a talk energy

A Tour of Outdoor Art in Montpelier / p.4

A Nostalgic Look at the Spelling Bee / p.7

Travel Back to ’78 with Andrew Nemethy / p.18

So you want to do more to stop climate change through every-day energy use? Some of you

have already started doing the little things. You shut the lights off when you leave a room. You put on a sweater before turning up the heat. You walk or ride a bicycle if you can. You bring your own bags to the store. You compost. But you know you can do more.

Some people are already “all in” and live off the grid, grow their own food, and don’t own a car. Others don’t be-lieve in climate change and fly jets all over the place while completely disre-garding their carbon footprint. Yet most people I know are somewhere in the middle. They know climate change is based on science and do what they can.

Now we know little steps we learned in the 1970s are not cutting it. Climate change is coming on fast. It was re-ported that the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration declared this past July as the hottest month in human history. This report made me want to do more to help delay the forth-coming human barbecue without harm-ing the environment in other ways.

To take a step further, I called my local utility, Washington Electric Coop, and talked to Bill Powell, also known as the “energy coach.” He seemed very no-non-sense and knowledgeable. I wanted to find out about energy incentives for getting

rid of an old, in-eff icient wood stove and replacing it with a new, effi-cient one to reduce my reliance on fossil fuel.

When I spoke with Powell again, during an interview for The Bridge, he told me bluntly it is no longer about simple steps. “You can only do things one person at a time. The easy stuff doesn’t make a difference. It is the big stuff that makes a difference.” Powell painted a picture of a world where, if we want to reduce our energy use, we have to take BIG steps. And the two areas where Vermonters use the most energy are heating and transportation.

HeatingHeating in Vermont is serious busi-

ness, and Vermonters are notorious for not liking change. But people have to take another look at the costs of oil heat versus other systems and the change might look better. I know from analyz-ing my own heat bills over the past few years that it costs significantly less to incorporate wood heat with oil back up than to rely solely on oil. And after talking to Powell, I know I have to work toward genuinely weatherizing my old farmhouse.

Getting a weatherization

analysis is a key first step before laying out any cash on a new heating system, Powell said. As an employee of Washington Electric Coop, which serves 11,000 households in 41 towns, Powell has had the opportu-nity to discuss this topic a lot. Before anyone does anything, Powell said it is important to get an energy audit of your house. And then follow up with a repu-table contractor to do the insulation and other work that needs to be done. This lowers heating costs even before invest-ing in a new system.

And new systems require money. Whether installing photovoltaics or a geothermal heat pump, you need to have access to several thousand dollars, depending on the size of your house. Powell pointed out that Washington Electric Coop and Efficiency Vermont offer incentives, though.

Efficiency Vermont offers up to a $6,500.00 rebate for air-to-water heat pumps, $6,000 for central pellet fur-

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and Local

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see District 3, page 9

see Energy Coach, page 17

By Carla Occaso

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EnergySeptember 1–21, 2021

Residents of the city’s District 3 neighborhoods will soon see their fifth city council repre-

sentative in the past two years. With the resignation of Dan Richardson, the remaining council members will ap-point a replacement at their meeting this week.

Four district residents have applied to serve until the next city election, which is scheduled for Town Meeting Day, March 1, 2022. The winner then will serve the remaining year of Richardson’s term.

Seeking the interim appointment are Jennifer Morton, a social worker at The Family Center of Washington County; Cary Brown, executive director of the Vermont Commission of Women; Alice Goltz, a school crossing guard and advo-cate for parental rights; and Gene Leon, a business owner and member of the city’s Development Review Board.

The city council can choose anyone it wishes to replace Richardson, but its re-cent practice has been to seek applicants and select from that list.

Richardson came to the council in the same fashion, replacing Ashley Hill, who

New District 3 Councilor to Be Appointed By Tom Brown

A Talk with the

Energy CoachThe Challenges of Combating Climate Change Via Everyday Energy Use

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• SEPTEMBER 1–21, 2021 THE BRIDGE

The seeming disconnect of a speedy cyclist casually pedaling down State Street — or zipping up one

of the many, rightly intimidating hills that surround downtown Montpelier — has become less puzzling in recent months. E-bikes, which incorporate a propulsion-enhancing motor, are in-creasingly common on the streets of the capital city.

Bikes with ever-improving recharge-able batteries are seen as strategic in efforts to reduce carbon emissions and reliance on fossil fuels for transportation. To encourage the use of e-bikes as a transportation alternative, Green Moun-tain Power offers a rebate at the time of purchase, said Lincoln Frasca at Onion River Outdoors.

Also, because of the great variety of e-bike designs available, they have be-come viable transportation options for commuting, grocery shopping, picking up the kids from school, or hauling a considerable amount of gear.

They also have enabled older cyclists to stay with an activity they love. Longtime Montpelier teacher Roger Crowley, after retiring became an early-adopter of e-bik-ing. “I love being outdoors and riding. In

2015 I had a total knee replacement and started looking at ways to get around the hills of East Montpelier when I ran into Larry Gilbert in Middlesex at his Zoom Bike store and we talked about e-bikes. He’s the guru of e-bikes in Vermont as far as I’m concerned,” he explained in an e-mail message to The Bridge.

Considering that getting home from downtown Montpelier through the hills of East Montpelier involved a 1,700-foot climb in elevation, the boost from a pedal-assisted electric motor provided timely assistance. “I bought my first Class 2 RadRover in 2016. Class 2 e-bikes are pedal assist with a throttle and have max of 20 mph, which is the speed limit on most public trails. Of course the Spandex crowd flies by me on unas-sisted regular bikes at 35–40 mph. Each state classifies e-bikes a little differently, but most follow the federal guidelines for Class 1, 2, and 3 e-bikes. I wanted a Class 2 e-bike because it would give me the most access to rail trails and other public bike paths,” Crowley added.

Onion River Outdoors’ Frasca ex-plained that e-bikes are federally clas-sified, 1.0 through 5.0, based on the range of the battery in miles and the

power of the electric motor. “We mostly carry Class 3.0 and 4.0 e-bikes,” he said. These typically are pedal-assisted and have a range of 40 to 60 miles. The range depends a lot on terrain, so in Vermont it’s often going to be closer to 40 miles before you need a recharge.”

The least expensive e-bikes are priced at around $2,000. The more expensive rigs for sport or mountain biking can run as much as $14,500, as indicated by pricing on the Onion River Outdoors website.

Because of COVID-related supply chain problems, the availability of new conventional bicycles has been limited. “It may be another two years before manufacture and supply are fully re-

covered,” Frasca said. In the meantime, Onion River has focused on keeping customers’ existing wheels safely on the road.

The availability of e-bikes has been better consistently. Onion River Out-doors currently has two cargo bikes and 28 more conventionally set up e-bikes for sale at the shop on Langdon Street. Although “direct to consumer” deals can be found, Frasca encourages those considering an e-bike to remember the advantages of purchasing through a local dealer. “While we can and will work on other brands, as a Specialized dealer we have the specific training and reliable parts supply to maintain a bike effi-ciently,” Frasca said.

Electrifying Pedal Powerby J. Gregory Gerdel

EnergyTesting out a Vado e-bike. Photo courtesy Onion River Outdoors.

THE BRIDGE SEPTEMBER 1–21, 2021 • PAGE 3

Ground Breaks on Fisher Road Reconstruction While driving by Fisher Road Aug. 27, Bridge staff noticed a big culvert dug out at the spot, which had been filled in since Sept. 2020 (causing one end of Fisher Road to be closed). This culvert had failed during a rainfall last year, and the road to Central Vermont Medical Center had been blocked from the Berlin Street side ever since. The selectboard for the Town of Berlin issued the notice of award to Dubois Construction to do the work during its meeting Aug. 2. It now looks like the road may indeed be open by snowfall, as a Berlin town official estimated — barring any new mishaps.

Mask Up, MontpelierBecause of the rise in the number of local COVID-19 cases, city officials have amended their staff mask-wearing policy. If the CDC designates Washington County as a “high-level” area of transmission of COVID-19 (the CDC threshold for “high” transmission is 100 cases per 100,000 residents), then staff members are required to wear masks indoors or when in external meetings, regardless of their vaccination status. Unvaccinated employees are still always required to wear masks while indoors. City officials strongly recommend that all visitors wear masks to any indoor facilities.

Still Finger Lickin’ GoodA Bridge board member and the editor both noticed something happening at the Ken-tucky Fried Chicken restaurant on the Barre-Montpelier Road. Upon inspection, it looks as though it is getting a facelift. We noticed it has been closed down, but rather than being demolished, it appears to have a whole new exterior. A quick call to the corporate office in Kentucky revealed this decades-old establishment is temporarily closed — most likely for remodeling. “It should be back up and running in not too long,” said the customer service representative in a pleasant Southern drawl. Barre has had a somewhat close relationship with this establishment. A folder held by the Vermont Historical Soci-ety in Barre contains a newspaper clipping with a photograph of KFC founder Colonel Harland Sanders, next to Roy Turner of Barre, at the 1970 Barre Heritage Festival. Both have white beards and are wearing bolo ties. The article notes Sanders visited Barre to commemorate the opening of his newest Kentucky Fried Chicken outlet.

HEARD ON THE STREET

Bridge Community Media, Inc.P.O. Box 1143, Montpelier, VT 05601 • Ph: 802-223-5112Editor: Carla OccasoContributing Editor: Tom BrownPublisher Emeritus: Nat FrothinghamCopy Editor: Larry FloerschLayout: Dana Dwinell-YardleyAd Director: Rick McMahanBoard Members: Natasha Eckart Baning, Larry Floersch, Greg Gerdel, John Lazenby, Irene Racz, Linda Radtke, Nancy Reid, Jen Roberts, Mason Singer, Justin Turcotte

Editorial: 223-5112 or [email protected] • Advertising: 249-8666 or [email protected]: The Bridge office is located at the Vermont College of Fine Arts, Stone Science Hall. Subscriptions: You can receive The Bridge by mail for $40 a year. Make out your check to The Bridge, and mail to The Bridge, PO Box 1143, Montpelier VT 05601.

montpelierbridge.org • facebook.com/thebridgenewspapervt Twitter: @montpbridge • Instagram: @montpelierbridge

© 2021, Bridge Community Media, Inc., All Rights Reserved. Some content published with the permission of the respective copyright holders.

Then & Now

The intriguing two-story office building at 3 Pitkin Court has an impressive past. It was constructed in 1861 on State Street next to the North Branch by James French as Mont-pelier’s first post office building. It resided at this location for only nine years before it was moved to Main Street to make way for an-other building that still stands. In its new location the French post office building acquired a mansard roof be-fore moving again to make room for the new city hall around 1900, in the process losing some arched windows.

Historic photos courtesy of Vermont Historical Society;modern photo and caption by Paul Carnahan

NATURE WATCHArtwork and words by Nona Estrin

Contributors to This Issue

CORRECTIONSIn a Page 4 story of the last issue, quotation marks were incorrectly put

around a paraphrase of the preamble of the U.S. Constitution. The Bridge regrets the error.

A recent story by The Bridge about a new mural incorrectly mischaracterized the neighborhood of the artist’s cousin. We greatly regret the error and we are examining our inherent biases.

Sharon AllenTom BrownPaul CarnahanNona Estrin

Kathleen FechterLarry FloerschJ. Gregory GerdelJohn Lazenby

Tom McKoneMary Cole MelloAndrew NemethyCarla Occaso

How to reconcile our summer pleasures

with undeniably longer nights? A cool morning, when mist rises from the valleys? We’ve grown ac-customed to late after-noon swims at Wrights-ville beach, and dinner at dusk in the evening air. Ahh... but anxiety about the coming season is soothed with the flavor and abundance of sweet corn and ripe tomatoes — and apples, now becom-ing juicy and flavorful in every hedgerow!


New Outdoor Art Celebrates Montpelier’s Artistic Identity

A community-based movement to increase public art and to empha-size Montpelier’s artistic identity

has hit its stride. At least a half-dozen new pieces of outdoor art are going up this summer and fall, as we ride the first wave of an effort that promises to make art much more prominent in the city.

“Public art creates something interest-ing to look at and to stop by and think about,” said artist Kristine Chartrand. “Sometimes it adds beauty to a spot that needs it…. It makes art more accessible to people, and they’re not always the same people who might go to a gallery.”

A U-32 art teacher, Chartrand painted “Defying the Odds,” a whimsical scene of Vermont wildlife huddled on a tiny ice floe on a summer day, which — in a larger format — is about to be installed above the Rialto Bridge on State Street. Printed on a 9-by-18-foot vinyl fabric, an enlargement of her painting will be on the side of the North Branch Café building, above the North Branch of the Winooski River. Building on the theme of “We’re all in this together,” Chartrand said the humor, fantasy, and playful characters in a precarious situation are intended to give viewers both pleasure and plenty to talk and think about.

Chartrand’s watercolor painting, which she digitized with high-quality photography and which was printed on the vinyl fabric by a company in Colo-rado, will join several other new eye-catching works. The aggressively color-ful mural of bees and food on the side of the building that houses Shippee Family Eye Care on Main Street and the mural

on the Montpelier Recreation Center that celebrates the civil rights movement and Black Lives Matter are already up.

A cluster of colored, translucent acrylic panels are coming to the open space beside the Drawing Board, and a Peter Schumann piece is going up on the side of the Rabble-Rouser building. In coming weeks, the Challenger Seven Memorial on National Life property will be moved to a site by the bike path, near Montpelier High School, and the city’s Public Art Commission is drafting a call to artists for a large mural on the bike-path side of Shaw’s supermarket.

This increased emphasis on public art is the result of the Public Art Mas-ter Plan approved by the city council in 2018, which in turn was the result of the ArtSynergy project the year be-fore. Funded by a $50,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Arts, ArtSynergy held a series of events to get community input on how residents would like to see the role of art expand in Montpelier.

In 2019, as part of the Taylor Street Transit Center project, the city council showed its commitment with a “big art” contest. Gregory Miguel Gomez and Rodrigo Nova won a privately funded $50,000 prize for “Counter Rotation,” a round granite bench with a split-flap counter that with each rotation shows a different image or poem.

The Public Art Commission, which was created as part of the master plan and appointed by the council, has now taken the lead in bringing everything together and to making things happen.

“We have a great community here, and art reinforces that,” said the com-mission chair, Rob Hitzig. “Art adds to a community’s identity…. It adds to the vibrancy and it adds to personal growth and communal growth.”

Hitzig said that a good first impres-sion and some early successes are im-portant, so the commission is focusing on very visible, inexpensive projects that provide a lot of a bang from its limited budget. The commission has received $20,000 in each of two city budgets and also receives funding from Montpelier Alive.

Hitzig stressed the crucial roles that Paul Gambill of the Community En-gagement Lab, Dan Groberg of Mont-

pelier Alive, and Kevin Casey, the city’s community development specialist, have played from the start. He further em-phasized that the volunteer efforts of commissioners and other community members, the cooperation of property owners, and support from city workers and businesses have all been essential to this broad-based, community effort. And at the heart of it, he said, are the artists.

“It’s a thing about street art that you own it while you’re painting it, but after that it belongs to everyone,” said Erika McCormack, who painted the fun and very colorful mural that is serendipi-tously located right next door to where she works when she’s not painting —

By Tom McKone

Above, lead artist Xavier Pinnock-Olbino-Santana in front of the “Resilience” mural on the back of the Montpelier Recreation Center. Photo by Tom McKone.


Three Penny Taproom on Main Street. Customers who are seated outdoors have a good view of her mural, and she said it is fun and humbling to hear people who don’t know she is the artist com-ment on it.

“I love bees and I wanted to show the interconnectedness of the food we eat and the importance of pollination,” Mc-Cormack said. “I wanted kids to like it, too, and I wanted them to be able to go

up and touch it… It was fun ordering the paint — all neon, all the way.”

Colors are also important to the new mural on the back of the Rec Center, nicely placed for great views from the bike path and all the way across the Win-ooski to U.S. Rt. 2/Berlin Street. Titled, “Resilience,” this mural is the work of six Montpelier High School students and two of their teachers.

A few months ago, Xavier Pinnock-

Olbino-Santana, a rising senior who is planning to go to art school after gradu-ation, approached art teacher Colleen Flanagan with some project ideas, in-cluding a mural. That led to a class project that involved five more students and another teacher. While Flanagan worked with Pinnock-Olbino-Santana as he developed the design, she said the vision was entirely his.

“The mural is a reflection of all of

the students’ visions, with Xavier’s broad vision underlying it all,” Flanagan said. “We had some hard conversations work-ing on this mural. I was impressed with the students’ steadfast commitment to civil rights. They amazed me.”

The back row, from left to right, pres-ents Malcolm X, Martin Luther King, Jr., John Lewis, and Amanda Gorman. Pinnock-Olbino-Santana said they rep-resent a progression of Black leadership, with Gorman now one of the people in that role. The front row has four victims of police or vigilante violence: George Floyd, Trayvon Martin, Breonna Taylor, and Adam Toledo.

“The mural is about what we’ve gone through to get where we are now,” Pin-nock-Olbino-Santana said. “The front row is in blue and is about remembrance, police violence, and ending hatred.”

The mural was painted in sections at MHS and then installed on the wall. The other students who worked on it are Mira Pompei, Diego Harper-Vive, Marlie Mc-Dermet, Hector Zeankowski-Giffin, and Kathryn McCall. Global citizen teacher Helen Sullivan joined them.

“Why public art?” Groberg asked, throwing my question back at me. “The mission of Montpelier Alive is to create a more vibrant and livable Montpelier by celebrating downtown.…We have so many creative people in the area and we want to create more of those wow-and-wonder moments.…We want to encour-age the city to infuse art into its think-ing (about everything).”

Montpelier Alive has long promoted

continued on page 6

Artist Erika McCormack in front of her bee-themed mural on the side of the Shippee Family Eye Care building. Photo by Tom McKone.


art and artists. Groberg noted that in addition to efforts such as the monthly Montpelier Art Walks, before the Public Art Commission was created, Montpe-lier Alive had done some public art proj-ects, such as “Blue Flags” over the North Branch river between State Street and Langdon Street and the asphalt mural in the parking lot next to Julio’s restaurant.

“I see every blank wall as a possible canvas,” Groberg said. “I’d like us to use art to elevate diverse voices. The Black Lives Matter murals on the Rec Center and on State Street are great examples of that. We can use art to do good.”

Like Hitzig and Groberg, Bob Han-num, the commission’s vice chair, believes that art revitalizes a community, but he added another aspect to this: “It’s not just beautifying our lives and our city; it’s tied into economic development.”

Hannum researched and wrote a de-tailed report on the more than 30 pieces of public art already in the city. Ac-knowledging one of the commission’s re-sponsibilities, he included the condition of each piece. Most are in good shape; however, monitoring the condition of outdoor artwork and recognizing and planning for maintenance is important

to keeping things looking good. Showing art that is in poor condi-

tion is worse than having no art at all, he said, adding that outdoor art has life expectancies, so some art projects are scheduled for finite periods. Work printed on vinyl fabric, for example, is less expensive than some other types of installations. It is planned for two years. Its lower cost and limited life span allow the commission to stretch its dollars and to test various ideas in various locations.

Casey said this approach has helped the commission to jump-start its work. “Let’s get public art out and make it part of the conversation with smaller, highly visible projects.”

The commission is working in the first section of the Public Art Master Plan’s priorities — short-term goals and strategies. The 84-page plan includes medium- and long-term goals and strat-egies, as well. Some of those goals push us to dream big. How much will this effort grow?

“Once you build this base, it will build momentum and it will organically find its home and right size,” said Casey. Stay tuned, and in the meantime, enjoy the expanding wealth of art spreading through the city.

continued from page 5

Artist Kristine Chartrand with her painting, “Defying the Odds.” An 9-foot by 18-foot reproduction of this painting will be installed on the side of the North Branch Café building on State Street. Photo by Tom McKone.


The Bee

In March of 2018, Montpelier Middle School student Raghav Dhandi won the Vermont State Spelling Bee. In

March of 2019, he won again. After the 2019 contest, Dhandi was featured on the front page of the Times Argus holding his Vermont trophy, smiling and determined to win the national contest “next time.” Although he never received the national prize, Dhandi knows that he belongs to an elite group, having been part of the Scripps National Spelling Bee two years in a row, an event now broadcast over ESPN with almost as much fanfare as a Super Bowl.

It wasn’t always this way. Long before ESPN, CNN, or PBS existed, the spell-ing bee was a uniquely American form of small town entertainment along with square dancing and listening to stump speeches. Why America? For one thing, a spelling bee held in Finland would be somewhat lacking in suspense. Words are spelled exactly as they sound. English is, on the other hand, quirky. For hundreds of years, the British were continually being invaded (or invading) and as a result, the language draws from many sources. Our words follow the phonetic rules of the Romans, Jutes, Saxons, Vikings, and any other group the English knocked their spears against. Many languages may not be as phonetically regular as Finnish, but English is especially weird.

Spelling bees are then a great test of a contestant’s ability to memorize the spell-ing of thousands of words and, ideally, to have some grasp of other languages. Al-though the popularity of spelling bees in the United States may rise and fall, they never seem to go away.

There could be no real spelling bees without dictionaries. When the first dic-tionaries were printed in the 1700s, Eng-lish-speaking people had a guide to cor-rect spelling. Samuel Johnson completed his British dictionary in April of 1755. Then in 1783, Noah Webster published his “Blue Back Speller,” the forerunner to his famous dictionaries. Although British schoolchildren played at informal spell-ing contests, it was in the United States that spelling bees became a national pas-time. In “The History of the Spelling Bee,” Rebecca Sealfon notes that while in England you might be judged on your pronunciation of a word and your accent, in the United States, you were more likely to be judged on the basis of your spelling, making that a highly valued skill.

The exact origin of the word “bee” has been lost in time but may come from an Old English term “bene,” which could be roughly translated as “doing good for your neighbor.” In early New England, settlers enjoyed “bees.” There were quilt-ing bees, apple-paring bees, and husking bees. All of these benefited the com-munity but were also social events, an opportunity for getting together without any of the scandalous aspects of singing or dancing. In puritanical New England, it was acceptable to have a good time as long as you weren’t actually planning to.

But the word “spelling bee” did not become popular until the mid 1800s. Up until then, you might have participated in a spelling “contest,” a spelling “match,” or a spelling” school.”

Spelling bees by any name were gener-ally school-related events until 1871, when Edward Eggleston wrote “The Hoosier Schoolmaster.” In Eggleston’s popular book, the hero, Ralph Hartsook, defeated the villain not with his fists or a pistol but by spelling him down. Then Ralph was himself spelled down by a servant girl named Hannah, the contest winner. American readers may have liked to think this was proof of the egalitarian nature of spelling contests. The book ignited such an interest in spelling bees that in April of 1875, The New York Times reported that there seemed to be an “epidemic” of “spelling matches.” The spelling bee had now moved out of the schoolroom and into adult events. Soon spelling “bee” became the common term.

In 1908 the National Education As-sociation offered the country the first na-tional spelling bee. Eighth graders came to Cleveland, Ohio, from all over the country to compete at the new Hippo-drome Theater. The winner was Marie Bolden, a 14-year-old African-American girl from Cleveland. Her victory, less than 50 years after the abolition of slav-ery, rattled much of the country and, just in case they hadn’t got the point, African-American educator, Booker T. Washing-ton was quoted as saying, “You will admit that we spell out of the same book that you do. And I think you will also admit that we spell a little better.”

In fact, no one admitted to anything. The New Orleans School Board passed a resolution deploring “the unfortunate occurrence at Cleveland and the pitting of our children against a Negro [sic].”

(They also deplored the fact that New Orleans came in third.) The controversy was such that no other national spelling bee was held until the Louisville Courant organized a new national contest in 1925.

By the 1930s families could gather around the radio and listen to spelling bees every week. Over the decades, the documentary “Spellbound,” the musi-cal “The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee,” and the movie “Akeelah and the Bee” have all reflected interest in spelling bees and fostered it.

In 1841, the Scripps-Howard company took over the national spelling bee, which continued with only two breaks, the first during World War II and the second in 2020 because of the COVID pandemic. Students are eligible to participate until they’ve completed the eighth grade. In 2021, 14-year-old Zaila Avant-garde be-came the first Black American to win.

Spelling bees have become more popu-lar than ever, but do we need them? We have spell check. We have autocorrect and auto-fill. Why should American students spend hours memorizing the spelling of words such as “marraya.” Memorization does, in fact, strengthen the mind by strengthening neural plasticity, the abil-ity of the brain to change and develop. However, if memorization is good for the mind, why not memorize poetry, great speeches, or even batting averages? All of those may be of some benefit. The value of spelling mastery lies in its ability to deepen understanding of word meaning, grammar, and etymology. There’s a caveat here, though. Spelling bees may be a good teaching strategy primarily for those who learn to spell easily. Virginia Zahner, a long-time special educator and a reading coach in Vermont notes that, for children

who struggle, spelling bees are a poor way to become better spellers. “While many kids are reliable spellers with minimal ef-fort, a significant number need consistent and sequenced instruction in understand-ing of word structures and word patterns.”

There’s another caveat. Unlike team sports, spelling bees require participants to face an audience (at the upper levels, there may be thousands in the theater) and to stand alone in front of a micro-phone knowing that for you to win, ev-eryone else must fail. Jane Nickelsberg, a Montpelier mother and former teacher, tells of watching tense parents mouth the letters as their children stand on the stage slowly working through a word. Both Jane and her daughter, Leah Shoaf, also a mother and a teacher, feel strongly that no one should be prodded or even asked to participate in a spelling bee. The desire to compete in this pressure cooker of an event should come from the child.

If spelling bees are not for everyone, they’ve been held up as an example of a true meritocracy. James McGuire, in “A Brief History of Spelling Bees in The United States,” notes that participants in the na-tional spelling bee serve as “a wonderful representation of all races, classes, genders, and religions in the United States.” It’s a nice image, although we know inequities exist even within this group of super spell-ers. Not all can afford coaches. Not all can purchase the app SpellPundit ($600 a year). However, if the playing field isn’t as level as we would wish, the National Spell-ing Bee still inspires, and in 2013 gave us an “only in America” moment when an Indian-American boy named Arvind Mahankali won by correctly spelling the Yiddish word “knaidel.”

Raghav Dhandi wins the spelling bee in 2019. Photo by Jeb Wallace-Brodeur, provided by the Times Argus, and reprinted with permission.

By Mary Cole Mello

Education


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resigned in 2019. Richardson then won the right to complete Hill’s term at Town Meeting in 2020 and was re-elected (to a two-year term) this year. District 3’s other seat also changed hands when Glen Coburn Hutcheson stepped down after serving one term. Jay Ericson won a two-year term in 2020 for the open seat.

Richardson, an attorney specializing in municipal law, is leaving to become city attorney for Burlington. He said the time demands and potential conflicts of inter-est of the new job precluded him from remaining on the council. He and his family will remain in Montpelier.

“It has been an honor to talk with residents in District 3, most often virtu-ally or by email, about their issues and concerns,” Richardson said in an email. “We, Montpelierites, are active and en-gaged in our community, and we share a passion for discussing issues and partici-pating in solutions. I have been fortunate to serve such a wonderful cohort, and it is my great disappointment to have to end my term sooner than I anticipated.”

Richardson came to the council just as the COVID-19 pandemic roared in, sapping city coffers as business slacked, tax revenue dropped, and parking rev-enue disappeared. The economic crisis forced the city to cut its budget and put a damper on many aspirational goals.

Richardson was an advocate for strate-gic planning and was a proponent of de-veloping the eastern end of Barre Street as a commercial and residential hub. He also had hoped to provide more recre-ational options for District 3 residents, especially those who live south of the Winooski River.

“COVID put many of these ideas on the back-burner as we focused on mak-ing essential city services available and keeping government funded during some very scary and dark times,” Richardson said.

Two of the potential replacements have run for council before. Goltz lost to Richardson, 578–222, last March, and Leon was runner up in a three-way con-test for the seat won by Ericson in 2020.

Goltz is a longtime advocate for paren-tal rights. She lost custody of her child at birth when state officials determined she was unable to care for the infant.

Goltz argues that she was never given the opportunity to prove she could care for the child.

Leon led a successful effort to lower the speed limit on Berlin Street, where he lives, although the council did not agree with his goal of 25 mph and set the new limit at 30, down from 35.

Brown is the spouse of City Clerk

John Odum and said in her applica-tion letter that any potential conflicts of interest could be averted. Morton, a Native American, said her goal, among others, was to bring cultural diversity to the council.

The council will take up the appoint-ment at its meeting at 6:30 p.m. Wednes-day, Sept. 1.

District 3continued from page 1


If you missed the thoughtful, high-energy, and professionally presented performance on the State House

lawn Saturday evening, Aug. 15, do not despair. The Vermont teen show will be

releasing a film of the production and its timely questions in the fall — you can still “Listen Up!”

Despite an evening at the State House that was unusually cool for this un-

usually warm summer, the compelling honesty and enthusiasm of the perform-ers kept the audience of more than 350 engaged, even as they pulled blankets around their shoulders. The thrust of this earnest production is to face the questions that we ignore at our peril. That peril weighs heavily on the pros-pects and future of this rising genera-tion.

The summer of 2021 tour mounted nine performances in five towns, “Strong word-of-mouth reaction built audience interest throughout,” producer Bess O’Brien said. “If we’d had more time, it would have been great to do more shows — but the kids are heading back to school.”

The film version of the production is being edited from digital footage shot during two performances of the show at the Shelburne Museum, Aug. 13 and 14. Unlike the cool evening at the State House, those were some of the hot-test days the show encountered, said O’Brien during a phone interview fol-lowing the Montpelier show.

With a five-camera set-up covering the two successive shows, the editing process will have a wealth of footage to work with, O’Brien noted. “We have wide shots, close-ups, and the action is covered from every angle,” she said.

Distribution of the film is expected to begin in late October or early Novem-ber through theaters, at schools, and through streaming to maximize expo-sure, O’Brien expects.

A video of one of the numbers in the show was produced during the lock-down with all of the performers re-corded separately in full accord with the health department guidance, then integrated through the magic of digital editing. A link to the video is available: listenupvt.org/post/my-person-video-released

Although preparation for the produc-tion began during the early winter of 2019, the arrival of the coronavirus in the spring of 2020 swept aside the plan for 13 performances in theaters and town halls across the state. In addition to postponing the tour for a year, con-cern about the virus brought a decision to stage the show outdoors — and a host of additional “logistical rejigger-ing” challenges, O’Brien said.

The cast included 16 Vermont teens, six more on the stage crew, and three in the live band. Development of the script came through interviews with more than 800 teens across Vermont during the project’s first stage in 2019, O’Brien noted in a press release earlier this summer.

The “Listen Up” Project is underwrit-ten by Blue Cross/Blue Shield of Vermont and the Vermont Department of Health, along with Burton Snowboards, VSAC, the Alchemist Foundation, a Vermont Afterschool Summer Matters grant, the Vermont Children’s Trust Fund, and the Fountain Fund.

‘Listen Up!’ Has More to ComeBy J. Gregory Gerdel


The national anthem got quite a workout during the recent Olym-pic Games in Tokyo.

That got me to thinking about the controversy that surfaces from time to time over replacing “The Star-Spangled Banner” with another piece of music, such as “America, the Beautiful.”

As a journalist, I felt it my duty to look into this controversy and provide some insights into the criticisms of “The Star-Spangled Banner.”

First, I must admit I have a soft spot for “The Star-Spangled Banner,” because singing it allowed me to skip the third grade. At least that’s how I remember it.

During the summer between the sec-ond and third grades, my family moved me from the city to the suburbs. At the beginning of the new school year, I found myself standing before my new third-grade classmates belting out the national anthem in a solo and “a cap-pella” performance. The teacher must have been greatly impressed with my musical genius, because she immedi-ately consulted with the principal, who came to our classroom. I was asked to sing it again. The next thing I knew I was moved to the fourth grade, which was scary because it was filled with “older women” and bullies — and in some cases the older women were the bullies.

“The Star-Spangled Banner” has only been the official U.S. anthem for 90 of 245 years. In what was probably the highlight of his term in office, President Herbert Hoover signed the congressio-nal proclamation making it so in 1931. Up until that year, the catchy little tune “Hail, Columbia,” which was written for George Washington’s inauguration and of which I am sure we can all hum a few bars, had been the de facto national anthem.

I knew nothing of this back in the fourth grade, of course. I was trying to figure out why I was living in “Tiza-thee” because another patriotic song we sang in school opened with “My coun-try Tizathee” which was a “sweet land of liberty.”

One argument for abandoning “The Star-Spangled Banner” is that it glori-fies war with its references to ramparts, the red glare of the rockets, and bombs bursting.

As we all know from our third-grade history (well, you may remember your third-grade history — I personally was never exposed to it because I was ad-vanced to the fourth grade for singing the national anthem), the lyrics were written during the War of 1812 by Francis Scott Key after he witnessed the bombardment of Fort McHenry in Baltimore by British warships.

Key himself is a controversial figure in that he was a slave owner, a strong ad-vocate of the institution of slavery, and, as a district attorney, had suppressed abolitionists. Some historians also claim he publicly criticized slavery and gave free legal representation to some slaves seeking freedom. In other words, he was . . . an attorney.

It is true if you sing all four stanzas, there are a number of references to war. Some critics also claim racism, elitism, and even sexism are embedded in the third and fourth stanzas. But when was the last time you sang the second, third, and fourth stanzas? For that matter, how often do you go around the house humming the tune?

And if you think the lyrics of “The Star-Spangled Banner” are bellicose, compare them with those of another famous national anthem, France’s “La Marseillaise,” which was written about

the same time (1792). In “La Marseil-laise” there are lines such as “Ils vien-nent jusque dans nos bras / Égorger nos fils, nos compagnes!” (They come right to our arms / To slit the throats of our sons, our friends!), or “Qu’un sang impur / Abreuve nos sillons!” (May impure blood / water our fields!), or, my personal favorite, “Mais ces despotes sanguinaires, / Mais ces complices de Bouillé, / Tous ces tigres qui, sans pitié, / Déchirent le sein de leur mère!” (But not these bloodthirsty despots, / But not these accomplices of Bouillé, / All of these animals who, without pity, / Tear their mother’s breast to pieces!).

Next to “The Star-Spangled Banner,” the lyrics to “La Marseillaise” read like the script to the “Texas Chain Saw Mas-sacre.”

Another criticism is that “The Star-Spangled Banner” is difficult to sing. It requires a vocal range of one and a half octaves to hit the low at “Oh say can you see,” and then the high at “land of the free . . .”

But there is a reason it is hard to sing – drunks are not expected to carry a tune. The lyrics by Key were set to the music of “To Anacreon in Heaven,” which was a drinking song of the Anacreontic Society, a British “gentlemen’s” club in London. The person after which that society was named, Anacreon, was a Greek from the sixth century BC who specialized in erotic poetry. Indeed, the refrain in the original lyrics to “To Ana-creon in Heaven” reads “to entwine the myrtle of Venus with Bacchus’ vine.” Pretty saucy stuff.

So, which would you rather have for an anthem? A British drinking song named after an ancient Greek famous for his erotic poetry, with lyrics by a 19th century slaveowner that seemingly glorify war, or a song that extols the beauty of America written by a 33-year-old English major after she hiked up Pike’s Peak?

As for me, I’m pulling for Paul Si-mon’s “American Tune.” And I’m still trying to find Tizathee on a map.

Oh Say Can You See Tizathee From Here?

By Larry Floersch

Commentary

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WEDNESDAY, SEPT 1Barre City Farmers Market. 3:30 to 6:30 p.m. Pearl Street pedestrian way, Barre. Fresh local produce, foods, and artisan goods located in Barre’s newly added pedestrian way. Check out the granite sculptures while you are there. For more information go to thebarrepart-nership.com/barrefarmersmarket

THURSDAY, SEPT 2Concert: The Bresetts. 6 to 7:30 p.m. Currier Park, Barre. David and Cour-teney are a father-and-son duo playing music around the Central Vermont area. Free, bring a blanket or a chair.

Concert: The Revenants. Noon to 1 p.m. Christ Church courtyard, 64 State Street, Montpelier. Bluegrass Gospel Project alums Taylor Armerding, Andy Greene, and Kirk Lord have come to-gether to present original, time-honored, and contemporary Americana music. The Hunger Mountain Co-op Brown Bag Summer Concert Series is Mont-pelier Alive’s series of free lunch-time concerts. Bring a takeout lunch from one of our wonderful downtown restaurants and enjoy!

SATURDAY, SEPT 4Capital City Farmers Market. 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., 133 State Street, Montpelier.

Fresh produce, prepared foods, and ar-tisan crafts in the capital of Vermont. For more information go to capitalcity-farmersmarket.com or email [email protected] Concert: Atlantic Crossing and the Turning Stile. 7 to 9 p.m., Capital City Grange Hall, 6612 Northfield St., Mont-pelier. A benefit concert for the Montpe-lier Contra Dance and the Capital City Grange Hall. Outdoor event. The con-cert will also be streamed online. Both bands have familiar faces and are marvel-ous musicians on the contra-dance stages of New England and beyond. Suggested admission: $12 adult, $5 low income, and $20 supporter. Additional fundraiser donations can be made online (capi-talcitygrange.org/donate/) or with cash or check at the event. More informa-tion including event link can be found at capitalcitygrange.org/events/ and the Montpelier Contra Dance Umbrella Facebook page. Contact Tim Swartz 802-225-8921, [email protected] Caterpillar Lab. 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., the North Branch Nature Center, Mont-pelier. The Caterpillar Lab is a traveling, world-class educational organization that turns nature centers and museums into a spectacular caterpillar circus, research lab, incubator, art studio, classroom, and all-around nature party. The exhibit is a casual, drop-in experience. If you are wondering if this exhibit is for you, the answer is YES! The Caterpillar Lab is open from 10 a.m. to noon and from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. $10.00

SUNDAY, SEPT 5The Caterpillar Lab. 1 to 5 p.m. See Sept. 4.

Traditional Irish Session at Rabble-Rouser. 2 to 4:30 p.m. Rabble-Rouser, Main Street, Montpelier. Players and fans of Irish music, we will be hosting a traditional Irish session every Sunday at Rabble-Rouser.

MONDAY, SEPT 6The Caterpillar Lab. 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., See Sept. 4.

WEDNESDAY, SEPT 8Barre City Farmers Market. 3:30 to 6:30 p.m. See Sept. 1.

THURSDAY, SEPT 9Food Truck Thursdays. 4 to 8 p.m. Currier Park, Barre. A variety of differ-ent food trucks scheduled all summer on Thursdays.Concert: Imagine That! 6 to 7:30 p.m. Currier Park, Barre. Imagine That! plays a wide variety of rock, pop, soul, blues, and R&B. Free, bring a blanket or a chair.Concert: KeruBo. Noon to 1 p.m. Christ Church courtyard, 64 State Street, Montpelier. KeruBo is a performing Afro-Jazz artist, originally from Kenya who is now a Vermonter. The Hunger Mountain Co-op Brown Bag Summer Concert Series is Montpelier Alive’s se-ries of free lunch-time concerts. Bring a takeout lunch from one of our wonderful downtown restaurants and enjoy!

SATURDAY, SEPT 11Capital City Farmers Market. 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., 133 State Street, Montpelier. See Sept. 4.

C A L E N D A R O F E V E N T S


Taste of Montpelier Food Festival.The premiere Taste of Montpelier will bring the best of Vermont’s culinary scene to the heart of its capital city. Proceeds benefit the Vermont Food Bank and Montpelier Alive! Free admission. Festi-val grounds on State Street with multiple performances throughout the day, beer garden by Barr Hill and Good Measure Brewing, and procession to State House lawn at 4:45 p.m. For more information, go to montpelieralive.org/taste.Feast of Fools, 2 to 5 p.m. State Street from Main to Elm and throughout Montpelier, over 25 different vendors, free samples, tasting tickets. One ticket, $4; three tickets, $10; five tickets, $15.Community Picnic, 5 to 7:30 p.m., State House lawn. Live music from Inner Fire District and What Cheer Brigade.After-Party, 7:30 to 9:30 p.m., Barr Hill Distillery, 116 Gin Lane, with live music from Inner Fire District.Art Exhibit: 20/20 Hindsight – See-ing the Past Anew with Contempo-rary Art. Opening reception, 3 to 5 p.m. Kents Corner, Calais. This exhibit puts a contemporary slant on methods and materials used to develop rural culture in late 19th-century Vermont. The exhibi-tion features 20 creatives — sculptors, painters, and printers, plus smiths of light, yarn, wool, metal, basketry, digital and mixed media, as well as the written word. All of the artists celebrate new

ways of seeing or building on the past. Art at the Kent is open for weekly view-ing: Friday through Sunday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., or by appointment: 802-223-6613.

SUNDAY, SEPT 12AirPeyton Memorial Run/Walk for Pediatric Cancer. 10 a.m., Montpelier High School courtyard. All proceeds will be donated to the Jimmy Fund Clinic and Make-A-Wish-Vermont. Registra-tion: 10 to 11 a.m., walk/run at 11 a.m.. Further information: [email protected]

THURSDAY, SEPY 16Food Truck Thursdays. See Sept. 9.Tinpenny Band. 6 to 7:30 p.m. Currier Park, Barre. Party rock band, 90’s Alter-native, Rock, Country and Dance/Party Favorites. Free, bring a blanket or a chair.

C A L E N D A R O F E V E N T S


In “Marcus Makes a Movie,” a kid named Marcus decides he has to make a movie based on the comic

he’s been writing in installments for years. Between writing a screenplay to actually filming, he discovers it may

be harder than he thought. With the help of his friends and a few enemies, Marcus will (at least try to) make a movie.

This book is good for readers 10+ years old because although it is a very

silly book, I don’t think it would appeal much to most 0–9 year olds.

I like this book because it is very educational about the writing, problems, shooting, progress, reshooting, screening, REshooting, VFX, and the budget that you need to keep an eye on when mak-ing a movie. It also may inspire the next generation of directors. In my opinion there still aren’t enough books (fiction or nonfiction) about movie making.

This book also deals with some serious topics incorporated into the silly plot.

One thing I did not like about this book is it uses the dead mom trope. If you go to any library and pick a random novel, chances are 50/50 the main character’s mom is dead.

Well, now you know the basic plot of “Marcus Makes a Movie.” I hope you enjoy it, if you read it, of course.

“Marcus Makes a Movie,” by Kevin Hart and Geof Rodkey, and illustrated by David Cooper, is published by Crown Books for Young Readers.

By Lennon Westborn, age 11

Book Review for Kids: ‘Marcus Makes a Movie’


Advertise!

The Funnies

Join SunCommon and the Vermont Youth Documentary Lab for a free

film screening on the State House lawn in Montpelier on Thursday, Sept. 2. from 7:30 p.m. to 9:15 p.m. We’ll be watching the new documentary “The Ants and the Grasshopper” co-directed by Raj Patel and Zak Piper.

Anita Chitaya, protaganist of “The Ants and the Grasshopper,” has a gift; she can help bring abundant food from dead soil, she can make men fight for gender equality, and she can end child hunger in her village. Now, to save her home in Ma-lawi from extreme weather, she faces her greatest challenge: persuading Americans that climate change is real.

The Vermont Youth Documentary Lab is a new artist-run project of ORCA Media, the non-profit community-access media center in Montpelier. The Doc Lab hosts media education programs for youths in documentary and experimental filmmaking, video journalism, photog-raphy, and audio podcasting, with an emphasis on nonfiction storytelling and youth representation.

This film screening is a free event, open to the public, with optional dona-tions to support the work of the Vermont Youth Documentary Lab. Learn more at vermontyouthdocumentarylab.com.

Press Release

Film Showing Planned for September 2


As a financial advisor, I spend my days helping my clients make smart money decisions that will

set them up to achieve their goals for the future. While a lot of what I do in-volves sophisticated strategies designed for more established investors, I also care deeply about helping the next gen-eration take control of their finances early in life so they, too, can live out their dreams. While investing can be an

intimidating topic for those just getting started, it doesn’t need to be. If you’re new to investing, know that it all starts with financial literacy — understanding the basics.

Here’s a primer:

Study common investment terminology.

The stock market is rife with complex concepts, so start by getting a grasp of

the frequently used terms and concepts. It helps to understand the language of investing, from asset allocation to ETF and beyond. To break it all down, use an online investment dictionary that provides plain-English definitions of common investment terms, or ask your financial advisor to explain them to you.

Enroll in a class. Take advantage of free webinars, sem-

inars, or workshops on investing funda-mentals. If you prefer learning in a class-room setting, look for basic courses on investing, how the stock market works, or personal finance at a local college or university.

Follow the news. Start following the business and fi-

nancial sections of your favorite media outlet to get a healthy dose of invest-ment know-how. You’ll begin to un-derstand the types of business activities that influence the marketplace — for example, oil prices or new housing starts — and gain an appreciation for what’s considered newsworthy. As you become more attuned to global markets, you’ll start to see the ripple effect of mergers

and acquisitions, product innovations and even front-page news stories — from natural disasters to general elec-tions and terrorist events — on Wall Street confidence.

Watch investment programs. Public radio and television stations

often feature investment programs aimed at new and seasoned investors. Even your local news channels may include a market segment. Be wary of infomercials disguised as informational investment programs, though.

Check out stock market apps. There are hundreds of apps available

today focused on helping consumers un-derstand investing. Before downloading an app, check the reviews and opt for those that have been vetted by trusted sources.

Track your favorite companies. To better understand the movement

of individual stocks, pick several of your favorite publicly traded companies to follow. Then, check their stock price, company newsroom, and social media accounts each day. Tracking the stocks over time will help you understand how company announcements and actions, such as a product launch or comment by an executive, may affect the stock price.

Work with a financial professional.

A professional can help you under-stand your investment options, and help you make financial decisions that are best for your individual needs. Work with someone who is willing to explain investment concepts and provide educa-tional materials. Tell your professional about your desire to learn more about the market. He or she will likely be will-ing to send you news articles, add you to a newsletter, or give you a call to discuss market news that may interest you.

Ellie Stubbs is a Fi-nancial Advisor with Ameriprise Finan-cial Services, LLC, in Barre. She spe-cializes in fee-based financial planning and asset manage-

ment strategies and has been in practice for 18 years. Contact her at ameriprisead-visors.com/ellie.stubbs, (802) 622-8060, 14 North Main Street, Suite 2001, Barre, VT 05641.

This article is distributed by Ameriprise Financial Services, LLC., a registered in-vestment adviser. © 2021 Ameriprise.

How to Get Savvy About Investing Commentary


naces, $400 for clothes dryers, and $2,200 for ducted heat pumps. You can also get a $100 rebate for DIY weather-ization. There are other incentives and rebates available as well through the or-ganization. Washington Electric Coop offers even more incentives.

But first you have to talk to someone like Powell and find out how big your footprint is. How many fossil fuels do you burn? What is the thermal perfor-mance of your building?

“We can do this one house at a time,” Powell said. He sounded calm and con-fident, not frantic or alarmist as some people sound when talking about this subject. “I am not here to proselytize. Some people will lead and others will follow...over time,” he said.

TransportationAnd as for transportation, I would love

to ride a bike to work. However, my work is 27 miles away and I live on the top of a steep hill. It isn’t feasible. Especially not in winter. So I have a few choices: (1) Move to town, get a new job, and walk to work; (2) Move to the town where my job is (but far from everything else); (3) Get an electric car; (4) Carpool; (5) Do nothing different. I chose to carpool because right now getting an electric car seems out of reach both economically and logistically. I alternate driving with a coworker three days a week, which adds up to eliminating about 270 miles per month. But owning an electric car would be something I think about longingly.

Writer Will Lindner wrote a detailed piece for the July 20 issue of The Bridge about the ins and outs of driving electric cars. Lindner’s article describes how Ver-mont has a growing electric car charging infrastructure and government incen-tives, which encourages people to pur-chase such vehicles.

His article and my talk with Powell gave me a deeper understanding about owning an electric car. First of all, they cost more than what I consider “regular” cars, and what Powell calls “gassers.” One of Powell’s key points, after describ-ing the pros and cons of electric cars, is

that charging their batteries is the biggest obstacle for potential purchasers.

Gassers, or “regular” cars, have inter-nal combustion engines, which run on gasoline. When you run out, you just go to a gas station, and in a few minutes, you have a full tank. Gassers are easy. By contrast, if you have an electric vehicle, you plug your vehicle into an electri-cal source. If you plug into your regu-lar (level-1) 120-volt electrical system at home, you are pulling the same amount of electricity as you use for your toaster and refrigerator. It takes a long time and you can’t always get fully charged overnight. People who need to drive dis-tances usually need the next level (level 2) — 240-volt — electrical system. This means you may need to add a new wire of sufficient size to handle the charger. The fastest (level 3) is called a DC fast charge. These are even more expensive. And public fast chargers are few and far between, Powell notes.

According to chargehub.com, Mont-pelier has 22 chargers for electric car users. There are 19 level-2 public char-gers and three level-3 chargers located all around town, including a few near the State House. Single units are also located

at the Vermont State Employees Credit Union, Hunger Mountain Coop, and National Life.

But to assert Montpelier has 22 char-gers available for public use is misleading because one of the level-3 chargers is at the Berlin Irving station, and one is at the Cody Cheverolet dealership. Three of the level-2 chargers are at the Nissan, Mazda, and Ford dealerships, and two of the level-2 chargers are way down Barre Street at Caledonia Spirits. So that leaves 15 charging stations in downtown Mont-pelier. If more than 15 people come to downtown Montpelier with electric cars, then some will be out of luck charger-wise.

“Most people don’t have what is re-quired to successfully migrate from gas-ser to EV,” Powell said. In addition to the charger at home, a heated garage is best because batteries don’t do well when they are cold. But if you don’t have to com-mute, or at least not very far, an electric car might be the way to go. “Everyone has an outlet somewhere where they can plug in,” Powell said. He spoke enthusi-astically about his own Chevrolet Bolt. “My experience is, ‘holy moly this thing is quick.’ The performance of these cars

is outrageous.” He got his Bolt in April and has yet to see how it fares over the winter, though.

Powell had scoffed at my original re-quest for a simple list of things you can do. “There are no free lunches. The easy stuff has already been done,” he told me at the outset. But here is my list of things I personally try to do:• Carpool on the commute• Hang washing on the line• Grow some of my own food• Pool resources• Shop local• Work toward weatherizing the house

(aspirational for now)• Get the most energy-efficient heating

system I can afford• Eat more plants than animalsPlaces where I need improvement:

• Car (I can’t yet see affording an electric car and the necessary accoutrements).

• Inertia — If it ain’t broke (my furnace, for example), I don’t fix it.

• I still buy some cheap plastic stuff.• DIY weatherization.But I am keeping Powell’s words in

mind every day. “Collectively we have to move off fossils. We know that. The implications are serious.”

Energy Coachcontinued from page 1


Rushing to get to work, I swing into

Paul’s Home Bake Shop and grab a couple of fresh glazed doughnuts, get a coffee to go

from The Country Store, and then cross State Street to head to the Times Argus office across from the Cody block, un-locking the door and settling in at my desk at 8:05 a.m.

At 9 a.m., Barbara Averill, the legend-ary “den mom” for generations of paper delivery boys and girls, arrives with her usual upbeat greeting to begin taking classified ads from walk-in customers. After deadline, about 11 a.m., I head to Somers Hardware for a couple of clamps

for a leaky muffler pipe and it’s back to work.

With an evening meeting to cover, I head home about 4 p.m., stopping in at Capital Market next to my office to pick up a couple of pork chops from Ray Alvarez, who weighs them on a scale and wraps them in butcher paper. A quick stop at the Grand Union for a six-pack of Molson, and another summer day has wrapped up for me in the capital city.

In case you haven’t guessed, this ver-sion of Montpelier is a fossil frozen in my mental amber — circa 1978 — when I worked out of the Times Argus office on Main Street, just up from the Lobster Pot restaurant, which later became the Main Street Grill and Bar run by the New England Culinary Institute (NECI). Ex-cept for the Grand Union (now Shaw’s),

spots like these restaurants and my office that once helped define downtown have since vanished.

Cities are always changing and evolv-ing, of course, in significant or less no-table ways that over years transform the downtown landscape. A trip down my dusty memory lane leads to many Mont-pelier landmarks whose once vital exis-tence has gone as thoroughly as the city crosswalk markings do by March every year.

For those under 30 or recently arrived, these downtowns of the past are invisible, hidden eras layered like an archeological site in the brains of ancient denizens. The era of Horn of the Moon cafe. The NECI era. The era when Aubuchon’s and Somer’s hardware stores co-existed side by side. The era when the Brown Derby Supper Club and Little Valley House on Route 12 south of Montpelier were boisterous hot spots for live music. Or when a good spot for a romantic tryst was the Boxcar Lounge, in a rail car attached to the Stockyard steakhouse,

where VSECU now stands. Or for jour-nalists and politicos, hanging out at the Thrush Tavern (now Pho Capital).

As a rural denizen, Montpelier has been my “hometown” city for close to 40 years. That means many storefronts have dual, even triple existences in my brain. The famed Three Penny Taproom was Miller Sports. The Coffee Corner became a pizza joint and now Bohemian Bakery. Great American Salvage Co., whose rambling interior filled many a house or business with unique architec-tural elements, now fills stomachs with Sarducci’s Italian delights.

I once filled peanut butter tubs as a volunteer member of Hunger Mountain Co-op in the building housing the Berlin Veterinary Clinic, as well as in an extinct red brick tenement on Barre Street.

Such memories reflect more than his-tory: They mark seminal changes and trends, inflection points in the capital’s history. In the 1970s, a decent artisanal anything was as mythical as Champ, and the culinary transformations of Vermont begun by NECI were a glimmer in co-founder Fran Voigt’s eye. NECI’s La Brioche Cafe was a revelation and pastry revolution in one. Its prominent home in City Center was possible only because a massive winter fire in the early 1980s de-stroyed the wooden Cody Block. We’ve since lost NECI, but Bohemian Bakery, Elm Street’s Birchgrove Bakery, Capitol Grounds, and Rabble-Rouser reflect a thriving cafe culture totally absent in the 1970s.

The most dissonant and gobsmacking transformation though, is down on Barre Street, where Caledonia Spirits now pro-vides a spirited cocktail and socializing gathering spot. Longtime denizens will recall instead the memorable array of semi-junked parts vehicles immobile in the weeds used by mechanical wizard Paul Ibey, whose garage extended the life of many a Toyota. This included my little red 1980s truck, until the sad and fateful day Ibey declared the rusted frame meant it had turned into a “motor-ized wheelbarrow“ unfit for the road.

That a garage, in a low hollow close to the Winooski River, could do oil under-coating all fall in a repair bay wrapped in plastic sheeting (back when that was indispensable to vehicular longevity) is one era that, looking back, I don’t miss.

Andrew Nemethy is a longtime journal-ist and editor from Calais who still misses breakfasts at Horn of the Moon Cafe.

By Andrew Nemethy

CommentaryThe Way I See It From Paul’s Home Bake Shop to the Lobster Pot: Montpelier Circa 1978

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Global warming. Climate change. Climate emergency.

The words used to describe what is happening to the planet Earth have changed over time and are politi-cally charged for some people. A better description might be “wacky weather.” Or, even better, “weather extremes.”

We might be able to agree that the weather is getting more extreme. Ver-mont can expect more heat, more cold, more droughts, and an increase in pre-cipitation resulting in more floods, more often. Currently, the Vermont Climate Council is developing a plan to be final-ized by the end of this year as required by the Global Warming Solutions Act. The act contains only one mandate: emissions reductions.

The Climate Council has five sub-committees: Just Transitions, Agricul-ture and Ecosystems, Rural Resilience, Science and Data, and the mysteriously named Cross-Sector Mitigation. Presum-ably the latter subcommittee is charged with merging all the information devel-oped by the other subcommittees into solutions that incorporate all the various sectors.

The “solution” they are focused on is electrification of everything, which means increasing consumption. Elec-tric vehicles, heat pumps, electric water heaters, smart appliances, pellet stoves, vehicle chargers, solar panels, and wind turbines are the likely mandates we can expect Vermonters to be required to pur-chase. The assumption is that building more renewables and transitioning to electricity as the primary energy source will result in emissions reductions.

My inquiries about addressing behav-ior or using less have met with silence, as have my suggestions that other tech-nologies should be considered, such as solar hot water and commuter rail on the western corridor, neither of which fit the “all electric” path the Climate Council is taking.

One residential area in Manchester

serves as an excellent case study of the issues surrounding the Global Warming Solutions Act’s approach to addressing climate change.

Recently, I was contacted by a neigh-bor of a proposed 500-kW solar project on Richville Road in Manchester. This outreach came very late in the process.

The transcript of the evidentiary hear-ing revealed the Public Utilities Com-mission was interested only in aesthet-ics. Parties were asked by the hearing officer to file briefs that focused on two issues: whether the project is shocking and offensive to the average person, and the Public Utilities Commission’s unique addition to the aesthetics review called “societal benefits.”

The residential development affected by the solar array has a fascinating his-tory. In 2004, the developer and his wife died in a car accident, resulting in litigation.

The neighbors did not hire a lawyer for the Public Utilities Commission case because they have obligations to pay the lawyer in that ongoing case and could not accrue more legal bills.

Neighbors submitted public comments objecting to the solar project based on aesthetics and also flooding. The solar project field, located next to the conflu-ence of the Battenkill River and Bourn Brook, floods regularly.

The solar developer told a neighbor that if flooding damaged the array, in-surance would cover it.

After the hearing, neighbors submitted photos and videos of the most recent, but the developer’s attorney objected to them as too late, and the Public Utilities Com-mission agreed. The evidentiary record is closed.

Highlighting the challenge Vermont has in its mandate to reduce emissions, the Manchester Journal published a let-ter to the editor from a Dorset resident supporting the solar project on Richville Road to address climate change. The project received “preferred site” letters

from the select board, planning com-mission, and regional planning commis-sion. A recent news article (Manchester Journal) quotes the planning and zon-ing administrator calling out the “noise-making people” and threatening neigh-bors with the prospect of a multi-story building being put up on the site much quicker.

One Manchester resident attended the recent Public Utilities Commission site visit. She told a neighbor she was in favor of the project but wanted to see for herself to understand the issues. After the site visit was over, where neighbors tried to talk about the flooding but were repeatedly told that was not part of the discussion at this time, she told the neighbor she was no longer in favor of the project. Not at a site that floods all the time.

This is the challenge the Global Warm-ing Solutions Act has set up for Vermont.

Are we going to look only to technol-ogy as the savior based on the assump-tion that building renewables everywhere regardless of other issues will result in emissions reductions?

Will we be able to consider how to ad-dress the effects of weather extremes and avoid development in flood-prone areas?

What does this mean for Vermont’s downtowns that are in flood hazard areas?

The Climate Council would be wise to include asking the legislature to modify the Global Warming Solutions Act to address issues resulting from weather ex-tremes in its recommendations in the Climate Action Plan.

The “solutions” cannot be all about technology and buying more stuff.

Annette Smith of Danby is the executive director of Vermonters for a Clean Envi-ronment.

By Annette Smith

CommentaryIs Electrifying Everything a Climate Change Solution?

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Since they were not listed, I do not know what Ms. Baning’s creden-tials are for describing critical race

theory (CRT). As she outlined it, it does not look all that scary. There are some aspects that were not addressed to my satisfaction, though.

First, looking at the third point in the list “A lesson on critical race theory,” I have no idea what she means by “Em-bracing the lived experiences of people of color” in that list’s context. Grammatically, it does not fit. Perhaps that is a typogra-pher’s error, not hers.

Second, she implicitly assumes the issue

has been decided that CRT is accurate, fair to all, and worthwhile. One discerns this when she writes, “These tenets are . . . a way to understand how our current systems work. This can then lead to a restructuring of the current systems so that they work for all members of our society.” I disagree that the three of the tenets which are understandable embody unchallengeable truth. The implicit asser-tion that the current system does not work for everyone requires evidence to support such a huge claim.

I readily grant that some people find more success than others in the system.

That, however, is a far cry from alleg-ing the system is set up to produce that outcome.

It is important to understand that when I use the term “system” I am referring specifically to the formal structure of laws and regulations enforced by varying branches of government. I am referring as well to various voluntary relationships citizens have with formal entities under that structure: businesses, corporations, contracts between parties, etc. I am not referring to the results of how citizens choose to live their lives within that struc-ture.

I would like to be shown concrete ex-amples of each of these tenets. I grew up and lived my first 77 years in the south. I know perfectly well for at least half of those years the system was openly set up to disadvantage minorities. That system has been replaced. If you can, show me one aspect of it that remains.

Third, there are far too many examples of people of all races, colors, backgrounds, ethnicities, etc. (minorities, for short) who have succeeded in building substantial, highly successful, and admirable lives. I cannot accept without real evidence that the deck is so stacked against minorities success cannot be achieved by them with-out enormous struggle. I have personally and intimately known such people myself,

people who fully participate in all aspects of society in perfectly ordinary ways, and who did not benefit from any special ef-fort to help them succeed. Assuming mi-norities cannot succeed without outside intervention is the most racist thing of all.

Fourth, Ms. Baning writes, “This quote is in direct alignment with [CRT]; that current laws are written in a way that allows for the progress of the interests of historically marginalized people and achieving racial equality only when it converges with the interest of the white majority.” Aside from asking the gram-mar to be corrected, I need to ask whether there might be reasons why a given person is marginalized, other than the person’s minority status. I assert that marginaliza-tion may be a function of many other fac-tors than some minority status. How does one sort that out?

Let’s use some actual facts. The Pew Research Center published a study, “Facts on U.S. Immigrants, 2018.” Among many other findings, it shows college enroll-ment by all U.S.-born citizens to be 42.2 percent, while sub-Saharan African en-rollment is 55.4 percent. U.S. born bach-elor’s degree is 12.4 percent, sub-Saharan African is 23.5 percent. That doesn’t look like the system is systemically stacked against minorities.

We have all heard about how Asians in the U.S. far outstrip U.S. born nation-als in almost every way imaginable. Are Asians denied membership in the minor-ity culture?

Moving on, the quote from the Con-stitution is simply wrong. It does not say what Ms. Baning says it says. It does say something like that, but in a much more elegant way. I have not analyzed the ac-tual text of the Preamble in comparison to what is in the article, so I do not know for sure whether the two are identical for all practical purposes. Perhaps they are, per-haps not. But there is certainly no reason to paraphrase the actual words. What is to be gained by that?

My problem with CRT is that it starts out assuming the system is systemically unfair to minorities, as Ms. Baning wrote. Because one is not achieving what one be-lieves one should be achieving is no proof of anything. Come back to me when carefully researched facts supporting that conclusion are available.

People are free to believe anything they choose. Facts, however, don’t care what you believe to be true. Because there is inequality of outcome does not prove inequality of opportunity, and equality of opportunity is all we are promised. That is what the system that CRT advocates rail against, the one which has produced more wealth and more benefit for the world than any other, is founded upon. Show me that is not what it delivers.

DeWitt Shank lives in East Montpelier.

By DeWitt Shank

CommentaryCritical of Critical Race Theory


Thank you, Montpelier Police & Fire Departments and VSP HazMat

Editor:On behalf of Union Mutual Insurance

Company, I would like to thank the Montpelier Police Department, Mont-pelier Fire Department, and the Ver-mont State Police HazMat team for their prompt and professional response to an incident at our office on Aug. 26. The incident turned out to be a false alarm, but our employees greatly appreciated the kind, cautious, and thorough treat-ment that we received from these profes-sionals. Our company cares deeply about this Central Vermont community, and we appreciate being cared for in return!

With gratitude,Sarah Jarvis, vice president

and general counsel, Union Mutual Insurance Company, Montpelier

Questioning the Presidency

Editor:Remind me again, why is it that we

need a president (rhetorically posed)? Leadership? Heck, we were virtually without meaningful leadership for four

years prior to President Biden taking office.

Without painstakingly going into ex-acting detail about why as well as the list of potential benefits of doing so, one wonders about whether it could be that, if we did away with the office of the presidency, we could manage fine with-out it and certainly not risk having either the same or some other megalomaniac potentially assume the office yet again?

It is just a thought, although in my opinion, one worthy of serious consider-ation as well as healthy debate.

By the way, if I recall correctly, some-time back in either the mid to late eight-ies during a conversation about politics with my father, he proposed a parliamen-tary style of government at the national level much as it is practiced elsewhere rather than maintaining the current of-fice of the presidency (my father was an Independent, however with strong con-servative as well as Republican leanings).

Morgan W. Brown, Montpelier

Letters to the Editor

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In June, Central Vermont Habitat for Humanity, an affordable housing non-profit, hosted a children’s poster

design contest where the organization invited kids in grades K-6 to submit artwork that showed what “home” looks like to them. Homeownership is often thought of as a financial asset from an adult perspective, but Habitat for Humanity learned from these children that home means much more than that. Home is family, it is a place full of memories, and, quite succinctly, “home is the best place ever!”

Poster design finalists are Nandika Manoj, a 1st grader from Montpelier;

Krishnareddy Daggula, a 3rd grader from Montpelier; and William Hassel-back, a 5th grader from East Calais.

Contestants drew, painted, and used a computer to make their art and show what home means to them. Each art-ist received four tickets to attend the Vermont Mountaineers baseball game, donated by the Mountaineers.

Habitat for Humanity’s volunteer Outreach Committee created this cam-paign as a way to connect with commu-nity members and let them know that the organization is seeking property for their next Habitat build. They would like more people to understand the work

that they do and the importance of cre-ating homeownership opportunities for income-sensitive families.

Habitat for Humanity will use this art in future promotions of their program to remind people in our communities of how important having a home is in every aspect of our lives. Habitat for Human-ity will also use this artwork for their partner homeowner application this fall.

Learn more about the work of Central Vermont Habitat for Humanity and how to apply for the affordable homeownership program at centralvermonthabitat.org

‘What Does Home Look Like to You?’ Finalists AnnouncedPress Release

Right, poster finalist Nandika Manoj of Montpelier. Photo courtesy Habitat for Humanity.


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