Mountain Times - Volume 48, Number 19: May 8-14

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LOCAL NEWS 4 • The Mountain Times • May 8-14, 2019 Full Service Vape Shop Humidified Premium Cigars • Hand Blown Glass Pipes Hookahs & Shisha Roll Your Own Tobacco & Supplies • CBD Products • Smoking Accessories 131 Strongs Avenue Rutland, VT (802) 775-2552 Call For Shuttle Schedule THE PERFECT MOTHERS DAY GIFT WOODSTOCK AVE., RT 4 EAST OPEN 7 DAYS A WEEK Like us on Facebook! OBITUARY Peg Willard Armitage, 89 Eighth generation Vermonter, Pittsford resident, artist, educator, author, historian, mother, grandmother, friend: This does not begin to adequately describe the amazing person born at Proctor Hospital on Aug. 31, 1929 and died April 6, 2019. Between these dates was a life filled with constant learning and creativity. At 5 years of age, the Great Depression took Peg’s family to New Hampshire following employment opportunities for her father, John Willard. She was filled with stories of how her mother, Isabel, helped out at home, raising their two daughters, Anne and Peggy, making all their clothes and keeping a large garden to help feed the family. As with most people who grew up and survived the Depression years, Peg developed habits of thrift, hard work and appreciation for life. Her love of Pittsford was constantly fed by “back home” with grandparents on Blackberry Lane. “Gramp had an apple orchard, garden and made Obituary, page 10 College of St. Joseph cancels final exam week By Lola Duffort/VTDigger The College of St. Joseph, which is closing at the end of the year because of financial difficulties, has canceled its final exam week. The small, private Rutland college announced last month that it had lost its last lifeline after a potential partner pulled out of talks. The school’s accreditors, the New England Commission of Higher Education, had announced in December the school’s accreditation would end Aug. 31. The school has since announced a series of transfer agreements for students to complete their degrees elsewhere starting next year. And college officials have sought to reassure students that essential services and teaching would be maintained through the end of the academic year. In an email to the CSJ community on April 16, college president Jennifer Scott assured students that staff, faculty and the board of trustees had a plan in place to “complete the spring term as originally planned.” “Consistent with the academic calendar,” she said, classes would end May 7, and graduation ceremonies would be held May 18. “Stay committed, stay focused. … we’re almost there!” Scott wrote. But in a follow-up email sent later that day, David Balfour, the school’s vice president for academic affairs, made an important clarification. “One thing that will change from the current academic calendar, is that there will be no exams given between May 8 and 14, as was originally scheduled,” he wrote. Balfour added that faculty could simply cancel final exams or administer them on the last day of classes. “Thank you all once more for your patient forbearance as we continue to make some difficult decisions and adjustments,” he wrote at the conclusion of his message. The school’s rough landing as it winds down operations has angered many in the student community. A petition signed by 75 students was A PETITION SIGNED BY 75 STUDENTS ASKING FOR SCOTT TO STEP DOWN... (THE SCHOOL’S TOTAL ENROLLMENT IS ABOUT 200.) Submitted Jennifer Scott is the College of St. Joseph’s seventh and final president. The school will close after this spring semester. delivered to administrators this week asking for Scott to step down. (At the beginning of the semester, the school’s total enrollment stood at about 200.) It also complains of reduced food service and of transcripts being withheld from students with holds on their account. In an email sent to students on Thursday, April 25, that began with the exclamation that “Spring has sprung!” Scott acknowledged the petition, although she did not address its complaints directly. “Being an advocate for yourself and others is not only admirable, it’s essential. The best results are often achieved through dialogue and sharing of information and perspectives, so I reiterate my offer to meet to further explore your concerns,” she wrote. Scott did not return a phone call or email seeking comment. The school is the third private college in Vermont to announce it will close this year. As schools compete for a shrinking pool of potential students, those with meager endowments – and no financial cushion – are struggling to keep their doors open. SENSIBLESHOE.COM 802.773.7515 Happy, Healthy & Hassel-Free! 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STATE NEWS The Mountain Times • May 8-14, 2019 • 5 Food Bank Conference addresses urgent need by 150,000 By Curt Peterson KILLINGTON—According to John Sayles, CEO of the Vermont Food Bank, “One in four Vermonters will visit a food bank in the next year.” Quick math tells us roughly 150,000 people will seek help with food security at one of the 215 VFB partner food bank locations. Sayles addressed 260 attendees at the 13th annual Vermont Food Bank conference at the Grand Resort Hotel in Killington last Friday, May 3, a day-long event including speakers and various work sessions. Killington has been the conference venue for the past five years – previous events have been in Burlington, Lake Morey and Montpelier. “We’ve found Killington to be a great central location for our statewide network to convene,” Director of Communications and Public Affairs Nicole Whalen told the Mountain Times. Sayles said that poverty, different kinds of personal trauma, financial insecurity, housing, diet and physical health are intertwined. The Food Bank addresses the food issue, but has to consider other elements in the poverty cycle as well when creating spaces, designing distribution systems and training volunteers and employees. “We have to be innovative,” Sayles said, “and willing to try new things, to keep trying in the face of failure. The food banks need to be an off-ramp from the trauma cycle.” Sayles and Joe Dauscher, VFB network relations manager, bestowed the Bonnie Pease Service Award, an annual honor for exceptional contributions to food security, to Carol Shelby, volunteer at the Sharon Foodshelf. For fifteen years Carol and her husband, Howard, have invested their time and energy at the Foodshelf at “The Lighthouse,” the former parsonage across the road from the Sharon Congregational Church. Dr. Ken Epstein delivered the keynote address, “Relational Healing in the Time of Evidence.” In 2018 Dr. Epstein retired as director of the Children, Youth and Family System of Care for San Francisco’s Behavioral Health Services, and has previously held positions in clinical and administrative leadership. His message focused on organizational changes needed to promote healing from “a system that creates barriers to care, burden on consumers, and stress for caregivers and the workforce,” according to the VFB program. The first step is for caregivers to become well-informed about the cycle of poverty, trauma and food insecurity, Epstein said. In other words, volunteers and staff members have to heal themselves in order to relate to, and help heal, those whom they serve. He said small ideas are the tools for achieving the goals of big ideas, and the major goal in healing the current poverty/trauma cycle is to “create a system that fosters wellness and resilience for everyone” – care providers and “THE FOOD BANKS NEED TO recipients alike. BE AN OFF-RAMP FROM THE “Insecurity leads to toxic stress,” Dr. Epstein said, “which TRAUMA CYCLE,” SAID SAYLES. leads to serious health problems and to adverse childhood experiences, repeating the cycle.” Epstein cited two photographs from media flood coverage. One depicted an African-American in waist-deep flood waters holding a trash bag full of belongings and a parcel in his hands, the unqualified caption alluding to “looting” during the disaster. Another photo showed a Caucasian couple, also carrying packages through high water, captioned, “finding food.” Epstein said these photos/captions demonstrate structural racism. “We need to be wired together to take collective action in order to change the system,” Dr. Epstein said. “We need to be reflective, to feel others’ pain as key to reducing our national trauma.” Legislature lays out six priorities for youth By Sen. Alison Clarkson It was wonderful to have so many Vermont high schools up in Montpelier for Youth Lobby Day last week. Hundreds of students, accompanied by their teachers, came to the Statehouse to tell their legislators how important mitigating climate change is for their future. Their passionate Alison Clarkson concern for the future of our state and planet, for our economy and for our way of life, was impressive. It helped affirm my own feeling that this, along with reducing the impacts of poverty in Vermont, are two of the most important and long lasting issues the Legislature must prioritize. The objective of Vermont Youth Lobby Day was to impress upon the Legislature the urgency students feel about ensuring the health of our environment by working to eliminate greenhouse gases and reduce the effects of climate change. They are clear that Vermont’s economy is especially vulnerable. Billions of dollars depend on the health of our natural systems and the temperature not rising 3.6 degrees F, as projected by 2035. Under threat are industries iconic to Vermont: sugaring, outdoor recreation (skiing, snowmobiling), forest products (timber infected by every increasing invasive species), agriculture and tourism. They understand not only climate change’s impact on our environment but the startling fact of its financial impact on their future. “The Price Tag of Being Young” is a 2016 report which quantifies the cost of climate change to millennials. It reports that 2015 college graduates can expect hundreds of thousands of dollars of lost income in a world which allows climate change to continue unabated. SEVERAL OF US MET WITH A GROUP OF STUDENTS FROM THE WOODSTOCK UNION HIGH SCHOOL ON THE STATEHOUSE LAWN. In a letter to the governor and the Legislature, six priorities were laid out by these young people: 1) Double the number of low and moderate income homes weatherized annually (our goal was 80,000 by 2020; we’re currently at 26,000); 2) Create an electric vehicle incentive program using the VW settlement funds; 3) Join other New England states in enacting a global warming solutions act; 4) Expand the deployment of local renewable power and beneficial electrification; 5) Receive and act on the results of the Joint Fiscal Office’s decarbonization analysis; and 6) Prohibit the expansion of new large-scale fossil fuel infrastructure. Several of us met with a group of students from the Woodstock Union High School on the Statehouse lawn. Despite the raw day, they were full of energy and optimism – eager to communicate their concerns about Clarkson, page 7 Sometimes it’s not easy to say, vote ‘no’ By Rep. Jim Harrison In contrast to my opposition to legalization of recreational marijuana last year, I indicated during last fall’s campaign and throughout this session that I was open to a “tax and regulate” system for marijuana if it could be done the right way, in my view. I often look to how we regulated spirits Jim Harrison following Prohibition. If we are going to have a commercial market, let’s be sure the taxes are sufficient to cover the costs, including education and prevention, that there are adequate safeguards for road safety, and that the market is well regulated. So when the committee on which I serve, House Government Operations, received the Senate bill, S.54, which establishes a “tax and regulate” approach to marijuana, I was hopeful we could mold the legislation to get it to the point I could support it. Not because I am a fan of the substance (I am not), but because it is already legal and it may be time to be pragmatic about it going forward. After several weeks of testimony, input from other committees and some 32 re-drafts of the bill, I was the lone dissenting vote in committee late last Thursday and S.54 advanced on a 10-1 vote. I WAS THE LONE DISSENTING VOTE ... AND S.54 ADVANCED ON A 10-1 VOTE. I voted NO primarily for the following reasons: There is no provision for even a voluntary non-evidentiary saliva test at roadside. In my view, such a test option would assist an officer during a stop make a decision as to whether to proceed with further examination at the barracks or police station (which may mean three to four hours of detention) or to rule out any likelihood of drug impairment. The bill specifically prohibits a roadside test for drugs, even a voluntary one. The committee version of the bill does not allow towns to prohibit marijuana operations within their municipality (growing, processing, dispensary or wholesale) other than retail stores. It establishes another arm of state government with a new five-member full-time Cannabis Board plus staffing (projected deficit of $2.3 million for the first two years). I had unsuccessfully recommended we put it under the Dept. of Liquor Control, which already regulates a controlled substance and has law enforcement capabilities. I also suggested a slight tax increase on marijuana to better cover its costs, which was also rejected. Evidence from other states that have gone down this path of a regulated, but open retail market, suggests marijuana use will increase along with corresponding impacts. However, it’s difficult to compare as other states went directly from an illegal market to a tax and regulated one. Marijuana is already legal here. Also, restrictions on packaging, labels and advertising Harrison, page 10 Table of contents Opinion...................................................................... 6 Calendar..................................................................... 8 Music Scene............................................................. 10 Rockin’ the Region................................................... 11 Just For Fun.............................................................. 12 Spring Home & Garden........................................... 13 Living A.D.E ............................................................. 19 Food Matters............................................................ 22 News Briefs.............................................................. 24 Columns................................................................... 27 Service Directory..................................................... 28 Pets........................................................................... 30 Mother of the Skye................................................... 31 Classifieds................................................................ 32 Mother’s Day Ideas.................................................. 33 Real Estate................................................................ 34 Mounta in Times ©The Mountain Times 2019 The Mountain Times • P.O. Box 183 Killington, VT 05751 (802) 422-2399 mountaintimes.info Email: editor@mountaintimes.info Polly Lynn-Mikula ----------------------- Editor & Co-Publisher Jason Mikula ---------------------- Ad Manager & Co-Publisher Erica Harrington ------------------------------ Business Manager Katy Savage -------------------------- Assistant Editor/Reporter Siobhan Chase ---------------------------------- Graphic Designer Simon Mauck------------------------------------ Graphic Designer Lindsey Rogers ----------------------------- Sales Representative Mac Domingus------------------------------ Sales Representative Curtis Harrington-------------------------- Distribution Manager Royal Barnard ------------------------------------ Editor Emeritus - Contributing Writers/Photographers - Julia Purdy Dom Cioffi Kevin Theissen Robin Alberti The Mountain Times is an independently owned weekly newspaper serving residents of, and visitors to Central Vermont Region. Our offices are located at 5465 Route 4, Sherburne Flats, Killington, Vt. Karen D. Lorentz Cal Garrison Mary Ellen Shaw Paul Holmes Marguerite Jill Dye Dave Hoffenberg Flag photo by Richard Podlesney
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Mountain Times - Volume 48, Number 19: May 8-14

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