The Charlotte News | July 3, 2013

The Charlotte News Volume lV Number 23 The Voice of The TowN wedNesday, July 3, 2013

Calendar 2.0 continued on page 8

John HammerThe charloTTe News

The agenda for the June 24 Selectboard meet-ing gave some hope that candidates to fill Heather Manning’s vacant selectboard

seat would be revealed. The attendees were dis-appointed when the Selectboard came out of closed session and did not divulge the names of those candidates they will interview on July 2.

Money mattersMuch of the regular meeting was consumed by

financial discussions. These were opened by Town Treasurer Mary Mead, who presented a wrap-up ofthe present fiscal year. While there is still a week to

run before the new fiscal year starts, the final tabula-tions won’t be complete until Mead and the town’s contracted auditor reconcile the accounts in mid-July. In summary, the revenues and expenses will be “close to budget.”

Following this was what is becoming a regular occurrence on the agenda, the pre-budget “guesti-mates” on budgets for the year beginning July 1, 2014. The library board, not anticipating any changes to its budget, mentioned only the need next year to replace the building’s roof. The library was followed by the Senior Center board, which also saw little change in the budget, though it will be proposing the

With End of Fiscal Year in Sight, Selectboard Talks Future Spending

No Candidates Named Yet for Vacant Selectboard Seat

Voters Approve Ambulance Purchase at Special Town Meeting

Brett SigurdsonThe charloTTe News

After about 25 minutes of discussion and questions, voters at the Special Town Meeting on June 25 approved

an article authorizing the Selectboard to spend up to $185,000 on a new ambulance for Charlotte Volunteer Fire & Rescue (CVFRS).

Despite the deluge of rain that let up just before the start of the meeting, about 90 Charlot-ters appeared at the evening meeting at CCS’s multipurpose room. Several were members of Rescue, many of whom sported dark pants with matching blue T-shirts emblazoned with “Char-lotte Rescue.” Four of the members—Rescue Chief Meg Modley, Assistant Chief Pam Dawson, Rescue Operations Manager Dave Stewart and Corporate Board President David McNally—told the audience about CVFRS’s ambulance replace-ment strategy and the need to upgrade its aging ambulances.

Currently, CVFRS has two ambulances, a 2006 Ford used as its primary ambulance and a 1998 International used as a backup. The $185,000 amount had been earmarked in the town’s Fire Rescue Capital Reserve Fund—a long-range spending plan that budgets for the

Charlo t te was recen t -ly crowned the cham-pion in both the school

and town divisions of a state-wide sustainabil i ty contest called “Vermontivate.” Its victo-ry was one that everyone could savor, as the award for win-ning the prize was a town-wide ice cream party hosted by Ben & Jerry’s on Saturday, June 29.

Under a sunny sky, many gath-ered at CCS to enjoy the 800 scoops Ben & Jerry’s served for the occasion. Vermontivate game masters offered awards. The top ten high scoring players received maple syrup—and five Charlot-ters were among them: Rebecca Foster, Hart Burget-Foster, Sevi Burget-Foster Nancy Severance and Deirdre Holmes. The game

masters also delivered a six-foot teddy bear to CCS, which was the winner of the school division, and anded out the Vermontivate trophy, which will be displayed somewhere in Charlotte for a year.

Also at the party, John Quinney of The Energy Co-op of Vermont offered a raffle for a home energy audit, and SunCommon and All Earth Renewables had information about solar panels for Charlotte citizens. There was also a DIY food swap, a collection for the Charlotte Food Shelf and a walk-through trailer displaying home weatherization options. Jacob Edgar of Cumbancha Records served as DJ for the world music dance party.

According to Holmes, Char-lotte just barely beat out Calais

for the top spot. As the six-week game neared the finish line last Friday night, players in the top two towns, Calais and Charlotte, racked up points as quickly as they could before the competi-tion ended at midnight. Calais appeared to be in the lead, but after some post-game adjudica-tion by the Vermontivate game masters, Charlotte prevailed by 130 points.

It was “an absolutely fabulous game with a white-knuckle fin-ish,” said the lead player from Cal-ais, who goes by the secret code name of Jumpin’ Jersey.

A broad-spectrum community sustainability game, Vermontivate presented challenges that allowed

New Calendar in the Works for Chittenden

County StudentsChea Waters Evans

coNTribuTor

Summer in Vermont is short, and next year it could be a little bit shorter for Charlotte students. The Champlain

Valley Superintendents Association (CVSA) is proposing an adjusted school calendar, called Calendar 2.0, for all public schools in Chittenden County beginning with the 2014-15 school year; this includes CCS and CVU.

Calendar 2.0 would add a week of school at the end of the year in June, a week at the beginning of the school year in August, and adjust vacation times, which would be called “intersessions,” throughout the school year. The new schedule would actually lessen in-school time by a day, bringing the total days in school from 176 down to 175. For the 2014-15 school year, students would get back to work on August 20 and head home for the summer on June 19 or later, depending on snow days. An intersession week would occur in mid-October, Thanksgiving week would be a vacation week at the end of November, Decem-ber break would be two weeks, and February and April breaks would be extended to two weeks each.

Chittenden South Supervisory Union (CSSU) Superintendent Elaine Pinckney says the schedule change has been in the works for quite some time; six years ago, she and some other superintendents were given the task to investigate what a schedule

Selectboardcontinued on page 6

Ambulancecontinued on page 3

Charlotte Team Tops Vermontivate Competition

(From left) Kathryn Blume, Rebecca Foster and Hart Burget-Foster pose with the Vermontivate community

service award—one of five awards given out by the Vermontivate game masters this year—which was given

to Rebecca.

Vermontivate continued on page 20

-XO\The Charlotte News

The Charlotte News

The CharloTTe News is a nonprofit community-based newspaper dedicated to informing townspeople of current

events and issues. It serves as a forum for the free exchange of views of town residents and celebrates the people, places

and happenings that make the Town of Charlotte unique.

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events are accepted and encouraged from all townspeople and interested individuals. For submission guidelines and deadlines, please visit our website or contact the editor at

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The wiNNiNg phoTo from The 2012 CharloTTe News

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Dear Neighbor,

When it was announced in May 2012 that the New Orleans Times-Picayune would halt its daily print publication and move its operation online—cutting 200 jobs in the process—the city briefly looked as if it had thrown a Mardi Gras party in the Twilight Zone. Hundreds of people took to the streets to protest cutbacks to a newspaper that had, in its 175-year existence, become an inte-gral part of life in the Big Easy.

“We’re so sad the paper decided to give up on us,” New Orleans resident Sha-ron Morrow told The Lens, a nonprofit newspaper. “I’ve stopped my subscription. I mourn the paper almost every day.”

Here at The Charlotte News, we’re not immune to the trends that prompted the Times-Picayune’s publishers to take such drastic money-saving actions. Like other papers, our adver-tising revenue has taken a hit from the financial crisis and increased competition from other publications.

But here’s where The Charlotte News breaks from these trends: regardless of ad revenue and regardless of competition, our small paid staff and host of selfless volunteers are still devoted to bringing you and your neighbors the news about this fascinating place we’re all lucky enough to call home. And we do it largely because we care about Charlotte as much as you do. We are a nonprofit organization, after all, and we work on a break-even basis, sup-porting our work largely through advertising revenue and donations. All we ask is that when we come to you once a year for a contribution to support our mission, we hope you’ll take a moment to think about what having a free, independent community voice means to you and to Charlotte.

The thing is, there’s something unique and special about what we do. The Charlotte News is created by Charlotters for Charlotters and sustained by the contributions of Charlot-ters. Think about what that means. There’s so much information out there, so many words and images vying for your attention. Isn’t it comforting to know that you have a commu-nity resource whose sole mission is to provide you and your neighbors coverage of the issues, events and people that have the most direct impact on you? Isn’t it great to know you have a place to always share your opinions, your images, your stories? This is what has made The Charlotte News the quintessential community newspaper for 55 years, longer than any other local newspaper.

But we know we can’t rest on our history alone. While The Charlotte News continues to be the first publication on the scene, the go-to source when town leaders want to share informa-tion and the paper with the most in-depth reporting, we’ve got big ideas and lots of energy to go even farther. That’s where you come in.

Starting July 6, we’re kicking off a fundraising campaign called Thrive @ 55. In honor of our 55th anniversary, we’re launching our biggest fund drive ever. By the end of the year, we aim to raise $55,000, which will lay the foundation for an expansion of our team, our reach and our accessibility for years to come. We’ve made it easy, too. Simply return this year’s donation envelope with your contribution or visit our website (thecharlottenews.org) and click on “Support the News.”

For a donation of $55 or more you’ll be entered into our drawing to win a beautiful handmade quilt or a new iPad, both of which we’ll give away at our annual Holiday Party in December. More than that, your contribution will help sustain The Charlotte News’s unique, independent voice—the voice of Charlotte—into the future.

Just over a month ago, after readers and advertisers left the once-beloved paper in droves, the Times-Picayune announced it would return to a daily print publication. If the story of the Times-Picayune is any indication, newspapers—especially those that are so ingrained in their communities—still matter. For over half a century, The Charlotte News has been your paper, your voice. Be here for us. Help us thrive with a generous contribution today.

Thanks for your support.

Brett Sigurdson, Editor-in-Chief

Tom O’Brien,Co-President, News Board of Directors

Thrive@ 55

The Charlotte News -XO\-XO\The Charlotte News

LettersSpeechleSS

Get Involved in Town Government!

The Selectboard is looking for interested citizens to fill the following vacancies:

Community Safety Committee—5-7 vacancies with a term ending in January

2014

Conservation Commission—1 vacancy with a term ending in April 2014

Charlotte Park & Wildlife Refuge Oversight Committee—1 vacancy

Recreation Commission—1 vacancy with a term ending in April 2014

Interested applicants should e-mail, call or stop by for more information.

Dean Bloch, Selectboard Assistant

Charlotte Town Office, P.O. Box 119, Charlotte, VT 05445

E-mail: [email protected]

Phone: 425-3533.

Reaction to Town Link Trail is misguided

In reading the commentary by Peter

Demick in the June 6 edition I was struck

by his negative attitude and more struck

by his misguided focus on taxes. While

the more recent letters from the Trails

Committee define the benefits of the

trail link and how it will be funded, they

diplomatically fail to directly address Mr.

Demick’s pronouncements. Allow me.

Mr. Demick states that the improve-

ments to Route 7 are a “waste of vital

town money,” but he doesn’t tell you

what money is being wasted. The real

question is where is our town money

and why isn’t it being used to improve

Route 7?

Each year the Town of Charlotte writes

four checks to the state: one check for

CCS, one check for CVU, and two checks

to the State of Vermont totaling a little

more than $2.5 million (in 2012). Of that

$2.5 million, some Charlotters receive

back about $1.4 million in prebates. That

leaves a cool $1.1 million with the state

of our tax money every year. Ever won-

der where that money goes? I do.

Here’s the question we should be ask-

ing: What direct services from the state

do we receive in exchange for the more

than $1 million dollars we send into its

coffers every year, year after year. Natu-

rally we need to carry our burden of the

costs of government, but shouldn’t we

also see some direct services? And what

is the state’s primary asset in Charlotte?

Route 7. And while we watch our neigh-

bors receive significant attention to their

portions of Route 7 on a constant basis,

our portion of Route 7 remains in a sad

state of disrepair.

So, rather than throwing up your arms

about a tiny underpass that adds value

to the Town Link project, throw up your

arms and clamor for something direct in

return for your money. With all the mil-

lions we have handed to the state over

the years, where is our share of direct

services and why does our portion of

Route 7 get neglected? One would think

that with Mr. Demick’s focus on money

he wouldn’t be quibbling over nickels

but would be shouting for his millions. In

that cause I would join him.

And finally, as for the fear mongering

that trails result in a tragedy waiting to

happen and strangers popping up in your

backyard, it is noteworthy that study after

study after study demonstrates that trails

do not solicit anti-social behavior. Rather,

studies consistently show that trails are a

highly beneficial, low-cost community

asset. Consistent with Charlotte’s values,

trails promote the conservation of land

and protection of open spaces. Trails also

promote healthy life styles and commu-

nity pride. Land values and marketability

of homes increase as well. Hard to imag-

ine how a home’s value would increase

if a nearby trail resulted in bad behavior

as suggested by Mr. Demick.

When considering the Town Link

Trail, don’t be misled by misguided,

knee-jerk reactions. Look at the facts and

ask the right questions.

Gary FranklinCharlotte

The Charlotte News would like to wel-

come Emma Slater as a summer intern.

Emma grew up in Shelburne, attend-

ing the Shelburne Community School

until seventh grade before moving to

Charlotte. She now attends CVU as a

senior and has been a Charlotte resident

for five years. At CVU she has been

a member of the Nordic ski team and

Ultimate Frisbee Club and spends free

time painting and working with horses.

This summer, Emma will be working at

the Green Mountain Conservation Camp

as a junior counselor, volunteering with

HOPE Youth Corps and studying barn

management and natural horsemanship

techniques for her graduation challenge

project.

We’d also like to offer our thanks and

gratitude to Karyn Lunde, who is step-

ping away from her role as the News’

volunteer calendar editor with the publi-

cation of this issue. For two years, Karyn

has not only put together a list of all the

most happening events in the area—she’s

been our ace in the hole, always at the

ready with a great story idea or contribu-

tion or picture (her “Speechless” photo on

page three is just one of many examples

of great contributions). While she won’t

be doing the calendar anymore, we’re

glad to say she’ll continue submitting

pictures and ideas to us.

News from The News

replacement of CVFRS’s rescue equip-

ment—to replace the current backup

ambulance. The expenditure is not tied

to CVFRS’s controversial FY 2013-

2014 budget, which many Charlotters

spoke out against earlier this year, noted

Modley.

“I’m here to tell you tonight that

it’s really prudent to purchase the next

ambulance and to release those funds

and tax dollars that have already been

set aside,” she said. “It won’t cost you

any more money to move forward this

vote.”

According to Selectboard Chair

Charles Russell, who spoke at the out-

set of the meeting, the town set up the

Fire Rescue Capital Reserve Fund in

2007 to help spread the cost of large

purchases over time so taxpayers would

not be burdened too heavily during any

one tax year. This approach also allows

the town to pay for equipment up front

rather than to borrow money and incur

interest.

Modley noted that Rescue intended

to purchase a new ambulance last year.

Russell told the audience that, the

Selectboard, while it was aware of Res-

cue’s schedule for purchasing a new

ambulance, neglected to put the article

in the official town meeting warning

in March. According to town policy,

expenditures over $50,000 must be

approved by the voters. CVFRS asked

the Selectboard to hold a Special Town

Meeting in order to approve the ambu-

lance purchase.

The new ambulance will have sev-

eral features that make it a better fit for

Charlotte’s terrain than the two ambu-

lances currently in service. It will have

four-wheel-drive, a stronger chassis and

a safer box construction that will better

protect patients and Rescue personnel

in the event of an accident during a

response, Stewart noted.

CVFRS will move its current primary

ambulance, the 2006 Ford, backup sta-

tus and will sell the 1998 International.

The proceeds of that sale, which Stew-

art expects could net around $10,000—

CVFRS paid $6,500 out of its special

funds for it in 2012—would be returned

to the capital fund to offset the cost of

future vehicles, Stewart said.

CVFRS currently projects it will next

replace its 1980 pumper and 1993 tank-

er in 2017-2018. It expects to replace

the 2013 ambulance in 2019-2020.

The measure passed almost unani-

mously on a voice vote, though a few

voters did voice opposition to the arti-

cle.

Stewart said he hopes CVFRS will

receive the new ambulance by the fall.

The meeting closed with McNally

briefly introducing CVFRS’s new advi-

sory board, which consists of five Char-

lotters not involved with CVFRS. The

group, which consists of Peter Carreiro,

Richard Lunt, David Nichols, Ann

Owen and Ruth Uphold, is charged with

acting as a conduit between the commu-

nity and the CVFRS board. Uphold told

the crowd its members can be reached

via a new e-mail, cvfrsboard@townof-

charlotte.com.

Ambulance continued from page 1

A Note to Our Readers:As is our tradition here, the staff of The Charlotte News will take a two-

week publication break for summer vacation. We’ll be back with a new issue

on Thursday, August 1. In the meantime, check out our website (charlottenews.

org) for news and updates on town happenings.


Congregational Church Hosts Rally to Stop Lopez Deportation

Jed PaulsContributor

In the past ten years, Vermont’s dairy industry has seen an influx of workers from Mexico, Guatemala

and other Latin American countries who are looking to create a better life for themselves and their families. Often these workers are from rural towns in regions economically ravaged by bro-ken systems and one-sided trade poli-cies. These workers are here because the scale of farming in Vermont is growing, workers are needed, and the local workforce is not large enough to adequately support the demands of 21st century dairy farming. There is also no viable path of legal entry for the year-round, nonspecialized workers needed to support the grow-ing sizes of our state’s dairy farms.

So it is not surprising that an estimat-ed 1,500 people work on Vermont dairy farms without the paperwork necessary to be in this country legally.

Danilo Lopez is one of the 1,500. On Monday, June 24, Danilo Lopez came to the Charlotte Congregational Church to tell his story to the public.

In September of 2011, Lopez was detained at the Canadian border after the truck in which he was a passenger was stopped for speeding. Lopez was unable to provide documentation of his citizen-ship, whichwa and he was subsequently turned over to U.S. Immigration and

Customs Enforcement. After working on Charlotte farms

for some years, Lopez’s life trajectory took a sudden turn with this traffic stop. Facing deportation, he accessed support through Migrant Justice, a Burlington-based immigrant rights advocacy orga-nization.

Inspired in part by Lopez’s situation, members of the Charlotte Congregation-al Church have been hosting bilingual communion services for area migrant workers and volunteering with Migrant Justice for the past two years.

“We have been dealt with so gra-ciously ourselves (by God), we extend that same graciousness to others,” said Reverend Will Burhans.

Burhans, along with Migrant Justice, has been rallying support to help urge U.S. Immigration & Customs Enforce-ment to use prosecutorial discretion and throw out Lopez’s deportation case. The 35 in attendance at Mon-day’s event heard the details of opez’s path – from being kidnapped during his border crossing from Mexico, to finding his way from Florida to Charlotte, to being arrested and becoming an immi-grant rights leader. He spoke plainly but urgently of his situation and expressed gratitude for the support and generosity of his Vermont community.

Rep. Mike Yantachka had the oppor-tunity to meet Lopez when he visited the Statehouse to advocate for passage of S.38, an act relating to expanding

eligibility for driving and identification privileges in Vermont. Lopez, through an interpreter, spoke about the need for migrant workers to be able to obtain driver privilege cards so that they would not be confined to the farms on which they worked. According to Yantachka, Lopez was a key witness before the Senate and House Transportation com-mittees, and his testimony played a large part in getting S.38 passed.

Reflecting on Lopez’s work at the Statehouse, Yantachka said, “I was very impressed with the young man. His activism, in terms of moving legisla-tion through the Vermont State House, shows tremendous work ethic. He’s the type of person that would really be ben-eficial as a citizen of the United States.”

On Thursday, June 27, Lopez and 50 Vermonters took their campaign to Massachusetts for a New England-wide “Not One More Deportation” rally at the regional immigration headquarters office. They delivered over 300 petition signatures and united with groups across the region to show the human face of what they consider to be a broken immi-gration system.

With documented support of Gover-nor Shumlin, Senators Leahy and Sand-ers and Congressman Welch, Lopez is hopeful. But nothing is guaranteed. His departure date has been set for July 5.

Albert’s Way is Underway in

CharlotteGreen Mountain Habitat for

Humanity’s (GMHFH) five-afford-able-home project is underway. GMHFH will construct three sin-gle-family homes and one duplex on Albert’s Way off Spear Street. Named for the former landowner Albert Gecewicz, it will be the larg-est Habitat project in Chittenden County to date. Incorporated with the buildings themselves, Habitat will conserve four and one-half acres of LaPlatte River watershed.

The organization is looking for financial donations to help fund the project. Those who are interested in making donations should go to GMHFH’s website, vermonthabitat.org, and click on “Donate” on the home page. Those who are interested in volunteering should contact Habi-tat’s office at 300 Cornerstone Drive, Williston.

Want more News?

Pictures?Updates?


Begun 19 years ago to showcase the l i b r a r y - b u i l d i n g

effort that was still on the drawing board, the Town Party has evolved into an all-town event that celebrates Charlotte’s community spirit.

This year’s party, again organized by the Friends of the Library, is on Saturday, July 6, from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. on the Town Green. Highlights include a great book sale, parade, commu-nity organization displays, Quinlan School activities and lunch at the fire station.

The well-loved book sale, an annual crowd pleaser, will open as usual at 11 a.m. sharp.

The parade forms in the Old Lantern parking lot on Greenbush Road and pro-ceeds up Greenbush to Ferry Road, turning east and pass-ing by the Town Green at around 11 a.m. All parade participants should be at the Old Lantern by 10:30 a.m. All marchers (costumes encouraged), tractors, fire engines, floats, bikes, scoot-ers and skateboards are wel-come.

Check out the big tent on the green where local orga-nizations will be display-ing and dispensing informa-tion about their activities. Groups include the Grange, Charlotte Land Trust, Lewis Creek Association and Champlain Valley Canine Rescue, as well as the tables of the Selectboard, Char-lotte Park and Wildlife Ref-uge Oversight Committee, Green Mountain Habitat for Humanity, Conservation Commission, Trails Com-mittee, Recreation, Planning Commission and Charlotte Historical Society.

You’ll also find Transi-tion Town Charlotte, the

Food Shelf, Hunger Free Vermont, the Vermont Com-munity Foundation, and Genealogy Day’s August “Get Together” table.

You’ll also find The Charlotte News display in a separate tent this year. In celebration of the paper’s 55 years of highlighting the news of the town, the Town Party serves as the kick-off date for its annual member-ship drive—$55 will buy you an annual membership plus ensure your entry into the raffle for a fabulous antique quilt and an iPad.

Finally, don’t miss the Charlotte 250th committee’s table, where you can pur-chase the Charlotte 250th Anniversary Quilt 2014 cal-endar. Proceeds will ben-efit the Veterans Monument Garden project on the Town Green. Also for sale will be The Charlotte 250: That’s How the Story Goes, a four-DVD collection of recorded reflections about our town ($20).

The aroma of grilled ham-burgers and hot dogs will draw you across Ferry Road to the fire station. Lunch, under the able direction of Rita St. George, includes soft drinks and baked good-ies. Next door, the Senior Center will be open with coffee available. View Lil-lian Kennedy Rockfire’s art display, “Boats, Barns and Beyond,” featuring Char-lotte landscapes, as well as a collection of her paintings from Europe and the U. S.

Finally, don’t forget to stop in at the Quinlan School. Take a step back in time to when Charlotte’s children attended one-room schools—and at the same time make your own card prints.

Mark Your Calendar for Town Party July 6

Diane WalkerThe CharloTTe News

Melissa and Russ Beatty enjoyed pick-ing berries at the Charlotte Berry Farm so much they decided to buy the

Route 7 business from Polly and Brad Simpkins. On June 5, the Monkton couple closed on the sale. They opened for the season on June 7.

“We wanted people to come in and meet us,” says Melissa of the quick turnaround.

Berry pickers can rest assured that little will change at the well-known destination for pick-your-own blueberries, strawberries and raspber-ries, as well as pumpkins and the farm’s popular fresh-fruit creemees. Chocolate chip cookie ice-cream sandwiches, scones and pies are available for purchase as well.

According to Melissa Beatty, the couple’s focus right now is on “upkeep.” The couple and their staff of six part-time helpers have been busy getting the fields and facility in shape for the season. Most important is establishing and stabilizing the berry bushes, noted Melissa. When heavy spring rains wiped out two of their strawberry fields, the Beattys purchased 1,000

new strawberry plants that they installed in a different location on the property.

Melissa said she and her husband ran a “small-scale” berry farm in Monkton and want-ed to get involved in berry farming on a larger scale. The berry farm consists of 26 acres, of which seven acres are planted with blueberries. They plan to expand their crops, raspberries in particular. Over the past month, they’ve planted 4,000 pumpkins, Melissa said.

Although the pick-your-own-strawberry busi-ness was largely affected by the rain, Melissa said the farm sells between 15 and 20 quarts of strawberries on a good day. As for the blueber-ries, “they’re looking very good,” she noted.

Beatty said her sons Kyle (age 13) and Liam (age 8) are enjoying the family’s new enter-prise, and the business will allow them to spend even more time together.

“My younger son thinks it’s fabulous,” she said. “He loves the equipment and knows where everything is around the farm.”

For information call 425-3652. The farm’s website will be available soon.

New Owners Excited to Continue Charlotte Berry Business

Melissa Beatty, along with her husband, Russ, is the new owner of the Charlotte Berry Farm. It opened for the summer June 7.


In celebration of Charlotte’s 250th

anniversary last year, the Charlotte

Land Trust sponsored a bike tour high-

lighting conserved properties and local

farms. The tour was so successful the

Land Trust is making route maps avail-

able this year as well. The route maps

will be available at the Town Hall and

Town Party and to download on the

CLT Facebook page and website (char-

lottelandtrust.org) and via a link on The Charlotte News website

This year’s bike tours will be self-

guided and on your own schedule. Two

tours are available—one 11 miles and

the other 19 miles. The tours tra-

verse some of the most scenic areas in

Charlotte and highlight the conserved

land in town. Through a longstanding

community commitment Charlotte has

conserved many of its most productive

farms, significant natural areas and sce-

nic vistas. Combine that stunning land-

scape and a pleasant bike ride – what

better way to enjoy a summer day?

While the tours can be ridden any-

time, CLT suggests trying them out in

the days and weeks before and after the

Town Party, held this year on July 6.

During that period the well-known red

signs identifying conserved properties

will be in place. CLT also encourages

riders to submit pictures and comments

on the tours either through Facebook or

the CLT website.

Tim King, a CLT board member, poses with a CLT sign during last year’s bike tour.

Land Trust Announces Bike Tours

Gathering to Remember Kay Teetor July 5

Join family and friends in remembering former Charlotter Katherine (Kay)

Teetor at the Ferrisburgh Grange/Community Center on July 5 beginning at

2 p.m. Parking is available at the community center and at the church next

door. Handicap parking is available in the side lot of the building. For direc-

tions or more information, contact Nina Bacon at 877-3070.

will be proposing the addition of a part-

time coordinator of volunteers position.

The Senior Center has about 120 volun-

teers who give approximately 5,700 hours

of time a year. These volunteers need a

fair amount of management, and Director

Mary Recchia is already maxed out.

Several interesting facts came out in

discussion about the Senior Center. One

hundred meals are served weekly for

which the diners pay. There is a modest

federal allowance for seniors. The center’s

programs are used equally by citizens

from Charlotte, Shelburne and other com-

munities. About $20,000 is contributed to

the center, with the highest donors from

Shelburne. About $22,000 is taken in from

program fees which are turned over to the

town for the General Fund. This comes

back to help pay for the $72,000 that the

town budgets to the center for operations.

If participation were not permitted to citi-

zens from other towns, there would not be

enough demand to sustain the number of

programs now offered.

The Charlotte Park and Wildlife Ref-

uge came in with a flat budget request as

well. Its spending for this year is on track

despite torrential rain damage. Some mod-

ifications will be made in the agricultural

areas of the refuge.

Town Meeting solutionsDuring the public comment period,

Vince Crockenberg of the Town Meet-

ing Solutions Committee updated the

Selectboard on what that committee is

considering for public discussion prior

to December 2013. The committee is

considering recommending that a Special

Town Meeting be held January 20, 2014,

at which the FY 2015 town budget will be

discussed, amended and finalized (but not

fully voted) for a warned vote by Austra-

lian ballot on Town Meeting Day, March

4, 2014. A second vote would be held to

move the vote on the final budget from the

floor to an Australian ballot format.

Other BusinessIn a spate of administrative actions the

Selectboard:

DFFHSWHGD&KLWWHQGHQ&RXQW\5HJLRQ-

al Planning Commission (CCRPC) offer

to publish a request for proposals for the

design of signage for the town’s trails.

This will be at no cost or obligation to

the town.

DSSURYHG 3LNH ,QGXVWULHV¶ ELG RI$63.74 per ton of recycled asphalt for a

total of 2,716 tons. This should repave

about 3.5 miles of roads this summer.

DSSURYHG D SROLFH VHUYLFHV FRQWUDFWwith the Town of Shelburne for services

not to exceed $25,000 in FY 2014.

DSSURYHGWKHWRZQ¶VSHUVRQQHOSROLF\to reflect numerous revisions to holi-

day, vacation and sick time policies. The

Selectboard agreed to communicate these

policies to the town’s employees and

answer any questions that might arise

from the forthcoming Independence Day

holiday.

DSSURYHGVXEPLVVLRQRIWKHDSSOLFD-tion for all permits necessary to repair

the pier on Bridge 31 (Dorset Street

over the LaPlatte River). These would

likely include a stream alteration permit,

an endangered species permit for the

stonecat fish, and a U.S. Army Corps of

Engineers report.

DSSURYHG WKH SD\ VWUXFWXUH IRU WKHfirst constable with an amendment to

his contract to reflect the vehicle fee as

authorized by the IRS.

GLVVROYHGWKH&KDUORWWH+RXVLQJ7UXVWFund Committee. The Selectboard will

take over the administration of the fund.

DSSRLQWHG'HDQ%ORFKWRWKHWHFKQLFDOadvisory committee on traffic matters at

the Chittenden County Regional Planning

Commission.

DJUHHG WR VKDUH D WDEOH DW WKH7RZQParty with the Planning Commission in

order to present town issues and collect

views from citizens.

The next regular Selectboard meeting

will be held on July 8.

Selectboard continued from page 1

CSWD Rover Coming to Charlotte Aug. 3The Rover, the Chittenden Solid Waste District’s (CSWD) mobile hazard-

ous waste collection unit, will make a stop at CCS on Aug. 3 from 9 a.m. to 1

p.m. The Rover accepts household hazardous wastes such as paints and stains,

automotive fluids, hobby supplies, pesticides, fertilizers, household cleaners,

and similar items with the words “Danger,” “Caution,” “Warning,” or “Poison”

on the label.

The Rover is free and available to Chittenden County households only. If

you are a Chittenden County resident, you can also bring these items to the

Environmental Depot any time of year, free of charge. For more information,

contact CSWD at 872-8111.

The Charlotte News -XO\

Brett SigurdsonThe CharloTTe News

The length of James Taylor’s “The Frozen Man” is approxi-mately three minutes and 55

seconds. The time between Stephen P. Kiernan’s first hearing the song and deciding to write a novel about a frozen man who comes back to life is approx-imately 18 years. The time it took Kiernan to write a draft of the novel is approximately 252 days. But the only number that Kiernan, a Charlotter, is thinking about right now is one, as in first—his first book of fiction, which is scheduled to hit bookstores July 9.

For Kiernan The Curiosity represents the culmination of a lifelong dream but also a leap into the unknown. An award-winning journalist, columnist and the author of two nonfiction books, Last Rights and Authentic Patriotism, Kiernan has carved out a space for himself as a nonfiction writer and advocate for social justice.

Despite the fact he has pub-lished, by his estimation, mil-lions of words as an author and former Burlington Free Press columnist, just under a week out before The Curiosity hits bookstores, Kiernan is feeling the anxiety and anticipation of being a first-time author.

“To the publishing world in New York I’m a debut novel-ist,” said Kiernan, “which feels strange to a guy who’s had four million words in print. And it’s kinda fun.”

The Curiosity, a thriller, cen-ters around a brilliant scientist named Kate Philo—Charlotters will recognize the inspiration for her name—whose team discovers a body frozen deep in an Arctic iceberg. Despite protests, scientist Erastus Carthage orders the body returned to Boston, where it is reanimated into Jeremiah Rice, a judge who fell overboard into the Arctic Ocean in 1906. When news of his revivifica-

tion spreads, the “Lazarus Project,” as it is called, ignites protest from religious fundamentalists and the media, bringing Philo and Rice closer together. The novel mixes history, science and a romance into a book that is at once a love story and social commentary.

While the book was 18 years in the making, it had its impetus in a conversa-tion with his friends, the writers Chris Bohjalian and Dana Yeaton in Tuscany in 2010. All three were staying in an old gra-nary tower in Montisi. One night around midnight they were sitting around a table after a day of riding bikes and a dinner filled with local Chianti when Kiernan, feeling expansive, spoke at length about his idea for the novel, which at the time had a basic structure but was missing a key ingredient.

“When I was done there was a pause of about 30 seconds,” noted Kiernan, “and then Chris said, ‘What this novel lacks is a beautiful woman.’ And then Dana said, ‘And she needs to be smarter than all

the other scien-tists together.’ I said, ‘I’ll be right back.’”

Said Bohjalian, “He told us the tale of the James Taylor song and his idea for this book about a frozen man, and it was one of those per-fect moments: A fellow writ-er shares with you the germ of a novel you know has the

potential to be brilliant. Also, the stars that night? Perfectly aligned.”

By the end of his flight home Kiernan had a rough outline of the story. He worked on the novel every day, even on Christmas and his birthday. Less than a year later he had a draft, which he pol-ished for another year. The first person

he sent it to was Bohjalian, who sent his feedback to Kiernan late one night—a sign that maybe he was onto something, Kiernan said.

“The fact I wrote him at one in the morning was indeed a good sign,” said Bohjalian. “It meant I didn’t have to be circumspect or wise or weigh in with advice. I could simply tell him that I completely loved the book and then go to sleep.”

One of the things that helped Kiernan make the leap from nonfiction to fiction was that he used journalistic techniques to enrich the narrative. He walked the streets of Boston, where the novel largely takes place, traveled to gritty mill towns, went through historical records in Lynn, Massachussetts, and researched cell sci-ence and the Grateful Dead. He found a poetry in Lynn’s street names and a popu-lar song sung by Red Sox fans in 1903.

“Everybody with any curiosity about the world should spend a day in the his-torical society of Lynn, Massachusetts,” said Kiernan. “It is so rich.”

Kiernan also “fell in love” with the process of revision through the writing of this book as well as the freedom that fiction offers a writer. He compared it to painting in a new way.

“If all your life you’ve been painting still life and someone gives you a blank canvas with nothing on it, you lose the discipline of the light being on that apple just so,” he said, “but you gain the oppor-

tunity to say ‘forget that apple, I want a pomegranate.’”

Kiernan is looking forward to a potential film adaptation of The Curiosity, which he recently sold to 20th Century Fox. He’s also looking beyond The Curiosity to his next book of fiction and is already 150 pages into his second novel, which takes place in the Pacific Ocean, he said.

Kiernan will appear at The Flying Pig in Shelburne on July 7 at 7 p.m. The following day, he’ll kick off the “Rock and Roll Book Tour” with Bohjalian at the Fletcher Free Library in Burlington beginning at 7 p.m. On the tour Kiernan and Bohjailian will make stops in Ohio, Minnesota, North Carolina and Missouri.

While Bohjalian does a lot of events with other others, he is particularly look-ing forward to touring with Kiernan.

“I love all of these sorts of gigs,” he said. “But how often do you get to tour with a guy who is like a brother to you?”

Similarly, Kiernan is excited to take in the experience of having a first novel published.

“It is literally a lifelong dream coming true,” he said. “I feel so privileged to have this experience. I’m looking forward to engaging with readers in a new way.”

To find out more about Kiernan and The Curiosity, visit stephenpkiernan.com, his author page on Facebook or find him on twitter at @stephenpkiernan.

With A Man Frozen in Time, A Dream Comes to Life

Local author Stephen P. Kiernan’s debut novel, The Curiosity, will be published July 9.

Stephen P. Kiernan poses for a in his home office. He has written two books of nonfiction. The Curiosity is his first work of fiction.

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Kitchens

Additions

Restoration

Spring into summer with a new wardrobe from our boutique-style resale shop

If your clothes and jewelry

are not becoming to you –

they should be coming to us!

Yellow house on west side of Rte 7 in Shelburne Village / 5404 Shelburne Road

Mon-Fri 10-5, Sat 10-4 / 985-3595 www.schipstreasure.org


Calendar 2.0continued from page 1

Chea Waters EvansContributor

Last October, a group of parents gathered in the Charlotte Central School library to discuss revi-

talizing the recently disbanded PTO. No one knew what to expect, except that snacks had been promised. School co-principals Audrey Boutaugh and Greg Marino explained that the pre-vious iteration of the PTO board had resigned at the end of the last school year, and if an executive board wasn’t formed within days, the group’s non-profit status might expire and the organization could be gone for good.

“We were cautiously optimistic,” Marino says. “We knew there was some positive energy and some individuals who were interested, but we didn’t know what to expect. We were definitely a little nervous about the outcome.”

Fortunately, not only did plenty of interested parents show up (the snacks must have worked), but before the night’s end a new PTO board was in place. With Mandy Koskinen and Katie Taylor as co-presidents, Julie Holmes and Rebecca Foster as co-vice-presidents, Chea Evans (full disclosure: there’s only one Chea Evans in Charlotte, and I’m the one writing this article) as secretary, and Jennie Auster as treasurer, the board members were ready to get started right away, even if they weren’t completely sure what they were doing.

At first, Taylor says, survival was the only priority.

“The board’s goals were mainly to keep the PTO going,” she said.

Soon, though, a two-part approach was decided upon: focus first on community building and second on raising enough money to continue to at least partially fund current programs that were already supported by the PTO. With the book fair and craft fair quickly approaching, there was little time for talk—jumping in head first was the only way to get these two events off the ground. Auster coor-dinated, planned and pulled off another great year at the December craft fair, despite never having previously attended one. In this and in general, she says, the school community truly rallied around the cause.

“I’m not surprised,” she says, “but I’m really thankful that so many people stepped up, volunteered, and made this year such a success.”

Parent and teacher participation is key to a successful PTO. Andy Smith vol-unteered to serve as the official teacher liaison, and several teachers, particularly

Jen Leach and Kelly Boutellier, regu-larly attended the monthly Tuesday night meetings. Parent attendance was impres-sive, too, though one goal for next year is to get even more parents into the meetings. Marino says he was impressed that 20 people would regularly attend, but that’s not enough for this ambitious group. In order to accommodate parents with a variety of childcare needs, this coming school year the PTO meetings will alternate monthly between morning and evening times. Co-president Taylor points out that this is a great way to start new programs, continue old ones with fresh ideas, and use parents’ life experi-ences and talents to better our school.

One particularly successful initiative came from this exact situation: parent-sponsored monthly teacher and staff appreciation lunches. In this same spirit of bringing people together and improv-ing our school, Boutaugh says that one of the highlights of the year for her was the after-school Enrichment Pro-gram. Conceived by retired CCS teacher Tom Scatchard and developed by parents Sarah Scranton and Julie Holmes, the program offered after-school programs in everything from musical theater to rock-etry. Enrichment will be offered again in the spring, and any Charlotter with a tal-ent to share is welcome to get involved.

During the school year, the Knitwits fundraising sale, the popular annual Vari-ety Show, and a comedy night at the Old Lantern proved to be fun and lucra-tive events. The grand finale, though, was the Champ Run. Traditionally a fun run aimed at younger children, co-chairs Ellen Santos and Melissa Colvin decided to make it a landmark event and to add 5k and 10k chip-timed road races. Santos said, “I was overwhelmed by the positive feedback regarding our new format and partnership with RaceVermont.”

Over 200 runners participated, and the post-race party at the school was a hit with families and community members alike. Next year, the PTO board is hoping to attract more runners and increase com-munity participation even more.

“Through race registrations, raffle tick-ets and generous sponsorships,” Colvin says, “we were able to raise over $6,000 to fund essential school programs cut from the regular budget.”

Community outreach: check. Fundrais-ing for school programs: check. With these goals accomplished, the PTO board looks forward to welcoming new mem-bers next year (spots are open, and elec-tions will be held in the fall) and new ideas from current members, and wel-comes all that would like to participate.

change would look like, and how it could benefit students.

While no studies or data analyses show an improvement in student per-formance, better test scores or higher graduation rates, Pinckney says she is confident that the new calendar would be a positive change for students, teach-ers and families.

“I do know,” she said, “that when schools take the opportunities that are provided when learning sessions are uninterrupted and more uniformly scheduled throughout the year, learning is less hectic; curriculum can be more strategically planned, implemented and assessed; there’s built-in time for reflection (for teachers and students), and there’s more balance.”

The schedule change aims to decrease learning regression during long sum-mer breaks, and the intersession weeks would provide an opportunity for reme-diation for students who need extra assistance and possibly provide time for teachers to do imbedded teacher-educa-tion days instead of taking these days during regularly scheduled classroom time. There are also other possibilities for these intersession weeks, Pinckney says.

“I imagine there would be lots of interesting, fun, educational opportuni-ties for the students who avail them-selves of our programming, and ‘inter-ventions’ would just be one such pro-gramming opportunity,” she noted.

Critics of Calendar 2.0 are concerned about the burden the new schedule plac-es on families with two working par-ents, single-parent families and families with less socio-economic flexibility to find appropriate childcare during inter-sessions. There is also concern about losing family and outdoor playtime from a season that for many Vermont-

ers seems too short already. Financial issues come into play as well.

Pinckney says that childcare snafus will be addressed by “figuring out how regional libraries, 21st Century After School programs, the Y programs, etc. can be coordinated,” although how those organizations will come up with the extra funds to support program-ming changes is yet to be determined, especially if they are non-profit pro-grams that rely on tax money, grants and donations to operate.

There is also a question of com-pensation for teachers who will work during the intersessions; this will be addressed when contract negotiations come up again for the 2014-15 school year.

The timeline for official adoption of the calendar has yet to be determined. CCS co-principals Audrey Boutaugh and Greg Marino say that they are still learning about the schedule.

“Our understanding is that it’s in the planning stages,” Marino says, and he adds that many of the questions com-munity members have are the same questions being asked by the school administration and staff. Pinckney says that superintendents are meeting this summer to determine when they will hear from the community about Calendar 2.0, and that “in the fall, this same group is planning five or six regional family/community meetings. This will provide parents and other community members opportunities to hear in greater detail about our think-ing and also to share their thoughts.”

The ultimate decision about wheth-er or not Calendar 2.0 is approved, however, falls solely with the CVSA. Community input is currently being accepted through the CSSU web site, cssu.org, where there is more informa-tion about Calendar 2.0 and a Reader’s Corner section where people can post their opinions online. Pinckney can also be reached at [email protected].

CCS PTO Proves that Slow and Steady Wins the Race

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Linda I. Letourneau 802.343.2107 [email protected]


Robin LauzonContributor

Welcome to our final CVU commu-nity article. Thanks for reading this past year and look for our column again in September.

For this piece, we thought we’d let the community know how some of our faculty and staff are spending their sum-mer months. From education to travel to everything in between, CVU faculty and staff will be continuing their love of learning and then bringing it back to the classroom.

What CVU teachers are doing on

summer vacation

First of all, 80 teachers will participate in summer professional development at CVU. Three different learning seminars will be conducted and run by instruc-tional coaches and administrators to build learning around standards-based grading. This will be important preparation for the work that CVU will be doing in the next few years (look for an article next year on this work).

Below shows what some faculty and staff will be doing this summer: SDUWLFLSDWLQJ LQ WKH (PLOH *UXSSH

*DOOHU\ 3OHLQ $LU )HVWLYDO -XO\ ZLWKwork on display at the gallery space for about a month afterward;ZRUNLQJZLWKWKH&98DUWGHSDUWPHQW

and Catamount Outdoor Family Center in Williston to offer a variety of art camps for ages six through 15 (for more informa-tion, visit http://catamountoutdoor.com/camps/visual-arts-camps/); ZULWLQJDWKLUGQRYHO H[SORULQJ KRZ WR XVH WHFKQRORJ\ LQ

the classroom by taking CVU Technology Integrationist Charlie MacFadyen’s tech-nology seminar and working with the 6WDQGDUGV%DVHG*UDGLQJJURXSWDNLQJDFRXUVHDQGWUDLQLQJZLWKVWDWH

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study skills and algebra; WUDYHOLQJ WR 7XUNH\ IRU WZR ZHHNV

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Croft, a nonprofit, experiential-learning, Vygotsky-philosophy driven program.

Fitness Center open

The CVU Fitness Center will be open this summer, and all members of the extended CVU community are invited. The center will be open from 7-10 a.m. and 3-6 p.m. Monday through Friday. )URP-XQHWKURXJK-XQHDQGDJDLQIURP-XO\WKURXJK-XO\WKHPRUQLQJhours will be 7-8:30 a.m. (the afternoon hours remain the same).

Check back in the fall for more News from CVU.

Charlotte Representatives to the CVU School Board

Lorna Jimerson and Marilyn Richardson

News from CVU

Amira Silverman wins VCS Award for ArtIn early June, at graduation ceremonies held at the Vermont Commons School,

Ben Patrick, chair of the school’s visual and performing arts department, pre-

sented the 2013 award for distinguished achievement in visual arts to Charlotte

resident, Amira Silverman (right), an eighth grader at the school. In bestow-

ing the award, Patrick remarked, “Amira Silverman is in the studio every day.

Amira spends her lunch time and study halls working on prints, paintings and

collages. She asks questions, is always in motion and seeking to inherit cre-

ative worlds with new eyes. Her unmatched technical skills as an artist can

be witnessed by her drawings in the sketchbooks she is continuously filling.”

Patrick stated that he was proud to share the studio with a student like Amira

and remarked that she is an inspiration to all other student artists. Amira is the

daughter of Jonathan Silverman and Martha Whitfield.

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Have a story idea? Want to submit

a photo or recap of your event?

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about your community?

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Hands-on introduction to traditional letterpress printmaking in the Museum’s Print Shop. 4-6 p.m. July 17. $20; $15 for Museum Members. Registration is required, please call (802) 985-3346 x 3368.

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My (Mis)Adventure as a Charlotte TouristBrett Sigurdson

The CharloTTe News

I should have taken the ducks swimming in the road as a sign.

It’s 7:34 a.m. on a Wednesday. I’m driving down a dirt road on my way to Spear’s Corner Store to get a cup of cof-fee before I begin work on an ambitious story: do five things a tourist might do in Charlotte, all in one day, without stopping. If the gloomy clouds and the humidity—so thick it seemed to be seeping from the air like an over-wet sponge—doesn’t tell me the glut of recent rain could dash my plans, two mallards contentedly playing around a deep puddle in the middle of Baldwin Road certainly hit the point home.

I pull into Spears at 7:42 a.m. As ever, owner Carrie Spear is at the center of the action. A group of regulars she jokingly refers to as the “town council” is talking loudly about the previous night’s special town meeting and Charlotte Volunteer Fire & Rescue’s financial issues. I pull the brim down over my eyes. Today I’m not reporting on town business. No, today I’m a tourist. My assignment—which, I should mention, nobody else would take—is to write about five things a tourist could do in Charlotte: hike, bike, ride a boat, see a museum and do a wine tasting. Because I’m told Vermonters take their summers seriously, owing to how brief they are, I vow to do them all in one day, back to back. To up the stakes, I give myself a deadline of 5 p.m. to finish everything.

So I grab a cup of coffee, the store’s super-caffeinated blend, and ask Carrie five things she would do in Charlotte. She has no idea, she tells me. Are there five things?

8:23 a.m.I decide to start my day with a break-

fast hike up Mt. Philo. If there is one key attraction in Charlotte that I think every-one could agree upon, it’s got to be this 968-foot peak, Vermont’s first state park. As I enter the trail I feel as if I’m entering a rain forest or Tolkien’s Shire. Everything is lush, green—a white fog envelopes everything in a veil of mist. It all makes me feel so serene.

And then a dog comes bounding down the trail and jumps to my chest, startling

me, its owner running just behind it, apolo-gizing profusely. So much for a peaceful morning hike.

What makes Mt. Philo such a great place for a morning jaunt is that one can hike Mt. Philo with a cup of coffee. In fact, the trail and the coffee seem to augment each other. While steep in places, the trail offers several places to pause and take in the increasingly expansive views, each one becoming more and more powerful such that, like a good cup of coffee, I feel a sort of electric charge through my veins as I drink in the scenery and make my way up the mountain.

But today the fog is so heavy I can’t see much beyond the rocks and trees below me. Everything else is engulfed in white, like someone dropped a giant bag of flour on the universe and it hasn’t yet settled. So,when I reach the summit a half hour later, I don’t linger very long.

9:58 a.m.I choose a 15-mile bike ride for my next

tourist activity. To fuel up, I stop at the Old Brick Store for a breakfast burrito. Like Spear’s Corner Store, the Old Brick is a hive of activity—people coming and going, getting provisions for the day. I’m tired from the hike but invigorated and ready for a bike ride, though 15 miles is more than I’ve done in a year.

I grab a Snickers and a Clif Bar for a mid-ride power boost. Leaving the store in a light sprinkle, I drive to the nearby News office, my starting and ending point for the ride. As I finish my burrito in the driver’s seat and look at a map of my intended route, a saucy pile of beans, cheese and egg falls on the page, staining my map. The rain seems to fall harder.

10:18 a.m.When I was 15 I took a family trip

to Disney’s Magic Kingdom. The pic-tures of me the morning we entered the park show a bright, smiling kid perhaps a bit too excited to ride Splash Mountain. Somewhere over the course of the day, though, I lost my wallet and the $74 I had in it. In the pictures from that afternoon the unexpected tragedy clearly left its mark. I look catatonic, zombielike, immune to my siblings’ attempts to cheer me up with goofy faces.

One of the risks of being a hardcore tourist is the unforeseen obstacle that throws one’s well-planned day into a tail-

spin. It seems that when we take a vacation we also expect the regular ups and downs of life to also take some time off. When this doesn’t happen, we can either laugh it off, get dispirited or work even harder to avoid reality.

As I prepare to leave for my bike ride, I slowly find myself choosing the second two.

After drying my bike, oiling the chain and changing my pedals, I grab my biking clothes and start toward the office to get changed. Almost as an afterthought I pause to check my tire pressure. The back tire needs air. And I forgot the pump.

I drop my clothes and grab my travel pump. I’m missing the adaptor for my tube’s presta valve—which has the frus-trating propensity to let air out of the tire when it’s loose—and end up deflating my back tire even more. In a panic, I run to see if our officemate Doug Hartwell, an avid cyclist, still has a bike pump outside his door. Nope. Gone. I scurry through the other rooms of the Ferry Road Business Park, hoping to find a bike pump or cyclist. Nope again. I find neither.

It’s now about 11 a.m. Lacking alterna-tives I load up my bike and drive to the North Ferrisburgh Short Stop for an air pump. When I try to fill my tire, the pump doesn’t fit; I end up completely deflating the tire.

Anyone else would have called it a day then and changed plans. But I am a tourist today, and I’m going to have a good time. I drive the ten miles back to my house and grab my bike pump. I arrive back at the News office around noon and pump up my tire in about two minutes. I had planned to be back from my ride by this time and on to the next task, so I dash inside and change into my bike gear.

With my helmet hanging loosely from my head I step outside, only to find it’s now raining so hard I can barely see my car in the parking lot. A clap of thunder echoes in the distance. I look at my bike with the same countenance I gave my par-ents’ camera all those years ago at Disney-land. I turn around to go back inside and find the door has locked behind me.

12.32 p.m.After changing again, I set out for the

next logical activity: I go for a drink.The “Open” flag on the Charlotte Vil-

lage Winery sign is drenched and hangs forlornly over the road. I dash into the wine-tasting area’s entrance under an awning so soggy that a waterfall of rain is coming off it. Inside, owner Colleen Pelkey and her granddaughter Katy Myers are quietly busying themselves.

Every bottle looks delightful to me as Katy sets them up on the bar for the tast-ing. As she pours a small amount—I have to restrain myself from asking for more—she tells me about each of the 12 wines, nearly all of them award winners. While the rain continues to fall we talk dogs and wine, and I ask her what she would do in Charlotte if she were a tourist on a day like this. She draws a blank.

“Drink wine,” she finally says.I order a glass of the raspberry delight

and drink it down.

1:15 p.m.So far my day is a bust. It’s half over,

I have only two activities under my belt, and I have only four hours to complete the remaining three. But I’ve learned a lesson: when you’re a tourist, stay flexible.

Given the rain, I have to stay indoors. The Charlotte Memorial Museum is closed, so I choose the next closest museum I can think of, the Rokeby in Ferrisburgh.

After making a stop at the Little Garden Market for a hummus sandwich, I drive the

ten minutes to the Rokeby. The museum’s new 2,500-foot education center, which opened in mid-May, still has the fresh new smell, and I’m excited to see its opening exhibit, “Free & Safe: The Underground Railroad in Vermont.”

Now I learn my second important lesson of the day: always bring cash or a check. I neglected to bring either and can’t pay the entrance fee.

Still, I’ll be back.

2:33 p.m.While my goal of completing five tasks

isn’t looking good—do I have two or two and a half?—the weather is at least looking a little better. On my way back into Charlotte I decide to check out the Vermont Wildflower Farm on Route 7. It bills itself as the “seediest place in Ver-mont,” and that’s no lie. The store features everything from seeds—lots of ‘em—to books to shirts to gardening items.

But it’s the quarter-mile walking path through a wildflower field and woods that really draws me. I love going to places where I can get exercise while I learn something new. The wildflower field is a bustling world unto itself, and, as I walk the trail, I get a charge out of learning about the flowers in front of me—through signs that are so well done I see a bee try-ing to harvest nectar from a flower painted on one.

As I make my way back to the car I see a sliver of blue sky peeking through and the rain letting up.

Time to bike.

3:27 p.m.I waste no time getting my biking gear

ready at the News office. The weather now is the complete opposite of this morning’s. I don’t have 15 miles in me at this point, but I decide a short ride along Greenbush, Thompson’s Point and Lake roads should suffice.

From the first small hills on Thomp-son’s Point its clear my aspirations to participate in the next Tour de France will have to be pushed back another year. I’m rusty and feel every bit of the year out of the saddle. I don’t so much pedal up the hills on Greenbush as galumph feebly up them. The heat doesn’t help much either.

Still, there’s clearly a reason that Char-lotte’s roads are filled with cyclists on days like this, and I feel a deep pleasure cruising down the hills toward Lake Champlain with the distant Adirondacks seemingly cheering me on. It’s not a feeling I can describe outside of saying it’s the opposite of the way I felt this morning.

4:22 p.m. I take a rest at Town Beach. The

weather has become magical, hot, breezy, summer. The beach is empty but for a young girl walking along the water’s edge in rain boots. I sit on the dock with my feet dangling over the water and watch her as she keeps walking to the edge of the dock to empty out her boots and then back to the water to walk in with them on.

“My boots aren’t high enough to walk in the water without getting wet,” she tells me. She continues to do this, though, and it becomes kind of comical. Just then, it occurs to me that I’ve only done four things and I’m coming up on my deadline. So I do perhaps the most essential Char-lotte vacation activity: go for a swim in Lake Champlain.

As I swim, I start to feel that maybe I’m not so different from the girl who can’t keep her feet dry. As much as the wet weather has ruined my attempts to be a tourist, I kept at it. As I immerse myself in the cool water I start to feel like the ducks this morning. I’m finally content.

Dottie Waller, Realtor, CBR

846-78491-800-864-6226 x7849

[email protected]

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My Blueberry Memories

Emma SlaterThe CharloTTe News

Blueberry picking is a sport that spans generations in my family.

One of the most prestigious pickers is my grandfa-ther, who is famous in family legends for picking 40 pounds of berries in one day. Each July he comes up from Connecticut to visit our family in Charlotte and pick berries at Pelkey’s farm, although not necessar-ily in that order. A friend swears that his graceful aging must be the result of sleeping packed in ice, but I think that his fountain of youth takes the shape of a small juicy berry.

When he picks, he hangs a pail off of each hip, diving double fisted into the bushes. I remember picking beside him at a young age with a green quart-sized container, topped with a slice of card-board. In the lid there was a small hole that was just large enough to fit a single berry through and small enough to keep my little fingers out.

As I picked, the sound of my berries hitting the carton was like the patter of summer rain, in com-parison to my grandfather’s hailstorm of berries. These visits to the berry patch are some of my quint-essential summertime memories of Charlotte, and I’ve found that it’s the perfect place to observe fel-low “Charlotters” in their natural habitat. Some pick-ers favor the same aggressive picking stance as my grandfather, but most prefer to chat and wander their way up and down the bushes. These quiet pockets of conversation mingle with a distinct smell of melting sunblock and the sporadic thuds of berries landing in buckets.

Although I’ve long since graduated from that carton to the full sized plastic pails, I have to admit there are still many of my blueberries that never see the inside of a bucket. However, with the remaining berries that survive voracious snacking on the ride home, I love to make my great-grandmother’s recipe for blueberry cake. She was a resident of Sudbury, Massachusetts, where she lived in the same house her entire life, originally built by her father. Out behind the screened-in porch, planted in soil filled with old Indian arrowheads, there was a beautiful patch of mature blueberry bushes. Her cake recipe has now been passed down from my grandmother to my mother and on to me. It’s perfect for summer afternoons when we all sit on the back porch with a sweating glass of sun-brewed ice tea, three genera-tions of blueberry lovers.

Gram’s Blueberry Cake

1 ½ cups floured blueberries, fresh or frozen, thawed and drained½ cup butter or margarine1 cup sugar2 eggs, separated1 ½ cups flour1 tsp. baking powder½ tsp. saltѿFXSPLON1 tsp. vanillaSugar for sprinkling

Beat egg whites until stiff. Set aside. Beat egg yolks. Stir together the flour, baking soda and salt. Add to egg yolks with milk and vanilla. Beat until smooth. Fold in floured blueberries and egg whites. Pour batter into a greased tube pan. Sprinkle gener-ously with sugar. Bake at 350° for 45 minutes.


With something for everyone, the trails maintained by the Charlotte Trails Com-mittee are a great way to get out and explore our beautiful landscape.

1- Pease Mountain

Trailhead: The trailhead is located on top of a hill in the southwest corner behind the athletic fields at Charlotte Central School. Park between the metal maintenance shed and the school, walk across the athletic fields and up the hill to a large sign that marks the trailhead.

Description: 2.3 miles (both loops), moderate incline, rough dirt trail. Moun-tain bikes are not permitted. Be mindful on the lower loop that a few trails lead off to nearby homes.

Pease Mountain is composed of an upper and lower loop, with two spur trails on the upper loop that afford beautiful views of the Green Mountains and Lake Champlain.

The trail starts out in a stand of white pines before transitioning into a hard-

wood forest. Just shy of the half-mile mark you come to the first trail junction and the start of the lower loop. Here you will see another spur trail straight ahead that loops back into the south side of the lower loop.

There are many options on the length of your hike, depending on the ability of those in your group and the amount of time you have.

Town Link Trail 2- Co-housing section 3- Melissa

and Trevor Mack section

Trailhead: From the center of the west village go approximately 1.5 miles south on Greenbush Road and turn left onto Common Way. Follow the signs to the Town Link Trail parking area. The trail-head is a little farther up the road on the right hand side.

Description: Cohousing section: 1.1 miles, flat, crushed gravel and grass.

Melissa & Trevor Mack section: 0.7

miles, slight incline, crushed gravel.The trail starts out as a gravel path

and gives the traveler a glimpse of what the entire seven-mile Town Link Trail will eventually look like. Just over the bridge the trail becomes a mowed path that meanders along the hedgerow before passing by a beautiful pond tucked into the rolling meadows. Continuing south-east, the trail dips and then climbs on its way to Route 7. Here you have the option to cross the highway (please be extremely careful) so that you can continue on the Melissa and Trevor Mack Trail (MTMT), which passes through working fields and vineyards before ending at State Park Road. The MTMT offers good views of the Adirondacks.

4- Plouffe Lane

Trailhead: From Route 7 and Church Hill Road take Church Hill Road to the stop sign and turn right onto Hinesburg Road. Take Hinesburg Road to Spear Street and turn left. Take Spear Street

approximately 1.3 miles and turn right onto Car-penter Road. Plouffe Lane will be a short distance down the road on your left. Follow the road to the end (there is

a red gate), open the gate and park your car inside.

Description: Approximately 1.5 miles in length,rolling hills, some moderate inclines, grass and rough dirt. Please respect the homeowners on Plouffe Lane by obeying the speed limit and all posted signs.

Just below the parking area at the bot-tom of the hill is a picnic table—a great place for families to have a picnic and let the children run around. The meadow trails fork here, one going up the hill and passing a bench that is a good resting spot and affords a nice view of the Green Mountains. The trail continues into a back field and loops back onto itself.

As the trail starts to curve back around you have the opportunity to slip into the woods and follow a nice path down to the lower field trail. If you go a little farther, another path into the woods branches off almost immediately. The right path is a short loop; the left path meanders through the forest and brings you back into the meadow.

Maps of these trails can be found at trailfinder.info.

If you are interested in volunteering with the trails committee, especially with trail upkeep and maintenance, please con-tact Jorden Blucher at [email protected].

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SUMMER CALENDARFAMILY FUN

SATURDAY, JULY 6 Charlotte Town Party! 11 a.m. – 2

p.m., Charlotte Town Green. Friends of the Library-organized all-town event includes a great book sale, parade, community organization displays, Quinlan School activities and lunch at the fire station!

SUNDAY, JULY 7 Butterfly Walk, 10 a.m. – 12

p.m., Birds of Vermont Museum, Huntington. All ages come experience butterflies and insects up close. Bring binoculars, magnifying glasses and/or butterfly nets. Donations welcome. Info: 434-2167 or birdsofvermont.org.

SUNDAY, JULY 7 Annual Middlebury Summer Festival-

on-the-Green, through Saturday, July 13, 35th day and evening events, junction of Routes 7, 125, 30 in the heart of Middlebury. Family friendly programs Monday – Friday at noon. Concerts at 7 p.m. For performance schedule visit festivalonthegreen.org.

WEDNESDAY, JULY 9, Thursday, July 10, Friday, July 11

Circus Smirkus, 12 p.m. & 6:30 p.m. shows, Champlain Valley Expo, Essex Jct. Enjoy Big Top Tour 2013: Oz Incorporated! Tickets: $21/adult, $18/child, under 2 free. Info: smirkus.org.

THURSDAYS, JULY 11, 18, 25 Summervale: Eat! Drink! Taste!

Groove! Create! Learn!, 5:30 – 8 p.m., The Intervale Center, Burlington. Free admission; food and drink avail-able for purchase. Info: intervale.org.

SATURDAY, JULY 13 French Heritage Day, 10 a.m. – 4

p.m., Vergennes City Park. Celebrate Franco-American heritage at this free, educational, fun-filled family day! Events include historical walk-ing tour, food, music, step dancing,

re-enactors, book reading, puppet show, exhibits and so much more! Info: 802-388-7951 or 800-733-8376 or visit addisoncounty.com/events for schedule.

Garden Tea Party at the Inn, 1 – 3 p.m., Inn at Shelburne Farms. Enjoy a treasure hunt adventure, then make tea bags and enjoy tea and treats in the colorful, fragrant gardens. Fee: $5/member, $6/non-member. Pre-registration required at 985-8686. Info: shelburnefarms.org.

MONDAY, JULY 15 Charlotte Grange #398 Summer

Picnic, 6:30 p.m., Charlotte beach. Info: 425-4140.

SATURDAY, JULY 20 Moonlit Campfire, 7 – 9 p.m.,

Shelburne Farms. Enjoy a campfire along with fun activities, s’mores, and a visit from a live owl. Fee: $5/mem-ber, $6/non-member. Preregistration required at 985-8686. Info: shelburne-farms.org.

SUNDAY, JULY 21 Family Day: Circus-Palooza, 10 a.m.

– 4 p.m., Shelburne Museum. Come one, come all to a circus spectacular as the museum plays ringmaster to all things circus. Info: shelburnemuseum.org.

Charlotte Community Beach Party!, 3 – 8 p.m., Charlotte beach. The recreation department is holding the first event with live music, potluck, pig roast, games, storytelling, EMS demos, Celtic dancing and family activities!

SATURDAY, JULY 27 Learn S’more About Camping

Workshop, 11 a.m. – 3 p.m., Mt. Philo State Park. State park staff and experts from Eastern Mountain Sports will show you everything you need to know about camping gear, setting up a campsite, building a campfire and cooking techniques. Free. Info: vtstateparks.com.

MUSICTHURSDAY, JULY 4 Folk By Association, 6 – 8:30 p.m.,

Shelburne Vineyard. First Thursdays Summer Music Series features intri-cate harmonies and eclectic tradi-tions. Free admission; food and drink for purchase. 10% proceeds benefit Shelburne Dog Park. Info: 985-8222 or shelburnevineyard.com.

FRIDAY, JULY 5 Free Lunchtime Concert: Pete

Sutherland and Oliver Scanlon, 12 – 1 p.m., City Hall Park, Burlington. Enjoy lively old-time and contradance tunes from local fiddle/folk duo! Info: burlingtoncityarts.org.

WEDNESDAY, JULY 10 18th Annual Summer Farm Barn

Concert Series, gate opens 5:30 p.m., concert begins 6:30 p.m., Shelburne Farms. Concert features Ragged Glory, local father/son duo of Ken and Jesse French performing an acoustic Neil Young tribute. Bring chairs, blankets and picnic for outdoor fun. Concession food and drink avail-able. Donations accepted. Info: shel-burnevt.org/events or 985-9551.

Hart & Mead Concert in the Park, 6:30 p.m., gazebo behind Hinesburg Community School. Music by Wolcot, Hinesburg’s own indie rock band. Grab a blanket, snacks and friends for an evening of music! Free. Info: 482-2281 x230 or hinesburg.org/rec-reation.

Green Mountain Chamber Music Festival: A Friendship of Consequence, 7:30 p.m., UVM

Rodney Crowell and Emmylou Harris will appear at the Flynn Main Stage

in Burlington on Wednesday, July 10.

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THEATERJULY 3 - 13 Tuesdays With Morrie, Saint Michael’s

Playhouse, Colchester. Evening and matinee performances of the inspir-ing and humorous play based on the best-selling novel. Tickets $34 – $43. Info: 654-2281 or saintmichaelsplay-house.org.

FRIDAY, JULY 5 Narnia: Traveling Wagon Tour, 6:30

p.m., Staige Hill Farm, Garen Road, Charlotte. Very Merry Theatre musi-cal performance follows the narra-tive of C.S. Lewis’ Narnia series. Donations greatly appreciated. Info: 355-1461 or verymerrytheatre.org

SATURDAY, JULY 6 Sandglass Theatre’s “D-Generation:

An Exaltation of Larks,” 2 p.m. and 8 p.m. shows, Town Hall Theater, Middlebury. Cutting-edge puppet production from Putney, Vt. based on stories written by people with late-stage dementia. Tickets $20. Info: 802-382-9222 or townhalltheater.org.

JULY 17 - 27 Rumors, Saint Michael’s Playhouse,

Colchester. Evening and matinee per-formances of Neil Simon’s hilarious comedy. Tickets $34 – $43. Info: 654-2281 or saintmichaelsplayhouse.org.

JULY 18 - 20 Dirty Blonde, Town Hall Theater,

Middlebury. Evening and matinee performances of Pendragon Theatre of Saranac Lake’s performance of the Broadway play about two people’s obsession with Mae West. Tickets $20. Info: 802-382-9222 or townhall-theater.org.

JULY 18 - 21 Shrek, the Musical, FlynnSpace,

Burlington. Evening and matinee performances of the hilarious story of everyone’s favorite ogre. Tickets $16/adult, $14/child. Info: 86-FLYNN or flynntix.org.

JULY 25 - 28 The Fantasticks, Town Hall Theater,

Middlebury. Evening and matinee performances of the longest running musical in theater history by The Skinner Barn of Waitsfield. Tickets $20. Info: 802-382-9222 or townhall-theater.org.

BOOKSMONDAY, JULY 8 Chris Bohjalian and Stephen

Kiernan: The Light in the Ruins Rock-and-Roll Book Tour and The Curiosity, 7p.m. Fletcher Free Library, Burlington. Phoenix Books and the library welcome local authors. Both will discuss and read from their new works. Info: fletcherfree.org.

TUESDAYS, JULY 9, 16, 23, 30 Lunch Time Read Aloud!, Brown Dog

Books, Hinesburg. Bring your lunch and your appetite to hear a story. Info: 482-5189 or browndogbooksandgifts.com.

TUESDAY JULY 16 Camp Boyfriend Launch Party, 4:30

p.m., Flying Pig Bookstore, Shelburne. The debut novel from J. K. Rock deals with issues of popularity and staying true to yourself that will resonate with most teens. RSVP at 985-3999 or fly-ingpigbooks.com.

FARMERS MARKETSBurlington Farmers MarketSaturdays, 8:30 a.m. – 2 p.m., City Hall Park, Burlington Bristol Farmers MarketSaturdays, 10 a.m. – 1 p.m., Village Green, BristolFletcher Allen Health Care Farmers MarketThursdays, 2:30 – 5:30 p.m., FAHC, Davis Concourse of the hospital, BurlingtonHinesburg Farmers MarketThursdays, 3:30 – 6:30 p.m., United Church of Hinesburg, Route 116 (Main St.),

HinesburgMiddlebury Farmers MarketWednesdays and Saturdays, 9 a.m. – 12:30 p.m., Marbleworks, MiddleburyOnline Farmers Market – yourfarmstand.comBrowse and order online and pick up close to home! For more info e-mail

[email protected] or visit yourfarmstand.com.Richmond Farmers MarketFridays, 3 – 6:30 p.m., Volunteers Green, RichmondShelburne Farmers MarketSaturdays, 9 a.m. – 1 p.m., Church St. and Rte. 7, ShelburneSouth Burlington Farmers MarketSundays, 10 a.m. – 1 p.m., South Burlington High School, Dorset StreetWilliston Farmers MarketWednesdays, 4 – 7 p.m., New England Federal Credit Union Parking Lot, 141

Harvest Lane, WillistonVergennes Farmers MarketThursdays, 3 p.m. – 6:30 p.m. Village Green, Main Street, Vergennes

PLAY BALL2013 LAKE MONSTERS JULY HOME GAME SCHEDULE at historic Centennial Field, Burlington (milb.com)

Stuck in Martha’s Vineyard with the

Memphis Blues Again

We are on Martha’s Vineyard Island

off Cape Cod this week for our annual

four-generation get- together at the great

grandparents’ cottage in the town of Oak

Bluffs. Don’t misunderstand me, but if I

were given my choice of places to gather,

I think I would remain in Vermont. Not

that the Vineyard isn’t an interesting spot

with a fascinating history that goes back

to its whaling days. I just don’t have the

oceanic talents, nor am I interested in

developing them at this stage in my life

(capability probably plays a role as well).

I don’t sail or fish; I do eat the latter with

gusto, however. I don’t care to hang out

on ocean beaches, shop for everything

Black Dog or drive every night to an

over-priced restaurant.

So what I do instead is observe and

learn, and my father-in-law has been a

superb teacher. Now we have two sets of

grandkids with us—grandchildren to Beth

and myself, great grandchildren to Poppy

and Nonnie—who are able in seconds to

ransack just about anything they choose.

The problem Beth and I faced this year is

that, because we arrived a day ahead of

the kids, we spent a quiet, peaceful night

in a house all by ourselves with food,

shelves, furniture and utensils all in order

and a porch uncluttered by bubble blow-

ers and scoop toys. We were suckered

into complacency like a couple of clams.

We should have known that peace

would be a temporary dream, a figment of

an adult imagination, and that upon arriv-

al, the opportunity to turn not one but two

houses upside down would be glorious

undertakings for a pair of six-year-old

twins, watched with intensity by a three-

year-old cousin and cheered with tongue

over new teeth by his baby brother.

The first words out of three-year-old

Teddy’s mouth were, “Look mom, I can

go from this book shelf to the top of this

little three-legged table to the back of the

couch to the arm chair with no rungs—

almost to South America without touch-

ing carpet. And just in case you missed

my first try I’ll make several passes

followed by an extremely loud and high-

pitched, WATCH THIS EVERYBODY!”

While at times it seems as though we

are feeding a full Fenway Park, there real-

ly are only 16 of us at the table. Clement

weather is good because the backyard

holds us all. Inclement weather makes the

porch feel like a lower Manhattan subway

car at rush hour. A positive feature has

resulted, however, as both dads rediscov-

ered the value of lacrosse sticks and ten-

nis balls with bushes surrounding the yard

that hid the balls while parents grabbed

sips of cool Margaritas between throws.

Trips “up island” were also daily

features. The old parental “nap” ruse,

“You’ve been good, so get in the car,

we’re driving 20 miles for ice cream,”

worked more often than not. Ice cream

on fingers, knees and nose, the Chilmark

Store front porch underneath them, the

entire Merritt clan cleansed their souls

and palettes.

And I learned some things along the

route. I discovered that simply calling

yourself a “drug store” doesn’t make it

any longer. You have to be an apothecary.

Movie theaters are rapidly becoming ante-

cedents of a changing technology. Two

dead ones stand with boarded doors and

signs announcing the “New Cary Grant

Movie” in downtown Oak Bluffs, one of

the busiest sections of the Island. Public

bathrooms—oh, don’t get me started.

Snooty wharf-front Edgartown doesn’t

have one without preceding your visit

with a $25 luncheon order (that doesn’t

include the ketchup). Three blocks up

the hill, the public library does provide

facilities as long as you whisper. Oh, to

be like three-year-old Teddy again and

just drop trou.

Many island houses still surround their

chimneys with widow’s walks, but I have

to admit that I’ve yet to see a widow

walking any of them. Carly Simon (and

now Burlington’s Nector’s) has given up

her Hot Tin Roof near the airport, and

some of the best lobster rolls anywhere

can be found across the harbor from

“Squid Row” in Menemsha. Now, I know

our president prefers to overlook the Oak

Bluffs pier while munching lobster, but

each to his own taste.

So, with that said, here is my advice for

those heading to Martha’s Vineyard—the

Obamas included. Bring many books, a

cribbage board, three decks of cards, in

the event two fall through the cracks in

the porch and one attempts the Kennedy

swim to Chappaquidick, and a fully

financed charge card.

One final word of caution: Remember

your wife’s ice cream order between

home and the Ben and Bill’s store (yes,

that’s its true name), so that one does not

come back, as I did, with mint chocolate

chip, aka, the “anything but” flavor I trun-

dled down Circuit Avenue to purchase.

After 43 years of Mad Martha’s and

now Ben and Bill’s you would think this

boy would learn. Al- though, even to the

guy coming down the street, guitar on his

back saying, “Hey mister, can you tell me

where a man might find that pistachio?”

I just grinned and shook his hand. “No”

was all I said.

OutTakes Commentary by Edd Merritt

Sunday, July 7 HUDSON VALLEY 5:05 p.m.

Monday, July 8 HUDSON VALLEY 7:05 p.m.

Tuesday, July 9 HUDSON VALLEY 11:05 a.m.

Wednesday, July 17 ABERDEEN 7:05 p.m.

Thursday, July 18 ABERDEEN 7:05 p.m.

Friday, July 19 ABERDEEN 7:05 p.m.

Saturday, July 20 AUBURN 6:05 p.m.

Sunday, July 21 AUBURN 5:05 p.m.

Monday, July 22 AUBURN 7:05 p.m.

Friday, July 26 TRI-CITY 7:05 p.m.

Saturday, July 27 TRI-CITY 6:05 p.m.

Sunday, July 28 LOWELL 5:05 p.m.

Monday, July 29 LOWELL 7:05 p.m.

Poppy napping with Paddington Bear on Martha’s Vineyard.


Charlotte Senior Centerby Mary Recchia,

Activities Coordinator

The Café Menu

MONDAY, JULY 8: Persian barley soup, cold broccoli salad, and home-made dessert

WEDNESDAY, JULY 10: tomatoes stuffed with tuna salad, orzo salad

MONDAY, JULY 15: assorted sand-wiches, salad, and Mom’s cherry cob-bler

WEDNESDAY, JULY 17: grilled lin-guica, Mediterranean potato salad, tossed salad

MONDAY, JULY 22: butternut squash/cranberry soup, green salad, and lemon yogurt with blueberriesGuitar music will be played from 11p.m. to noon

WEDNESDAY, JULY 24: ginger beef & noodle salad, Asian cucumber salad

MONDAY, JULY 29: chef’s choice, salad, and blueberry cobbler

WEDNESDAY, JULY 31: grilled Italian sausage w/peppers and onion

Senior LunCheonS are held every Wednesday at noon. Reservations are nec-essary in advance and can be made by call-ing the Senior Center at 425-6345. A $4 donation is requested. Reservations are not required for the Monday Munch.

A reminder that the Genealogy Group will meet on Friday, July 5, from 1 –3 p.m.

Do you want to research your ancestors but are not sure how to get started? Have you started your search and need some ideas on what to try next? Come have some fun, share ideas, trade information and tell stories of your journey through history. Family Tree Maker and Ancestory.com are available at the center to assist you in your search. No fee.

–––– Let’s Ride! with Sojourn Bicy-

cling on Tuesday morning, July 9, beginning at 9 a.m. from the center. Get outdoors, meet some folks and enjoy yourself!

Join Charlotte-based Sojourn for fun, supported recreational rides along the best cycling roads in the region. This trip will go to Essex, N.Y., where you will enjoy van sup-port and the camaraderie of Sojourn tour leaders. Snacks and refresh-ments will be provided, and we will return to the center by noon.

If you would like to come along but don’t have a bike, let us know. For $15 Sojourn will provide you with a properly sized bicycle. Regis-tration required. Fee for ferry.

–––– “Sail” by ferry to Essex for a

Mid-Day Concert and Lunch coor-dinated by Harriett Brainard, Mary Harry and Tani Gagner. We will meet at the Senior Center at 10 a.m. and go together to board the 10:30 a.m. Charlotte ferry. The concert takes place at the Essex Community Church, a one-block walk from the ferry dock, starts at 11:30 a.m. and lasts about 45 minutes. Admission is free, but donations are appreciated. Afterward, you can visit the unusual shops in town and stop in at one of the local eateries for a bite to eat

before returning home to Charlotte via ferry by 4 p.m. Please call the center for a detailed description of each concert offering:

July 11: Immanuel Davis, flute trio.

July 18: Green Mountain Cham-ber Music Festival.

Registration required. Fee: Lunch money and $6.50 for roundtrip ferry ride.

––––Kayak Trips for Women pro-

vide an opportunity for like-mind-ed older women who share a love for recreational kayaking, paddling and exploring our many local lakes, ponds and rivers. We help each other, laugh a lot and have fun.

Our second trip will go to Arrow-head Mountain Lake in Georgia and Milton on July 12, and on July 26 we will paddle from Kingsland Bay to Charlotte Beach. To register your interest, please respond by e-mail directly to Susan Hyde, [email protected].

–––– Join Phyllis Bartling and Sukey

Condict for Tubing on the White River Thursday, July 18, and Friday, Aug. 2, from 9 a.m.–3 p.m., weather permitting.

Affectionately known as the tub-ing capital of Vermont, “The Stock-bridge Yacht Club,” as the locals call it, has the finest tubing on the White River. For $13 you get a tube and a shuttle up the river, and then you are on your own for the three–mile float down the river that takes about two hours—slow enough to just sit back and watch the world go by. The water is no more than a couple of feet deep, but even in its deeper holes the bottom of the river is crys-tal clear. Enjoy summer in full swing at one of Vermont’s natural play-grounds! A hat, sunscreen and water shoes are recommended. Pack a bag

lunch to enjoy at the end of the trip on the “shore” with fellow tubers. Reservations required. We will meet and carpool from the Senior Center. Fee: $13.

––––“Art Inspired by Poetry and

Song.” That is the 2013 theme for our eighth annual fall Charlotte Senior Center Community Art Show, which will hang in the Great Room during the month of September.

Again, we encourage all of you “creative spirits” in our community, 50 years old or older, to enter. Reg-istration forms with specific details will be available in the foyer by Friday, July 19. (Deadline for sub-mitting forms is August 16.) As always, artists, friends and relatives are invited to gather at an artists reception on Wednesday, Sept. 4, at 1 p.m. for an opportunity to meet the artists and take part in discussions about their art.

–––– Events Following the Wednes-

day Luncheon at 1 p.m. Those who do not share lunch with us are welcome to drop in around 1 p.m. to enjoy the after- lunch offerings:

July 10: The Charlotte 250: That’s How the Story Goes! Part IV. A Perceptions Production by Don and Betty Ann Lockhart

As part of the 250th Celebration of Charlotte, the Lockharts have compiled fascinating stories about our town from 29 Charlotters to be presented in a four-part series. With a backdrop of “The Charlotte Song” composed and sung by Rob-ert Resnik and Marty Morrissey, this is a must-see series for anyone who loves our little town! Part IV speakers include Valerie Graham, Jeanne Brink, Jenny Cole and Clark Hinsdale III.

Don't Miss 'Bluegrass and Berries' FestivalThe Basin Harbor Club will present the

first installment of its summer music festival series with a selection of local bluegrass and folk music, as well as berry-inspired refresh-ments. This event takes place on July 6 from 2 to 10 p.m.

Musical entertainment will include sets by Caroline Rose, The Blind Owl Band, Patti Casey, After the Rodeo, the Dupont Brothers, Red Hot Juba, and Belle Pines.

Tickets can be purchased online at basinha-rbor.com for $15 until July 5. Tickets will also be sold at the door for $18.For more informa-tion, call 800-622-4000 or 475-2311.

Whatever it takes to make your smile radiant, Shelburne Dental Group is committed to helping you reach that goal.

Shelburne Dental GroupShelburne Shopping Parkwww.shelburnedental.com

(802) 985-3500

Smile! You’re in good hands.

Our patients are our most important asset.

Dan Melo, DMD

Susan A. Grimes, DDS



SPORTS by Edd Merritt

Cluff retires from St. Mike’s coaching positionCharlotte’s Greg Cluff, who has been coaching the St.

Michael’s College women’s tennis team for the past ten

years, has announced his retirement. Cluff led the team to

124 wins with only 65 losses over the past decade. He took

them to the NCAA Tournament three times and was named

the Northeast-10 Conference coach of the year twice.

Sydney Beldock named first team all Western New England lacrosse

Sydney Beldock finished her junior year at the Berkshire

School in Sheffield, Mass., this spring. As a junior, she was

captain of the lacrosse team and was named to the first team

all Western New England squad after scoring 40 goals and

adding 20 assists over the season. Sydney played lacrosse

for Shelburne’s Field House team, CVU High School and

Charlotte Central School prior to entering Berkshire.

Charlotte’s Maeve Higgins is lone CVU top finisher in heptathlon

Upcoming sophomore Maeve Higgins was the lone CVU

runner to finish among the top three runners in individual

events at the 38th annual Heptathlon Championships at

UVM in mid June. She placed third in the 800-meter run.

CVU’s Autumn Eastman named athlete of the yearOnly a junior this past year, CVU track star Autumn

Eastman was named the Gatorade athlete of the year for

Vermont. In this year’s state track meet she was an indi-

vidual winner twice and anchored the 4 by 800-meter relay

squad to victory. In winning the 800- meter run, she broke

a long-standing Division I record, and she and her relay

mates smashed the 4-by-800 record as well. Interested in

a career in health care, Autumn is pursuing that desire

through UVM’s MedQuest program this summer.

American Legion Baseball off to a soggy startSD Ireland, the local American Legion baseball team,

should probably stay as far away from Essex as possible.

In three games between the two teams over the last week

of June, Ireland dropped all of them. Unearned runs in the

opener proved to be the problem in a 4-1 loss on June 22.

Two days later Essex was forced to hold off an Ireland rally

in the top of the seventh inning to keep its 6-5 win, and the

teams combined for four home runs several days later with

Essex again pulling away in the latter innings for an 8-4

victory.

Despite Rainy Weather, Little League All Stars Play Ball

Cole Otley (above) throws a pitch during a recent Charlotte Little League game against Mt. Abraham.

Cole Brown dashes down the base path during a recent game.

After a frustrating week of rain delays, post-

poned games, rescheduled games, indoor prac-

tice and lots of miles on parents’ cars, the

Charlotte Little League 11/12 All Star team

finally completed its first game of pool play on

Saturday, June 29, at Schifilliti Park in Burling-

ton. Charlotte won in a well-played, competitive

game against Mt. Abraham of Addison County

with a final score of 12 to 10. If Mother Nature

cooperates, the Charlotte team will play four

more games in the next week, and its record will

determine if it moves onto the next round of the

playoffs that ultimately culminates in the Little

League World Series.

Sign up by April 10 and get $25.00 off your next 3 bills

plus we will donate $10.00 to the Vermont Foodbank!


Summer Reading Program: DIG Into Reading

July 8 to 12: Animals in Caves & Holes.Who lives in that hole in the ground? Or that cave on the hill? Bats, squirrels, chipmunks and foxes do! We’re lucky to have them all in Vermont. Join us this week to learn all about these crea-tures.

Tuesday, July 9, 10:30 a.m.: Critter Story Time for ages 3 to 5. Registration required.

Wednesday, July 10, 1 p.m.: Movie AntzThursday, July 11, 10:30 a.m.: Exploring

Animals for ages 6 & up. Registration required.

July 15 to 19: Rock Out at the Library. Where do those mysterious rocks and miner-als come from? Discover the answers as we delve into the rocky world of geology with hand lenses, cool books, crystal recipes and micro-scopes, too.

Tuesday, July 16, 10:30 a.m.: Rocks All Around for ages 6 & up. Registration required.

Wednesday, July 17, 1 p.m.: Movie Gnomeo and Juliet

Thursday, July 18, 2 p.m.: Project Micro with Jan Schwarz: Dig into the microscopic

realm of rocks, minerals and other wonders. Ages 6 & up. Registration required.

Friday, July 19, 10:30 a.m.: Teen Rocks! Explore iridescent art as we make prismacolor stones…all you need to do is hold a pencil. Ages 12 and up. Registration required.

It’s not too late to sign up. Share your favorite book titles with us and try out our new marble run to keep track of all the reading you do.

Town Party and Friends of the Library Book Sale. In case you missed the buzz, the Party of the Year is Saturday, July 6, from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Stock up your shelves with summer read-ing, discover activities from around town, meet and greet old friends and new.

JUST A REMINDERNew Hours (*) at the Library Starting July 1

Mondays: 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.*Tuesdays: 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Wednesdays: 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.*Thursdays: 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. *Fridays: 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. *Saturdays: 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.

News From the Libraryby Margaret Woodruff

players to learn about sustainability-related concepts, such as fair trade and Gross National Happiness, as well as take on challenges with real-world impact, such as participating in the Way To Go Commuter Challenge, creating a Zero Waste Day in their home, starting compost piles, test-driving electric cars and visiting the decorated rain barrels in Burlington that educate citizens about water quality in Lake Champlain.

Town Teams also took on collective challenges such as set-ting up an information table at the South Burl-ington Farmers Market, hosting a public local-vore potluck in Charlotte and organizing a week-long “Buycott” in Calais to encourage people to buy everything they need from their small town.

Rebecca Foster was one of the driving forces behind Charlotte’s suc-cess in this year’s event, noted Holmes.

“Thanks to Rebecca Foster’s motivational e-mails, leadership and cheerleading, the team pulled in extra points for various challenges,” she said.

These challenges included a town-wide local and foraged food potluck dinner, a “buy-cott” of Yourfarmstand.

com in which participants encouraged parents to purchase gift certificates from the business as an end-of-the-year gift for school staff, and register-ing CCS in the state’s “Safe Route to Schools” program, which encourages more students to walk or bike to school.

“Over the six weeks of the game, we had over 200 players complete more than 2,500 challenges,” says Vermon-tivate co-founder Nick Lange. “That’s triple what we had last year. Hopeful-ly,” he adds, “we can expand through-out the whole state, and then take Ver-montivate nationwide.”

"The best part about Vermontivate is that it makes taking action on such a

serioius issue so much fun," said player Karen McKenny.

For her part, Holmes will definitely participate again. “It took me several weeks to understand how the game

works,” she said. “Now that I do, I look forward to being able to jump right in next year.”

For more on Vermontivate, visit ver-montivate.com.

Vermontivate continued from page 1

A young Vermontivate particpant holds up the 2013 Madame Pheobe's Award. Attendees big and small took advantage of the nice weather and the cool

treat.

Ben & Jerry's served 800 scoops of ice cream at the Vermontivate celebration.

SATURDAYHOURS.

Charlotte Family Health CenterRichard H. Bernstein, MD – Family PracticeAndrea Regan, MD – Family Practice Gordon Gieg, MD – Family Practice

527 Ferry Road, Charlotte / 802-425-2781

A P A R T O F T H E C H A R L O T T E C O M M U N I T Y S I N C E 1 9 7 5


Waiting for the Right Moment

Sam Johnson is on this season’s “America’s Got Talent,” but it’s a different TV show that he's really passionate about.

Brett SigurdsonThe Charlotte News

Any other time and Sam Johnson wouldn’t have done it. The handstand on the sway pole 80 feet in the air, on national television, for a crowd of ten million, that is.

Johnson was one of several people to vie for a handful of competition spots on the popular NBC show “America’s Got Talent” on June 4. As Johnson tells it, he stayed motionless on the pole just below the handstand supports for close to three minutes, waiting for the wind from Lake Pontchartrain to subside enough for him do to the acrobatic stunt he’d traveled 2,000 miles in a rental truck full of equipment to do.

The producers of “America’s Got Talent” bused in a large audience to watch the show at the Lakefront Arena in New Orleans. When it came time for Johnson’s performance, everyone walked outside to stand and watch. Johnson doesn’t get nervous before these performances. It’s what being an entertainer is all about. He knew that most of the hard work happens before the stunt with correctly setting up the sway pole and its guy wires.

He could hear the crowd below creat-ing the most sustained wave of noise he had ever experienced. Still, he waited for the right time, swaying back and forth in the wind.

***Only a few weeks before he was

working at Spear Street Mower Spe-cialties in East Charlotte. He had large-ly given up on the street performer game he’d been a part of since he was 13, when he got involved with Circus Smirkus. His last project, the Old Iron Circus—which he debuted at the East Charlotte Tractor Parade—fell through for several reasons. He tried to go the police academy, but that fell through, too. A single parent with a five-year-old child at home, he thought it was time to pack in the lifestyle.

But then he received a call from the producers of “America’s Got Talent.” They had seen a video collection of his tricks on the Internet and asked him to do a pre-audition for the show. He said no. They then invited him to the audition show in New Orleans to do his sway-pole-handstand trick, and he said yes.

However, Johnson hadn’t done the trick in almost two years. He wasn’t even sure where his equipment was.

While these things weighed heavy on him as he prepared for his performance, he was excited by the prospect of a last hurrah and the excitement of the unknown.

On his drive down to Louisiana he told everyone he met that he was going to be on television. When he arrived on Saturday, the day before the Sunday taping of the show, he began to set up his sway pole—a cameraman recorded him the whole time—and the familiar feeling of being in the air came back to him.

***Johnson’s former troop, the Big Aer-

ial Show, was once performing at the Arizona State Fair at the same time the Travel Channel was recording footage for a television show. While John-son was being interviewed, a producer asked him about his life on the road, thinking it would make great televi-sion. Johnson agreed and contacted two production companies about hosting a documentary television series. From all his years on the road he had heard a lot of people, knew a lot of people. How-ever, that fell through, too.

Last summer, a cameraman from the Travel Channel show contacted him to see if he’d be up for making a short pilot for the show to take around to production companies. They traveled to Boston to look into the lives of street performers David Graham and Tobin Renwick of the Red Trouser Show and Jason Escape, whose act is equal parts Houdini and AC/DC.

Johnson sat on the footage for a while and then started editing it into a pitch for “Street Performers with Sam John-son.” While he didn’t have any past editing experience, he went by feeling, getting feedback from friends and fam-ily about how it flowed. He’s excited by storytelling, by sharing the lives of the people who share his passion for street performance.

He was going to start a Kick-starter fundraising campaign when he got the call from “America’s Got Talent.”

Johnson doesn’t even like televi-sion and had a hard time waiting up to watch his own seg-ment. He makes no bones about his desire to use “America’s Got Talent” as a spring-board for launch-ing his documenta-ry project. If it can help him realize his dream to make “Street Performers with Sam Johnson” a reality, then he’ll play along.

“I want it to be my destiny,” he said.

***The episode of

“America’s Got Talent” doesn’t show him waiting near the top. With a dramatic musical score as a backdrop, Johnson is shown briefly looking at the audience below and salut-ing them with an outstretched hand. As the pole waves from side to side Johnson is all determination. Any fear he may have is captured by footage of gasping crowd members or the shocked banter between the celebrity judges.

When Johnson angles himself into position and lifts his legs to the sky and holds them outstretched toward the sun, the crowd goes wild. He holds the posi-tion only briefly, but when he comes back down, he’s welcomed like a hero.

As the crowd moved back into the theater Johnson took some time to reflect. He was mad at himself for push-ing beyond his usual safety threshold. From not having done the trick in two years to doing it under these intense conditions? Crazy.

But this is what appealed to the judg-es, and they liked what he did enough to send him on to the next round in Las Vegas. Though the episode has already been taped, Johnson can’t say anything

about it due to the conditions of his contract. However, an NBC representa-tive did note he would be featured on an episode airing on July 18.

After the first episode aired he found he had around 200 new Facebook friend requests, most of them from northern Maine, where he grew up. “It was great getting support from all these people in the past,” he said.

Johnson recalls waiting with other performers on “America’s Got Tal-ent”— singers, musicians, dancers, daredevils. Everyone was chatty and friendly and interested despite the stakes. It was like the old vaudeville days but relocated to the 21st century, he said. This is the world of performers that many don’t see, the world he wants to share with everyone.

Johnson is eager for the day when he can have the financial wherewithal and connections to make his real television debut. Until then, he’ll wait patiently for the right moment to come along.

To find out more about “Street Per-formers with Sam Johnson,” visit his Facebook page.

Sam Johnson—also known as Slackwire Sam—juggles fire on a unicycle high in the air. It's tricks like this that got him noticed by producers at America's Got Talent.

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Butterflies in CharlotteGary PittmanContributor

While walking through my emerg-ing Charlotte forest this spring I noticed a beautiful mourning

cloak butterfly resting next to the trail. Thus began a process of wondering, “What is the role of the butterfly?” Do butterflies need conservation practices similar to birds and other wildlife? We all recognize swal-lowtails and monarchs, as well as see many

other open field varieties, but what about the lesser-known forest dwellers?

Butterflies play an important role in the natural world as part of the food web, as pollinators and as herbivores. I was sad-dened by reports of declining populations of many of these beautiful creatures due to habitat loss, invasive species, pesticide use and climate change.

Apart from the mourning cloak, which is fairly common, I learned that there are four lesser-known species that inhabit Charlotte’s clayplain forests and are clas-sified as species of greatest conservation need. The West Virginia white, occupying maple-beech-birch forests, is most endan-gered. Early hairstreak butterflies are found in beech stands. Hackberry and tawny emperors favor the clayplain forest.

Most woodland butterflies will be found along trails and the forest edge or other small open meadows. Conservation rec-ommendations are the same as for other wildlife species. There are needs to have structural complexity, habitat diversity and landscape conductivity.

I will be much more aware of the butterfly while walking woodland trails.

Gary Pittman is a member of the Charlotte Conservation Commission

A tawny emperor butterfly

Charlotte Conservation Currents

For a town of only 3,600 people, Charlotte is ahead of towns 10 times its size when it comes

to efficiently heating water with the sun. In fact, Charlotte led Chittenden County in new solar hot water installa-tions in 2012.

A driving force behind this trend is Co-op Solar – a program run by the Energy Co-op of Vermont. John Quin-ney, the general manager of the Co-op and a Charlotte resident, attributes the rapid adoption of solar in Charlotte to three factors: a desire to reduce energy consumption in order to save money and reduce pollution; the affordability of solar; and how easy Co-op Solar has made the evaluation and installation process.

“It’s usually just a one-day project, then families save on their energy bills for decades to come,” said Quinney.

Big savings

By solar-heating the cold water that flows into its existing hot water tank, one family on Greenbush Road is sav-ing almost $600 a year in electricity charges. Another family on Mt. Philo Road has reduced its annual fuel oil consumption by over 110 gallons.

Charlotters and Energy Co-op of Vermont members Linda and Larry Hamilton had their solar hot water sys-tem installed through the Co-op Solar program in 2012. Said Linda, “We’ve only had the solar hot water panels since last summer, and already there’s a noticeable drop in our oil use.”

By partnering with Shelburne-based Sunward Systems, and coupled with federal and state incentives, the Co-op

has lowered the cost of installing solar hot water, on average, by almost 50 percent.

National and local leadership

“Vermonters are leading the way,” said Thomas Hughes, CEO of Sun-ward Systems. According to the Solar Energy Industries Association, in 2011 Vermont installed more solar hot water systems per capita than any other state in the country.

The success of the program has not gone unnoticed. Co-op Solar received the Vermont Governor’s Award for Environmental Excellence for the pro-gram’s contributions towards sustain-ability in Vermont.

Delivering heating fuel has been one of the Energy Co-Op’s main sources of revenue since its founding in 2000. Quinney explains the organization’s transition to renewable energy options by saying, “All of these evolutions reduce the gallons of oil the Energy Co-op sells each year, but our business is more varied, more responsive, and stronger for it.”

Free site assessment

Co-Op Solar offers a free site assess-ment, followed by a no-cost, no-obli-gation consultation that details system costs, payback period and financial and environmental savings over time.

The deadline for Charlotte residents and business owners to sign up for the program is July 10. For more informa-tion or to sign up, go to co-opsolar.net or call the Co-op at (802) 860-4090.

Solar Hot Water Taking Off in Charlotte

Solar hot water panels on the roof of a building on Linda and Larry Hamilton’s property.

The 'Hearts' of Charlotte

Larry HamiltonContributor

“Hearts of oak are our ships; hearts of oak are our men.”

So goes an old British Navy song that I learned and loved from my time in World War II as a pilot in the Royal Navy Fleet Air Arm. It conjures up the strength, tenac-ity and reliability of oak trees of various species for a myriad of uses.

There may be as many as 450 oak spe-cies worldwide, at least 22 in eastern North America and at least six in Charlotte. One very large and old one, dating from around 200 years ago, and one rather young one, planted in 2012, are shown in the photo. These trees are swamp white oak, a species native to our Champlain Valley Clayplain Forest.

Other species occurring naturally in Charlotte include white, bur, red, black, scarlet and chestnut oaks. Nearby relatives include Chinquapin oak and pin oak (the latter being widely planted here as an orna-mental). Precise identification is often dif-ficult because the white oak group (white, bur, swamp white) hybridize readily. They are long-lived but fairly fast-growing trees. The oldest known tree in Charlotte is in Williams Woods and several years ago was aged 380 years.

Oak trees have been held in high esteem down through the ages. To the early Druids the oak was a sacred tree, and it hosted the sacred mistletoe (a guard against evil). Oaks were consecrated to Zeus, and oracles were given by oaks in the Sacred Grove of Dodona. The Romans thought oak wood to be lucky, and they made dice of oak. In Europe, the oak tree has been considered the Tree of Justice, and particularly in Switzerland and Germany local magistrates sat under an oak to render a judgment.

Here in the United States, charters and legal documents in early days were signed under an oak tree. The famous Charter Oak, a large white oak tree that costood in

Hartford, Connecticut, came by its name when, in 1687 Connecticut’s Royal Charter of 1662 ccwas hidden in a hollow of its trunk to safeguard it from being revoked.

Aside from its valued wood for furni-ture, flooring, barrels, shipbuilding and as a fine fuel wood, its crop of acorns makes it a fine asset for wildlife in our forests. The acorns of the white oaks nourished Native Americans and early European settlers. The acorns must be leached of tannins by boiling or soaking, and today only locavore foragers take the time and trouble to make a nutty flour from acorns. For many forms of wildlife, however, acorns are a staple, highly nutritious food. The State Wildlife Department maps and lists concentrations of these valued mast producers as Neces-sary Wildlife Habitat and has successfully protected many of them in the Act 250 process.

Charlotters be warned—next year we will probably experience very large popu-lations of squirrels and chipmunks. This spring we have experienced remarkable flowering of most of our trees, providing stunning sights of lilacs, flowering crabs and plums, and black locusts. Oaks, too, flowered prolifically, especially red oaks. I look for a bumper crop of acorns.

Other mast-producing trees such as beech, hickory and hop-hornbeam are also producing large crops. Of course, as well as the aforementioned rodents, other species such as deer, grouse, turkey and bear will benefit also. In “normal” years oak repro-duction is inhibited by acorn predation by insects, squirrels and chipmunks, but every so often a “swamping” of the opposition occurs, and oaks are able to reproduce and perpetuate their presence in our forests. This fall looks like one of these.

We are fortunate to have so many oaks in Charlotte! To see the largest bur oak in town and its smaller offspring grouped around it, visit the Charlotte Park and Wildlife Reserve and walk the nature trail. At station 7 you can see the champion with an impressive circumference of 152 inches.

Larry Hamilton is Charlotte’s volun-teer tree warden.

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New BeginningsBradley CarletonContributor

About nine years ago, a woman

from the Shelburne Community

School asked me if I would

consider mentoring a young man who

was challenged to adhere to some basic

social tenets of the institution. I accept-

ed the challenge and began meeting

him once a week during school time.

We got to know one another and real-

ized that we shared a common passion,

the outdoors.

We would talk at length about things

that 14-year- olds experience and soon

formed a bond where, in the hour we

would spend together, he taught me

one of the most valuable lessons of my

life: that my actions could have a sig-

nificant impact on someone younger.

What I said, what I thought about,

how I handled my own life, even my

deep passion for hunting and fishing,

became the central driver of our con-

nection.

Soon I was introduced to his caretak-

ers and found that our relationship took

on a new form, that of ice fishing part-

ners. I would work him into my weekly

rituals of jigging for panfish, sitting on

a pickle bucket out in Shelburne Bay.

Sometimes we caught yellow perch,

sometimes the nearly translucent rain-

bow smelt, but every expedition we

undertook, I learned more about my

purpose in life.

My strongest desire is to share the

world of the hunter, fisher and gatherer

with others who might not otherwise

consider it. I mentored

seven more young men

over the following eight

years and started writ-

ing about my outdoor

exploits. Soon, I was

offered a monthly col-

umn in a regional pub-

lication, then another.

Before long, my pas-

sion was bringing me

greater rewards than I

could have imagined. I

decided to start a men-

toring program based on

the belief that nature can

teach us so many valu-

able lessons, as well as

comfort us in times of

stress. I decided to call

it “Traditions Outdoor

Mentoring.”

Our mission would

be to work with at-risk

young men who may

not have male role

models in their lives

and teach them outdoor

pursuits focusing on

respect, empathy and

compassion. We took

two young men at a time and con-

structed an outdoor curriculum that

encompassed habitat management,

species identification, firearms safety,

hunter education, animal calling, cam-

ouflage, scouting, landowner relations

and more. For the full range of lessons

we offer, go to our website, tradition-

soutdoormentoring.org and click on

“Curriculum.”

This program often found that young

men with ADD or ADHD, anti-social

behaviors or anger issues slowly dis-

solved through the application of time

spent outdoors and being mindful of

the earth and all its manifestations.

We had one young man who recent-

ly contacted me, five years after fin-

ishing the program, asking me to be

best man in his wedding next summer.

He had come to us as a student who

had been “rescued” from joining a

metropolitan gang in Texas. During a

particularly difficult time, his psychia-

trist had told us that he was a sociopath

and would inevitably wind up in jail.

His school counselors, therapist and I

refuted that opinion, and we continued

to work with him. He is now a mature

and responsible young man who works

several jobs in Rhode Island and cares

for his fiancé and one-year-old child.

Another young man came to us

wrestling with self-confidence issues

and was just trying to find his way

through adolescence. He mastered

waterfowl hunting—scouting fields for

geese and learning decoy sets—and

became truly an expert at the sport.

One day he announced to us that he

wanted to serve his country and join

the Marines. He is now serving in

Afghanistan. Although I do not like to

embrace war as a solution, we are very

proud of his desire to serve his country.

Currently, we have a young man in

our program who has gone from boast-

ful and angry to a maturing 15-year-old

who is learning the peaceful art of fly

fishing. His casting abilities astound

me. What took me 15 years to master

he imitated and reached in less than a

month.

While mentoring these young men I

recognized that there was a small but

growing community of people here

in Charlotte who want to be able to

connect to their environment on a

meaningful level and perhaps even be

responsible for the meat and vegetables

they eat. We began teaching foraging,

basic hunting ethics and fishing to

those who were curious about where

their food came from.

From this idea evolved Sacred Hunt-

er.org, which now incorporates Tradi-

tions Outdoor Mentoring and contrib-

utes several articles a month to local

publications, sponsors Free Fishing

Day, and provides speakers for several

outdoor events like Dead Creek Day

in October or the Yankee Sportsman’s

Classic in January.

We are currently conducting an

online campaign to raise funds for

more equipment for our young men. If

you have ever felt compelled to give

to a cause that contributes to the belief

that we can all benefit from direct

contact with nature, please visit our

website or Facebook page and make a

donation to our campaign at Indiegogo.

com. Once at Indiegogo.com, do a

search for “Sacred Hunter.”

Thank you for your consideration.

Now get outside!

Bradley Carleton is executive direc-tor of Sacred Hunter.org, a nonprofit that seeks to educate the public on the spiritual connection of man to nature and raises funds for Traditions Out-door Mentoring.org, which mentors at-risk young men in outdoor pursuits.

A young girl enjoys a catch on Free Fishing Day.


Food Shelf News

Business Directory

Thank you Thank you to the Charlotte Cen-

tral School 8th grade graduating class. We appreciate the leftover items from your graduation night party. Thanks to Charlotte Coop for the monthly sup-port. Thank you, Meg Berlin, for the support. We thank Shirley Bean for the cereal and pasta donations and Rachael

Hutchins for the fresh farm eggs.The Food Shelf Wednesday evening

hours have been a great help to working families. Thanks go out to our Wednes-day evening volunteers for making this additional time available to families.

Congratulations to Elizabeth Rich-ards, who graduated with honors from Rice High School. She has been our long- time volunteer shopper.

We need clean jars with tight-fitting lids to dispense vegetable oil, dish soap, window cleaner and Pine Sol. Do you have some you could donate? Jars can be dropped off at Food Shelf drop boxes. Thanks! Also, we are stocking up with healthy summer snacks for kids. Any donations would be greatly appreciated.

Mark your calendars for the Charlotte Town Party on July 6. Audrey Bean has again this year made an afghan, which you can see and buy a raffle tick-et for at the Food Shelf table. Tickets

are $2 each or 3 for $5. Everyone who visits our table gets a treat, so stop by.

The Food Shelf is run entirely by volunteers, so all donations go directly for food or emergency assistance. If you are a customer of yourfarmstand.com, you may make a donation to the Food Shelf as part of your online order; otherwise checks may be mailed to:

Charlotte Food Shelf & Assistance403 Church Hill RoadP. O. Box 83Charlotte, VT 05445

Donated food drop-off locations: All non-perishable food donations may be dropped off at the Charlotte Library, the Charlotte Congregational Church vestry, Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Church (main entrance) or at the Food Shelf during the distribution mornings. We request that all fresh foods be dropped off at the Food Shelf by 7:30 a.m. on the

distribution mornings (see “Ongoing Events” calendar).

The Charlotte Food Shelf is located on the lower level of the Charlotte Congregational Church vestry. We are open for food distribution from 7:30 to 9:30 a.m. on Thursday, July 11, and Thursday, July 25, as well as from 5 to 7 p.m. on the Wednesday eve-nings before each Thursday distribution morning.

We are open to all community resi-dents. Privacy is very important and respected in our mission of neighbor helping neighbor.

For emergency food call John 425-3130. For emergency assistance (elec-tricity, fuel) call Karen 425-3252.

For more information call Karen 425-3252 or visit our website at https://sites.google.com/site/charlottefoodshelfvt/.

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From a brutal civil war to interna-tional acclaim, Sierra Leone’s Refu-gee All Stars are an inspiring success story. Despite the past, the band looks forward on a new album it recorded in Charlotte last month.

Brett SigurdsonThe CharloTTe News

It’s around noon at Lane Gibson Recording and Mastering on Carpenter Road, and the

members of the Sierra Leone's Refugee All Stars are hun-gry. They crowd around a pic-nic table, eagerly filling their plates with an African dish of rice, fish and meat cooked by guitarist Ashade Pearce. It’s a taste of the band’s home country that is augmented by the lush, green mountains in the near distance, which evoke the members’ home country of Sierra Leone, said lead singer Reuben M. Komora.

“Vermont is beautiful,” he said just before grabbing a bowl to serve himself. "And the people are warm. Good people.”

The scenery is not the only thing that has made the band feel at home in Charlotte while it records a new album for Cumbancha, a record label headquarted in Charlotte and owned by renowned world-music expert Jacob Edgar. The entire six-piece band, for example, stayed with Bill Racolin and Allison Williams on Lake Road. They’ve also had a steady stream of visitors and old friends.

“The feel here is natu-ral,” said Koroma, compar-ing Charlotte to Brooklyn and New Orleans, where the band recorded its last two albums. “And it looks like Africa, so it makes us feel more connected than those gor-geous cities. It’s really more homelike for us than any of the other places we’ve recorded.”

Home—Sierra Leone—is an integral part of the band’s story, which is cap-tured in the 2005 documentary Sierra Leone’s Refugee All Stars. As the docu-mentary begins, the viewer is given back-ground on the story. From 1991 to 2002, Sierra Leone, a small country in West Africa, was embroiled in a devastating civil war between rebel factions, govern-ment troops and peacekeeping forces. War crimes were prevalent on all sides. To escape the brutality, many fled to the neighboring country of Guinea.

The original band, all from the city of Freetown, came together in 2002 at the Sembakouny refugee camp in the Repub-lic of Guinea. There was Reuben, who sang and played drums, making a cymbal out of a hubcap and metal scraps, and his wife, Grace, who sings. There was Francis John Langba, or Franco, a guitar player who was so close to Reuben they followed each other everywhere. Arahim played harmonica. His arm had been cut off by rebels. Mohammed, a singer, near-ly had his eye sliced out by rebels. Black Nature, a young rapper, lost his father to the rebels and doesn’t know what hap-pened to his mother—he couldn’t even recognize her now, he said.

The documentary opens with the band singing “Weapon Conflict,” which fea-tures lyrics like “When two elephants

are fighting, the grass will suffer.” The music is catchy, upbeat—one could say happy. But it’s born from the most hor-rific circumstances imaginable, and the first songs don’t shy away from the life of a refugee or the horrors of war.

In spite of the circumstances that bring them together, the band members find a kind of solace and hope in each other and in the music. The film shows the band traveling to other refugee camps, making people dance and lose themselves in the

music. Throughout the film, the band becomes a testa-ment of the deep power of music to transcend tragedy.

“It’s been a long struggle out of the war, out of miser-able conditions,” notes Koro-ma, “We try to bring out sen-sitive issues that are affecting the world. It is all of our responsibility that the masses are suffering. We bring our positive messages into the world so we can expect a positive change in the world. And, most importantly, bring about peace.”

The record that would follow, Living Like a Refugee, and the film would go on to become critical successes. The band would go on to tour the world, playing renowned stages like New York’s Cen-tral Park Summer Stage, Red Rocks and Bonnaroo. They appeared on the Oprah Winfrey Show, opened for Aero-smith and earned praise from Paul McCartney, Keith Richards, Ice Cube and Angelina Jolie.

Through Zach Niles, a co-director of the film who hails from Woodstock, Edgar brought the band to Cumbancha in 2006, around the same time he was creating the label. He had seen the docu-mentary and was struck by the musicians and their story.

“It revealed the people behind the sto-ries you here in the news,” he said. “They have this effect through the sheer joy of their music. It resonates with people.”

Cumbancha released the All Stars’

next two albums, Rise and Shine (2010) and Radio Salone (2012). The new album is also a sort of return to the begin-ning for Sierra Leone's Refugee All Stars. The band has reunited with musician and producer Chris Velan, who produced the first album in Freetown. The sound too is also meant to be a link to the band’s first album—a stripped-down, raw throwback to its acoustic beginnings.

Yet, Koroma said the band won’t be looking back to the horrors of war that

were a part of the band’s original sound. The new songs deal largely with love, said Koroma, and have titles like “Ghana Baby,” “Treat You Right” and “You Can’t Make Me Lonely.” While the war is part of the band’s legacy, these are reflections of where the group is at now.

“Our music really responds to activi-ties that are occurring,” he said. “We talk about the present now. When we were refugees we talked about our experience being refugees. So know that we are no more refugees, we are returnees, we are sharing the experiences of our real lives.

“However, there are still political songs like ‘Rich but Poor’ that speak against class differences in Sierra Leone created by a wealthy minerals industry that not everyone has benefitted from.”

Despite their world renown, the band members—nearly all of whom still live in Freetown—are not particularly prosper-ous in Sierra Leone. They don’t perform often in their home country because they don’t have a PA system. They don’t have cars—a sign of prosperity in Africa—and have trouble getting to gigs. One of the band’s goals on their summer tour is to purchase cars to ship back home.

The band hopes to start a radio station in Freetown called Radio Salone, which means “Sierra Leone” in the native lan-guage of Krio. “We want to have a kind of place for Sierra Leone’s local and tra-ditional musicians, so that their songs can be heard, their interviews, so that we keep the culture awake.”

It’s only one of many ways the band members are trying to give back to their home country. The band and Cumbancha donated the revenue generated by the

advertising placed on this video and the sale of the “Big Fat Dog” video on iTunes to World Food Program USA. They’ve partnered with other NGOs, too.

“Through this we’re able to help them raise money and awareness for the band,” said Edgar. “It’s a win-win for everybody.”

Edgar admits he feels different about Sierra Leone's Refugee All Stars than other bands on Cumban-cha. Their sound is more raw than other artists on the label, less clean. They also don’t have experience with the DIY aspect of the music industry, the promotion and social media.

“But for me it’s more than that,” he said of being a sort of father figure for the band. “It’s about their genius music and the spirit that comes across in their music and in their personalities.”

Edgar has also seen the Char-lotte community embrace the band. Aside from the generosity of Raco-lin and Williams, Edgar put out a call for guitars on Front Porch Forum. He had to turn people away.

“The reality is I’m dealing with musicians who are not rich,” said

Edgar. “It’s really, really nice to have that support from the community.”

“We’ve been very lucky on this record-ing,” said Koroma. “We have a lot of good people offering good things to just make it work. It’s really encouraging. All those hospitalities make us feel rich.”

The community feeling works both ways, Edgar added. He has an open-door policy at the studio and welcomes Charlotters to visit to watch a recording session and find out more about world music.

“It’s a magical thing,” he said. “I love it because I love involving the commu-nity in what we’re doing here.”

See World Music Locally in July

One thing that Edgar hopes to pro-mote through Cumbancha is world music in Vermont. Charlotters can experience the sounds on several occa-sions locally this summer. On July 6, at Higher Ground Cumbancha is pre-senting The Garifuna Collective from Belize and Honduras, together with Vieux Farka Toure, from Mali. Accord-ing to Edgar, the show is a very unique double bill of two of the best groups from Africa and the Caribbean. Details are at highergroundmusic.com On July 11 and 12 Cumbancha will be present Kobo Town, a phenomenal group from Trinidad by way of Toronto. On July 11 the band will be at Middlebury Festival on the Green, and July 12 it will appear at Club Metronome in Burlington. All details are available at kobotown.com.

For more information, or to get on Cumbancha’s mailing list, visit cum-bancha.com.

In Charlotte, Refugee All Stars Bring It All Back Home

(Above) Members of Sierra Leone's Refugee All Stars take a break from recording at Uncle Sam's in Charlotte. (Right) Lead singer Reuben M. Komora records a vocal track at Lane Gibson Recording and Mastering.


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Congratulations

Around Town

to the following Charlotte CVU graduates who received special recognition at the high school’s commencement exercises June 12 that was not listed in the previous issue of the Charlotte News: Carolyn Woodruff and Gabriel Peck-Frame who earned their diplomas summa cum laude. Carolyn, along with Isabelle Fenn earned recognition for Graduation Challenge projects, and Lilly Harris received the Cowboy Lewis Scholarship along with the Devost Scholarship and the Kessel Award.

to Tyler Barnes and Julia Kiendl, students at Kent School, Kent, Conn., who earned placement on the honor roll for the spring term 2012-2013. Tyler will be a senior next fall and has been chosen to be a prefect to help run the senior class and is also a captain of the lacrosse and football teams. He is the son of Nancy and Jack Barnes of Charlotte.

to Elizabeth Aube who was awarded a Master of Arts degree from Johnson State College at the school’s commencement on May 18.

to Bianca Moureau, a Johnson State College undergraduate who earned placement on the school’s Dean’s List for the spring semester 2013.

to Nicholas Carreiro who was awarded a Bachelor of Arts in global studies and international affairs from Emmanuel College, Boston.

to Katherine Russell, a student at Binghamton University, Binghamton, N.Y., who earned the Edward Weisband Award for Distinguished Achievement in Political Science. It is awarded to a graduating senior who has demonstrated “high academic achievement and creativity and who has made an outstanding contribution to the political science department and demonstrated an abiding commitment to public affairs or public service.”

to Patrick Sharrow who earned a Master of Business Administration (MBA) degree with honors from Norwich University, Northfield. Patrick is a graduate of Charlotte Central School, Champlain Valley Union High School and Embry Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona, Fla. The son of Elaine and Harv Sharrow, he is an Operation Specialist at the Burlington International airport.

to Ethan Merrill whose business, Duane Merrill & Co. of Williston was featured in an article in the June 26-July 3 Seven Days. His company was the site on Saturday, June 29, of a large sale of furniture and artifacts designed by Andrew Szoeke, who lived from 1893 to 1969. According to Merrill’s book and paper specialist, Linus Leavens, incorporation of decorative items into modernist furniture “is a great

combination,” something Szoeke did well. Charlotte resident Ethan is the grandson of the gallery’s founder, Nathan Merrill. The idea for the auction business, he said, grew out of his grandfather’s work for Green Mountain Power during which time he became intrigued with what was stored in attics as he was installing wiring. Nathan later opened his antique business in Burlington.

to Jasmin Townsend-Ng of Charlotte who won the third-grade award in the Public Broadcasting System’s KIDS GO! Writers Contest sponsored by Vermont Public Television. Jasmin’s piece was entitled The Special Lantern Festival of Montreal, and it was based on a trip she and her parents took to Montreal for the festival. Jasmin’s book contains watercolor pictures of what she saw there and written descriptions. This is her third entry into KIDS GO! She plans to continue her writing with a story about her dog, Violet.

to the following Charlotte students from Champlain Valley Union, Champlain Waldorf School and Rice Memorial High School who participated in the All-State Music Festival May 9 through 12. Orchestra members: McKinley James, Hayden Kjelleren, Noah Marconi, Graeme Waples, Colin Snyder, Robyn Leary and Eileen O’Grady; choral members: Chelsea Huber, Seamus Buxton, Delphine Vandal, Katie Bedell, Sarah Caffry, Arianne Davis, Evan Cohen, Cole Marino and Bill McSalis; band members: Christopher Jordan and Justin Belliveau.

to the Charlotte Quilters who won the “Best Group” award for the “250” quilt that was entered in the Vermont Quilt Festival. The quilt portrays Charlotte landmarks that are part of the town’s 250-year history. Members of the group who designed and constructed the 12 individual blocks are Shirley Bean, Aileen Chutter, MaryAnne Gatos, Tammy Hall, Joan Jamieson, Louise McCarren, Beth Merritt and Donna Pittman. The quilt’s permanent home is in Charlotte Town Hall.

to Stephany and Bruce Hasse whose donation to the Vermont Children’s Hospital at Fletcher Allen Health Care will go toward the purchase of a high-tech incubator for use in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU). Called “Giraffe on a Bed,” the unit has many features that provide an optimal environment for neonatal patients – things such as precise heat, humidity and oxygen control; a rotating mattress and easy access for caregivers. Stephany said she wanted to do something to honor her mother, Katherine Komen, who passed away recently. Lewis First, M.D., chief of pediatrics at Fletcher Allen, said, “The Hasses’ generosity is a great example of the wonderful support Vermont Children’s receives from individuals and communities throughout our region.”

to Walter Judge, a Charlotte attorney with Downs Rachlin Martin PLLC whose interest and expertise

was quoted in a recent article on Vermont Digger about litigation between organic seed growers and Monsanto Corp. The local growers apparently were seeking protection from potential lawsuits from the larger seed firm in the event that their crops were inadvertently cross-pollinated with the company’s patented genetic material. Judge questioned whether the lawyers for the small firms were really pursuing the case because they were afraid, despite what Monsanto's claims to the contrary, or whether they were using the court system as an attempt to draw publicity for themselves. He felt the issue of genetically modified seeds had relatively little to do with the court’s opinion and should not carry meaning for the larger GMO-related issues that spark controversy in Vermont.

to Virginia Farley who, upon graduation from Dickinson College in Carlisle, PA spent 5 1/2 weeks hiking 450 miles with two friends up the Appalachian Trail to Vermont. Having earned a BA in environmental science, Virginia found the hike to be an inspiring and fitting end to her four years of study. She admits, however, that she's in need of a pedicure.

is extended to family and friends of Ronald Marble of Charlotte who passed away June 18 at the age of 87. Long affiliated with Marble’s Store (now Spear’s Corner Store) in East Charlotte, he leaves surviving family in town: a son Robert Marble, a daughter Sharon Winn and her husband Ron, and another daughter Tammy Clark with her husband Nick. The family asks that, in lieu of flowers, donations be made in his memory to the VNA, 1110 Prim Road, Colchester, VT 05446.

is extended to family and friends of Sarah N. Gruenig and David Parker III of Charlotte who passed away, she on October 17, 2012, he on June 17, 2013. They were friends and partners for over 40 years. Memories and condolences may be sent to the family at Parker/Gruenig, P.O. Box 159, Shelburne, VT 05482.

is extended to family and friends of Ernest Keppel of Richmond, Va., who passed away June 20 at the age of 92. His surviving family includes his son Mark (“Woody”) Keppel and Woody’s wife, Andrea Grayson, of Charlotte. The family asks that, in lieu of flowers, contributions in his memory be made to the VMI Foundation, Lexington, VA, or to All Saints Church, 8787 River Road, Richmond, VA.

is extended to family and friends of Leonard Metivier of Milton who passed away June 22 at the age of 87. His surviving family includes his son James Metivier and James’ wife, Christina, of Charlotte. The family asks that memorial donations in his name be made to the American Cancer Society, 55 Day Lane, Williston, VT 05495-1460.

is extended to family and friends of David Waller NacNiven Conard of Shelburne who passed away June 24. An attorney with the firm of Langrock, Sperry and Wool, he and his family summered on Thompson's Point where he served on the Board of Directors of the Thompson's Point Association. The family asks that those wishing to make contributioons in his memory consider giving to the Vermont Youth conservation Corps, the Committee on Temporary Shelter or the Kelly Brush Foundation.

Clarification: Dr. John T. Pane, age 92 of Yonkers, N.Y., who passed away on May 20, 2013, was the father of Dr. John A. Pane of Charlotte. Our apologies for any confusion.

Documents

The Charlotte News | July 3, 2013