This story by Clare Shanahan was first published by the Valley News on Sept. 7.

WOODSTOCK — Vermont State Police are investigating the Windsor County Sheriff Department’s finances following an anonymous tip.

The Vermont State Police’s criminal division is involved in the investigation into “a financial matter regarding the sheriff’s office,” spokesperson Adam Silverman confirmed Thursday. The investigation started in mid-August because the division was “asked” to look into it. Silverman declined to provide further details.

As of Friday, Windsor County Sheriff Ryan Palmer said he had not been contacted by Vermont State Police about the investigation but suggested that does not seem to be unusual. He confirmed that he learned about the investigation through media reports.

“I’m not hiding anything. I didn’t do anything wrong. I didn’t do anything illegal. There’s nothing to hide,” Palmer said in a Friday interview.

Palmer confirmed in an Aug. 29 Facebook post that he was aware of the investigation, denied any “wrongdoing or criminal behavior” and wrote that he understands the “serious nature of the claims and the public concern this may cause.”

Palmer also suggested on Facebook that the tip Vermont State Police received may have been politically motivated.

“I would also note that these complaints were submitted anonymously, as we approach the 2026 election year,” Palmer wrote at the end of his message.

When asked about this comment, Palmer said he did not know if the tip was politically motivated but said, “I guess we’ll have to wait and see, but it is coincidental at best.” He described the timing as “curious.”

Palmer, 38, was first elected as Windsor County’s sheriff in 2022.

He ran as a Democrat and campaigned on a platform of change for the department, which had been run for 40 nearly uninterrupted years by former Sheriff Michael Chamberlain, a Republican.

After winning the Democratic primary against Tom Battista, a longtime veteran of the department, Palmer prevailed again in November with 15,629 votes to Chamberlain’s 9,824. It was the first time Chamberlain faced a challenger in nearly 20 years.

Since his election, Palmer has grown the department both in staffing and coverage area and he has not shied away from spending money to do so.

As of the beginning of 2025, Palmer had 22 full-time and nine part-time deputies, more than doubling his 2022 numbers and had increased patrols from nine to 15 towns, including four in Orange County.

The expansion kicked off as soon as Palmer’s term began.

In the first four months of 2023, Palmer spent $219,000 on five new cruisers and another almost $150,000 on other equipment through a combination of reserve funds, loans and grants, the Valley News reported at the time.

“My goal coming into this was to really change the paradigm and to change the way Vermont sheriff departments operate, because I felt there was a huge void in rural law enforcement and that has obviously been very expensive,” Palmer said of the investment.

In two and a half years under Palmer’s leadership, the Windsor County Sheriff’s Department has undergone two audits, both within the first six months of his term, according to reports filed with the Vermont state auditor. Vermont law requires that sheriff departments be audited by an outside accounting firm once every two years.

The first was a transition audit that primarily looked at money handled by Chamberlain, the former sheriff. The second audit concerned finances from Feb. 1 through June 30, 2023.

From Jan. 31 through June 30, 2023, the amount of money included in the Windsor Sheriff’s Department bank account decreased from just over $1 million to about $550,000, according to the reports. At the same time, the value of vehicles and equipment increased from about $70,000 to over $450,000.

The Department is about to kick off another regularly scheduled state-mandated audit, Palmer noted in the Facebook post.

Palmer has signed the paperwork to authorize the regular audit but it has not formally started, he said Friday. The last two audits each took about a month to complete.

For now, Palmer said he is focused on continuing his work as usual.

“If you look at where things were before I took over to now, I think that we’ve done a lot of good and that’s kind of my focus in moving forward.”

Read the story on VTDigger here: Anonymous tip sparks probe into Windsor County sheriff’s finances.

This story by John Lippman was first published by the Valley News on Sept. 4.

SPRINGFIELD — The 36-year-old man who was shot to death by police last month appears to have gotten caught up in an operation that was targeting another man for arrest, according to people who were at the address when the shooting occurred.

Police claim that, on the evening of Aug. 21, James Crary was in a vehicle when he allegedly “accelerated toward officers” who were “outside their vehicles” during a police response at 78 Valley St. Officers then opened fire, striking Crary multiple times. He was pronounced dead at the scene, Vermont State Police said in a press release.

The circumstances of Crary’s death are now under investigation by the Vermont State Police, which was not involved in the “underlying operation” that led to the shooting. The two police officers who fired their weapons — Springfield police officer Vincent Franchi and Windsor County Sheriff’s deputy Bryan Jalava — have been placed on paid leave and are cooperating with the investigation, according to police.

In interviews, people who said they were present at the time of the shooting described the aftermath.

“The police said, ‘We weren’t even here for James Crary,’” said Khristal Blanchard, a resident at 78 Valley St., who witnessed part of the incident.

According to Blanchard, police told her they had come to apprehend a suspect in a “hostage and kidnapping situation” earlier that day in Springfield.

Springfield police and Windsor sheriff deputies — officials have not disclosed how many — responded to the Valley Street address shortly before 9:30 p.m. on Aug. 21 “as part of an open investigation,” Vermont State Police said in the release. When they arrived, “they encountered a man” — later identified as Crary — “in a vehicle outside the home.”

Police then opened fire at Crary. The Chief Medical Examiner’s Office in Burlington conducted an autopsy and concluded Crary died from “gunshot wounds to the head,” according to Vermont State Police.

Investigators are reviewing cruiser and body cam video footage of the incident, including “third party” video of the incident, said Vermont State Police spokesperson Adam Silverman.

Springfield Police Chief Jeffrey Burnham referred questions about the police operation and shooting to state police.

Windsor County Sheriff Ryan Palmer said his department’s deputies were at 78 Valley St. that evening to “help Springfield arrest a suspect on a pretty serious charge.” 

Following the shooting, police apprehended the suspect, who was inside the house, and charged him with assaulting and robbing $300 from a Springfield man whom police say held against his will at a nearby apartment, according to court documents. 

‘I didn’t even know the cops were here’

Crary most recently had been living in Newport, New Hampshire, and authorities have not said why he was in Springfield the night of the shooting. People who were at the address that evening said Crary had come to check up on a female friend who was there.

“It was a pop-in visit,” said Randi Sargent, who was among a group watching a movie in the garage space when Crary had appeared at the door.

He stayed for a little while and “had just said goodbye and left,” Sargent said. Shortly afterward she heard four gunshots.

“I thought it was someone shooting at the house,” she said.

Blanchard said she briefly chatted with Crary in the driveway and then went back up to her room on the second floor of the house.

“I didn’t even know the cops were here,” Blanchard said.

When she got to her room, she heard gunshots and looked outside the window over the driveway.

“I saw James’ head go down and hit the steering wheel,” Blanchard said. “The car started to roll back and was smoking.”

She said she started to scream, and two people with her in the room pulled her away from the window.

Both Sargent and Blanchard said they heard a total of four shots.

Sargent pointed out bullet holes in the wall of the converted garage used as a lounge space that she said came from the police gunfire.

Several people were sitting on the sofa watching the movie when bullets pierced the wall, which barely missed her boyfriend sitting at the end, Sargent said. When they heard the shots, one in the group shut the door to the room.

“We laid on the floor over here and we barricaded the door until (the police) told us to open it,” Sargent said.

Blanchard said after the shooting she heard police yelling to “come down with your hands up” and the people upstairs — including the intended suspect — all came down.

Blanchard said she remonstrated the officers over the shooting: “What was this all about? Like, are you serious? Was this really called for?”

Blanchard said one of the officers responded: “This was not what we meant to happen. We’re so sorry for your loss. We weren’t here for (Crary).” 

Crary’s body lay covered in the driveway for more than 12 hours before it was taken to the medical examiner’s office in Burlington, according to people at the house.

Shooting victim leaves behind a daughter

Kristin Crary said her brother grew up alternating between his mother’s in Claremont and at their father’s in Canaan. He attended Mascoma Valley High School and often had jobs waxing and stripping floors.

Julie Morse, who knew Crary when they grew up together in Claremont and had been his friend for 20 years, said he “would never purposefully been out to hurt anybody ever.”

Morse said Crary liked buffing the floors of Hannaford and Market Basket on the overnight shift because “he could be left alone independently.”

Crary left behind a 10-year-old daughter who “meant a lot to him,” Morse said.

The day after the shooting occurred, Morse went to 78 Valley St. to talk with neighbors and people there about how events had unfolded. She said she suspects that Crary was trying to pull out of the driveway when he became “startled” by the large police contingent that had come to arrest Hewitt.

“James was just in the wrong place at the wrong time,” she said.

Read the story on VTDigger here: Witnesses: Police fatally shot man in Springfield during operation targeting someone else.

This story by Maryellen Apelquist was first published in the White River Valley Herald on Aug. 28. 

In the 1990s, Frank Lamson, a newly credentialed pediatric nurse practitioner fresh off a stint at an urban school clinic in Massachusetts, came home to South Royalton with an idea: that such a clinic “would really be a good thing to have in a rural community.”

He shared that thought with friend and pediatrician Becky Foulk, who just a few years before had opened a private medical practice in town, and with whom Lamson worked. The doctor agreed, and it wasn’t long before the duo teamed with others, including local school nurses, to open HealthHUB, Vermont’s first school-based clinic.

Since then, 1995, the nonprofit clinic, funded with a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation grant channeled through the state Agency of Human Services, has operated in collaboration with the South Royalton Health Center to provide in-school medical care, mental health counseling, and a mobile dental program that expanded in 2009. What began as care for students in a handful of towns, South Royalton, Sharon, Tunbridge and Strafford, has grown to serve grade-schoolers and their families in a dozen communities across the White River Valley, from Brookfield to Stockbridge.

While all of HealthHUB’s services are in demand — the organization’s leaders report wait lists in some areas, including mental health care — the dental program is perhaps most widely recognized. Last school year, the dental clinic alone had about 400 patient visits.

Its signature silver-gray trailer with a large, smiling tooth on the side, outfitted as a dental office, can be spotted parked throughout the region, from the employee lot at Gifford Medical Center during the summer months to schools throughout the valley.

The hub’s first such trailer, purchased with a $95,000 grant awarded with the support of U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., recently reached the end of its useful life as a clinic. It’s now parked in the lot of the town office in Royalton and used for storage.

Its successor, another silver gray unit, has been making the rounds, and Lamson eagerly reported that it is now joined by another vehicle in the HealthHUB fleet, a big rig named “Rosie.”

Tuesday, just one day before the start of school in the White River Valley, the nurse practitioner showed off 42-foot-long Rosie, a shiny motor home named for iconic Rosie the Riveter and built out with an interior to accommodate a comprehensive dental program.

Inside, HealthHUB, which has expanded in the last few years to also provide dental care to adults when school is not in session, provides a long list of services ranging from cleanings and exams to extractions, fillings, crowns, dentures and more.

Lamson himself flew to West Virginia to get Rosie, and drove the rig home to Vermont last fall. It cost $125,000 and came fully equipped with two dental chairs and all necessary office equipment, including a panoramic X-ray system.

“We had purchased that from the health department in Morgantown, [W.Va.],” Lamson said, explaining the branding wrapped around the vehicle that will be soon switched out to HealthHUB’s. “They got a big infrastructure grant from the feds to buy a brand-new one, but they had been using this as a mobile dental office for several years and wanted to sell it. And we were in the right position to acquire it.”

HealthHUB employs a fulltime dentist, dental hygienist, and dental assistant, and Foulk and Lamson are seeking another hygienist and others to join their health care team.

Hiring the full-time dentist, Colleen Anderson, two years ago, “was just a monumental step,” said Foulk.

“When she came onboard, we had been doing a little bit of work for adults with cleanings and stuff in after-school hours and during school vacations and over the summer, you know, that kind of thing. But we really expanded our dental services to offer full-service dentistry. And so we have quite a few adult patients now because there are a lot of adults who also receive benefits either under Medicaid or Medicare, or just are limited in their ability to travel places who utilize our services.”

Thirty years on, Lamson and Foulk’s vision—to provide access to health care services for children and their communities, where they are—remains as simple as it began.

“One of my mantras in establishing this thing has been to keep students in school and their parents at work,” Lamson said, “where kids at school could actually have medical care.”

For Foulk, the key to HealthHUB’s endurance has been its partnerships.

“That’s what this organization has been all about, building partnerships with other organizations to keep it going. So now we’re serving 12 different towns in eight locations,” Foulk said. “For instance, when we go to Randolph, we see kids from Brookfield and Braintree as well. They get bused in. It’s really grown.”

Community partners include Gifford Health Care, Chelsea Health Center, the town of Royalton and the region’s three school districts.

White River Valley nurse Susan Schuhmann, who’s worked at the school for 15 years, has long admired HealthHUB.

“It’s a great service for the community. The child doesn’t need to be pulled out of school early, missing schooltime to go to a doctor’s appointment. It can happen right here, then they’re back to class. And it does help parents who are working or who have transportation issues.”

While there is no celebration planned for HealthHUB’s 30th, Foulk said they could always use additional support, particularly with the uncertainty at the federal level concerning cuts to programs like Medicaid.

“We are trying to plan. It’s hard to know. And it’s hard to know how much the state of Vermont is going to step up and fill in the gaps, how much the state of Vermont will even be able to do that. So it’s hard to plan, but we’re trying to.”

Foulk noted efforts to increase fundraising in the communities served by HealthHUB, including by going, starting in 2026, to each of the annual town meetings “and making requests from every town that we serve, which we haven’t done in the past.”

HealthHUB accepts Vermont Medicaid and is an in-network Northeast Delta Dental provider. Foulk also noted that the team doesn’t “turn anyone away.”

“If somebody can’t pay, they don’t pay. And if they can just pay a little bit, there’s a sliding scale.”

Appointments with HealthHUB Dental Services may be made by calling 802-888-3384.

Read the story on VTDigger here: HealthHUB unveils new dental rig, marks 30 years.

Windsor Superior Court Judge H. Dickson Corbett issued a ruling this month preventing the Village of Woodstock from hiring a new police chief. 

In his Aug. 7 ruling, Corbett signaled that the court likely will ultimately rule in favor of the former police chief, Joe Swanson, in his legal action against the village. A separate $5 million civil lawsuit against the village is still pending.  

Swanson sued the village in early May after the municipal manager, Eric Duffy, and the Board of Village Trustees demoted Swanson from police chief to police officer. At the heart of his lawsuit, Swanson claimed that village trustees did not follow state law, by establishing proper cause, when they removed him from office. 

When Swanson filed the suit, he also asked the court to step in and offer a preliminary injunction, an intervention that would stop the village from hiring a new chief pending future court orders. 

To grant Swanson’s request to step in, the court needed evidence that Woodstock’s hiring of a new police chief would cause Swanson irreparable harm — and Corbett reasoned the case met that threshold. Chris O’Keefe has been serving as interim chief and can remain in that post, according to the decision.

In his reasoning, Corbett signaled that the court will likely rule in Swanson’s favor down the line. 

“It appears that the village trustees failed to apply the correct legal standard before removing petitioner (Swanson) from the office of police chief,” Corbett wrote in the injunction ruling. 

While the injunction did not decide the merits or final outcome of the case, it did offer a prediction based on the court’s review of evidence submitted with the request for injunction, Corbett wrote.

“It appears from that review that the decision of the trustees will be reversed because the trustees did not apply the correct legal standard when making their decision,” he wrote. 

Linda Fraas, Swanson’s attorney, said the ruling was a “very promising sign.” 

The saga started in October after Swanson’s husband got into a verbal altercation with another driver during a traffic incident while Swanson was a passenger in the car. A citizen complaint was filed against Swanson regarding the incident. 

Two separate investigations following the incident found that Swanson did not commit wrongdoing. One of those investigations was conducted by the Vermont State Police and the other was by the Vermont Criminal Justice Council, according to court documents.  

Duffy also hired a private investigator to interview police department employees about Swanson’s conduct, said Jeffrey Kahn, vice chair of the Board of Village Trustees. Duffy declined to comment on the case. 

After those interviews, Duffy decided to demote Swanson to police officer. Then, the trustees had a quasi judicial hearing to decide if they would support that decision. The hearing, made public per Swanson’s request, went on for more than 14 hours. 

During that hearing, “there was a preponderance of testimony by both police officers as well as dispatchers that it became clear that the chief did not have support within either department,” Khan said. 

Without that support, the trustees reasoned it was best for the community to remove Swanson as chief, Khan said. 

“The trustees’ interest throughout this has been what’s in the best interest of the municipality,” he said. 

Vermont law offers certain tenure protections to police chiefs — and the village has to meet certain criteria to remove them from office, Corbett wrote. In line with past interpretations of the law, the village would have to prove Swanson was “negligent or derelict” in his duties, engaged in “conduct unbecoming an officer” or was otherwise unable to perform his job, Corbett wrote. 

The trustees reasoned they didn’t need to meet that criteria because they weren’t firing Swanson altogether, they were merely demoting him. 

But chiefs hold a distinct rank, Corbett wrote, and removing anyone from that position requires that the village meet the legal criteria. 

“It validates what we’ve been saying all along, that this process was not correct,” said Fraas, Swanson’s attorney. 

Despite the court’s injunction, and the village’s subsequent inability to hire a new chief, the department is running smoothly with O’Keefe in the interim job, Khan said.

Corbett wrote that from his review of evidence submitted with the injunction, the case will likely be passed back down to the board of trustees. At that point, trustees would decide whether to remove Swanson as chief, within the bounds of state law. 

Correction: A previous version of this story misstated when Eric Duffy hired a private investigator and improperly described Swanson’s two legal actions against the Village of Woodstock. It also contained a photo caption that gave an outdated employment status for Joe Swanson.

Read the story on VTDigger here: Judge bars Woodstock from hiring new police chief amid lawsuit from former chief.

This story by Emma Roth-Wells was first published in the Valley News on Aug. 26, 2025.

NORWICH — Last week, Nancy LeSourd was gardening at her home on Beaver Meadow Road in Norwich Village when a yellow jacket stung her. LeSourd, 81, found herself going into anaphylactic shock. Avoiding calling an ambulance in fear of the bill, she tried neighbors and the community nurse, but no one picked-up.

“I staggered up to Dan & Whit’s,” she said. “I just wanted to be around people. I walked it off for an-hour-and-a-half at Dan & Whit’s.”

On Friday evening, LeSourd, along with a few hundred others, gathered at the Norwich Historical Society for the opening of the exhibit “Dan & Whit’s at 70: Photographs & Memories.” Later, community members made their way up to the general store to celebrate its 70th anniversary. As LeSourd’s experience suggests, all those years of history add up to something more than an ordinary relationship between a store and its customers.

“Dan & Whit’s is family,” Sarah Rooker, the director of the historical society said at the event. “It provides a feeling of belonging.”

Previously Merrill’s, the building Dan & Whit’s is in has been a general store for close to 200 years, Rooker said.

Neighbors Dan Fraser and Whit Hicks began operating the store together in 1955. Hicks retired in 1972 and Fraser purchased the property. The store has been in the Fraser family ever since and about 20 Frasers from four different generations have worked there over the decades.

“My whole family worked there. My mom, dad, siblings, their kids, my kids,” Jane Britton, Dan Fraser’s daughter said.

Britton worked at the store on and off when she was a teenager and then full-time when she moved back to Norwich in 1988. She’s since retired but still lives in Norwich and goes to the store a couple times a week, she said.

“Of course there was drama, and fun, and no secrets,” she said about working with family. “If one of my kids cut a class their teacher would come in and say ‘by the way your son wasn’t in my class today.’ The kids realized they couldn’t get away with anything pretty quickly.”

Britton’s brother George Fraser is currently one of the owners of the store, along with his son Matt Fraser.

“I feel very fortunate that the community has supported the store for so long,” George Fraser, 83, said.

George Fraser ran the store with his brother Howard “Jack” Fraser for decades. (Jack Fraser died in 2019.) He recalled a time when a young employee said he couldn’t make it to work due to snowy weather.

“I said I’ll be there in 10 minutes to pick you up,” George Fraser said. “He was like ‘OK, OK I’m coming in’.”

Matt Fraser is the only one in the family who now works at the store full-time.

“It’s not so much me carrying on, but me doing what I’ve always done,” Matt Fraser said.

Matt Fraser, who’s now in his 50s, started working at the store part-time when he was “old enough,” he said. Fraser helps with grocery, dairy and his favorite: firewood. His least favorite part of working at the store is “dealing with people,” he said. To commemorate the store’s long history, the historical society curated an exhibit with both photos, information and quotes about the store’s past and the present.

As he walked through the historical society, Lebanon resident Daniel Moore took in a room of photographs of the store in its current state taken by Norwich resident Kay McCabe. Moore, who grew up in Norwich, started working at Dan & Whit’s in 1972 when he was 15. “All the people were so good,” he said.

Over the six-or-so years he worked there, Moore remembers staying open until noon on Christmas and Thanksgiving so residents could make last minute purchases.

At the invitation of the historical society, U.S. Sen. Peter Welch, a longtime Upper Valley resident, gave a speech at the event. Welch spoke about stopping in at Dan & Whit’s when he worked at a law firm in the area and then later while on the campaign trail.

“When I first started in politics, I had to come to general stores to try to meet folks, and you and Jack were there, and you had to kind of keep an eye on me, because I was a little bit liberal,” Welch said to George Fraser who sat in the front row of the crowd and chuckled.

“A lot of us are dismayed about what’s going on in the country, but all of us believe deep down, in our soul that what we can do, and what we should aspire to do is build a community, to build that community where we live,” Welch said. “…This gift that the Fraser family has given to the town of Norwich, to each of us, is so vital to the well being of our community.”

At 6 p.m., community members began making the short walk up Main Street to Dan & Whit’s for live music, raffles and free pizza and ice cream.

Approximately 40 current and former employees of all ages gathered in front of the store for a photo.

“The team is phenomenal,” Matt Fraser said. The store struggled to find employees during the coronavirus pandemic but community members volunteered their time to keep it open.

Now, though, “things have been clicking. Everything’s been working in our favor,” Matt Fraser said.

“Dan & Whit’s at 70: Photographs & Memories” is on view at the Norwich Historical Society and Community Center through Dec. 31.

Read the story on VTDigger here: Historic Norwich general store marks 70 years with exhibit and celebration.

This story by Clare Shanahan was first published in the Valley News on Aug. 22, 2025.

A botched robbery led to the shooting early Thursday morning that left a Canaan man dead and his girlfriend injured, according to police affidavits filed in court on Friday.

Witnesses told police that David Labrecque, 65, was shot and killed outside a home on Verna Court when he charged the gunman who had already shot his girlfriend, Jessica Lemay, 36, also of Canaan, according to the affidavits.

Labrecque was pronounced dead at the scence just after 4 a.m. on Thursday morning. Lemay, who was shot in the abdomen and the hand, was transported to Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center, where she was able to tell investigators what happened.

The alleged gunman, Demtrius Drew, 30, of New Haven, Conn., and his two alleged accomplices, Jeffrey Mullins, 46, and Michelle Mullins, 48, were arrested later Thursday while attempting to leave a residence in a mobile home park off Sykes Mountain Avenue.

Drew entered a not guilty plea on charges of first-degree murder, second-degree murder, attempted second-degree murder, aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and attempted assault and robbery with a weapon at his arraignment Friday afternoon at Windsor County Superior Court in Woodstock.

Jeffrey and Michelle Mullins, who the affidavit said until recently lived in Enfield, each pleaded not guilty on charges of aiding in the commission of first-degree murder and accessory to attempted assault and robbery.

According to police, Drew and the Mullinses, who had known each other for just weeks, concocted a plan to rob the home at 34 Verna Court, which they believed contained a significant amount of cash, and split the proceeds.

Around 2:30 Thursday morning, Jeffrey Mullins showed Drew the a path through the woods to reach 34 Verna Court from a motel on Route 4, according to the affidavit.

About an hour later, Jeffrey Mullins dropped Michelle Mullins off at 34 Verna Court with $500 in counterfeit bills with a plan to buy drugs, according to the affidavit.
In an interview after her arrest, Michelle Mullins told police she was outside the house at 34 Verna Court speaking with Labrecque and Lemay when the shooting started, according to the affidavits.

In an interview at DHMC, Lemay told police that the gunman, identified by police as Drew, shot her in the stomach after emerging from behind a tent erected on the property.

Lemay told police Labrecque attempted to come to her aid but was stopped short when he was shot twice and killed, according to the affidavit. She tried to wrestle with the gunman afterward, but he pistol whipped her and shot her again, this time in the hand, she told police.

Michelle Mullins, who fled the scene after the gunfire, gave a similar account of the shootings, according to the affidavits.

The gunman also fled the scene, according to the affidavit. An occupant in the home called 911.

With information provided by witnesses, investigators were able to trace Drew and the Mullinses and their distinctive blue Dodge Charger to the mobile home at 77 Spring Circle, where police believed Drew had been staying.

Using security camera footage from nearby buildings and police surveillance, authorities were able to confirm that Drew and the Mullinses were inside the mobile home.

All three were arrested without incident later on Thursday outside 77 Spring Circle while preparing to depart in the Charger, according to affidavits.

Witnesses and security footage also placed the Charger at the hotel at the time of the shooting, according to the affidavits.

Judge Dickson Corbett ruled in Windsor County Superior Court Friday that there was sufficient evidence and threat to the public to detain the three defendants. Drew and the Mullinses appeared remotely from jail via video conference at Friday’s arraignment.

All three were ordered held without bail pending a full evidentiary hearing. Corbett also upheld conditions that the trio have no contact with each other or with others involved in the incident including Lemay, the property owner at 34 Verna Court and the individual who called 911.

During the arraignment, Windsor County State’s Attorney Ward Goodenough represented the state.

Read the story on VTDigger here: Police: Botched robbery led to fatal shooting in Hartford.

Authorities are investigating after police fatally shot a man Thursday night in Springfield. 

Vermont State Police have released few details about what led to the fatal shooting, stating in a press release Friday morning that the “investigation into the circumstances surrounding this incident is in its initial stages.”

Springfield Police Department officers and members of the Windsor County Sheriff’s Department were at the scene on Valley Street in Springfield when the shooting occurred at about 9:30 p.m. Thursday, the release stated. 

No law enforcement members were injured in the incident. The man, who was not identified in the release, was pronounced dead at the scene. 

The deceased man’s name was withheld pending notification of relatives and further investigation, the release stated. The names of the officers involved will be released 24 hours after the incident, which is standard protocol following a police shooting, according to the release. 

Following its investigation, the release stated, state police will turn over the case to the Vermont Attorney General’s Office and a county attorney’s office for separate independent reviews of the use of deadly force.

No other information was immediately available Friday morning.

Read the story on VTDigger here: Police shoot and kill a man in Springfield, few details provided as investigation continues.

HARTFORD — Three people have been arrested in connection with a fatal shooting Thursday morning, and authorities also have identified the victims, police announced overnight.

David Labrecque, 65, of Canaan, was pronounced dead Thursday morning at the scene off VA Cutoff Road, Vermont State Police said in a news release issued at 2 a.m.

The injured victim was identified as Jessica Lemay, 36, also of Canaan, who police said was being treated for multiple gunshot wounds at Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center in New Hampshire.

Police identified the suspects as Demetrius Drew, 30, of New Haven, Connecticut , the alleged shooter, and Jeffrey Mullins, 46, and Michelle Mullins, 48, both of Rindge, New Hampshire.

Drew is charged with first-degree murder, attempted second-degree murder, and aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. The Mullinses are both charged with being an accessory before the fact.

The news release did not offer any details about the investigation, such as how, when and where the trio was apprehended. All three are are being held without bail and are scheduled to be arraigned at 12:30 p.m. Friday in the Criminal Division of Vermont Superior Court in White River Junction.

Thursday’s investigation began just before 4 a.m. when Hartford police received a 911 call reporting gunshots at a residence on Verna Court.

This story will be updated.

Read the story on VTDigger here: Police arrest suspect, 2 others in connection with deadly shooting in Hartford.

This story by Clare Shanahan was first published by the Valley News on Aug. 21.

HARTFORD — One man is dead and a second victim is receiving medical treatment after a shooting in Hartford early Thursday morning.

Authorities have said there is no ongoing threat to the public, but they have declined to release further details citing the ongoing investigation.

The names of the victims are being withheld pending notification of relatives, Vermont State Police said in a press release issued Thursday morning.

The investigation began at about 3:50 a.m. when a 911 caller reported a disturbance at a home on Verna Court off VA Cutoff Road, according to the release. Hartford Police arrived and found one victim deceased. The victim’s body was still at the scene midday Thursday.

The second victim was hospitalized for treatment and is expected to survive, according to the release.

Police said they have made no arrests nor have they publicly identified a suspect.

An autopsy for the deceased victim was scheduled for Thursday, according to the release.

VA Cutoff was closed from Mill Road to Route 4 on Thursday. Police also blocked off Verna Court, a short residential street off VA Cutoff Road just south of the White River.

Verna Court includes only two residential parcels, according to online property records, and was cordoned off by police tape.

On Thursday morning, two police officers at a time were stationed at the intersection with VA Cutoff Road while other officers occasionally stopped by the scene.

At about 9:50 a.m., a woman in a red vehicle drove past the police barricade at the intersection of Mill Road and VA Cutoff Road. She was stopped by Hartford Police and was told to turn around because it was a crime scene.

She said loudly, “That’s my husband. That’s my husband … Is he alive?” The woman said she had been working the graveyard shift and had been contacted by police. A Vermont State Police detective spoke with the woman, and she turned around and left.

In addition to Hartford Police, several divisions of the Vermont State Police are assisting in the ongoing investigation.

A law enforcement officer was canvassing the neighborhood Thursday morning.

A neighbor, Christopher Delong, who lives in an apartment building up VA Cutoff Road from the scene of the shooting, told the Valley News that he heard arguing around 3:30 Thursday morning after he returned home from work.

Delong said he then “dozed off a bit” and was awoken by gunshots. He tried to go back to sleep but was unable to and then he heard emergency vehicles making their way down the road.

“I’m shocked. It’s crazy to think something like that would happen,” said Delong, who has lived in the neighborhood for about two years.

He did note that there have been some vehicles vandalized on the street, including his own.

He also said that one of the properties on Verna Court is the scene of frequent police activity.

Another neighbor, Karasa Dumaine, said her family had heard “some banging” early in the morning but didn’t notice much commotion because of the hour.

Dumaine said she does not know the residents on Verna Court and said “they just keep to themselves” and “were the type to work on their cars and mind their own business.”

On Thursday morning at least four vehicles in various states of repair could be seen parked along Verna Court.

Chris Druge, who works at R.H. Scales and Co. across the street from the scene, said there was frequent traffic at Verna Court.

“There’s a lot of people that come and go from there,” Druge said.

Earlier Thursday morning, the Hartford Police Department and the Vermont State Police announced on social media that they were investigating an “active incident” in the area of 200 VA Cutoff Road.

Police are asking the public to avoid the area and seek alternate routes. Thursday’s incident was the second fatal shooting in the Upper Valley this week. On Sunday, police discovered the body of 67-year-old William Colao at his home in Canaan. Nor arrests have been announced in that case nor have police identified a suspect.

Read the story on VTDigger here: Neighbor said they heard commotion before fatal Hartford shooting.

Workers at two United Parcel Service package centers in Vermont are accusing their employer of violating state family and medical leave laws by using their paid time off without their knowledge or consent.

UPS workers at package centers in Brattleboro and Wilder shared documents with VTDigger showing that their previously approved unpaid family and medical leave had been switched with their paid time off. In making the switch, the UPS locations effectively reduced the amount of paid days workers can take off.

The federal Family and Medical Leave Act, passed in 1993, entitles workers up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave in a one-year period for certain family or medical needs. Vermont law has continually expanded those rights since the 1990s, including giving workers up to four hours of unpaid short-term leave every 30 days for purposes such as taking children to medical appointments or school activities and taking family members to appointments related to their well-being.

Vermont law also states that employees can use accrued paid leave, including vacation and personal leave, in lieu of unpaid family and medical leave “at the employee’s discretion.” However, the UPS workers claim management used their paid leave without their permission.

This accusation has prompted action from the International Brotherhood of Teamsters — a labor union that represents 1.3 million workers globally — and a potential incoming response by the Vermont attorney general’s office.

A UPS spokesperson told VTDigger in a statement on Friday that the company is “aware of the issue,” and is taking “necessary steps to quickly correct the situation and ensure this is not an issue in the future.”

Issues for package center workers in Wilder began in February, after Driver Supervisor Nick Webster allegedly expressed his frustration over drivers using FMLA during a snowstorm in a way he thought was improper, according to a June 9 complaint filed with the Vermont attorney general’s office.

Webster said that after a meeting with the UPS’s labor department, it was decided that anyone attempting to use FMLA would have that unpaid leave swapped with their paid time off, the complaint alleges. It also says  that a union steward told Webster this would be illegal, but that Webster did not seem to care. 

Webster declined comment for this story, and two UPS labor managers covering the Vermont area did not reply to requests for comment. 

Two workers at the Wilder package center who spoke to VTDigger described being confused about how the situation around the FMLA unfolded. Despite the issue being discussed in February, the workers said, it took until late May for them to see their previously approved family and medical leave swapped with paid time off. One worker at the Brattleboro package center also said that the issue began for them in May.

One of the Wilder package center workers, David Kendall, a driver, said that by changing his leave from FMLA to personal and sick days, management left him with fewer days available to spend with his teenage nephew, Jerimiah. Kendall has had full custody of Jerimiah since 2014.

Kendall, who has been with UPS for almost a decade, said he enjoys his route that regularly weaves through the backroads of Springfield and Eastman, a journey so rural that when he’s driving he often doesn’t have cellphone service. 

“When I’m out on the road, I’m essentially my own boss. I enjoy the freedom of not having somebody looking over my shoulder every five minutes, like if I was in an office setting,” Kendall told VTDigger. “I enjoy when I’m delivering a parcel to someone and they’re like, ‘Oh my gosh, we were hoping for you to be here on time for so-and-so’s birthday or an important event,’ and they’re like, ‘We weren’t expecting you so soon!’ and have a huge smile on their face.”

Kendall said, in interviews with VTDigger, that he first noticed the issue after a previously approved FMLA full-day leave on May 27 was switched to an option day. This is a form of paid time off earned by UPS workers. This switch was made by Webster without Kendall’s knowledge or consent, he said. Since May, Kendall said, he has had six days of paid time off taken without his permission: four of his five sick days and two of his three option days. 

“Now I have no sick days. So if I’m sick, I still have to go to work,” he said. “And, they took the option days I would use to spend more time with my nephew … to attend school events that he wanted me to attend, and stuff like that, ’cause he plays basketball for the youth basketball team.”

Kendall said that until May, he had been allowed to use family and medical leave to take Jerimiah to medical appointments. Jerimiah has developmental and cognitive challenges, as well as mental health issues, Kendall said.

“Whenever we took FMLA, it wasn’t an issue,” he said. “I would go into work and I’d work like four, five, six hours, and then I would take the rest of the day off to get him to his appointments.”

Payroll and insurance documents obtained and reviewed by VTDigger show that six of Kendall’s previously approved family and medical leave days were switched with sick and option days by various members of UPS package center management. 

Kendall is not the only worker alleging that their unpaid family and medical leave was switched without their consent. 

Justin Doubleday, an employee at the UPS package center in Brattleboro, said that in one instance this issue led to a workplace confrontation. He  said he took his 10-year-old son to a medical visit using previously approved short-term family leave. When he attempted to return to work at the Brattleboro package center, he said, he found his truck wasn’t loaded. He said he discovered that management had put him in for a sick day.

“I put in for four hours of short term FMLA … instead they put me in for a sick day. They put in the system that I called out sick, even though I gave them a week in advance a short-term family medical leave form and let them know that I would be into work after. … Everybody there, other management included, were like ‘This is fucked up. This isn’t right. You put in for FMLA.’”

Doubleday said he confronted the supervisor who had put in the sick day without Doubleday’s consent. After an argument and pressure from other members of management, the supervisor reversed the decision, Doubleday said. The supervisor gave Doubleday back his sick day and paid him for the 33 minutes he had spent arguing in the facility that day before going home.

“This is the shit that they do and that we put up with. Isn’t that ridiculous?” Doubleday said. 

Documents obtained by VTDigger show that one of Doubleday’s previously approved short-term family and medical leave was replaced with an option day. 

UPS did not respond to a request for comment Monday on the specific allegations made by the workers. 

Union action

After learning his paid time off had been used, Kendall said, he alerted the union — Teamsters Local 597, a chapter of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters. Kendall filed multiple grievances with the union, and union officials communicated the FMLA issue directly with UPS management, according to the June 9 complaint filed with the Vermont attorney general. 

On June 26, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters sent a letter to UPS’s counsel, demanding they “immediately cease and desist from requiring our members in Vermont use their accrued paid leave during FMLA-qualifying leave,” further stating that they were prepared to take legal action if they did not hear from UPS by July 4.

“They’re not just violating the law, they’re violating the collective bargaining agreement. So it’s not just a law enforcement issue, it’s also an issue for the international union,” said Curtis Clough, president of Local 597.

The union’s contract with UPS states that the company, “may require the employee to substitute accrued paid vacation or other paid leave,” when a worker is taking FMLA, but that workers are permitted two weeks of paid vacation that cannot be substituted for FMLA. 

However, the contract goes on to say that these provisions, “shall not supersede any state or local law, which provides for greater employee rights,” meaning Vermont’s family leave law supersedes the contract.

Clough, who worked his way up from a seasonal helper at UPS to a full-time driver before leaving to take a position at the union, said the paid time theft is an escalation in what has become a fractious relationship between management and workers. The union does not know why UPS has stood so firmly behind what he sees is a clear violation of the law, he said.

“UPS is pretty antagonistic. … UPS routinely harasses drivers, so it’s hard to pick out a reason why,” he said. “There is no longer a culture where the driver supervisors come up through the ranks.”

According to communications obtained by VTDigger, at least one of the attorney general’s senior investigators has reviewed the alleged violations at the package centers. A representative from the attorney general’s office told VTDigger that the office could not comment on what cases they are investigating.

Read the story on VTDigger here: Vermont workers allege UPS violated family leave law.

This story by Alex Hanson was first published in the Valley News on August 10.

WOODSTOCK — The board of the Woodstock-based Mountain Views Supervisory Union voted on Monday to join a Board of Cooperative Education Services (BOCES) with seven other supervisory unions and districts.

The unanimous vote makes Mountain Views the first supervisory union in the state to join a BOCES, a structure that’s in wide use in a majority of states but that wasn’t enabled under Vermont law until last year.

A BOCES allows school units to band together to share services that require greater expertise or that entail extra costs. Mountain Views Superintendent Sherry Sousa has been meeting with her seven counterparts for the past five years, a collaboration that has resulted in both cost savings and better services in special education and professional development.

“The southeast region is an incredibly collaborative group with shared goals and expectations for their students,” Sousa said in an interview.

Now that the region has crafted articles of agreement, officials hope that document can become a template that other parts of the state could use to create their own BOCES, Sousa said. While a state task force is trying to draw new school district boundaries, superintendents and school boards are enacting reforms of their own.

“We want a working model of what a BOCES is in Vermont, and we want to move that to other parts of Vermont,” Sousa said.

There are currently no BOCES in Vermont, but several supervisory unions have met with state Agency of Education officials to discuss what a BOCES might look like, Toren Ballard, a spokesperson for the agency, said in an email.

So far, Mountain Views’ collaboration with other districts has taken the form of improving services for students with special needs and providing professional development for educators, Sousa said. That effort has had the effect of reducing the number of costly out-of-district placements. Special education is a challenge for public schools, which are required by federal law to provide services, but are only partially reimbursed for them with federal money.

With the help of the collaborative, Mountain Views created a program for students at risk of not completing their schooling.

The district has special education programs at every grade level that are supported by the collaborative’s expertise and training, Sousa said.

As a result, the district has relatively few out of district placements, which saves money and also better serves students, she said.

“The collaborative is critical to making that happen,” Sousa said.

Sousa has seen dramatic changes in a 30-year career in special education. New teachers now come out of undergraduate and graduate programs with far less training in special education, she said. That puts the burden on either school districts or the state to provide professional development. The state does much less of that than it used to, she noted.

The hope is that a BOCES can fill that void. Many states enable such structures, which also are called education service agencies, education service districts, education collaboratives or regional education service agencies.

Such collaboration is not particularly new, either.

Hartford School District for many years ran the Hartford Collaborative, and still operates the Hartford Regional Resource Center, for students with developmental delays and multiple disabilities, and HARP, the Hartford Autism Regional Program.

But financial pressures, as Vermont’s student population has declined and need for student services has risen, have led local school officials to seek new ways to deliver common services at lower costs. The threat of a major restructuring of education also has served as a call to action at the local level, Sousa said.

In introducing the BOCES bill, H.630, in 2023, state Rep. Rebecca Holcombe, D-Norwich, testified that BOCES can be used for a wide range of initiatives, from operating alternative schools to improving curriculum, standards and assessment to collective bargaining and negotiating transportation and food service contracts.

“You can’t build and maintain the expertise that you need in individual schools,” Holcombe said in an interview. It can be done at the regional level instead.

Holcombe, who served as Vermont Education secretary from 2014 to 2018, also sits on the task force that’s supposed to draw a new school district map by December. BOCES and other regional reforms hold greater promise for improving teaching and learning and saving money, she said.

If a collaborative can help teachers improve learning in the early grades, then students won’t need as much costly intervention later on, she said.

The Legislature approved the BOCES bill in 2024, and Gov. Phil Scott let it become law without his signature. At the time, all of the talk in education was about a substantial increase in property taxes and the BOCES bill received virtually no public notice. Holcombe said she’s glad to see it bearing fruit.

“I think you really have to give these districts credit for putting this idea together,” she said.

The southeastern Vermont BOCES covers Windsor County from Woodstock south, and all of Windham County and comprises at least 8,000 students.

In addition to Mountain Views, Windsor Southeast Supervisory Union, which comprises Hartland, Windsor, West Windsor and Weathersfield, is also part of the collaborative. Its board is slated to discuss and vote on joining the BOCES on Sept. 22, Superintendent Christine Bourne said.

The collaborative, which has had a director for the past three years, has provided assistance with recruiting and hiring special education staff and with professional development around such subjects as hazing, harassment and bullying and special education law, Bourne said.

“That’s been really beneficial, and provided at a reasonable cost, so staff that want to participate can participate,” Bourne said of the professional development.

“In the future, I think we’ll be able to pool resources,” she said, which could include a program for special education students who need a new placement. “We’re still in development, but the possibility for a lot of cost savings is there,” as well as additional collaborative services.

Asked to quantify how the BOCES has saved money for her district, Sousa could not provide figures, but noted that every student who stays in the district instead of being placed in an expensive program outside the public system is a major cost savings.

“We talk about restructuring education in Vermont,” she said. “This is a real opportunity.”

Read the story on VTDigger here: Woodstock, Windsor schools join collaboration that aims to improve special education and save costs.

This story by Emma Roth-Wells was first published in the Valley News on August 11.

WHITE RIVER JUNCTION — Lea Henderson expected the rent and utilities for the one-bedroom apartment she’s lived in for the past three years to go up 3% as defined in her annual lease.

So when Ledgeworks, the property management company based in Lebanon, sent her a lease renewal agreement in May that included a 20% rent hike for the unit at 112 South Main St. in downtown White River Junction near the Center for Cartoon Studies, Henderson, 26, was confused.

“Looks like there was a mistake here,” she wrote in a May 20 email to Ledgeworks, the company owned by Mike Davidson that manages his more than 300 residential units in the Upper Valley.

“I was expecting to sign a renewal for $1,287/month not $1,500/month. “

Cedar O’Dowd, 27, who’s lived for three years in a unit in 104 South Main St., the building next door to Henderson’s, is in the same position.

Both O’Dowd’s and Henderson’s leases, obtained by the Valley News, state: “the Base Rent shall be increased by 3% over the previous year’s Base Rent or by a percentage equal to the increase of the Consumer Price Index (CPI-U Boston) for the preceding year, whichever is greater.”

The CPI-U Boston was also 3% from May 2024 to May 2025, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

But even after Henderson and O’Dowd both pointed out this clause in the lease, Ledgeworks refused to back down.

“The renewal we have sent you is the one we are still presenting to you. Please let us know your intentions,” a Ledgeworks employee wrote to Henderson on May 30.

The two residents reached out to several tenants rights organizations in Vermont and New Hampshire, but none could give a definitive answer as to whether raising the rent more than 3% is legal.

Because there is no binding legal precedent that interprets what the law is in this situation, “unfortunately, there isn’t a straightforward answer,” Rachel Batterson, an attorney at Vermont Legal Aid, said.

Since O’Dowd and Henderson’s leases expired July 31, it is unclear whether Ledgeworks could raise the rent more than 3% after the leases ended.

“I’m just not sure how a judge would interpret the actual situation where the (rent increase) notice was sent during the term of the lease while the 3% limitation was in,” Batterson said.

Ledgeworks put the 3% rent increase clause into the lease because the company tries “to be as predicable as possible for our residents and tenants,” Tim Sidore, Ledgeworks’ chief of operations, said in a Thursday phone interview.

“Typically, we try to keep increases as modest as possible, keeping in line with the cost of living and inflation,” he said. “Sometimes increases are higher than they are in other years.”

This year’s especially high rent increases are due to jumps in the cost of oil, propane, materials and labor, Sidore said.

“Given the dramatic rise of prices and inflation, rents must increase in order to cover costs,” he said.

The increases at the South Street buildings are meant to bring the units to “market rate.”

The units should cost closer to $1,645 a month, Sidore said. That rate would be considered affordable for someone making $61,450 a year, or 80% of the median income in Windsor County, according to the Vermont Housing Finance Authority.

Henderson, who works in the cafe at King Arthur Baking Company, makes about $44,000 a year.

“This apartment is not worth $1,500,” Henderson said in a phone interview last Thursday.

The units that O’Dowd and Henderson have lived in are both about 450 square feet, according to their leases.

“These are not luxury apartments,” a letter some tenants of the buildings wrote to Davidson in June said. “They are homes to low income and working class Vermonters who work in this community and whose labor local businesses benefit from.”

O’Dowd, a coordinator and producer at Junction Arts and Media, makes about $30,000 a year. They’ve lived in the one-bedroom unit with their ex-partner, who studied at The Center for Cartoon Studies when they first moved in. Their combined income is about $45,000 a year, O’Dowd said.

“This is the right apartment for artists in their 20s and it should be a price artists in their 20s can afford,” O’Dowd said in a phone interview last month.

The letter from the tenants also alleges the buildings are not in great condition and the apartments lack some amenities.

“At 112 S. Main St. there is no on-site laundry, and at 104 S. Main St. the laundry is coin-operated and the machines often break-down,” the letter said.

Complaints also included: siding falling off of 112 S. Main St.; fuel issues that led to lapses in heat and oven/stove usage; a shared dumpster often overflows; units do not include air conditioning and are “poorly insulated;” ventilation in the bathrooms is inadequate and ceilings regularly mold, the letter said.

Davidson did not respond to the letter, Henderson said. He also did not respond to the Valley News by deadline.

“We seek to address any reported maintenance issues in a timely manner,” Sidore said in an email to the Valley News.

In recent years, Davidson has renovated the interiors of both buildings, replaced the roof, installed skylights, replaced windows at 104 S. Main, installed a new heating system and fire sprinkler system at 112 S. Main and replaced siding on the front of 112 S. Main, Sidore said.

As a result of the rent increase, Henderson and O’Dowd decided to move out of the South Main Street buildings.

Through Henderson and O’Dowd’s personal connections in the area they found a two-bedroom apartment on Fairview Terrace, about half-a-mile from the South Main Street buildings.

The two signed a lease together for $1,050 a month, including heat and water, but not electricity and internet, Henderson said. It starts in September, O’Dowd said.

“I feel very lucky,” Henderson said.

Read the story on VTDigger here: White River Junction tenants scramble for housing following rent increase.

The Woodstock Union High School and Middle School building is in bad shape. Its HVAC, electrical and sewage systems — products of the mid-1960s — are now well past their useful life, according to school officials.

Sherry Sousa, superintendent of the Mountain Views Supervisory Union that operates the school, said the district “can’t guarantee, based on where our systems are now, that our sewage system is going to work.” 

For those familiar with Vermont’s public education system, this sort of story is hardly new. Districts throughout the state routinely deal with general disrepair and disruption caused by aging school buildings.

Over the years, education officials have pleaded with the state to restart a long-dormant state aid fund for school construction, which previously supported up to 30% of construction costs. But Act 73, the new education reform bill Gov. Phil Scott signed into law last month, is creating optimism among education officials that state aid could begin again.

Mountain Views Supervisory Union officials are banking on that. Last week, members of the school board and central administration announced they would press ahead with a new working committee to oversee plans for a new high school and middle school building under the terms of Act 73.

“We’ve decided that we can’t wait. We have to move forward. We need a new school,” Keri Bristow, the Mountain Views Supervisory Union’s board chair, said in an interview. “We have to do something before we have a catastrophic failure.”

‘Cart before the horse’

Vermont’s new education law seeks to address the state’s “languishing” school infrastructure through implementation of a new state aid for school construction fund. Act 73 provides preliminary rules around what schools could be eligible for state aid, and which projects should be prioritized.

The newly created State Aid for School Construction Advisory Board, set to first meet on or before Sept. 1, according to state Board of Education Chair Jennifer Samuelson, will work with the Agency of Education to further develop and finalize those parameters before the School Construction Aid Special Fund is officially created July 1 next year.

The advisory board is one of the first facets of the new law to get off the ground. The School Redistricting Task Force has already started work to consolidate Vermont’s 118 school districts, contained within 51 supervisory districts or supervisory unions, into anywhere from 10 to 25 future districts. The school construction advisory board will work concurrently with that task force.

David Epstein with the Burlington architecture firm TruexCullins has worked with a number of Vermont’s school districts’ on facilities needs. He called the new framework in Act 73 a “positive sign.”

But he and others have cautioned that while the law sets up a framework for a revived school construction fund, the law does not directly address where funding will come from.

“Until a funding source is identified and the scale of that funding source is understood, it’s hard for me to be too optimistic,” Epstein said.

In a press conference Thursday, Scott said school construction is “going to be very important” once new school district maps are drawn and plans for consolidation are considered by the Legislature.

“That’s an appropriate time to talk about school construction,” he said. “We should be prepared for that, I realize that, but I think we’d be putting the cart before the horse in terms of school construction.”

To bond or not to bond

Vermont’s schools are the second oldest in the country and have continued to depreciate since state lawmakers paused construction aid nearly 20 years ago.

The Agency of Education has previously estimated schools will need upward of $6 billion in infrastructure investment over the next two decades.

“The level of investment has not been keeping up with the needs, and so there’s a tremendous amount of need,” Epstein said.

The disrepair in school facilities has forced districts to try and finance fixes through voter-approved bonds. Last year, the Colchester School District put forward a $115 million bond to modernize its aging schools — which, similar to the Woodstock High School, were built in the mid-20th century.

Colchester residents narrowly approved the bond proposal in November, but other districts that have floated bonds have not had such luck.

In March 2024, residents of the Mountain Views Supervisory Union’s seven member towns voted down a $99 million bond measure — throwing in flux plans to replace the Woodstock High School building.

And in 2021, voters in the member towns of the Harwood Unified Union School District sunk a $59.5 million construction bond. Without voter approval, the district is now stuck using general fund dollars to complete patch work repairs.

“We’re spending a lot of money on capital needs for things that really require wholesale renovation, new construction,” said Michael Leichliter, Harwood supervisory union’s superintendent.

Leichliter said the Harwood school district hired TruexCullins to conduct a review of its buildings, which he said should be completed by the end of August.

The Orleans Central Supervisory Union also hired TruexCullins to conduct a facilities assessment of school buildings. Dan Roock, the chair of the facilities committee there, said the district has $108 million in deferred maintenance across its eight school buildings.

Officials there are hoping to begin a community outreach campaign to gauge willingness for any new renovation projects.

Uncertainty over taxpayers’ appetite for million-dollar bond investments has created a tricky calculation for districts that fear catastrophic failure in their school buildings.

The more they wait, the more expensive repairs will cost, Roock said.

“We know we’ve got to do something,” he said. “We know it’s going to cost a lot of money — even if it’s no new construction, just fixing what we have.”

‘We’ve been patient’

For districts with construction plans in the works, like Orleans Central Supervisory Union, the decision whether to proceed with bond votes has been further complicated by the redistricting process underway.

“Some districts are waiting to see what the new districts are like,” Epstein said. “Some districts want to move forward with projects while they still can, while they still have control of their destiny, so to speak.”

Uncertainty around whether state lawmakers will even fund the new state aid construction fund only complicates that decision.

Sen. Seth Bongartz, D-Bennington, chair of the Senate Education Committee, said there is “a general recognition that we have to figure out a way to help with school construction funding.”

“But there’s also a recognition that, right now with what’s happening nationally, we’re in uncharted waters, and we’re really going to have to see where we are come January and see what kinds of immediate crises we may be facing, or not,” he said.

In the Mountain Views Supervisory Union, officials say they can’t afford to wait any longer.

“I think we’ve been patient, and the board has been really responsible,” Sousa said. “Now, we really have to fill in the gray spaces of Act 73. We want to work with the Agency of Education to fill in that gray space and acknowledge, how does this school district move forward?”

Ethan Weinstein contributed reporting.

Read the story on VTDigger here: ‘We can’t wait’: Vermont school districts seek guidance from new education law as school construction needs compound.

This story by Alex Hanson was first published in the Valley News on August 5.

WHITE RIVER JUNCTION — When he was looking for a theater job close to family in southern Vermont, Jason David Monmaney found one at Northern Stage.

One of the appealing features of joining the nonprofit theater company’s technical staff was that it provided housing. When he was getting ready to move from Rochester, New York, he had enough other things on his plate that looking for an apartment would have been too much.

“It was the only way I could have taken this job,” Monmaney, assistant lead electrician at Northern Stage, said in an interview outside his studio apartment in the first of three new apartment buildings the theater company is opening on Gates Street this year.

With the Upper Valley in the grip of a long-standing housing crisis, Northern Stage has moved to secure its place in White River Junction by purchasing and building housing for its employees. The company opened its first newly built apartments late last month, and two more buildings are nearing completion. The structures comprise 18 apartments that can house up to 24 people. Northern Stage also owns three other buildings within walking distance of the theater that contain another 11 apartments.

A theater company in a rural area is required to provide free housing for members of Actors’ Equity, the union that certifies Northern Stage as a professional theater. Urban areas more often have a population of theater professionals, and a wider range of short-term housing options, if needed. So the company has always had to arrange housing, Jason Smoller, the company’s managing director, said.

“Most other theaters our size are not in a rural area,” Smoller said in an interview. “We had this unique opportunity to develop downtown White River Junction.”

This is no small need. Northern Stage has 31 full-time employees and up to 150 people on short term contracts throughout the year, Smoller said.

The company developed some expertise in construction and fundraising when it built a new theater, Jim Lynch, a longtime member of the company’s board, said in an interview. The Barrette Center for the Arts opened in October 2015. Northern Stage had the opportunity to buy two down the street, which were demolished to make way for the new construction.

Northern Stage endured some criticism for its plan to purchase 160 Gates Street as a vacant lot, after the historic, circa 1880 home there had been torn down. It paid $300,000 for that parcel. The company paid $625,000 in April 2021 for two other Gates Street buildings and $385,000 in 2018 for the Twin State Typewriter building on South Main Street.

The new development replaced the structures at 160 and 178 Gates St., and the company owns the two buildings at 140-146 Gates St., which now house nine employees.

Owning and developing housing was part of a long-term strategy developed under a previous manager, Eric Bunge, Smoller said. The more housing Northern Stage can own through donations it raises, the more it can control its costs, he added. The new development is expected to reduce the company’s housing costs by $200,000 a year.

In addition to reducing costs, owning housing is also essential for recruitment and retention of both long-term employees and the outside talent required to make professional theater, Smoller said. Actors, musicians, designers, directors and other key personnel come in for a show or a season and need a place to stay.

“We are hiring such a specific skill set that it’s hard to hire from the local workforce,” Smoller said. Housing “is a recruitment tool for us.”

In its early days, Northern Stage would rent vacant condos in Quechee for actors and other outside talent. But that meant the company had to provide cars, and with shows ending late at night in the winter, safety was an issue. The company also had apartment buildings on Maple and Barnes streets in White River Junction, a longer walk in cold weather.

“A short commute is such a quality-of-life issue,” Monmaney, 34, said. He owns a car, but now saves “a boatload on gas,” he said. “It is definitely a blessing that not a lot of people have.”

The reduced cost of the housing is another benefit. Northern Stage rents its apartments at 30% below market rate. Smoller declined to say what the rent prices are, but state data put “fair market rent” for a studio apartment in Hartford at $1,039 a month in fiscal year 2024. The figure for a two-bedroom was $1,300 a month. Zillow.com says the average rent in Vermont, which would include houses and apartments, is $2,100 a month.

It’s enough of a benefit to Monmaney that he didn’t know off the top of his head how much he pays in rent. It comes out of his paycheck, and as a career theater professional, he’s never prioritized making money, he said.

Building their own solution

The new construction makes Northern Stage one of a small number of Upper Valley businesses to control some or all of its housing. Dartmouth College is probably the largest example, though most of its faculty and staff still must rely on the open market. The Woodstock Inn also owns housing for its employees.

That arrangement is becoming more common as businesses struggle to maintain a steady workforce. Vermont Glove, a small manufacturer in Randolph, developed housing in recent years, state Sen. Alison Clarkson, D-Windsor, who chairs the Senate Committee on Economic Development, Housing, and General Affairs, said in an interview. She attended the ribbon-cutting Northern Stage held at the end of July.

“We should be applauding the businesses that are building housing,” Clarkson, a Woodstock Democrat, said in an interview. The state’s economy needs 7,500 new units a year to accommodate its current growth, and is building only 3,000, she said.

Building housing also means that Northern Stage can release 15 apartments it rents in White River Junction to the open market, Smoller said.

Northern Stage’s project was made possible by $8.5 million in private donations. The company received five donations of $500,000 or more from private foundations and individuals, and another 18 donations of between $100,000 and $499,000. A list of donors to the project, titled “Act II Campaign: A Vision for the Future of Northern Stage, White River Junction, and the Region,” is on display in the Barrette Center’s lobby. Elements of the housing development are named for major donors.

Of the donations raised, $6.25 million went toward construction, while another $1.25 million went toward the theater’s endowment and $1 million to an “impact fund” to raise wages and invest in accessible productions, large-scale productions and education programs. The remaining $2 million for construction comes from financing from the state of Vermont in the form of a loan administered by Claremont Savings Bank, Smoller said.

Northern Stage had at first designed a much larger project, a single tall building that would have housed more units, plus an education center. But cost estimates for that plan outstripped what the company’s leadership felt it could raise, said Lynch, a Hanover resident and former hospital administrator.

“Every business does that,” he said. “Their dreams are bigger than their ultimate realities.”

The project was built by Bread Loaf Corporation, a Middlebury-based design-build firm that also handled construction of the Barrette Center and the renovation of the Hartford Municipal Building. The new housing includes a pocket park that wasn’t part of the design at first, Jim Pulver, Bread Loaf’s vice president for architecture, said in an interview.

Theater companies are “really great clients, because they’re a diverse group of people,” Pulver said. “They really want to have a positive influence on the community.”

A ‘campus’ feel

If there’s a model for Northern Stage’s growth, it’s Goodspeed Opera House, in East Haddam, Connecticut, which built a campus around its theater, Smoller said. Northern Stage’s announcement of the new housing called it an “arts campus.”

Living in company housing is a bit like being on a college campus, Abigail St. Pierre, a UNH graduate, said. St. Pierre, 30, is Northern Stage’s company manager, which puts her in charge of arranging housing and transportation for incoming employees and performers. She and her boyfriend, Andrew McPhillips, 31, a counselor at Albert Bridge School in West Windsor, just moved into a studio apartment in the newly opened building from one of the units Northern Stage rents at 241 S. Main St.

Before moving into company housing, she lived with her parents in Charlestown, where she grew up. And McPhillips commuted to West Windsor from Rutland, where his mother lives.

“I think that we are definitely very lucky” to live so close to work, St. Pierre said.

Monmaney moved to White River Junction in fall 2023, and like St. Pierre just moved into one of the new studios from 241 South Main St. It’s a lot nicer, especially the built-in air conditioning, he said.

“I think it’s an invaluable service that Northern Stage offers,” Monmaney said. “It allows people from all over the country to come in and share their talents with us.”

But it can’t solve every housing issue. For St. Pierre and McPhillips, a studio is too small to be more than a stopgap. They’re hunting for an apartment now.

“If we are to leave this apartment, we would have to leave White River Junction,” she said. Rents are more reasonable in Lebanon, so they would likely end up across the river.

Read the story on VTDigger here: Northern Stage builds housing for theater staff in White River Junction amid housing crisis.

WESTON — When the Weston Theater Company announced its musical now playing would be a stage adaptation of the 1954 film “White Christmas,” some locals wondered about the seeming incongruity of orchestrating summer with sleigh bells in the snow.

More residents, however, are worried about an even bigger toppling of tradition.

Upon its start in 1937, Vermont’s oldest professional acting troupe performed in a white-pillared playhouse on the postcard green of its namesake Windsor County town of 623 residents.

In 1962, a fire ravaged everything but the building’s Doric columns. In 1973 and 2011, storm overflow from the neighboring West River flooded the cellar of the restored structure. But come hell or high water, the company always reopened in keeping with the theatrical credo “the show must go on.”

Then on July 10, 2023, a record downpour swallowed up the playhouse’s basement and first floor. The troupe relocated to a smaller second stage at the nearby Walker Farm with hopes of bailing out the main theater in time for that summer’s musical — fatefully, the splashy “Singin’ in the Rain.”

But two years later, the playhouse sits empty as its nonprofit operators wrestle with questions about finances and the future.

“Our estimate right now is we’re three years out from getting back into the building, and when I tell people that, they’re shocked,” said Susanna Gellert, the theater company’s executive artistic director. “They think, ‘Why can’t we be back in tomorrow?’”

The answer, according to all involved, is almost as complicated as the bureaucratic paperwork they’re swimming in.

The theater company doesn’t own the playhouse, which was built as a church in 1839. Instead, the troupe leases it from the Weston Community Association, a volunteer-run nonprofit that also oversees the nearby 1795 Farrar-Mansur House museum and Cold Spring Brook Park.

In 2011, Tropical Storm Irene washed away a $700,000 renovation of the playhouse’s dressing rooms, prop shop and orchestra pit. Twelve years later, the 2023 floodwater rose about 30 inches higher, swelling cleanup costs to nearly $500,000 and the proposed reconstruction to as much as $5 million.

Both the community association and theater company are seeking damage reimbursements from insurance carriers and the Federal Emergency Management Agency. They’re also planning separate fundraising campaigns to pay for their parts of a shared restoration project.

But the state fire marshal has closed the playhouse to the public until the community association replaces the alarm and sprinkler system — a nearly $200,000 expense that volunteers have yet to figure out how to fund.

“A lot of the people we know who are capable of writing a big check are reluctant to do so until all of the building mitigation has been done,” community association President David Raymond said. “It’s a Catch-22 situation.”

The community association and theater company are not giving up. They recently welcomed U.S. Sen. Peter Welch, D-Vermont, to tell him about the cleanup challenges shared by dozens of communities statewide.

“When you look at this town at the helicopter level, we’ve got probably $12 million to $15 million worth of capital needs in the playhouse, fire station, post office, school,” Weston Town Moderator Wayne Granquist said. “That’s incredibly far beyond our capacity to raise money. We need to have external help.”

Welch didn’t promise federal funds, just words of understanding.

“The Weston Playhouse is such a community resource,” the senator said.

Planners are aiming to move all of the playhouse’s electrical and mechanical systems and backstage and storage space above the most recent flood line.

“It’s going to be a push to get the building sustainable, and then a push to get it functional again,” said Rebecca Marzalek-Kelly, the theater company’s general manager.

In the meantime, the theater company is presenting its 89th summer season at its nearby Walker Farm performance space.

“We’re doing what work we can right now so that we’re ready to get back into the playhouse once it’s ready,” Gellert said. “But all of that starts with funding.”

Raymond, for his part, knows the playhouse may be within walking distance of everything in town, but he and his community association colleagues have a long road ahead.

“Hope,” Raymond said when asked what kept him going. “And patience.”

Read the story on VTDigger here: Weston Playhouse’s main stage is still closed after flooding. Can it make a comeback?.

This story by Emma-Roth Wells was first published in the Valley News on July 30, 2025.

HARTFORD — The Norwich Farmers’ Market and Twin Pines Housing both have big plans for a parcel in Norwich, but in order for those plans to come fruition, the nonprofits need access to Hartford’s water and sewer infrastructure.

Last week, the Hartford Selectboard voted unanimously (outgoing board member Brandon Smith and Chairwoman Mary Erdei were absent) to continue exploring the possibility of allowing the two nonprofits to hook up to Hartford’s infrastructure.

The town has the capacity to support these projects but a study needs to be done, at the nonprofits’ expense, to see whether there needs to be upgrades to the system downstream to ensure no current water and sewer customers would be negatively affected, Chris Holzwarth, Hartford’s assistant director of planning and permitting, said during the meeting.

Allowing Twin Pines and the market to hook-up to Hartford’s infrastructure could be a money maker for the town.

“This is essentially revenue in,” Holzwarth said.

The board’s vote came after it heard a presentation by Andrew Winter, executive director of Twin Pines Housing, and Peggy Allen, board member of the Upper Valley Agricultural Association and co-owner of Junction Fiber Mill.

“We were thrilled the Selectboard was willing to entertain this initial request,” Winter said in a phone interview.

The Upper Valley Agricultural Association, a nonprofit formed by the Norwich Farmers’ Market, has signed a purchase and sale agreement to buy a 35-acre parcel for $750,000 across Route 5 from the market’s current summer location. The aim of the purchase is to give the market a permanent location and more space.

Twin Pines Housing — a nonprofit that develops and manages affordable housing in the Upper Valley — hopes to build approximately 30 affordable rental units on land owned by the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of the Upper Valley on Palmer Court adjacent to the farmers’ market’s new parcel.

The Unitarian Universalist church’s property is one of two lots in Norwich that is already served by Hartford water and sewer, John Haverstock, Hartford’s town manager, said. The other is The Family Place Parent Child Center, located across the street from the church.

Both nonprofits say access to to Hartford’s water and sewer infrastructure is important to allow the projects to move forward.

Without Hartford’s municipal water and sewer, Twin Pines is prepared to walk away from the Norwich project, Winter said.

“There’s a lot of risk without public water,” he said.

In 2023, Twin Pines applied for a permit to connect to the New London-Springfield Water Precinct system for a 60-unit workforce housing project on Country Road in New London. The precinct denied the project, citing a lack of capacity on the system.

After the denial, Twin Pines drilled five wells before getting one with sufficient water supply, only to find the ground water had been contaminated by a nearby dry cleaning business.

The project is still tied up over water access issues.

“It’s cost us hundreds of thousands of dollars,” Winter said during the meeting. “It’s something that we’re not prepared to undertake again because you don’t know when you’re drilling for wells what you’re going to find.”

The Norwich rental units would be the first of their kind in the town. The town’s affordable housing is limited to two properties, Winter said: Starlake Village, an affordable home ownership program with 14 houses managed by Twin Pines, and 24 units of affordable senior housing owned by the Norwich Housing Corporation, a nonprofit developed in the 1970s.

“Folks have said to me frequently that Norwich really needs to do its part,” Winter said during the meeting referring to Norwich’s lack of affordable housing. “We need water and sewer to do that.”

Twin Pines has been discouraged from exploring housing development in Norwich because of the lack of infrastructure, Winter said.

Meanwhile the Farmers’ Market is committed to carrying out plans for a 7,000-square-foot building on the new parcel even without Hartford’s infrastructure. Still, a feasibility study found that constructing a septic system to support a building of that size on the property would be challenging, Allen said.

The farmers’ market currently leases property from Co-op Food Stores from May to October for its summer market and holds its winter market in Tracy Hall.

Overall, the Farmers’ Market “is an incredible success,” Allen said at the meeting.

The market, which will have its 50th anniversary next year, has up to 2,500 patrons each Saturday in the summer season, Allen said.

For some of the farms that have a regular spot, sales at the market represent 50-75% of their annual income, Allen said. “It is a vital outlet for the farms in our region,” she said.

But the market could be better. “A lot of locals are choosing not to go because the parking is abysmal,” she said. Flooding, cars getting stuck and vendors being “knee-deep in mud” at the summer market is also an issue.

In addition to addressing the parking situation, the plan aims to give vendors “a little more elbow room,” by constructing the building to host the market and agricultural education year-round, Allen said.

“We’re just incredibly excited about the potential to have an open space with parking,” she said.

Allen envisions workshops on how to preserve produce, seminars on invasive species and lessons on how to conserve land all held at the potential building.

“This market that represents the Upper Valley deserves a permanent home,” she said.

Hartford resident Linda Miller spoke out in support of the projects at last week’s meeting.

“This is the first time I’ve heard a proposal for a project from Twin Pines that I’m so excited about,” she said. “It’s answering the question I’ve been asking: Why aren’t other towns stepping forward? And this will be another town stepping forward.”

A former vendor at the Norwich Farmers’ Market, Miller said she has not been to the market this summer because of the lack of parking. “I miss it, so this would be huge if Norwich Farmers’ Market could move across the street and have a little elbow room,” she said.

While both projects are still in the preliminary stages and no final decisions about whether either will be able to use Hartford’s water and sewer have been made, Selectboard member Miranda Dupre expressed her excitement.

“I’m really proud of our town and nonprofits for working across these lines,” she said.

Winter expects studying the feasibility of using Hartford’s water and sewer system for the projects will be completed over the course of the next year.

Read the story on VTDigger here: Nonprofits say access to Hartford water is key to Norwich housing and farmers market projects.

Kate Lewton  is a reporter with Community News Service, part of the University of Vermont’s Reporting & Documentary Storytelling program.

ROCHESTER — Liberty Hill Farm is straight out of a movie set: stately dairy cows, grandkids playing in the grass, barn cats napping on the porch. Beth and Bob Kennett bought the picturesque farmhouse in 1979 and five years later began hosting visitors for overnight stays. Added income for the Kennetts, a taste of a classic Vermont scene for their guests.

Today, the practice has a name: agritourism. 

Beth Kennett still remembers the first family the farm hosted in 1984 that encouraged them to take on the second stream of income.

“We started in February with a family from New Jersey with five kids here for a whole week to ski at the Middlebury College Snow Bowl,” Kennett said. “They said if I could take care of them and their five kids, I could take care of anybody. And they still come back — they brought their grandkids.”

In order to combat changing markets, Vermont farmers are implementing agritourism experiences such as farm stays, tours and more to diversify their incomes, with the help of growing support systems from the University of Vermont’s Extension Office and the Agency of Agriculture, Food and Markets.

Diversification like farm stays are important because farmland consolidation has made it harder for smaller farms to compete with their larger industrial counterparts. There are more than a million acres of farmland in Vermont, but  313 dairy farms were lost since the 2017 census. Farms counted by the census must produce at least $1,000 in annual agriculture sales. More than 50% of Vermont farms sell less than $10,000 each year, while roughly a fifth sell over $100,00 dollars. Often other forms of income are needed for livable earnings. 

Selina Rooney, a former dairy farmer, helps run her family’s sugaring business, Rooney Farm, in Morrisville. She works for the state agricultural agency to help implement agritourism, and said that while no one is getting rich from agritourism, it’s a necessary and creative way to make an additional on-farm profit.

“We’re in an industry where we’re price takers instead of price makers. We’re told how much we’re gonna get for our milk, or our timber, or our maple,” Rooney said. “Being a price taker, you have to figure out other sources of income.”

The term agritourism might feel new to the public, but opening up farms to the public is an old practice that has existed for hundreds of years, according to Dr. Lisa Chase of UVM Extension, who said said the concept term originated in Italy. 

“They were seeing rural migration to the cities, but they had landscapes and farm buildings that were thousands of years old and falling into disrepair,” Chase said of Italians. “So they came up with incentives.” 

In 1985 Italy passed the Agritourism Law, which provided grants and incentives to farmers coming back to the countryside and opening their farm for visitors and education. The name has slowly gained traction since and Chase helped to delegate its spelling, with an “i” and not an “o”, in Vermont. 

In Vermont, farm tours or experiences that allow the public to interact with livestock and agricultural processes can help visitors better understand where their food comes from. 

Big Picture Farm, a goat farm located in Townshend owned by Louisa Conrad and Lucas Farrell, is well-known for their goat caramels. Beyond producing sweet confections, they have started Goat Hangouts, which, yes, includes getting snuggles and giving pets.

“It’s really beautiful because I think a lot of people don’t get that ability to just touch a farm animal and really be with them as opposed to just sort of looking at them from the other side of the fence,” Conrad said. 

It is not only animals that visitors can see firsthand, but agricultural processes like sugaring for maple syrup. At Rooney Farm, the sugarhouse is open for visitors throughout the season to stop by and see where maple products come from for themselves. 

“One of the best things about agritourism is the education piece, because farmers are so passionate about what they do,” Rooney said. “I could talk to somebody about maple syrup for like two days straight. And I wouldn’t get tired of it because I’m so passionate about it.” 

The Rooneys also offer overnights at Sunrise Hut, a quaint cabin located on their property available from April to October. Equipped with mountain views, a nearby swimming hole and recreation path, the cabin is perfect for the traveler that might want to experience a farm with some primitive privacy, explained Rooney. 

Another form of a farm stay that the Kennetts offer at Liberty Hill is more immersive. Visitors stay in the farmhouse with the family, eat their home cooked meal, and obtain a brief glimpse into the intimacy of Kennett life on their farm.

Beth Kennett believes that these experiences are transformative for families, especially those new to nature. Kennett still remembers a decade ago when three boys of different ages staying at the farm became friends.

They were all from urban areas and after dinner, had seemed to disappear. Being an attentive grandmother herself, Kennett went outside to investigate.

“We brought in hay that day, and it was sitting in the yard because nobody had time to get it unloaded on the elevator into the barn. They were lying on top of the hay bales staring up at the sky, watching for shooting stars,” Kennett said. The night sky, free of light pollution, was clear for miles, Kennett said.

“The dad called me up 10 years later just to make sure we were still taking guests because he said, you have no idea how magical that was,” Kennett said. “They’re like 17 and 27 [now] and they’re still talking about that night lying on the hay bales, looking at the sky.” 

Read the story on VTDigger here: Agritourism brings second income to Vermont farmers.

The head of Southern State Correctional Facility was placed on leave “pending the outcome of an investigation into an allegation of misconduct,” the Vermont Department of Corrections announced Thursday.

During the investigation, the Springfield prison’s Assistant Superintendent Dave Bovat will serve in an acting capacity while Michaela Merrill, the superintendent, is on leave. 

The previous superintendent, Mike Lyon, was similarly placed on leave for alleged misconduct in April 2023. But an investigation determined the allegation was unfounded, according to the Department of Corrections. Lyon returned to the post the following month and retired that August.

“Given our responsibility to serve some of the most vulnerable members of our communities, we have an obligation to uphold the integrity of our system for Vermonters,” Nick Deml, Commissioner of the Vermont Department of Corrections, said in a press release. 

Per state policy, the Vermont Department of Human Resources will conduct an investigation. According to department protocol, the corrections’ investigative unit will also “review the facility’s compliance with Department policy and procedures.”

Read the story on VTDigger here: Head of Springfield prison placed on leave.

HARTFORD — The Vermont Agency of Transportation is seeking public feedback on a recently completed bridge project in Hartford.

Replacement of the bridge over the White River connecting Route 14 and VA Cutoff Road began in 2023 and was completed this summer. The new bridge was built next to the old bridge and is better aligned with Christian Street on the north end.

The old bridge was demolished earlier this year.

The Department of Transportation is seeking feedback on the impact the construction process and the completed bridge have had on motorists.

The online survey can be found at https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/HTWZNPT. Responses will be accepted until 5 p.m. on Friday.

Read the story on VTDigger here: Transportation officials seeks feedback on Hartford bridge project.

This story by Emmie Foster was first published in the Valley News on July 7.

NORWICH — John Sheldon, 11, of Norwich, has been birding for nearly half his life. It’s a fun hobby that gets him outside, he said, often into the woods around his home.

His favorite bird is the northern cardinal because it’s beautiful and “symbolizes hope and joy.”

On a Saturday last month, he was among a group of children, ranging in age from 9 to 12, who braved the rain for the second meeting of the Upper Valley Youth Birding Club.

Fourteen had registered for the outing, but only a hardy quintet showed up on one of the many rainy Saturdays in recent weeks.

Outfitted in rain gear and carrying binoculars, the small group was prepared and determined.

While no northern cardinals made an appearance that day, the group spotted several species of songbirds, including flycatchers, swallows and sparrows.

The club is led by Chris Rimmer, director emeritus of the Vermont Center for Ecostudies, which serves as the club’s institutional home.

Rimmer, who has long led birding walks in the Upper Valley, said via email that he “always enjoyed it when parents brought a kid along.”

Those experiences inspired him to consider “a focused effort to get youth involved with birding” — an idea he’s mulled over for more than two years.

Reflecting on the club’s purpose, Rimmer emphasized the importance of connecting youth to conservation: “As a career ornithologist and conservationist, I have always known that the key to a healthy ecological future lies with future generations.”

The club convened at 8 a.m. in a grassy clearing on Campbell Flat Road, two turns off Route 5 in Norwich. The road runs parallel to the Ompompanoosuc River and intersects with Academy Road in Thetford, just south of Union Village Dam.

After a round of introductions, Rimmer explained that the group was likely to encounter many songbirds — most notably the warbling vireo. The bird, he said, can sing up to 22,000 unique songs in a single day and is one of the region’s most abundant migratory songbirds.

Just as the group began walking, Rimmer raised his binoculars toward the treetops, where a male brown-headed cowbird flitted among the uppermost branches.

The species, once native to the midwestern plains, moved eastward as land was cleared for farming.

Once everyone had gotten a good look at its glossy black body and light-brown head, the group continued slowly along the gravel road. Rimmer mentioned the possibility of seeing an American bittern — a well-camouflaged bird that’s notoriously difficult to spot but breeds in New England during the warmer months. Bitterns have been living in Campbell Flats, the open fields and marshland on either side of the road, all spring.

To help the children identify its call, Rimmer used a small portable speaker to play its song.

Enthusiasm undamped

A light rain began to fall within minutes of setting out, but the group’s energy and excitement remained undeterred.

As the group crossed a nearly overflowing brook, a low, throaty chorus surrounded them. What was almost mistaken for bird songs was the call of gray treefrogs, likely nestled in the foliage along the brook.

Upon hearing the frogs, Jim Goetz, of Ithaca, New York — who works remotely for VCE on projects in the Caribbean and joined the group Saturday while passing through the area — remarked that, as a birder, it’s important to recognize all the sounds in the environment, not just the birdsongs.

The rain grew heavier, and the trees gave way to the fields of the Campbell Flats. A red-winged blackbird swooped low over the tall grasses.

The roughly quarter-mile area is a well-known birding site, privately owned by the Sargent family, who maintain public trails. During the warmer months, migratory birds nest in the fields and in bird boxes along the roadside. To avoid disturbing nests in the grasses, the Sargents delay mowing until late summer.

As the rain intensified, Ruby Wible, 9, of Norwich, crouched by the roadside picking small white flowers. Nearby, tiny bubbles — spittlebug homes — clung to the tall grasses dotting the wet landscape.

Norwich resident, Asher Beck, 9, said his interest in birds began during the COVID-19 pandemic, when he spent time with his grandfather reading a birding book. Eventually, they ventured out into Campbell Flats, near his home, to see the birds for themselves. The area is one of his favorite places to go birding.

Jack Batchman, 12, traveled 42 miles from Brookfield for the outing — his second time making the trip to the Upper Valley to join the club. The first meeting was at Killowatt South Park in Wilder. He became interested in birding when he moved from Arvada, Colorado, to Vermont three years ago.

Birding “gets me out in nature,” he said, adding that he is particularly drawn to the “mindfulness of it.”

Like Rimmer, he hoped to spot an American bittern during the walk, calling them “funny looking” — with long necks that taper into short, stout bodies perched on lanky legs. Despite the absence of American bitterns, his spirits were high as he forged ahead through the rain, keeping near to the front of the group. He said he planned to continue attending the outings.

The group spotted several birds during the outing, including a male yellow-bellied sapsucker, black-capped chickadees, bobolinks, a red-eyed vireo and a warbling vireo. Jim Goetz published the list of sightings on eBird, a website and app operated by Cornell University’s Cornell Lab of Ornithology.

Birders around the world can contribute to a global database by logging their species sightings — data that helps inform conservation decisions and ecological research, according to eBird’s website.

The next meeting of the club is at Windsor Grassland Wildlife Management Area on Saturday at 7:30 a.m. Those who wish to participate can do so by registering via the events page on VCE’s website: https://vtecostudies.org/events/.

Read the story on VTDigger here: New Upper Valley youth birding group finds joy between rain drops.

This story by John Lippman was first published in the Valley News on July 7.

WINDSOR — A sign with a large pink background was stuck in the red mulch over the weekend under a green canopy in front of the entrance of Bellows Free Academy in Fairfax, boutiques of flowers spread around its base.

“MUST BE GOD NEEDED A CHEERLEADER IN HEAVEN,” the sign announced, saying just enough for people who understood its reference.

Students and teachers are in mourning over the loss of one of their own, 14-year-old Maameyaa Ntiriwaa. Everyone knew her as “Pinky,” in keeping with the electric pink color of her long, neatly woven braids.

Pinky, who had recently graduated 8th grade and was on her way to high school in the coming school year, died in a drowning incident at Kennedy Pond in Windsor on July 2. She had come to Windsor with family friends, police said last week.

“She was a bright light in any dark day,” said Danielle Rothy, whose family lives on the same street in Fairfax as Pinky’s and coached her on BFA Fairfax’s cross-country team.

“She had a vibrant personality, a big smile, and so much sass,” Rothy said, her voice choking during a phone interview with the Valley News on Monday.

The pink sign out in front of the school was put up by Pinky’s classmates, Rothy said, to honor their friend, who was an enthusiastic member of BFA Fairfax cheerleading squad.

In the neighborhood, Pinky was the leader among a band of 15 or so kids who all lived within doors of each other, Rothy said, noting that Pinky served as a role model for them, including for Rothy’s own two children, a 9-year-old daughter and 6-year-old son.

“She was on the older side of the kids in our neighborhood and she took care of all the younger ones. She was the leader and they all just followed her around like little puppies behind their mom,” Rothy said.

Pinky “would take care of everybody and was kind to everyone,” Rothy said. And a peacemaker.

“She was always trying to mediate issues between other people,” Rothy related.

Pinky’s family is from Ghana, according to Rothy, although all the children were born in the U.S. After Pinky’s death, Rothy, Fairfax’s parks and recreation director, said she was approached by Pinky’s fellow cheerleaders to ask if they could all wear pink — “her favorite color” — in honor of their belove squad member in the town’s annual July 4th parade.

“But instead of just having the cheerleaders do it, I opened it up to the entire town and invited people to wear pink” said Rothy, who took to social media in a call for parade-goers and the town to wear something pink to commemorate the Pinky.

The celebration in pink for Pinky continued over to the town party in the park, where one of the food vendors donated all the tips from his tip jar to Pinky’s family, Rothy reported in a social media post. “A lot of people wore pink. It was a very much a pink parade and it was hard, but we did it,” Rothy said.

Last week, a person who described themselves as a friend of Pinky’s family launched a GoFundMe campaign to raises money for her family and help pay for Pinky’s funeral service.

By Monday afternoon, the campaign had received 532 donations and raised more than $36,000.

Read the story on VTDigger here: Teen who drowned in Windsor remembered as role model and cheerleader.

This story by Steve Taylor was first published in the Valley News on July 7.

It was a half century ago that Eastman and Quechee Lakes got off the ground, becoming what were the biggest housing developments ever to hit the Upper Valley, a status they still hold in 2025. Each has its own founding story, but in many aspects they share great similarities in how they evolved and where they are today.

Initially, they were pitched as meccas for well-to-do down country people wanting a second home up north amid the leafy hills and lush green meadows. The developments would be property tax bonanzas for the host towns, with virtually no burden from public services like schools.

Both were conceived to be examples of how development ought to be carried out at a time when Vermont and New Hampshire were witnessing a wave of shoddy developments on mountainsides and lakeshores. Planning and strategy would flow from two similar, colorful and controversial figures who were adept at gaining political support but who soon engendered prickly relations with the press and authorities in towns adjacent to their sprawling projects.

Eastman and Quechee Lakes both involved creation of large new water bodies, golf courses and ski runs, establishment of rigid site and architectural requirements and offered lucrative work for a legion of excavation and building contractors for decades.

Of greatest importance, however, is how the two developments would evolve from being purely leisure venues to the Upper Valley’s largest resources of primary housing for workers at the region’s Goliath employers, Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center and Dartmouth College, along with the myriad businesses and services that have pushed the area away from an Appalachian-style economy.

Quechee Lakes was first out of the gate when L. John Davidson, the head of a new corporation, laid out ambitious plans to “make Quechee the most beautiful village in Vermont” to a group of officials that included Gov. Deane C. Davis. The September 1969 presentation called for a golf course, restaurant, country club, family ski resort, specialty shops, an inn, a game preserve and recreational bodies of water.

Rumors had already been circulating about this out-of-state corporation buying up farms and woodland along the Ottauquechee River, with people speculating it was everything from a stalking horse for Laurance Rockefeller to a mafia operation. Davidson went to great lengths to assure his listeners that his enterprise was legit, backed by Kane Financial, a major Boston investment firm.

Harvard-educated Davidson came from the family that owned the ultra-preppy Andover Shops in Cambridge and Andover, Mass. He had made his chops as a developer in the booming Bay State real estate market and was taken by the potential of a resort community built in what was a tired little mill village and its surrounding classic rural Vermont countryside. So he set to work lining up support from local bigwigs like Norman “Joe” Reed, chairman of the Hartford Selectboard.

Gov. Davis said he “liked what he saw” in Davidson’s slideshow presentation and soon planning and economic development officials from both Windsor County and the state were falling in line behind Reed supporting Davidson’s ambitious plans. By 1974, Davidson’s Quechee Lakes Corp. had purchased almost 6,000 acres of land, about a quarter of all the ground in the town of Hartford. Gone were five dairy and fruit farms and a number of smaller holdings. One farmer, Henri Dupuis, thought he’d a made hell of a deal when he sold 100 acres for $100,000.

But not everybody was on board, and the Quechee Lakes project began picking up criticism from some in the public and garnering aggressive coverage in state newspapers. There were holdouts who were refusing to sell. While Hartford was giving it velvet-glove regulatory treatment, it was encountering determined opposition in adjacent Pomfret, where part of its land lay.

But Davidson and his team forged ahead with sales of lots for single-family houses and condominiums, even while construction of roads, recreational facilities and the signature “lake” were proceeding. Davidson became well-known for both his charm and his volcanic temper. Along the way he had marriages with women from prominent Hanover and Quechee families.

Twenty-five miles to the southeast in the town of Grantham a similarly ambitious real estate project was taking shape in the early 1970s. Like Quechee, it was conceived as a way to show what carefully planned and executed development ought to look like. Behind this initiative were four bastions of old New Hampshire money and influence: Dartmouth College, the Society for the Protection of New Hampshire Forests, Chubb Life Insurance and the Manchester Bank.

They began by buying 3,500 acres of forest land from Rockwell International, which had acquired it through real estate deals that traced back to the Draper Corporation, a manufacturer of wooden bobbins for textile mills in the early 20th century. The property was in a town with a population of scarcely 300 and, most important, no planning, zoning or subdivision regulations.

A months-long search for someone to ramrod this initiative yielded Emil Hanslin, who had earned great acclaim for his work on a posh Cape Cod development called New Seabury. A fawning 1973 Time magazine profile of Hanslin laid out the owners’ goals: “… somebody to resolve their almost contradictory requirements … a high quality development that also would include some low-priced housing while conserving as much land as possible — and all to be sold at a profit. If anyone could deliver that, they decided, it would be Emil Hanslin.”

The development was named “Eastman” by the owners after a family that had once lived on the land. This then required convincing state and federal agencies to put the name on all official maps and highway signs going forward. Hanslin and a platoon of planners set to work, aiming to lay out 1,647 house sites of one to five acres, plus 400 clustered units. To achieve a land conservation goal, lot buyers were required to deed back to the development a portion of their land as permanent open space.

Hanslin quickly grasped New Hampshire politics and began staging lavish parties for movers and shakers at his residence in nearby New London. It probably didn’t matter, for as long as it was okay in the town, it was fine with the state bigwigs. But it wasn’t too long before Eastman was getting buffeted by the press, notably the now defunct alt-weekly, the New Hampshire Times, which frequently raised issues over things like destruction of deer yards and erection of a large dam to create a 340-acre pond.

The next-door towns of Springfield and Enfield would become thorns in Eastman’s side as its holdings lapped over town boundaries. Springfield was tough on lot layouts; Enfield, after decades of wrangling, adopted land use regulation in response to Eastman’s strategies in Grantham.

Eastman sales started off briskly, but gradually the four sponsors began having second thoughts about their participation and eventually they all divested. As with Quechee Lakes, the founding principle of building a demonstration development of second homes would morph gradually over the ensuing decades, and there would be numerous struggles over ownership, governance, management and finances.

Relative stability would eventually come in the form of landowners’ associations that essentially control operations for things such as snowplowing and facilities maintenance and oversee adherence to standards for architecture and property appearance. These entities are funded by fees. Eastman’s association gets $7,000 upfront and then about $4,400 per home annually. Owners of vacant lots get charged, too, and additional levies support water and sewer utilities.

Quechee Lakes today has 1,289 properties, including 711 single-family housing units and 578 condominiums, plus permitted unsold lots now in the hands of a company that markets them and handles all building construction. Eastman has 1,000 houses and 335 condominium units with about 40 vacant lots available for sale.

John Davidson and Emil Hanslin both would be replaced in the late 1970s. Davidson later moved on to oversee a luxury shorefront development in the Winnipesaukee area, lead a failed effort to raise a sunken treasure ship and dabbled in a venture to develop a process to pasteurize eggs in the shell. He died last year. Hanslin stuck around the Grantham area, partnering with his son Tony in a land development project on another parcel of Rockwell land near Eastman that became known as Olde Farms. He also founded and operated Yankee Barn Homes, which designs and fabricates contemporary homes using a blend of vintage barn timbers and modern materials. He died in 1987.

Although developed to tap the market for leisure time homes just off the region’s I-89/ I-91 sinews, Quechee Lakes and Eastman today are vital pieces of the housing puzzle in the Upper Valley. Reliable estimates put the percentage of the residents in both developments who are full time workers in the locality’s institutions and businesses at around 60%. That number is slowly growing, while retirees who reside full time in the developments make up the bulk of the balance, with the segment of full-time residents over age 70 slowly expanding.

Promised to have no new public service burdens, both host communities have had to expand school facilities to handle children that nobody foresaw coming to their doorsteps 50 years ago. Grantham’s school census today is almost half again larger than that of the whole town population back in 1975. Expanded fire, police and other municipal services have had to be funded to deal with the needs of a larger and quite different population.

Some old-timers still mourn all that has been displaced or lost, but, for the economic and social health of the Upper Valley, a good argument can be made that these two huge developments have had a positive impact.

A resident of Meriden, Steve Taylor has contributed to the Valley News for many years.

Read the story on VTDigger here: How Quechee and Eastman developments evolved from leisure venues to primary housing.

This story by Emma Roth-Wells was first published in the Valley News on July 2.

WINDSOR — First responders recovered what is believed to be the body of a missing 14-year-old girl from Kennedy Pond on Wednesday evening.

An investigation into the death is ongoing, Windsor Police Chief Bill Daniels said.

The girl is from the Burlington area, according to Lt. Charles Winn from the Vermont State Police dive team. Further information about the girl’s identity was not immediately available.

The girl is believed to have been at the pond with “friends of the family,” Daniels said while on the scene.

The VSP team recovered the body less than 100 feet offshore between the docks and a yellow floating raft at about 5:30 p.m., after 45 minutes of searching.

In addition to the VSP team, the Hanover dive team responded to the call at about 12:15 p.m. for a water rescue, as did Windsor fire and police departments.

Emma McCumber, who grew up in Windsor but now lives in Massachusetts, was swimming at the pond with her kids when she heard screams from the beach from those who noticed the girl was missing.

“Immediately the lifeguards hopped into action,” McCumber said when she returned to the pond hours later to check for updates.

Before police cleared the water of all swimmers, McCumber, along with some dozen other bystanders, searched for the girl herself for about 45 minutes.

“It was an amazing community effort,” she said.

Without any diving equipment besides goggles, the bystanders attempted to do a grid search. “We went down as deep as we could but it was pretty useless. There’s really long weeds in that area. You can’t see your hands in front of your face.”

Told the girl had pink hair, the bystanders searched for the distinctive feature in the water.

“We just kept looking for pink hair,” McCumber said.

Wednesday’s incident was the latest water-related death in Vermont this summer.

Late last month, there were three drownings in Vermont in the span of five days, VTDigger reported.

An 18-year-old Burlington High School student died after jumping into the water at Bartlett Falls in Bristol on June 21.

A 30-year-old employee of Basin Harbor Club in Ferrisburgh drowned in Lake Champlain on June 24.

Another man was found dead further north in Lake Champlain near Red Rocks Park in South Burlington on June 25.

Read the story on VTDigger here: Search team recovers body from Kennedy Pond in Windsor.

This story by Clare Shanahan was first published in the Valley News on June 19.

HARTLAND — Vermont’s highest court ruled in favor of a farm store planned on Route 5 near the Interstate 91 interchange, paving the way for the project to move forward.

In a split June 13 ruling, the Vermont Supreme Court rejected an appeal from the Hartland Planning Commission and upheld a lower court’s decision that the proposed 9,000-square-foot Sunnymede Farm Store is permitted under Vermont’s Act 250 and the Hartland Town Plan.

Plans for the project include a two-story, barn-style farm store, deli and bakery with a 46-space parking lot on a property two miles from Sunnymede Farm. Both the 600-acre cattle and maple operation and the store property are owned by Florida real estate developer Aubrey Ferrao.

“My client is very pleased, but is also saddened that the good people of Hartland had to pay for this completely senseless appeal,” James Goss, an attorney representing Sunnymede, said in an email statement about the ruling Wednesday.

Ferrao bought the 17-acre farm store property in 2018 and the District 3 Environmental Court awarded Sunnymede an Act 250 permit for the project in 2023.

Shortly after the permit was issued, the Hartland Planning Commission and Two Rivers Ottauquechee Regional Commission filed an appeal that Vermont Superior Court Judge Thomas G. Walsh denied last summer.

The two planning commissions argued that the development constitutes “strip development” that extends construction along highways and contributes to sprawl outside of village and town centers, so it does not comply with Act 250. They also argued that it does not align with the town and regional plans because it is in a rural area.

Walsh argued that the development “makes efficient use” of space and infrastructure so it doesn’t constitute strip development. He also said that no provisions in the planning documents use strict enough language to deny the project.

After the first unsuccessful appeal, the Planning Commission forged ahead alone, appealing the Vermont Superior Court decision to the Supreme Court.

The commission’s decision to file the second appeal prompted some backlash and confusion from others in town, including the Selectboard, the Valley News reported at the time.

With no zoning code, development in Hartland is largely guided by state law and the town and regional plans. In its second appeal, the Planning Commission argued again that the farm store should not be allowed under Act 250 or the town plan.

The Supreme Court found that the project constitutes “strip development,” a change from the lower court ruling, but argued that because it is “agricultural in nature and unlikely to attract other commercial development” it is still allowed under Act 250, Vermont Supreme Court Associate Justice Nancy J. Waples wrote in the decision.

The other piece of the Planning Commission’s argument was that the farm store is not allowed under the Hartland Town Plan because it is in a designated rural area.

Under the Town Plan, only “low density residential development” is allowed in rural areas, the Planning Commission argued. But, the plan also describes the area around I-91 as a “‘Rural business area’ and encourages further business development there,” according to the court ruling.

Because this language “is so internally inconsistent with the rest of the town plan,” it doesn’t provide clear guidance and can’t be enforced, Waples wrote.

The Planning Commission is “obviously disappointed” in the decision, but “we consider the case over with now so we’ll have to move on,” Vice Chairman Dan Jerman said in an interview.

For its part, the Selectboard did not issue a response to the ruling as a group, Selectboard Chairman Phil Hobbie said in a Thursday interview.

But, in his opinion, “the writing was on the wall when our regional planning commission, Two Rivers, decided not to make the appeal once they lost the first appeal.”

The town spent a total of $28,000 for both Sunnymede appeals, Hobbie said.

Lengthy legal process

The Sunnymede project and extensive legal fees have inspired controversy in town.

Early this week, Planning Commission chairman Dave Dukeshire resigned via email after posting about the project in the Hartland Listserv.

On Tuesday evening, other Planning Commission members “firmly” requested in an email that Dukeshire not post again until the Planning Commission could discuss the issue at an upcoming meeting because he had caused “inflammatory Listserv replies at a time when the HPC is trying to approve a new town plan and create a bylaw.”

Two hours later, Dukeshire resigned.

Moving forward, the Planning Commission and Selectboard are taking some of the lessons from the lawsuit into account as they update Hartland’s town plan.

The two groups and the regional planning commission are also planning to work together to write a set of unified development bylaws that will help to formally regulate some portions of the town plan, including for housing projects.

A contract with Two Rivers to work together on the plan was finalized in early June.

The town plan was originally set to expire in May but when a new town plan was not ready, the Selectboard voted to readopt the 2017 Town Plan in the interim.

“We did not want to leave the town vulnerable,” Hobbie said of the readoption of the old plan. Work on a new plan is ongoing and slated to be finalized in the fall.

Ahead of the May deadline, the Town Plan was “very close” to being ready for Selectboard review, but there were outstanding questions with the lawsuit still pending, Jerman said.

“We didn’t know how far we needed to take the town plan, so rather than pass something and invest all the time and possibly make a mistake if we got an adverse court ruling we decided to just put the other plan in place,” Jerman said.

Now, the Planning Commission is “wrestling” with how to include clearer language in the land use portion of the plan — a point that the Supreme Court said was lacking — and add language that will let them write other land use regulations in the future that they can enforce, like the unified bylaws or a zoning code, Jerman said.

As for the farm store, there is “no definite timeline” for construction yet because a “great deal of preliminary work” such as hiring contractors and other vendors for the project has to be done before breaking ground, Goss, the store’s attorney, said.

Read the story on VTDigger here: Vermont Supreme Court greenlights Hartland farm store project.

This story by John Lippman was first published in the Valley News on June 19.

WOODSTOCK — A Windsor County sheriff’s deputy has been placed on administrative leave after she was charged with domestic assault and interference with access to emergency services.

Kristinnah Adams pleaded not guilty at her arraignment in Windsor County Superior Court last Friday, her attorney, Michael Shane, said in an email to the Valley News on Wednesday.

Adams, a 2003 Hartford High School graduate and a former Hartford police officer, did not reply to an email seeking comment on Wednesday.

According to a police affidavit filed in support of the charges, Adams attempted forcefully to take away a phone from a juvenile in an incident involving physical contact on the evening of June 11 at her residence in White River Junction. Adams also is alleged to have prevented the juvenile from calling 911.

“Ms. Adams is absolutely innocent of any wrongdoing in this case,” Shane said in his email. “We are confident that the truth will be forthcoming in short order.”

Adams joined the Windsor County Sheriff’s office in July 2023, as part of Sheriff Ryan Palmer’s efforts to expand the agency’s footprint by contracting with towns for policing services.

“When we were made aware of the pending criminal charges on the morning of June 12, we immediately took steps to cooperate with Hartford police” in their investigation, and placed Adams on administrative leave, Palmer said on Wednesday.

“We take all allegations of domestic and family violence seriously,” he said, adding that “we’re going to let the criminal process move forward and play out like we would with any case.”

Adams has a checkered record in law enforcement.

She served for a period as the school resource officer in Hartford, and was tapped as the department’s “designated detective” investigating sexual assault and child abuse with the Windsor County Special Investigation Unit. She received the Unsung Hero Award from CHAD at Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center in 2015 “for her care, compassion and dedication through her work with victims of sexual assault.”

Adams was one of the officers involved in the arrest of Wayne Burwell in 2010 when police responded to a report of a “burglary in process” at Burwell’s address in Hartford. Burwell was experiencing a medical episode. When he didn’t respond to police, he was beaten with a nightstick, pepper sprayed, handcuffed and hauled off in a blanket.

Vermont’s attorney general subsequently cleared Adams and another officer of criminal wrongdoing. But Burwell filed a civil lawsuit against the town in 2012, alleging excessive use of force. Burwell received a $500,000 out-of-court settlement on the excessive force claim.

In 2020 while an officer in Hartford, Adams was the subject of a “Brady letter” — which requires a prosecuting attorney to notify a defense attorney when a police officer whom the prosecution relied upon in the case may have a credibility issue.

The letter, written by Windsor County State’s Attorney Ward Goodenough and addressed to an unnamed “defense counsel” in an unidentified case, reported that prosecutors “received information indicating” that Adams had been “untruthful” in regards to her whereabouts on a recent patrol shift.

Adams “was called to respond as back-up to an incident and took an unusually long time to arrive on scene and then gave a supervisor an explanation that does not appear to be supported by the facts,” the Brady letter said.

In addition, Goodenough wrote that his office had “further been notified” that in 2018, Adams had “made a fictitious illness report for a scheduled work shift.”

On Wednesday, Palmer said he was aware of Adams’ background when he hired her but that he believes in providing second chances for officers who may have blemishes on their record.

He praised Adams’ work in the county sheriff’s department, which includes courthouse security and patrol duties, according to the department’s website.

“She’s been great for us,” Palmer said of Adams. “The things that we assign her, she’s been fantastic at.”

The criminal investigation remains with the Hartford police. But because the case presents potential conflicts of interest for the Windsor County law enforcement community, the state was represented during Adams’ arraignment on Friday by the Windham County State’s Attorney Office, which will oversee the prosecution.

Separately, Palmer said he has asked the Bennington County Sheriff’s Department to conduct an internal affairs administrative investigation “in order to prevent any perception of impropriety.”

Read the story on VTDigger here: Windsor County deputy on leave after assault allegation.

This story by John Lippman was first published in the Valley News on June 4.

WINDSOR — More than 160 animals living in a trailer were surrendered by their owners to authorities and taken away by animal welfare organizations last week in what police described as an “animal hoarding incident” in Windsor.

The early-morning May 28 operation rescued scores of animals, many of them confined in cages, from inside a mobile home. Two adults resided at the home in the Bunker Hill Community Cooperative just south of Frazer’s Place diner off Route 12, according to officials.

The identities of the occupants have not been released and no charges have been filed, although the matter remains under investigation, police said.

Removed from the residence were a total of 165 animals, including 28 dogs, 14 cats, 11 guinea pigs, 40 sugar gliders, four rabbits and 68 birds, Windsor police said in an emailed news release Tuesday.

Joining Windsor police in the operation were Windham County Humane Society, Lucy Mackenzie Humane Society, Humane Society of Chittenden County, Springfield Humane Society, along with a veterinarian, a wildlife removal specialist and animal control officers from the Brattleboro and Springfield, Vt.

Also enlisted for advice were Humane World for Animals, Vermont Agency of Agriculture, Food and Markets, Vermont Fish & Wildlife, Windsor Fire Department and the town’s health officer, police said.

“This turned out to be a very complex operation to put this together once police found out about it because of all the regulations involved,” Tom Marsh, Windsor town manager, said on Tuesday. “It required a pretty wide network and support from state agencies.

Jackie Stanley, executive director of the Lucy Mackenzie Humane Society in Brownsville, said her organization took in “seven dogs of differing (breeds) and medical conditions,” in addition to six guinea pigs and 12 sugar gliders. (A sugar glider is a squirrel-size, tree-dwelling nocturnal marsupial).

“The remarkable thing about this household was the multiple species. So the coordination of relocating them among all the shelters in Vermont and humane organizations was the huge effort,” she said.

Stanley said the dogs are being evaluated in the same manner as any incoming potential pet and will be treated for parasites, vaccinated, spayed or neutered and “evaluated for behavior.” She said they could be ready for adoption in “one or two weeks.”

“We’ve already had inquiries about the sugar gliders,” Stanley said.

Windsor police said the investigation began last April when they received a complaint “from a citizen” about “the number of animals living inside the residence and feared for the health of the occupants.”

When police investigated, they found animals in cages in each of the rooms of the residence with some cages “stacked up on others” and all the animals located inside the residence, the Tuesday news release said.

The occupants “cooperated with authorities and willingly allowed the removal of the animals,” police said.

On-scene veterinarians assessed the animals prior to their removal and most “appeared to be in good overall health, with a few needing medical attention going forward.”

The occupants are cooperating with the ongoing investigation, police said.

Marsh said it does not appear that the residents were breeding animals to sell.

“The intention was more: ‘We’re giving a home to these animals that don’t have a home,’ ” Marsh said.

He likened the animals inside the residence to a “hoarding situation as opposed to a nefarious breeding operation.”

“Unfortunately they thought they were doing something good and they weren’t,” Marsh said, adding “there’s a mental health aspect.”

Windham County Humane Society posted on its Facebook page on Saturday that they took in 16 dogs and two “sphinx cats” from the Windsor rescue operation and that the next day one of the dogs gave birth to six puppies.

Within days, some of the Windsor dogs had already found new forever homes, the Society announced, noting that they are “basking in the warm sunshine, happily romping around and napping together in the fresh air, and loving their newfound freedom from the cramped space they called home for too long.”

The society launched a special fundraising campaign to help “create a happy ending to a hoarding case” with a goal of raising $5,000.

By Tuesday afternoon, the Windham organization had raised $3,626 toward its goal.

Read the story on VTDigger here: Authorities relocate more than 160 animals from ‘hoarding’ situation in Windsor.

This story by Marion Umpleby was first published in the Valley News on June 1.

SOUTH ROYALTON— Vermont Law and Graduate School is the recipient of a $10 million gift from an anonymous international organization to advance the school’s environmental advocacy work.

“We appreciate the opportunity to further the research and advocacy around these vital environmental issues and continue to lead in this space,” Board of Trustees Chairman Glenn Berger said in a news release Thursday.

The release did not indicate why the gift was anonymous. The gift is the largest donation in the 52-year history of Vermont Law and Graduate School, or VLGS.

Allocated over a three-year period, the money will help fund initiatives at the school’s Animal Law and Policy Institute, which specializes in animal rights advocacy, and the Center for Agriculture and Food Systems, a research center focused on public health, food security and advocacy for farmers.

“This generous gift is an incredible vote of confidence in the VLGS Animal Law and Policy Institute’s pathbreaking work to train tomorrow’s animal advocacy leaders,” Delcianna Winders, the institute’s director, said in the release.

The money also will go towards the development of a new project dedicated to studying the environmental impact of aquaculture, which pertains to the breeding and harvesting of fish and other ocean species.

Since the founding of its Environmental Law Center in the center of South Royalton in 1978, VLGS has garnered a reputation as a leading institution in environmental law. In April, the school was named No. 4 out of 183 schools in the U.S News and World Report’s annual ranking of environmental law programs.

Comprised of roughly 700 students as of 2023, VLGS offers in-person and remote courses in a number of areas including animal law, restorative justice and food and agriculture law.

The school’s operating budget was $31.6 million in the fiscal year ending in June 30 2024.

News of the donation coincides with a period of change at VLGS. In mid-April, President Rodney Smolla announced he was stepping down from his leadership role at the end of this month to focus on teaching and research. Smolla, who specializes in constitutional and First Amendment law, has been the school’s president since 2022.

On July 1, Beth McCormack, dean of the law school, and Dan Bromberg, dean of the graduate school, will take over for Smolla during a search for a new president.

Read the story on VTDigger here: Anonymous donor gives Vermont Law and Graduate School $10 million.

This story by Liz Sauchelli was first published in the Valley News on May 26.

WHITE RIVER JUNCTION — Planning to demolish up to 60% of Hartford High School and Hartford Area Career and Technical Center is on hold while the school district further investigates the presence of toxic building materials and develops a strategy for how the contamination might be removed.

The decision comes after school and state Department of Conservation officials met earlier this month to discuss next steps.

“The plan we have to date has not changed a whole lot,” Hartford facilities director Jonathan Garthwaite said during a School Board meeting last Wednesday. “The timeline has changed a little.”

There are no plans to relocate students to other areas of the school for the 2025-26 school year. “We’re not going to move athletic programs out of the gym in September,” he told the board.

Previously, school officials had said that they’d like to remove polychlorinated biphenyls — chemicals more commonly referred to as PCBs that were added to construction materials from the 1930s until they were banned by the federal government in 1979 — “as quickly as possible.”

Exposure to high levels of PCBs can cause cancer, as well as affect the body’s immune, reproductive, neurological and endocrine systems, according to the Environmental Protection Agency.

The state requires school districts to work with an environmental consultant in developing an “Evaluation of Corrective Action Alternatives,” known as an ECAA.

The document spells out and ranks options for dealing with PCB contamination. The options will likely include doing nothing, mitigation, which involves removing some PCBs and encapsulating others, or demolishing structures with PCB contamination, according to the state.

An important component of the action alternatives plan is “the degree of community acceptance for the remedy and overall costs of the work,” Kassandra Kimmey, a Department of Environmental Conservation project manager who is overseeing Hartford’s PCB response at the state level, wrote in an email to the Valley News.

After the action alternatives plan is completed, the school district is encouraged to hold a public meeting to discuss its findings before moving onto creating a “Corrective Action Plan,” Kimmey said. That plan includes the method selected to deal with PCB contamination and its cost.

“Until a cleanup option has been chosen and a (Corrective Action Plan) is written and approved, remediation work may not begin,” Kimmey wrote in a letter to Hartford Superintendent Caty Sutton.

The ECAA requirement cannot be met in time for the district to begin remediation work this summer, Garthwaite said in a recording of last Wednesday’s School Board meeting.

“At the same time, we’re not committing to a financial obligation that we cannot meet until we understand the entirety of that financial obligation and what our funding options are,” he said later in the meeting.

In 2021, Vermont lawmakers passed Act 74, which requires educational facilities built prior to 1980 to be tested for PCB air quality contamination. Under the law, if PCB levels are found to be above state-approved levels, school districts are required to address it even if state funding is not available.

In the upcoming fiscal year state budget, which begins July 1, $9.5 million has been allocated in the Environmental Contingency Fund for PCB “testing and remediation in schools.” Gov. Phil Scott signed the budget bill last Thursday.

State officials have previously said that the money will be split between six schools deemed priorities by the state, a list which includes Hartford, and that the funding will be available on a first-come, first-serve basis.

“I can’t guarantee that we will have enough funding to conduct all the work outlined in the (Contamination Action Plan) and we may need to prioritize certain portions of your school or conduct a phased cleanup,” Kimmey wrote in her letter to Sutton, the Hartford superintendent, before the state budget passed.

The meeting with the state doesn’t change Hartford’s plans, Garthwaite said. The school board “has created a mandate that we deal with this problem completely … and at the end of this process we do not have toxins in the walls,” he said in a phone interview.

Garthwaite acknowledged the state “could possibly come to a conclusion that is less expensive or less permanent that would be acceptable to meet their mandate in good faith, but would not be acceptable to the district.”

When asked why Hartford is taking a more aggressive approach than the state has mandated, Garthwaite pointed to a PCB informational page posted on the school district’s website: “Previous experience has proven that, while addressing air quality is critical to mitigating immediate health hazards, it does not address in any meaningful way the long-term risk associated with unabated contamination,” according to a statement.

It called PCBs “inherently unstable,” meaning that air contamination levels can increase and decrease based on heat, humidity and how buildings are used, and require that air quality be monitored regularly.

“Unaddressed material contamination represents significant financial and operation liability that will increase over time,” the website said.

The board authorized district officials to test materials — including paint, caulk and adhesives — that are in areas of the school that tested negative for PCB air quality contamination, Garthwaite said. The district is seeking proposals for testing.

The additional testing will take place in parts of buildings that were built around the same time as spaces in the technical center and high school that have exceeded PCB safety levels set by the state.

Last August, Hartford officials relocated the technical center’s culinary arts program because PCB contamination exceeded the state’s “immediate action level,” which the state deems as unsafe for students to be in the space.

Other areas of the building, including the gym, cafeteria and auditorium, met the state’s “school action level.” Students are allowed in the space for a limited amount of time and regular air quality testing must be done to check on whether PCB levels have increase.

“… Where we stand right now is the testing program proceeds as planned,” Garthwaite said during last Wednesday’s meeting. “… That’s something the board decided to do in the best interest of the school and the community, to know the total extent of this problem or to rule it out once and for all.”

Since planned testing exceeds requirements under Act 74, the state will not reimburse Hartford taxpayers for it, said Patricia Coppolino, senior environmental program manager with the Vermont Agency of Natural Resources.

Where PCB concentrations in indoor air are low, Coppolino said, “I think it’s going to be very difficult to find the PCBs in those spaces.”

It costs $12,000 to $129,000 to test a school for PCB contamination, according to January 2025 estimates provided by Coppolino. The lower end of that range includes air testing only, while the higher figure includes both air and material sampling.

To date, the Hartford School District has run up a bill of $145,500 for PCB testing. It has not yet asked the state for reimbursement, Jacob Vezina, the district’s finance director, said in an email. He’s waiting to hear back from the contractor regarding how much of the amount billed out falls under the state-approved scope and how much of the additional testing the district conducted was not approved by the state.

Until the school district understands the scope of the PCB contamination, projects planned at the high school as part of a $21 million bond voters passed in 2024 have also been put on pause.

“I’m not going to put a fire alarm system in a building, in a space that might be demolished in the process of abatement,” Garthwaite said. “We’re not going to spend that money and leave it behind.”

Read the story on VTDigger here: Hartford pauses plans to demolish school buildings to allow for further study of chemical contamination.

This story by Liz Sauchelli was first published by the Valley News on May 21.

WINDSOR — The Windsor Diner has the go-ahead to move to a new location on Main Street this summer.

The town’s Development Review Board unanimously granted conditional use and site plan approval in late April to the Guy B Vitagliano Foundation to relocate the diner from 135 Main St. to an empty lot on 161 Main St.

The foundation is set to be poured by the end of May, and the goal is to move the diner using a crane in the middle of June, said Greg Blanchard, of Blanchard Contracting in Windsor. All the permits for the project have been approved, and Blanchard is in the process of finalizing the logistics for the move.

Once the 1952 Worcester Diner Company diner car owned by Theresa Taylor is relocated, Blanchard Contracting employees will install a 15-by-30-foot kitchen on the back of it. The projected cost is around $350,000, and Taylor is self-funding the majority of the project, she said.

Taylor, who has owned the diner for more than 15 years, said she hopes to reopen it by the end of August.

The diner closed in January after Blanchard Contracting workers who were set to pour a new concrete floor in the basement of the diner’s current location discovered more structural issues. The land where the diner currently sits is owned by an economic development nonprofit organization, the Windsor Improvement Corporation.

More than a year ago, the Guy B Vitagliano Foundation, which Blanchard founded to help improve the quality of life for people in the town, purchased 161 Main St., a roughly 1-acre plot. Current plans call for the diner to occupy the front portion of the property and the foundation is still working on plans for the rest of the site.

Read the story on VTDigger here: Windsor Diner gets town approval to relocate.

This story by Liz Sauchelli was first published by the Valley News on May 21.

SOUTH ROYALTON — For the third time in seven months, Bethel and Royalton voters rejected a $3.8 million bond to renovate the White River Unified School District’s middle and high schools.

The result was 540 to 446, according to results provided by Karmen Bascom, the Royalton town clerk who also serves as clerk for the White River Unified School District. Turnout on Tuesday was higher than it was for the same ballot measure in March, with about 27% of the district’s 3,658 voters participating.

Tuesday’s rejection follows failed results for the bond at Town Meeting in March and in November.

“It really is painful that this is the way it ended up,” said Nancy Pejouhy, chair of the White River Unified School District school board. “To have the vote be such a large margin was surprising, considering we were so close on the other two votes.”

This week’s vote came after residents petitioned for a vote for reconsideration, so the measure had to be the same as the proposal put forward in March.

The margin the renovation proposal has lost by has increased with each vote.

In November, the bond failed by just 10 votes — 753-743.

On Town Meeting Day, it failed by 20 votes, 435-415.

The largest part of the $6.2 million project called for building a performing arts center at the high school, at a cost of about $3.17 million.

Other elements included expanding the White River Valley High School’s wood shop and welding areas in South Royalton, as well as installing secure entrances at the middle school in Bethel and at the high school.

In addition to the bond, the project would have been funded by capital reserve funds and donations, including $500,000 from the Jack and Dorothy Byrne Foundation.

The school district had until the end of 2025 to use that donation, White River Valley Supervisory Union Superintendent Jamie Kinnarney said.

“Certainly at this point, I think our constituents have indicated that they’re not in a position to approve a bond that’s going to result in any kind of tax increase,” he said Wednesday.

Still, he noted that he expected that tuition from outside the district would have more than offset the cost of the bond.

The average value of a home in the White River Unified District is just shy of $200,000, and the bond would have raised property taxes less than $50 per year, according to information provided by the school district. That amounts to roughly $1 per week, Pejouhy said, questioning why that would have felt unaffordable to residents.

“You can’t even buy a pack of gum for a dollar anymore,” she said.

The board decided in April to move forward with a state-mandated stormwater mitigation project near White River Valley High School’s gym. The cost of about $300,000 is expected to come from the district’s capital reserve fund. While the project was included in the bond proposal, the school board decided to do the work whether or not the bond passed.

Plans are being drawn up for the work that needs to be done. The project will take place either in fall 2025 or spring 2026, Kinnarney said. The future of any other school building improvements are unclear.

“We have not as a board discussed what we’re going to do beyond that,” Pejouhy said.

Read the story on VTDigger here: Bethel and Royalton voters again reject $3.8 million school bond.