Mountain Times - Volume 49, Number 43- Oct. 21-27, 2020

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2 • LOCAL NEWS The Mountain Times • Oct. 21-27, 2020 OBITUARY Robert Arnold Buttner, age 68 Robert Arnold Buttner, age 68, formerly of Killington, died Feb. 26, 2020, surrounded by family during his last hours in a hospital in his current residence of Venice, Florida. Bob Buttner was born in Flushing, New York on Oct. 22, 1951, and was the son of Arnold and Emilia Buttner. He grew up in Flushing and summered in Candlewood Lake, New Fairfield, Connecticut where he started his love of swimming — including holding some unbreakable records (mostly due to regulation changes in length of swim laps). He attended Brooklyn Technical High School, where he was a great asset to the swim team; then went onto SUNY Maritime College in Bronx, New York, where he was competitively successful in swimming and baseball. He graduated with a Bachelors Degree and as a United States Coast Guard Licensed Officer in charge of the Navigational Watch. After graduation Bob sailed for the Exxon Shipping Company/ Seariver Maritime, and there acquired his Captain’s License. During his lengthy vacations from sea, Bob Buttner became an avid skier who resided in Killington, Vermont. It was there that he met another avid skier who was part of a share house, but lived in New York City — June Hughes. They were married in 1982 at a Our Lady of Good Counsel Chapel in White Plains, New York. When they were ready, the happy couple chose to raise a family in Killington. Bob Coffee Roasters Arabica - Single Origin 802-773-9535 LOCAL DELIVERY + CURBSIDE PICK-UP Buttner> 8 Small Batch Fluid-bed Roasters! ORDER ONLINE Bob Buttner Curbside pick-up at: killingtonmotel.com killingtoncoffeeroasters.com 1946 US Route 4, Killington, VT | 802-773-9535 Farm fresh ideas Greg Cox, Democrat for state senate By Lee J. Kahrs WEST RUTLAND — Vermont’s farm culture is far from dead, and if Greg Cox has anything to do with it, agriculture will bring young people back to Vermont and grow the economy again. “If we’re going to grow more farms, we need more farmers,” he said. “Ag is the easy one and will bring young people back to Vermont. They leave, they sow their oats, and then they say it’s time to start a family. We want the boomerangs.” Cox, 69, is a Democrat running for one of three Rutland County Senate seats in a crowded field of nine candidates, including two incumbents. A longtime farmer and educator, for the last 38 years, Cox has owned and operated Boardman Hill Farm in West Rutland. He also founded Rutland Area Farm and Food Link (RAFFL) and the Vermont Farmer’s Education Centers. From hippie to home Cox isn’t just waxing poetic about bolstering agriculture and improving economic development through farming. He uses Boardman Hill Farm as an incubator space, drawing young farmers and helping those with the most potential get a foothold in the business. “I offer land, equipment, help with a business plan and I work with the Vermont Land Trust to hook them up with established farms,” he said. “We’re trying to bend that age curve. I grow my own competition.” Cox grew up in Lamoille County and attended Johnson State College majoring in education, until the day he knew teaching wasn’t what he wanted to do. “My mother was distraught,” he said. “But, I do teach after all.” Cox has been working with at-risk youth most of his life. He also taught agriculture classes at Green Mountain College. But it was his experience coming of age in the 1960s that led him to agriculture, and helped form his views on what Vermont needs, right now. “I was one of those back to the land food growing hippies back in 1968,” he said. “We were 100,000 strong. We changed Vermont and Vermont changed us. We need that same influx again. The low-hanging fruit is food and food business.” Cox describes Rutland County as “the food mecca of Vermont,” ripe for an infusion of young blood, energy and new ideas to enhance what Rutland County already has going for it. “Youth and entrepreneurial spirit, we need to bring that back to Rutland County,” he said. “Agriculture can be an economic engine and it can backfill a lot of those industrial jobs we’ve lost.” Is dairy dead? With the shuttering of more dairy farms all over the state each year, and the recent news that Rutland’s own Thomas Dairy would close for good on Oct. 1 due to the pandemic and loss of demand, Cox was asked: Is dairy dead? “No, dairy is not dead,” Cox said emphatically. “But we need people with new, fresher ideas. The ‘get bigger’ idea and the Agency of Agriculture, they’re system thinkers and they can’t get out of the rut they’re in. They can’t see a new way and Covid is the perfect change agent because it’s exposed all of our weaknesses in our institutions: social, judicial, agricultural, education, healthcare.” Cox said he thinks the Agency of Agriculture could use some new blood and an overall of its approach to agriculture in Vermont, or else nothing will change. “It’s not the individual, it’s the system,” he said. “So people are stuck in a system, not equipped to deal with the new problems, so this is a time to evaluate all these systems, but they have no new ideas. That’s where you need someone who doesn’t own a suit and tie, who works with people and sees these things from the outside.” Inside out That person is Cox, but he has no illusions about how he would fit in on the Senate Agriculture Committee, his first committee choice, should he be elected. “They want you to play,” he said. “I want to be on that committee on my terms and I’m qualified to “For every $100 you spend at a locally owned business, $48 dollars stays in Rutland County,” Cox said. “At a chain store, only $16 stays local. We really need to work together to create a local economy." do it.” Cox would also like to serve on the Senate Economic Development Committee, understandably: his philosophies on Greg Cox agriculture and economic development intermingled and reliant on each other to succeed. “We need to invest in us,” he said. “The only thing Applebee’s has on the neighborhood is a method for extracting our dollars and sending them elsewhere. Any business is not what we should be going after.” Cox said he wants to see Rutland County encourage small, community-based business owned by local folks. “For every $100 you spend at a locally owned business, $48 dollars stays in Rutland County,” he said. “At a chain store, only Submitted $16 stays local. We really need to work together to create a local economy. If elected, Cox would also try and steer more state funding to Rutland County, saying that the Rutland County delegation doesn’t work well enough with Montpelier to secure funding for the county. “I want more state resources coming to Rutland County,” he said. “We don’t play well with others at the state level because we are a more conservative county. I would like to make sure Rutland gets at least 10% of funding we get from the state.” Not party time The father of three, married for 29 years to Cox > 10
The Mountain Times • Oct. 21-27, 2020 LOCAL NEWS • 3 CU announces plans for spring semester Castleton University’s spring 2021 semester will feature an adjusted schedule and more options for students to receive their courses. To keep its community as safe as possible throughout the Covid-19 pandemic, as well as the upcoming flu season, the university will adjust its academic calendar in the following ways: • The spring semester will be delayed, with classes beginning on Feb. 1. • Winter break and spring break will be eliminated • Refresh days for faculty and students will be built into the schedule to provide breaks • Courses will be delivered in a mix of modalities, including in-person, online synchronous, and online asynchronous options • The semester will end with commencement on May 15, as it was originally scheduled. Faculty members chose the modality for their courses for the spring semester. Roughly a third of CU's spring courses will be taught in-person, half will be taught online (most with scheduled meetings), and the rest will be hybrid (a combination of in-person and online). “Allowing our professors to choose their method of delivery creates options for students who may have varying needs and gives our faculty the opportunity to deliver their courses in the way they are most comfortable,” said Jonathan Spiro, interim president. The plan offers the benefits of online and in-person instruction as well as a residential campus experience. Under the plan, any student who chooses to live in the residence halls or visit campus may do so by signing the Spartan Pledge, through which every member of the CU community agrees to protect themselves and others through social distancing and face-covering protocols. The university will also follow the recommendations and guidelines put in place by Vermont Dept. of Health and the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Arriving students will be tested and follow state travel guidelines for quarantine before joining the campus community. Residential students and commuters to campus will again have access to the offices, services, and resources the campus provides. Those who wish to remain offcampus can remotely access services such as the Academic Support Center, Wellness Center, and Career Services. “I would like to thank our students, faculty, and staff for their diligence in following the Spartan Pledge and helping to keep our community as safe as possible,” Spiro said. “Our community’s dedication to preserving public health has allowed us to offer more options for the spring in the safest possible way.” Submitted A group of volunteers in Pomfret gathered to clean up the Connecticut River last month. Volunteers unite for cleaner rivers POMFRET— This year’s annual Source to Sea Cleanup, organized by the Connecticut River Conservancy (CRC), continued the tradition of cleaning up rivers despite the challenges of the Covid-19 pandemic. “More and more people turned to their rivers this summer, since social distancing limited other activities,” said Stacey Lennard, CRC’s cleanup coordinator. “Unfortunately, the increased use led to more trash in many locations. It was clear the Source to Sea Cleanup was needed, it just had to be different this year.” The volunteer event was expanded from the typical two days to the entire month of September. Hundreds of volunteers with masks, work gloves, and trash bags gathered in small groups across the four-state Connecticut River basin (NH, VT, MA, CT) from Stratford, New Hampshire near the Canadian border all the way to Old Saybrook, Connecticut near the Long Island Sound. “Source to Sea Cleanup volunteers’ hard work and dedication is inspiring and makes a real difference for our rivers. We were heartened to see volunteers rallying to protect their rivers from trash pollution,” continued Lennard. “Everyone was happy to get outside to connect with nature while also making a big difference for their communities. They shared Clean up > 39 Make my Medicare MVP! Get added value and benefits with a Medicare Advantage plan from MVP Health Care. ® $ 0 primary care visits, telemedicine services, and Preferred Generic Drugs NEW! Earn up to $200 in WellBeing Rewards for healthy activities NEW! Up to $200 for over-the-counter medicines and health-related items from select pharmacies or by mail order with most plans NEW! Option to add additional dental coverage, with $1,000 in annual benefits Plus, FREE wellness programs, including virtual fitness classes, a FREE SilverSneakers ® fitness membership, and more! Speak with an MVP Medicare Advisor today. Call 1-833-368-4622 TTY: 1-800-662-1220 Monday–Friday, 8 am–8 pm Eastern Time, October 1–March 31, seven days a week, 8 am–8 pm Try MVP’s new Medicare Cost Calculator, or schedule a oneon-one virtual appointment at MovetoMVP.com/VT. The annual election period for MVP Health Care Medicare Advantage health plans is Oct. 15–Dec. 7, 2020. MVP Health Plan, Inc. is an HMO-POS/PPO/MSA organization with a Medicare contract. Enrollment in MVP Health Plan depends on contract renewal. Telemedicine services from MVP Health Care are powered by Amwell and UCM Digital Health. Regulatory restrictions may apply. Y0051_4916_M MountTimes MovetoMVP.com/VT 1-833-368-4622 2-Oct 14-Oct 7-Oct 9.75” x 5.8”
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Mountain Times - Volume 49, Number 43- Oct. 21-27, 2020

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