Boiler makers
Local maple syrup makers start Vermont’s sweetest season
Page 2 High hoops
South Burlington preps for police chief search
LIBERTY DARR STAFF WRITER
With South Burlington’s police chief leaving his post come March 21, South Burlington city officials are gearing up to begin the search for the next permanent leader of the department.
Shawn Burke last month submitted his resignation to the department where he has served as chief for the last six years. He plans to return to the Burlington Police Department, where he worked 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.
According to South Burlington’s city charter, the authority to hire a police chief lies with the city manager, but current manage Jessie Baker told the city council this week that the process will hopefully include as much public input as possible.
“Appointing a police chief is a really important decision for our community, so I have tried to lay out a process that solicits as much community feedback into my decision-making as possible,” she said.
A police chief advisory team in the making will help guide the process. The team will include representatives from a number of sectors in the community, like the school district, the faith commu-
South Burlington middle schoolers tops in Mini Metro tournament
Page 13
nity, the Vermont Professionals of Color Network, the business community, a police department staff person and a city councilor.
This team will likely meet three or four times throughout the process, Baker said.
Additionally, the city will hold a series of public listening sessions facilitated by the firm J.W. Leadership Consulting and Jim Baker, a retired state trooper and former chief of the Rutland police department, and no relation to the city manager.
“He has a lot of public safety service in Vermont and helps communities with these recruitment processes,” Jessie Baker said.
She said Jim Baker will help lead the search committee through a resume review process, a screening process and “a full assessment center” which she described as a “hyper-interview process” with “scenario-based questions.”
Baker hopes an offer of employment to be made by the end of summer with the new chief sworn in by the end of the year. She added that the city is hoping to have internal candidates from the police department for the positions.
She noted the fair amount of succession planning the department has already undertaken with
See POLICE CHIEF on page 12
Antique dealer offers look into the history of things
LIBERTY DARR STAFF WRITER
We all have things — old things, new things, things collecting dust in our attics and basement. But Tim Camisa, an antiquing
expert and owner of 802 Antiques located in the University Mall, has a unique affinity for things. The massive collection that expands into every nook and cranny of the storefront just scratches the surface of the hundreds of pieces Camisa
collects and sells. His latest venture was sorting through a massive collection of antiques from the 60-year collection at Tinker’s
in
See ANTIQUES on page 13
PHOTO BY LIBERTY DARR
Tim Camisa, owner of 802 Antiques, stands in front of his prized bottle collection.
Barn
South Hero.
Maple syrup makers deal with uncertainty
LIBERTY DARR & BRIANA BRADY STAFF WRITERS
Steven Palmer of Shelburne Sugarworks had already been in conversation with CDL, a Canadian company, about purchasing a new $30,000 reverse osmosis machine for his business when President Donald Trump announced his plans to impose a 25 percent tariff on all Canadian imports.
When Palmer heard about the tariffs, he knew he had to move fast.
“When the tariff discussion started happening, I was on the phone with those guys going, ‘OK, listen, yeah, it’s like 8,000 or 9,000 additional dollars, right? It’s a big deal. So, let’s figure it out. Can you guys make sure you can get it down here before the tariffs go into effect?’” he recalled.
Palmer was able to get his machine quickly, and before the start of sugaring season.
The reverse osmosis machine is an essential part of Palmer’s operation. Through pressure, it removes about 75 percent of the water from raw sap before the boiling and evaporation process, drastically increasing the volume of syrup Shelburne Sugarworks can produce in a few hours.
According to Palmer, this kind of technology is important to family-run maple producers like him. He works a day job as a civil engineer, and having the reverse osmosis machine means he can boil more syrup in the hours after he gets home from work.
Palmer started tapping trees with his grandmother, Marjorie Palmer, who began sugaring on the family farm during World War II in response to sugar rationing. When she started out, she would create crystals of maple syrup, almost like sugar, and then barter them with neighbors. After the
war, she grew the business year after year.
“She fell in love with it. This was her passion,” he said.
Palmer still reflects a lot of that neighborhood mindset — he’s trusting his neighbors will continue coming by the store and the farmstand in Hinesburg, even if he has to increase prices.
Although Trump walked back the tariffs until April and Palmer was able to get his reverse osmosis machine, he’s still concerned about the impact of fuel prices. He said he was the first producer in the East to install a natural gas-powered evaporator.
Between that and other technological investments, Palmer said he’s been able to reduce the business’s carbon footprint by 97 percent. However, like most of Vermont, Shelburne Sugarworks’ supply of natural gas come from Quebec. He said, even for producers that use wood, they’ll still need fuel for their farm equipment, and those increased costs will eventually show up in the product.
Pat Leclaire, another sugarer — born and raised in Charlotte — similarly remembers as a young boy hooking milking pails to his bike to collect sap and bringing his harvest back to the farm to boil. His small, family-run operation is now much more of a passion-project hobby he took up after suffering a stroke following his retirement as a lineman from Green Mountain Power.
Leclaire doesn’t use reverse osmosis for his operation, but, even without tariff concerns, costs are inevitably growing. With exchange rates making the cost of the equipment slightly cheaper for Vermont sugarers, Canada is a good friend to many of them.
“When I bought this rig, these were $330 a piece,” LeClaire said, holding up a sugaring pan he had just recently bought to replace an
old one. “I paid $1,300 for this.”
David Allen, a Charlotte resident for nearly half a century and lifelong sugarer, knows a thing or two about the maple syrup business, something he’s been doing and studying nearly all his life. For a short stint 25 years ago, he sold equipment for CDL to sugarers in Vermont.
Allen, still sporting a CDL jacket and hat, said the only remaining producer of equipment in the United States was Leader Evaporator in St Albans, and they were bought by a Canadian company.
“Virtually every sugar maker is going to be paying a lot more for equipment,” he said. “Well, until a truce is declared.”
While Allen has always had his hands in the syrup, so to speak, he now operates a medium-scaled operation tapping nearly 3,000 trees in a forest that extends just behind the Starksboro fire station.
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His pump station is located on the same property.
Despite the growing costs, Allen said he hasn’t changed his retail prices in nearly 15 years.
But beyond recent news from the administration, this isn’t the first time local sugarers have had to adapt to a changing atmosphere.
On a particularly warm Monday morning this week, Allen reminisced on boiling sap in his childhood backyard in Brattleboro while looking ahead to a week that is supposed to bring even warmer temperatures. Sugarers are close weather watchers, since their entire operation hinges on the whim of Mother Nature, which has proven quite unpredictable in recent years.
A prime sugaring scenario sees warmer days with freezing temperatures at night. But as the effects of climate change tread its fury, what used to be the norm is no longer the trend.
“I used to say that the bulk of the syrup that I made was March 20 through April 10. That’s the season right there,” Allen said. “You’ll make some before. You might make some after, but you’re going to make most of it right in that window. And it has not been that way for the last five years. It’s getting earlier.”
But this year was like historic trends. Old timers, Allen said, have historically measured the timing of the tree tapping by the arrival of Town Meeting Day. By the first Tuesday of March, it’s best to have all the trees tapped and ready for go time. Last year was an anomaly, he said — he made a third of his crop by the end of February.
“By last year’s standard you wanted to be ready to go Feb. 1, because we made a lot of syrup in February last year,” he said. “This
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PHOTO BY LIBERTY DARR
David Allen and Brandon Mansfield with the Russell Farm talk all thing syrup. Allen’s sap concentrate is boiled at Russell Farm.
City council, school board pick chairs
LIBERTY DARR STAFF WRITER
The South Burlington School District and City Council kept with the status quo during its reorganization meetings this year.
Unlike last year, the council didn’t add any new members after Town Meeting Day. Tim Barritt, who has served on the council for roughly a decade, ran uncontested for a three-year term and Elizabeth Fitzgerald, who was elected to the council for the first time last year, was re-elected last Tuesday.
Barritt was again elected to remain as council chair, with Andrew Chalnick as vice chair and Mike Scanlan as the council clerk.
“What I would hope is that please don’t take away with, ‘Oh, the budget passed.’”
Residents passed the city budget by more than 64 percent last Tuesday, with 20 percent of South Burlington’s 17,478 registered voters turning out. Of that, 525 were by absentee ballot and 3,088 cast on election day. The Chittenden-10 district saw the highest voter turnout.
School board
The school board also stuck with the status quo re-electing Chelsea Tillinghast as board chair and Tim Warren as board clerk.
“I don’t believe in leading without the support of a team, so if at any time you have any feedback or you’d like for something to change I am always open to feedback,” Tillinghast said. “I want to do what’s best for the team and the district.”
Since the city approved a city charter change that added two additional seats to the 5-member board last year, members welcomed the four new faces who cast their bid for the spots last week. Emilee Hoffman, a write-in candidate who launched a late campaign, will serve the final year of another three-year term. Seamus Abshere and Jennifer Lawrence will hold a pair of two-year seats. And Dan Boyer will finish out a one-year on a two-year seat vacated by a former board member.
— Dan Boyer
Electing the district’s board members was one of the least challenging aspects of the Town Meeting Day vote that residents were faced with this year. Residents also passed the school budget by a narrow 51 percent margin this year.
But new board member Boyer cautioned the board against taking the win too handily.
“What I would hope is that please don’t take away with, ‘Oh, the budget passed.’ We need to be more responsible and get budgets closer to inflation. This budget is a little over 7 percent which is more than double the pace of inflation right now.”
Another new face, Abshere, had similar thoughts.
“I think we haven’t won the argument in terms of funding or anything really and I think the turnout would affect the way the budget would go,” Abshere said. “I think whatever we say as a board should reflect that we need to keep having that argument.”
Summer Camps
It’s Summer Camp Sign-Up Time!
Promote your program in our Summer Camps issue 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.
To learn more or reserve your space, call us today! 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). Deadline: Thursday, March 27
South Burlington Police Blotter: March 3-9
Total reported incidents: 238
Arrests: 15
911 hang-ups: 7
Crashes: 18
Alarms: 13
Animal problems: 2
Agency assists: 6
Public assists: 11
Burglaries: 2
Directed patrols: 22
Disturbances: 4
Foot patrols: 19
Last/found property: 6
Juvenile problems: 4
Larceny: 11
Mental health issues: 3
Motor vehicle complaints: 8
Needle pickups: 5
Property damage: 2
Retail theft: 9
Suspicious events: 12
Threats: 3
Traffic stops: 6
Trespass: 12
Unlawful mischief: 4
Welfare checks: 17
Arrests/citations:
Nicole J. Mann, 40, no address listed, for retail theft on Dorset Street.
March 3 at 3:44 p.m., Andre
Devon Ratcliff, 31, no address listed, for unlawful mischief on Commerce Avenue.
March 3 at 4:39 p.m., Ramel Edward Holder Jr., 20, of South Burlington, for retail theft and providing false information to police, on Dorset Street.
March 4 at 8:50 a.m., Anastasia M. Rose, 36, no address listed, on an in-state arrest warrant on Hannaford Drive.
March 5 at 3:21 p.m., Mussa Issa, 22, of South Burlington, for driving under the influence on Market Street.
March 6 at 12:09 a.m., Shawn A. Williams, 53, of Burlington, for driving under the influence, second or subsequent offense, and leaving the scene of a crash, on Williston Road.
March 6 at 4:40 a.m., Robert W. Sears, 47, of Barre City, for petit larceny and violating conditions of release, on Oak Hill Drive.
March 6 at 12:57 p.m., Mandy L. Wells, 49, of South Burlington, on an in-state arrest warrant, on Kennedy Drive.
March 6 at 10:58 p.m., Tyler J. Partyka, 33, no address listed, on an in-state arrest warrant on Quarry Hill Road.
March 7 at 1:04 p.m., Steven M. Taylor, 44, of Starksboro, for disorderly conduct on Dorset Street.
March 7 at 2:34 p.m., Laura A. King, 37, of Weare, N.H., and Bethany S. Whitcomb, 47, of Laconia, N.H., both for retail theft on Dorset Street.
March 7 at 10:55 p.m., Christopher Lyons, 47, of South Burlington, on an in-state arrest warrant, on Farrell Street.
March 8 at 7:06 a.m., Jamie A. Bunnell, 41, of South Burlington, for petit larceny and unlawful trespass on Williston Road.
March 8 at 12:53 p.m., Jason M. Cromie, 33, of Burlington, for petit larceny on Shelburne Road.
Note: Charges filed by police are subject to review by the Chittenden County State’s Attorney office and can be amended or dropped.
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Rep. Emilie Krasnow, D-South Burlington, was seen handing out reports at Town Meeting Day, on break for a week from the Legislature.
Vermont not too small to tackle climate change
Guest Perspective
Andrew Chalnick
Last year was not a great year for living things. Out of our direct sight, species experienced mass die-offs around the globe — millions of dead seabirds, billions of star fish and snow crabs and hundreds of gray whales, all due to ocean waters that are too warm relative to what these species have adapted to. Coral reefs are bleaching and dying.
Fueling worldwide sea level rise, the world’s glaciers are melting faster than ever, and satellite data shows that the world’s frozen oceans, which help to keep the planet cool, currently have less ice than ever previously recorded.
Nearly nine million acres in the U.S. burned in 2024 in another season of historic fires, while others in the US reeled from yet another season of disastrous floods. While we have experienced a cold winter in Vermont, last year and last month were each the hottest periods on record for the planet over the last two centuries.
Why is all this happening? It is because levels of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, caused primarily by the burning of fossil fuels, are at the highest levels in recorded human history, and likely at the highest levels in the last 14 million years. Ominously, carbon dioxide is accumulating in the atmosphere faster than ever before.
Mauna Loa Observatory in Hawai’i, which has been tracking the amount of carbon
dioxide in the atmosphere for the past 60 years, recorded the biggest one-year increase ever in 2024 with carbon dioxide levels rising by 3.58 parts per million, surpassing even the most pessimistic predictions of most scientists.
“We’re already in the midst of abrupt climate upheaval, which jeopardizes life on Earth like nothing humans have ever seen,” warns Prof William Ripple, of Oregon State University. “Ecological overshoot — taking more than the Earth can safely give — has pushed the planet into climatic conditions more threatening than anything witnessed even by our prehistoric relatives.
“Climate change has already displaced millions of people, with the potential to displace hundreds of millions or even billions. That would likely lead to greater geopolitical instability, possibly even partial societal collapse.”
Against this backdrop, in the upside-down world of federal politics where fossil fuel executives were promised riches in exchange for campaign contributions, the U.S. has declared a “fossil fuel emergency” and joins Iran, Libya and Yemen in declining to participate in global climate change discussions led by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.
Among dozens of other bizarre policies, the U.S. has also abandoned the Paris Climate Accords; begun to erase mention of climate change from federal websites; erected road blocks to wind energy; opened coastal
waters and wilderness areas to new oil and gas drilling; vindictively disabled working electric vehicle charging stations at federal buildings; announced its intention to repeal rules that encourage electric vehicles and the transition away from gasoline; and is rolling back energy efficiency standards.
So, this is why I am aghast at statements from some of Vermont’s elected leaders that Vermont should be “realistic” and retreat from some of our climate change mitigation efforts. Now is the time when sane and responsible actors need to be redoubling efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to limit the damage caused by our fossil fuel captured federal government. Some will say we are too small, too unimportant in the global scheme to make a difference, and therefore we should prioritize our own near term affordability concerns. But if each of us chooses that path and decides to wait to act until everyone else acts, we will lock in a dystopian future for our children.
Are we just too late? I think not. We still have choices. While we are certainly leaving our children a damaged world, the range of potential damage is wide. What will we have we won if we destroy the only home we will ever know? For the sake of our children, we have no choice but to do all we can to move away from fossil fuels as rapidly as we can, headwinds and all.
Andrew Chalnick lives in South Burlington and serves on the city council.
Racial harassment in Vermont public schools still a problem
Guest Perspective
Robert Walsh
In 1999, The Vermont Advisory Committee to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights published a scathing report on racial harassment in Vermont’s
public schools, describing in shockingly stark terms the experiences of African American students and students of color.
In 2003 the committee published a progress report. In each of the reports, the authors identified racism as the core problem and teacher training as
Fifth graders from Rick Marcotte Central School will be collecting empty, clean, redeemable bottles and cans in this neighborhood on Saturday, March 22, to raise funds for their end-of-year class trip to Smugglers’ Notch. Extra kudos for collecting bottles and cans at work and from nearby friends and family to add to your donation.
March 22, 9:30 a.m.-12:30
have your bottles and cans READY by the curb in a bag/box by 9:30 a.m.
an important corrective step.
The Legislature’s initial response to these reports was to pass an anti-bullying law. Rather than address the subject of racism, the Legislature focused
South Burlington
Boys Youth Lacrosse
Vermont needs a more flexible school funding formula
From the House Rep. Bridget Burkhardt
Despite the urgent need for property tax relief, we need to take the time to get education transformation right. Our children’s futures, the state’s economic viability and our ability to sustain a workforce to provide the services our communities need all depend on our ability to build a stronger, more sustainable K-12 education system.
To build that system, we must first recognize how we got here. The pressure on property taxes comes from several directions.
First, significant federal funding was provided during and after the pandemic to help schools manage the crisis. That funding has now ended, but schools are still dealing with the post-Covid reality of more challenging student behavior and significant learning gaps between different groups of students that were exacerbated by the pandemic.
care benefits costs is how many people they employ.
Another significant underlying cost driver is special education.
According to the South Burlington School District, 55 percent of the increase in spending in the FY26 budget comes from increases in special education spending. Act 173 of 2018 was meant to put in place Multi-Tiered Systems of Support that would “enhance the effectiveness, availability, and equity of services provided to students who require additional support.”
Part of the idea behind Act 173 was that earlier intervention for students who needed it would reduce extraordinary special education costs by reducing the number of students who needed more significant interventions later in their school careers.
For many reasons, including understaffing of the Agency of Education, Act 173 has never been fully implemented across the state. Even in districts like South Burlington that have worked diligently to implement Multi-Tiered Systems of Support, special education costs continue to climb.
We need to ask ourselves whether certain services are best funded through our property taxes.
Schools are faced with the choice of asking local taxpayers for more funds to maintain staff who were hired to provide additional supports, reducing regular educational opportunities, or reducing the additional supports despite the ongoing need for them.
Second, underlying costs over which districts have limited or no control continue to skyrocket. In particular, healthcare premiums, driven by higher pharmaceutical and hospital costs in Vermont than in surrounding states, continue to increase by double-digit percentages each year. Healthcare benefits for school staff are negotiated at the state level, meaning the only control districts have over health-
Third, the South Burlington School District has the added challenge that Act 127 of 2022 reduced how much the district receives from the state Education Fund for each dollar of property tax raised in South Burlington, by adjusting the pupil weights included in our property tax calculation.
Under Act 127, more weight in the school funding formula was shifted to students living in poverty, English language learners, and students in rural areas, meaning that districts like Burlington and Winooski, with higher concentrations of poverty and English language learners, and those in the Northeast Kingdom, with more rural and higher concentrations of poverty, gained tax capacity while districts like South Burlington and Champlain Valley lost tax capacity. The school budget that was just voted on last week represents the
second year of a five-year phase-in of Act 127.
Fourth, Vermont has not had a state-level school construction program since the previous one ended in 2008. As a result, very few schools have had major renovations, even though we have one of the oldest school building portfolios in the country. This puts pressure on our property taxes as districts spend more to fix major systems that are breaking down or try to build capital funds to support more significant renovations in the future.
Fifth, we continue to ask the school system to provide more services that were previously
provided elsewhere. One example is the increasing demand for schools to provide mental health services so students can be better able to access their education. Funding for these types of services historically came from other parts of the state budget. While certain types of services may be provided best in schools because they are a natural place to reach children, we need to ask ourselves whether those services are best funded through our property taxes.
A sustainable school funding system must recognize these challenges and the others faced by our school system. The governor’s
proposed foundation formula is based on a hypothetical prototype school system that does not exist in Vermont. If we do not take the time to dig deeper and build a funding formula that is flexible enough to start from our current reality and adjust over time as careful, thoughtful changes are made to our education governance and delivery systems, we will fail to save taxpayers money and fail provide our children with the educational opportunities they need to thrive.
Bridget Burkhardt, a Democrat, represents South Burlington in the Chittenden-8 House district.
Rep. Bridget Burkhardt
from page 5
on diversity, later expanding it to include equity and inclusion. It created the Office of Racial Equity and hired an executive director of equity who is responsible for overseeing diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives within Vermont.
DEI is nebulous and hard to define. Its effectiveness in suppressing racial harassment in Vermont’s schools is suspect. Evidence of its ineffectiveness is revealed in summaries of the following situations:
On March 28, 2024, (“Parents’ lawsuit asserts racial bias, discrimination against district”) The Other Paper posted a report by the Vermont Human Rights Commission that said Orchard Elementary School and the South Burlington School District illegally discriminated against a biracial kindergarten student in the 2018-2019 school year. It stated the failure to address the parents’ concerns are a “reflection of racial bias and discrimination on the basis of race and color” and had “very real consequences” for a student whose mental health and well-being deteriorated over the course of the school year.
African Americans are the only group who were brought to the United States against their will and lived in slavery for some 400 years.
Union settled a complaint filed by the Vermont Human Rights Commission for $175,000, reporting it as the largest individual settlement for a schoolbased discrimination claim in the commission’s history. The victim was, at the time, a 13-year-old Black student. In the agreement, the school district and the Woodstock School denied wrongdoing. The actions of the school districts in the above cases are not surprising. The 2003 Vermont Advisory Committee progress report states that “even when incidents of racial harassment are reported, it has been reported that administrators are reluctant to accept them as racial incidents and deny the existence of racial bias in public schools.”
Twenty-two years later little has changed. I believe we should address the problem of racial garassment by teaching African American history in Vermont’s schools. Why African American history? What about other immigrant groups?
origins of racism in America. Slavery denied slaves the opportunity to read. The Reconstruction period demonstrated that the Freedmen were capable of economic and political success and therefore a threat to those in power. The Jim Crow era attempted to eliminate that threat through segregation and lynchings and by promoting white supremacy. The result has been that individual and institutional racism have become part of daily life in Vermont. Power plus prejudice equals racism.
The Vermont Advisory Committee reports stressed the importance of teacher training. A bill should be introduced and passed in this Legislature requiring teachers and administrators to have completed designated studies in African American history prior to obtaining or renewing a professional license. In the interim, school districts should focus their professional education days on African American history. Some teachers may even be willing to learn on the job along with their students. There is no quick solution to the problem of racism. Teaching African American history is the place to start. Today’s students are tomorrow’s parents. Learning begins at home.
On Jan. 27, 2025, VTDigger reported that the Woodstock Union Middle and High School and Mountain Views Supervisory
African Americans are the only group who were brought to the United States against their will and lived in slavery for some 400 years. This history sets them apart from other classes of immigrants. Studying the African American experience is necessary for understanding the
Robert L. Walsh taught Black History at South Burlington High School and a course in Race and Culture at the University of Vermont. A retired Marine Corps officer, he served in the Vermont House of Representatives from 1983-1989.
Say you saw it in The Other Paper!
COMMUNITY
Community Notes
Free talk delves into brain health
Looking to boost your brain health and mental clarity? Join Dr. Kristen Allott and author Natasha Duarte on Friday, March 14, 6 p.m. at the University Mall for “Healthy Brain Support for Persons Over 55.”
This interactive, one-hour session will show how mindful eating and simple self-care practices can improve your brain function, emotional well-being and decision-making. Attendees will gain practical strategies and tools for lifelong cognitive wellness. The talk is free and is a joint project of the Colchester Milton Rotary and the Champlain Valley Lions Club.
Bolduc to receive Rotary’s Tuttle award for service
The Rotary Club of South Burlington will present its annual Frederick H. Tuttle Award to Vincent L. Bolduc at its regular club meeting on Thursday, March 13.
The public is invited to the award ceremony at 8 a.m. Bolduc’s name will be included on a plaque near the entrance to city hall that commemorates all 30 award recipients.
Recipients are selected for demonstrating the personal characteristics and commitment to vocation and community for which Tuttle, the school’s namesake, was known through 33 years as an educator.
Bolduc was a tenured professor of sociology at Saint Michael’s College, where he received the Rev. Gerald E. Depont Award for “outstanding contributions to the Saint Michael’s community” in 2012. In South Burlington, he and his demography students conducted exit interviews at polling places, including City Center, about a variety of initiatives and presented the results in The Other Paper and to the city council.
Bolduc has served as president of the Central School PTO, chair of the city’s Sustainable Agriculture Committee, moderator for local election debates for the city council
and the school board and member of the city’s Affordable Housing Committee.
Law named Girl Scout volunteer of the month
Sometimes it’s all a matter of stepping up. And that’s what Robin Law did when there was a need to keep young Girl Scouts in their troop in Winooski/South Burling-
ton, becoming the leader of Troop 30187 six months ago. The Girl Scouts of the Green and White Mountains named Law volunteer of the month for March.
Law, 44, of Essex Junction, took over the troop from Laurie Himes, herself a volunteer of the month in December 2021 —this troop has a history of such volunteers, like Pamela “Flask” Gude and Amy Lothrop.
The decision to split the troop into younger and older girls made it easier for Law to volunteer to lead, helped along with a push from her daughter in the troop. Until recently, Law stayed more in the background.
“She ‘allowed’ me to join,” Law said, making air quotes as she
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COURTESY PHOTO
Robin Law, fourth from left, is volunteer of the month for Girl Scouts Troop 30187.
American history
Above: Dr. Jolivette Anderson-Douoning, Scholar in Residence at St. Mike’s spoke at South Burlington High School about Black history. Below: Students attended The Black Experience at The Flynn featuring Ta-Nehisi Coates, Sista Strings and DJ Melo Grant.
COMMUNITY NOTES
continued from page 8
spoke. “Even though they could go elsewhere, this troop is their home. I didn’t want the troop to fold and so I stepped up.”
Robin is organized and tenacious. But most of all, her heart is in it for the girls,” Kerry Zaimes, volunteer support specialist with the council, said.
Law now mentors 19 Girl Scouts in grades K-4, with older Girl Scouts continuing in another troop.
“We are growing steadily,” she said. “Our Brownie level doubled this year.”
She brings several years’ experience as a former Boy Scout leader to the position.
“Even though the two organizations are vastly different, there are aspects (where) that experience helps me out,” she said. “The planning and organization mindset really isn’t different.”
With Girl Scout Cookie season in full swing, Law said her troop has set a goal of at least 5,000 packages, which they already had a good start on in February.
Her Scouts also want to create a display teaching about the importance of pollinators for the Vermont Flower Show and prepared for Valentine’s Day by making heartshaped dream catchers. They’ve also learned about first aid with Saint Michael’s Fire and Rescue.
When she’s not volunteering with Girl Scouts, Law works in administration for the Saint Michael’s College dining hall and is raising a son and daughter.
Concert offers glimpse in Bach’s early influences
The Burlington Baroque concert “Lenten Meditations: Bach & His Predecessors,” March 30 at 4 p.m., at the Cathedral Church of St. Paul, 2 Cherry Street, Burlington, offers listeners the rare opportunity to hear sacred music from late 17th-century Germany and to gain a greater appreciation for how Johann Sebastian Bach emerged from his cultural ancestry and attained the acclaim the world would accord him.
The program is presented by vocal soloists, the Juno Award-winning period-instrument ensemble L’Harmonie des saisons, and the Burlington Baroque Festival Singers.
Bach is considered one of the greatest composers of all time, his position among European composers of the 18th century influencing all composers to follow. Alongside Handel and Vivaldi, his works represent the pinnacle of Baroque Music to audiences 300 years later.
And yet, Bach did not emerge monolithically from a musical vacuum without forebearers and influences. One sees from an early work like his Cantata “Christ lag in Todesbanden,” written when he was 22 years old, the direct impact composers before him had on his style and expressionism.
Dietrich Buxtehude was a composer and mentor that Bach walked hundreds of miles to study with. Johann Christoph Bach
was an elder cousin among many distinguished related composers and church musicians in the region. The young Bach had numerous works of Buxtehude and J. C. Bach in his library, painstakingly copied out by hand to fully understand and synthesize their work.
Play offers masters, mistresses, meatballs
The Shelburne Players presents “The Servant of Two Masters,” March 14-22, in the town center facility at 5420 Shelburne Road. According to Dramatists Play Service, “A cross between traditional Italian commedia and postmodern vaudeville, this new version of Goldoni’s classic pits the madcap servant Truffaldino against masters, mistresses, lovers, lawyers and twenty-seven plates of meatballs. Imagine a Bob Hope or Woody Allen comedy written by Monty Python and performed with the physical bravura of Chaplin or Keaton.”
For more information on showtimes and to buy tickets, visit shelburneplayers.com. Email questions to theshelburneplayers@ gmail.com.
“The Servant of Two Masters” is written by Carlo Goldoni, translated and adapted by Jeffrey Hatcher and Paolo Emilio Landi. The production is directed by Su Reid-St. John and produced by Cathy Diamond.
COURTESY PHOTO
Two-goal burst propels Wolves back to title game
LAUREN READ CORRESPONDENT
With a spot in the Division I boys’ hockey state championship game on the line and trailing 1-0, South Burlington was looking for a spark.
Lucas Van Mullen provided it.
The senior struck for two goals 25 seconds apart in the first period to put the Wolves ahead 2-1. The two goals sparked No. 3 South Burlington as the team skated to a 4-2 win over No. 7 BFA-St. Albans and a second straight D-I title game appearance.
“That’s senior leadership. That’s a cool character,” South Burlington coach Sean Jones said. “It’s a guy that loves to be in those situations and thrives in those situations.”
South Burlington (16-6) will now take on top-seed Rice on Thursday in the D-I state championship, a rematch of last year’s title game. The puck drop is at 6 p.m. at the University of Vermont’s Gutterson Fieldhouse.
The Green Knights won 2-1 last year to beat the Wolves for the championship.
“I think last year we had an expectation. We had thoughts going in that we had that kind of crew. We weren’t so sure this year,” Jones said. “We knew that we were going to
have to rebuild a little bit, have a different focus. Our guys have been awesome all year long. They just keep working. They keep getting better every day.”
The rematch features two different versions of both teams. Rice comes into the game with a perfect 22-0 record and is looking to become the first D-I team to go unbeaten since 2004.
South Burlington comes into the final with just four seniors on the roster and a different group than the one that appeared on the Gutterson Fieldhouse ice last season.
“The excitement up there is always different,” Jones said. “So, we’ll take what we learned last year and that’ll make us better this year. But it’s a new crew and it’ll be a new energy.”
The semifinal matchup with the Bobwhites didn’t start off exactly according to plan for South Burlington. Just 34 seconds into the game, BFA-St. Albans opened the scoring. Duffy Smith got open in front of the net and a loose puck bounced to him and he deposited it in the back of the net.
Van Mullen responded for South Burlington, scoring on a backhand with 6:42 left in the first period to tie the game 1-1. Just 25 seconds later, he scored again to give the Wolves the lead.
The two goals helped the Wolves find
their groove, and the hosts scored again to move it 3-1. Drew Dougherty had the puck behind the goal line on the power play and he threw it toward the goal where it somehow found its way into the back of the net.
BFA closed it to within one goal in the second period, with Gavin Clark scoring on the power play about midway through the second frame.
The Bobwhites nearly tied the game early in the third period when a forward got free and moved in along on goalie Alex Chagnon (13 saves). The first-year tender made the save to keep his team in the lead.
“He comes in and he battles every day,” Jones said. “He’s kind of got the idea that if one gets by him, he’s just going to stop the next. He’s a cool character, but he’s a gamer. We’re confident that, when we need him, he
can handle the job.”
Just a minute later, the Wolves extended the lead to 4-2 when Jack Kelly moved in and fired a shot over the shoulder of the BFA goalie Phoenix Wells (37 saves).
That goal seemed to take the fight out of the Bobwhites and South Burlington cruised to the win.
Girls’ basketball
No. 6 Rutland 50, No. 11 South Burlington 30: South Burlington was outscored 11-0 in the second quarter and fell to No. 6 Rutland on Tuesday in the Division I girls’ basketball playdowns.
Tori Griffin led the Wolves with 16 points and Lexi Paquette added 12 points.
South Burlington finished with a 4-17 record.
Vermont Principals’
featuring the voices of
has
from
a
video, “Be the
the state, including Lamoille
School basketball players. “Sportsmanship isn’t just about
— it’s about
and lifting each other
inspiring video captures the heart of Vermont athletics, reminding us all that every game is an opportunity to lead by example,” VPA assistant executive director Lauren Young said. To watch the video: vimeo.com/1060573232/366413d9e7.
POLICE CHIEF
continued from page 1
Chief Burke.
“I firmly believe that our next chief should be held up against what the market could bear, and we have the best of the best on the staff now and we really want to ensure that we get the best of the best in the next round as well,” Baker said.
South Burlington’s current deputy chief, Sean Briscoe, will serve as acting chief once Burke leaves his post. He joined the 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.
The city council unanimously approved Elizabeth Fitzgerald to act as the council representative on the police chief advisory team
“For a position as important as this is to our community, I greatly appreciate the effort and focus being put on it,” councilor Laurie Smith said. “Chief Burke has been an exceptional asset to our community and if we end up half as lucky as we did with Chief Burke we will be doing really well.”
PUBLIC HEARING
SOUTH BURLINGTON DEVELOPMENT REVIEW BOARD
The South Burlington Development Review Board will hold a public hearing in the South Burlington City Hall Auditorium, 180 Market Street, South Burlington, Vermont, or online or by phone, on Tuesday, April 1, 2025 at 7:00 P.M. to consider the following:
1. Final plat application #SD-25-04 of Autumn Hill Meadows, LLC to subdivide an existing 13.5 acre lot developed with a private road, two barns, a single family home, and accessory shed into a 0.79 acre lot containing the two existing barns (Lot 1) and a 12.72 acre lot containing the private road, existing single family home and shed, 197 Autumn Hill Road.
Board members will be participating in person. Applicants and members of the public may participate in person or remotely either by interactive online meeting or by telephone:
Interactive Online Meeting (audio/video): https://zoom.us/join By Telephone (audio only): (646) 931-3860
Meeting ID: 827 2050 1396
A copy of the application is available for public inspection by emailing Marla Keene, Development Review Planner, mkeene@southburlingtonvt.gov.
March 13, 2025
REPAIRS
MAPLE
continued from page 2
year, we didn’t make any in February. We got a little bit of sap, but didn’t boil until the first of March.”
Leclaire, who has a smaller operation with around 1,100 taps, said his season last year also ran significantly shorter than it had the previous nine years, and he finished most of his boiling by mid-March.
“It’s all Mother Nature,” he said. “We can do what we want
and say what we want. But it’s really all Mother Nature saying how much we can have.”
Leclaire was filling a Dixie cup with the first pull of pipinghot syrup of the season, the color reflecting a rich amber hue.
“I don’t do this because I have to,” he said. “I do it because I want to and it’s something I love.”
On the other side of town in Shelburne, Palmer said that,
should prices need to be raised for his product, the truth about Vermont maple syrup will keep customers coming back: “If you’re used to real maple, you’re not going to Log Cabin, I mean, it’s just not happening.”
“People are going to complain about it. There’s no doubt,” he added. “But I don’t think it’s going to change the buying habits for the most part.”
PHOTO BY BRIANA BRADY
Steven Palmer’s brother-in-law, Matt Fisher, handles the boiling at Shelburne Sugarworks.
Mighty at the Mini
ANTIQUES
continued from page 1
For Camisa, antiques do more than just accessorize spaces — they offer us all a glimpse into the history of our surroundings.
“I like to focus on Vermont history,” he said, adding that, at one time, he had the original sign from The Chickenbone Cafe, an iconic bar on King Street in Burlington that was open from the early 1970s through the late 1990s.
Acquiring goods is sort of like a treasure hunt and it helps that Camisa has been doing the work for nearly 40 years, so customers with prized collections are more likely to give him a call directly.
He attends numerous antique sales and auctions and has trained a small team of pickers who go around local garage sales and estate sales. But often, it’s working closely with families who are looking to liquidate the collection of family members. The work arguably entails just as much knowing how to work with people as it is being able to assess fine antiques.
“You go out Saturday, find 10 cool things. You can bring them to me, and I’ll pay you for them on Sunday and sometimes you get really lucky,” he said. “People like us here because we pay fair prices. We look things up with people, we research things with people. We’re very fair with people.”
The shop, he said, is not a junk store. The majority of the goods range in prices and can reach up to thousands of dollars. While Camisa majored in math and physics at the University of
Vermont, he also acts as an unofficial historian, keeping alive the decades of history that possessions can carry.
Camisa has a deep appreciation for glass bottles, but not just any old glass bottles. In the late 19th century, a doctor, B.J. Kendall of Enosburg, came back to his hometown and began makingand bottling a medicine that brought a ton of wealth to the community.
Spavin Cure, as the remedy was called, was originally a tincture for horses — the spavin is the ankle joint in a horse — packed full of a secret ingredient: opium.
But the remedy soon began being consumed by humans and, according to a document study by Dr. Ashbel Parmlee Grinnel published by the Vermont Historical Society, during that period, Vermonters were consuming more than 3 million doses of opium each month.
“Enosburg had the largest bottled medicine manufacturing around,” Camisa said.
Dr. Kendall himself soon fell into addiction and left the state forever. But the building that once held his practice is now owned by Camisa and his business partner, Mike Rooney.
“The Spavin Cure got me interested initially, and then I started collecting and it started expanding,” Camisa said.
There are plenty of deep areas where collecting can take you, Camisa added, and every antique expert has their own niche.
More recently, the value of antique classical furniture has declined with most interest for
young people now in mid-century modern furniture and artifacts, he said.
“Things have changed a lot because the younger people don’t really have the appreciation for antiques,” he said. “They aren’t as into the older stuff or the historical stuff.”
Now, ornate 18th and 19th-century furniture that was once going for thousands of dollars is selling for 20 cents on the dollar.
“This is English,” he said, pointing to a dresser in his display case. “But it’s from between 1795 and 1805 — there is a tag in there from the antique shop it came out of for $2,400. But I bought it for 20 cents on the dollar, and now it’s sitting here for almost a year, and I have been ready to sell it.”
Similarly, he pointed to a blue chair sitting next to the dresser, clearly of mid-century design.
“That’s a $1,000 to $2,000 chair. I’ve got somebody interested in it right now, and I’ll sell it for $650,” he said.
Camisa admitted he doesn’t know everything about what the younger generation is interested in. Luckily, his son, Josh, helps manage the store now, and his niche in old games and mid-century furniture seems to be the hot ticket items as of recently
Camisa still tells the stories of each piece that comes across his table. Being a good storyteller is arguably a large part of the work.
“I’ve been told so many stories and been to so many places that it just starts recurring and recurring,” he said. “It’s American history, really.”
2024 AND 2029 NOISE EXPOSURE MAPS (NEMS) PREPARED FOR PATRICK LEAHY BURLINGTON INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT (BTV) ARE AVAILABLE FOR DOWNLOAD
The City of Burlington is announcing that the FAA has determined that the year 2024 and 2029 Noise Exposure Maps (NEMs) prepared for Patrick Leahy Burlington International Airport (BTV) were developed in accordance with the procedures outlined in Appendix A of Title 14, Part 150 of the Code of Federal Regulations.
The NEMs may be downloaded using the links on the website below. For further information, please contact Larry Lackey, Director of Planning, Engineering and Sustainability at 802-338-8106. Visit www.btvsound.com for the 2024 and 2029 Noise Exposure Map.
COURTESY PHOTO
The South Burlington 7th and 8th grade boys won the Mini Metro championship March 9. The team was supported at the game by members of the varsity team and Coach Sol Bayer Pacht. Team members were Joekai Finch, Bryce Huntley, Mustafa Hamisi, Will Landerman, James Conway, Emmet Donovan, Clay Harris, Trevor Paquette, Tenzin Riwang, Felicite Lukengu, Hudson Riina. The team was coached by Bryan Landerman and TJ Donovan.
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DIRECT CREMATION SERVICES
SB stormwater project has a final engineering design
In 2021, the City of South Burlington was awarded a grant from the Mount Ascutney Regional Commission to fund the engineering design of a new suite of stormwater treatment practices.
Now, the final engineering design includes three subsurface infiltration chamber systems located within the city rightof-way on Mills Avenue, Logwood Street and Airport Road. These systems will treat runoff from both South Burlington’s municipal pavement and private homes and driveways throughout the neighborhood.
This project will treat runoff from 15 acres of impervious surfaces, with an approximately 40-acre drainage area. It is anticipated that this project will complete-
ly infiltrate runoff for a one-year, 24-hour storm event for 8.7 acres of impervious surface and reduce the peak flow for the same storm event for the remaining 6.5 acres of impervious surface in the drainage area.
Funding for this project is provided by a design grant through the Vermont Clean Water Initiative Program, with local match provided by the City of South Burlington Stormwater Utility fund.
Any questions, contact Marisa Rorabaugh with the city at mrorabaugh@southburlingtonvt.gov or 802-658-7961, ext. 6111; or Chris Yurek with the Mount Ascutney Regional Commission at cyurek@ marcvt.org or 802-674-9201.
COURTESY PHOTO
This week, students at Gertrude Chamberlin School celebrated Tropical Day, pretending they were in warm weather, even with snow still on the ground.
Sun day fun day