Read these stories and more on theeEdition, new edition available Wednesday nights, pick it up a copy on the newsstands Thursdays or subscribe.
Marching to Save Planet
Locals Look to Make Statement on Climate Change
By Eric Francis, Standard Correspondent
From left, Karen Chalom, Deb Rice and Gail Owens were among many area residents who went to the Climate March in Montpelier on Saturday. (Jay Kelly Photo)
Top Stories Woodstock Woman Indicted in Fraud Case
by Mike Donoghue, Standard Correspondent
Pomfret Select Board, Fire Dept. Seek Agreement
by Curt Peterson, Standard Correspondent
Mascoma Plans Larger Woodstock Location
by Virginia Dean, Standard Correspondent
WUHS Editor Testifies on State Bill
by Mike Donoghue, Standard Correspondent
UU Church Chooses Leon Dunkley as New Minister
by Virginia Dean, Standard Correspondent
Police Department Warns Against Texting While Driving
Staff Report
Police: Speed is Possible Factor in Route 4 Accident
Staff Report
PHOTO GALLERIES – all photo galleries
WUHS Baseball vs Twin Valley, 2017
Woodstock Union High School dominated Twin Valley in a home match-up winning 18-3.
Barnard Fiber Festival
The Fiber Arts Barnard group put together a festival of crafts. About 15 members and their work were on display demonstrating spinning, rug hooking, knitting, crocheting and weaving at the Barnard Town Hall.
NWPL Annual Ex Libris Gala Benefit, 2017
The Norman Williams Public LIbrary’s 16th Annual Ex Libris Gala Benefit with special guest speaker Mimi Baird at the Woodstock Inn in Woodstock, was held on Sunday, April 30.
Zack’s Place Prom, 2017
The annual prom for the participants of Zack’s Place Enrichment Center in Woodstock was held at the Woodstock Union High School.
WUHS Girls Lacrosse vs U-32, 2017
The Woodstock Union High School girls lacrosse team fought in a home match against the U-32 Raiders, losing to 11-10. Rick Russell Photos
By Jennifer Falvey, Standard Correspondent
A new edition of The Farm in the Green Mountains, by Alice Herdan-Zuckmayer, has been released by New York Review Books, which includes an insightful introduction by Elisa Albert. The book is an inspiring memoir detailing the lives of World War II era, German refugees, Alice Herdan-Zuckmayer and her husband, Carl Zuckmayer who came to America, tried New York City (“We went everywhere and did everything but never found ourselves”) and Los Angeles (“Carl tried without success to find a gold mine in Hollywood”) but did not feel at home until they came to Vermont, as guests of American journalist, Dorothy Thompson.
The book offers readers an interesting historical perspective of Vermont during the war years, as well as an inspiring narrative on the indomitable human instinct to survive.
Alice Herdan-Zuckmayer and Carl Zuckmayer were intellectuals born to privilege. He was a writer. She was studying medicine. They were forced to flee Germany on account of the popularity of Carl’s political satires; the Nazis had him in their crosshairs and were soon to confiscate the Zuckmayer’s home and belongings.
They came to America, floundered for a while and then followed Dorothy Thompson to Barnard. Dorothy gave them a head start by finding them a temporary home and stocking it with food and furniture, but the Zuckmayers’ did the rest.
They were immigrants, war refugees with heavy accents and European habits but with true Vermont grit they carved out a life for themselves at a farm, which they rented (called Backwoods Farm) from a Vermonter named Joe Ward.
Alice describes Joe as “a big, lean, white-haired man…. “He regarded us with a look that we often met later. The look meant: queer, strange, crazy people. We didn’t know for a long time that they considered us odd characters from the beginning.” The winters were the greatest challenge. Alice writes, “I was afraid of the dark and of the stillness, of the snow which dampened all sounds and concealed life and movement alike.” Alice and Carl knew nothing of farming but survival served as their inspiration, and so they studied every pamphlet and tapped every resource (particularly the USDA) until they became competent chicken farmers who also owned goats and pigs. They came to know their neighbors and to be known by their neighbors through the telephone. Party lines were the norm back then. Alice describes sharing the line as, “being pulled along by the same towrope.”
The farm grew and succeeded as their local friendships developed and deepened. Carl’s writing career, which had been extremely successful in Germany, ebbed away and Alice’s grew. This book is a compilation of letters home to Germany. It was originally written in German and has been a best-seller in Europe. The English translation by Ida H. Washington is flawless.
The contemporary reader will come away feeling inspired by the Zuckmayers’ perseverance and with renewed gratitude for all of the amenities (like heat) which we now take for granted.
Editor’s Note: A correction to the last name “Thompson” instead of “Parker,” was made to the original article published in the April 27, 2017 edition of the Vermont Standard.
By Curt Peterson, Standard Correspondent
A shock wave swept across the Woodstock campus in December after reports surfaced that some Woodstock Union High School students had been exchanging nude photographs of some current and recently graduated female students.
Several concerned students reported the sexting activity to WUHS Principal Garon Smail, and Smail sent a letter home to parents. Woodstock Police also received a report of sexting in December.
By Dec. 22, the matter had been reported to the Windsor County Special Investigation Unit of the Vermont State Police, and Detective Matthew Sweitzer led the investigation.
A lot has happened during the ensuing five months, and on Tuesday, a panel hosted a presentation, “Sexting: A Community Response,” in the school’s Teagle Library to exchange information with parents and teachers, about two dozen of whom attended.
The discussion was led by Julie Gaudette, director of the Special Investigation Unit and Child Advocacy Centers of Windsor County; and included Nancy Theriault, program co-coordinator for Gaudette’s organization; Detective Sweitzer; and Kate Rohdenburg of WISE, a nonprofit group dedicated to eliminating gender-based violence in the Upper Valley.
Woodstock Police Officer Jessica Ryan-LeBlanc was there in case anyone had questions for local law enforcement.
Gaudette explained that sexting incidents involving minors are first reported to the Vermont Department of Children and Families. A report validated by DCF is passed on to the State Police who conduct an investigation. There is always danger that explicit photographs that are exchanged among adolescent peers will end up in the hands of adult pornography merchants. The photos may also have been obtained through blackmail, coercion or harassment. In any of these cases the crime has become a felony rather than a misdemeanor, and the penalties are very serious.
If the photos have remained among the students and were produced voluntarily, the State Police will often recommend an education program rather than punishment in the form of criminal charges, Sweitzer said.
In Woodstock’s case, education was the chosen strategy, and WISE, Gaudette’s organization, and the state police have worked with the school to manage the program.
Sweitzer said the sexting activity in Woodstock involved at least 50 male WUHS students. He also believes many students had some knowledge that the photographs were being passed around, before it was reported to the administration.
Sexting is an issue in Vermont and throughout the nation. Theriault said there are many reports of sexting by students, and the number is growing quickly. “We confiscate computers and phones all the time and send them to Burlington for review,” she said, by the Computer Crimes Unit.
Although students think they can delete the photos, or use a temporary sending application, and the images will be undetectable, in fact they are not, and once they get outside the original sender’s immediate circle they are out there on the internet forever.
Social media sites send in many of the reports of incidents of sexual photographs, Sweitzer said.
Rohdenburg, of WISE, said, “Girls and boys send out nude photos in equal numbers, but only the girls are asked to send them. Boys do it even though no one asks.”
Sweitzer said prosecuting sexting crimes among adolescents is not a simple matter. In Vermont, he said, it is illegal for a person under 18 to take a nude photograph of himself or herself – so by taking and sending the picture, for whatever reason, a female is just as guilty of sexting crime as the male who solicits and/or receives it.
“We can’t prosecute one gender and not the other – they have both committed a crime,” he said.
“This is often a bitter pill for a girl’s parents to swallow,” Gaudette added. “Legally, their daughter is a perpetrator, not a victim.”
She said parents need to be engaged and proactive with their kids about sexting. They can learn about HIDE apps, which are phone apps that bundle up innocentlooking functions to obscure more sinister and harder to detect abilities. They can also learn about privacy settings on phones and social media sites to make sure their student isn’t hiding risky behavior. Additionally, they should read the licensing agreements on sites such as SnapChat – students think the photos they send are automatically deleted in a short period of time, but the user agreement gives total ownership of them to SnapChat to do whatever they want with them.
Rohdenburg works with kids setting up education and prevention programs all over the Upper Valley, and says they are not as naïve about the risks sexting involves as parents and other authority figures think they are. They know the risks, she said, but they don’t assess those risks the same way adults do.
“Sexting is sexual activity,” Rohdenburg said. “Most girls send their nude photos to their boyfriend or to a boy they would like to have as a boyfriend, then he sends it on to others.”
It’s a cultural thing, she said – girls feel they have to do things they might not want to do in order to get attention from boys. “As if attention from boys was some scarce commodity that is about to run out,” Rohdenburg said.
Boys, on the other hand, see it differently – “A girl is a prude if she doesn’t sext him a photo, and a slut if she does,” Rohdenburg said. She said society needs to teach girls to feel more confident, worthy and in charge of themselves, and to teach boys to have respect for girls as human beings and peers rather than as sex objects.
She said we can tell kids sexting will have devastating effects, but they know lots of their peers who are doing it and nothing bad has happened to them, so they don’t believe us.
Scaring them or punishing them isn’t going to work with today’s teenagers, she said.
“Telling them to just say no doesn’t work,” she said, advising parents to ask their kids questions about things that worry them, such as sexting, drugs and other risky behaviors.
“Tell them you are worried, what you’re worried about, and ask them how they feel about what’s worrying you,” Rohdenburg said. “Ask them what motivates them to take risks.”
There will be two programs for students about sexting and mutual respect at the High School and Middle School this week.
This article first appeared in the April 27, 2017 edition of the Vermont Standard.
By Virginia Dean, Standard Correspondent
A project to move the Mascoma Savings Bank from its current location at 448 Woodstock Road to across the street at 429 Woodstock Road is nearing fruition, according to town Planning and Zoning Officer Michael Brands.
Approval is contingent upon the submission of a Site Plan and Conditional Use local permit, Brands noted.
“They just need to go through the permit process this month and hopefully be relocated by next year,” Brands said.
The plan involves the design of a new two-story building with partial basement and partial second floor. The existing building (which once housed the drive-through TD Bank) will be demolished.
“We’re excited about the move pending all the town approvals,” said Mascoma Savings Bank CEO Clay Adams. “It will help us to serve the Woodstock community long into the future and allow us to consolidate our two locations — the loan office in Taftsville with the current branch in Woodstock — into one to allow one-stop shopping.”
The new building will be 1,960 square feet on the first floor, 1,000 square feet on the second floor, and with a 1,092-square-foot basement — for a total of 4,052 square feet.
Minimal hardscape improvements will be made to improve vehicular and pedestrian circulation. An ATM will be added to the rear with a separate exit lane and curbed island. Handicap parking on the north elevation will be improved with compliant aisle. Parking space area (5-12) will be restriped.
Proposed additional landscaping and grass areas will also be improved by adding planting features to improve the overall screening.
The owners project that the daily and peak traffic uses will be similar to the previous bank, resulting in negligible traffic increase.
In addition, the exit (south end) drive will be improved to allow for two turning lanes with added curbing and walkway striping to provide for improved traffic circulation and safety between the lot and Route 4.
The north end access drive will not be modified.
According to the site development plans prepared by Engineering Ventures and Building Elevations with Architect David Laurin, the bank has averaged 2,695 transactions per month over the last year in the current location.
The new building will not impact any existing or planned community facilities, the report states. Its design will exceed the 2015 Vermont Energy Code Standards in an effort to make the building as close to zero net energy as practicable.
The site orientation is not ideal for solar panel use, but the owners are exploring alternate energy solutions.
Brands indicated that the Design Review Board & Development Review Board is slated to make its decision on the impending project within a month.
Adams said Mascoma has 26 branches throughout Vermont and New Hampshire.
This article first appeared in the May 4, 2017 edition of the Vermont Standard.
The following photos are weekly winners of the Vermont Standard Winter Photo Contest.
Please vote for your favorite weekly winner! Polls close on Tuesday, May 16 at noon.
The grand prize winner will receive a dinner for two and an overnight stay at the Woodstock Inn & Resort
To Vote – Click on the image of your choice. Limit one vote per internet connection.
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Staff Report
President Donald Trump’s sudden firing of FBI Director James Comey sent shockwaves through the nation on Tuesday, earning a strong rebuke from Vermont’s U.S. Sen. Patrick Leahy, who called the move “nothing less than Nixonian.”
The firing came as Comey was heading up an investigation into whether Russian officials interfered with the recent presidential election and whether the Trump campaign or administration officials had any role.
Leahy expressed his shock over Comey’s dismissal in a press statement released Tuesday night. Like many of his fellow Democrats, Leahy called for the appointment of a special counsel to continue the investigation of possible Russian interference in the election.
“The President’s action, and the way it has been handled, is shocking,” Leahy said of the firing. “No one should accept President Trump’s absurd justification that he is now concerned that FBI Director Comey treated Secretary Clinton unfairly. The President in fact celebrated the Director’s mistakes in that investigation. That fig leaf explanation seeks to cover the undeniable truth: The President has removed the sitting FBI Director in the midst of one of the most critical national security investigations in the history of our country — one that implicates senior officials in the Trump campaign and administration. This is nothing less than Nixonian.”
In a May 9 letter informing Comey of his decision, Trump said he was acting on the recommendation of Attorney General Jeff Sessions and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein.
In a May 9 memorandum to Sessions, Rosenstein said he “cannot defend the Director’s handling of the conclusion of the investigation of Secretary Clinton’s emails…” Rosenstein further stated that Comey “was wrong to usurp the Attorney General’s authority on July 15, 2016, and announce his conclusion that the case should be closed without prosection.”
In a statement, U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont stated: “Donald Trump’s decision to fire FBI Director James Comey raises serious questions about what his administration is hiding. Why did President Trump fire the person leading the investigation into possible collusion between his campaign and the Russian government? I find it deeply troubling that this decision comes a day after damning testimony by former acting Attorney General Sally Yates on Russia’s ties to the Trump campaign and just days before Comey was scheduled to appear before the Senate Intelligence Committee.
Sanders continued, “President Trump has repeatedly taken steps to kill inquiries into Russia’s involvement in the U.S. election. It is clear that whomever President Trump handpicks to lead the FBI will not be able to objectively carry out this investigation. We need an independent investigation into the Trump campaign’s ties to Russia.”
Yoh Theater Players Present, Baskerville
The Yoh Theater Players at WuHS presented “Baskerville: A Sherlock Holmes Mystery” last weekend. Rick Russell Photos
A portion of these photos will appear in the May 11, 2017 print edition of the Vermont Standard. Click here if you are having trouble viewing the collection of photo galleries, click on an image below to view in a larger format and to see more photos. To see more photo galleries Click Here
Today, the Vermont House of Representatives voted 79-66 to approve a bill that would legalize possession and cultivation of limited amounts of marijuana, according to news reports.
The latest version of the bill was the result of a compromise between earlier House and Senate versions.
It was unclear whether Gov. Phil Scott would give his approval to the bill. A gubernatorial veto is the only remaining hurdle to the bill becoming law.
Read these stories and more on theeEdition, new edition available Wednesday nights, pick it up a copy on the newsstands Thursdays or subscribe.
Ready to Green Up
The Woodstock Green Up crew poses for a photo one Saturday morning, when the group was about the head out to various local roads to pick up litter for Green Up Day. (Rick Russell Photo)
Top Stories Man Denies Charge in Route 4 Crash
by Eric Francis, Standard Correspondent
Reading Act 46 Revote is May 31
by Curt Peterson, Standard Correspondent
By Mike Donoghue, Standard Correspondent
A Woodstock woman, who federal officials say embezzled at least $130,000 from her former employer in Plymouth, has pleaded not guilty in U.S. District Court in Burlington to three counts of fraud.
Susan Blaue, 39, denied felony charges of forgery, mail fraud and credit card fraud involving ABLE Waste Management, where
she worked from July 2012 to January 30, 2015.
The government also filed a forfeiture notice seeking Blaue to surrender any property derived from proceeds traceable to the fraud case, according to the indictment.
The money was taken from the waste management business, owned by Arthur Lynds, and two of his related companies, A & M Property Management and Lynds Hill Rentals, the indictment said.
“Between approximately March 2013 and January 30, 2015, Blaue defrauded Lynds and his companies of not less than $130,000,” the indictment noted.
Blaue issued numerous checks to herself without authorization and drawn from the TD Bank, according to the indictment. It further claims
Blaue also forged the owner’s signature on the checks or used his signature rubber stamp without permission and then deposited the checks into her own bank accounts.
She also used company funds to pay her personal bills and used company credit cards issued by the TD Bank to make personal purchases, according to the indictment secured by Assistant U.S. Attorney Gregory Waples. Blaue also lived in a company-owned house on Lynds Hill Road while employed by the waste management firm, the indictment said. Blaue either skipped paying her $1,200 a month rent or paid it with checks drawn on either the waste management or property management companies, according to the charges.
The company offers curbside garbage routes in Plymouth, Bridgewater, Woodstock, Brownsville, Hartland, Reading, White River Junction, Ascutney, Windsor and surrounding areas, its website says.
Blaue, who was a bookkeeper and in charge of payroll, along with accounts payable and receivable for all three companies, began taking money in March 2013, court records show.
The indictment lists 47 checks ranging up to $2,416 unlawfully drawn
on the ABLE Waste Management, while another 67 checks ranging up to $1,108 illegally drawn on A & M Property.
The court appointed Blaue a lawyer at taxpayer expense when she was arraigned last Wednesday afternoon. Assistant Federal Public Defender David McColgin did not respond to a phone message left for him seeking comment for The Standard. Blaue, formerly of Douglas, Massachusetts, also could not be reached for comment.
If convicted, Blaue faces up to 20 years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
Chief Federal Judge Christina Reiss agreed to release Blaue on conditions, including restricting the defendant’s travel to Vermont and New Hampshire and requiring her to surrender any passport and not seek a new one. Reiss also ordered Blaue to participate in mental health treatment as directed and to take medications as prescribed, court records show. She also is prohibited from possessing any firearms or destructive devices. She also was told to seek employment.
The Windsor County Sheriff’s Department was alerted on Feb. 2, 2015 about possible suspicious activity and Sgt. Philip Call was assigned to the case, record shows.
The Sheriff’s Department ordered Blaue into state criminal court, but a decision was later made by the Windsor County State’s Attorney’s Office to send the case to the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Burlington for prosecution. The U.S. Secret Service Office in Vermont later joined in the case.
The federal grand jury indicted Blaue on the three felony charges on March 29, but the U.S. Attorney’s Office asked the court to seal the records until they could secure her arrest.
This article first appeared in the May 4, 2017 edition of the Vermont Standard.
The Vermont Agency of Transportation will present final plans for the replacement of Bridge 51, the bridge located over the Kedron Book near the Woodstock Post Office, at a joint meeting of the Woodstock Select Board and Board of Village Trustees at 6 p.m. on Tuesday, May 16, at town hall.
The project, which is scheduled to begin construction in April 2018, will replace the existing bridge superstructure. During construction, the bridge will be closed for 21 days and traffic will be maintained on a detour route, according to a press release from the agency. The VTrans statement also said the bridge will be constructed using Accelerated Bridge Construction methods to expedite construction and reduce impacts to the public.
The meeting will include a brief presentation to provide information on the final plans for replacement
of the existing bridge superstructure, the statement read. There will also be an opportunity for the public to provide comments and ask questions of the project team.
Bridge 51 is one of a series of VTrans bridge replacement projects in central Vermont.
In 2015, VTrans initiated a public outreach program to provide the public with up-to-date information and communications regarding these projects.
For additional information, please see the project website: www.southcentralvtbridges.vtransprojects.vermont.gov.
By Virginia Dean, Standard Correspondent
POMFRET – A new state-of-the-art 90-seat theater is slated to open in August with the ArtisTree Music Theatre Festival featuring four musicals that will showcase both local and New York talent.
The theater will be housed in the former Teago Grange Hall that is being extensively renovated while retaining much of its original historic charm. Christopher Flockton“The opportunity to help build something from the ground up is an extraordinary privilege,” said Director of Theatre Arts and veteran actor Christopher Flockton. “I can’t wait to share this exciting new space with the community.”
There are five more weeks of construction followed by six weeks to install interior equipment, related Flockton who was hired in February 2017 to run the new theater.
The community is invited to an open house at the Grange Theatre on Saturday, July 22 from 5:30-7:30 p.m.
The building is believed to have been a basket factory in the mid-1800’s, according to Pomfret Historical Society Director Alan Graham. A family named Harlow originally owned the building that was located near a shingle shop. The original site of the building was along Stage Road in Barnard close to the Pomfret town line.
In 1908, the building was disassembled and moved by sled during the winter to its present location in the South Pomfret village area. Land was purchased by the Teago Grange, and the building was reconstructed to become a branch of the State Grange of Vermont, Graham explained.
The Teago Grange was active from 1908 until 1983 and, at one point, over 100 members. At this time, the Executive Committee of the Teago Grange transferred the property to the Teago Fire Department Inc. In 1910, the building was converted to a country store.
Then, in 1997 the Teago Fire Department conveyed the property to a newly formed nonprofit, The Teago Community Hall Association, Inc.
Currently, Engineering Services of Vermont is providing mechanical engineering services on the project that involves the complete renovation of the Grange. River Town Design of Hartford, VT is leading the design of this renovation project.
The theater will host such events as musicals and plays, meetings, and dances, among many others. The outside of the building will look nearly identical to the old Grange Hall with the addition of a wraparound porch and handicap accessibility.
The theater will retain the Grange name through a special arrangement with the National Grange Association, Flockton noted.
Originally from the United Kingdom, Flockton moved to the Upper Valley in 2011 after 17 years in New York City, working in many areas of the entertainment business including film and television, and New York and regional theaters.
“The future holds such excitement for the new Grange Theater,” said Flockton. “Following the conclusion of the Music Theater Festival, a regular season of plays featuring collaborations between community members and professional theater artists is being planned, as well as special events, and an increased roster of theater classes for all ages and abilities.”
The Music Theater Festival performances include “The Little Mermaid” (Aug. 11-13), “Always Patsy Cline” (Aug. 25-Sept. 10), “Godspell” (Sept. 15-Oct. 1), and “The Marvelous Wonderettes” (Oct. 6-22), Flockton remarked.
The nonprofit ArtisTree Community Arts Center provides an opportunity for a meaningful experience of the visual arts, movement, and music in addition to theater through its year-round classes, workshops, performances, gallery exhibits and events, Flockton said.
“We encourage our local community members of all ages and abilities to participate in a wide variety of art processes,” said Flockton. “Our offerings are designed to nurture each person’s inherent creative capabilities and raise the possibility of art as a vital force in an individual’s overall growth and expressive abilities.” For more information on the grand opening and the ArtisTree Music Theater Festival, go to www.artistreevt.org.
Lucy Drebitko gives a timeline of dairy farming in Woodstock, Andrew Steele at right. (Rick Russell Photo)
Fourth graders from Woodstock Elementary School team up with community member volunteers and the Woodstock Historical Society to research a topic for the annual History Fair. Rick Russell Photos
A portion of these photos will appear in the May 18, 2017 print edition of the Vermont Standard. Click here if you are having trouble viewing the collection of photo galleries, click on an image below to view in a larger format and to see more photos. To see more photo galleries Click Here
Read these stories and more on theeEdition, new edition available Wednesday nights, pick it up a copy on the newsstands Thursdays or subscribe.
Ready to Race
Myah Earle smiles in her raft at the 43rd Annual Bridgewater Bill Clingnan Memorial Raft Race, held last Saturday. (Rick Russell Photo) Top Stories
Bridge Replacement Sparks Concerns for Merchants
by Michelle Fountains, Standard Correspondent
Hartland House-Purchase Vote Still Stands
by Virginia Dean, Standard Correspondent
Gov. Scott Will Decide Fate of Marijuana Bill
by Curt Peterson, Standard Correspondent
Dr. Kilcullen to Retire After Nearly Four Decades
by Virginia Dean, Standard Correspondent
Woodstock Select Board Talks Boiler, EDC Projects
by Michelle Fountain, Standard Correspondent
Culvert Fix Will Shut Down Broad Brook Road in Barnard
by Curt Peterson, Standard Correspondent
Change Proposed to Woodstock’s Short-Term Rental Regulations
by Virginia Dean, Standard Correspondent
Chuck’s Fables: The Fox, the Crow, the Cheese, the Mouse, the Ass and the Lion
by Chuck Gundersen, You Never Can Tell
Employee for WISE Earns Regional Practitioner Award
Pop-Up Theater for Children Launching in Bethel
Spotlight on the Real Voter Fraud
Report from Secretary of State, Jim Condos
Jared Hoisington from the Woodstock Union High School golf team on 9th hole at Woodstock Country Club. (Rick Russell Photo)
WUHS Agricultural Celebrates 60 Years
The Woodstock Union High School Agricultural Department was started 60 years ago. A celebration was held on Saturday, May 13 to celebrate.
WUHS Golf Match
Woodstock Union High School Golf team held its first home match. Rick Russell Photos
Harrison Morse on the follow through at the golf match at the Woodstock Country Club. (Rick Russell Photo)
Woodstock History Fair
Fourth graders from Woodstock Elementary School team up with community member volunteers and the Woodstock Historical Society to research a topic for the annual History Fair.
Road to the Pogue
The 11th annual Road to the Pogue was held on Saturday, May 13. The 6.1 mile course wound it’s way around the Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller National Historic Park.
Bridgewater Raft Race
The annual Bridgewater Raft Race was held this, a week later due to weather. The race invites participants to build rafts out of recycled materials only including the oars or paddles.
NWPL Children’s Room, Grand Opening
The newly renovated children’s room in the Norman Williams Public Library was celebrated with a grand opening on Saturday, May 13. Nancy
Two brothers saw their cooler heisted by a bear last week while camping in North Carolina only to get home to Vermont and have another close encounter at their parents’ house in South Woodstock.
Ian and Sumner Ford spent the winter in Wyoming and were taking a circuitous route back home when they set up camp out for a night in the Pisgah National Forest in North Carolina.
“We were in Sumner’s little two-person tent with a big rain fly over the whole campsite covering our mountain bikes, our chairs and the cooler,” 23-year-old Ian recalled this week.
“I woke up in the middle of the night and heard the lid of the cooler going up and down,” Ford remembered.
Waking his older brother, the pair listened intently as the intruder worked its way through the darkened campsite.
“We were kind of freaked out at first because we thought ‘somebody’ was out there and then we realized it sounded more like ‘something’ was out there.”
Getting a brief glimpse of a bear at the edge of the rain fly, “We knew that it had taken our cooler,” Ian explained.
Figuring their food was gone but so was the bear, the pair were “fully back asleep” when the bear came back a few hours later.
“It was a big black bear and it this time it was really close to us, right at the door of our tent, over on the side where Sumner was sleeping. I heard it and I woke up. I was leaning over Sumner and I could see that it was right there so I just screamed. Sumner sat up and he yelled too and it took off.”
When the sun came up the Fords took a look around the area and found their cooler about 50 yards away where the bear had dragged it.
“It went through it and ate the whole pack of bacon, the eggs and three sticks of butter,” Ian
said, adding, “It also tried to get some beers but I guess it didn’t like them.”
Four days later, safely home at their parents’ house up on Fletcher Hill, the brothers left their camping gear, including the empty cooler, out on the porch to air out.
“We were all in our family room and we could tell there was something on the porch. Mom got up and went to the front door and started saying ‘There’s a bear! There’s a bear! There’s a bear! …’” The new bear had gone straight for the same cooler the other bear had briefly taken off with 800 miles to the south. “There was no food of any kind on the porch but the bear was obviously pretty curious about the cooler,” Ian said, “Maybe it could smell the scent from the first bear.”
The rush of the family to the door scared the bear off but “afterwards everyone was saying we should have been taking pictures,” Ian said, explaining that he finally got that chance just a few hours later during his fourth and final bear run-in of the week.
“Everybody was in bed when I heard it again and knew right away what it was so I started recording and that’s the tape that is on the Internet,” Ian explained, “Mom put in on Facebook.”
This article first appeared in the May 18, 2017 edition of the Vermont Standard.
By Eric Francis, Standard Correspondent
WHITE RIVER JUNCTION – A Bridgewater man who police allege was too sleep-deprived to have been driving was formally arraigned this week in connection with a fatal crash that took place in February on Route 4 in West Woodstock. Kenneth Hendrick Jr., 26, of Bridgewater Corners pleaded innocent to a single misdemeanor count of negligent operation of a vehicle with serious injury resulting, a charge that carries a potential maximum of up to two years in jail and/or a fine of up to $3,000 if he were to be convicted. Hendrick appeared Tuesday morning for the brief hearing in a wheelchair due to a broken femur he sustained in the head-on collision, which took place next to the Route 4 intersection with Echo Ledge Road shortly before noon on Friday, Feb. 24.
In paperwork filed with the court, Hendrick wrote that he expects to remain out of work for several more months because of his broken leg.
Woodstock Police Sgt. Joseph Swanson – who had previously told The Standard that he’d methodically ruled out speeding, alcohol, drugs, mechanical defects, and phone usage as factors – detailed in his affidavit why he thought fatigue on Hendrick’s part was behind the crash.
Swanson wrote in his accident report that based on interviews with friends and relatives of Hendrick he was able to put together a timeline of the previous 24-hours prior to the crash.
“When I asked (Hendrick at the crash scene) what had happened he answered that he thought he fell asleep while driving,” Sgt. Swanson wrote, adding, “(Hendrick) reasoned that he did not get much sleep the night before and he had been going since 7:30 a.m.”
Swanson said his investigation determined that Hendrick had worked the 4 p.m. to 11 p.m. shift at his job, and then had been up until the pre-dawn hours watching movies in Hartland, before traveling from Woodstock to Thetford first thing that Friday morning. After returning to Bridgewater, Swanson wrote, Hendrick left again to pick up a family member in Lebanon and it was on that leg of his journey, as Hendrick was headed
east on Route 4, that the collision occurred.
Swanson said he interviewed two other drivers who witnessed the crash from different directions of travel but said essentially the same thing, that Hendrick’s white Hyundai Sante Fe “suddenly and without warning veered from the east-bound lane into the west-bound lane striking” an on-coming brown Toyota RAV4 driven by 76-year-old William Moeller of Plainfield, New Hampshire.
Moeller, a salesman for fudge-making equipment who was traveling to a trade show in New York, was conscious at the scene and talking to bystanders and first responders who came to his aid but he died later that afternoon at the hospital largely as the result of chest injuries he’d sustained, Swanson explained.
“The absence of skid marks, yaw marks, the absence of intoxicants or drugs and the absence of evidence of ‘texting,’ along with interviews (stating that Hendrick) stayed up most of the night watching movies, all support (Hendrick’s alleged) admission that he fell asleep while driving, causing him to swerve into the oncoming lane and crash” into Moeller, Swanson wrote.
Swanson said that approximately a month after the crash he went to Hendrick’s residence in Bridgewater and interviewed him in person.
“(He) told me that he did not remember anything from the crash,” Swanson wrote, adding that when he explained to Hendrick that he was going to issue traffic tickets, Hendrick allegedly “became argumentative and denied having crossed the center line and caused the crash.”
This article first appeared in the May 11, 2017 edition of the Vermont Standard.
Wanda Huff shows off some of her “upcycled” sweaters. (Nancy Nutile-McMenemy Photo)
By Nancy Nutile-McMenemy, Standard Correspondent
Spring is here. We celebrate the passing of winter with an “out with old and in with the new” attitude. We clean up the discarded trash on Green Up Day. We clean out our houses of things we’ve accumulated and no longer need. We rake up the dead leaves and clean up the dead and fallen trees. Most of this debris ends up in the landfill or rotting in the woods.
Meet three local businesswomen who look at these discarded and old materials and breathe new life into them with their artistic sense and creativity. They all work with fibers, two create from old sweaters and other old clothes and one works with fallen trees.
Jayne Webb works on her sewing machine in her shop, Encore in Woodstock Village. (Nancy Nutile-McMenemy Photo)
Jayne Webb is the owner of Encore Design Consignment on The Green in Woodstock.
Webb purchased the retail store six years ago this September. She takes in clothing, shoes, jewelry and fashion accessories on consignment. And she designs handmade mittens and hats from repurposed sweaters. Webb grew up in Kennebunkport, Maine and as a young girl hit many consignment shops with the older women in her life. “When I was growing up, my aunts would bring me to Salvation Armies and Good Wills…that was always fun, you never knew what you were going to find. So when this opportunity came forth (to purchase the store in Woodstock), I still have to pinch myself because I’m doing something that means a lot to me, it has a lot of history and it feels good. I’m working for myself.”
About two years ago, Webb started Tweed River Farm. “I don’t have a dining room at home any more, my husband calls it the sweatshop.” While visiting her daughter in Maine she found a woman who was making mittens. Webb had a Burberry scarf and wanted mittens to go with it. Burberry has some gloves but no mittens and “their gloves didn’t really match, there were kind of masculine.” So Webb bought another scarf and returned to the mitten maker and asked for a pair to be made; “she said that it couldn’t be done because it (the material) doesn’t have enough stretch. That’s all it took, I came home, shopped online for different patterns and did some tweaking and I made my own pair of mittens from a Burberry scarf. And the rest of it was history.”
Webb developed a technique for shrinking the fiber, a way to tighten it up from the loose weave of a sweater to a tight knit for mittens. Her preferred fiber is lamb’s wool, wool or a good cashmere.
Each summer she makes about 400 pairs of mittens for her store on her vintage featherweight Singer sewing machine (she keeps a basket of 30-40 pairs in the store year round.) She has two signature designs, Boston Terriers on Burberry and lobster mittens. The lobster mittens came about in a rather odd way. “I think I was online one night looking for sweaters and I came across a classic, vintage Carol Reed (sweater) and it had lobsters and buoys on it. And being from Maine, I could eat lobster 24/7 and I had to buy that sweater. I paid an arm and a leg for it. I got that sweater and I shrank it and it really, really took the hot water hard. But I was able to get one pair of mittens out.”
She put those mittens up for sale and a women purchased them and posted a photograph on Instagram naming Encore as the store she found them in. “All of a sudden I was getting these requests for lobster mittens.”
When Webb couldn’t find another Carol Reed sweater, she created her own pattern a red boiled wool lobster that she carefully stitches onto her mittens. “(It’s) really fun. I like they creative part.” She say of her own designs.
When asked about the store name, Encore, Webb explained that she had done extensive research on various names but she found out that “Jackie Onassis used to frequent a store in New York called Encore Boutique, or something like that, and I said if it was good enough for Jackie O I think I going to go with it.”
Mary Jo Cooke lives in a farmhouse that she restored and rebuilt in South Pomfret. Her business is called Farmhouse Cabinetry. She grew up in Woodstock; graduated from Woodstock High School; moved away briefly but returned to town when her mom was ill; living and maintaining the family home on Lincoln Street. Her Woodstock roots are deep. Her grandfather owned C.C Frost Lumber on Pleasant Street.
Mary Jo Cooke works out of her restored farmhouse in Pomfret. (Nancy Nutile-McMenemy Photo)
Cooke works with wood fiber. She restores old houses and barns, refinishes furniture and creates household accessories from fallen trees or old barn boards. “ We used to slide in the sawdust (at her grandfather’s lumber yard), I fell in love with the smell of it.” Her love for saving older houses came about because as a child the house her family lived in on Lincoln Street was under renovation. She learned her skills from her relatives.
“I call myself where art meets craftsmanship. Sometimes I’m more in the art world and sometimes I’m more in the building world. I can do both.” Her current project is for a custom kitchen table. The tabletop was made from 80-year-old pine, one of largest pine trees along the Ottauquechee River in West Woodstock, “I know because my father and uncles harvested it, it’s returning to home in Bridgewater (along the river).” A friend referred the client to MJ, as she likes to be called.
Cooke prides herself in working with and getting to know her clients. She talks with them to find out exactly what their needs are, what their current space is like and translates this into a project design. She even sends them pictures during the process.
She loves to tackle custom work. Her “Mother’s Tray” was created when her own mother was sick and remembered her mother’s (MJ’s grandmother) had a tray.
She started working “professionally” at a young age. Her first business was chair caning and antique finishing business. She started this as a freshman at Woodstock High School. First customer was Art Lewin’s mother. It was basketball season and MJ was too busy with practices and games so “I subbed the job out to my mother.”
Walking through her many barns you’ll find a collection of old windows, barn boards from previous renovations, trees removed at the request of landowners and lots more. All things that were discarded and left to rot. “This is my medium because I have it. It had a purpose but now it has another one.”
Wanda Huff lives and works in Woodstock. She grew up on a family farm in Clinton Maine. For her 12th birthday she asked for sheep. That Christmas she got a table loom and learned to weave. A few years later she taught herself how to spin and dye wool. This early experience began her love for wool fiber.
Huff married a pastry chef and moved to Dallas, TX. Leaning on her New England work ethic she got back into weaving and spinning and dyeing. She opened the largest fiber store in the southwest, an 8000 square foot space filled with wool fiber. “Here I am little Miss New England, who grew up with wool basically and I walk into one of the hottest areas of the United States and none of the yarn shops were selling wool, they were all selling cotton, so I brought into my inventory what I knew, the wool and wool blends. I was selling yarn like nobody’s business to the whole Southwest and surrounding States.”
Later, her south Dallas fiber shop was leveled by a tornado but she opened another store in the north Dallas area. She bought an old brick building where she expanded into teaching classes and hosting events.
Eventually, Huff made the decision to return to New England. She sold Woolen Works and moved to Woodstock. Her first craft show was at the Senior Center Craft Bazaar. She saw a rag-a-muffin doll made from an old sweater and based her stuffed animals on it. About five years ago she had a booth at the Apple and Craft Fair and sold out most of her inventory.
She still does craft fairs and the Norwich Farmer’s Market on Saturdays. She also has a selection of the “up-cycled” sweaters in the Collective in downtown Woodstock. Some of her critters have jackets, vests or pants; they have long pockets and tiny pockets. “Tiny pockets in clothing are for little love notes. They are to give away or when things aren’t going so well, you need to take them out and read them to yourself. Long pockets are for crayons…so you can color your heart happy.”
Huff gets most of her materials from consignment shops, swap shops and even purchases from the Bridgewater Thrift Store. She makes these animals to bring a little smile to people’s faces and to keep these materials out of the landfills.
One customer asked Huff to make a small dog to fit into an old dog sweater, (the customer’s son recently lost his pet dog) so Huff made a stuffed dog and used the boy’s dog’s sweater. When she gave the stuffed animal to the customer, to give it to his son as a gift, as Huff tells it, they both had tears in their eyes. “We can’t do much about the big things in life but it’s those little things, if everybody was handing everybody a little love note written in crayon, hello.”
This article first appeared in the May 11, 2017 edition of the Vermont Standard.
The annual prom was held at the Sunrise Lodge in Bridgewater Corners. The theme for the year was, “Garden of Lights”. Rick Russell Photos
A portion of these photos will appear in the May 25, 2017 print edition of the Vermont Standard. Click here if you are having trouble viewing the collection of photo galleries, click on an image below to view in a larger format and to see more photos. To see more photo galleries Click Here
Governor Phil Scott today vetoed a marijuana legalization bill that sparked some of the toughest debates of this legislative session. The Legislature is due to reconvene in June.
The proposal would have legalized possession of up to an ounce of marijuana, and allowed for cultivation of up to two mature cannabis plants. Also, it would have made Vermont the first state in the nation to legalize recreational marijuana by an act of the Legislature, and the ninth state overall to legalize recreational marijuana.
At a press conference earlier today, Scott said he is “not philosophically opposed to ending the prohibition on marijuana,” and the governor said he’d be giving lawmakers a list of recommended changes. One of those desired changes includes adding tougher penalties for marijuana consumption while driving.
Scott also wanted some changes to the Marijuana Regulatory Commission the bill would create.
“As the bill currently stands, legislation for a regulated system would be introduced before the personal possession and cultivation laws have even changed,” Scott said in a statement. “I believe, the Commission should be allowed to take more time to thoughtfully complete its work on this complex issue. Given the gravity of this policy change, I would like to see the Commission have at least a year before making final recommendations.”
By Virginia Dean, Standard Correspondent
WOODSTOCK – Proposed changes to town zoning regulations will be heard early next month after a May 3 Planning Commission meeting was left without a quorum to call that meeting to order.
Comments were taken from the audience, however, and copies of the proposed amendments were distributed.
Among them was a change to the zoning regulation regarding short-term rentals allowed for local homeowners offering rentals for guests, such as via AirBnB. The proposed change would allow no more than 12 times in a calendar year (vs. the current 10 times) for a short-term rental with a two-night minimum stay, excluding foliage season.
Local resident and Sleep Woodstock motel owner Patrick Fultz took exception to the proposed amendment, indicating that it does not appear equitable.
“It comes down to a level playing field,” Fultz said in a recent interview. “That’s it. Going from 10 rentals per year to 12 encourages more property owners to consider short-term rentals. As a lodging business owner, this may mean a loss of income to me. A private homeowner doesn’t have the regulatory insight or the costs of doing business that I have.”
But Town Planner and Administrative Officer Michael Brands related that, at a previous short-term rental discussion, the Planning Commission noted that there was general input from the public that desired an increase.
“The issue was debated, and the majority of the Planning Commission supported the increase as written,” said Brands.
Fultz is not the first motel business owner to express his objections to local private homeowners renting for short terms.
Brands referenced a letter sent from the owners of The Woodstocker, a bed and breakfast on River Street, who also oppose the short-term rental amendments for the same reasons as Fultz.
As a destination town,
Woodstock is more likely to have short-term rentals than other communities that, in turn, create a need for more regulation of the use, Fultz said.
Brands explained the nature of short-term rental enforcement. On a monthly basis, AirBnB and other such websites are viewed to seek out users of the service, he said.
“The websites generally contain calendars noting when the use takes place,” said Brands. “Enforcement is taken with homeowners who are not in compliance with the short-term rental regulations.”
The number of permits issued has been increasing over the past couple of years as the service becomes more common, Brands said.
Planning Commission member Sam Segal suggested that Fultz create new ideas that could be discussed at the next Planning Commission meeting that will be held on June 7.
Other proposed changes to the Town Zoning Regulations include adding a riparian buffer or aquatic protection zone as delineated by the Conservation Commission; requiring administrative permits and design review for conversion to energy efficient windows, installation of seasonal air conditioning; putting in a vegetative buffer strip/screening to all commercial uses abutting a residential property or public road; abiding by specifications for the construction or installation of such bodies of water as ponds and in some cases requiring an administrative permit; granting waivers by an administrative officer without a hearing or using the conditional use approval process as case specified; waiving the requirement of permits as related to specific conditions of generator, heat pumps and/or air conditioning units or compressors when placed outdoors; re-establishing a terminated conforming use within 12 (vs. 6) months; reconsideration/rehearing changes; and specific zoning map changes.
Segal noted that discussion of the proposed amendments would be difficult due to the absence of a quorum at the May 3 Planning Commission meeting. Discussion will continue at the June 7 meeting.
This article first appeared in the May 18, 2017 edition of the Vermont Standard.
“He regarded us with a look that we often met later. The look meant: queer, strange, crazy people. We didn’t know for a long time that they considered us odd characters from the beginning.” The winters were the greatest challenge. Alice writes, “I was afraid of the dark and of the stillness, of the snow which dampened all sounds and concealed life and movement alike.” Alice and Carl knew nothing of farming but survival served as their inspiration, and so they studied every pamphlet and tapped every resource (particularly the USDA) until they became competent chicken farmers who also owned goats and pigs. They came to know their neighbors and to be known by their neighbors through the telephone. Party lines were the norm back then. Alice describes sharing the line as, “being pulled along by the same towrope.”
