the bridge, may 2, 2013

As the weather warms, mud dries, dandelions bloom, and we celebrate spring’s arrival, quite a few of us start looking for new shelter. In this issue, we’ve looked at the real estate market: How sales compare to last year, household

energy consumption, debt considerations and the trials of renting. We asked local lending institutions how a person could avoid feeling mired in debt as the car above is mired in mud, and we asked real estate professionals and home seekers about their view of the world in spring 2013. Unlike the sentiments that the car owner above presumably felt, we heard some fairly upbeat observations. See pages 7 to 10.

PRSR

T S

TD

CA

R-RT

SO

RTU

.S. P

osta

gePA

IDM

ontp

elie

r, V

TPe

rmit

NO

. 123

The

Brid

geP.O

. Box

114

3M

ontp

elie

r, V

T 0

5601

Connecting Montpelier and nearby communities since 1993 | May 2–15, 2013

In thIs IssuE

Mud, history, and the land

12

real estate overview:

Phil Dodd surveys the Washington County

real estate scene

7

Mayor’s assessMent: John Hollar’s “state of the city”

6

photo by Michael T. Jermyn

Got Mud?

Back in the day. Photo from the files of the Vermont Historical Society. Courtesy of Paul Carnahan.

It’s Spring!

• MAY 2–15, 2013 THE BR IDGE

THE BR IDGE MAY 2–15, 2013 • PAGE 3

Subscribe to The Bridge! For a one-year subscription, send this form and a check to The Bridge, P.O. Box 1143, Montpelier, VT 05601.

Name___________________________________________________________

Address_________________________________________________________

City____________________________________ State_____ Zip____________

I have enclosed a check, payable to The Bridge, for:

❑ $50 for a one-year subscription ❑ An extra $____ to support The Bridge. (Contributions are not tax-deductible.)

HEARD ON THE

STREET Montpelier Farmers’ Market Part of Green Up Day

The first outdoor Capital City Farmers Market of the season will take place on Saturday, May 4, in conjunction with Green Up Day. Green Up Day trash bags will be available at the mar-

ket from 9 to 11 a.m. Several downtown businesses and organizations are also planning tie-in ac-tivities, including a pie breakfast hosted at Christ Church by the Orchard Valley Waldorf School, a bike swap at Onion River Sports and MontBeerlier Festival at the Three Penny Taproom.

Eat More Kale Setback

The U.S. Patent office has issued a second office action against Montpelier artist Bo Muller-Moore’s application for trademark protection of Muller-Moore’s “Eat More

Kale” design. Muller-Moore filed a trademark application in 2011 to protect against Internet knockoffs, but fast-food corporation Chik-fil-A filed a suit to block his application, citing infringement of their “Eat Mor Chikin” slogan. Muller-Moore said he and his attorney will appeal. “I’m shocked by the lack of justice at the [patent office],” Muller-Moore said. “This gives a huge advantage to big companies and those with enough money and lawyers the abil-ity to clear the field of any competition, whether that competition is real or imagined.”

Moretown Landfill Reopens

Advanced Disposal, the company that operates the Moretown Landfill, has reopened the landfill. The state ordered the landfill closed after it denied the landfill’s recertification,

citing groundwater pollution and odors from the landfill. Advanced Disposal appealed the decision, and the case is now in front of the Vermont Environmental Court. Advanced says that the landfill will remain open for business during the appeal, and that it is dealing with concerns cited, including removal of two underground leachate storage tanks, replumbing of the leachate force main and “addressing a new access plan.” Advanced says it has already spent over $1 million on improvements addressing other environmental concerns.

Small Grocers Shut Out by Ben & Jerry’s

If you can’t find pints of Ben and Jerry’s ice cream at your small local store anymore, it’s because of new sales minimums imposed by a new distributor, which effectively shut the

iconic Vermont brand out of many smaller stores in its native state. The new distributor, Maine’s Thibidou Ice Cream, will not service a store unless it sells a minumum of 64 pints every two weeks. The Vermont Grocer’s Association has fielded complaints from local gro-cers, co-ops and convenience stores about the switch. “It seems like a slap in the face to small stores,” Plainfield Co-op frozen foods buyer Nancy Ellen told VPR. “If that’s how they’re going to do business, I don’t really want to carry them anymore.”

CDC Honors Kristin Gilbert

Vermont Business Magazine says Kristin Gilbert, RN, of Associates in Pediatrics, Barre has been recognized as Vermont’s 2013 Childhood Immunization Champion by the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC).

District Heat Project Begins

Recent State Street traffic slowdowns involve water main work required ahead of district heat project construction. Montpelier’s director of Public Works, Todd Law, PE, advises

that the work involves completion of a water main transfer from an older eight-inch line to a 12-inch line installed around 2003–2005.

District heat excavation begins soon on School Street. Law offered details: The pipes come 40 feet long. The system requires two pipes: delivery and return. Pipes will be welded, then tested. Two types of testing may occur: hydraulic and dye-penetrant testing. The first involves pressure testing; the second, placing a dye on the the weld, then pressuring the weld with a liquid that can interact with the dye. The pipes are then insulated, then poly-encap-sulated to prevent soil moisture from corroding their exterior. A sensing wire will lie outside the pipe, beneath the insulation to signal if moisture is encroaching.

Sidewalk superintendents: Don’t watch the arc as welders weld—just as you wouldn’t look directly at the sun. A joint requires three passes by two welders, taking “probably about an hour.” Ten percent of the welds will be structurally tested radiographically. There will be iso-lation areas for those tests. Passers-by are asked to not intrude in isolation areas during these tests (similar to X-rays). Crews will ensure there are no radiation residuals, Law says.

Asked if the city would install incomplete connections for uncommitted customers, Law says inactive connections are undesirable. Dormant connections could cause stagnation of anticorrosion agents, leading to premature pipe corrosion. An option is to pipe to a basement, allowing continual corrosion-protected fluid flow through a loop, but delivering no heat.

—compiled by Max Shenk and by Bob Nuner

P.O. Box 1143, Montpelier, VT 05601Phone: 802-223-5112 | Fax: 802-223-7852 montpelierbridge.com; facebook.com/montpelierbridge

Published every first and third Thursday

Editor & Publisher: Nat Frothingham

General Manager: Bob Nuner

Strategic Planner: Amy Brooks Thornton

Production Editor: Kate Mueller

Sales Representatives: Carolyn Grodinsky, Rick McMahan, Ivan Shadis

Graphic Design & Layout: Cynthia Ryan

Calendar Editor: Dana Dwinell-Yardley

Bookkeeper: Kathryn Leith

Distribution: Kevin Fair, Diana Koliander-Hart, Daniel Renfro

Website & Social Media Manager: Dana Dwinell-Yardley

Advertising: For information about advertising deadlines and rates, contact: 223-5112, ext. 11, [email protected] or [email protected]

Editorial: Contact Bob, 223-5112, ext. 14, or [email protected].

Location: The Bridge office is located at the Vermont College of Fine Arts, on the lower level of Schulmaier Hall.

Subscriptions: You can receive The Bridge by mail for $50 a year. Make out your check to The Bridge, and mail to The Bridge, PO Box 1143, Montpelier VT 05601.

Copyright 2013 by The Montpelier Bridge

I always love this time, especially because there is a moment, a point, which seems to define the exact day when spring really starts. It’s called Red and Green Day, and I

heard about it from the naturalist Jerry Jenkins. You see the red maples blooming, that red cast on the hills from a distance, the individual flowers on the trees or soon fallen on the sidewalk. Now, when these red flowers fall, they take a week to 10 days, and at some point when there are still some red flowers on the trees, the bright spring green poplar leaves will burst their buds (they have already flowered) and lo! Red and Green Day! Look for it on the hills. It only lasts a day or two, but worth seeing!

—Nona Estrin

Nature Watch

WHAT’S IN: MOTORCYCLE JACKETS

ADVERTISE Look for spring activities like gardening and biking in The Bridge’s next (5/16) issue.

advertising deadline: Friday, May 10 Call Ivan or Carolyn at 223-5112, ext. 11.

BY Suzie Mullikin


PRUNING FRUIT TREESand annual pruning maintenanceNeeds to be done before the ground thaws.

call Padma 456.7474 ~ earthwiseharmonies.com

FD Professional Paintingquality, one house at a time

Interior & ExteriorFree estimates • References

Frank DeSalvo802-752-9470

[email protected]@yahoo.com

Cate Farm’s annual seedling sale!Last 3 Sundays in May: May 12 (Mother’s Day!), 19 & 26 from 9 am–2 pm, rain or shine!

Get your gardens started with our healthy, hardy organic seedlings. You’ll fi nd a wide variety of vegetable seedlings, culinary & medicinal herbs as well as a beautiful selection of annuals and perennials. Something for everyone!We are located in East Montpelier. For more information and directions, please check out our website at catefarm.com or e-mail us at [email protected].

Celebrating 32 years of growing for Central VT!

Design & Build

Custom Energy-Effi cient Homes

Additions • Timber Frames

Weatherization • Remodeling

Kitchens • Bathrooms • Flooring

Tiling • Cabinetry • Fine Woodwork


Andy Plante(802) 223-5409100% Organic

1991 Ward Brook RdMontpelier, VT [email protected]

Transplanting • Pruning • HedgesTrees • Shrubs • PerennialsVegetable Gardens • Lawns

Design • Installation • MaintenanceStone Walls • Walks • Patios • Veneer Sheds/Barns • Fencing • Lattice

IRONWOOD LANDSCAPE

by Nat Frothingham

A broad-based coalition of community organizations—sailing under the common flag of a new Center for Arts

and Learning (CALM)—has been working on a $4 million project to purchase, renovate, improve and transform the former site of the now-closed St. Michael’s School and convent at 46 Barre Street in Montpelier and create a new regional cultural center that will em-brace learning, the visual arts, music and a host of other activities.

While CALM serves a wide array of indi-vidual visual artists, musicians and others, there are three lead organizations that are working to purchase the 46 Barre Street from the Catholic Diocese of Burlington and also to assemble the needed financial resources to improve, renovate and transform the building. These three founding members of CALM are the Monteverdi Music School, the T.W. Wood Gallery and Arts Center and the independent (K-8) River Rock School.

Very much at the center of this far-f lung and adventurous project is Montpelier resi-dent Stephen Falbel. By profession, Falbel is a transportation planner with ongoing consulting work here in Vermont and in Virginia and Maryland as well. But that’s just the work dimension of Falbel’s busy life. He is also a professional singer, performing with Vermont’s vocal ensemble Counter-point, local community opera and theater groups and directing the Green Mountain Monteverdi Ensemble of Vermont. In addi-tion, he is the treasurer of the Monteverdi Music School, and he’s smack dab in the middle of the current effort to establish the new center, currently acting as its president and treasurer.

A major component of the building is a permanent, downtown Montpelier home for the significant art collection of the T. W. Wood Gallery. The gallery, which will occupy the entire second floor of the former St. Michael’s School, will include a large multipurpose room suitable for rehearsals and performances of community arts or-ganizations, as well as major art exhibi-tions. The other current tenants of 46 Barre Street—River Rock School, the Monteverdi Music School and the Summit School of Traditional Music, as well as numerous art-ists and musicians who are renting studios or practice rooms at 46 Barre Street in small cells that were once occupied by Catholic nuns—will enjoy renovated and enhanced spaces.

A recent addition to 46 Barre Street is the Onion River Exchange (ORE), an organiza-tion that matches people with a wide range of skills who trade work without an exchange of cash. For, example a carpenter can exchange-his work hours doing home repairs with someone else who can provide child care.

In a detailed, three-page prospectus, the board of CALM outlined the costs of the $4 million project. These line item costs in-clude energy efficiency upgrades ($450,000); the multipurpose gallery/performance space ($300,000); accessibility and basic systems (electrical, heating, plumbing, ventilation) upgrades ($950,000); an enhanced security/information technology system ($75,000); interior renovations ($150,000); landscape and exterior improvements ($25,000); and expert costs associated with a three-year capi-tal campaign ($50,000).

Broadly speaking, according to Falbel, the money needed for CALM would be produced in equal halves with $2 million from a planned capital campaign and a second $2 million from a range of government grants and loans, foundation grants, federal tax credits and the like. The first step in the capital campaign will begin over the next three or four weeks with a feasibility study to interview some of the principal community players and contributors to gauge support for the project.

Then there are applications for loan and/or grant assistance to government agencies such as the Vermont Community Development Program (for accessibility upgrades), the U.S. Department of Agriculture Rural Develop-ment Program and private foundations. The board is also investigating various tax credit programs. Because 46 Barre Street is located in a census tract with low-income families, the project could qualify for the New Mar-kets Tax Credits program.

These are critical details. But what’s impor-tant is the project itself, a project that brings together a number of compatible arts and learning organizations to share and trans-form a building that is one more element in the revived and reclaimed Barre Street neighborhood of Montpelier. As imagined the new center would be greater than the sum of its parts, allowing for collaboration among different community arts organizations and a myriad of educational opportunities in a vibrant building next door to the new senior center.

Already CALM has received a $15,000

planning grant with help from the city of Montpelier from the Vermont Commu-nity Development Program. This grant has funded design work, performed by Black River Design, related to accessibility im-provements, including a new six-stop eleva-tor that will be installed during the con-struction phase.

According to Falbel, CALM has a lease on the 46 Barre Street building to the end of 2013. The Catholic Diocese has been very supportive of the project and the CALM board is working to close the deal as quickly as possible. The board hopes that renovation work for the new center can take place in the summer of 2014.

Community support will be essential. Fal-bel asks, “Can we raise $2 million in the capital campaign?” He partly answers that question when he says: “There’s excitement about this—momentum is building. We hope this is a project that the community will support.”

For more information about CALM, visit its website at 46Barre.org.

Coalition Outlines Plans for a Montpelier-Based Regional Arts and Learning Center

Sketch of proposed gallery space at CALM, 46 Barre Street. Drawing courtesy of Black River Design.


by John Hollar, mayor

Having served as mayor for a little more than a year, I thought it might be useful to look back and review

our accomplishments and challenges, as well as our plans for the coming year.

When I ran for mayor, I promised to focus on three areas: our budget, our infra-structure and three projects: district heat, the Carr lot and the bike path—the latter two having been in the planning stages for more than a decade. We have made progress on all three fronts but have more work to do.

BudgetThe budget approved by the voters in March

increased spending by 2.2 percent—less than half the rate of growth of recent years. All of this year’s increase, or roughly $166,000, will be invested in our roads and sidewalks.

Reducing our budget growth required the city manager and City Council to make some difficult decisions. The budget eliminates 4.22 full-time positions, although fortunately no layoffs were required. These staff reduc-tions are not expected to result in any signifi-cant disruption of services. While budgets will continue to be challenging, we made significant progress this year both in reduc-ing the rate of our tax growth and investing in our infrastructure.

Projects District Heat

Our city team is to be commended for keep-ing this project on budget and on schedule. We broke ground on the city’s portion of the project—the pipes that will deliver heat throughout downtown Montpelier—on Thursday, April 18.

We overcame two major obstacles this year. The first came in August when our contract with the state forced us to commit to the project before we had received final cost estimates. A majority of City Council voted against moving ahead. We successfully rene-gotiated our agreement to minimize the city’s risks, and a majority of the council voted to approve the project. Our estimates and con-struction bids came in within budget.

The second hurdle arose in February when state officials informed us that the state’s por-tion of the project—the biomass plant—was $3.3 million over budget. The state initially insisted that the city pay more than $600,000 toward these overruns. We declined, since the city had no involvement in them and, we be-lieved, no contractual obligations to pay for them. After two months of negotiations, we agreed to pay $408,000, but only if the city purchases additional future capacity, or if we have a surplus after the distribution system is constructed.

Carr LotThe city has received more than $7 mil-

lion in federal funding for acquisition and

improvements of the Carr lot, which is now used for state employee parking. These in-clude a transit center, bike path segment, pedestrian bridge across the North Branch and a park. Our funding also includes money to acquire buildings that house Montpelier Discount Beverage and the Association for the Blind and Visually Impaired.

We have negotiated since December with property owners for the purchase of these sites. After many months of negotiations, we have not been able to reach an agreement on a purchase price with the owner of the Carr lot, so the council is likely to pursue eminent domain and expects to acquire the properties within the next few months. We will then begin designing the new site.

This project will create a beautiful gateway to our city. It will provide a permanent loca-tion for a transit station that will also house a welcome center. And it will provide some much-needed green space along our river fronts downtown.

Bike PathThe completion of the bike path has been a

major priority since I took office, and we are making significant progress. Working with state and railroad officials, we reached agree-ment earlier this year on the location of the extended path, which will run from the Hun-ger Mountain Coop to Gallison Hill Road. The project is now in the design phase, and construction is expected to begin next year.

The bike path will be a major improvement in the quality of life for Montpelier residents. It will expand recreational opportunities and provide a practical means of traveling safely for the length of the city without using mo-torized vehicles.

Other Accomplishments < We organized a bike summit in Octo-

ber that was attended by 65 residents who helped plan ways to meet the council’s new goal of making Mont-pelier a nationally recognized bike and pedestrian-friendly city. We ap-pointed a bike advisory committee, which meets regularly and has de-veloped ambitious plans to meet the council’s goal. Another group is work-ing to build an entry-level mountain bike path around the edge of Hubbard Park, and a third is planning a bike festival. We also appointed a pedes-trian advisory committee to develop policies to make our city more pedes-trian friendly

< We appointed a citizen’s budget group last year to study ways to make city gov-ernment more efficient. That group pre-pared an 88-page report, which included dozens of recommendations, many of

which were adopted by the city. < We created the Montpelier Commu-

nity Fund, governed by a five-person board, which now allocates funds for nonprofit organizations. In March, the council approved the board’s recom-mendations for more than $100,000 in grants. This fund allows nonprofit organizations to avoid the time-con-suming process of petitioning to get on the ballot, and it eliminated dozens of items from the annual ballot.

< We created a new policy that governs the allocation of Montpelier funds for nonresident services. The policy mini-mizes the use of Montpelier taxpayer funds for services that are provided to nonresidents.

Looking AheadWe’ve made great strides in meeting the

goals established by the council, but there is, of course, much work that remains to be done.

Economic DevelopmentCity Council is exploring a number of

ways to promote economic development. The council may consider creating a local devel-opment authority, similar to the Barre Area Development Corporation, with a dedicated mission of promoting business development.

ParkingParking is a major concern to many resi-

dents, business owners and visitors, particu-larly during the legislative session. We ap-pointed a parking advisory committee to advise the council on policies to address the parking demand. Over the long term, I be-lieve the city needs to build a parking garage, although neither the state nor the city has the funds to build one now. We also need to adopt policies that encourage nonmotorized transportation in Montpelier.

HousingWe need more housing in Montpelier. I

have regular conversations with housing de-velopers and am working to build on the efforts of the Montpelier Housing Task Force to promote responsible development that is affordable to residents of all incomes.

Montpelier is fortunate to have the services of many talented city employees, including our city manager Bill Fraser, who is one of the most experienced managers in the state. Our city boards and commissions are filled with dedicated community volunteers. And we have a city council that consists of some of the most thoughtful people I have known. ºI am honored to have the opportunity to serve as mayor of this great city.

The State of the City: A Look Back and Ahead

VERMONT PROFESSIONAL TAX & FINANCIAL SERVICES

GER ARD M. GALVIN, JD CPA

802-839-6929MA X@V TPROTA X.COM

• TAX PREPARATION

• SMALL BUSINESS CONSULTING


by Phil Dodd

When spring comes, there is always an air of optimism in the local real estate market. This year is no

exception, but based on sales activity last year and so far this year, this spring’s optimism may have a bit more grounding in reality than in some recent years.

Washington County single-family home sales (both primary and vacation) through the Multiple Listing Service (MLS) in 2012 were almost 13 percent higher than in 2011. Put another way, there were 35 homes sales per month last year in the county, up from 27 per month in 2011, according to local real estate appraiser Guy Andrews, SRA. Condo sales were even stronger, up 24 percent.

One of the biggest drivers of today’s mar-ket is the historically low level of mortgage rates, Andrews said. “Right now, my desk is covered with refinance work, “ he said. “But I am also seeing more purchase contracts. While that is typical in the spring, this is a good indicator for the market.”

In the last six weeks, Andrews has seen more new constructions loans than over the entire past year or two. “It looks like people who bought land in the past now want to build,” he speculated.

In the resale market, some segments are bet-ter than others. A Montpelier home on Elm

Street priced under $160,000 got three bids within a week recently. “That kind of thing was not happening a year ago,” Heney noted.

The middle market in Montpelier is also attracting interest, Heney said, mentioning a house in Montpelier’s Meadows neighbor-hood offered at $278,000 that went under contract quickly and a home on Kent Street in Montpelier priced at $259,900 that is get-ting a couple of showings a day.

Even the higher end of the market has perked up. “The upper end was dead for a couple of years,” Heney said. “But now in a short window of time, we’ve see a handful of properties in Calais, Middlesex and Wood-bury in the $500,000 to upper $700,000 range go under contract.”

Sellers shouldn’t get their hopes too high, though. Last year, the median sale price of a single-family home in Washington County fell 4.25 percent, to $191,500, according to MLS statistics. While demand is up, banks are cautious about who they will lend to.

Lenders are also fussier about the condition of the house they are financing, said broker Lori Pinard of C21 Jack Associates. “They really read over all the appraiser’s notes very carefully,” she said recently. “They are having appraisers measure isolation distances between the well and septic; things they didn’t used to do. There is still money available . . . It just seems they’re less excited about lending it out.”

Pinard believes local real estate prices “have stopped their bleeding, but I don’t think prices are going up in leaps and bounds.”

Housing is one of the brighter spots in the national economy. According to the Na-tional Association of Realtors, the national median existing home prices in March 2013 was $184,300, up 11.8 percent from March 2011. But much of the national increase is

being driven by states in the South and West, which saw huge price declines after the hous-ing bubble burst and are now bouncing back from very low levels. Prices softened in Ver-mont and local median prices fell, but values held up fairly well compared to other states.

In 2013, local trends are similar to last year: more sales and lower median prices. The number of Washington County single-family homes that have gone under contract this year is up 9.5 percent over the same period in 2012, but the median price is down 5 percent, according to figures from Pinard. She said a large number of foreclosed properties on the market in late 2012, some of which did not sell until 2013, may have helped keep median prices down. Median prices also drop when there are more sales at the lower end, which can happen when there are a lot of first-time home buyers.

While countywide median house prices fell in 2012, single-family median prices remained nearly level in both Montpelier ($232,000 in 2011, $233,000 in 2012) and the five U-32 towns ($197,500 in 2011, $196,000 in 2012), according to Andrews.

Andrews said the U-32 towns remain pop-ular with those who want to be in the county but remain close to the county’s employment centers. Montpelier appeals to buyers who seek a full-service town or want to walk, he said. Currently, there is a 14-month supply of homes in the U-32 towns and a 10-month supply in Montpelier, according to Andrews.

By contrast, the median price in Barre Town fell from $180,000 in 2011 to $153,000 in 2012, Andrews reported. Even so, Heney said Barre Town remains attractive to buyers because of the reputation of the schools and the ability to buy houses with more land.

Heney said more and more buyers are looking at Barre City because of the good values there. Heney also said that due to a high inventory, prices in Barre of multifamily properties have dropped, making them very affordable. “A three-unit property can gener-

ate enough cash flow to carry itself,” Heney said. “You can’t do that with a multifamily in Montpelier or Waterbury.”

Predicting the future real estate market is challenging. Interest rates are only being kept low through massive bond purchases by the Federal Reserve; if that changes and rates rise, the market could suffer.

The Vermont Senate is considering cap-ping the state mortgage interest deduction at $12,000, which Heney said would hurt some buyers, since the interest portion of a loan is greatest in a mortgage’s first few years.

But the local market is benefiting from pent-up demand—not surprising since Ver-mont home sales peaked in 2005 and fell sharply after the financial crisis. Today, the market includes baby boomers wanting to downsize, move into town or escape to the South; young families looking for their first home; and—according to Heney—new buy-ers moving into the area to work for Nor-wich, National Life or the hospital.

Stronger demand is giving sellers a slightly stronger hand. But a gap remains. Andrews pointed out that the median asking price for a house in the U-32 towns now is about $245,000—close to the peak median sale price of $255,000 in 2008 to 2009 but con-siderably higher than the median of $196,000 last year. Why? Some sellers are sitting on big loans taken out at the market’s peak, and can’t lower their asking prices without taking a loss, Heney explained.

Nevertheless, more sellers appear eager to jump in. Pinard wrote in an April 26 e-mail: “I’ve been swamped with requests from pro-spective sellers who want to list by May 1 . . . I guess that’s a good sign for the summer. Inventory has been limiting factor to sales activity, I think.”

Phil Dodd is editor and publisher of Ver-mont Property Owners Report, a subscription newsletter about Vermont and Vermont real estate. For more information, see vermontreal-estatetoday.com.

Real Estate Market Showing Signs of LifeLocal Single-Family Homes in Demand

McCarty Real Estate: We bring people home.Rebecca McCarty Copans • 802.922.3452 • 802.229.9479 [email protected] • www.McCartyRE.com

Affordable and stylish in-town home, a short walk to the Cornerstone Pub and the Aldrich Library. Beautiful kitchen, 3 bedrooms, 1.5 baths, two living rooms and a sun-filled dining room. Lead paint mitigation, new windows and insulation—this home is ready for you and your family to start living comfortably (at a comfortable price!). Barre, $167,000.

Energy efficient Montpelier house

5 min from downtown. 1200 sq ft, 3 bed 2 bath. Private back deck,

walkout abasement, perennial beds, raspberries, veggie garden, asparagus

bed. Wood floors. Spacious attic storage and functional basement

with laundry area. Offstreet parking. $198,000. FSBO. Call 223-6360.

FOR SALEFARMHOUSE FOR SALELovely, sturdy 9+ room farmhouse in West Top-sham with new in-law apartment. Lots of light. 3.5 acres terraced with woods, meadows, orchard, gardens, well, springs, barn (with workshops, parking), woodshed, carport: great for extended family, a group; home business, artist studios. $750,000. For more information, call 439-6875 or email: [email protected].

WONDERFUL FARMHOUSE and just about every room has gorgeous views. Country style eat-in kitchen, spacious living room with cathedral ceilings, 3 bedrooms, 2 full baths. Terrific deck to take advantage of the view. Serenity of the country and just minutes from downtown Montpelier. East Montpelier, $330,000.

# 839-0213

Coldwell Banker Classic PropertiesSue Aldrich • 839-0213


by Ivan Shadis

What’s happening in the local hous-ing market? To find out, I first approached Isaac Chavez, CEO of

the Vermont Association of Realtors (VAR). Chavez first did a quick rundown of the

association. VAR is a kind of voluntary union of realty agents. It has a copyright on the term realtor, and realty agents cannot call themselves a realtor unless they are part of the association. VAR takes dues, enforces an internal code of ethics and lobbies on behalf of its constituents. Currently, VAR is fighting a proposal to cap the state mortgage interest deduction at $20,000, potentially discourag-ing would-be buyers.

I asked Chavez to comment on the state of the local housing market. “The market has picked up. The agents are just saying ‘this is the best year I’ve had in years.’ There’s a lot of buzz, people are spending more money on advertising. I have some stats printed out right here,” he said, picking up some papers from his desk. “In Washington county you can see that in March there were 49 proper-ties sold. A year ago in March there were only 32; that’s a huge jump. It’s a 33 percent increase! Which tells me the market is doing a lot better.”

And who is buying all these houses? “Vaca-tion- and second-home buyers,” said Chavez. “That’s a big part of our market. The other part are just your professionals: People like

me who work with the government or people who work in the government . . . and they tend to be dual-income families. On the fringes are the younger buyers, but unfortu-nately that’s a big problem in Vermont . . . so many young people leave Vermont because they can’t find steady employment.”

Chavez, himself, recently moved to Mont-pelier. A year earlier, he had been doing the same job where he lived in New Mexico with his wife and three children, Octavian, 6, Hadrian, 4, and Olivia, 2. When the position Chavez now holds opened, he jumped on it and came to Montpelier ahead of his family to find a place to live.

“We weren’t going to buy a house right away because when you’re coming so far, you really want to get to know the area. This turned out to actually be a big problem . . . We were going to rent a house for the first year. Couldn’t find anything,” he said. “There’s almost no rentals in this town, and most of the realtors don’t deal with rentals.” After a long search, Chavez eventually found a place on Craigslist, but he said, “it cost a lot more than I was expecting to pay but I had no choice so we took it.”

Hearing of the difficulties that none other than the CEO of the Vermont Association of Realtors had in finding housing in Mont-pelier, I was in disbelief that it was even conceivable that a young family just starting could find a place. To find out, I decided to talk to a working realtor. (Chavez, himself,

is not a realtor to avoid obvious conflicts of interest.) I spoke with Soren Pfeffer, 20-plus-year resident of Montpelier, proprietor of Bagitos and local realtor who bought his first property at age 19.

“I have more places under contract right now than I ever have since I started doing real estate, and it’s pretty early in the season for that to be happening,” said Pfeffer. “In-terest rates have been low for quite a while now, but it hasn’t spurred the kind of move-ment I’ve seen in the market in the past six months, and I think the reason for that is there was a lot of media on how housing prices were starting to go up . . . people [are buying] who felt that prices were going to go up and didn’t want to have to wait till next year [to buy] when prices would be higher.”

I asked Pfeffer who he saw buying. “Peo-ple who started out living in the area who are moving either from one place to another, like a Burlington area to a Montpelier area, or just within Montpelier, from one side of town to the other: they’re downsizing or looking for a place for their family that is a little bit bigger. Sometimes it’s just a matter of changes in life—like people get-ting divorced, kids leaving for college and you not needing that four-bedroom house, and families coming up that may want that four-bedroom house who have been renting elsewhere.”

I asked Pfeffer to comment on a competi-tive real-estate market that may be marginal-izing young families.

“In terms of young families, I’ve talked to a lot of young families who feel they can’t afford to live in Montpelier, either because of the price of houses or because of the ongoing taxes,” said Pfeffer. “Some of them end up living in towns nearby, which are less expen-sive, and then moving into town at a point when they’re more able. You build up equity

in another house, you save money and you may eventually decide its worth it to invest in Montpelier.”

I had learned so far that the market was up from previous years and competitive in Montpelier, that people were upsizing or downsizing, perhaps spurred to action by the thought of rising prices to come, but that a concern existed that young families were without options.

To find out what this could mean, I next turned to Sue Aldrich, whose work on the Montpelier school board as well as a realtor for Coldwell bankers would likely make her sensitive to this demographic. She said that, while she had seen some people who had bought a house when they first had a baby now upsizing to a slightly more expensive house, part of the difficulty was Montpelier’s prohibitively high property taxes and lack of affordable units.

“The main problem we have is that there’s not a whole lot of housing in the $150,000 and under price range,” she said, noting that houses that comes on to the market in that range go fast. “There was a house that came onto the market on Friday, and it was under deposit this Saturday—that’s how fast it goes.”

Aldrich noted that the demographics in Montpelier have been changing. “We don’t have the working class or as many regular-type people in Montpelier anymore. A friend of mine recently said downtown Montpelier is becoming like a food court . . . there aren’t so many regular stores; it’s sort of high-end cloth-ing, high-end restaurants and gift stores . . . We’re turning into a city where we don’t have younger, less affluent people, and so it’s be-coming a very affluent town without a broad mix of people . . . we’d like to bring in more kids, and people do want to attend Montpelier schools, but it’s very expensive to live here compared to Barre or, say, Worcester.”

Beautiful Immaculate Log Home On Ten Acres... Country setting w/hay fields, wooded areas... like new condition. Mountain views, river-rock fireplace & chimney, Craftsman-ship and natural wood throughout. This is a must see property!! Topsham $225,000.

Marlene McCarty • 802.229.9479

Montpelier’s Housing Market Not Easy for the Young and Low Income

EMAILED ADVERTISEMENT

ADVERTISING INSERTION ORDERThomas Hirchak CompanyFROM: Matt Chaney��

COMPANY: The Montpelier Bridge��

��NAME OF FILE: JarvisBRIDGE��EMAILED TO: ��

��

��

THOMAS HIRCHAK CO.��

800-634-7653

��

Open House: Fri., May 3 from 2-4PM. Nice starter ranch home has 2 BR, 1 BA, basement, detached garage, 768± SF on 0.36± acre.

��

QUALITY REMODELING & BUILDING

Conscientious contractingInt./ext. makeovers & paintHealthy whole-home solutionsDeep energy retrofitsKitchens, baths, additionsDoors, windows, roofs

David Diamantisph: 229-8646 fax: 454-8646

Certified Green Professional EMP/RRP • EcoStar Roof Applicator


Great LocationOn Montpelier’s Deerfield Drive with a fenced back yard and a large multi-level deck this home features a great kitchen with cherry cabinetry, tile and Corian countertops and a smart design. Three bedrooms with hardwood floors and a full bath are upstairs. Downstairs is a 13’6X26’ game room with a fireplace and a 3⁄4 bathroom plus big cedar closet. $252,000.

Lots Of CharacterThis turn of the century three bedroom Montpelier home has a big covered porch and a nice entry foyer. The formal dining room has a corner cabinet and connects through the pantry to the updated kitchen. The living room connects to a large glassed-in porch. Updates include the roof in 2006, wiring and Trio boiler. Zoned CBII allows residential or office use. $168,900.

Towne Hill NeighborhoodLarge sun-filled living space on a terrific .7 acre corner lot with desirable southern and western exposure and exceptional views. This floor plan is most adaptable with bedrooms and a bathroom on each level. The open design features big windows to take in the views and a fireplace in the living room. Enclosed mudroom with a door to the brick patio. Full basement offers potential playspace or shop/hobby space. $225,000.

Ideal Setting for Summer FunOn a big corner lot so close to the recreation fields, City Pool, Mountaineers Baseball and Hubbard Park. This grand Montpelier home has a big front porch and welcoming entry foyer. A formal dining room, kitchen, mudroom, living room with a marble fireplace and sitting room are all on the main floor. Four bright cor-ner bedrooms and a renovated bathroom with fine tiling and a whirlpool tub can be found upstairs. In addition an oversized two car garage connects with a breezeway and a separate two bedroom apartment is above. $315,000.

Move Right InThree bedroom, one bathroom mid-century Montpelier ranch with garage parking underneath. The owners recently took up the old carpet and, surprise! Hardwood floors throughout. Landscaping updates include stone walls and new exterior stairs. Put a little thought into some cosmetic upgrades and this is going to make a very comfortable home. $139,000.

81 Main Street, Montpelier

229-0345 135 Washington Street Barre

475-6500 HeneyRealtors.com

by Bob Nuner

Peter Goodell is senior retail lending manager at Northfield Savings Bank (NSB) and also the vice chair of the

Central Vermont Community Land Trust (CVCLT). As such, he’s in a position to have a good overview of what first-time home buy-ers need to do to borrow money to purchase a home.

Similar to other anticipated big-ticket purchases, a home purchase goes more smoothly when potential borrowers estab-lish what they can afford before they shop. Banks must pay attention to the risk atten-dant in lending money, so they’ve developed guidelines and criteria to help them deter-mine when it’s safe to lend money. Among several considerations are two major ones banks look at in evaluating the safety of a potential loan: loan amount and payment history. Goodell notes that in many cases the latter may be the most heavily weighted factor. Someone with a strong repayment history might be able to take on a bit more debt obligation than someone with a spotty repayment record.

Banks look at all the debt a person carries for guidance about what’s realistic to repay. As Goodell noted, “In general, for a person recently out of college, with student debt and having needed to obtain a vehicle to get around, we are seeing debt ratios near the maximum limits. As they settle down (in-cluding their employment) it improves.”

Goodell notes that it’s not just what some-

one can pay monthly, but how much some-one can afford for the down payment, which reflects ability to save. Lower down payment percentages, like 5 percent (“the absolute lowest”), force banks to obtain insurance to cover the possibility of loan default, whereas a high down payment percentage, like 20 percent, does not have the same requirement. Banks must protect themselves against poor credit or employment history, but also against the possibility that a property “just has too much loan against it to recover.”

Kathy Simanskas, vice president of mort-gage origination at the VSECU, has noted an increase in student debt in the last three to five years and has seen individuals carry-ing student debt with payments as large as $800 to $900 monthly. “My guess would be that if you looked 25 years ago, compared to now, because of the price of tuition, it’s got to be a much larger percentage,” says Simanskas.

The first thing that students are advised to do, both by VSECU and by student loan lenders, she says, is to consolidate those loans into a single loan. But resulting debt may end up being stretched over periods as long as 25 or 30 years and will be difficult to pay off. And, Simanskas notes, student debt doesn’t just affect students; it can affect parents’ borrowing ability as well, as cosigners on the debts students take on. Parents with a $50,000 to $60,000 potential debt liability may face difficulties themselves when they discover that they’d like to make a purchase that requires debt financing.

Considering debt load from all sources, including high interest rate credit cards, stu-dent loans and car loans as well as a poten-tial mortgage, banks currently use a rule of thumb of 45 percent of a person’s monthly gross income for a maximum figure of debt service. That’s for most salaried/hourly folks. For self-employed people, it’s 45 percent of net income (income after cost of goods sold and expenses). Next year, that ceiling drops to 43 percent.

Tracy Roberts and Joanne Hardy, market-ing director and residential lender for cen-tral Vermont at Community National Bank, make the point that total debt must include the recognition of deferred student debt, since the activation of those payments will have an impact on a borrower’s ability to repay. Even if a person is not paying off student loans right now, in the life of a long-term loan like a mortgage, a time will come when those obligations kick in.

Goodell, wearing his CVCLT hat, enthu-siastically promotes (“very good, very thor-ough”) the CVCLT’s monthly home buyers’ classes in Barre, in which prospective first-time mortgage applicants learn the ins and outs of home ownership, including taxes, in-surance, maintenance, down payment, clos-ing costs and debt load.

There are, he notes, programs available to first-time buyers to help with down pay-ments, and these programs are described in the classes. Goodell notes that area lend-ers also work through these issues with potential customers when they come in to

discuss a mortgage. There are many spe-cific loan programs that now require home buyer education courses in order to qualify for the programs. Lending institutions also routinely offer advice about reducing debt load, for instance by paying off high credit card debt first.

VSECU’s Simanskas notes that there can be f lexibility in considering a borrower’s prospects, although that f lexibility will be local. “We don’t want to jump to conclu-sions if someone has a lot of debt. We want to look at their income potential. Maybe they can make it through those first couple of years, if they’re going to have a good in-come boost.”

Regarding f lexibility and local judgment, she says, “That doesn’t mean I can convince Fannie Mae . . . we may not be able to sell that loan to Fannie Mae.” A local institu-tion’s f lexibility “can get them into the house with an in-house five-year arm (adjustable rate mortgage), that is f lexible and gets them into the house.” And that f lexibility, frankly, usually means that the individual is a young professional with prospects of “fairly stable increases” in their salaries. Then again, Si-manskas, says, “Sometimes the answer is, you really can’t afford it yet.”

NSB’s Goodell points out that realtors, too, benefit from customers who fully un-derstand the obligations they’ll face and the predetermined price range they can shop for.

Buying That First HouseDebt Load and Risk Management


by Stephen M. Frey

Spring brings optimism with new growth, longer days and warmer temperatures. This time of year, homeowners often

make plans to renovate or add to their houses and want to know where and how to begin the process. This article is about taking basic steps before renovating, such as finding out how energy efficient your home is. But first, some positive news.

The Times Argus printed an article in early March about our improving real estate mar-ket and how “sales are up across the state, and Washington County is doing better than the state as a whole.” Tim Heney, John Biondo-lillo and Sue Aldrich, all local realtors, said in various ways that we have turned a corner in the market and consumer confidence has in-creased, and the Barre-Montpelier area with it’s small town feel, good schools and city services continues to appeal to prospective home buyers.

With Vermont’s recent 4.4 percent unem-ployment figures from March and new data from the Northern New England Real Estate Network (NNERN), there is serious cause for optimism. Compared to a year ago, new residential listings are up over 14 percent, and sold listings are up 32 percent. The value of sold listings on the market rose over 27 percent, and days of properties on the market have reduced by 25 percent.

Every year homeowners scratch their heads

wondering about rising energy costs and how to be more proactive and seek a more predict-able future. Many of us won’t be selling our homes or buying anytime soon. So what can you do and where do you start? If you are planning to build an addition or seriously renovate your home this year, you want to make sure you understand where you are starting from.

Often it’s hard to know how energy ef-ficient your home is, to know your baseline performance level and identify how much to improve it. To find out, hire a certified pro-fessional to audit your home by conducting blower door tests, infrared scans and visual inspections of existing exterior and interior systems to see how airtight and energy ef-ficient you house is—or isn’t. The auditor will provide a report and a Home Energy Ratings Score (HERS), summarizing exist-ing performance and improvements you can make to upgrade your home performance as well point you in the direction of financial incentives offered by Efficiency Vermont and other similar regional organizations, as well as green financing options with local lenders.

After the audit, work with the auditor and his or her findings to clarify your goals, budget and time frame for improving your home this year or for rolling into future renovations or additions. The auditor will help you prioritize a sensible path forward. To find certified home energy auditors and

weatherization contractors near you, con-tact Efficiency Vermont (efficiencyvermont.com).

The audit will likely identify improve-ments ranging from the simple to more com-plex with the goal to lower the overall heating load of your home. To boost energy efficiency and home comfort, some examples include adding more insulation in roofs and exterior walls, sealing around exterior penetrations such as invisible drafty cracks at doors, win-dows, power outlets and switches on exterior walls, or perhaps adding storm windows. Substantial upgrades may involve tuning and repairing heating and cooling systems, sometimes neglected by busy homeowners, or upgrading to more energy efficient windows and doors.

Converting traditional hot-water heat-ers to on-demand heaters, which provide hot water only when you need it, may save money through reduced energy usage. But before you upgrade primary heating systems or water heaters, make sure to take care of the basics like sealing cracks and installing more insulation to reduce your heating require-ments in the first place. This will potentially reduce the size and capacity requirements of any new energy efficient equipment. This also pertains to adding on renewable energy systems such as solar hot water or solar elec-tric systems.

Whether you choose to remain in your home for years to come or not, by taking the

first step and having your home audited, you will increase the livability of your house and its resale value. More and more home buyers look for data on energy usage as they more clearly understand that the total cost of home ownership includes operational costs as well as mortgage costs.

To address this factor, the NNREN mul-tiple listing service used by realtors added fields into its system, tracking energy effi-ciency and participation with third party ver-ification systems confirming levels of green measures and performance of houses. As this aspect is somewhat new, it’s taking awhile for these kinds of homes to show up into the sys-tem, but the importance of green attributes is certain to grow.

If you are feeling the itch to renovate or add on, it is important to not lose sight of fundamentals, such as knowing how energy efficient your home is today with a home energy audit and developing a plan helping you create a more comfortable and predict-able tomorrow.

Stephen M. Frey, AIA, LEED AP,

is owner and architect at Arocordis Design in Montpelier, VT, anarchitecture, interiors and workplace Design firm. Arocordis Design creates inspiring places and spaces while en-gaging broader community and sustainability concerns. Contact [email protected] or 448-0056 voice for more information or visit arocordis.com.

Before Starting Your Home Renovations, Get a Home Energy Audit


Best Hospital

Camp, Sports and College PhysicalsNow is the time to start scheduling camp, sports and“college bound” physicals for your children.Contact your pediatrician or primary care provider to schedule an appointment.

Stowe Weekend of HopeCVMC is a sponsor of this inspirational retreat weekend for cancer survivors and their families. Free workshops and ceremonies. Complimentary accommodations for newcomers and discounted accommodations for returning participants. www.stowehope.org or call 225-5449 When: Friday, May 3 - Sunday, May 5

Infant & Child Car Seat Inspections9 out of 10 child car seats are not used correctly. Vermont law requires all children up to age 8 to ride in a federally approved safety seat. To ensure that your child is riding safely, get a free ��make an appointment. When Saturday, May 4, 9:00 am – 1:00 pm

Where Berlin Fire Station, Berlin Corners

Bosom BuddiesWe will support each other in our choice to breastfeedResearch has clearly shown that breast milk is best, but for many women, nursing doesn’t come naturally, and most mothers will have some questions during the process. Whatever your breastfeeding or mothering questions may be, they will be acknowledged and supported in a relaxed and caring environment, through peer and professional support. Babies and �� When ��

Where CVMC Birthing Center, 2nd Floor

Chronic Pain Self Management Workshop Strategies covered are: coping with chronic pain and feeling more in control; improving your problem solving skills; learning how to work with healthcare providers to maximize your ability to manage chronic pain; learning how to balance activity and ��clothing.

When:��Where: Waterbury Medical Associates

Healthy Community Classes

Central Vermont Medical Center Partner Pharmacies: Kinney Pharmacies - ��,

Montpelier Pharmacy;��The Medicine Shoppe - Barre, Wal-Mart Pharmacy - Berlin,

Rite-Aid Pharmacies - Montpelier, Barre, Hardwick,Community Health Pharmacy - Colchester

Free Monthly Women’s Clinics for Uninsured WomenFunded by Susan G. Komen for the Cure and ��for mammograms and specialty care, assistance to become ��

When Thursday, May 9 Where��

553 N. Main St., Barre

Tobacco Cessation ClassesDo you want to quit tobacco use (cigarettes, chew, cigars, pipe, etc.) but need help? For many tobacco users, support from others makes the difference in staying tobacco-free. Special attention is given to developing a quitting strategy, including dealing with weight control and managing stress. These workshops will offer ways to change your behavior and help you start a tobacco-free lifestyle. For more information and to ��

Workshop 1When ��Where�� 155 Main St, Montpelier

Workshop 2When Fridays, May 10 - 31, 2:00 - 3:00pm Where��

Chronic Disease Self Management Strategies covered are: Dealing with frustration, fatigue and ��health care providers; manage medications. Improve eating habits and more.

When:��Where:��

Healing Art and Writing Free and open to all those touched by cancer or chronic illness, including caregivers. Explore art and writing to reduce stress and help with the challenges of illness and healing. No experience necessary! Workshop led by ��

When Tuesday, May 14, 10:00 am – NoonWhere Mountainview Medical Meeting Room CVMC Campus Building B

Capital Dry Cleaners

Vermont’s Greener Dry Cleaner

Free pick-up and delivery.Same-day service available.

9 Main Street, Montpelier • 229-0747Hours: Mon–Fri 7am–6pm; Sat 9am–1pm

• NEW CONSTRUCTION

• RENOVATIONS

• WOODWORKING

• GENERAL CONTRACTING

223-3447clarconstruction.com

• May 2–15, 2013 The Br idge

Allen Soule: Remembering Mud Season in the 1920s

by Nat Frothingham

At 89, Calais resident Allen Soule can take a deep look back at what mud season was like in Vermont in the late

1920s.When Soule greeted me a few days ago at

the front door of his homestead out on Max Gray Road, it was early spring, and he was dressed in an old shirt and a pair of shorts, looking unbelievably fit and trim.

“I’m living on a place that was a farm,” he told me. “When I bought this 130 acres in 1963, there were still a lot of open fields and pastureland. But a lot of farms have gone out.”

He showed me around his place—a rustic house that had been moved onto the prop-erty after the original house burned down. Though there’s a patch of open ground on the south side of the house, it’s surrounded by forest. Soule has a Kubota tractor parked under cover by the front. He uses the tractor for timber stand improvements and rides up into the woods to salvage logs for firewood and saw timber. After talking inside, Soule took me outside for a look at his garden: four raised beds as yet unplanted and a pea fence for the peas he was just getting ready to put in the ground.

Mud season way back when? Allen Soule was born in Randolph in 1923. In the 1920s there were still a lot of hill farms, a lot of dirt roads and a lot of Vermonters trying to make a living off the land—not like today when people live in the country and commute to a town.

In the late 1920s, Soule’s father got a plum job at the time—a rural mail route in Randolph. “I think he ran it for 30 years,” Soule said. “My brother Bob got that route when my dad retired.” As a boy, Soule some-times rode with his dad on Saturdays on the mail route. (First-class mail stamps were then three cents apiece.)

During winter, parts of the mail route were so difficult that, Soule said, “He hired a horse and sleigh. I think he did most of the route with a car and then did part of the route with a horse and sleigh. And in mud season he did part of the route with a horse and buggy instead of a car.”

“Times have changed,” said Soule chuck-ling. Back in the 1920s some of those hill farmers were making only a few hundred dollars in cash. But they were feeding their families from the farm. Soule thinks his father may have made about $2,000 a year from the mail route. And in those days, any cash helped.

Elliot Morse: Fire Engines Sunk in the Mud

by Nat Frothingham

Not May this year but May 2014, El-liot Morse will have served for 50 years as a volunteer with the East

Montpelier Fire DepartmentAccording to Morse, 1964 was a momen-

tous year in his life. “There were three big things that happened in that year,” he said.

“We got married,” said Morse about his marriage to his wife Florence. That was num-ber one.

Second, in 1964 Morse started out in busi-ness by opening Morse’s Garage, a VW repair shop that in the ’60s, ’70s, ’80s and beyond kept many VW owners on the road.

A third big thing in 1964 was when Morse joined up as a volunteer with the East Mont-pelier Fire Department. Morse talked about some of the more notable fires that he and others have responded to over the past 49 years.

“We went to a barn fire one time. It’s where John Hall lives now. I thought the barn wasn’t really on fire until I opened the big door on the high drive [the high drive is the big, wide ramp where you can drive up to the top of the barn] into the barn. When I opened the door to see what was inside, the flames blew the door open on me.” Morse could feel the sudden heat. But he jumped aside and wasn’t burned.

Morse remembers another fire at Delair’s Carpet Barn on Route 2 going toward Plain-field. It was at that fire that Morse lost his best friend, Bob Parker. “He died of a heart attack at the fire. I think he was around 50.” After Parker’s death, Morse said, “I almost lost interest in the fire department for a while. But losing interest had to come to an end.”

Turning to mud season, Morse said that in times past mud season lasted longer. “Maybe we thought it lasted longer because the roads were deeper with mud and maybe impassable. I do remember when there was so much mud and a house caught fire and it was muddy getting there and the house burned down. And the firemen would say, ‘At least we saved the cellar hole.’

“One time there was a porch on fire up on a hill in Calais. And the Montpelier [fire department] was headed for it. And they took the wrong road. And they got that big fire truck out on the road and it sunk into the mud and blew the engine. Fortunately all the neighbors had come and put out the porch fire with a bucket brigade.”

As a VW mechanic, Morse was often called to pull out a car that was off the road in mud season. “I had a makeshift winch, and I would stretch out a cable and pull them out.” Now they send for a wrecker, and the wrecker is a rig that costs many thousands of dollars. “Another thing that’s changed,” Morse remarked, “is that people used to help each other by pulling each other out [of the mud].”

According to Morse his grandfather Sidney used to tell a story about an unnamed coun-try fellow who had a bit of a scam going on at mud season. “It would get really muddy down by his house and he would divert water into the road,” said Morse. And people would come along and get stuck in the mud. And after a while, this country fellow would turn up with a mule and pull the car out of the mud for a dollar.

Years ago in mud season, there were farm-ers who lived way back in the country. And even though the roads were full of mud, the milk trucks tried to get through. “I do remember once or twice having to dump the milk. My mother made a lot of cottage cheese out of the milk that couldn’t be delivered,” Morse said.

Allen Soule. Photo courtesy of Allen Soule. Elliot Morse. Photo by Andrew Kline.

Illustration by Julian F. Kelly.

The Br idge May 2–15, 2013 • page 13

The Search for the Enchanted Valleyby Michael T. Jermyn

A few years ago while cruising around in my battered Volvo looking for inter-esting relics to photograph, I discov-

ered a beautiful valley. A place so magnificent and untouched I couldn’t believe that I had never found it before as it was relatively close to home. It was just a narrow valley, yet it had all the trappings of the quintessential Ver-mont: a picturesque old dirt road following a meandering stream, antique barns, healthy herds of grazing cattle and one beautiful old farmhouse after another. It was perfect. I was in heaven!

In my excitement I forgot to mark it on my faded map, and all the photographs of that glorious day went to cyber-heaven when my last computer decided to give up the ghost. I seem to recall that my little Shan-gri-La was somewhere near Williamstown, or Chelsea, or maybe Brookfield, or North Tunbridge, and yet all my attempts to find it since have failed. I was beginning to think that maybe it was all an enchanted dream, and quite frankly I almost forgot the whole incident.

That is until one recent Saturday. I was gallery hopping in Stowe, and I came across an intriguing painting by Fred Swan. The painting was magical. It depicted an en-chanted valley, eerily similar to the one I had found and lost. The more I looked at it, the more I was convinced that it was the very same valley that I had been searching for. It had to be it. It was a revelation. Seeing this painting rekindled the fire in me for to find as possible to rediscover the enchanted valley and prove to myself that it was not a figment of my imagination.

Two days later on a particularly nasty early spring day, with the sky gray and foreboding, I decide to begin my quest. I head up into the hills past South Barre. Twenty minutes later, I’m up in glorious hill country, heading southeast where the pavement ends and the dirt, uh, mud begins. That glorious in-be-tween season that all Vermonters know and dread, mud season, is upon us.

A light rain starts to fall, making driving conditions even more perilous. The ruts in the road now so deep it’s pointless to even try to steer. Soon I’m getting strong feelings of deja vu. A dirt road branches off ahead, and I go with my intuition and yank the wheel hard to the right. Could this be the lane that leads to the enchanted valley? I get excited now, feeling like a treasure hunter. After

four hard-earned and muddy miles, the road basically disintegrates under me, and I find myself at a dead end. “Blimey!” I shout out. In this line of business, you have to be well experienced in the art of the 18-point turn (a very handy skill) because you never know when you are going to need it.

An hour later I’m in the middle of nowhere but still no enchanted valley. The steely gray sky is now spitting a nasty mix of rain and snow. The Volvo is taking a real beating, and I’m considering aborting the mission. Up ahead on the left I see a familiar barn. “I’ve been here before,” I tell myself. Two proud Belgians are out prancing in the field. Then it hits me. I was here about six years ago on a chilly November day and saw a farmer using these draft horses in an old-fashioned logging operation. It was fascinating witnessing the antiquated methods still being used. I took a few photographs back on that frigid day that came out really good.

I start walking toward the house. I see the farmer over near the barn, tending the horses. I’m wondering if it’s the same gentleman I photographed six years ago. Closer now, I see his eyes, bright blue, the color of a tropi-cal sea. No doubt, it’s him. “Hello there, sir, remember me? I took some pictures of the horses about six years ago,” I say.

“Sure,” he replies. “You’re the scoundrel who said he’d come back and show me some pictures.”

“Well, better late than never,” I say, more than a little embarrassed.

He laughs, and I feel I’m off the hook. This is how I reconnect with Morris Lasell, expert horse farmer. The ice now broken, he proudly gives me a tour of the farm.

“Been in the family since 1923,” he pro-claims. He introduces me to Tommy, the hippie Belgian, with the longest mane I’ve ever seen.

Apparently, spring has not arrived yet up here in hill country as it feels like four de-grees. The wind is howling, and snowflakes are stinging my neck. And yet, even though I’m chilled to the marrow and shivering, I know that Old Man Winter is in his death rattle. He’s lost his menace. The knowledge that spring is lurking, ready to pounce, right beneath the surface of the cold dirt, leaves me feeling strangely invigorated!

Morris shows me the main horse barn, built with his own hands in the 1960s. I take a few photographs of him doing his daily chores. He digs up some parsnips from his garden and gives me a few pounds.

“Say Morris, you don’t know of any en-chanted valleys around here, do you?” I sud-denly blurt out.

He looks at me suspiciously for a moment and cocks his left eyebrow before answering.

“Why, there’s hundreds of valleys up here in these hills. Which do you mean?”

“Well,” I reply, “A few years back, I remem-ber discovering a hidden valley somewhere around here, a real paradise, like a place that time forgot about. It was enchanting, with a little stream alongside the dirt road and old barns. I felt like I was in an old Vermont landscape painting.”

“I’ve been roaming these hills and valleys for 70-plus years,’’ he says matter-of-factly, “and still I ain’t seen ’em all and reckon that I never will.”

“Yeah, Morris, I guess you’re right,” I say meekly.

The spring storm is getting angrier, and the dimming of the day is underway. I figure that it would be wise if I put the search for the enchanted valley on the back burner and get on home. I thank Morris for the tour and tell him I’ll be back, next time with the kids. It’ll be good for them to get some fresh country air.

“That would be great!” he says. “I adore kids. Hey, do your kids like French toast?”

“Of course,” I reply. “They love it, why?”With that he nips into the barn and comes

back with three gigantic eggs.“What the heck are those, Morris, dino-

saur eggs?” I ask.“Goose eggs!” he answers, smiling. “One of

these babies is equal to three hen eggs. Great for French toast.”

I thank him and head back into civiliza-tion, my car ripe with the scent of fresh, dirt-encrusted parsnips and goose eggs. All in all, a pretty good day. I look out the win-dow to the southwest. The enchanted valley is still out there somewhere, but it can wait. I struggle with the mud for a few miles until I’m safely back on the pavement. A John Len-non song comes on the radio. A line in one of the verses strikes me; “Life is what happens to you while you’re busy making other plans.”

So true, Johnny, so true. Michael T. Jermyn is a writer, photographer,

poet, singer and part-time storm chaser. He lives in Montpelier with his Scottish wife and three circus children. His new coffee-table Vermont photography book is called Surfing the Light. You can see it online and also at the Barre Aldrich library.

Driving in Mud Season

by Colette Kelly

This spring I discovered the sen-sation of feeling the bottom of my car (OK, my mom’s car) scrape against ridges in the road, as the wheels slithered deeper and deeper into deep, squishy ruts. For the first time, I felt the inevitable slip and slide of a vehicle designed for pavement plowing through layers of mud, the back swerving this way and that like a drunk college stu-dent walking home from a party. I realized how difficult it is to ap-proximate the location of the wheels under the car in order to stay on top of the ridges between ruts while ma-neuvering between a snowbank and a school bus. In short, I learned how to drive—or how not to drive—in mud season.

My mom says that black ice is the scariest condition to drive in, but mud is the hardest. I agree. Ice catches you by surprise, but lasts only until the sanding trucks have come through. Mud, however, is unrelenting. For weeks, the roads grow softer, the potholes larger and the ruts deeper as the roads re-lease the water that froze into them during the winter. No amount of sand or salt will wring them out, and grading helps only temporarily. Happily, though, the length of mud season means new drivers like me have plenty of time to practice.

In the course of beating up my mom’s car this spring, I learned that driving in mud is like skiing mo-guls. To succeed at either, you have to plan your pathway through the bumps and ruts ahead while simul-taneously moving fast through the bumps and ruts beneath you. This requires a certain mental toughness, a will to get through: The difficult stretch ahead may look impossible, but if you move slowly, you’ll find you can manage it after all.

Photo by Michael T. Jermyn.


Since 1972

Repairs • New floors and walls Crane work • Decorative concrete Consulting • ICF foundations

114 Three Mile Bridge Rd., Middlesex, VT • (802) 229-0480 [email protected] • gendronconcrete.com

Are you able to provide ~5 hours per week in exchange for housing

with an elder? This ad generously sponsored by

by Max Shenk

Lost Nation Theater opened its 25th season at the Montpelier City Hall Arts Center last weekend with per-

formances of the dramatic musical Ransom, including a gala reception on Friday night, hosted by Vermont Civil War historian How-ard Coffin.

Ransom artfully explores the Civil War as it impacted the home-front state of Vermont. In particular, the play focuses on the central Vermont town of West Rochester, on four men who went off to fight for the Union and the families, friends and town that the soldiers left behind.

Ransom succeeds in communicating the drama and heartache of the Civil War through its artful use of monologues, staging and music. The play is loosely based on the letters of West Rochester Civil War soldier Ransom Towle (played by Aaron Aubrey). Lead playwright Dick Robson said that the

play “make[s] no pretensions to historical accuracy.”

“We know of no letters written back to Ran-som,” Robson noted, “but we have Ransom’s reactions” to letters sent to him, and from those reactions, the playwright extrapolated the replies in the play. Joe Schenckman (who collaborated on the play with Robson, April Dood and Ethan Bowen) discovered letters that Hannah Glines of Tunbridge wrote to her husband (who was in Towle’s regiment), and those served as the starting point for the fictitious letters written by character Sarah Whitney (played by Karen Shearer).

The action and dialogue of the play con-sists almost entirely of those letters, read (and, in some cases, sung) by the characters, with period songs, such as “Battle Cry of Freedom” and “Lorena,” sung by the cast and a chorus of four, who move on and off the stage. The original incidental and back-ground music by Dorothy Robson and Jake Wildwood further captures the flavor of the

era and the spirit of the time and town. Most haunting are the passages where the chorus sings unaccompanied. These passages also make the occasional recitative lines work seamlessly and powerfully.

One theme of the play is how the soldiers at the front line and the families, friends and communities they left behind were inextri-cably linked despite the distances separat-ing them, and the staging and structure of Ransom drive this theme home. For nearly all of the play, soldiers and home-front char-acters share the stage, speaking or singing in dialogue, even though they cannot see each other, and reading occasional passages of the letters in unison.

Aubrey’s performance in the title role is at once both restrained and theatric; his drama-tizations capture the emotion and mannerism of Ransom’s letters, as does Avalon Kann’s turn as Mary Jane, the town schoolteacher who corresponds with Ransom. Also notable are the young cast members, whose scenes

and presence balance and put in perspective the harsher, more painful realities of the adult war drama their parents and fellow townsfolk are living.

Ransom succeeds in doing many things, but what it does best is convey fresh emotion of a familiar story. Most Americans probably feel like they know something of the Civil War, and while we may know facts, sometimes it can be difficult to inhabit the emotion of those four years. Ransom communicates the emotional, physical and spiritual hardships of the Civil War home front imaginatively and memorably.

Ransom is playing at Lost Nation The-

ater through May 12. For information on performances and tickets, call 229-0492 or visit lostnationtheater.org. The Civil War cor-respondence of Ransom Towle can be viewed online at cdi.uvm.edu/collections/getCollection.xql?pid=towle.

Musical Ransom Communicates Hardships of Civil War

HOURS:Friday 9am – 9pmSaturday 9am – 6:30pmSunday 10am – 5pm

www.bearpondbooks.com

Simply Music: A New Way to Play Pianoby Nat Frothingham

East Montpelier piano teacher Nicho-las Mortimer is introducing a dra-matically different option for learn-

ing to play the piano. Mortimer’s teaching method, called Simply Music, was originally developed by Australian Neil Moore in 1998. Since 1998, over 700 piano instructors have used Moore’s approach in teaching thousands of students of all ages in Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the United States. In a re-cent conversation with The Bridge, Mortimer talked about the musical journey that led him

to the Simply Music teaching method.“In 1997, I discovered an interest in play-

ing music that I never knew I had,” said Mortimer. At the time, he was 35 years old. “I thought the guitar would be my instru-ment,” he said. But he was finding it difficult to learn. “I could hear in my head what I wanted to play, but as much as I tried I could never create that music.”

In 2004, when Mortimer was living in San Diego, he studied music at a community college and discovered that he was more in-terested in piano than guitar. In due course he moved to New York City and took a job

running a brokerage specializing in gold fu-tures. His short workday left him plenty of time to practice the piano.

“I did that for two years,” Mortimer said, “But I became terribly frustrated. I was hav-ing the same kind of experience with piano that I’d had with the guitar.” Out of frustra-tion, he gave up playing, at least for a time.

In the meantime, Mortimer got married and moved to Montpelier. When he came across an ad about a new piano teaching method called Simply Music, “It seemed too good to be true,” he said. The Simply Music method starts out with playing songs

in all genres–popular, classical, gospel, blues and jazz. “Each new song you learn builds the foundation for the next,” said Mortimer. “And by the end of your first year, you easily know 30 to 50 songs that you can play on any piano, anytime, anywhere without needing to read. By the time I learned to play my second song, I realized I was on to something completely different and very powerful.”

Mortimer explained how the Simply Music method works. “The premise of Simply Music is that everyone, without exception, is natu-rally musical. And the Simply Music method has a way of accessing this and using it to connect with the piano. It’s done in a really effortless and intuitive way, sort of the way we learn language,” he said.

In learning language, Mortimer explained, “we listen to our parents while they are talk-ing. And eventually we produce simple then complex sentences.” In a similar way, Simply Music teaches musical grammar and vocabu-lary through songs. As the repertoire builds, students begin to learn to read music.

Said Mortimer, “Eighty percent of my stu-dents are like me. They thought they would never be able to play. They’ve found out that not only can they play, they’re flourishing. At many of my piano lessons, I’m really quite moved. They come in and play song after song they have been learning or just sit down and express themselves effortlessly through improvisation. It’s amazing.”

Doing cleanouts, moving, spring cleaning, dump runs?WE’VE GOT THE TRUCK.

T&T RepeatsThrift Store116 Main Street, Montpelier • 224.1360

T&T RepeatsThrift StoreT&T RepeatsThrift StoreT&T Repeats116 Main Street, Montpelier


Upcoming EventsFRIDAY, MAY 3Spring Migration Bird Walk: Barre Cow Pasture. Explore local birding hot spots for warblers, vireos, thrushes and waterfowl. 7–8:30 a.m. Free for nature center members, $10 nonmembers. Call North Branch Nature Center for directions: 229-6206. Event repeats Saturday, May 11.Music for Sprouts. Burlington rising star Chris Dorman offers joyous music and imaginative play for toddlers and preschoolers. 10:30 a.m. Kellogg-Hubbard Library, 135 Main Street, Montpelier. Free. 223-4665 or kellogghubbard.org. Reiki Clinic. With Lynne Ihlstrom. Noon–4 p.m. Montpelier Senior Activity Center, 58 Barre Street. Call 522-0045 for appointment.CCV Montpelier Student Art Show. Art from students in Drawing 1, Introduction to Jewelry, Introduction to Studio Art and Digital Photography 2. 1:30–4 p.m., 660 Elm Street, Montpe-lier; 4–8 p.m., 43 State Street, suite 1, Montpelier. Free. 828-4060.Household Hazardous Waste Collection. 5–7 p.m. Calais Town Garage. Preregistration required: call 229-9383, ext. 105. cvswmd.org.Backpacking for Fun, Fitness and Connection to Na-ture. Mary Murphy, lead guide at Mountainsong Expeditions, shares slides and stories and answers questions about backpacking. 6–7:30 p.m. Hunger Mountain Coop community room, Montpelier. Free. Register at 223-8000, ext. 202, or [email protected]. Enjoy live music and share your own. Fellowship, potluck snacks and beverages. 7–9 p.m. Trinity United Methodist Church, 137 Main Street, Montpelier (park and enter at rear). Free. Dick, 244-5191, 472-8297 or [email protected]. Event hap-pens every first Friday.Seth Glier. The 22-year-old Grammy-nominated singer, pianist and guitarist grabs audiences with his powerful falsetto, melodic prowess and what Performer Magazine calls “intoxicating groove.” 7:30 p.m. Chandler Upper Gallery, 71–73 Main Street, Randolph. $16 in advance, $19 day of show. Tickets at 728-6464.Laugh Local: Vermont Comedy Open Mic Night. See live stand-up as comics try 5–7 minutes of new material in front of a live audience. 8 p.m.; sign up at 7:30 p.m. American Legion Post #3, 21 Main Street, Montpelier. Free; donations welcome. Bob, 793-3884.

SATURDAY, MAY 4Birding Moose Bog. Seek boreal birds such as spruce grouse, gray jay, boreal chickadee and black-backed woodpecker, unique flora such as pitcher plants and maybe even a moose at this North-east Kingdom hotspot. 6:30 a.m.–5:30 p.m. Meet at North Branch Nature Center, 713 Elm Street, Montpelier. $30 nature center mem-bers, $40 nonmembers, free for teens. 229-6206. Women’s Moon Group. With Mary Anna Abuzahra. Mazahra Arts, 34 Elm Street, Montpelier. $10–$20 sliding scale. Contact Mary Anna for time and to register: 272-0827 or [email protected]. mazahra.com. Green Up Marshfield. Deliver bagged trash, tires and other roadside debris to the town garage. 8 a.m.–noon. 122 School Street, Marshfield. Call 426-3849 if you need extra bags.

Green Up Calais. Drop off bags of roadside litter. Metal also accepted; no refrigerators, liquids or tires on rims. Raffle prizes of Cal Dollars from East Calais General Store and free coffee for volunteers at Adamant Coop. 9 a.m.–noon. Recycling depot, Moscow Woods Road, Calais. Pick up bags at all three Calais stores or the town clerk’s office, or use your own. Fletcher, 456-8924 or [email protected] Sweet ’n’ Savory All-You-Can-Eat Pie Break-fast. Orchard Valley Waldorf School dishes out sweet and savory slices. 8:30 a.m.–12:30 p.m. Christ Church, State Street (next to the farmers’ market), Montpelier. $8 individual, $30 family, free for children under 5.Household Hazardous Waste Collection. 9 a.m.–1 p.m. Barre Town Garage. $15 per carload for residents of Central Vermont Solid Waste Management District; car sharing encouraged. 229-9383, ext. 105, or cvswmd.org.Discover Goddard Day. Learn more about Goddard’s low-residency degree programs, meet current students and faculty, tour historic campus and gardens and have lunch in the dining hall. 10 a.m.–3 p.m. Goddard College, 123 Pitkin Road, Plainfield. RSVP at 800-906-8312 or [email protected] to Know Central Vermont’s Herps. With John Jose, environmental educator. Learn about the natural history of local herps (reptiles and amphibians), how to find and identify them in the field, and how you can help conserve these extraordinary animals. 1–3 p.m. Hunger Mountain Coop community room, Montpelier. $10 co-op member-owners, $12 nonmembers. Register at 223-8000, ext. 202, or [email protected] Sing. Ian Smiley leads tunes from The Sacred Harp. All welcome; no experience necessary. Event happens by

RSVP only: please call or e-mail to confirm. 6:30–8 p.m. Tulsi Tea Room, 34 Elm Street, Montpelier. By donation. Ian, 882-8274 or [email protected]. Event happens every first and third Saturday.I Am the Word: An Evening with Spirit Channeler Paul Selig. Learn techniques for developing and sustaining higher levels of consciousness and move through emotional and physical blocks that may be keeping you from manifesting your own higher nature. 7–9 p.m. Vermont Center for Integrative Herbal-ism, 252 Main Street, Montpelier. $25. 224-7100 or paulselig.com.Spring Fever Reliever. Silent auction fundraiser for the Wash-ington County Youth Service Bureau/Boys and Girls Club, with live music by the Dave Keller Band, more than 100 high-quality auction items and packages, raffles, food and beverages. 7–10 p.m.; bidding from 7–8:30 p.m. National Life, Montpelier. $10 in advance, $15 at the door. Tickets at the bureau’s 38 Elm Street office or at wcysb.org. 229-9151.Second Wind Reunion. A night of dancing to celebrate the musical gifts that this central Vermont band has shared with the community during more than 20 years together. 7:30 p.m. Chandler Upper Gallery, 71–73 Main Street, Randolph. $13 in advance, $16 day of show. Tickets at 728-6464.Contra Dance. All dances taught; no partner necessary. All ages welcome. Bring shoes not worn outdoors. 8–11 p.m. Capital City Grange, 6612 Route 12 (Northfield Street), Berlin. $8. 744-6163 or capitalcitygrange.org. Event happens every first, third and fifth Saturday.

see UPCOMING EVENTS, page 16

Live MusicBAGITOS28 Main Street, Montpelier. All shows 6–8 p.m. unless otherwise noted. 229-9212 or bagitos.com.Every WednesdayBlues jam with the Usual Suspects and friendsEvery SaturdayIrish/Celtic session, 2–5 p.m.Sunday, April 21Cody Michaels (solo piano),11 a.m.–2 p.m.Tuesday, April 30Peoples’ Cafe with Occupy Central Vermont (music, art, poetry, activist discussions)

BIG PICTURE THEATER48 Carroll Road (just off Route 100), Waitsfield. 496-8994 or bigpicturetheater.info.Sunday, May 5Lewis Franco and the Brown Eyed Girls, with Dono Schabner, 11 a.m.–noon, $6 (benefits Spring Hill School)

CHARLIE O’S70 Main Street, Montpelier. All shows 10 p.m. unless otherwise noted. 223-6820.

Every MondayTriviaEvery TuesdayKaraokeFriday, May 3There is No Mountain and Dan Zura (indie)Saturday, May 4Pariah Beat and Violet Ultraviolet (indie)Friday, May 10Spit Jack, Pity Whores and Tsunami Bots (punk)Saturday, May 11Nudas Veritas CD release party with Happy Lives and Rawsome (eclectic)Thursday, May 16Har-di-Har (indie), 9 p.m.

CIDER HOUSE RESTAURANTRoute 2, Waterbury. 244-8400.Saturday, May 4Dan Boomhower (jazz/popular standards), 6–close.

NUTTY STEPH’S CHOCOLATERIERoute 2, Middlesex. 229-2090 or nuttystephs.com.Every ThursdayBacon Thursday, live music and hot conversation, 6 p.m.–midnightThursday, May 9Three years of Bacon Thursdays: free bacon; corsets- and lace-themed night

POSITIVE PIE 222 State Street, Montpelier. 229-0453 or positivepie.com.Friday, May 3The Disco Ball (DJed ’70s party), 10 p.m., $3, 21+Saturday, May 4Bossman (reggae), 10:30 p.m., $5, 21+Saturday, May 11Afinique (salsa), 10:30 p.m., $7, 21+

RED HEN BAKING & CAFÉRoute 2, Middlesex. redhenbaking.com.Saturday, May 4Bob and the Troubadors (singer-songwriters), 1–3 p.m.

SKINNY PANCAKE89 Main Street, Montpelier. All shows 6 p.m. unless otherwise noted. 262-2253 or skinnypancake.com.Every SundayOld-time sessions with Katie Trautz and friends, 4–6 p.m. (intermediate to advanced players welcome to sit in)

THE WHAMMY BARMaple Corner Café, 31 West County Road, Calais. All events free unless otherwise noted. 229-4329.Every WednesdayOpen mic, 6:30 p.m.

TheaterRANSOMMusic-drama based on the letters, diaries and military documents of Civil War soldier Ransom Towle of Rochester, Vermont. Through May 12. 7 p.m. Thursdays and Sundays; 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays; 2 p.m. matinees on Sunday, April 27, and Sunday, May 12. Lost Nation Theater, 39 Main Street, Montpelier. $30 Friday–Sunday, $25 Thursday, $5 discount for students/seniors; $10 children age 6–11. Infants and toddlers not admitted; children under 6 admitted at discretion of theater. Tickets at 229-0492 or lostnationtheater.org.

THE PERFORMERThe world premiere production of a new play by Marshfield playwright Tom Blachly, about a group of street people living in the subway and the mysterious stranger who interrupts and changes their lives. Presented by Echo Valley Community Arts. May 23–June 2. Thursday–Sunday, 7:30 p.m. Hay-barn Theatre, Goddard College, 123 Pitkin Road, Plainfield. $15 adults, $12 students and seniors. Tickets at 426-3955 or

Scene from The Performer, showing at the Haybarn Theatre in Plainfield May 23–June 2. Photo courtesy Tom Blachly.

Submit Your Event!Send listings to [email protected]. The deadline for our next issue, May 16, is Friday, May 10.


The Teetotallers: Martin Hayes, John Doyle and Kevin Crawford. Three superstars of the Irish traditional share the stage for a rare appearance together. Part of the TD Bank Celebration Series. 8 p.m. Barre Opera House. $10–$30. Tickets at 476-8188 or barreoperahouse.org.

SUNDAY, MAY 5Walk with the Montpelier Section of the Green Mountain Club. Easy 10-mile walk on the Stowe bike path. Meet at Montpelier High School. Contact leader Michael Chernick, 249-0520 or [email protected], for meeting time.CVR Mutt Strutt. Three-mile run for people with dogs on leashes to benefit the Central Vermont Humane Society. 10 a.m. Little River State Park, Waterbury. Roy, 735-5110 or [email protected] Professor Is In at Elmore Roots. Bring your fruit-, nut- and berry- growing questions to Zach Leonard of High Hopes Orchards. 10 a.m.–3 p.m. Elmore Roots Nursery, 631 Symonds Mill Road, Wolcott. 888-3305 or [email protected]. Event repeats May 19, June 2 and June 9.Bingo with the Waterbury American Legion Auxiliary. Lunch available. Benefits Auxiliary projects. Doors open at 11 a.m.; quickies at noon; 1 p.m. regular bingo. American Legion Post 59 , Stowe Street, Waterbury. 244-8404.Laughter Yoga with Erika Hogan. Truly silly and absolutely sane. Dress comfortably; no mat required. 1 p.m. Cutler Memorial Library, 151 High Street (Route 2), Plainfield. Free, but preregistra-tion required: session will only run if at least five people sign up. 454-8504 or cutlerlibrary.org.Feldenkrais: Happy Legs, Ankles and Feet. Improve mo-tion, reduce stress and stiffness and improve balance and walking. 1:30–3:30 p.m. Yoga Mountain Center, 7 Main Street, Montpelier. $30. Register at 735-3770 or [email protected] to Growth of Consciousness. Vrisha Ishaya, meditation instructor, talks about ancient principles of self-development and facilitates first-hand experience and group discussion. 2–3:30 p.m. Hunger Mountain Coop community room, Montpelier. Free. Register at 223-8000, ext. 202, or [email protected] Solo Piano Concert with Michael Arnowitt. Arnowitt plays Beethoven’s Sonata in A major, op. 101, preludes by Debussy, Copland’s “El Salon Mexico,” plus music of Bach, Proko-fiev and Mendelssohn. Benefits Beth Jacob Synagogue in its 100th

year. 3 p.m. Unitarian Church, 130 Main Street, Montpelier. Tickets at Bear Pond Books in Montpelier, Next Chapter Books in Barre, bethjac-obvt.org or at the door. Emily, 279-7518 or [email protected] Labor Film Festival: Salt of the Earth. Based on actual events, the 1954 film tells the story of a strike by Mexican American zinc workers, exploring racism and sexism along with the miner’s struggle for fair wages and treatment. 4 p.m. Old Labor Hall, Barre. By donation. oldlaborhall.com.Cliffhanger Uphill Sprint Race Series. Test your fitness with an epic evening of casual sprint racing up Cliff Street in Montpelier. Biking and running categories. Prizes from Brooks Running and Onion River Sports. 5 p.m.; registration opens at 4 p.m. Court Street and Hillside Avenue, Montpelier. $10. Matt, 229-9409 or [email protected]. onionriver.com. More races June 16 and August 11.

MONDAY, MAY 6Parents’ Group and Meet-Up. For central Vermont moms and dads looking to share ideas, advice and information. Kids welcome. Coffee, tea and snacks provided. 10–11:30 a.m. Hayes Room, Kellogg-Hubbard Library, 135 Main Street, Montpelier. Free. [email protected]. Event happens every first Monday.Mindfulness Practice and Psychotherapy. Presentation by Robert M. Kest, Ph.D. 6–7:30 p.m. Kellogg-Hubbard Library, 135 Main Street, Montpelier. Free. 229-6989 or [email protected] Book Club. Discuss Anton Chekhov’s The Seagull. 6 p.m. Cutler Memorial Library, Route 2, Plainfield. Free. Daniel, 793-0418. Event happens every first Monday; June’s book will be Winesburg, Ohio, by Sherwood Anderson.

TUESDAY, MAY 7Bike with the Montpelier Section of the Green Moun-tain Club. A moderate 25-mile ride from Montpelier to More-town. Helmet required. Contact leaders Mary Garcia, 622-0585, or Mary Smith, 505-0603, for meeting time and place.The Ongoing Fukushima Nuclear Disaster: Eyewitness Report. Chiho Kaneko of Hartland gives an illustrated presenta-tion about her trip to Fukushima, Japan, site of the catastrophic nuclear power plant meltdowns following the 2011 earthquake and tsunami. 6:30 p.m.; potluck dinner 5:30 p.m. Christ Episcopal Church, 64 State Street, Montpelier. Free; donations welcome. 476-3154. Organized by the Vermont Yankee Decommissioning Alliance.Glorious Greens and You. With Marie Frohlich, health coach. Taste and explore the world of greens, how to purchase, grow and cook them, and the power they hold for building health. 6–7 p.m. Hunger Mountain Coop community room, Montpelier.

Free. Register at 223-8000, ext. 202, or [email protected]’s Circle. Women and mothers discuss motherhood, family life and women’s health. Hosted by midwives Chelsea Hastings and Hannah Allen. 6–8 p.m. Emerge Midwifery and Family Health, 174 River Street, Montpelier. Event happens every first Tuesday.Author Reading: Steven Metz. The Shelburne author and veterinarian reads humorous, captivating and passionate stories from his book Exotic Tails, recounting his years treating all kinds of animals. 6:30 p.m. Bridgeside Books, Waterbury. Free. 244-7036 or 244-1441. Sponsored by the Waterbury Public Library.Author Reading and Signing: Lloyd Devereux Rich-ards. Vermont novelist and former attorney Richards reads from Stone Maidens, his atmospheric thriller set in the Midwest. 7 p.m. Kellogg-Hubbard Library, 135 Main Street, Montpelier. Free. 223-3338 or kellogghubbard.org. Author Reading and Signing: Howard Coffin. The Vermont author and historian presents his new book, Something Abides: Discovering the Civil War in Today’s Vermont. 7 p.m. Bear Pond Books, 77 Main Street, Montpelier. Free. 229-0774.

WEDNESDAY, MAY 8Work Hike with the Montpelier Section of the Green Mountain Club. Help Montpelier parks director Geoff Beyer maintain North Branch River Park and Hubbard Park. All abilities welcome. Bring lunch and water; wear work boots and work gloves. Tools provided. Meet at 9 a.m. at the Montpelier swimming pool parking lot on Elm Street. RSVP with leader Andrew Nuquist, 223-3550. Rain date Friday, May 10.François Truffaut Mini Film Festival: Jules and Jim. 1962 classic about a decades-long love triangle involving two friends and a woman. Presented by film scholar Rick Winston. Final event in the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute’s spring series. 10 a.m. Savoy Theater, Montpelier. $5 suggested donation. 223-1736 or [email protected] for Optimal Health. Alicia Feltus, clinical nutritionist at Cedar Wood Natural Health Center, talks about the importance of a whole-foods diet and gives tips on sustain-able dietary changes and improving overall health, hormone balance and longevity. Noon–12:45 p.m. Tulsi Tea Room, 34 Elm Street, Montpelier. Free, but please preregister at 863-5828 or [email protected] for Life. With Lisa Masé of Harmonized Cookery. Explore traditional foods and recipes, discuss the promises and pitfalls of modern diets and learn ways to choose healthy food tailored to your constitution. Handouts, recipes and snacks. 5:30–6:30 p.m.

UPCOMING EVENTS, from page 15

Art & ExhibitsBIGTOWN GALLERYMasterworks, group show exploring the person-al collections of the late sculptor and printmaker Hugh Townley. 99 North Main Street, Rochester. Through July 28. Opening reception Saturday, April 20, 5–7 p.m. Hours: Wednesday–Friday, 10 a.m.–5 p.m.; Saturday, noon–5 p.m. 767-9670, [email protected] or bigtowngallery.com.

CENTRAL VERMONT MEDICAL CENTERRepresentational paintings of light by David Smith. Lobby, 130 Fisher Road, Berlin. Through May 31. cvmc.org.

CHANDLER GALLERYGive Us Your Best!, group show by area artists. 71–73 Main Street, Randolph. Through May 19. Hours: Friday, 3–5 p.m.; Saturday–Sunday, noon–2 p.m. 431-0204 or [email protected].

CITY CENTERMonoprints and More, works by Joan Davidson, Linda Maney and Missy Storrow. 89 Main Street, Montpelier. May 4–31. artresourceassociation.com.

CONTEMPORARY DANCE & FITNESS STUDIOCaptured Mind Wanderings, photography by Montpelier High School students Zivah Solo-mon and Nathan Burton. 18 Langdon Street (third floor), Montpelier. Through May 27. 229-4676 or cdandfs.com.

GIFFORD GALLERYX-pressions, graphite, pastel and colored pencil works by Jan Rogers. 44 South Main Street, Randolph. Through May 29. 728-2324.

GODDARD ART GALLERYThe Nature of Things, installation by seven artists: Thea Alvin, Khara Ledonne, Forrest White, Robyn Alvin, Gowri Savoor and Bruce Hathaway. 54 Main Street, Montpelier. Through May 11. Hours: Wednesday–Thursday, noon–5 p.m.; Friday–Saturday, noon–7 p.m. 322-1685 or goddard.edu.

GOVERNOR’S GALLERYHard Line, Soft Color, scultpture by Robert Hitzig emphasizing grain patterns in wood and other inherent qualities of the material. 109 State Street (fifth floor), Montpelier. Photo ID required for admission. Through June 28. 828-0749.

GREEN BEAN ART GALLERYNature in Color, impressionist landscapes by Melissa Brown Bessett. Capitol Grounds, 27 State Street, Montpelier. Through May. [email protected].

HELEN DAY ART CENTERStudent art show: the gallery’s 32nd year of exhibiting local students’ work. 90 Pond Street, Stowe. May 3–May 26. Opening reception Friday, May 3, 3–7 p.m. Hours: Wednesday–Sunday, noon–5 p.m. 253-8358 or helenday.com.

KELLOGG-HUBBARD LIBRARYThe Art of Creative Aging, juried exhibit of work by local visual artists age 70 and older, and Playful Moments in Color, works by Yvonne Strauss. 135 Main Street, Montpelier. Creative Aging in the main library through May; Playful Moments in the children’s library through June 8. 223-3338.

RED HEN CAFÉSeasons in Transition, Middlesex artist Cindy Griffith explores the changing seasons of the year. Route 2, Middlesex. Through June 30. 229-4326, [email protected] or redhenbaking.com.

RIVER ARTS CENTERLooking at Landscape, an exhibit of paintings and drawings by Peter Fried, plus new sumi-e paintings by Alex Angio. 74 Pleasant Street, Morrisville. Through May 13. Hours: Monday–Friday, 10 a.m.–2 p.m. 888-1261 or riverartsvt.org.

STOREFRONT STUDIO GALLERYTalking Portraits and Two-Part Inventions, an evolving show of experimental drawings, paintings and the occasional sculpture by Glen Coburn Hutcheson. 6 Barre Street, Montpelier. Hours: Monday–Friday, 3–6 p.m. 839-5349 or gchfineart.com.

STUDIO PLACE ARTSTwo by Two, group show exploring; art silent auction; Specimens, works by Jason Galligan-Baldwin; and BabyProof, works by Jenna Ann Kelly. 201 North Main Street, Barre. Through May 25. 479-7069 or studioplacearts.com.

SULLIVAN MUSEUM & HISTORY CENTERThese Honored Dead: Private and National Com-memoration, stories of Norwich alumni from both sides of the Civil War conflict in 1863. Norwich University, Northfield. Through Decem-ber 20. 485-2183 or norwich.edu/museum.

VERMONT HISTORY MUSEUMPlowing Old Ground: Vermont’s Organic Farm-ing Pioneers, photographs and interviews. 109 State Street, Montpelier. Through August. Hours: Tuesday–Saturday, 10 a.m.–4 p.m. 828-2291 or vermonthistory.org.

VERMONT SUPREME COURTInner Doors, paintings and painted scrolls by Vermont artist Harriet Wood.111 State Street (first-floor lobby), Montpelier. Through June 27. Reception Friday, May 3, 5–7 p.m. Hours: Monday–Friday, 8 a.m.–4:30 p.m. 828-0749.

Submit Your Event!Send listings to [email protected]. The deadline for our next issue, May 16, is Friday, May 10.

Worcester Reflection by Melissa Brown Bessett, showing at the Green Bean Art Gallery through May. Image courtesy Heidi Goodrich.


THURSDAY, MAY 9SymphonyKids: Raising Cane. The Vermont Symphony Orchestra’s woodwind trio show off the sounds of the oboe, clari-net and bassoon and lead fun, participatory exercises to sharpen listening skills. 9 and 10 a.m. Northfield Elementary School; 1 p.m. Websterville Baptist Christian School. Eleanor, 800-876-9293, ext. 14, or [email protected] You Like to Play Piano. And have fun? Presentation about the Simply Music method. 4–5 p.m. Montpelier Senior Activ-ity Center, 58 Barre Street. Free. 595-1220, [email protected] or loveplayingpiano.org. Event repeats Friday, May 10, and Saturday, May 11.Improving Your Lipid Profile: Cholesterol and the Role of Nutrition. With Akshata Nayak. Learn about cholester-ol and how modifications in diet and exercise can help maintain a healthy balance between the different types of cholesterol. 5:30–7 p.m. Hunger Mountain Coop community room, Montpelier. Free. Register at 223-8000, ext. 202, or [email protected] Valley Waldorf School End-of-Year Concert. See and hear what the students have been working on this year in their music classes at a festive musical celebration. 6 p.m. First Presbyterian Church, Barre.Wild Edible and Medicinal Plant and Nature Walk. With naturalists Annie McCleary and George Lisi. 6–7:30 p.m. Wisdom of the Herbs School, 1005 County Road, Woodbury. Free–$10 sliding scale. Preregister with Annie: 456-8122 or [email protected] Yourself from Identity Theft. Amy Schram, community outreach specialist from the Better Business Bureau, covers tactics that identity thieves use to obtain personal information and ways we can protect ourselves. 7 p.m. Kellogg-Hubbard Library, 135 Main Street, Montpelier. Free. 223-3338 or kellogghubbard.org. Film Screening: Half the Sky. A movie about turning oppres-sion into opportunity for women worldwide. Hosted by midwives Chelsea Hastings and Hannah Allen. 7 p.m. River Arts Center, 74 Pleasant Street, Morrisville. $5 suggested donation.Ecumenical Group. Songs of praise, Bible teaching, fellowship. 7–9 p.m. Jabbok Center for Christian Living, 8 Daniel Drive, Barre. Free. 479-0302. Event happens every second and fourth Thursday.

FRIDAY, MAY 10Foot Clinic. With nurses from Central Vermont Home Health & Hospice. 9 a.m.–noon. Montpelier Senior Activity Center, 58 Barre Street. $15. Call 223-2518 to schedule a 15-minute appointment.Plant Walk at Two Rivers Center. Joyful investigation with a practicing herbalist, opening hearts and minds to the wonders of the plants that grow around us. 5:30–6:30 p.m.; meet at 5:15 p.m. at the Hunger Mountain Coop, Montpelier, to carpool. Two Rivers Center, 5 Home Farm Way, Montpelier. Free. Register at 223-8000, ext. 202, or [email protected] You Like to Play Piano. And have fun? See Thursday, April 9, for description; note change in time and venue. 6–7 p.m. Chapel, Bethany United Church, 115 Main Street, Montpelier. Free. 595-1220, [email protected] or loveplayingpiano.org. Event repeats Saturday, May 11.Fundraising Dinner for Northfield Middle High School Track Team. Live music, an art show and a four-course meal: lobster bisque, house salad, baked stuffed shrimp, roast prime rib or eggplant rollotini, and chocolate mousse. Seatings at 6 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. Abigail’s Dining Room, Woods at Wihakowi, Northfield. $30. Reservations required: 778-0205 or [email protected].

LGBTQQ Youth Group. Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgen-der, queer or questioning youth age 13–22 enjoy free pizza, soft drinks and conversation. Facilitated by adult volunteers trained by Outright VT. 6:30–8 p.m. Unitarian Church, 130 Main Street, Montpelier. Free. outrightvt.org. Event happens every second and fourth Friday.BASH (Big Arty SPA Happening). Silent auction, live music by the Mellow Yellow Band, food and award-winning wines served by Grand View Winery to support the gallery’s programs. 7–9 p.m. Studio Place Arts, 201 North Main Street, Barre. $15 in advance, $25 day of event. Tickets at 479-7069.Dana and Susan Robinson in Concert. New-time old-time music on fiddle, guitar, banjo and mandolin, drawing the listener close to the heart of Appalachia and rural America. 7 p.m. River Arts Center, 74 Pleasant Street, Morrisville. $10. 888-1261.

SATURDAY, MAY 11Spring Migration Bird Walk: North Branch Nature Center. See Friday, May 3, for description and information. 7–8:30 a.m. 713 Elm Street, Montpelier. Free for nature center members, $10 nonmembers. 229-6206. Would You Like to Play Piano. And have fun? See Thursday, April 9, for description; note change in time and venue. 9–10 a.m. Sanctuary, Bethany United Church, 115 Main Street, Montpelier. Free. 595-1220, [email protected] or loveplayingpiano org. The North Montpelier Woolen Mill. Historic talk with for-mer mill worker Erlene Leonard. See photos and artifacts and learn about the Vermont Textile Company’s North Montpelier mill. Refreshments provided. 1 p.m. Cutler Memorial Library, 151 High Street (Route 2), Plainfield. Free. 454-8504 or cutlerlibrary.org.Monthly Film Series: Dan in Real Life. 6:30 p.m. Montpelier Senior Activity Center, 58 Barre Street. 223-2518.Onion River Chorus Spring Concert. The 55-member chorus performs work by J.S. Bach and Henry Purcell, as well as guest director Richard Riley’s own cantata, “Silent Thunder.” 7:30 p.m. First Universalist Church, 19 Church Street, Barre. $12 adults, $8 students. 476-4300. concert repeats Sunday, May 12.The Heliand Consort. Featuring classical chamber music for piano and woodwinds by Telemann, Devienne, Dvorak, Poulenc and others. 7:30 p.m. Bethany United Church, 115 Main Street, Montpelier. $15–$20 suggested donation. 735-3611 or heliandconsort.org.Myra Flynn. The singer returns to her hometown to perform songs from her new, third record. 7:30 p.m. Chandler Upper Gallery, 71–73 Main Street, Randolph. $25. Tickets at 728-6464.

SUNDAY, MAY 12Hike with the Montpelier Section of the Green Mountain Club. A moderate 4- to 5-hour walk on Cotton Brook Road in Moscow. Loop with short uphill stretch. Meet at Montpelier High School. Contact leader Ken Hertz, 229-4737 or [email protected], for meeting time.Bike with the Young Adventurers Club. A moderate outing on the Wells River Rail Trail. The club helps parents and kids get outdoors to play, learn and make friends, sponsored by the Montpelier section of the Green Mountain Club. Contact Lexi Shear, 229-9810, for meeting time and place. Second Sunday Concert. Featuring pianist Aurora Brush on piano. 9:30 a.m.; breakfast available at 9 a.m. Bethany United Church of Christ, 115 Main Street, Montpelier. Concert free, break-fast $5 or less.

Mothers’ Day Wildflower Walk. An easy walk for all ages and genders through the meadows and woods along the North Branch to view spring flora and learn the folklore behind names of beautiful, ephemeral wildflowers. 1–3 p.m. North Branch Nature Center, 713 Elm Street, Montpelier. $10; free for kids and moms. 229-6206. Wild Man Blues in Concert. The six-piece group of local musicians—clarinetist Dan Liptak, trombonists George Voland and Burr Morse, bassist Cory Beard and drummer Todd Wat-kins—performs traditional New Orleans and Dixieland jazz. 3 p.m. Bethany United Church, 115 Main Street, Montpelier. $20 suggested donation. Presented by the Bethany Center for the Arts. Shape-Note/Sacred Harp Sing. No experience needed. All welcome. 5–7 p.m. Plainfield Community Center (above the co-op). By donation. Scottie, 595 9951 or [email protected]. Event happens every second Sunday. Onion River Chorus Spring Concert. See Saturday, May 11, for description and information; note change in time and venue. 7 p.m. Unitarian Church of Montpelier, 130 Main Street, Montpelier. $12 adults, $8 students. 476-4300.

MONDAY, MAY 13Planning Meeting for Annual Book and Cookie Sale. Help put good ideas into action. 6 p.m. Ainsworth Public Library, Main Street (Route 14), Williamstown. Free. 433-5887 or ainsworthpubliclibrary.wordpress.com.

TUESDAY, MAY 14Spanish Musical Storytime with Constancia. Babies, toddlers and preschoolers sing, dance and learn Spanish in an en-ergetic, effervescent program. 10:30 a.m. Kellogg-Hubbard Library, 135 Main Street, Montpelier. Free. 223-4665 or kellogghubbard.org. Medicare and You. Turning 65? Those new to Medicare get questions answered. 3–4:30 p.m. Central Vermont Council on Aging, 59 North Main Street, suite 200, Barre. Free. Register at 479-0531. Event happens every second and fourth Tuesday.Tech Tuesdays. Get help with any computer or Internet ques-tions, or learn about the library’s new circulation software and how to use ListenUp to download audiobooks and more. Bring your iPod, tablet, phone, laptop or other device. 5:30–7 p.m. Kellogg-Hubbard Library, 135 Main Street, Montpelier. Free. 223-3338 or kellogghubbard.org. Event happens every second and fourth Tuesday.Successful Life Changes: Work: Starting the Next Ben and Jerry’s or Unemployment? Professionals from the community in private, public and nonprofit sectors discuss the implications of the changing workplace for seniors. 6–7:30 p.m. Montpelier Senior Activity Center, 58 Barre Street. Free. 223-2518.Invasive Species Workshop. Brian Colleran, invasive species biologist, talks about invasive species, especially Japanese knot-weed, then leads a group into the field to see and discuss invasives. 6 p.m. North Branch Nature Center, 713 Elm Street, Montpelier. Free. 229-6206. Poet Reading and Signing: Sherry Olson. The Vermont poet reads from her newest collection of poems, Four-Way Stop. 7 p.m. Kellogg-Hubbard Library, 135 Main Street, Montpelier. Free. 223-3338 or kellogghubbard.org. Extempo. Tell a 5- to 7.5-minute, first-person, true story from your own life. Sign up in advance and come with your story already practiced to deliver smoothly without notes. No theme. 8 p.m. Kismet, 52 State Street, Montpelier. Free to participants; $5 otherwise. 223-8646 or extempovt.com.

WEDNESDAY, MAY 15Enjoy the Wonders of Fungi. With Eric Swanson of Vermush. See Swanson’s recent pictures and projects and learn how to culture and grow mycelium into fungi. Everyone will bring home their own oyster mushroom spawn. 5–7 p.m. Hunger Mountain Coop community room, Montpelier. $10 co-op mem-ber-owners, $12 nonmembers. Register at 223-8000, ext. 202, or [email protected] of Silence. Ride to remember bicyclists who have been in-jured or killed in crashes with motor vehicles. 12 miles round-trip. Meet at 5:30 p.m. at the State House, Montpelier. Free. Nancy, 225-8904 or [email protected]. Organized by the Vermont Bicycle & Pedestrian Coalition. Home Sharing Info Meeting. Find out what home sharing is all about. Refreshments served. 5:30–6 p.m. Home Share Now, 115 Main Street, Barre. RSVP at 479-8544 to ensure ample refreshments. Event happens every third Wednesday.Greater Barre Democrats: Health Care Update. Bring your questions and concerns. 6 p.m. Milne Room, Aldrich Public Library, 6 Washington Street, Barre. Starting Your Own Business. Have a great idea for your own business? Margaret Ferguson of the Central Vermont Community Ac-tion Council’s microbusiness development program and Joan Hudson, economic development specialist at the Vermont office of the Small Business Administration, discuss the planning and preparation re-quired for any business to get started. 7 p.m. Kellogg-Hubbard Library, 135 Main Street, Montpelier. Free. 223-3338 or kellogghubbard.org. Williamstown Reads: World Book Night. A community-wide book discussion of My Antonia by Willa Cather. 7 p.m. Wil-liamstown Gardens Lounge, Main Street (Route 14), Williamstown. Free. 433-5887 or ainsworthpubliclibrary.wordpress.com.

see UPCOMING EVENTS, page 18

Clarinetist Dan Liptak, who will perform with the Wild Man Blues jazz sextet on Sunday, May 12, in Montpelier. Photo courtesy Arthur Zorn.


Weekly EventsBICYCLINGOpen Shop Nights. Have a bike to donate or need help with a bike repair? Visit the volunteer-run community bike shop. Tuesdays, 6–8 p.m.; Wednesdays, 5–7 p.m. Freeride Mont-pelier, 89 Barre Street, Montpelier. By donation. 552-3521 or freeridemontpelier.org.Cyclocross Ride. A mellow, 1–2 hour dirt-road cruise. All abilities welcome; cyclocross bike highly recommended. Mondays, through May 27. Meet at 6 p.m. at Onion River Sports, Montpelier. 229-9409 or onionriver.com★ Cycling 101. Train for a summer of riding with Linda Freeman and Onion River Sports. Build confidence, strength, endurance, road-riding skills and a sense of community with relaxed rides on local paved roads. For all abilities. Tuesdays; meet at 5:30 p.m. at Montpelier High School. Drop-ins welcome until July 2. 229-9409 or onionriver.com.

BOOKSOngoing Reading Group. Improve your reading and share some good books. Books chosen by group. Thursdays, 9–10 a.m. Central Vermont Adult Basic Education, Montpelier Learning Center, 100 State Street. 223-3403.Book Discussion Group. Group focuses on The Thoughtful Dresser: The Art of Adornment, the Pleasures of Shopping, and Why Clothes Matter, by Linda Grant. Facilitated by Peggy Ramel, AmeriCorps member at Central Vermont Council on Aging. Fridays, 10–1:15 a.m., through June 14. Montpelier Senior Activity Center, 58 Barre Street. Free; books available for $13. Sign up at 223-2518.

COMPUTERSTech Help at the Library. Get help with any computer or Internet questions, or learn about the library’s new circulation software and how to use ListenUp to download audiobooks and more. Bring your iPod, tablet, phone, laptop or other device. Wednesdays, 10:30 a.m.–1:30 p.m., through mid-April. Kellogg-Hubbard Library, 135 Main Street, Montpelier. Free. 223-3338 or kellogg hubbard.org. Additional help on second and fourth Tuesdays: see Upcoming Events.

CRAFTSBeaders’ Group. All levels of beading experience welcome. Free instruction available. Come with a project for creativity and commu-nity. Saturdays, 11 a.m.–2 p.m. The Bead Hive, Plainfield. 454-1615.

DANCEEcstatic Dance. Dance your heart awake. No experience necessary. Sundays, 5:30–7:30 p.m., Christ Church, State Street, Montpelier. Wednesdays, 7–9 p.m.; first and third Wednesdays: Worcester Town Hall, corner of Elmore Road and Calais Road; second and fourth Wednesdays: Plainfield Community Center (above the co-op). $10. Fearn, 505-8011 or [email protected]. ★ Ballroom and Latin Dance Class. With instructor Samir Elabd. For beginning to inter-

mediate dancers. No partner necessary. Tuesdays, May 14–June 4. Waltzing 6–7 p.m.; wedding and party dances 7–8 p.m. $14 per class; walk-ins welcome. Register at 225-8699; information at 223-2921.

FOODFree Community Meals in Montpelier. All welcome.Mondays: Unitarian Church, 130 Main Street, 11 a.m.–1 p.m.Tuesdays: Bethany Church, 115 Main Street, 11:30 a.m.–1 p.m.Wednesdays: Christ Church, 64 State Street, 11 a.m.–12:30 p.m.Thursdays: Trinity Church, 137 Main Street, 11:30 a.m.–1 p.m.Fridays: St. Augustine Church, 18 Barre Street, 11 a.m.–12:30 p.m.Sundays: Last Sundays only, Bethany Church, 115 Main Street (hosted by Beth Jacob Syna-gogue), 4:30–5:30 p.m.★ Capital City Farmers’ Market. 50-plus farmers, food producers and craftspeople, plus live music and cooking demos. Saturdays, 9 a.m.–1 p.m., through October. 60 State Street, Montpelier. Carolyn, 223-2958 or manager@ montpelierfarmersmarket.com. Noon Cafe. Soup, fresh bread, good company and lively conversation. Wednesdays, noon. Old Meeting House, East Montpelier. By donation. oldmeetinghouse.org.

GAMES Apollo Duplicate Bridge Club. All wel-come. Partners sometimes available. Fridays, 6:45 p.m. Bethany Church, 115 Main Street, Montpelier. $3. 485-8990 or 223-3922.

HEALTHFree HIV Testing. Vermont CARES offers fast oral testing. Thursdays, 2–5 p.m. 58 East State Street, suite 3 (entrance at the back), Montpelier. 371-6222 or vtcares.org. Affordable Acupuncture. Full acupuncture sessions with Chris Hollis and Trish Mitchell. Mondays and Wednesdays, 2–7 p.m.; Fridays, 9 a.m.–2 p.m. 79 Main Street, suite 8 (above Coffee Corner), Montpelier. $15–$40 sliding scale. Walk in or schedule an appointment at montpelier communityacupuncture.com.

KIDS★ Story Time at the Waterbury Public Library. Mondays, babies and toddlers. Fridays, preschoolers. 10 a.m. Waterbury Public Library. Free. 244-7036.Story Time at the Kellogg-Hubbard Library. Tuesdays and Fridays, 10:30 a.m. Kellogg-Hubbard Library, 135 Main Street, Montpelier. Free. 223-4665.Story Hour at the Aldrich. For babies, tod-dlers and kindergarteners. Mondays and Tuesdays, 10:30 a.m., through mid-May. Aldrich Public Library, Washington Street, Barre. Adrianne, 476-7550.Story Time and Playgroup. For children age 0–6. Story with Sylvia Smith, followed by play-time with Melissa Seifert. Wednesdays, 10–11:30 a.m.; program follows the Twinfield calendar and is not held on weeks when the school is closed. Jaquith

Public Library, 122 School Street, Marshfield. 426-3581 or [email protected] Play Playgroup. For children birth to age 3 and their adults. Thursdays, 9:30–11 a.m., through June 13. St. Augustine’s Church, Barre Street, Montpelier. Christopher, 262-3292, ext. 115. fcwcvt.org.Dads’ and Kids’ Playgroup. For children birth to age 5 and their male grown-ups. Free dinner provided before playtime. Thursdays, 6–7:30 p.m., through June 13. Family Center of Washington County, 383 Sherwood Drive, Montpelier. Christopher, 262-3292, ext. 115. fcwcvt.org.Cub Capers Story Time. Story and song for children age 3–5 and their families. Led by Carrie Fitz. Saturdays, 10 a.m. Children’s room, Bear Pond Books, 77 Main Street, Montpelier. Free. 229-0774 or [email protected].

LANGUAGEEnglish Conversation Practice Group. For students learning English for the first time. Tuesdays, 4–5 p.m. Central Vermont Adult Basic Education, Montpelier Learning Center, 100 State Street. Sarah, 223-3403.Lunch in a Foreign Language. Bring lunch and practice your language skills with neighbors. Noon–1 p.m. Mondays, Hebrew. Tuesdays, Italian. Wednesdays, Spanish. Thursdays, French. Kellogg-Hubbard Library, 135 Main Street, Montpelier. 223-3338.

MUSICSing with the Barre Tones. Women’s a cappella chorus. Mondays, 6:30 p.m. Alumni Hall (second floor), near Barre Auditorium. 223-2039 or [email protected] Young Singers Chorus Rehearsal. New chorus members welcome. Wednesdays, 4–5 p.m. Montpelier. Call 229-9000 for location and more information. Friday Night Community Drum Circle. Open drumming hosted by the Unitarian Uni-versalists of Barre. Everyone welcome. Fridays, 7–9 p.m. Parish house, Barre Universalist Church, Main and Church streets, Barre. Follow your ears or follow the signs. Accessible venue possible with advance notice: 503-724-7301.

RECYCLINGFree Food Scrap Collection. Compost your food waste along with your regular trash and recycling. Wednesdays, 9 a.m.–5 p.m.; Saturdays 6 a.m.–1 p.m. DJ’s Convenience Store, 56 River Street, Montpelier. cvswmd.org.Dollar Days. Bring in odd and sundry items for reuse, upcycling and recycling, including toothbrushes, bottle caps, cassette tapes, books, textiles, batteries and more. Mondays and Fridays, 12:30 p.m.–5:30 p.m. Additional Recyclables Col-lection Center, 3 Williams Lane, Barre. $1 per car load. Complete list of accepted items at 229-9383, ext. 106, [email protected] or cvswmd.org.

SPIRITUALITYChristian Science. God’s love meeting human needs. Reading room: Tuesday–Saturday, 11 a.m.–1 p.m.; Tuesdays, 5–8 p.m.; and Wednes-days, 5–7:15 p.m. Testimony meeting: Wednesdays, 7:30–8:30 p.m., nursery available. Worship service: Sundays, 10:30–11:30 a.m., Sunday school

and nursery available. 145 State Street, Montpelier. 223-2477.Deepening Our Jewish Roots. Fun, engaging text study and discussion on Jewish spirituality. Sundays, 4:45–6:15 p.m. Yearning for Learning Center, Montpelier. Rabbi Tobie Weis-man, 223-0583 or [email protected] Meditation Group. People of all faiths welcome. Mondays, noon–1 p.m. Christ Church, Montpelier. Regis, 223-6043.Shambhala Buddhist Meditation. Instruction available. All welcome. Sundays, 10 a.m.–noon, and Wednesdays, 6–7 p.m. Program and discussion follow Wednesday meditation. Shambhala Center, 64 Main Street, Montpelier. Free. 223-5137.Zen Meditation. Wednesdays, 6:30–7:30 p.m. 174 River Street, Montpelier. Free. Call Tom for orientation, 229-0164. With Zen Affiliate of Vermont.

SPORTSRoller Derby Open Recruitment and Recreational Practice. Central Vermont’s Wrecking Doll Society invites quad skaters age 18 and up to try out the action. No experience necessary. Equipment provided: first come, first served. Saturdays, 5–6:30 p.m. Montpelier Recre-ation Center, Barre Street. First skate free. centralvermontrollerderby.com.

TEENSThe Basement Teen Center. Cable TV, PlayStation 3, pool table, free eats and fun events for teenagers. Monday–Thursday, 3–6 p.m.; Friday, 3–11 p.m. Basement Teen Center, 39 Main Street, Montpelier. 229-9151.Homework Help for Teens. Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, 3–5 p.m. Aldrich Public Library, Washington Street, Barre. 476-7550.Mad River Valley Youth Group. Sundays, 7–9 p.m. Meets at various area churches; call Ben, 497-4516, for location and informtion.

YOGAYoga with Lydia. Build strength and flexibility as you learn safe alignment in a nourishing, supportive and inspiring environment. Drop-ins welcome. Mondays, 5:30 p.m., River House Yoga, Plainfield (sliding scale). Wednesdays, 4:30 p.m., Green Mountain Girls Farm, Northfield (sliding scale). Tuesdays and Fridays, noon, Yoga Mountain Center, Montpelier. Rates and directions at 229-6300 or saprema-yoga.com.Yoga and Wine. With Lori Flower from Sat-tva Yoga. Bring your own mat. Thursdays, 5–6:15 p.m.; wine bar open after class. Fresh Tracks Farm, Route 12, Berlin. $8 yoga; wine available for pur-chase. freshtracksfarm.com.Community Yoga. All levels welcome to this community-focused practice. Fridays, 5:30–6:30 p.m. Yoga Mountain Center, 7 Main Street (second floor), Montpelier. By donation. 223-5302 or yoga mountaincenter.com.

★ new or revised listing

THURSDAY, MAY 16Sociodrama: Healing Society Through Creative Action. With Herb Propper. Explore common concerns and issues through spontaneous group role playing, using creative imagination to open perspectives, bridge conflicts and move toward more unified understanding. 5:30–7:15 p.m. Hunger Mountain Coop community room, Montpelier. Free. Register at 223-8000, ext. 202, or [email protected] Changing Health Care Landscape. With Peter Youngbaer, director of the Peoples’ Health and Wellness Clinic. How will changes to how health care is paid for affect you? Refreshments provided. 6:30 p.m. Cutler Memorial Library, 151 High Street (Route 2), Plainfield. Free. 454-8504 or cutlerlibrary.org.Songwriters’ Meeting. Meeting of the Northern VT/NH chapter of the Nashville Songwriters Association International. Bring copies of your work. 6:45 p.m. Catamount Arts, St. Johns-bury. John, 633-2204. Event happens every third Thursday.

Myra Flynn, who will perform on Saturday, May 11, in Randolph. Photo courtesy Becky McMeekin.

UPCOMING EVENTS, from page 15


ClassifiedsYARD SALESSTREET TAG SALE — SAT. MAY 11Ledgewood Terrace (off Terrace St) Montpelier.Several families, 9 a.m, to 3 p.m. Rain or shine.Yard equipment, books, clothes, shoes, kitch-enware, housewares , English saddle & bridle, office equipment, videos, and much more. BO-NUS: Locally produced honey and plant sale!

THRIFT STOREST&T REPEATSBikes, name-brand clothes, small household furniture and more. At least two free parking spaces for T&T customers. 116 Main Street, Montpelier, or call 224-1360.

CLASSESTAI CHI FOR BEGINNERSA 6-week course starting May 14, Tuesday evenings 7:30 to 9 p.m. Enjoy learning these slow, graceful movements of this ancient Chinese practice that are rejuvenating and calming. Taught by Sara Norton. First class is free. In Montpelier at 1 Granite street. Pre-registration is not necessary. For more information call Judy at 229-0741.

ART LESSONS AT THE STOREFRONT STUDIO GALLERYLearn to draw what you see, feel and think. Work with any drawing or painting medium, pointed sticks to oil paint. All ages and skilllevels — but not all at once, please. For more info contact Glen: 839-5349 or [email protected].

SERVICESHOUSE PAINTERSince 1986. Small interior jobs ideal. Neat, prompt, friendly. Local references. Pitz

Quattrone, 229-4952.

Class listings and classifieds are 50 words for $25; discounts available. To place an ad, call Carolyn, 223-5112, ext. 11.

� Entity Selection and Formation issues� Various investing options such as

angel funding and crowd funding for early rounds as well as later stage financing options

� Typical agreements for start up business: loan and lease agreements

� Trademark issues

� Employment contracts and associated risks

� Compliance issues with land use laws such as local zoning and Act 250

� Compliance issues with other permitting schemes administered by Agency of Natural Resources, Public Service Board, and other agencies.

� Tips and Practical Considerations

Due to limited space, please R.S.V.P. to Shawna Ripley by May 10, 2013 at [email protected] or 802-223-2102.

100 East State Street | Montpelier, VT 05602Tel: 802-223-2102 | Fax: 802-223-2628 | www.primmer.com

Business Formation-Investing-Compliance Issues DemystifiedPresented by Joslyn Wilschek, Esq. and Ralphine O’Rourke, Esq. of Primmer Piper Eggleston & Cramer PCPrimmer attorneys offer a free one-hour workshop at their Montpelier office at 100 East State Street, Wednesday May 15, 2013 from 5:15-6:15 with refreshments. The workshop will cover:

The Center for Leadership SkillsBUSINESS & LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT

Lindel James coaching & consultingTaking You from Frustration to Enthusiasm

802 778 0626 [email protected]

All spring lessons will be taught at the Montpelier Recreation Fields Tennis courts. Pre-registration requierd. Sig up at the Montpelier Rec. Dept.

Montpelier Recreation Department55 Barre St., Montpelier, VT 05602

802-225-8699 www.montpelierrec.org

Vermont Tennis Academy SPRING TENNIS

Adult Tennis LessonsLevel 1 – Tuesdays

May 7 – May 28 5:30 – 7:00 pm

Level 2 – Wednesdays May 8 – May 29 5:30 – 7:00 pmResident: $60 Non-Resident $90

Youth Tennis Lessons Ages (6-8) (9-12) (13-15)Participants will be divided into groups by age and skill level

Tuesdays May 7 – May 28 3:30 – 5:30 pmResident: $80 Non-Resident $120

Wednesdays May 8 – May 29 3:30 – 5:30 pmResident: $80 Non-Resident $120

Saturdays May 4 – May 25 10:00 – 11:30 pmResident: $60 Non-Resident $90


DOT HELLING ATTORNEY AT LAW

CLIENTS: file pickup until May [email protected]

Thank you for 30 wonderful yearsserving Central Vermont!!!!!

FAREWELL DANCE PARTY SATURDAY, JUNE 29

@ Mad River Glen BaselodgeMusic by Rusty Romance 7-11pmSusan Reid & Leeds Brewer 5-7pm

ANNOUNCEMENT: Law Practice is Closed

Have you ever considered develop-ing a strategy for your leadership communications? I’ll bet that you

are already an effective communicator. You are probably experienced in knowing your audience, setting goals, developing rational arguments and speaking in front of groups. When you do speak in front of a group, I expect that you follow the rule of “tell them what you are going to tell them, tell them, then tell them what you told them.” We all learned this rule early on in our careers. I bet you also know that nonverbal communica-tion represents 93 percent of the message we deliver. We must pay significant attention to the tone of our voice and our body language; they are the part of our communication that gets “heard.”

I also bet that you know that listening is more than just hearing another person’s words. We also have to pay attention to his or her emotions (we are listening for tone and body language). When we have a business situation, we need to stop the multitask-ing, stop listening to all the self-talk in our heads, quiet our minds and listen! We all hear through a number of filters. Develop the reputation of being a good listener. Listen with precision and clarity, and you’ll gain an immense amount of respect.

Because you know how to communicate ef-fectively, I want to draw your attention to five crucial concepts that executives can forget:

Be the message. How many times have you heard “Your actions speak louder than words”? It’s true! As the leader of any group, organization, department or business, all eyes are on you. You are being watched: how you speak, how you listen, even what you wear. You are your message; you are modeling behavior that impacts others and your orga-nization. You have the opportunity to help or hinder your organization’s morale, productiv-ity, profitability and relationships. You must be aware of what you are communicating through your words and your behavior.

Be authentic. Don’t protect yourself with little white lies. Effective leaders tell the truth. When you do so, you are position-ing yourself to get the results you need, and

you will strengthen relationships along the way. When a leader is truthful, it promotes a standard of truth in the organization, even when it means having potentially difficult conversations.

Listen with purpose. This is a big one folks! Most of us believe we have great listen-ing skills. The fact is most of us don’t listen well at all. Effective leaders purposefully lis-ten. They know how to quiet their minds and focus on the speaker. They can easily change how they listen based on the need and the situation. Intentional effective listening is a learned skill. Most of us are stuck in a casual listening mode.

Speak simply and powerfully. Learn how to synthesize information and come up with powerful statements. Make your remarks memorable. Most people cannot remember more than three concepts at a time. Make your points clearly and succinctly. Deliver your message elegantly and powerfully.

Treat communication as a critical pro-cess. Your organization is important to you. Enhance your potential by developing strong communication skills throughout it. The payback will be phenomenal. Design both formal and informal communication train-ing to assure that all of your constituents receive consistent and relevant information. It might just be the key to your success!

Be brave and bold. Most effective com-municators overcommunicate to employees. Next time we will discuss the many vehicles of communication, their purpose and their message. Until then, here’s to your success!

Lindel James is an executive coach, leadership development and business growth strategist, a certified sales trainer and speaker, and a certi-fied Guerrilla Marketing Coach and Trainer. She helps executives and organizations develop leaders at all levels; creating business success through performance leadership development and ultimately generates confidence in lead-ers. James can be reached at 778-0626 or [email protected]. Visit her website at lindeljames.com.

ACCESSORIES FOR HOME, SELF AND SPIRIT

Annual Mothers Day Sale!25% off store-wide May 5 - 12

Sterling and gemstone jewelry • Gorgeous dishware from TunisiaSilkscapes by Sarah Munro, Handbags and so much more!

We have something to delight your mom!

Find us on Facebook for special deals 9 LANGDON STREET • 229-2777

OPEN 7 DAYS A WEEK

Growing Your BusinessFive Crucial Communication Concepts

Tell them you saw it in The Bridge!


LettersIncreasing Gas/Diesel Taxes Does Not Solve Infrastructure Needs

To the Editor:Transportation infrastructure is the foun-

dation for the continued vitality of Vermont’s economy and the state as a whole. It is evident that Vermont’s transportation infrastructure should not be neglected, nor should the state insufficiently fund its other obligations to address it.

Today, the House passed H.510, a bill that lacks responsible options for funding our transportation infrastructure. More than 13,000 Vermonters have voiced their opposi-tion to the increase in the gas tax, yet this bill not only includes an increase in the gas tax, but also increases the diesel tax as well.

Once again, working Vermonters will be the ones shouldering the burden of this choice. Vermont’s small businesses along the New Hampshire and Massachusetts borders are already at a significant disadvantage, and these tax increases will only expand upon these disadvantages.

There is no doubt that Vermont’s transpor-tation infrastructure is a top priority for all of us. However, we feel that the use of transpor-tation dollars for other purposes and increas-ing gas and diesel taxes at this time is not the right way to address our funding problem. We need to put mechanisms in place to fund it. Yet it is clear that increases in the gas and diesel tax are not favorable options in accom-plishing that goal. We are disappointed that the majority decided to raise taxes instead of implement a fair and equitable system to fund it into the future.

—Don Turner, representative for town of Milton

Break-Open Ticket Tax Is Unconstitutional

To the Editor:In an attempt to balance the FY 2014 state

budget, the Senate committees have been considering all types of tax proposals this week, including tax increases, transfers and also new taxes to increase state revenues. But one of these new taxes stands out among the rest as clearly unconstitutional. I am referring to the language of the Vermont State Consti-tution, Chapter I, Article IX, which reads: “Previous to any law being made to raise a tax, the purpose for which it is to be raised, ought to appear evident to the Legislature to be of more service to community than the money would be, if not collected.”

Since break-open tickets are defined as a “game of chance” by the state, the proceeds, after sales expenses, must by law be used for “charitable, religious, educational, or civic undertakings” (Vermont Statutes: Title 13, Chapter 51 § 2143). The Shumlin adminis-tration has discussed using break-open ticket tax revenues to subsidize home insulation and alternative energy projects and also to fund low-income home heating assistance, but the revenues would ultimately be paid into the state’s General Fund.

Does it really appear evident to the legisla-ture that a tax on charitable funds, which are raised by nonprofit organizations and used to support food shelves, youth programs, veter-an’s services, seniors programs and a variety of other charitable endeavors, are of less service to the community than the programs the gov-ernor’s administration wants to fund instead? By proposing this tax, the administration is assuming the state can put these charitable funds to better use than the nonprofit organi-zations that raised them. On what basis is this assumption being made?

Furthermore, if our main fundraising tool is exploited, what charitable funds will the gov-ernor want to tax next? Church raffles, silent auctions, bake sales, Girl Scout cookies? While other taxes may or may not be good ideas for the state to raise revenue, in my opinion this is one tax where the state has crossed over a line, stepping directly into an area that violates the Vermont State Constitution.

—Ron Tallman, former state commander, Veterans of Foreign Wars, Barre

Vermont Foodbank Thanks Volunteers

To the Editor:The third week in April is National Volun-

teer Week, an opportunity to appreciate the work of our nation’s inspiring volunteers, to recognize their initiative and commitment and to celebrate the positive change they impact in our local communities.

At the Vermont Foodbank, our volunteers help us pack, process and distribute an as-tounding 8 million pounds of food annually. They are a vital part of the work we do from start to finish, sorting and packing food for redistribution to meal sites and food shelves, filling backpacks with nutritious food for school-aged kids to take home on weekends, harvesting fresh produce from local farms, conducting interviews to assess the needs of our neighbors, offering professional skills and services and more. Without this energetic volunteer force, we would not be able to serve as many as 86,000 Vermonters in need of emergency food assistance every year, 27,000 of whom are children.

This week at the Vermont Foodbank, we extend our deepest and most sincere gratitude to the hundreds of volunteers who not only make us a more effective organization, but who also anchor us to our surrounding com-munities throughout Vermont. The value of volunteerism is not limited by its ability to in-crease organizational work capacity; it breeds healthier, more engaged communities who feel empowered to mobilize the public in search of a better and more just society. Together, let us commend the outstanding efforts of our volunteers, and let us continue to strive for a Vermont where no one will go hungry.

—John Sayles, CEO, Vermont Foodbank, Barre

CORRECTIONS Information provided to Max Shenk by The Bridge regarding the Funeral Consumer Alliance of Vermont (FCA-VT) meeting (Heard on the Street) was incorrect. That information concerned meetings on May 14 and June 11 misidentified as FCA-VT meetings. These meetings are not FCA-VT meetings, but the state’s regulatory Vermont Funeral Board (also open to the public). The Bridge regrets this error.

Our article about sugaring referred to silver maples when the reference should have been to sugar or rock maples.

In the article “Eat More Local Food: It Matters,” The Bridge omitted mention of an existing local farmers’ market. Crystal Peterson, market organizer, advises that Northfield has a volunteer-run, year-round, nonprofit 501(c)3 farmers’ market, registered with the state, having 27 current vendors. Their summer markets occur every Tuesday (weather permitting) from 3 to 6 p.m., outdoors on Northfield Common. Winter markets occur monthly from November to April at Norwich University. The market has a website (Northfieldfarmersmarketvt.com), Facebook page, works with NOFA-VT, offers EBT, participates in the Farm to Family program and donates leftover product to the local food shelf and the Veteran’s Home. Mr. DuClos, mentioned in the article, is creating a second Northfield farmers’ market.

EditorialAn Answer to Confusion

Turn on the radio, watch TV, read a newspaper, go online. Sometimes it almost looks like the world-at-large and America itself is coming apart, imploding from the weap-ons and wars we can’t seem to get away from—from gun running, gun violence,

human trafficking, hunger and famine to the Boston marathon bombings or the big explo-sion in Texas, to fevered mining, drilling and fracking, to the sordid working conditions of the very poor people who assemble our gadgets and make our clothes, to our monied and dys-functional and increasingly corrupt political system, to the dangerous erosion of our precious civil rights, to banks too big to fail and unforgiveable levels of unemployment, incarceration and homelessness. Stop, stop, stop.

Another way of looking at this grim spectacle is to ask: “If it’s all coming apart, is anything holding together?”

On April 11, with tons of help from many, many people, The Bridge sponsored a commu-nity dinner. At that dinner, I talked for a moment about the confusion of these present times. I also reflected on the Vermont tradition of human solidarity, with example after example to draw on. We don’t have gold deposits or oil reserves in Vermont, but we have this tradi-tion of belonging to each other and helping each other: Volunteers who serve on school and town boards and on emergency fast squads and fire departments. Volunteers who keep our churches and libraries and theater organizations and sports and service clubs and political parties alive and thriving. Volunteers at our food banks and pantries and community meals programs.

I’m not certain about how to address a world and a nation that appears to be coming apart. But I think that as we make a bigger and bigger commitment to the public parts of our lives, we are directly or indirectly addressing human needs and liberating hope.

On April 22, the Montpelier Rotary Club honored Montpelier resident Corrine Sheridan as the Club 2013 Distinguished Citizen of the Year. Almost unbelievably, Corrine has been volunteering locally for nearly 60 years at her local church, at the Montpelier senior center and for at least 25 years at the Montpelier Food Pantry. According to Kimberley Lashua, who is a food pantry organizer, Corrine greets people, gets folks in, shows them what food is available. “She’s done the whole nine yards,” Kimberley said. And about her attitude, ac-cording to Kimberley, “The answer is always yes. Yes, I can do that. Yes I can help. She’s a pleasure to work with.”

Then, of course, there’s Elliott Morse, who appears in another part of this paper. He will be honored next year in May 2014 for 50 years as a volunteer with the East Montpelier Fire Department.

Talking about his volunteer work with the fire department, Elliott said, “Fire departments and fire personnel—if you have somebody you don’t like, if he has a misfortune or accident or fire, in that split second, you would risk your life for him. In that split second, you would do anything for him. No matter how much you dislike him, you’re going to do anything you can to help him.”

And about his own service, he said, “I’m no hero. I just like to help people.” In Vermont, that’s the solidarity holding us together.

She knows what’s going on

because she reads

The Bridge

WHAT DO YOU THINK?Read something that you want to respond to? Worked up about a local issue? We welcome your letters and opinion pieces.

Letters must be 300 words or fewer; opinions, 600 words or fewer. Send them to [email protected]. Deadline for the February 21 issue is Monday, February 18, at 5 p.m.

We reserve the right to edit all submissions for length, clarity or style. In many cases, we will work with you to make sure your piece meets our journalistic standards.

see LETTERS, page 22


Help the Brain Injured: Contribute to BIAVT 2013 Walk for Thought

To the Editor:Four years ago, I suffered a traumatic

brain injury (TBI), and I’m fortunate to be a survivor. I’m writing in hopes of garnering support for the upcoming Brain Injury Asso-ciation of Vermont (BIAVT) 2013 Walk for Thought, which helps provide the essential dollars that stay entirely in Vermont funding the nonprofit BIAVT and the programs and services they offer to all.

Brain injuries do not discriminate! They aff lict people of all ages and can happen anywhere and at any time. These injuries often are the result of falls, accidents, as-saults, violence, tumors, strokes, seizures, infections, sports injuries, military actions and more. In an instant, the lives of the brain injured and their families often are dramatically impacted. If you survive, the physical and mental challenges following a brain injury may be a daily reality that lasts

a lifetime. My family and I have struggled with the many challenges and changes fol-lowing my TBI in 2009.

Every year over 3,000 Vermonters need medical services due to brain injury. The BIAVT provides valuable services and re-source information, peer support to survivors and their families impacted by brain injury, essential brain injury information and pre-vention education for our youth, advocacy and more. Funds raised through the BIAVT 2013 Walk for Thought event will go a long way in helping the BIAVT support these valuable efforts benefiting Vermonters deal-ing with a brain injury.

I’m asking you as fellow Vermonters and community partners to please join me in supporting this Vermont nonprofit. Please sponsor me or another participant in the BIAVT 2013 Walk for Thought with your tax-deductible gift. Contribute securely on-line on our BIAVT 2013 Walk for Thought fundraising page at biavt.donorpages.com/ WalkforThought2013/CentralVTThinkers or by check made payable to the BIAVT, in the memo area please note CVTT-BMorgan and mail to BIAVT (2013 Walk for Thought), PO Box 482, Waterbury VT 05676. To learn about the nonprofit BIAVT, please visit their website at biavt.org.

—Bill Morgan, Barre

Vermont Funeral Board and FCA-VT Not the Same

To the Editor:I want to thank The Bridge for including

a nice announcement of the Saturday, May 4, annual meeting and conference of the Funeral Consumers Alliance, held this year in Norwich.

However, the other meetings mentioned at Schulmaier Hall are meetings of the Vermont Funeral Board, a quite different entity, which oversees the funeral industry in Vermont. I was appointed by the governor

to that board as a public member and wear a different hat there, where we are currently taking a look at all funeral laws to consider limited licenses for institutions, such as cre-matories and other establishments that do not provide the traditional services, such as embalming, which are required of a licensed funeral home. Those meetings are also pub-lic meetings, but do not address the same issues as FCA-VT. You may reach the State Funeral Board at Schulmaier Hall by calling 828-2396 or checking out funeral board on the secretary of state’s Office of Professional Regulation website.

The mission statement of FCA-VT reads: “The Funeral Consumers Alliance of Ver-mont is a non-profit, educational organiza-tion dedicated to protecting a consumers right to choose a dignified, meaningful, af-fordable funeral.” As a totally volunteer-run organization, we are always looking for new members and board members to help fulfill our mission. We have a brand-new website at vermontfca.org, which I encourage people to check out or call our information hotline at 223-8140. There are several free f liers and pamphlets available at the Resource Room of the Montpelier Senior Activity Center

and another educational forum in Montpe-lier will be scheduled when requested.

—Mary Alice Bisbee, vice president/outreach coordinator, Funeral Consumers

Alliance of Vermont, Montpelier

Support Letter Carriers Food DriveTo the Editor:Here is your chance to help stamp out

hunger by participating in this year’s Letter Carriers Food Drive for local food shelves. This is taking place on Saturday, May 11, 2013, in all our local communities.

Last year, over 20,000 pounds of non-perishable food was donated by individuals like you in the five-county service area of the Green Mountain United Way. All that food was donated to food shelves in Caledo-nia, Essex, Orange, Orleans and Washington counties.

How do you participate? Simply place your nonperishable food items in a bag or box near your mailbox, and your letter carrier will pick them up when delivering your mail on May 11. Or, you can deliver your items directly to your post office on that day. For more infor-mation, visit gmunitedway.org.

—GMUW, Montpelier

TRIMMINGfor health, beauty, and safety

REMOVALSof dangerous or unwanted trees

LOW PRICES with payment plans available

Fully Insured Professional Arborist

802-279-7818SERVING CENTRAL VERMONT

Trees need tending.

SunCommon of Waterbury celebrated its one-year anniversary at the home of Liberty Street resident Johannes Otter (left) Monday. Speakers included (left

to right) SunCommon copresident Duane Peterson, Central Vermont Economic Development chairman Peter Hood, Governor Peter Shumlin, Peck Electric presi-dent Jeff Peck and South Burlington homeowner Joanne Heidkamp. SunCommon installed 248 residential solar systems its first year, has a goal of installing 500 its second year and intends to expand its program to farms. The firm employs 53, uses components from local vendors and is a benefit corporation, meaning it has a “triple bottom line” (people, planet, profit).

Peterson attributed the firm’s growth to its attractive financing model, which re-quires no initial installation expense to homeowners. Otter lived in Germany during Chernobyl and his wife was then pregnant. Heidkamp’s system delivered half her needs in midwinter, all she needed in March, and her meter now runs backward. The event publicized the state’s Clean Energy Fund, currently expected to run out of money this summer. Photo: Bob Nuner

LETTERS, continued frompage 21


by Margaret Blanchard

Over the last 58 years, the United States has been at war for 32 years, leaving only 26 relatively peaceful

years. An American born in this century has known no peace. The wars in Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan have each lasted longer than any other American war, including the longest preceding war, the Revolutionary War, which lasted eight years.

This contextual fact may help explain the vio-lence exploding through-out our country, despite the fact that the current wars are taking place overseas. Young men are no longer drafted into combat as they were dur-ing the longest war in U.S. history, the Viet-nam War, but young men are still vulnerable to the legitimization of violence, which is displayed in graphic detail by all the news media and much of the entertainment in-dustry. Unstable young men, like the ones who went berserk in Columbine, Tucson, Aurora, Newtown and Boston, may be eas-ily lured by the publicity as well as the false promise of agency offered by assault weap-ons and explosives. An embedded wartime

mentality sets everybody’s nerves on edge, playing even further into the exploitation of fear exhibited in a gun-consuming culture like ours. Without the discipline supported by, although certainly not guaranteed by, military training and the comradeship of fellow soldiers, these marginalized men are more likely to commit atrocities—with no possibility of justice, no hope of redemption. Resistance to the draft during the Vietnam War, ironically, gave more legitimate op-

tions and outlets for frustration than the current conflicts do.

While I, like many of us, have wept over the tragic loss of in-nocent life in this

country and puzzled over the mysteries in-herent in the stories of both victims and perpetrators, I can’t help wondering, at the same time, about innocent civilians killed or impoverished overseas by the impact of American bombs and drones. The victims in either context are not to blame, of course. But I don’t think, given the increased inci-dents of internal attacks, we can simply write off these crimes as “evil.” It’s way past time for the “we” of the United States to revise

priorities for our American future and the future of the earth.

When Americans landed on the moon in 1969, our view of ourselves changed forever as we looked back at our own whole planet and saw how, as Parker Palmer puts it in Healing the Heart of Democracy, “we are all in this together.” Not just as the American plural but as world citizens. “Despite our il-lusions of individualism and national superi-ority, we humans are a profoundly intercon-nected species—entwined with one another and with all forms of life, as the global economic and ecological crises reveal in vivid and frightening detail,” Palmer writes.

In the past century, the United States became the American empire, spreading its military and economic power across the globe. As Americans we cannot renounce violence without recognizing how hostility has emerged as one form of resistance to that power. We cannot reject terrorism without acknowledging how our drones continue to terrorize innocent civilians. The fact that terror is becoming more and more home grown suggests to me that the American empire is finally imploding. Our constant brewing of war is poisoning the home front. Our compulsion to control the whole world while exploiting its natural resources is not making most of us safer, and certainly not

making our country more prosperous, al-though it is creating a few “emperors,” those very few who profit from the sacrifices being made by our soldiers, sailors and other public servants.

Is it any wonder that the corporate model driving the expansion of our empire has pro-duced recession after recession, rises in un-employment that leave so many Americans alienated and disillusioned, and tuition costs and student debt that impoverish young folks before their careers even begin? This imbalance in power and wealth threatens to uproot our whole democracy.

Isn’t it time we turn this country around while learning from the lessons of other empires like Britain, France and the Neth-erlands, all of which have “declined” into respectable international status and relative prosperity? Isn’t it time we, as the people, reject the military-industrial complex Presi-dent Eisenhower, himself a general, warned us against and move toward becoming one global partner? As an inventive and generous society, we have much to contribute to the healing and salvation of this planet. How can we re-create the United States to benefit, rather than dominate, the larger whole? As the world comes round, this is a question for our new century.

Opinions

Is the Empire Imploding?

According to organizers of Put People First March and Day of Action, 1500 people participated in this Montpelier event on Wednesday, May 1. In addition to a parade and rally,organizers in-cluded a health screening clinic, which was a collaboration between the Healthcare Is a Human Right Campaign and Vermont Federation of Nurses & Health Professionals. The clinics “tested for health metrics like blood pressure and sugar”. The day was a combined effort by several work-ers’ rights organizations. Photo by Ivan Shadis

Tell them you saw it in The Bridge!

Massage that makes you feel grounded.Customized session with . . . Swedish/Deep Tissue Massage, Refl exology, Craniosacral Th erapy & Posture-Coordinating Exercise

$10 Discount for MOTHER’S DAY Gift Certifi cate!(regular fee $60/hr)

Makiko Damon, LMT • NYS licensed massage therapist802-917-3353 • [email protected]

at 17 State Street, suite 201 Montpelier

the bridge, may 2, 2013

Documents