the South Burlington’s Community Newspaper Since 1977
For months, members of the Champlain Valley Lions Club have diligently collected mountains of plastic bags and packaging. The goal? To transform all that plastic into a park bench for the community. Partnering with the Trex company, known for its plastic decking, the Lions sent more than 1,000 pounds of plastic to Trex to be recycled into a durable, high-performance bench. Last month, the Lions Club bench was installed in Farrell Park, near the toddler playground and ball courts. Parents, kids, ballplayers and dog walkers now have a spot to rest, chat, eat lunch or read. Leading the project were Lions Rosella Duarte and Russ Hayden, who supervised the collection of plastic. The recycled bench program is part of the company’s initiative called NexTrex, whose goal is finding ways to reduce plastic pollution in oceans, rivers, lakes and landfills. In back, from left, Joan Mollica, Mark Hanna, Patience Merriman and Jackie Dutil. In front, Russ Hayden and Rosella Duarte.
SB school district preps for ‘painful’ budget discussion
LIBERTY DARR STAFF WRITER
South Burlington school district officials and board members are beginning the steps of what seems to be a gargantuan task this year: crafting a budget.
On the heels of a year that saw a third of Vermont’s school budgets fail on Town Meeting Day after the Legislature introduced a shift in the state’s education fund-
ing formula, next year is poised to be just as, if not more, difficult for the school district due to several factors outside of its control, school officials said.
“I think at times we’ve talked about what programming can be preserved, but tonight, I will tell you, we don’t have the ability to preserve as we have in the past,”
See BUDGET on page 13
Beta flies first electric plane
from South Burlington
LIBERTY DARR STAFF WRITER
If you were out and about on Nov. 13 in South Burlington, it’s likely you didn’t see a bird or any old regular plane flying in the sky, but the first electric plane produced at Beta Technologies’ South Burlington production facility.
Just over a year after the company opened its doors to community, state and federal leaders celebrating the opening of the 188,000 square-foot facility located
off Airport Parkway, the team successfully completed the first flight of the production aircraft, the Alia CTOL, when the company’s CEO and test pilot, Kyle Clark, sailed to 7,000 feet.
“It’s been a pretty remarkable year to look back on it,” Blain Newton, the company’s chief information officer. said. “Obviously seeing that aircraft come off the line was incredibly inspiring.”
See BETA on page 2
COURTESY PHOTO
The expansive manufacturing space now looks much different than it did last October. In that time, the company has installed aerospace-grade tooling for aircraft assembly and ground support equipment and started production of propulsion, batteries and other systems. Not to mention that the manufacturing floor is now alive with roughly 100 people at a time tinkering and perfecting aircraft design and manufacturing.
The company has hired just over 250 people this year alone, bringing its total employees up to 800 with most of them based in Vermont.
While the take-off of the fixedwing plane marked a milestone for Beta, the company has also been laser-focused on how to effectively “build the machine to build the machines.”
The goal is to be able to produce roughly 300 electric planes a year. An even bigger goal is getting the Federal Aviation Administration to certify the fixed-wing aircraft by the end of next year.
“It’s the same level of discipline and care and engineering that goes into it, in fact, maybe more because of the number of dimensions,” Newton said. “One, let’s learn how to build aircraft in a high quality, safe way, alongside our partners in the FAA, to ensure that these aircraft are as safe as any aircraft coming off commercial airline production lines today. Then the rest of it has been spent on really learning how these aircraft come together in an optimized way.”
While Newton said there are hundreds of companies working in the electric aircraft realm, Beta’s mission is more expansive than the common concept of “urban air mobility” or just moving passengers over city traffic.
For example, the company announced in September that it had received $20 million to partner with U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to deploy 20 of the company’s
battery charging stations along the Gulf Coast and in rural places like Mississippi and Arkansas as a means of powering public health preparedness.
“Well, that’s not really an urban air mobility mission, right? You’re not flying people over traffic in rural Mississippi,” Newton said. “What you’re doing is you’re opening and changing the paradigm of rural health access.
You’re allowing more services to be provided because you bring the cost dramatically down from flying a helicopter in and you also set up preparations for disaster response by having infrastructure
Social business group names Hinsdale Legislator of the Year
Vermont Businesses for Social Responsibility (VBSR) has recognized Vermont State Sen. Kesha Ram Hinsdale of Shelburne has been recognized as the Vermont Businesses for Social Responsibility’s 2024 Legislator of the Year.
Hinsdale will be honored as the group’s legislative breakfast on Wednesday, Dec. 11, 8-11 a.m. at the Main Street Landing Film House, 60 Lake St., Burlington.
Hinsdale represents the Chittenden-Southeast Senate district, which includes Shelburne, Hinesburg, Charlotte and South Burlington.
Vermont Businesses for Social Responsibility is a statewide, nonprofit association with a mission to leverage the power of business for positive social and environmental impact.
“VBSR has led the way in finding the light at the cross-
roads between the economy and the environment,” Hinsdale said. “Now, more than ever, we need their innovative approaches and collaborative spirit to solve our most intractable problems.”
Hinsdale is the first woman of color to serve in the state Senate. She was just elected Senate Majority Leader for the upcoming
See HINSDALE on page 4
COURTESY PHOTO
Some of Beta Technologie’s team preps the Alia CTOL aircraft for takeoff.
BETA
continued from page 2
built to support it.”
While the company can certainly do urban air mobility — imagine flying from Rutland to New York City — that’s not the primary mission, he noted.
“So, to me, that mission highlights why we’re different,” he continued.
The company also recently signed with Air New Zealand to use its fixed-wing aircraft to move mail into rural communities.
“The reason they’re doing that is to get the folks in those communities accustomed to electric aviation that is safe, reliable, quiet, cost-effective,” he said. “Then they want to move to passenger movements so that folks that are isolated in those rural communities can now start to access the rest of the country.”
The company, he said, elected to build the fixed-wing model first because it is likely first in the FAA certification schedule and likely first to be delivered to custom-
ers. But the company has always set out to build a vertical takeoff and landing aircraft like a helicopter.
“What we saw as we were out doing our flight tests, and we’ve now flown over 90 airports in the U.S. and Canada, is that people still have the desire for a low-cost, quiet, reliable, safe, conventional aircraft,” he said.
There’s roughly 80 percent commonality in design of the two aircraft models, which means the team can essentially build them off the same production line, he said.
“We learned a lot from this first production build,” company founder Kyle Clark said. “We weren’t just building an aircraft company, we were building and refining a system to build high quality aircraft efficiently. This first build allowed the team to collect data and insight on manufacturing labor, tooling design, processes, yields and sequences, all of which are being used to refine our production systems.”
COURTESY PHOTO
The Alia CTOL during a flight earlier this month.
Total incidents: 243
Agency / public assists: 21
Directed patrol: 11
NCIC entries: 27
Accident: property damage: 14
Alarm: 9
Foot patrol: 12
Suspicious event: 22
Traffic stop: 10
Retail theft: 8
Motor vehicle complaint: 4
Welfare check: 7
Fraud: 7
Unlawful mischief: 6
Found/lost property: 6
Suicidal person: 5
Trespass: 8
Disturbance: 10
Field contact: 4
Domestic: 2
Accident: insurance purposes: 8
Leaving the scene of an accident: 3
Juvenile problem: 2
Larceny from a vehicle: 3
Accident: injury: 3
Larceny from a structure: 3
Arrests:
Laurent Perotti, 61, of Williston, was arrested for lewd and
lascivious conduct stemming from a July 16 incident on Williston Road.
Nov. 19 at 9:04 a.m., Amanda L. Bean, 41, of Lyndon, was arrested on an in-state warrant on Dorset Street.
Nov. 20 at 12:38 p.m., Michael J. DePaolo, 44, of South Burlington, was arrested for cruelty to children by one over 16 on Stonehedge Drive.
Nov. 24 at 1:50 a.m., Laurie A. Slingerland, 55, of Burlington, was arrested as a fugitive from justice, domestic assault and violating conditions of release on Obrien Farm Road.
Nov. 24 at 8:15 a.m., Nathaniel K. Bonna, 27, of South Burlington, was arrested for assault and robbery, aggravated assault, interference with access to emergency services and grossly negligent operation on Tilley Drive.
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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HINSDALE
continued from page 2
biennium.
She received a bachelor’s degree in natural resource planning and political science from the University of Vermont, and a Master of Public Administration from the Harvard Kennedy School of Government in 2018.
She served in the Vermont House of Representatives from 2008 to 2016.
“She not only champions climate justice but works to ensure all Vermonters can thrive in the Green Mountain State,” Johanna de Graffenreid, public policy manager for Vermont Businesses for Social Responsibility, said. “Her ability to pull together a wide range of under-heard voices, center these conversations in our
policy decisions, and raise up the needs of those most impacted by environmental and economic injustice is why we are pleased to
Police Briefs
Police seek witnesses in stabbing in city center
Police said on Nov. 24, at approximately 4:38 a.m., they were called to Market and Garden streets for an altercation involving a knife. Witnesses said the people left in separate vehicles.
One person was stabbed and was treated at University of Vermont Medical Center.
Police say the public is not at risk.
If you have information
regarding this incident, we would like to speak with you. Please contact Sgt. D. MacDonough at 802-846-4193.
Vehicle used to threaten person, police say
South Burlington police arrested Nathaniel Bonna, 27, who they described as transient, for aggravated assault, assault and robbery, gross negligent operation and interference with access to emergency services.
present her with the 2024 VBSR Legislator of the Year Award.”
When not in the Legislature, Hinsdale has taught structural inequality and environmental justice at Vermont Law & Graduate School. She has also served as co-chair of the Vermont Attorney General’s Immigration Task Force and as a member of the boards of Emerge Vermont, Main Street Alliance of Vermont, Planned Parenthood of Northern New England, Regenerative Food Network, and Vermont Natural Resources Council.
She lives with her husband, Jacob Hinsdale, and their two children, Mira and Wesley, in Shelburne.
Learn more at vbsr.org.
On the morning of Nov. 24, officers arrived at Tilley Drive for a disturbance.
Police said Bonna and a woman had a verbal altercation, and he then followed her and attempted to hit her with his vehicle, crashed into a tree and pursued her on foot. He pushed her and took her cellphone as she was trying to call for help.
Bonna was released on conditions and was scheduled to appear in Chittenden County Superior Court on Monday.
With our grand opening set for early 2025, we’re seeking driven, compassionate team members to bring Vergennes Grand to life. At the fair, we’ll accept applications and conduct interviews for positions across all departments.
SCAN THE QR CODE for more information and to download a job application form. Wednesday,
Sen. Kesha Ram Hinsdale
OPINION
Our conflicted gratitude on strangest of Thanksgivings
Guest Perspective Walt Amses
I remember thinking we’d be raising celebratory glasses this week, breathing a collective sigh of relief at having dodged near certain calamity, able to move on toward a safer, more rational future. Approximately 72 million people — roughly half the country — will spend Thanksgiving in precisely that manner.
It just won’t be us.
We instead will gather with like-minded family and friends to assuage our disappointment, take comfort in each other, and focus on what glimmers we can find in these darkening days.
November is somewhat of a struggle in the best of times. By the end of next weekend, we’ll have lost over an hour of daylight in what is Vermont’s cloudiest month while the average temperature in Montpelier will have dropped nearly 17 degrees since Halloween. The trend continues into December, pairing nicely with unrealistic expectations growing exponentially while our ability to meet them dwindles. Driven by marketing, we’re charged with mindless shopping; driven by biology, we tend to sleep like bears and eat like we just got out of solitary.
Since retirement in 2013, we’ve opted out of most Novembers, skipping Thanksgiving along with Black Friday, both as an effort to cut winter down to a manageable size and a wavering political statement — more a generalized feeling — regarding holidays compromised by commercialism with misrepresented origins and no small amount of contradiction.
By bouncing around various, far-flung places where the indigenous population has not been erased, playing a more prominent role in the culture than here at home, we’ve learned that the perception we have of ourselves — exceptionalism — is more than self-serving and altogether delusional if we consider actual history rather than a watereddown version compiled to make us feel good.
While Indigenous Peoples Day is a welcomed step in the right direction, adopted by more
than 100 cities and recognized in over a dozen states, according to the New York Times, it’s taken far too long to concede the obvious. Joe Biden became the first president to formally commemorate the holiday in lieu of Columbus Day, which is still celebrated in some parts of the country, the Italian navigator claiming “discovery” of a population that had occupied this land mass for thousands of years, introducing the mass murder and colonization to come.
Although our history of colonization and assimilation of Native Americans has, over time, significantly diminished land ownership and cultural practices, South American countries like Ecuador and Peru have done a great deal to preserve Indigenous heritage, recognizing land rights to a far greater extent, insuring a more visible presence in society. Aggressive assimilation policies in the U.S. were designed to erode Native American culture through forcible removal from their land, sending native children to boarding schools where their language and traditions were suppressed, largely eradicating any opportunity they might have had to influence society.
last October, Kristin Salaky explained that Pilgrims celebrated “thanksgivings” in their traditional way of fasting and praying, which often happened after the massacre of Native people. The first officially declared day of thanksgiving came in 1637 when Massachusetts Colony Gov. John Winthrop deemed volunteers murdering 700 Pequot people worthy of celebration. Hardly the fantasy we’ve been sold.
“Hope is important because it can make the present moment less difficult to bear. If we believe that tomorrow will be better, we can bear a hardship today.”
— Thich Nhat Hanh
Early on an overcast morning, I’m immersed in my surroundings, which I realize later insulate me from most worldly intrusion as I notice the dozen buffleheads that occupied the wetland days ago are now gone, replaced by a thin veneer of ice. With water levels extremely low, hundreds of lily pads paralyzed by the flash freeze stand resolutely in the still air, a fitting graveyard for summer’s passing.
Obscured by the low hanging clouds, a significant flock of geese glides high above, along the Atlantic Flyway, a major north-south migration corridor from Greenland to South America dotted with food, water and shelter for most of the route.
Though several circumstances, including family logistics, find us at home this November, I’m happy to be here, reminded again of how much I love witnessing this long transition from late summer to early winter, especially everything in between, including Thanksgiving, long one of my favorite stops along the way. But even a rudimentary look at the holiday’s history shatters the fabrications we absorbed in elementary school, of Native Americans and colonists feasting together in warm friendship, or, from a different perspective, the hated “poisonous Pilgrim-Indian narrative” that obscures the ghastly truth.
Writing on the website Delish
I’m inspired by the Abenaki people who hunted these woods and fished these lakes and streams, growing crops like corn, beans and squash for 12,000 years before being displaced by wave after wave of Europeans who brought diseases like smallpox, decimating native populations and scattering them throughout New England. I wonder if they farmed anywhere near where I maintain my recalcitrant garden and how I might anticipate Thanksgiving if I shared their history.
As it is, however excited I might be cooking for the people I care most about, I know this holiday will be tempered in several ways, given the distinct sense of
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What to fix high property taxes? Make them fairer
Guest Perspective
Lt. Gov. David Zuckerman
Taxes have a bad rap. In part, this is because we never discuss who pays which taxes. Taxes have gone up for working people while wealthier people have gotten tax cuts. But taxes exist for important reasons, and we must make our tax system fairer and decrease the burden on everyday people.
Do we want roads, bridges, police? How about the licensing of doctors, lawyers and teachers? Licensing of drivers? Do you want a health department to test water for lead or radon? We might all have different opinions about some of the things our tax money funds, but it is important to acknowledge that many things we need can only be accomplished as a community. Often this requires funds that taxes provide.
The key question is who is going to pay? And how much? Right now, the tax system is greatly skewed to help wealthy people pay a lower overall rate than working people. Federal and state taxes are filled with loopholes and exceptions that only wealthy people can take advantage of. I believe that taxes should be paid based on ability to pay, without exceptions and loopholes that only lawyers and accountants can figure out to help high- wealth individuals.
Vermonters have seen double digit increases in property taxes this year. We are now seeing double digit health insurance increases on the horizon. These increases are making it impossible for everyday working people to live in Vermont.
Everyone sees this problem. No one has offered a fair solution: not the governor, not legislative leadership, not my opponent, John Rodgers, who got the most votes in the race for lieutenant governor. Why? Because it is complicated. If it was simple to solve, everyone would have solved it by now. But, as soon as one offers a solution, others can always find something to criticize about it. Something has to give, whether it is multiple small community schools closing, class sizes getting much bigger, decreasing the individualized attention that many kids need or cutting teachers’ pay or benefits, would decrease our competitiveness for good teachers.
Or some will have to pay more taxes.
The question, then, is who? If one solely articulates the problem, you gain support. If you offer solutions, someone suffers, and you lose support.
The governor has had eight years to come up with a real plan. He has always blamed the problem on the Legislature, including the many years when they did not have a super-majority. The governor’s office has the tools and the staff to come up with a plan and put it out there. It is time for the governor to move from stating the problem to presenting a comprehensive solution that addresses the economic struggle without cutting the critical services that the most vulnerable need.
I would argue that we must fix the education funding system so that everyone pays based on their income, not just those with household incomes under $115,000 (for 2024).
When our students graduate high school, we are ranked one of the top 10 education systems in the country. Do we want to keep high quality schools? I think so. They are a key to attracting young people to move here to raise a family while building our workforce.
So, we can close a ton of schools. Or we can cut a lot of funding for vulnerable kids. Or we can have the political courage to tell the wealthy to pay their fair share and lower the burden on working people. We can also save taxpayer money by getting serious about bureaucratic reforms to stop duplicating efforts. We can require second-home owners — of expensive vacation homes, not hunting camps — to pay more.
Or we can continue to do nothing and watch the governor and the Legislature point fingers at each other while Vermonters become more bitter, more divided, angrier and less able to afford to live here. The course we choose will be determined by people continuing to make their voices heard, not just at the ballot box, but by calling the governor and their legislators and insisting on real reform that preserves small community schools, reduces bureaucratic costs and allocates the tax burden in a fairer way so working Vermonters, can afford to stay in Vermont.
David Zuckerman is lieutenant governor of Vermont.
continued from page 5
foreboding that now overshadows nearly everything. There is palpable fear for the future and what comes next, and a sobering awareness of what has come before — the sullied roots of this All-American tradition of turkey, mashed potatoes, football, candied yams, pumpkin pie with a side dish of genocide.
When I proposed hosting Thanksgiving, the world felt like a different place,
with a boundless, almost giddy sense of hope, which makes today’s pervasive gloom harder to take, much less overcome. So, with that in mind, I’m looking forward to Thursday’s dinner and the millions of other, similar gatherings across the country as a series of small, first steps on the way to recapturing that lost hope.
Walt Amses lives in North Calais.
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Exhibit on lost ski areas opens Dec. 6
Vermont’s lift-service skiing history began in 1934 with the installation of the first ski lift in the country: a rope tow powered by a Ford Model T engine on Gilbert’s Hill in Woodstock. A year later, the second rope tow in Vermont was built by Wesley Pope on Glenn Skiff’s farm in Jeffersonville. After that, small ski areas began popping up all around the state.
The Vermont Ski and Snowboard Museum has been documenting Vermont’s “lost” and “lost and found” ski areas for 25 years. To date, 184 have been identified, including four that were in the planning stages but never opened.
Its upcoming exhibit, “Searching for Vermont’s Lost Ski Areas
four in Waterbury, five in Stowe, and one right off Interstate 89’s eastbound Route 2 exit in South Burlington. Towns like Newport, Middlebury and Lyndonville had a strong ski-jumping tradition, which evolved into adding lifts for alpine skiing.
Lifts and ski programs appeared at Norwich University, Johnson State College, Vermont Junior College in Montpelier, Sterling School and Goddard College. Farmers in central Vermont and the Champlain Valley, seeking extra income during the winter, installed rope tows and strung lights for night skiing.
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Part 2,” is a schuss down memory lane for those who learned to ski or ride at one of these slopes. In Part 2 of the exhibit, an additional 113 documented areas, not featured in the first installment, are introduced through photographs, interviews, newspaper clippings and memorabilia from the museum’s collection. For those who missed the first part of the exhibit last year, it is incorporated within the new one. All areas are identified on an 8-foot map, including 20 ski areas currently operating.
A few of the lost areas highlighted in the exhibit include
Town recreation programs added lifts and offered lessons right in the middle of towns and villages. Inns and hotels rigged up lifts for their guests to enjoy. Many were community-based and locally run, while others were built with a vision of what ski areas look like today. Some areas lasted a season or two, while others lasted decades. Many closed due to rising insurance costs and stringent state lift safety protocols.
The Vermont Ski and Snowboard Museum, 1 South Main Street, in Stowe, is holding an opening for the exhibit on Friday, Dec. 6, 5-8 p.m. Admission to the exhibit opening is free and all are welcome.
COURTESY PHOTOS
Above: The Barre Ski Club.
Below: Norwich University is one of the “lost ski areas” in the upcoming exhibit at Vermont’s ski and snowboard museum.
Take a sniff first: Skunks prepare for long winter
The Outside Story
Elise Tillinghast
Several weeks and many baths ago, my dog discovered a blackand-white stranger crossing our lawn. Wagging vigorously, and ignoring my frantic shouts, she ran up and offered her canine greeting: a nose-to-tail sniff. The encounter ended predictably, with the skunk waddling off into the dark, the dog staggering in circles, and me searching desperately through the cupboard for stink-dispelling supplies.
Skunks become conspicuous in autumn, including in yards and — sadly — roads. This is largely due to dispersal, as young skunks that left their mothers at the end of summer are foraging in new home ranges. And skunks of all ages may be attracted to residential areas, as they consume as much food as they can and explore winter denning sites.
“They are trying to fatten up,” Brehan Furfey, wildlife biologist and furbearer project leader for Vermont Fish & Wildlife, said. “Primarily, they’re eating insects, but they’ll eat other prey, and some plant matter. Let’s face it, we have all kinds of goodies in our yards.”
Those goodies include unsecured garbage and birdseed, as well as fallen apples and mice that move into sheds and woodpiles as weather cools.
Lawns also appeal to skunks, because this time of year they contain a smorgasbord of easily accessible beetle larvae and other grubs. In turf, as well as other surfaces that hold impressions well, such as moss and carpets of pine needles, you may find skunk snoot holes, each about half the diameter and depth of a soda can. These are places where a skunk inserted its sensitive nose in search of prey.
Other common signs of foraging are shredded rotten stumps and logs (like bears, skunks will pull apart wood to find wood boring insects) and torn up patches of leaf litter and soil.
Building up fat reserves is
essential for skunks, because they aren’t well adapted to forage in frigid temperatures or heavy snow. They will go out during thaws, but during harsh winter weather, they remain in their dens and rely solely on stored calories.
Females, especially, need to stock up as much fat as possible, because they have limited opportunities to gain weight before giving birth in early spring. When a mother skunk is caring for newborns, she’s likely to endure a new stretch of foodless days. “She probably has them in the burrow around April, and she’s not leaving them, because they’re completely blind and helpless,” said Furfey.
Despite their presence around homes, Furfey stressed that skunks are not aggressive, will retreat from danger and often tolerate people walking nearby without incident. The trouble comes when they get startled.
“They have poor eyesight,” Furfey said. “They don’t really see you coming.”
In addition to encouraging homeowners to minimize outside food sources, Furfey recommends blocking off potential denning sites when the skunks are not likely to be there.
Sheds and porches attract skunks, she said, because they often offer more warmth and protection from predators than do natural shelters such as underground burrows — skunks dig their own burrows and use those of other animals such as woodchucks — tree cavities and hollow logs.
Except when the females are raising young, skunks establish multiple dens across their home ranges, Furfey said, so if you block them from entering one space, you aren’t dooming them to wander outside in the cold. By preventing access to problematic denning spaces now, you can also discourage females from raising young near your home.
Furfey gets numerous requests to trap and relocate the animals, especially in spring, when young emerge from the den and a previously tolerant homeowner discovers that “one skunk became five
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skunks.” She always declines these requests, as trapping and relocating any wildlife is illegal. Instead, in addition to preventative measures, when homeowners encounter skunk families, she recommends patience. “They’re going to move on,” she said. “Give it a week.”
At our house, I’m pleased to report that we haven’t had additional skunk sightings, although
now, before we let the dog out at night, we take a precautionary sniff and make a flashlight sweep of the yard.
If all else fails, there’s a crate with baking soda, a bottle of lemon juice and dish soap stowed close to the bathtub.
Elise Tillinghast is the past executive director and editor of
the Center for Northern Woodlands Education and is currently editor-at-large for Nature and the Environment at Brandeis University Press. 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
COMMUNITY
Celebration of Trees
PENNINGTON
Help your homeless neighbors start anew by wandering through ANEW’s Celebration of Trees at University Mall — next to Target — opening Friday, Nov. 29, 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. Buy raffle tickets to win the tree of your choice and all the gifts that go with it. ANEW Place’s mission is to help create lasting change in the lives of the homeless. Their store will be open Wednesdays through Sundays, 10 a.m. until closing on Dec. 15. Drawings will take place Dec. 16. Learn more at anewplacevt.org.
Community Notes
Take the stage for Players’ next show
Looking for a little humor and something fun to do over the dark winter months? Audition for “The Servant of Two Masters” with The Shelburne Players.
Auditions will be held Monday and Tuesday, Dec. 9 and 10, from 6:30-8:30 p.m., in the Pierson Library community room, 5376 Shelburne Road. If needed, callbacks will take place on Thursday, Dec. 12, 6:30-8:30 p.m.
The play by Carlo Goldoni, will be directed by Su Reid-St. John and produced by Cathy Diamond.
Rehearsals begin Jan.13, and the play will run March 14-22.
The show has been called “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.”
Learn more at shelburneplayers.com.
Shelburne Age Well offers Grab and Go meal
This will be the last Grab and Go meal offered by Age Well in Shelburne.
In January, community meals will be offered in person on the second and third Tuesday of the month.
Age Well and St. Catherine’s of Siena Parish in Shelburne will team up to provide a meal to go for anyone age 60 and older on Tuesday, Dec. 10.
Meals will be available for pick up in the parking lot at 72 Church St. from 11 a.m. until noon. A $5 donation is suggested.
The menu is beef stew with vegetables and potatoes, winter mixed vegetables, wheat biscuit, tapioca pudding with peaches and cream and milk
To order a meal, contact Kathleen by
plain Basin staffers Dr. Matthew Vaughan, chief scientist, Meg Modley, aquatic invasive species management coordinator; Colleen Hickey, education and outreach coordinator; and Jim Brangan, cultural heritage and recreation coordinator.
The action plan addresses the committee’s most pressing clean water priorities, including flood mitigation, adaptation and resilience; solutions for chloride and other contaminants pollution; prioritization of land use and development that reduces water quality impacts; aquatic invasive species spread prevention; and equitable public access and recreation.
The meeting will also feature a remote option.
Light refreshments will be provided. Registration is requested for in-person participation and required to receive the remote log-in information. Register at bit. ly/3OrrBsp.
Bella Voce performs Glorious holiday concert
Bella Voce celebrates its 20th anniversary season with a program that includes a performance of Vivaldi’s venerated classic, “Gloria,” a timeless piece for women’s voices with trumpet, oboe, strings and continuo.
Joining Bella Voce is the University of Vermont’s String Ensemble, under the direction of Dr. Yutaka Kono. In addition, the concert will feature a variety of jubilant songs of the season by Robert De Cormier, Dan Forrest, Randol Bass and more, at the McCarthy Arts Center, St. Michael’s College, 18 Campus Road, in Colchester, on Sunday, Dec. 8 at 3:30 p.m.
For information, go to https://bit. ly/4fMVqQ6.
Agency of Education holds listening tour
The Vermont Agency of Education is holding a session of its Listen and Learn Tour on Wednesday, Dec. 4, at Champlain Valley High School, in Hinesburg, 6-8 p.m.
The tour offers an opportunity for the public to share its thoughts and help the agency craft a strategic plan that reflects the priorities and needs of Vermont communities.
The session will begin with an introduction, followed by breakout sessions on topics related to student achievement and support, career and college readiness, school budgets, among other priorities. Pre-registration is encouraged using the online registration form at bit. ly/3UEGQ51.
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Vermont Philharmonic performs Handel’s Messiah
As Vermont enters the season of cold and dark, Handel’s beloved Messiah brings warmth, light and joy. Conducted by Lisa Jablow, the Vermont Philharmonic Orchestra and Chorus will present two performances to put everyone in the holiday spirit, on Friday, Dec. 6 at 7:30 p.m. in St Augustine’s Church in Montpelier, and on Sunday, Dec. 8, at 2 p.m. in the Barre Opera House.
Raymond B. LeBlanc
On Friday, Nov. 8, 2024, Raymond B. LeBlanc, 84, of South Burlington, died with his loving family by his side.
He was born on March 4, 1940, in Winooski, the second of four sons of Albert and Juliette (Dion) LeBlanc.
He grew up among family on Dion Street in Winooski and after his school years, enlisted in the U.S. Air Force. He enjoyed eight years in the military, serving in the Alert Force and later in Special Instruments.
for five years during the Iraq War.
In helping his “Binky” fill these boxes with carefully chosen items, his grandson, Evan, saw the importance of giving and helping others. First was Ray’s faith and dedication to his church of St. Anthony’s. He felt blessed and honored to serve for many years as a Eucharistic minister. He helped in many ways and enjoyed seeing parishioners every week.
The soloists are familiar to Vermonters, including Lillian Broderick, soprano, Lori Marino, alto, Michael Halloran, tenor, and Erik Kronke, bass. Mary Jane Austin is the assistant choral director.
Get tickets at vermontphilharmonic.com and at the door.
The Philharmonic will perform the entire first part of Messiah, with arias and choral numbers that contemplate the idea of a messiah, foretell the coming and hail the arrival. The concert concludes with the beloved “Hallelujah” chorus from Part II, and six numbers from Part III celebrating redemption.
On leave early in his enlistment, he married his high school love, Joyce Letourneau, on Dec. 16, 1961. Their three children were born during his Air Force years. After his discharge and move back to Vermont to help family, he was chosen to represent State Farm Insurance with his agency in South Burlington, where he chose to live and raise his family.
For almost 40 years he enjoyed getting together with fellow agents and their families, some who became special friends for life. As a people person, he treated everyone with a smile or joke to make them laugh. He was very generous and never hesitated to help family, friends and even strangers in need.
He suffered for years with chronic back pain but continued to help wherever he was needed. He touched the lives of many young people by mentoring them in hockey and baseball as a coach and then as a referee and umpire. He taught them the games, but as importantly, what good sportsmanship is.
He gave his children the gift of time spent with them. He provided his family with the opportunity to travel around our beautiful country in his motor homes. Those road trips through our country and parts of Canada are some of their treasured memories. He quietly sent care packages to the troops
Ray’s survivors include his loving wife of almost 63 years; children, Cathy (Karen Rounds) their son, Evan; Robert “Todd” (Kim Irish) their children, Alyx, Kyle, Ryan (Kysta) and Cole (Lauren); and David (Sara Lavallee) their children, Quinton (Gracie), Tatianna and Pyper; great grandchildren, Lucas and Lily (Ryan), Harper (Quinton) and Leah (Cole)-Brothers, Roger and Richard (Barbara); brothersin-law and sisters-in-law, Gail Green, Sue Metcalf (Don), Steve Letourneau, Debora Varnon (Dennis) and Mark Letourneau; and many nieces, nephews, cousins, friends and neighbors.
He was predeceased by his parents and older brother, Robert.
Ray’s family would like to thank Carrie Steele and Joan O’Gorman for their loving care and support during his final days, his longtime physician whom he loved like a brother, Dr. Peter Gunther, and to Mark Pitcher for his last months of care after Peter retired.
A Mass of Christian burial will be held on Saturday, Dec. 21, 2024, at 11 a.m. at St. Anthony’s Church, 305 Flynn Avenue, Burlington. A military service will take place at Resurrection Cemetery, 200 Hinesburg Road, South Burlington.
In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the Gary Sinise Foundation (garysinisefoundation.org) or South Burlington Food Shelf (southburlingtonfoodshelf.org).
CREMATION SERVICES
Pink sky
PHOTO BY JENNY BOWER KNOWLES
A view from Randall Street.
COURTESY PHOTO
The Vermont Philharmonic orchestra.
‘Coldy’: Schoolkids name state’s snowplows
Blizzard of Oz. Slush Puppy. It’s Snow Problem. Gerald. Coldy. Ski Buddy.
Those are some of the 118 new names that the Vermont Agency of Transportation received for its big orange plow trucks through this year’s Name a Plow program for Vermont schools.
The agency also received 77 entries in the contest for schools to name a new plow truck that has a second plow spanning 21 feet and which will be used to clear Inter-
state 89. That truck is now named “The Vermonster” thanks to the winning entry from Townshend Elementary School.
“Vermont students have had a lot of fun naming our plow trucks, and we love seeing what they come up with,” transportation secretary Joe Flynn said. “The names create a connection between the communities and our hard-working plow operators, and the program is also a great way for us to talk with young Vermonters
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about the importance of winter highway safety and the work our teams do to keep the roads well maintained and safe.”
The Name a Plow program began in 2021, when Vermont schools named 163 of the state’s 250 full-sized plow trucks.
The new 2024 plow names will replace the old names for all schools that participated in the past and again this year. Plow trucks that were named previously by schools that did not send a new name this year will keep their current names.
Here are some local participants and their plow names:
• Gertrude Chamberlin School, South Burlington, Slush Puppy
• Rick Marcotte Central School, South Burlington, Gerald
For a complete list of plow names, go to vtrans.vermont.gov/name-a-plow.
South Burlington Community Chorus presents Magnificat
The South Burlington Community Chorus with director Erik Kroncke will present its winter concert on Friday, Dec. 13, at 7:30 p.m., at the McCarthy Arts Recital Hall at Saint Michael’s College, Colchester.
program, the chorus will sing “Hope for Resolution” originally written as a celebration of diversity from South Africa. It is sung in both English and Zulu and feels especially poignant for these times.
Tickets are $15 for adults and $5 for students and can be purchased online in advance on the chorus’ website.
The South Burlington Community Chorus is partially funded by the South Burlington Recreation and Parks Department.
The program will feature selections from Vivaldi’s Magnificat. Also included in the program will be several gems of the director’s choosing, including selections from John Rutter’s famous compilation “When Icicles Hang,” the angelic Anton Bruckner’s “Ave Maria,” as well as some more contemporary pieces. To round out the
For more information visit sbchorusvt.com.
Local forester talks about new book,
‘How
to Love a Forest’
Spend an hour with Bolton-based forester, author and naturalist Ethan Tapper as he discusses his new book, “How to Love a Forest: The Bittersweet Work of Tending a Changing World,” at the South Burlington Public Library on Thursday, Dec. 5, 6:30 p.m.
In his first book, Tapper reexamines forest management and highlights the delicate balance between action and restraint in environmental stewardship. Through storytelling and personal experiences, he introduces readers to forest ecosystems and argues for a compassionate approach to conservation.
An award-winning forester and educator, Tapper has worked as a state forester and a consulting forester advising landowners, municipalities, conservation organizations and foresters and loggers stewarding thousands of acres of public and privately-owned forests and holding hundreds of public educational events.
He has been recognized as a thought-leader and a disruptor in the conservation community of the northeastern United States and beyond. He now owns and operates Bear Island Forestry, which provides consulting forestry services, public speaking and conservation education and multimedia publication.
Tapper is a regular contributor to
Northern Woodlands magazine and a variety of other publications and is a digital creator. In his personal life, Ethan writes, hunts and birds and plays in his 10-piece punk band, The Bubs. The event is co-sponsored by the library and the South Burlington Natural Resources and Conservation Committee. Light refreshments will be served. Learn more at southburlingtonlibrary. org.
continued from page 1
superintendent Violet Nichols warned board members at a meeting last week.
The school’s current budget, slightly over $68 million, passed after two other proposed budgets failed earlier this year. The associated tax increase of 8.18 percent is the second lowest tax rate increase in Chittenden County, behind Winooski, which saw a 42 percent tax rate decrease. Other neighboring towns throughout the county are seeing increases of up to 14 percent.
The district was able to make out better than some of its neighbors last year by leveraging $3.2 million from its budget surplus to keep the tax increases well below 10 percent. Without that surplus money, the budget would have seen a nearly 15 percent tax increase. Still, nearly 65 percent of the state’s school districts had a higher amount of per-pupil spending than South Burlington in fiscal year 2025.
But this year, without $3 million in extra funds, officials are advising the board that even if it proposed a budget identical to the one approved by voters in May — level funded at $68 million, no increases in expenses and no inflation — residents could still expect property taxes to increase by 7.2 percent.
“So the reason why these tax rates would go up by 7.18 percent even with zero increase in spending from our current year budget is because of that $3 million surplus,” Tim Jarvis, senior director of operations and finance at the district, said, noting that the surplus money was voted as a last ditch-effort by the board to pass a budget. “So, in essence, it’s equivalent to us raising $3 million in spending from a tax perspective, when we’re not increasing dollars and spending.”
or greater.”
But keeping the budget level funded is almost inherently impossible, especially since the district assumes a 2.5 percent inflation rate and state-mandated district contributions to employee health benefits programs are proposed to increase by nearly 12 percent.
Assuming modest staff salary increases and rising health care costs to provide level service — meaning the district offers the same educational and extra-curricular programming — the district would need to increase expenses by over $3.5 million
Since staff salaries and benefits account for 80 percent of the district’s annual budget, at an average of $100,000 per position, funding a $3.5 million increase in expenses would require the reduction of approximately 35 staff positions and potentially additional cuts to programming.
“There’s nothing that we won’t discuss or that will be untouched. There’s no department, team, structure, school or location that isn’t going to have impacts for athletics and co-curriculars in the fall.”
— Violet Nichols
But the rate of real estate inflation, also known as the common level of appraisal, proved to be another major problem for the district last year. The CLA is another factor within the state’s education funding formula that compares the assessed value of properties on the grand list to the actual property sale prices, which represent their fair market value. If the two are the same, the CLA ratio is exactly 100 percent. If the properties are sold at a price higher than what it is assessed for, then the ratio drops below 100 percent.
Although the district had a reappraisal completed in 2021, since South Burlington is one of the fastest-growing communities in the state with accelerating real estate prices, the district’s CLA dropped 11 percent last year.
The district is currently projecting that if that number dropped at the same pace as it did the previous year, this year’s property tax increase, with no increase in budget spending, would be close to 25 percent.
“We are the most expensive place in Vermont to live, and we have a significant housing shortage,” Nichols said. “All those factors lead me to very clearly advise you all this evening that we are really looking at the possibility of a dip in the CLA of 10
“It’s going to result in pain,” Jarvis said. “Painful cuts, disgruntled people from every direction, ‘You cut too much, you didn’t cut enough.’” But, you know, those are the possible implications of where we are.”
A first pass at a budget proposal is expected for the Dec. 4 board meeting, but Nichols warned board members that officials are analyzing every aspect of each school to find cost savings.
Nichols said that everything is up for discussion.
“There’s nothing that we won’t discuss or that will be untouched. There’s no department, team, structure, school or location that isn’t going to have impacts for athletics and co-curriculars in the fall,” she said.
“I’m literally scratching for pennies at this point,” she said.
Nichols said she has continually lobbied the Legislature and Gov. Phil Scott in the months leading up to this budget cycle, warning that the district faces being out of compliance with state law in several areas should the worst-case budget scenario happen.
Through Act 183, the Legislature formed the Commission on the Future of Public Education, which is tasked with studying and making recommendations on longterm fixes to the state’s educating funding system, but an initial report isn’t anticipated until December 2025. But legislators have all voiced that addressing property taxes and education funding remains at the top of the list as the biennium begins.
“I hate to keep personalizing this, but I have two daughters in the high school,” Jarvis said. “So, it’s not like I’m a penny-pincher finance director, my job is to cut expenses, right? My job is to give my daughters a great education at a school that I went to 45 years ago and support today. I go into this with a strong element of objectivity, because it’s my job. But I have the same emotional reaction to all this stuff as anybody because I’m a parent of students and I’m a taxpayer.”
INVITATION TO BID
Garden Street West Shared Use Path and Utility Improvements - South Burlington, VT
Sealed Bids for Garden Street West Shared Use Path and Utility Improvements shall be received and accepted until 2:00 p.m. on December 5, 2024, local time at City of South Burlington Department of Public Works at 104 Landfill Road, South Burlington, VT 05403. Bid opening will occur immediately after the submission deadline. Anyone interested in witnessing the public bid opening over the phone or internet is to contact Stantec Consulting Services, Inc. for a link to the open conference call. Please contact Chris Gendron, chris.gendron@stantec.com, 802-497-6402 for meeting information at least five (5) days prior to the scheduled bid opening. The 5-day lead time is required in case the bid opening time changes.
Complete digital Bidding Documents may be obtained after November 7, 2024, from the design engineer, Stantec Consulting Services. Contact Dawn Moss, dawn.moss@stantec.com, 802-497-6326. Printed sets are not available for purchase. If you would like to review a set of printed documents at the City of South Burlington Department of Public Works, contact Silken Kershner, skershner@southburlingtonvt.gov to schedule an appointment.
To bid on this project and be considered a plan holder, the Bidder MUST register with Dawn Moss, dawn.moss@stantec.com, 802-497-6362, a minimum of 10 days prior to the bid opening. Neither owner nor engineer will be responsible for full or partial sets of Bidding Documents, including Addenda, if any, obtained from sources other than Stantec Consulting Services.
Sealed Bid Documents shall be marked in the lower left-hand corner: “Bid Documents: Garden Street West Shared Use Path and Utility Improvements.”
Each bidder must deposit with their bid, security in the amount of 5% of the bid in the form and subject to the conditions provided in the INSTRUCTIONS TO BIDDERS.
Bids submitted by bidders that exceed their Maximum Dollar Capacity Rating (MDCR) as determined by the Vermont Agency of Transportation on an annual basis may be considered non-responsive.
LOCATION: The Garden Street West Shared Use Path and Utility Improvements project limits will include approximately 390 linear feet on Garden Street from the intersection of Dorset Street to the east.
TYPE OF CONSTRUCTION: Work to be performed under this project includes:
Coarse milling, paving, curbing, pavement markings, signing, drainage, water main installation, shared-use path installation, bridge railing, and other incidental items.
CONTRACT COMPLETION DATE: The Contract shall be completed on or before July 25, 2025.
ENGINEERS ESTIMATE: For this Proposal the Engineers Estimate falls between $700,000 and $800,000.
PREBID CONFERENCE: A non-mandatory pre-bid conference will be held for this project. The meeting will be held at 2:00 p.m. on November 14, 2024, local time at South Burlington City Hall at 180 Market Street, South Burlington, VT 05403. A site visit will follow.
STANDARD SPECIFICATIONS: This contract is governed by the Vermont Agency of Transportation (“VTrans”) 2024 Standard Specifications for Construction.
QUESTIONS: During the advertisement phase of this project all questions shall be addressed solely to Chris Gendron, chris.gendron@stantec.com, with an email copy to Silken Kershner, skershner@southburlingtonvt. gov, City of South Burlington Department of Public Works.
Piano and Composition Lessons Give the gift of music-making
Piano Lessons
Basic, intermediate - children, teens, adults National Keyboard Arts Curriculum References, scholarships available Edward Darling, So. Burlington edwardjohndarling@gmail.com • 802-318-7030
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