police Department in 2023 with 27 years of experience at the Saratoga Springs Police Department under his belt. During his time there, Briscoe focused on community outreach and was a founding member of the Saratoga Coalition to End Homelessness.
Baker, in a statement, noted
Elementary schoolers set heartful world record
BRIANA BRADY STAFF WRITER
“Did you see the hearts as you walked in?” Becca Rogers and Elizabeth Gilman, students at Orchard Elementary School
asked as they delivered the morning announcements on Valentine’s Day. “We’re trying to set a world record and remind everyone that they are loved.”
As the girls had pointed out over the speaker system, the entrance lobby of the school was papered over with multi-colored hearts made by students in every classroom in the school. Two official witnesses, South Burlington residents Kerry Daigle and Laurie Hickey, stood nearby, filling out
forms for Guinness World Records on which they noted the total number of hearts and agreed to be contacted by the company to verify
PHOTO BY BRIANA BRADY
Becca Rogers, Elizabeth Gilman, Isaac Roesch and Emry Sawabini stand in front of some of the more than 650 hearts adorning Orchard Elementary School.
Proposed VT education plan stirs local concern
LIBERTY DARR STAFF WRITER
After a year that saw a third of Vermont school budgets fail and amid another budget year that has proved difficult for South Burlington School District, Gov. Phil Scott has outlined a new education reform plan that he believes could save some big bucks for the state in the long run.
But for some local and state leaders, a flurry of questions about the massive plan remains.
The plan, in short, looks to dissolve the 119 school districts spread across the state down to just five regional districts: Southwest Vermont, Southeast Vermont, Winooski Valley, Northeast Kingdom and Champlain Valley. Each district would have roughly 10,000-15,000 students, except for Champlain Valley, which would have closer to 34,000.
The proposal would also shift the way education is funded in Vermont to a foundation formula, currently used in several states across the country. The funding formula, which assumes a baseper-pupil spending number for each district, would ultimately seismically shift more power to the state when it comes to how much schools spend each year.
That base number currently proposed is $13,200 but adjustments are available based on student needs including for economically disadvantaged students, English language learners, and special education students.
In total, the switch is estimated to cost $183 million less than current spending levels, but how those numbers shake out is still unclear for legislators.
“The tricky thing for me is that this proposal, while it says it’s going to save $183 million, I don’t have enough details in
hand to see how that’s going to happen,” South Burlington Rep. Bridget Burkhardt, D-Chittenden-8 and member of the House Committee on Ways and Means, said last week.
“To me, a lot of the things that they say about how this is supposed to work don’t line up with saving money,” she said. “I think a lot of folks, because they have listened to the governor’s rhetoric over the years, believe that he is just all about lowering property taxes. I’m not sure this plan does that.”
Burkhardt said legislators are taking an “all-committee” approach to education reform, with the House Committee on Ways and Means focused mostly on education financing and the House Committee on Education focused on education policy and governance.
“Really, the first step in that whole process is to understand the governor’s proposal,” Burkhardt said, adding the Legislature has been seeking a proposal from the administration for years. “We’re delighted that the governor has decided to become a partner and really put something together.”
Another sticking point for Burkhardt and other legislators is a caveat in the proposal that would open school choice to all students, regardless of where they live.
“This is one of my concerns and I share it with a lot of the Democratic caucus, that school choice statewide ends up concentrating kids in poverty and kids with other special needs in the public school system, while you drain out a lot of the kids who have the resources for parents to transport them to a different school, or to just make space for a kid to go to a different school other than the one that’s closest to them,” she said.
South Burlington superinten-
Your Rent Payment Work for
Business association meets with city, school officials
The South Burlington Business Association held a member meeting last week featuring city manager Jessie Baker and her staff, along with school superintendent Violet Nichols. Attendees received presentations on the proposed FY26 budgets for both the city and the school district and gained insight into how the upcoming budgets will impact the local business community and broader South Burlington area. “We appreciate the opportunity to hear directly from city and school officials about the financial plans for the coming year,” Roland Groeneveld, association’s chair, said. “These discussions help our members stay informed and engaged in the future of our community.”
dent Violet Nichols has been notifying the community about these proposed changes, as the new formula is anticipated to begin taking effect as early as the next budget cycle.
School board member Laura Williams, also a member of the Vermont School Board Association’s board of directors, said earlier this month that “this is a complete governance change to education in Vermont,” and that change is likely to also affect local school boards.
According to Scott’s plan, the five new districts will each have five hired school board members with one superintendent.
“This would really be a very
political position,” Williams said. “There would be no contacting the superintendent. I mean, it would be a very different model.”
School boards would have similar duties like adopting district-wide policies, employing a superintendent and adopting a district-wide spending plan. But, given the larger scale of the governance system, school boards will also take on new responsibilities.
The Vermont School Board Association in a press release earlier this month said it strongly opposes Scott’s proposal to “radically change education governance in Vermont,” saying school board members come from all walks of life and have a “proud
history of non-partisan, volunteer service for their local communities.”
“This change would politicize school boards by reducing the number of board members statewide from 900 to 25, less than the total number of senators who serve Vermont,” they wrote. “These highly competitive races will introduce money into public education governance in a manner never before seen in Vermont.”
On top of that, the association stated, this change could possibly exclude those who don’t have the
COURTESY PHOTO
South Burlington High School seniors honored for leadership at Statehouse
South Burlington High School seniors Esabella Amoah and Julia Todd have been selected as Vermont’s 2025 Presidential Scholars for outstanding leadership and service to the community. They were honored Jan. 27 at a recognition ceremony at the Vermont Statehouse and are now invited to apply for the U.S. Pres-
EDUCATION
continued from page 2
ability to survive on a part-time income, making school board service an opportunity reserved for “the wealthy or retired.”
“They’re centralizing control at the state level, and not here,” Williams said.
Local leaders like Nichols have also questioned how the state, without aid for school construction and with some of the oldest building stock in the nation, will handle schools with outstanding infrastructure needs or how Town Meeting Day votes will happen. Even crafting a common calendar for a district with that many students could prove difficult, she said.
“I said to some folks the other day that even for us to come up with a common calendar is a
idential Scholars Program at the national level.
Esabella Amoah is a scholar, athlete, and mentor and the voice of the high school, leading morning and afternoon announcements. She is a peer leader, volleyball captain, speech team captain and yearbook editor-in-chief, as well as a black belt-holder in Tae Kwon Do and a
dedicated language learner.
Julia Todd is a social justice advocate, writer and dancer, and a leader in the South Burlington High School Student Justice Union. She has interned at the Vermont Asylum Assistance Project and Migrant Justice, working to support non-citizen Vermonters and migrant farmworkers.
challenge because of the distinct differences in our region, and the cultural and the diverse needs of community members and students,” she said.
To compensate for the reduction in local control, the new plan proposes “school advisory councils,” made up of caregivers, educators, and students, who would have input on budget development and strategic planning. Building-level principals will administer the application and membership process for the committees.
This proposal comes just a year after Vermonters saw unprecedented tax rate increases associated with education spending and just months after an election that dismantled the
Democratic supermajority in the statehouse over affordability.
For some Democratic leaders like Burkhardt, who is working closely with local school districts, making change just for the sake of making change isn’t worth the risk of dismantling an education system that has worked well for many years. But she said she is committed to fleshing out the details to find a way forward — at least, as quickly as she can with the slow-rolling information from the administration.
“I do think people are struggling with how high taxes have gotten, but I also know that we’ve built up an education system that works well for a lot of kids,” she said, adding, “I’m not saying it’s perfect.”
COURTESY PHOTO
Esabella Amoah and Julia Todd, both South Burlington High School seniors, were honored recently at the Vermont Statehouse.
BURKE
continued from page 1
she is proud that the city can support its neighbors in Burlington with the transition.
“A strong and safe Burlington will benefit all of Chittenden County and the State of Vermont. I’m confident that Chief Burke is the leader who can guide them through this change,” Baker said.
Burke, in a statement, said it’s been both an honor and privilege to serve South Burlington, adding that the support of Baker and the city council has been unwavering.
He currently serves on the Vermont Domestic Violence Fatality Review Commission; the Department of Public Safety’s School Crisis Planning Team; as vice president of the Vermont Association of Chiefs of Police; and as the chair of the Vermont Law Enforcement Advisory Board.
“I am incredibly proud of the work our team has accomplished in advancing 21st century policing practices and leadership development,” Burke said. “Good public safety is a vital part of growing a vibrant community and our leaders understand this.”
Community outreach
Under Burke’s leadership, the police department has fully integrated community justice practices and the Community Outreach Team — Howard Center-employed caseworkers embedded
the
with the police department — into the day-to-day operations of the department.
Burke was at the table in 2018 when conversations about the Community Outreach Program began taking shape. He said former city manager Kevin Dorn, “recognizing that the police were kind of operating outside of our scope,” brought together municipal managers and people from the UVM Medical Center and Howard Center, to come up with the idea of the community outreach team.
The team operates every day from 8 a.m. until about 5 p.m., responding to calls daily with the police department. The South Burlington police department alone, Burke said, is responding to an annual average of over 1,000 unmet social service calls — mental health issues, welfare checks, cases of overdose and intoxication.
Burke has also helped create a unique synergy with the city’s Community Justice Center, which is conveniently located within the same compound as the police station. In ways, it mirrors how closely officers are continually working with the two employees at the center to efficiently resolve some criminal cases before they hit the court system.
“To be frank about this, there were some firm non-believers
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wearing police uniforms in this being a meaningful process, or even a viable way to resolve crime,” Burke said of restorative justice.
The idea, which Burke said heightened during the pandemic as the city looked for ways to assist the court system in dealing with a massive backlog in cases, was to move low-level crime cases out of the court system and offer a
different course of restoration and action for offenders and victims. The work is known as pre-charge diversion.
While restorative justice will not solve the world’s problems, Burke said, it is an essential component to dealing with some cases.
“I feel that we’ve done a fantastic job in one, resolving crime and disorder in a way that
South Burlington Police Blotter: Feb. 10-16
Total reported incidents: 178
Welfare checks: 11
Trespass: 5
Traffic stops: 6
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Suspicious events: 8
Stolen vehicles: 5
Retail theft: 10
Noise ordinance violations: 4
Motor vehicle complaints: 5
Larceny: 6
Intoxication: 4
Foot patrols: 8
Domestic disputes: 5
Disturbances: 9
Directed patrols: 7
Public assists: 7
Agency assists: 7
Alarms: 8
Accidents: 17
911 hangups: 9
Arrests:
Danny R. Savo, 62, of Burlington, for criminal threatening, unlawful mischief and simple assault, after an investigation into a Jan. 25 incident on Williston Road.
Feb. 10 at 4:57 p.m., Stefan James Kluckner Jr., 47, of Rutland, for retail theft and on an in-state warrant.
Feb. 12 at 4:54 p.m., Tanya L.
Francis, 42, no address listed, for retail theft, on Dorset Street.
Feb. 13, Jennifer A. Boyer, 38, of Burlington, on an in-state warrant on Hinesburg Road.
Feb. 14 at 2:32 a.m., Jesse Lawrence Jr., 20, no address listed, on an in-state warrant on Williston Road.
Feb. 14 at 8:45 p.m., William T. Cole, 38, of Johnson, for violating conditions of release on Williston Road.
Feb. 14 at 9:17 p.m., Ched A. Edenfield, 44, of South Burlington, for domestic assault and resisting arrest on Cabot Court.
Feb. 15 at 12:32 a.m., a 19-yearold juvenile, no address listed, for first degree aggravated domestic assault, on Shelburne Road.
Feb. 15 at 9:55 p.m., Peter G. Wanjiku, 35, of Essex Junction, on an in-state warrant on Williston Road.
Note: Charges filed by police are subject to review by the Chittenden County State’s Attorney office and can be amended or dropped.
really embodies the values of our community. But two, we’ve been a great safety valve for the criminal legal system,” Burke said. “I think it embodies the kind of expectations our community has and that our officers are delivering in the field too. We are responsible to meet people where they’re at, not be judgmental, leave every person with their dignity and look for a meaningful solution to whatever the challenge is in the moment.”
Burlington bound
Burlington Mayor Emma Mulvaney Stanak said in a release that she is confident in Burke’s leadership to help build a department that is responsive to all of the community’s needs.
“We all sign up to be police officers to actually help people,” Burke said.
Burke has signed a two-year contract for the interim job starting at $172,000 a year, $30,000 more than what he currently earns in South Burlington. He has also indicated that he will not be bidding for the permanent position.
In March, Baker said the city will hold listening sessions with key stakeholders, staff, and the community on what they would like to see in the next chief before advertising nationally and completing a full recruitment and interview process.
“Chief Burke exemplifies the best of modern progressive policing,” she said. “His professionalism, respect for all, and adherence to exceptional police practices to hold the trust of all in the community have served the City of South Burlington well.”
Mike Donoghue contributed to this report.
PHOTO BY GLENN RUSSELL
South Burlington police chief Shawn Burke is leaving the department next month to lead Burlington Police Department.
OPINION
Judiciary committee tackling criminal and civil laws
From the House
Rep. Martin LaLonde
The House Committee on Judiciary, which I have the privilege to chair, has had a productive session so far. Below, I highlight five bills the committee has already passed and that are on their way to the Senate.
House Bill 27 supports Vermont’s Domestic Violence Fatality Review Commission. The commission tracks domestic violence homicide trends, conducts in-depth case reviews, identifies factors that
increase the risk of domestic violence and recommends systemic changes to reduce incidents of domestic violence.
H.27 would allow the commission to review trends and patterns of near-fatal instances of domestic violence in Vermont, in addition to fatal instances of domestic violence.
Expanding the cases the commission can review will give it valuable insight into opportunities for intervention and prevention of domestic violence. In addition, H.27 expands the membership of the commission to gain the perspectives of additional key
stakeholders, including victims’ advocates.
H.41 would establish a felony charge for abusing the dead body of a person. The bill was introduced in response to a brutal murder last year in Enosburg where the murderer also burned the victim’s body.
This new statute would prohibit a person from engaging in various types of conduct that constitutes abuse of a corpse. Specifically, it creates a five-year felony for a person who, without legal authorization, burns, mutilates, disfigures, dismembers or destroys a dead human body. The bill also would create an enhanced penalty when a person commits this conduct with the intent to conceal a crime or avoid
apprehension, prosecution or conviction of a crime, or when a person commits a sexual act with the dead human body.
H.44 would make a variety of changes to Vermont’s laws governing impaired driving, such as closing loopholes to ensure that the Department of Motor Vehicles is notified of license suspensions and creating proportionate accountability for noncompliance with warrantbased blood draws.
H.98 proposes an expedited confirmatory adoption process for individuals who conceived a child through assisted reproduction and are deemed to be parents under Vermont law.
Vermont’s current adoption process is primarily written for more traditional adoptions that bring children into new homes and families. These adoptions appropriately require a detailed process involving lengthy and expensive home studies, notice to genetic parents, waiting periods and other requirements.
Confirmatory adoption allows for adoption decrees that must be honored in all states, which is critical to protect the children’s best interests and safety.
Finally, H.118 would expand the scope of Vermont’s hate crime statute to cover conduct directed at third parties and groups of people based on their actual or perceived membership in a protected category.
Councilor Corner
Andrew Chalnick
At its Jan. 13 meeting, the South Burlington City Council unanimously advanced the proposed FY26 budget to voters.
This year’s municipal budget limits the municipal property tax rate increase to the anticipated change in the consumer price index ensuring that, if approved, the municipal portion of property taxes will remain flat in real dollars. The average annual impact to a condo owner would be $56.53 and the average annual impact to a homeowner would be $83.59.
The budget achieves this while maintaining the city’s current level of service delivery.
What does it mean to maintain the current level of service delivery? It means that, of the proposed total city budget of $55,870,082, three-quarters — or almost $42 million — is dedicated to fire, EMS, police and public works. It also means:
• Two full-time ambulances
• A new cloud-based finance system with advanced reporting and on-line approval capabilities
• A new state-of-the-art dispatch center for fire, emergency medical services and police
• Computer aided dispatch for our fire and emergency medical services
• A robust housing trust fund
• Funding for school crossing guards
• A new online permitting system
• Implementation of our rental registry and safety inspections
• A new dedicated staff person to implement our climate action plan, coordinate with subject-area stakeholders, prepare grants and engage the community
• A wide range of Recreation and Park programs and events
• Upgrades to the Bartlett Bay and Airport Parkway Wastewater
Treatment Plants
• Construction of the second water tower
• Paving, lighting and pedestrian improvements to Dorset Street in front of the middle and high schools
• And completion of the Dorset Street Shared Use Path, the bicycle and pedestrian path over the interstate, the Williston Road Streetscape improvements,
These extensive requirements are not appropriate in situations where the purpose of the adoption is to confirm legal parent-child relationships that have existed since birth and are already recognized under state law.
Families created by assisted reproduction have established parentage relationships under Vermont law, but other states may not recognize that status, which can become an issue when families travel or relocate.
Vermont’s current hate crime statute operates as a penalty enhancement, rather than a separate criminal charge with its own penalties. Under current law, a person who commits an underlying crime that is motivated by the victim’s membership in a protected category — like race, color, religion, national origin, and others — may be sentenced to additional time in prison, an additional monetary fine or both, if prosecutors invoke this statute. H.118 amends the hate-motivated crimes statute by replacing the phrase “the victim’s actual or perceived protected category” with “another person’s or a group of persons’ actual or perceived membership in a protected category” as the basis on which to impose the statute’s enhanced penalty.
If you have any questions about these bills or the other work of the House judiciary committee, contact me at mlalonde@leg.state.vt.us.
Martin LaLonde, a Democrat, represents South Burlington in the Chittenden-12 House district.
Rep. Martin LaLonde
The tyranny of size not something easily outgrown
In Musing Carole Vasta Folley
I find it appalling that Brandy Melville exists at all, let alone here in our own state. You can be sure I’m not talking about a person and instead a multinational fast-fashion clothing company that’s now open on Church Street in Burlington.
Among the many reasons to be disturbed are the extensive allegations that have been made against the Brandy Melville company. These include accusations of racism, sexual exploitation and discriminatory work practices, along with contributing to the massive environmental impact of cheaply produced clothes. There’s even a documentary, “Brandy Hellville and the Cult of Fast Fashion,” directed by Eva Orner, who says
of the company, “They are racist, sexist, antisemitic. They exploit young girls. And that’s really just the tipping point.”
For those who might not know, Brandy Melville’s infamous claim to fame is that they sell one size. Extra small/small. That’s right. The entire company promotes a “skinny” physical aesthetic. And, sadly, it’s all pointed toward one demographic: teenage girls.
Apparently, Brandy Melville doesn’t even need to advertise traditionally. As an early adopter of influencer marketing, social media takes care of that.
Currently, the company has over 3 million followers on Instagram. Time Magazine reports, “… when it came to who they featured on their social accounts, Brandy Melville seemingly had a narrow vision; they often selected girls that fit a certain aesthetic
Letters to the Editor
School board candidate mounts write-in campaign
To the Editor:
I am excited to announce my candidacy as a write-in candidate for the South Burlington School Board seat with one year remaining on a three-year term. As a longtime resident of South Burlington, I am committed to ensuring our schools provide the best education for our children while supporting our dedicated teachers and staff.
My family moved to South Burlington in 1988 when my father became the director of student support services in the district. Growing up here, I spent summers as a South Burlington Rec camp counselor and graduated from South Burlington High School in 1998.
I earned a BA in Sociology from UVM and began my career as an instructional assistant at SBHS. Currently, as a project manager at the UVM Health Network, I bring together people with diverse opinions to produce great outcomes. This experience has equipped me with the skills to foster collaboration and build consensus.
My husband and I have raised our four sons in South Burlington. Three have graduated, and our youngest is in 3rd grade. Over the years, we’ve cheered on Wolves teams, teared up at chorus concerts, attended countless
— young, thin and white, often blonde and usually with long hair.”
This company’s “one-sizefits-all” ethos is purposefully meant to be exclusive. Forget about the impact on young women, like singer-songwriter Billie Eilish, a nine-time Grammy and two-time Oscar winner who publicly shared her personal experience with the brand and describes it as harmful: “They only sold clothes in one size. I was chubbier and I was obsessed with these clothes, but I’d buy a shirt and it wouldn’t fit me. That’s when my body problems started. I was around the age of 10 or 11.”
By the way, Brandy Melville isn’t even a real person. The company’s founders, Silvio Marsan and his son Stephan, invented “her” as a brand name.
I don’t know about you, but I find it unsettling that men are marketing not just how girls should dress, but more dastardly, how they feel about their bodies.
No doubt they profit by instilling unrealistic body standards on young teens.
Of course, Brandy Melville isn’t the only company that hawks dangerously unhealthy values regarding weight. Take Victoria’s Secret’s recent controversy, for example. The New York Times wrote this about the lingerie company in 2020: “Two powerful men presided over an entrenched culture of misogyny, bullying and harassment.” Sounds familiar? By the way, there’s no real Victoria either.
Certainly though, the Brandy Melville company has upped the ante, not only by proudly selling one small size of clothes, but in doing so, ripping the mask off what our culture has been telling girls all along: be small. And the price for that is steep.
between the ages of 12 and 25. This is the exact demographic Brandy Melville is targeting. Let’s face it, our society has long been messaging girls and women through clothing. And, by that, I mean controlling. Fashion is an industry focused on women and yet historically designed for the male gaze. The global apparel market is now worth $1.84 trillion dollars and yet women are lucky to have pockets in their clothes, all while they deal with discriminatory sizing, weight bias and relentless advertising campaigns that market “sexy” as a necessary function of apparel.
parent/teacher conferences, and helped build paper mâché volcanoes for science fairs.
We love biking to Overlook and Red Rocks, visiting the library, and meeting neighbors at SoBu Night Out. I am grateful for everything my family and I have received from the school district and community, and I am eager to give back
I bring a unique perspective, having been the child of a district administrator, a student, an employee, and a parent in the South Burlington school district. As a school board member, my multifaceted experience will help build a partnership between the board, administrators, teachers, staff, students, parents, and community members. We all share the goal of enriching our children’s lives while keeping taxes affordable.
My priorities as a school board member include enhancing educational quality by advocating for innovative teaching methods and resources; empowering teachers and staff by providing the support and tools they need; and promoting transparency and community engagement through open communication and involvement.
I am passionate about making a positive impact on our schools and community. On March 4, I ask for your support and your vote by writing Emilee Hoffman on the ballot for the South Burl-
ington School Board. Together, we can make a difference.
Emilee Hoffman
South Burlington
Democracy is at risk in Trump presidency
To the Editor:
Almost half of November 2024 voters believed or supported the self-serving lies of Donald Trump when they elected him president of the United States of America.
Now, his administration and its allies’ lies and irresponsible or undemocratic actions — often seemingly illegal and with unrestrained conflicts of interest — threaten our freedom, health, economy, well-being and national security.
It is important for citizens to be accurately informed — not relying on partisan sources like Fox News programming, algorithm-driven social media or other outlets lacking journalistic integrity — and willing to do what we each can to support and improve both the rule of law and our democratic structure of finding compromises to our nation’s problems.
Oligarchy, kleptocracy, or authoritarianism will not serve the majority of citizens well.
Marcy Murray
South Burlington
The National Organization for Women reports the following: At age 13, 53 percent of American girls are “unhappy with their bodies.” This grows to 78 percent by the time girls reach 17. The organization adds that 40-60 percent of elementary school girls are concerned about their weight or about becoming “too fat,” and 46 percent of 9-to-11-year-olds are “sometimes” or “very often” on diets. In addition, the Center for Mental Health Services reports 90 percent of those who have eating disorders are women
It is an intentional ever-growing scourge continuing to convey that women and girls should be smaller, take up less space and spend an inordinate amount of time worrying about what they wear, often endeavoring at all costs to look like the images manufactured by male-led, fat-pocket corporations.
Unfortunately, the teenager that outgrows Brandy Melville clothing — either in size or in recognition of their demeaning brand — will not be a problem for this retailer or others. There’s always the next generation of young girls.
Carole Vasta Folley is an award-winning columnist and playwright. Visit carolevf.com.
CHALNICK
continued from page 5
the Boardwalk to City Center Park and Market Street and Hinesburg Road signalization. While limiting tax increases, the FY26 budget incrementally:
• Reinforces our commitment to public safety by investing in our Community Outreach Team — the Howard Center workers embedded in our police department — and our Community Justice Center
• Increases funding for street paving — an additional $450,000 over the past two years — line striping and sidewalk improvements
• Enhances the vitality of City Center by supporting the South Burlington City Center Collaborative and opening the library on Sundays
• And continues our commitment to addressing climate change by investing in Green Mountain Transit and funding climate-related capital projects.
The proposed budget accomplishes all of this despite increasing costs, including rising healthcare expenses, a 21 percent jump in property, equipment, and general liability insurance and a 23 percent increase in workers’ compensation insurance. In part, this is due to the hard work of city staff who have procured state, federal and other grants of $9.56 million in FY26 to help fund the city’s initiatives. This year’s budget carefully balances our ambitions with the need for affordability and looks forward toward a brighter, more sustainable future for South Burlington. Please support our city’s continued growth, prosperity and quality of life and vote to approve the city’s FY26 budget.
Andrew Chalnick is vice-chair of the South Burlington City Council.
Carole Vasta Folley
Andrew Chalnick
Long View project vote an erosion of public confidence
Guest Perspective
Rosanne Greco and the South Burlington Land Trust board of directors
At the city council meeting on Feb. 3, councilors Elizabeth Fitzgerald and Mike Scanlan voted against the Long View Project, a creative effort initiated by the South Burlington Land Trust that, if approved by the city, would have conserved over 36 acres of natural resource lands, guaranteed 16 perpetually affordable homes built by Habitat For Humanity, and enabled the city to create community garden plots, and connect neighborhoods with a shared-use bike path and walking trails.
The South Burlington Land Trust had been in discussions with the city on this real estate initiative for over two years, many of these interactions taking place in open city council meetings. On a few occasions, the council had voted their support of the project.
The final step was for the council to approve a letter, which had been drafted by the city staff, accepting a Vermont Housing and Conservation Board grant of $175,000 to the city for this project. This money, along with $461,000 from the city’s Open Space Fund, would have made the Long View Project a reality.
among the 189 parcels evaluated.
None of the owners of the top parcels identified in the interim zoning studies were interested in selling their land to the city, and until the North East Agricultural Trust offered to sell this land, there were no open lands eligible for purchase using open space funds.
South Burlington has an Open Space Fund which the voters created for this very purpose — to buy open lands to preserve them. The city currently has $586,931 in the fund, which is more than enough needed for this purchase, and purchasing this land would further over 85 of the goals listed in the city plan and the city’s Climate Action Plan.
Yet, despite the fact that the Long View Project responds to the recommendations contained in multiple reports, satisfies multiple goals in the city plan and climate action plan, and carries out the wishes of the voters to conserve land using the Open Space Fund, councilors Fitzgerald and Scanlan voted against the project. They rejected using the Open Space fund even after South Burlington was cited as being one of the best places to live, in part because it had an Open Space Fund.
The city has the financial means and was offered the rare opportunity to purchase land identified for conservation.
For many years, the land trust had been in discussions with the Long family regarding protecting their land because it contains valuable natural resources, and is a critical wildlife habitat and corridor. This land is part of the Great Swamp, a large swath of environmentally significant open lands that stretch from Shelburne to Burlington.
When the Long family decided to sell their land in the fall of 2022, the land trust partnered with the North East Agricultural Trust, an organization that agreed to buy the land and hold it while the South Burlington Land Trust worked to conserve it. The land trust immediately contacted the city of South Burlington with every expectation that they would support the chance to preserve this land because, over the years, the Long land had been identified in numerous city-commissioned studies as an especially valuable parcel to preserve.
More recently, during the last interim zoning period, the city commissioned three studies specifically to identify which lands the city ought to purchase in order to protect them from development. The Long land was the fifth highest valued area
FY26 CITY BUDGET
Town Meeting Day—March 4, 2025
Polling places open 7 am to 7 pm
The FY26 City Budget...
Continues our commitment to service delivery with a focus on community affordability
• Provides for the current level of service delivery
• Maximizes non-property-tax revenue by aggressively budgeting for Local Option Tax and interest earned income and reviewing fee structures
• Is sensitive to the property tax impacts from the State Education Fund and limits municipal property tax impact
Continues investments in Public Safety
• Addresses State funding changes and strengthens public safety tools
• Invests in our Community Outreach Team and Community Justice Center
• Increases funding for road line striping, sidewalk improvements, and paving
Supports City Center vibrancy
• Opens the Library on Sundays
• Funds the South Burlington City Center Collaborative
Continues commitment to addressing climate change
• Increases commitment to Green Mountain Transit to meet climate and transit goals
The voters expect that the money in the fund would be used to purchase open lands. So, in effect, the councilors disregarded numerous expert recommendations in city-commissioned environmental studies — paid for by taxpayers — withheld the money voters intended to be used for open land purchase and, in general, eroded confidence that our elected officials will carry out the wishes of the people and take action to accomplish the city goals and aspirations.
The city has the financial means and was offered the rare opportunity to purchase land identified for conservation. Additionally, the Long View Project would have provided 16 perpetually affordable houses — over triple the number of affordable houses than a previous housing development proposal would have mandated. That 49-house development would have resulted in only five affordable units.
It also would have encroached into the natural resource lands. Yet, councilors Fitzgerald and Scanlon voted no on the Long View Project. Nonetheless, the South Burlington Land Trust will continue our efforts to conserve this land. Additionally, we will work vigorously to preserve the open lands, wildlife habitats, natural resources and farmlands that make South Burlington unique.
Please visit our advertisers and tell them: “I saw your ad in the The Other Paper!”
• Provides $345K in funding for capital work related to addressing climate change
FY26 General Fund Budget
Community Notes
Learn something new at enrichment talks
Education and Enrichment for Everyone talks are every Friday from 2-3 p.m. at Faith United Methodist Church, 899 Dorset St., South Burlington. Here’s what’s on the calendar for the next month.
• Feb. 21 — “The Outer Limits: Exploring the Extremes of Astronomy” featuring Bobby Farlice-Rubio, former science educator at the Fairbanks Museum and Planetarium
• Feb. 28 — “Civic Engagement in Vermont: Our Civic Health Index” featuring Sarah Copeland Hanzas, Vermont Secretary of State
• Mar. 7— “Welcoming and Assisting Afghan Refugees in Vermont” featuring, Molly Gray, executive director, Vermont Afghan Alliance
• Mar. 14_ “CSWD--We Have a Place for Your Waste” featuring Beth Parent and three colleagues from the Chittenden Solid Waste District
Shelburne March St. Patrick’s Day Age
Well Luncheon
St. Catherine of Siena and Age Well are teaming up to offer a St. Patrick’s Day luncheon on March 11 for anyone 60 or older in the St, Catherine of Siena Parish Hall, 72 Church Street in Shelburne. The check-in time is 11:30 and the meal will be served at noon. There is a $5 suggested donation.
Menu: Irish stew with corned beef, potatoes, cabbage, carrots, onions and celery, green leaf salad, buttermilk biscuit and “leprechaun cake.” Deadline to register is March 5. Contact Molly BonGiorno, Nutrition Coordinator at 802-662-5283 or email mbongiorno@agewellvt.org
Artist plays 76th town on clean energy concert tour
David Feurzeig, a composer, pianist, and UVM professor of music, will be performing one of his “Play Every Town” concerts at the Williston Federated Church, 44 North Williston Rd. Williston, on Sunday, Feb. 23 at 3 p.m.
Feurzeig has performed concerts around the world and has received numerous awards and prizes for his work. However, in response to the climate crisis he has forsworn tours requiring fossil-fuel intensive flying. Instead, he will “travel to the rest of my gigs by public transit or in my solar-powered EV.” In addition, he wants to support the vibrancy of Vermont’s village centers and downtowns by performing live music in every town in Vermont. Williston will be town number 76 out of the 252 Vermont towns on his list for concerts over the next few years.
The concert is free, though Feurzeig requests donations to a local or state environmental organization. For the Williston concert, the beneficiary will be 350Vermont, Vermont’s chapter of 350.org.
Pianists galore perform at Cathedral Church
Here are some upcoming shows at Cathedral Church of Saint Paul, 2 Cherry Street, Burlington.
• Feb. 25 at noon: Evan Allen, a pianist, organist and teacher based in Richmond. Allen has toured throughout North America and Europe. His regular collaborators include Ray Vega, chamber-pop band Tredici Bacci, and composer JG Thirlwell. He is the organist at First Baptist Church of Burlington.
• March 2 at 4 p.m.: Pianist Michael Arnowitt performs a repertoire of Afri-
can-American music, including classical music by the Black composers Leslie Adams and George Walker, a piece by the Nigerian composer Joshua Uzoigwe, a jazz-influenced piece by William Grant Still from 1937 called “Lenox Avenue,” and two jazz selections including an original composition in memory of George Floyd.
• March 18 at noon: Alan Chiang, from South Burlington, performs a selection of pieces by J. S. Bach, Mozart, Schubert, and Brahms. Chiang has performed at Carnegie Hall in association with the Adamant School in Vermont.
Vermont Repertory Theatre takes on “Sweeney Todd”
Step back to Victorian London and experience some delightfully theatrical horrors on stage with Vermont Repertory Theatre’s “Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street,” presented Feb. 28-March 7 at Main Street Landing Performing Arts Center in Burlington.
Sweeney Todd tells the tale of the infamous “demon barber” of Fleet Street, a man driven by vengeance and madness. The story follows Todd as he returns to London after being wrongfully exiled, only to discover the tragic fate that befell his wife and daughter. With the help of a pie-maker with cannibalistic tendencies, Todd embarks on a dark and bloody journey that blends macabre humor with exquisite musicality in Stephen Sondheim’s 1979 musical thriller.
The cast includes Matthew Winston of Waterbury as Judge Turpin, Hannah Normandeau of Waterbury Center and Aleah Papes of Richmond in the ensemble. Kyle Ferguson of Burlington stars as the eponymous barber, with Chloë Fidler of Williston as the baker, Mrs. Lovett.
Other Burlington cast members include Zach Stark as Anthony Hope, Rachel Weinfeld as Johanna and Eamon Lynch as Tobias. From Colchester are Michael Godsey as the
PHOTO COURTESY OF VERMONT REPERTORY THEATRE
Chloë Fidler as Mrs. Lovett and Kyle Ferguson as the eponymous barber star in “Sweeney Todd,” presented Feb. 28-March 7 in Burlington by Vermont Repertory Theatre.
Beadle, Ian Ferris as Pirelli and George Conklin in the ensemble. Kristen Bures of South Burlington plays the Beggar Woman. The ensemble is rounded out by AJ Banach of Fairfax and Kylie Halpin of Williston.
The show is directed by Michael Fidler of Williston, whose credits include London’s West End professional theater and the Edinburgh Festival. A nine-piece orchestra is led by Ashley O’Brien of Burlington.
“Sweeney Todd” will mark the fifth production of Vermont Repertory Theatre, which was founded in March 2023 by Michael Fidler and Connor Kendall.
Seating will be divided between cabaret tables and traditional raked seating, giving the audience the opportunity to be up close and personal in the “blood zone,” or have a safer experience further back.
Trigger warnings include blood, dismemberment, sexual violence, cannibalism, gunshots and immolation. The show is recommended for ages 18+, and no entry will be permitted for those under 13.
“Sweeney Todd” runs for eight performances. Information and tickets: vermontrep.com/sweeney-todd.
Vermont Mandolin trio picks on Middlebury for string showing
The Vermont Mandolin Trio, comprised of Matt Flinner, Jamie Masefield and Will Patton, will join Town Hall Theater’s Wintertide Music Series on Friday, Feb. 28. The trio brings together three of Vermont’s finest mandolinists for a rare evening of bluegrass, jazz, and roots music. Joined by journeyman bassist Pat Melvin, the group performs music of Bill Monroe, Django Reinhardt, J.S. Bach and everything in between.
Masefield’s origin is in traditional New Orleans Jazz. Between 1996 and 2006, Masefield toured the country with his group, the Jazz Mandolin Project. Masefield is also a dry-stone mason living in Monkton Patton graduated from Middlebury and has traveled far during his music career, gaining influence from time spent in Brazil, the Caribbean, and Paris.
Grammy-nominated Flinner has been playing banjo and mandolin from the start and dedicated himself to Bluegrass from a young age. Living in Ripton, Flinner has
spent the last several decades of his life touring with the Matt Flinner Trio and the Modern Mandolin quartet.
Tickets $15-$30 at townhalltheater.org or call 802-382-9222.
Contest challenges young writers to pen two-sentence story
For a third consecutive year, the Children’s Literacy Foundation is challenging young writers in Vermont and New Hampshire to tell an original story using only two sentences. The theme of this year’s contest is “Love,” and entrants are encouraged to
write about anything that evokes that sentiment for them.
CLiF’s Two-Sentence Story Contest is free to enter and open to all Vermont and New Hampshire children ages 12 and under. The winning submission in each of four age groups will be awarded a five-book mini-library curated to the recipient’s reading level and interests.
Last year’s contest, held in the weeks leading up to the total solar eclipse on April 8, asked children to “tell a story that takes place in the sky.” CLiF received over 900
See COMMUNITY NOTES on page 16
SHOW HIGHLIGHTS
• Stroll through the Grand Garden Display filled with flowering bulbs, shrubs, trees, and water features!
• Shop the Flower Show Marketplace with over 100 vendors related to horticultural/gardening/home/ accessories.
• Choose from over 30 educational seminars and workshops on a variety of topics.
• Experts on-hand all 3 days to answer your gardening and landscaping questions.
• Family Activity Room: Come dig for worms, plant a flower, and make a craft and enjoy Magicians Without Borders & No Strings Marionette performances.
• Local bookstore with a great selection of books to choose from.
• The Federated Garden Clubs of VT, North District will present a National Garden Club Small Standard Flower Show: “The Story of the Garden.”
• Plant Sale at the end of the show on Sunday.
7, 8, 9
Image by Freepik
COURTESY PHOTO
Gertrude Chamberlin School recently staged two performances of its all-school play, “Finding Nemo. Every student participated and the play was directed by school nurse Kerry Farrell.
Found Nemo
COURTESY PHOTO
The Vermont Mandolin Trio, and a bassist, will play Middlebury’s Town Hall Theater next weekend.
the results. The South Burlington school was about to set a record for the greatest number of hearts made by an elementary school.
According to Jacqueline Drouin, the PTO member who originated the idea and moved around the lobby on Valentine’s Day counting the hearts, if no record exists for a category with Guinness, any person or group can dream up a record and apply to become the first. Orchard will be the first school to hold this particular title.
Not that it’s easy to get — Drouin said that the organizers had to fill out about 32 pages of paperwork and coordinate schoolwide to have students create the hearts and get them hung up. The school ended up with 655 hearts — one or more hearts for every student.
“Young children are really interested in the Guinness Book of World Records,” Drouin said.
“This might be one of the biggest things kids could think of doing. We set a really big goal for ourselves, and this gives kids the idea that they really are capable of doing things.”
Orchard art teacher Susie Ely worked with all the classrooms to get the hearts finished in time for Valentine’s Day. Each class gathered their hearts on large sheets of paper to hang. A schoolwide project like this shows how student
artists can grow throughout the years —from the dot-painted hearts of the kindergarteners to the swirls of color done with oil pastels from the 5th grade students.
“You can see their skill set improving. Who they are comes through — their interests, what they love,” Drouin said.
She pointed out a heart colored to look like a soccer jersey. Another from a second-grade student was made to look like a cozy winter sweater. Two 5th grade students, Finn and Freddie, not only made their own hearts, but worked together on a heart to symbolize their friendship.
Drouin said it’s great to set a goal for the children and show them that they can achieve it, but that the hearts were also meant to show students that school is a place where every single child can come as themselves and that can be celebrated.
Outside the school, a parent helped paint a mural of the word “love” with the O replaced with a heart. She had ground up chalk herself to make a paint for the brick wall. Students stood in front of it, their arms around each other to take a photo.
“Valentine’s Day is not just about romantic love. We want the kids to know that this is a place where you are seen and you are loved,” Drouin said.
PHOTOS BY BRIANA BRADY, COURTESY
Orchard Elementary School students created a new Guinness world record for the number of hearts placed around school.
Wolves dance their way to ninth pom title
LAUREN READ CORRESPONDENT
Dance
The South Burlington dance team captured a state title on Saturday in the pom division at the Vermont state championships at the Vergennes Union High School.
It is the ninth state title in pom in a row for the Wolves, who now advance to the New England Dance Championships in Connecticut on March 15th.
South Burlington came in third place in the hip-hop division and will also represent Vermont at New England’s in that discipline.
Girls’ basketball
South Burlington 68, Burr and Burton 49: South Burlington nabbed a win over Burr and Burton on Saturday after outscoring the Bulldogs 21-14 in the third quarter.
Lexi Paqueete led all scorers with 30 points for the Wolves. Tori Griffin added 24 points, including four three-pointers.
Boys’
basketball
South Burlington 67, St. Johnsbury 58: South Burlington opened up a 13-point lead after the first quarter and did not look back in a win over St. Johnsbury on Saturday.
Oli Avdibegovic scored 20 points and grabbed 12 rebounds to get a double-double and lead the Wolves to the win.
Deng Aguek added 16 points and Paul Comba chipped in 15 points for South Burlington.
Boys’ hockey
Rice 6, South Burlington 3: In a final regular season matchup between last year’s Division I state championship opponents, South Burlington fell to Rice on Saturday.
Hayden Nelson tallied twice for the Wolves, while Lucas Van Mullen added a goal. Trey Smith, Harry Poquette, Cameron Poor and Christian Butler each chipped in with an assist.
Alex Chagnon made 31 saves in goal for the Wolves.
Obituary
The Reverend Stewart Pierson of Blue Hill and Deer Isle, Maine, died Jan. 31 at Whitney Place in Natick, Mass., at age 87.
Stewart was an Episcopal priest, born in New York City, who served four parishes over 40 years, in Pittsburgh and Wilkes-Barre, Penn., Lakewood, Ohio, and South Burlington.
He spent summers with his family on Deer Isle since 1966, where he proudly sailed his 18-foot Flying Scot. He was an avid squash and tennis player, an excellent amateur pianist, lover of his cherished dogs, and a cheerful, warm person to everyone he met.
He is survived by his wife, Julie Burger Pierson of Blue Hill, Maine; children Stewart, Jr. of Framingham, Mass., and his wife Shannon, and Sarah Pierson Wolff of St. Louis and her husband Michael.
He was deeply committed to his grandchildren, Aspen, Gray, Summer and Cole Pierson; and Pierson (1999-2002), Harbor, Julia, and Hobie Wolff, all of whom spent part of each summer with him on Sunshine in Deer Isle.
His happy smile, his from-the-heart sermons, willingness to help others, and love of life will be remembered with great fondness by all who knew him.
A celebration of his life will be offered June 28 at 11 a.m. at St. Brendan’s Episcopal Church in Deer Isle. A Zoom link to the service will be available for friends unable to attend.
In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to Green Mountain Habitat for Humanity, PO Box 1436, Williston, VT 05495; St. Brendan’s Church, PO Box 305, Deer Isle, ME 04627; or Island Heritage Trust, 420 Sunset Rd., Deer Isle, ME 04627.
WARNING
CITY OF SOUTH BURLINGTON SCHOOL DISTRICT 2025
ANNUAL MEETING
The legal voters of the City of South Burlington School District are hereby notified and warned to meet at their respective polling places at the Frederick H. Tuttle Middle School at 500 Dorset Street, the Orchard School at 2 Baldwin Avenue, the Gertrude Chamberlin School at 262 White Street, and South Burlington City Hall Senior Center at 180 Market Street on Tuesday, March 4, 2025, at 7:00 o’clock in the morning, at which time the polls will open, until 7:00 o’clock in the evening, at which time the polls will close, to vote by Australian ballot on the following articles:
ARTICLE I
ELECTION OF OFFICERS
On the first Tuesday in March, 2025, the voters of the city shall elect, from among the legal residents of the city, two members for terms of three years, two members for terms of two years and two members for terms of one year. Thereafter, the election of school directors shall be for the length of the term of the member whose term is expiring.
ARTICLE II BUDGET
Shall the voters of the South Burlington School District approve the School Board to expend Seventy-One Million Five Hundred Seven Thousand Eight Hundred Fifty-Four and 00/100 Dollars ($71,507,854.00), which is the amount the School Board has determined to be necessary for the ensuing fiscal year?
The South Burlington School District estimates that this proposed budget, if approved, will result in per pupil education spending of $14,486.00, which is 15.76% higher than per pupil education spending for the current year.
Polling places are at the Frederick H. Tuttle Middle School at 500 Dorset Street, the Orchard School at 2 Baldwin Avenue, the Gertrude Chamberlin School at 262 White Street, and the South Burlington City Hall Senior Center at 180 Market Street. Voters are to go to the polling place in their respective District.
The legal voters of the City of South Burlington School District are further warned and notified that a public information meeting will be held to discuss Articles I and II on Monday, March 3, 2025, at 6:30 p.m. at 180 Market Street.
The legal voters of the City of South Burlington School District are further notified that voter qualification, registration, and absentee voting relative to said annual meeting shall be as provided in Chapters 43, 51 and 55 of Title 17, Vermont Statutes Annotated.
Dated at South Burlington, Vermont this ___8th___ day of January 2025.
South Burlington School District Board of School Directors
Received for record and recorded this ___14th___ day of January 2025, in the records of the City of South Burlington.
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Stewart Pierson
Stewart Pierson
Ice, ice maybe: Are we due for a major ice storm?
The Outside Story
Jen Weimer
The Northeast has experienced significant ice storms throughout history, and we may be due for another one. Though we see icing in many winter storms, including recent ones, major ice storms cause widespread damage to forests and infrastructure, and occur in the northeast every 15 to 25 years.
Our most recent one was in 2008. However, warming climate trends are increasing the frequency and intensity of ice storms and shifting the risk to different regions and seasons.
Ice storms occur when rain falls during subfreezing temperatures, freezing to surfaces on contact. Ice accumulation can damage trees by causing branches to bend, crack, or break.
The severity of the damage depends on the amount of ice, wind, and the duration of the storm. Ice accumulation between one-quarter and one-half inch can cause small branches and weak limbs to break, while accumulations of one-half to one inch can cause larger branches to break.
Most tree damage from ice storms occurs in hardwood stands. Softwood trees are more adept at bending under the weight of the ice, while hardwood branches break more easily. In the northeast, birch and maple sustain the most damage.
Damaged trees are susceptible to rot, which travels slowly from the damaged branches into the stem of the tree. Once injured, trees also become more susceptible to secondary stressors such as insects and disease pathogens. Though physical damage is immediately apparent, these other stressors can take decades to kill the tree.
A study at the Hubbard Brook Experimental Forest found changes in forest structure following an ice storm. Researchers found almost five times the number of branches fell to the ground than in a typical year. They also measured an increase in canopy openness that let two to three times more light into the forest.
The last major ice storm occurred in 2008 and affected southern New Hampshire, northern Massachusetts, Vermont and parts of Maine. The storm resulted in ice accumulation up to one inch, damaging hundreds of thousands of
acres of forests and causing power outages to over one million homes and businesses.
Just ten years earlier was one of the most devastating ice storms in New England’s history. The 1998 ice storm caused an estimated $1 billion in damage across the region, affecting over seventeen million acres. Ice accumulation in most areas was over one and a half inches, which caused widespread tree damage and massive power outages that lasted for weeks.
The 1998 storm had a significant impact on forests. Beech trees already weakened by beech
bark disease were hit particularly hard. Sugarbushes in northern New York, where between two to four inches of ice accumulated, suffered damage to trees and tubing lines. This decreased the output for maple syrup production the following year.
According to the North American Maple Project, sugarbushes in Vermont were less severely affected than non-sugarbush maple stands with much smaller trees. Lower elevation sugarbushes with larger but fewer sugar maple stems were also more resistant to the storm.
The storms of 1998 and 2008 were notable, but not unusual. Early records show severe tree damage across New England from ice storms as early as 1886. The impact on infrastructure at this time was limited, however, due to sparse development and a lack of modern utilities. Significant regional damage also occurred in New England in 1921 with reports of road and rail disruptions. Only eight years later, another storm hit Massachusetts, Vermont, and New Hampshire particularly hard with widespread power outages.
In 1951, a multi-region ice storm affected New England, parts of the Midwest, and Canada. This storm heavily impacted forests and rural power, which led to the development of proactive tree trimming and vegetation management programs.
In 1973, another major storm affected New England and upstate
New York, causing significant tree and infrastructure damage, especially in rural areas. These six major storms that occurred since 1921 happened every 17 years on average.
The recurrence of ice storms in the northeast reinforces the need for investment in resilient power grids as well as forests. Forests can be made more resilient to ice storms by maintaining a healthy stand structure with varying tree ages and sizes. Cultivating and selecting single-stem well-formed trees with larger crowns and stronger stems produces trees that are less likely to suffer catastrophic crown loss.
Homeowners can also prepare for ice storms by pruning weak or poorly attached branches, removing deadwood, and ensuring trees have a strong central leader. If limbs are above power lines, consult your local power company or a professional arborist for removal. Consider inspecting trees for potential hazards now, before the next ice storm hits. By adequately preparing, we can give our trees and forests the best chance of good health in the coming spring.
Jen Weimer is a forest health expert, photographer, and writer living in the forests of New Hampshire. 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
COURTESY PHOTO
Frederick H. Tuttle Middle School celebrated its winter carnival with the annual staff versus students basketball game. As usual, the staff did not take it easy, but the students put up a good fight. Staff won 13-21. In between quarters, there were rousing games of pop the balloon, four corners and musical chairs.
Having a ball
Legislators in talks about chloride’s impact on waterways
SAM HARTNETT COMMUNITY NEWS SERVICE
Via Community News Service, a University of Vermont journalism internship.
Salt can be found just about everywhere outside in the winter — cars, roads, sidewalks — but where does it all go come spring? The answer often is streams, rivers and lakes, something clean water advocates and scientists say is getting worse.
Chloride, a chemical that leaches into waterways from road salt, compounds in the environment, particularly in smaller streams and brooks near multiple roadways. Too much chloride can be toxic to aquatic life and corrode pipes and plumbing, among other things.
The citizen committee that advises the state on managing Lake Champlain recently told legislators that excess chloride in the watershed could soon require state or federal regulations.
“The chloride is really a looming thing that I don’t think most people realize … It’s coming hard here, and there’s going to be federal stuff coming down on this,” said Bob Fisher, member of the advisory committee and South Burlington water quality superintendent, before the House Committee on Environment late last month.
State regulators seemed to agree about the problem last year, when they stepped in to address Sunnyside Brook in Colchester routinely exceeding legal limits for chloride levels.
The state developed a plan last winter to reduce the chloride entering the stream and limit how much can be present in the water every day while still being safe. That limit, called a total maximum daily load, was the first in the state to regulate chloride in particular, officials said.
Now, Sen. Anne Watson, D/P-Washington, has introduced a bill to create a state program focused on curbing chloride contamination from road salt by better
training salt crews.
The program, housed in the state Agency of Natural Resources, would provide education, training and certification for road salting across the state.
Watson chairs the Senate natural resources committee, which has been discussing chloride contamination this session. Watson said she hopes the bill, S.29, can help reduce stress on wildlife as well as save contractors and municipalities money on salt expenses.
The Senate committee recently heard from various environmental organizations that detailed the rising chloride contamination across the state.
Over the last 30 years, the Winooski River has seen chloride levels more than double, Lake Champlain Basin Program chief scientist Matthew Vaughn said during the Feb. 4 meeting. As more and more waterways upstream of the river become impaired, those chloride levels have risen sharply, Vaughn said.
A speaker from AdkAction, a New York nonprofit that has run projects to reduce salt use in the Adirondack Mountains, described to committee members how it worked with road crews and citizens to tune equipment and prevent using more salt than necessary.
The nonprofit recommends public-private cooperation and teaching people
ways to conserve salt when treating roads or driveways.
“Anywhere where we deploy these standards, and there’s buy-in, we’re seeing a 50 percent reduction in salt use,” Phill Sexton, technical advisor for the group, told legislators.
Over the last decade, the Adirondacks’ Lake George area has attracted much attention for its road salt reduction work. For many years, about 30,000 tons of salt was used annually around the tourist destination, according to the Lake George Association, and some towns around the lake have reduced their winter salt use by as much as half each year.
Craig Digiammarino, manager of conservation and stewardship efforts at the Vermont Agency of Transportation, said in an email that officials are aware of the impacts road salting has on water quality and aim to avoid excess salt near
impaired waterways. The agency’s snow and ice control plan describes, among other methods, using brine instead of rock salt.
Mixing road salt with water to produce brine can greatly lower the amount of chloride used because it helps melt snow and ice faster.
But much of the chloride entering the environment comes through private salting of parking lots, driveways and other property where there is little regulation, Tim Clear of the state Department of Environmental Conservation said in an interview.
Experts said people and companies salting private property might be using more salt than needed. According to the Lake Champlain Sea Grant Program at the University of Vermont, a 12-ounce cup of rock salt can effectively cover a 20-footlong driveway or 10 sidewalk squares.
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COMMUNITY NOTES
continued from page 9
entries from across Vermont and New Hampshire. In 2023, the inaugural Two-Sentence Story Contest challenged young writers to “tell a story about winter,” and drew over 700 entries.
For full contest guidelines, as well as free supplementary materials for educators and caregivers, visit clifonline.org/clifs-2025-twosentence-story-contest. Entries must be received by email or postmarked by March 14.
Craven screens ‘Lost Nation’ film in Waterbury
Jay Craven’s newest film, “Lost Nation,” will be screened at the Grange Hall Cultural Center Saturday, March 1 at 7 p.m. and Sunday, March 2, at 2 p.m. Craven will introduce the film and lead a post-screening Q&A.
“Lost Nation” is a Revolutionary War-era action drama set in the early upstart Republic of Vermont and stars Irish actor Kevin Ryan (“Copper,” “Harry Wild”) as Vermont founding father and rebel schemer Ethan Allen.
“Lost Nation’s” parallel and intersecting story features Kenyan actress Eva Ndachi (“Beautifully Broken”) as Lucy Terry Prince, whose poem, “Bars Fight,” about
the 1746 Deerfield Massacre, is the first known work of African American literature.
Vermont actors Rusty DeWees and Ariel Zevon play Guilford Yorker leader Asa Locke, and Ethan Allen’s wife Mary Brownson Allen, respectively.
“Lost Nation” is Craven’s 10th feature film. His work has shown at Sundance, Lincoln Center, The Smithsonian, La Cinémathèque Française, Cinemateca Nacional de Venezuela, Constitutional Court of Johannesburg, and more than 500 cities and towns across the U.S. and 53 countries. His 1993 film, “Where the Rivers Flow North” was a finalist for Critics Week at the Cannes International Film Festival.
Middlebury to stage ‘Absolute Brightness”
Middlebury Acting Company presents “The Absolute Brightness of Leonard Pelkey,” by James Lescene, at the Town Hall Theater in Middlebury, March 13-23.
Robots on a roll
South Burlington High School’s varsity robotics team, Batteries Not Included #7418, won the Inspire Award at the state competition on Feb. 8 and placed second overall. This marked the first time in three years South Burlingto has won the award, which means the team is headed to the FIRST Robotics Competition in Houston this April. The team consists of Myra Waqar, Lav Patel, Pax Larkin, Jonas Sangster, Yuyang Zhang, Arwa Badra and Siddhant Nazre.
Directed by guest director Terrence O’Brien, and starring local actor Andrew Ritter, the show tells the story of a gay teenager’s disappearance in a small New Jersey shore town. Ritter plays the detective who investigates his case, along with all the other townspeople he encounters as he unravels the story of the missing boy, Leonard Pelkey.
Ritter is an actor, director, teacher, writer and producer who spent over 20 years working in Chicago with companies like The Second City, The improv Olympic, & American Blues Theater. He is a graduate of Middlebury College and is the owner and Artistic Director of Interact Creative.
Summer Camps
2025 ISSUES
Promote your program in our Summer Camps issues for focused reach to a local audience of kids and parents as they make plans for the upcoming summer season. This advertising section captures the attention of summer camp and recreation seekers, making it the ideal place to outline your offerings and secure more early enrollments.
Publication Dates: March 6, April 3
Deadlines: Thursdays before each issue
Contact: Shelburne News/The Citizen at 802-238-4980, The Other Paper at 802-734-2928 or Stowe Reporter/News & Citizen at 802-253-2101 for information or to advertise your camp (ask about multi-paper and color deals).
It’s Summer Camp Sign-Up Time!
Terrence O’Brien is the Founding Artistic Director of Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival. Tickets are available through the Town Hall Theater Box Office at 802-382-9222 or app.arts-people. com/index.php?show=269167
