Hogback Mountain will be in the celebration spotlight as residents of Marlboro celebrate their Inner Wild Hog at the 27th annual Marlboro Fair on Saturday, Sept. 12.  The fair will take place in Muster Field, Ames Hill from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Events include a scavenger hunt, pig piñata, and “Iron [man] Pig” for adults, an “Iron Piglet” for kids, live music and dancing, and tea with scones.  At the Hogback Mountain Conservation Association’s tent, multiple exhibits will highlight the mountain’s past and present.  Those attending can see successful fundraising efforts to conserve the 600-acre area for use as a public, low-impact recreational area, and learn about an 18th-century cellar hole on the mountain, vernal pools, or the former Hogback Ski Area.  For more information, visit www.vermontvacation.com or hogback.org.West River Habitat for Humanity will hold its annual potluck supper at the Dover Town Hall on Thursday, Sept. 17 at 6 p.m.  “If you bring a dish you’re welcome,” says volunteer and organizer Jerry Gorman. “You’re especially welcome if you can pound nails.”  West River Habitat for Humanity serves 14 southern Vermont towns between Readsboro and Londonderry. To date the group has constructed three houses for local families in Wardsboro, Wilmington, and Whitingham. Land for a fourth house is under negotiation.  West River is an affiliate of Habitat for Humanity International.  Founded in 1976 by Millard and Linda Fuller, Habitat for Humanity International volunteers and families in need, known as partner families, have built more than 300,000 houses worldwide.  Volunteers donate time, materials and money. Partner families help build their new homes working beside volunteers.  Partner families finance their homes through no profit, no interest mortgages. Monies from mortgages help finance future homes.  The West River Habitat for Humanity is always open to families in need. They are specifically interested in hearing from families in the Athens and Jamaica areas.  West River Habitat for Humanity holds its annual potluck for volunteers and interested newcomers. Members will speak about where the affiliate is now and plans for next year.  RSVP is not necessary but is appreciated.  For more information contact Jerry Gorman at 464-8918,  Gretchen Fagge at 348-6608, Jeff Teitel at  348-7883, or Marge Thurber at  348-7236.At the rainy Marlboro Fair, the closest thing to sunshine is the bright yellow striping on the Hogback Mountain Conservation Association’s tent.  Fairgoers wander through the tent, stopping at the multiple displays or to ask questions amid an environment steeped in Hogback ephemera.  A history of the mountain compiled from land deeds dating back to the 1770s takes over one wall. Photos of spotted salamanders and information about vernal pools hang next to drawings and poems by Marlboro Elementary School students.  The Marlboro Historical Society displays memorabilia from the long-dormant Hogback Mountain Ski Area, which closed in 1986.  At the tent’s entrance, a multicolored placard clearly states the fundraising goals of the Hogback Mountain Conservation Association: $1,737,000 by January 2010.  HMCA and the group’s partner, the Vermont Land Trust, want to purchase a 600-acre parcel that includes the mountain, thus preserving it for future generations of citizens and wildlife as a public, low-impact recreational area.  Developers had eyed Hogback with visions of condos.  But the mountain was precious to the generations who learned to ski at Hogback, climbed the fire tower, or hiked the ski trails in summer, including Marlboro resident and HMCA member Bob Anderson. Many community members put their time and energy where their hearts were, he said.  HMCA was founded in 2006 and partnered with the Vermont Land Trust one year later.  Three years later, the same diverse group of concerned people show up at HMCA meetings. Members take photographs, lead birding events, and write letters to the editor to build awareness and support for the project. They have written grants to raise funds.  The property is now owned by the Long View Mountain Group, a limited liability company registered in Vermont in 2007.  Anderson described the corporation as “a small group of ‘conservation buyers’ ” who temporarily purchased the property to take it off the market for two years, allowing HMCA to raise the funds for permanent conservation.  “That partnership will terminate upon completion of the project when they are paid off,” Anderson says. “At that point the title to the property will pass from them to the Town of Marlboro and will have a conservation easement placed on it.”  But first, HMCA must meet the million-plus goal. With $1,457,000 accounted for, $280,000 remains.  “There were a couple of dark days. The economy fell off a cliff,” Anderson says. “But we more than see a light at the end of the tunnel. We see a campfire.”  The property title after purchase will go to the town of Marlboro, and the Vermont Land Trust will hold the conservation easement. Maintenance costs like insurance will be drawn from interest generated by an endowment that will be created from a portion of funds raised.  “[Preserving Hogback] was a rare opportunity to protect a large parcel of undeveloped land,” says Jim Tober professor of economics and environmental science at Marlboro College and HMCA member.  “Broad support is what keeps us as a group going,” says Anderson.  According to Anderson, few have opposed the conservation project.  Although no one in the group is a professional fundraiser, Jen Carr of Marlboro and Sara Anderson, a former town resident, took the grant-writing reins.  “It’s hard to see where your next $500,000 will be coming from,” says Carr.  Early on, HMCA received this tidbit of fundraising advice: Get the ball rolling. Find the larger grants from the independent philanthropic organizations. Get most of the money, then open the public appeal.  “Do the public appeal when you can see the campfire,” Carr says, noting that individual donors see that their $20, $30, or $50 donation will make a difference, rather than be dropped into a $1.7-million deep well.  The Vermont Housing and Conservation Board answered the call with a significant $319,000 grant divided over two years. Keen to preserve the scenic elements of Route 9, The Vermont Department of Transportation granted $150,000. The Town of Marlboro added $50,000.  Numerous private and philanthropic foundations followed. Recently the Pew Charitable Trust signed on with a 20-percent match on nearly all remaining funds.  The campaign was threatened in January 2009 when Governor Jim Douglas presented his annual budget. Vermont Housing and Conservation Board’s resources had been slashed, pushing projects statewide to the brink. The legislature eventually restored VHCB’s funding.  Beyond emotional attachment and tourism, the 600 acres offer multiple resources for wildlife. Coupled with the Molly Stark State Park, Hogback contributes to habitat connectivity, the large and uninterrupted connection between different habitats. It is necessary for large animals like bear and moose, which need ample space to feed or breed.  One of HMCA’s long-term goals is to educate future generations about the unique aspects of the land with nature hikes, tracking courses, and bird walks designed to help community members develop their own relationships with the mountain.  The next event is Saturday, Oct. 3, at the former Skyline Restaurant. Past ski patrol members will be on hand to talk about Hogback Ski Area at 7 p.m. For more details or to sign up for HMCA’s newsletter, visit their Web site, www.hogback.org.  Marlboro resident Nancy Anderson, a member of HMCA, says it is crucial that undeveloped land is set aside for the future. Vermont is rural now but might not remain that way.  “I hope people will look back and say, ‘Thank goodness somebody did that,” she says.Samba juts her head over the fence and sniffs. Gay Foster scratches the French Alpine goat’s neck.  “She’s my queen bee,” says Foster, who grew up in a farming town and always wanted to be a farmer. Three years ago, the Foster family took the leap.  On the 10-acre Hollyhock Farm, Foster, husband Dan, and their children keep five goats, 50 laying hens, a large raspberry patch, and a vegetable garden. Foster sells pickles and jams wholesale to local stores.  Hollyhock Farm recently branched into goat’s milk and cheese. The farm is in the early stages of complying with a new law that allows farmers to sell up to 40 gallons of raw milk daily directly to consumers.  The Fosters await test results of water samples from their farm, one of the stipulations in the law designed to promote consumer safety — a cautious balance that addressed concerns expressed by the Vermont Agency of Agriculture and Vermont Department of Health, which cooperated in crafting the bill but nonetheless view the concept of letting farms sell raw milk as a potentially dangerous health risk.  More profitable for farmers  “We are working towards our non-existence,” says Brian Moyer, director of Rural Vermont, a nonprofit advocacy group promoting issues relating to agriculture. Rural Vermont has promoted raw milk as a product that can create a stable stream of income for small farmers.  Raw milk production, in general, is less costly than pasteurized milk. By selling their product directly to consumers at retail prices, farmers keep more of the profits.  In September, Hollyhock Farm participated in the Raw Milk Open Farm Day, which Rural Vermont has organized for the past two years as a way to promote the milk, the law, and the participating farms.  But for some, the unpasteurized milk provides a wholesome and traditional way to feed a community.  “[Farming is a] combination of homesteading and growing things for the surrounding community. That sense of service is what you need to think about when you start,” says Sophia Lloyd of Hope Roots Farm, Westminster, another farm that participated on the statewide tour.  Interns Lloyd and Jenny McCharen prepare the farm kitchen for the afternoon dairy workshop. Participating farms host dairy workshops as a way of introducing raw milk to consumers.  Located in the middle of Westminster on 10 acres, Hope Roots shares its land with another farm. Farm owner and caseworker Bianca Fernandez has farmed six years for herself. Before that she worked for six years on other farms.  Fernandez has two Jersey cows, laying hens, meat birds, and a farm store. She remains a farmer because she wants to grow her own food and loves animals, she says.  Hope Roots does not turn a profit, but is working towards generating profits.  The cows produce 1½ to 2 gallons a day, and Fernandez has begun producing yogurt.  The “Unpasteurized (Raw) Milk Bill” regulates the sanitary standard farmers must meet.  Sanitation and health  Consumers are allowed to tour the farm and view the level of sanitation first hand. Farmers must keep daily transaction records. A warning listing the potential risks of drinking an unpasteurized product must be posted.  Kelly Loftus, communications director for the Agency of Agriculture, says the agency is pleased with the law.  The agency worked with legislators to draft a bill balancing farmers’ need to increase their income with health concerns associated with raw milk.  “This is a potentially dangerous product,”  Loftus cautions.  Prior to the raw milk bill, farmers used the milk privately and sold the product informally, with no oversight. Legislators insisted on recordkeeping, more testing of the milk, and more oversight — all steps in the law designed to protect consumers.  “I think protecting consumers protects dairy producers in the long run,” says Loftus.  Patsy Kelso, state epidemiologist of the Vermont Department of Health, describes the department’s stance: “people shouldn’t drink raw milk.”  But both the health and agriculture agencies recognized there was a demand for raw milk and grudgingly collaborated with Rural Vermont and the Agency of Agriculture to help craft the new law to give oversight and control.  Kelso notes that even a cow that appears healthy and tests healthy on a given day can intermittently shed pathogens such as tuberculosis or listeria.  By law, farms must display a sign that reads, “This product has not been pasteurized and therefore may contain harmful bacteria that can cause illness particularly in children, the elderly, and persons with weakened immune systems and in pregnant women can cause illness, miscarriage or fetal death, or death of a newborn.”  McCharen, pointing to the warning sign in Hope Roots’ farm store, says the farm is committed to researching the science relating to bacteria in milk. Lloyd  and McCharen seek better information about the benefits of raw milk so they can produce a better product and serve as a better resource to their customers.  In contrast, Rural Vermont’s Web site describes raw milk as “a natural and beneficial alternative to processed milk.”  “The pasteurization and homogenization process destroys important vitamins, enzymes, and fatty acids, and alters proteins and immune factors that are inherent components in farm fresh milk,” the site continues.  “[We] like to be informed about the reality of bacterial science because the poster is a product of legislation,” McCharen says.  ‘Everything you can’  “Every Farm Needs a Team”: The hand-painted red and white sign hangs above the door to the store at  Taylor Farm in Londonderry, another farm along the tour.  Mimi Wright, cheese maker, baker, and sister of farmer Jon Taylor, offers samples of the farm’s award-winning Gouda.  Taylor Farm supports itself with multiple streams of income. Milk, cheese, a retail store, hayrides and sleigh rides all pay their way.  Jon Taylor originally began making cheese because he loved his cows, Wright says. He was not making enough on milk sales so he looked around for another way to earn money.  Wright is amazed at the number of young people who want to serve and, instead of joining the Peace Corps, become farmers.  Raw milk sales have picked up, she says. Customers from as far away as Albany, N.Y., come to the farm.  “With this business, you have to do everything you can,” says Wright. “It all adds to what we have to offer.”A movie, play, or concert usually carries on while the audience observes wrapped in a darkened cocoon.  But in early September, Society of Spectacle turned the audience/performer relationship on its head.  The dance project-in-process by French choreographers Martin Chaput and Martial Chazallon begins with a heavy curtain between audience and performers — like most performances. The audience, as usual, waits for the cue: the curtain opens, the house lights dim, the performance begins.  Except in Society of Spectacle, the audience hears sounds like running feet, and dialogue like “My arm is 27-inches long” or “I have red hair.”  Performers planted in the audience join in. The curtain drops. Audience members are invited to join the performance. Lines between audience and performers blur.  Engaging in community  Society of Spectacle marks the fifth creative residency hosted by Guilford-based Vermont Performance Lab and Marlboro College.  Seventeen performers, dancers and non-dancers, from the area participated in a two-week workshop that culminated in two sold-out performances at the college.  The college served as the site for the performance’s first stop on its way to the 2010 Biennale de la Dance in Lyon, France.  Sara Coffey, director of Vermont Performance Lab and a Marlboro College graduate, met Chaput and Chazallon in Lyon, September 2008.  Coffey watched and participated in Chaput and Chazallon’s Tu Vois ce que Je Veux Dire? (English translation: See what I mean?) Tu Vois led audience members on a blindfolded tour of Lyon.  Early in 2009, Chaput and Chazallon proposed the Vermont residency to Coffey. The trio submitted grant proposals. They were granted funding in the spring. Invited to join was composer Jason Treuting of So Percussion based in Brooklyn, N.Y. — a first for Vermont Performance Lab, which had never participated in a choreographer/composer collaboration.  “[We saw] this project as an opportunity to engage with the community,”  Coffey said, adding that the engagement took place “not only with a larger audience, but happened in smaller groups with the performers, with the workshops in Brattleboro and Marlboro and new college students and over dinner and outside the studio.”  At rehearsals, Chaput and Chazallon set performers exercises exploring the theme of “the body politic”: how we behave physically within society and the labels we give ourselves.  Performers chose words to describe themselves and stuck the labels on their chests.  They spent time moving en masse to experience the dynamic of belonging to this group.  ‘Transforming themselves’  Chaput and Chazallon’s collaboration began in 2000 with Du Haut. Working with multiple cultures in France, Canada, South Africa, Mozambique, and the U.S. sparked Society of Spectacle.  “We are looking for creating performances, which allow people to transform themselves and give them the largest space to relate to the work of art,” Chaput and Chazallon commented via e-mail.  Working in rural Vermont was a first for the team. They were surprised both by the number of volunteers auditioning and the sense of community.  And, they said, by “how people from very different backgrounds and ages could so easily be together and get to know each other. That was completely unexpected and their availability and confidence made the creative process easier and full of playful moments.”  The process of Society of Spectacle was new to Treuting, but he is pleased with the experience. Treuting normally performs in a quartet. Society of Spectacle demanded a mixture of music and sound installation, structure and spontaneity.  Performer Rose Watson, who runs the After School Program at the Marlboro Elementary School, describes the experience as having a “wild but profound effect.”  Watson was struck by how, on the surface, the performance and music were simple. The experience ranged from anxiety-producing to transforming.  During rehearsals many of the performers were worried they weren’t “doing this right,” notes Watson.  Watson realized that many of the “rules” she was worried about breaking in rehearsal were imaginary and constructed by society. She says she will take from this experience a little more courage and the sense that “I am not my label.”  Chaput and Chazallon are the artistic directors of Project In Situ. Their creative residency was funded by FUSED: French U.S. Exchange in Dance, a program of the National Dance Project/New England Foundation for the Arts and the Cultural Services of the French Embassy in New York with lead funding from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation and Vermont Performance Lab.  Coffey adds that Marlboro College’s support is a crucial aspect to all of Vermont Performance Lab’s residencies.  “We think the work-in-progress made us feel more confident about the process we are entering,” Chaput and Chazallon added. “Interacting with audience members by inviting them on stage is a challenging process, and it was interesting to see people reacting to the different ways we tried to invite them.”Vermont’s unemployment insurance trust fund is on a fast track to broke.
The state will borrow federal money, will raise the amount of money subject to employer taxes, and has frozen benefits for four years,  measures to prevent the fund from running dry in January, according to Vermont Department of Labor Commissioner Patricia Moulton Powden, who spoke recently with 11 business owners at Mount Snow at the first of six statewide meetings to describe the crisis and its potential solutions.
The proposal advocates a combination of revenue and benefit changes to the unemployment insurance (UI) fund, the pot from which all unemployment benefits are paid.
Benefits are designed to support not only the unemployed, but also their local economies. The more cash people have in their pockets, the more they spend on groceries, fuel, or shopping at local businesses.
How the fund works
Cyndee Frere, owner and manager of the Snow Goose Inn in Dover, one of the business owners attending the meeting, described “a feeling of helplessness over the unemployment insurance issue. No matter what you do, it’s costing you money.”
Dollars flow into the UI fund from employers via taxes on the first $8,000 of each employee’s wages, a figure that is set to rise to $10,000 in January.
The first tax, a federal tax called FUTA, pays for administrative costs associated with managing the fund.
The second, a state tax known as SUTA, directly funds unemployment benefits: money from this fund goes entirely to benefits for the unemployed. Vermont employees can collect a maximum benefit of $425 for 26 weeks.
Employers’ SUTA tax rate is determined by an “experience rating” based on how many times they’ve laid off employees, and the overall value — health — of the UI fund.
An experience rating resembles a car insurance premium. A good driver with few accidents or claims pays less, unlike drivers with loads of accidents or claims. An experience rating stays with a business for three years even under new ownership.
In addition to experience rating, a business’s rate is determined by the health of the overall fund. This rate ranges from 0.4 percent to 1.3 percent, and employers now pay 1.1 percent.
SUTA tax rates vary in this way to ensure that the UI fund is replenished in times of low unemployment and sustained when the jobless rate increases.
That’s how it works in theory. In practice, “the fund should have been more replenished over the good times,” says State Rep. John Moran (D-Windham/Bennington-1), who serves on the Unemployment Task Fund Reform Study legislative task force established in June.
Moving toward insolvency
The Unemployment Insurance Reform Proposal, updated April 3, states that for many years, Vermont had a healthy UI fund, Powden told the business owners. For years, there was enough money in the fund to pay benefits.
But as early as 2001, benefits paid out surpassed contributions, and the fund balance began to decline.
Moran cites a few factors behind the fund’s flirtation with red ink.
In 1983, the $8,000 on which employers pay SUTA represented half a Vermont worker’s median salary.
However, as wages have increased  over 26 years, the $8,000 threshold has not changed.
Another factor comes from employers seeking to avoid paying unemployment insurance, worker’s compensation, and other costs associated with employee benefits by classifying workers as “subcontractors.”
Finally, Powden and Moran both describe an imbalance in the seasonal quality of Vermont’s economy, with employers who regularly fire-and-hire taking  more money from the UI fund than they pay in.
When asked why the UI fund’s solvency was not addressed sooner, Powden answered that a report had been submitted to the legislature in 2003, but no action was taken.
“Politically, this is a hard topic to discuss,” Powden said.
“Action gets taken when it becomes a priority of the administration,” Moran said, charging that Governor Jim Douglas’s solution has been to propose cutting unemployment benefits to keep the fund stable.
“Cutting benefits is highly counterproductive,” Moran said.
Reversing the flow
According to Moran, replenishing the health of the UI fund requires a two-pronged approach.
The immediate issue will be to make sure the state can pay benefits to unemployed workers in January 2010. The second issue to address will be the long-term health and “equality” of the UI fund, said Moran.
Moran pointed out that in the past, some employers who regularly contributed to the fund were pulling the weight fo other businesses that should have been contributing.
In addition to raising the $8,000 SUTA threshold to $10,000, the state will also borrow funds from the federal government to keep the fund solvent.
The legislature also froze the maximum unemployment benefit amount at $425 for 26 weeks. There will be no cost-of-living increase until the federal loan is repaid over three to four years.
In addition, the VDOL is proposing other changes such as certain administrative fees and reducing the maximum weekly benefit from $425 to $409.
Moran says the Unemployment Task Fund Reform Study wants to hear from employers and employees on the subject of unemployment insurance and how best to make Vermont’s UI policies more equitable for everyone.
“We don’t want to come up with a quick solution or a system that’s unfair,” he says.Dover and Wilmington took another step up the economic trail in October by endorsing a 15-year economic plan that calls for high-speed Internet, a livable wage for workers, reducing the cost of doing business, and a number of other priorities.  Members of the Tri-Town Economic Development Committee recently approved Mullin Associates Inc.’s working draft addressing nine goals and objectives for economic development in the Deerfield Valley.  On Nov. 21, from 9 a.m. to noon at the Deerfield Valley Elementary School in Wilmington, the committee will present the full, final plan to the public.  Wilmington Town Manager Bob Rusten said the committee will fine-tune the objectives and language, but have agreed in principle to the plan, designed to provide an economic blueprint for the next 10 to 15 years.  The committee came together to address vulnerabilities in the local economy after several recent winters with little snow hit the Deerfield Valley hard, bringing together a cross-section of municipal, business, and citizen interests.  To get feedback from the community, the Tri-Town Committee held a series of forums asking, “Where do we go from here?”  Rusten said committee members discovered that many of the challenges the region faces are longstanding problems that other towns in Vermont confront, and the report will recommend a number of priorities:  • Develop and install state-of-the-art broadband Internet and cellular telephone systems throughout the Deerfield Valley, with special attention to the towns of Dover and Wilmington, that will enable businesses to have efficient, sustained connectivity across the globe over the next 20 years.  Rusten said that in speaking with local and potential businesses, the committee consistently heard that without access to reliable broadband Internet, new business will bypass the area.  • Provide support service such that businesses in the two towns have the ability to maximize their potential and provide a living wage. One of the goals of the committee is to “bring in jobs that people can make a living at and stay here,” Rusten said, so they “don’t have to cobble together four different jobs.”  To that end, the committee has also explored issues of housing costs. “In the last few years housing has gone up but wages haven’t kept pace,” Rusten said. The committee wants to determine what kind of housing “will allow people to stay and make a living.”  • Encourage development of industry that uses renewable natural resources and agricultural products from the region and the state.  • Attract and retain a younger population.  • Reduce the costs of doing business for local employers in the towns of Dover and Wilmington.  • Compile a comprehensive tourism plan for the towns of Dover and Wilmington.  • Ensure that the transportation system is safe, efficient and matches the region’s character.  • Enhance the region’s job base and tax base over the long-term while respecting the qualities that makes the communities special.  According to Dover Town Administrator Nona Monis, who chairs the committee, four out-of-state planners toured the region and have consulted on the project as well, offering fresh eyes on the group’s priorities. Their reactions and recommendations will be part of the final report, she said.  The committee consists of short- and long-term focus groups. The working draft presented long-term goals. Whitingham is participating in short-term development projects and therefore representatives were not present, explained Bonnie Jo, Whitingham Selectboard Administrator.  Voters in the towns of Whitingham, Wilmington, and Dover have  appropriated a combined $7,500 for 2009–2010 short-term goals.  Wilmington and Dover have committed a combined $35,000 for the long-term study and strategic planning effort.  Selectboards from the three towns and the Mount Snow Valley Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors created the committee in 2007 to address economic development in Dover, Wilmington and Whitingham.  Other members include a cross-section of municipal employees, Chamber members, owners of other businesses, and citizens: Nona Monis (Dover town administrator, chair), Todd Wahlstrom (non-Chamber representative, vice-chair),  Laura Sibilia (Chamber executive director, clerk), Charles LaFiura, Adam W. Buursma (Whitingham), Linda Holland (Dover Selectboard), Bruce Korb (Chamber representative), Jeff Lewis (Brattleboro Development Credit Corporation representative), Allyson Libby (Chamber representative), Bruce Mullen (Rotary liaison), Meg Streeter (Wilmington Selectboard), and Kristine Sweeter (Whitingham).  The group’s past projects include creating a community-wide online calendar, planting lupines in all three towns, uniform signage for wireless hot spots, commissioning a logo, and hosting community forums addressing long-term strategies.The Friends of Algiers Village faces its next challenge: raising $300,000 in the next few months to purchase the Guilford Country Store.  In September, the community nonprofit organization signed a purchase-and-sale agreement giving its members until July 1, 2010 to raise the funds to buy the property and business.  The group has already raised at least $80,000 to buy the store and the building known as the Broad Brook House, in the heart of the village on Route 5.  Built in 1816, in an era when Guilford was the most populated town in Vermont, the store once housed a hotel, a tavern, a ballroom, a livery stable, a barbershop, and a number of other businesses.  7-Eleven approached owner Patricia Good in 2008 to buy the Guilford Country Store, which she and late husband Jim owned for 22 years.  When the Dallas, Texas-based chain of convenience stores would not guarantee to use the Broad Brook House rather than leveling it, Good contacted the Friends of Algiers Village.  “Pat deserves credit for saving the store for us rather than selling to a chain,” says Friends of Algiers board member Fred Humphrey.  Good, who could continue living in the Broad Brook House up to one year after its purchase, said she is happy about Friends of Algiers Village purchasing the store. Her husband, Jim, loved the building, she said.  The Goods, originally from Ohio, first saw Broad Brook House and the general store on the former Yankee Magazine television show. The couple was living in Worcester, Mass. at the time. Jim fell in love with the store and, as Good says, “the rest is history.”  According to Eric Morse, president of the Friends of Algiers Village, the group’s aim is to revitalize the village while preserving it.  The group aims for a working and vibrant community in a context that celebrates the town’s historical underpinnings.  “It’s not our intention to buy all the properties in Algiers and make them into something like Old Sturbridge Village,” Morse says.  Morse, a land surveyor who purchased and restored the old Algiers District #3 schoolhouse to use as his office, says Friends of Algiers Village originally formed to preserve the Tontine Building, an 1815 apartment block that had gone through 25 owners.  Friends of Algiers Village purchased, renovated, and ultimately sold the Tontine Building, which was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2008, to the Windham Housing Trust. The group won a 2009 Preservation Honor Award from the Preservation Trust of Vermont for their work on the project.  Though he describes the building as “obviously historical,” Morse says the group “didn’t know a lot about it, but it came up for sale, and we thought it was worth preserving.”  The Tontine building, which Morse describes as “visible and successful,”  features seven affordable housing units.  Although the organization was not seeking another project when Good came forward, the Guilford Country Store fit the Friends of Algiers’ goals.  Tom Keefe of Keefe and Wesner Architects examined the building and estimates $90,000 worth of renovations and repairs will be required to preserve and enhance the historic qualities of the building. “A lot of the history is still there,” Morse says.  Serving the community  “I think people recognize the value of having a general store in town,” says Morse. “It’s been serving the town for 200 years and is seen as tied up in the identity of the town.”  Although the Broad Brook House will be owned by a nonprofit, the store will remain a for-profit business.  “We feel virtuous but we have to be practical too,” says Humphrey.  In talks with the Preservation Trust of Vermont (PTOV), Humphrey learned the only way most general stores succeed is when a nonprofit purchases the building and then leases the store.  Morse describes the family-owned general store, an iconic part of the Vermont landscape, as a concept that “hasn’t evolved into a very viable business model.”  Increasingly, families that had run general stores for generations find new generations that do not want to continue that lifestyle, and “when it’s time to sell, there’s no one else to take it over,” Morse says.  Morse says that in recent years, the PTOV has seen a number of general stores purchased by out-of-staters who fantasize about owning a store in the country. Such owners found that the low profit margins of general stores combined with the crushing work hours required to run the businesses.  As a result of this toxic combination of high mortgages, low profit, and a lifestyle not for the faint of heart, the businesses go bankrupt, selling everything in the store — including the fixtures. “The situation is set back almost unrecoverably,” Morse says.  “The Preservation Trust of Vermont is seeing this, and it’s trying to develop a model. The model that seems to work is a community organization — a nonprofit — purchases the building with grants and contributions.”  Organizations designated as nonprofits under section 501(c)3 of the federal tax code qualify for grants, and those donating to these groups may qualify for tax deductions and incentives. Individuals and small for-profit companies, on the other hand, must assume loans and mortgages.  The second part of the PTOV model is for the nonprofit organization that owns the building to rent or lease the space to “a qualified, experienced operator with a record of success,” a model that makes it easier for the store to succeed as a business.  Under that model, in a worst-case scenario of a store failing, “if the community owns the store and everything in it, we just find another operator,” Morse says.  Not far up Route 5, the Putney Historical Society followed this plan exactly, purchasing and rehabilitating the former Putney General Store. Fire levelled the structure on Nov. 1 (story, page 1).  As it raises money, Friends of Algiers Village will ask residents what they want from their general store.  In addition to groceries, Morse notes some of the requests the group has already received: the return of the gas pumps, the continuation of deer checking, food from local farmers and food producers, a lunch counter, and wireless high-speed Internet.  According to Humphrey, citizens also requested a public rest room, and a sit-down area in the store to gather and “debate and argue like we like to do in Guilford sometimes.”  In fact, one of the conditions of some of the funding in place is that the store serve in part as a public gathering space, what Morse describes as “a mini–welcome center for Guilford.”  Morse says he hopes the store will continue its agreement with the town to keep the municipal recycling bins on the site.  Morse says the group has also entered into discussions with the United States Postal Service to provide contract delivery service, where the federal agency would train general store employees to provide basic postal services and sell postage.  Morse also says the group hopes to partner with other landowners to allow citizens access to open space in and around Algiers, including wetlands that comprise part of the store property.  Raising the money  The agreement calls for the Friends of Algiers’ financing to be in place by next April 1 and the closing to take place by July 1.  In late September, the Vermont Housing and Conservation Board awarded the Friends of Algiers Village a $70,000 grant towards the $300,000 purchase price.  At the Sept. 28 Selectboard meeting, the board approved a letter of support for the project as part of the application for this grant. Noting the support of the board, Morse notes a “a lot of pressure” from Selectboard Chair Richard Clark. “He really wants to have his coffee there in the morning,” Morse said with a laugh.  The group is in the process of applying for more grants and has already received a $10,000 donation from one Guilford citizen.  “It seems an awesome task,” says Humphrey about the Friends of Algiers buying the Broad Brook House. “But the good people of Guilford will come through.”  Morse says the Friends of Algiers will schedule a public meeting — he hopes before the end of the year — after eighth-grade students at Guilford Elementary School complete a class project researching the building’s history and producing a video presentation.  Guilford students completed a similar project for the Tontine building several years ago, an activity that Morse describes as “the turning point of that project taking off.”  “It’s not just an academic exercise for them,” Morse says. “This is their town.”It’s 7 a.m., and Lonie Lisai walks the aisles of Lisai’s Chester Market inspecting the stock, a routine he calls “walking the gauntlet.”
He is pleased; the night staff did a good job. The coolers of milk, soda, yogurt, and produce lining the store’s circumference are filled and neat. Items on the inner shelves like soup, salad dressing, cake mixes and bread are lined up and waiting their colorful labels like a gathering of high school marching bands.
Open since 1993, the Chester store — like the Lisai family’s stores in Bellows Falls, Grafton, and, soon, Putney — caters to the local community seven days a week. Lisai and his brothers, Gary and Brent, are third-generation grocers whose grandparents, Tony and Lena, opened the Bellows Falls market in 1926.
“We hate to see country stores go down,” says Lisai, citing one of the reasons his family chose to take over the Putney General Store.
The general store will represent a homecoming of sorts for Lisai, who points to a large genealogy taped to the office wall of the Chester Market. He traces his mother’s line of Whites and Thayers, including Thomas White, who first settled in Putney in 1760.
“I would expect those five generations of Whites bought and sold their goods at the Putney General Store,” Lisae says. “I would think that the Putney General Store would be a home away from home, where one could converse with friends, talk about current events and perhaps a little gossip,” says Lisai.
“After skipping a couple of generations, my family has the honor and privilege to rekindle the aura of a real country store in Putney.”
Lisai, along with wife Obe and son Ben, will manage the Putney General Store, leasing the space from the Putney Historical Society, which purchased and is renovating the store.
The store has been closed since a fire heavily damaged the building in 2008.
Lisai, who sees his work as a service to the community, has planned a full general store for Putney, including produce, household items, a deli, and a coffee area with tables, chairs and access to the deck. The store will also include Lisai’s trademark meat counter, a family tradition spanning 90 years.
After the Putney General fire, the Lisai family looked into purchasing the store outright, but the costs of rebuilding and bringing the building and surrounding sidewalks into compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act standards were prohibitive — not just for them, but also for any potential independent proprietor.
So the Putney Historical Society, a nonprofit organization, agreed to purchase the building and take on the project [The Commons, Oct. 2008], and this winter issued a formal request for proposals.
Lonie and Obe Lisai answered the call.
Of the four businesses submitted RFPs, the historical society interviewed three. According to President Stuart Strotham and Project Manager Lyssa Papazain, the Lisais’ expertise in the grocery business and commitment to community won out.
“Walking into that [Putney] store — it was the ultimate showpiece for a country store in Vermont,”  Lisai says.
Putney General is not the first time a nonprofit has invited the Lisai to manage a general store.
“In 2004, Brent and I opted to help keep the Grafton Village Store solvent with our expertise, along with the backing of the Windham Foundation,” says Lisai. “The community has given it 100 percent support.”
Money in the coolers
Fridays are busy at the Chester store, where staff expects an 8 a.m. delivery from the Associated Grocers of New England, a cooperative grocery wholesaler and distributor.
The delivery must be “broken down” by 10 a.m., when staff will need to tend to the wave of midmorning customers. Pallets of everything from avocados to Zippo lighters must be opened, organized, priced, and put on the shelves.
As he passes each cooler, Lisai turns on their lights. “The ones in the ice cream cooler don’t always work,” he says as he flicks the switch. Today is one of those days.
Lisai pulls well-worn blue and green tarps off the open coolers that cover open dairy and produce cases at night to conserve electricity.
He throws the tarps in the office, then descends the steep stairs to the dirt floor basement to open the garage door for the compressors. The 11 compressors feeding the coolers above work better with fresh air, says Lisai.
A store’s money is in its coolers, he says.
“Next time you go shopping,” he says. “And you buy say 10 units of something — how many are related to the cooler?”
Coolers, however, are expensive, with some parts costing as much as $3,000 to replace. Lisae says the Chester store will soon replace a of  beverage cooler with a more energy-efficient one — no small job, because along with the expense, Lisai and the staff will need to dismantle the store’s front windows to swap the machinery. The store will recoup the cost of the new cooler through savings on the electricity bill.
In Putney, new coolers will be one of Lisai’s biggest expenses. Between coolers, shelving, inventory, and wages, Lisai expects to invest $250,000 into the Putney General Store.
Whistle while you work
The staff arrives as the delivery truck from the Associated Grocers backs up to the dock.
Lisai, who believes making customers wait is bad for business and keeps the store well staffed, assigns different areas of the store to each employee. They begin breaking down the delivery and restocking shelves.
Many of today’s staff have worked at the store for 10 years or longer. Travis Syr, an 11-year veteran, started when he was in high school and has chosen to stay on.
The morning crew works in harmony with little supervision from Lisai.
“[My] dad thought if you treat your fellow workers with respect and pay a good wage this is the result you get,” says Lisai, who started working with his father at age 6.
The anchor store
The first customers of the day arrive around 9 a.m. Most stop in for their morning coffee – Green Mountain down by the registers – while a few head to the meat counter, where staff advises them on the best cuts.
“If they [Lisai’s] weren’t there, then I’d have to go someplace else,” says Chester resident Andy Ojanen. “Look at what used to be in Chester – shoes, coats, pharmacy – but now you have to go somewhere else.”
Putney learned this the hard way.
“The fire did more damage to the community than the store,” says Lyssa Papazain, the project manager for the Putney Store and Historical Society.
According to Papazain, Putney had a general store for 200 uninterrupted years. Not until after the fire did the town feel the impact of its loss.
“The General Store was the anchor store for Putney,” says Jan Ori, manager and buyer for Silver Forest, a retail store located a few storefronts up from the Putney General Store.
Ori says people from all over the country used to come to see the store, once the longest-continuous-running store in Vermont, and then check out the rest of Putney.
When the general store closed, foot traffic dwindled. Silver Forest cut its hours from seven to three days a week.
“We’re doing well,” says Ori. “But it’s not the same.”
Yet the fire has undoubtedly benefited the grocers who remain.
According to Robyn O’Brien, general manager of the Putney Food Co-op,  revenue rose 15 percent after the fire.
Nonetheless, O’Brien looks forward to welcoming the Lisai family to Putney. She feels the Lisai family has done a great job at other stores, is community-minded, and would fill a niche.
“I hate going into this with an idea of competition,” says O’Brien. “It’s [grocery] a crazy business — we’re certainly not in it to make big bucks.”
Mountain Paul’s, across the river on Route 5, has picked up some of the Putney General’s slack.
Benjamin Mousel, owner of Mountain Paul’s, in operation since the 1800’s, is not concerned about the reopening of the store, though he does express disappointment no one in town has asked him how he felt about the Putney General re-opening.
“We’re right here,” he says, describing  Mountain Paul’s as the only store in town that “has it all,” from produce to beer, wine, cigarettes and gas.
“Love Lisai’s,” continues Mousel. “And it’ll affect me, but the community will benefit.”
Of the people Lisai has spoken with who view them as only butcher shops, he notes none of them visited any of the family’s stores. Meat cutting may be Lisai’s family’s specialty, but it represents only 35 percent of their business.
Thriving as a community
It’s 10 a.m., and Lisai once again walks the gauntlet. The shelves are restocked, and more customers peruse the aisles.
An employee experiencing the agony of post-wisdom-teeth extraction has called in sick. As Lisai works a split shift, he talks about the fragility of the general store as a local institution.
“Once your general store goes,” he says. “They’re hard to come back.”
“And,” he adds. “You don’t become rich in this business.”
But stores do need to break even.
Lisai acknowledges there could be a fly in the Putney General Store ointment. After the fire, with the store no longer operating and with the extent of the renovations, the building must meet the requirements of the Americans with Disabilities Act.
The store will require a lot of staff to keep the shelves restocked — Lisai anticipates employing around 20 local people. As a result, with Lisai’s original floor plan, he projects the store just breaking even.
Lisai acknowledges there could be a fly in the General Store ointment.
He needed to plan the layout and think about coolers immediately, even before a project architect was hired. Lisai assumed the building’s layout would remain.
But the Putney General Store lost much of its grandfather status, however, and now must comply with ADA code. There could be a loss of parking and a location change for the store’s entrance. The proposed apartments on the second floor require two ways to exit the building, potentially replacing a bank of coolers with a staircase.
For Lisai, this could boil down to the loss of floor space — floor space that determines how much product a grocer can sell and therefore how much profit he or she makes.
“It’s the law,” he says. “And you can’t get mad about it because it’s the law. It is what it is.”
Reconfiguring the Putney General Store to accommodate ADA could impact his marketing strategy, and things “become more of a challenge to make a break even point.”
“It’s all part of the planning stage,” he says, as he continues planning the store while waiting to hear from the project’s architect.
From generation to generation
Lisai remembers helping his dad and grandfather when he was little. Even while he was still learning to read, they assigned him to restock the cold cereal. He remembers searching for the box with the tiger, and then the rooster, then the bright orange one with the athletes and finally the light blue box with the elves.
“Dad always said that each generation should build off of, grow and prosper from, the previous generation,” says Lisai.
“For some reason, I took for granted the family business — just part of life. However, the fourth generation sees something different — they have seen what hard work, the daily grind, the dedication can produce. Most important, they see a unique family business. We look forward to Putney.”“Save Magic,” reads the banner draped over the welcome sign to Magic Mountain Ski Area — a reminder that when the ski area opens this season, it may do so for the last time.  “It’s a do-or-die year for us,” says Greg Williams, a volunteer and new Magic Mountain shareholder. Williams, a resident of Connecticut, is preparing to spend his 30th winter skiing Magic, and his first as a potential owner of the area.  Magic Partnership LLC is creating a cooperative, similar to Mad River Glen, that would gradually transfer ownership of the 700-acre Magic Mountain to at least 300 investors — presumably skiers who use the beloved mountain.  “That’s too good a hill for someone to not do something with it,” says Jim Sullivan, president of Magic Mountain.  Sullivan has been running the mountain since September 2006 under a lease/purchase agreement with the property owners, Magic Mountain Management LLC.  That company understands that the area requires an influx of capital to make improvements in ski lifts and snowmaking to become financially viable, Sullivan says. Thus, he said, they have agreed to the partnership and allowing the cooperative of owner/skiers to buy Magic from them over time.  According to a prospectus for shareholders available on the ski area’s Web site, the managing partner and majority shareholder of Magic Mountain Management LLC was Larry Nelson, who died April 1.  His five children assumed his interest in the mountain.  In a message to supporters, Sullivan described Nelson as “a force in keeping the mountain  operational since it re-opened in 1998,” citing his “extraordinary lengths to  preserve and support the mountain through difficult financial times.”  At $3,000 per share, the sale of 300 shares will set Sullivan’s business plan in motion. The shares would raise $900,000, which would go directly into Magic’s infrastructure. Improving snowmaking falls at the top of the list.  Sullivan’s full five-year business plan requires 1,000 shares to be sold over four years, ultimately raising $3 million to buy the area and upgrade it to its full potential.  According to Williams, Magic has many devoted skiers, yet revenues from their lift tickets ($129–$429) have not met the costs of operating the ailing ski area.  Sullivan, a native of Whitingham, was living and practicing law in Connecticut when he decided to take over running Magic in a decision he called his “mid-life radical move.”  Sullivan initially attempted to persuade a few investors to help him buy the mountain outright and then pump money for updates into the ski area. He leased the mountain with the option to buy it, and since September 2006 he has paid approximately $850,000 toward purchasing it and toward capital improvements.  Unable to find enough investors willing to invest huge amounts of money, Sullivan decided on a cooperative: Instead of recruiting a few investors with a lot of money, he would spread the costs more affordably among many people.  Magic Mountain Management LLC has agreed to transfer ownership to the Magic Partnership once the 300 shares are sold. At that point, Magic Mountain Management will become a partner in the Magic Partnership.  The Magic Partnership plans to buy out Magic Mountain Management in increments as more shares are sold. According to the prospectus, the mountain is valued at approximately $2 million.  Swiss-born ski instructor Hans Thorner designed Magic Mountain’s trail system in 1961. Thorner chose Magic because the mountain’s terrain and separate valleys were akin to valleys in Switzerland. The mountain attracted a devoted following.  The mountain was sold in 1986, but a  few bad snow seasons coupled with bad real estate ventures forced the mountain  to close in 1991, according to Sullivan’s volunteer-run Web site, www.savemagicvermont.com.  The site reopened in 1996, when “a group  of investors re-opened the mountain, and it has slowly progressed into one of the  East’s finest skiing hills,” the site explains.  Yet Magic Mountain Management has lacked the money to compete with the surrounding larger ski resorts. According to financial records on the ski area’s Web site, www.magicmtn.com, the company has lost almost $2 million since 2004.  The new company  A five-member board, consisting of Sullivan, a representative of the Magic Mountain Management LLC, and three new shareholders would manage the ski area.  Shareholders receive an equity interest in the mountain, discounts on season passes and tickets, and the knowledge they “helped keep this way of skiing alive [at Magic],” says Sullivan.  Shares went on sale in July. About 40 percent of shares have sold, with proceeds held in escrow until sales reach 300.  Both Sullivan and Williams expressed disappointment that all the shares have not yet sold.  Sullivan acknowledges that $3,000 is out of reach for many. As a result, many have purchased season tickets, t-shirts and bumper stickers instead. All the money goes toward saving Magic.  To be successful, total attendance must reach 35,000. At its lowest point, skier attendance dropped to 5,000. Over the past three years, Sullivan and his team have raised total attendance to 16,000 skiers.  Unlike resorts like Mount Snow and Stratton which have boulevard-like trails and lightning-fast ski lifts designed to shuttle a large volume of skiers up the mountains, explains Williams, Magic has a more “traditional” trail system.  “[Magic] is a great classic Vermont mountain in terms of terrain,” says Sullivan. “Skiers are expected to take their time.” Magic’s trails are narrow and wind their way down, following the contours of the mountain, according to Sullivan.  Sullivan says the local community supports Magic’s cooperative concept.  “This is not an area with a lot of money, and Magic is a significant part of the economy,” he says.  It would be even more true, he adds, if the ski area becomes financially stable.Recently, readers of The Messenger found that the new community weekly had changed its name to the Green Mountain Outlook.  The Pennsylvania company that purchased the rights to the former The Message for the Week, which suspended publication in July, requested The Messenger change its name via a cease-and-desist letter Sept. 15.  That same day, Sample News Group of Huntingdon, Penn. formally assumed ownership of the assets of Twin State Valley Media Group and its parent company, Eagle Publications Inc., which declared bankruptcy in July [The Commons, August].  George “Scoop” Sample, chief executive officer of Sample News Group, confirmed that The Message for the Week will resume publication this November.  The U.S. bankruptcy court in New Hampshire approved the transfer of the former Eagle Publishing assets to Sample’s new company, Eagle Printing and Publishing LLC, on Sept. 2. The first issue of the resuscitated Eagle Times resumed publication Oct. 12.  The purchase included all the defunct papers’ names, rights, and similarities, says Sample.  According to public filings in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court’s New Hampshire district, Sample News Group purchased  the physical assets of the defunct newspaper’s printing press, telephone system, and other computer hardware, its archives and other content, its customer lists, and two vans; its pressroom inventory; and receivables at 50 percent of their value. Sample assumed $203,380 worth of subscription liabilities and $52,140 of other debt.  The court’s public document system made available details of the judge’s approval for Bankruptcy Trustee Victor W. Dahar to sell the specified assets, but not the final details of the sale. The bankruptcy documents do not mention trademarks or other intellectual property.  Despite the infringement claim and the legal threat, Sample says it’s nothing personal.  “They’re good folks,” he says. “We wish them the best, but the trademark was too similar.”  What’s in a name?  Within two months of the abrupt closing of the Eagle newspapers, a team of former Message employees, including co-editors Milliken and Robert F. Smith, had been recruited by New Market Press to launch The Messenger. The Middlebury-based firm and its sister company, Denton Publications of Elizabethtown, N.Y., publish 11 periodicals.  According to Milliken, The Messenger published its first issue Aug. 26, before the court’s approval of the sale of his former employer’s assets.  Milliken says the new newspaper provided the same service and local news to the community as its defunct inspiration, and the demand to change the new paper’s name met with little resistance.  “We thought it was much better to spend money and resources on giving the community a good community newspaper, than [for it to go] into lawyer’s pockets.” says Ed Coats, president and publisher of New Market Press.  Milliken agrees. “What’s in a name? It’s the people that make the paper.”  But why should the Outlook staff have avoided naming a newspaper to evoke the memory of one that stopped publishing?  “We don’t really understand it either,” says Coats.  According to Johanna K.P. Dennis, associate professor of law at Vermont Law School in South Royalston, a company can claim infringement if another company’s name or logo, product or service, and geographical area are similar enough to confuse a consumer in a side-by-side comparison.  For example, imitation in the form of a new sneaker company calling itself “Nikee” with a swoosh-like logo or a terminated Burger King franchisee continuing to use the company’s logo and decor would clearly run afoul of laws protecting the respective owners of those assets.  As a community newspaper serving southern Vermont with a (deliberately) similar name, The Messenger qualified as too similar in all three legal tests, Sample says.  “I don’t fault them,” says Sample. “Some of them [former employees] were trying to save their jobs.”  Sample says he notified Coats about the potential bankruptcy purchase of the Eagle assets, alerting him to the trademark issue in a conversation two weeks before The Messenger’s first publication.  The liabilities of the similar names cut both ways. Given that the Message will relaunch, Coats says, “We don’t want people to confuse us with them, because we believe we have the better product.”  The Outlook staff did take issue with an alleged verbal request from Sample to Coats not to announce the reasons behind the name change to their readership — a version of events Sample roundly refutes.  “How crazy would that be?” asks Sample. “I never had a conversation with him [Coats] like that.”  “You should probably take both sides with a grain of salt,” says Milliken, regarding the Coats and Sample’s responses to the name issue.  Room for both?  Coats hopes both papers can compete ethically, and Sample adds there are no villains in the matter.  Nor, they say, is this a case of a big company picking on a little company, as Eagle and New Market are companies of similar scope.  In fact, Coats and Sample, former business partners, both  say they remain on good speaking terms.  As for the Message, “We want to pick up where we left off,” says Frank Amato from the paper’s new School Street office in Chester.  A former sales representative for the paper’s previous incarnation, Amato will spearhead the new paper. He confirmed the Message will resume publication Nov. 18.  Can two similar weeklies competing for readership and advertising survive in today’s business climate?  According to Coats, weekly papers are thriving. “We take care of our communities,” he says. “And give them the news people can’t get elsewhere.”  Sample agrees.  “People in Vermont and New Hampshire are good newspaper readers,” he says. “I think there’s going to be room for both publications.”Charred beams outline an empty window frame. Sheet metal peels backwards into the Sacketts Brook. Wind twists strips of police tape and carries the bitter smell of smoke over the team of inspectors sorting through debris to the stunned crowd huddled along Kimball Hill.  Over 200 years of Putney community memories and hopes for the future of its village through a rebuilt Putney General Store burned to rubble within minutes in the late-night hours of Nov. 1.  The fast moving fire consumed the store, rendered the building next door at 10 Kimball Hill uninhabitable, cracked windows at the Putney Paper Mill across Route 5, and blistered the paint on the Putney Tavern building across the road.  The Putney Historical Society was in the process of rebuilding the 214-year-old structure after another fire took off the roof in May 2008.  “We don’t have a historic building to save any more,” said Lyssa Papazain, the manager of the efforts to complete renovations by May 2010. “I think I’m still in shock. Two years of my life.”  A number of citizens reacted with numbness and shock.  “My brain didn’t agree with my eyes,” said Robyn O’Brien, general manager of the Putney Food Co-op, as she recalled seeing the hole where the Putney General Store stood.  “Nobody could believe it was happening again,” said Steven Griffiths, co-owner of the Front Porch Café at the Putney Tavern across the street. “We all kept our fingers crossed the fire didn’t travel up the road.”  By Tuesday, Det. Sgt. Fred Cornell, an investigator with the Vermont State Police’s Fire Investigation Unit, had joined Putney Fire Chief Tom Goddard to conduct an investigation into the fire’s cause.  “We have termed the fire suspicious, and a full investigation is ongoing at this time,” Goddard told a reporter from Burlington-based WPTZ the day after the blaze.  “We’re at the very beginning of figuring out what happened here,” Cornell said Tuesday. “Lots of people talk, lots of people have theories. We’re here to separate fact from fiction.”  A grieving process  On this unseasonably warm Monday afternoon, citizens and visitors stood silently on the town green, walking quietly by. Some take photos. Many stand by, subdued, watching as firefighters confer and gesture to details of the scene.  “It just puts a gloom over Putney,” said resident Julia Zeller. “Everyone was anticipating the building reopening.”  Behind the yellow tape and traffic cones marking the perimeter, people shared their shock, grief, and memories. They gathered on the green, stood on the Tavern porch, and sat on the stone wall in small groups, all the way up Kimball Hill.  “Yes, it was only a building but it represented an anchor [for the downtown],” O’Brien said. “We had so much hope pinned on it reopening. It was a huge blow to have it burn a second time.”  The store was “more than a building,” said former Putney resident and “soda jerk” Carrie Grover, who worked there as a teen in 1979. Gone now, she says, are “the memories that were in the wood and the walls.”  “The store was a meeting place,” said Peter Albert, a social worker at the Brattleboro Retreat and former Putney resident.  Albert described the store as a place for conversations and for people to come together.  “The people of the town gave the store its personality,” he said. “When the town advocated for the store’s rebuild they were advocating for their community.”  Albert acknowledged the grief expressed by many.  “When we lose something that was a part of our lives,” he said, “there’s a hole, and it doesn’t make sense; you wonder why, and there’s no good reason.”  Albert explained the public’s sadness over losing the store may be complex. People might not be prepared to grieve over the loss of a building as they would over the loss of a loved one, yet strong emotions could well emerge.  That is what happened to Grover, who lived in Putney from the age of 15 to 20, and for whom the store served as a sanctuary.  She said the owners, the Fairchilds, welcomed her, her siblings, and even their three-legged cat, Faith, who ran away to live in the store’s front bay window.  “We had a really hard childhood,”  Grover said. “And I was welcomed there. Now it’s gone. It’s almost as if someone erased those memories, and I can’t have them anymore.”  Grover’s niece, Cassidy, also worked at the store.  Grover now lives in New Hampshire but brought her children and friends to the store when it was open, before the 2008 fire, to share her memories with them. And now, she described herself as heartbroken that she won’t be able to share the store with her new grandchildren.  ‘There was nothing there’  The night of the fire, J. D. McCliment, owner of J.D. McCliment’s Pub at 26 Bellows Falls Rd., said he closed the bar at 10:30 p.m.  “As soon as we walked outside, we could smell the smoke,” he said. “By the time we walked downtown, there was nothing there."  Lorelei and Don Smead watched the fire from their home on Main Street. Lorelei Smead heard a bang. She looked out the window and saw the blaze. She called to Don, “the G Store’s on fire again.”  Don Smead ran to the scene with his camera. He recalls chunks of ash and debris falling on the diner and pizza place with each spray of water from the hoses.  Stuart Strothman, historical society president, arrived at 10:45 p.m. He said he could see the flames 2 miles away casting “a huge orange light into the sky.”  In the aftermath, Cheryl Struthers of Putney stood on the tavern green watching the inspectors.  “I thought it was a sick joke” when she read about the fire on Facebook, Struthers said. “Wish it was.”  Struthers remembered buying penny candy and how the floorboards creaked when she would walk through. There was no rhyme or reason to the store’s organization but it had everything people needed, she recalled.  “It feels like we lost a friend or family,” Struthers said.  Out of a home  Scorch marks frame the third floor window of 10 Kimball Hill, the building that housed Offerings Jewelry and the residents of three apartments. A portion of the roof has fallen in.  The tenants are safe but homeless, and the retail store is closed, representing the loss of a second business in the village. Offerings Jewelry continues to conduct business through its Web site, www.offeringsjewelry.com.  Landlord Neil Madow’s first concern when he heard about the fire was for the physical safety of his tenants and the condition of the building.  “We’re shaking our heads,” he said. “Third fire in six years. The chances of that are as good as winning the lotto.”  The fire also displaced John Mozley and Llora Kressmann. Mozley teaches at Kurn Hattin, a residential facility in Westminster for at-risk youth, and Kressmann studies education at Antioch University.  The couple, who moved from Brattleboro in August, will stay with a friend, Elisabeth Dearborn, at the nearby Putney Commons co-housing community.  The store’s front wall partially crushed Mozley and Kressmann’s white Subaru station wagon when it collapsed. The couple expressed concern for their personal items left in their apartment, now off limits because of the investigation.  “The Red Cross gave us a couple hundred dollars,” Mozley said. “The world is kind of upside down. I’m not sure how to really feel about it.”  “Everything we had is gone,” he said. “The community is supportive, friends are supportive, but we don’t have a home.”  Robyn O’Brien has offered the Co-op as a donation point for the people displaced by the fire. She will publicize details on iPutney.com and other venues once arrangements have been made.  What might have been  The Putney Historical Society recently completed its first phase of rebuilding the store, steps that included stabilizing the structure, replacing the slate roof, and protecting the inside from the elements.  Phase two — raising funds and restoring the building for use — had only recently begun, Papazain said.  The 2008 fire transformed what had been the oldest continually operating general store in Vermont from downtown hub to vacant eyesore.  Faced with staggering debt to repair the fire damage, the previous owners, Erhan Oge and Tugce Okumus, sold the burned-out building to the historical society, whose members approved the purchase in September 2008.  The historical society’s designation as nonprofit under section 501(c)3 of the federal tax code opened up opportunities for grants and funding not available to individuals or for-profit corporations.  The project attracted some grant funding because of its efforts to revitalize the economy of the Putney business community, like the  $200,000 from the Vermont Community Development Program this spring.  One basis of that grant was the loss of 13 jobs from the store’s closing and the economic effects of the store’s disappearance on the remaining entrepreneurs.  The project generated other support from funders interested in the historical significance of the Putney General Store building — support that vanished with the building.  The project has lost $162,000 in tax credits awarded to historic structures.  ‘Cautiously pursuing’ rebuilding  On Nov. 2, less than two days after the fire, the historical society’s board unanimously voted “to cautiously pursue the feasibility to rebuilding the General Store,” Strothman said.  “If it is possible, we will do it,” he said.  The historical society had to decide quickly between rebuilding or selling the site. Both choices came with their fair share of complex financial consequences.  The majority of funding details are still unknown. The larger funding bodies are waiting on the insurance adjusters’ report before committing to any dollar amounts.  The society received an advance insurance check of  $25,000 for the site’s security and clean-up.  Strothman said the historical society told the insurance company it would take $368,000 to rebuild the structure as it existed the day before the fire.  Strothman realizes the site will never be the same as when the Putney General still stood but the historical society plans to work on a new design with project architect Bill Gallup of Maclay Architects in Waitsfield.  “If we’re in charge,” Strothman said, “it will not look like a box store.”  Before the historical society was anywhere close to deciding how to proceed, citizens stood looking at the rubble and expressing their support for rebuilding.  If a structure is rebuilt on the site, glass artist Bob Burch said he was looking ahead, trying to remain positive.  “I’ve got a hammer,” he said.  Ray Fordier, owner of Ray’s Auto Body, at 76 River Rd., said the site needs a building.  “It’s been here forever and ever and ever. We can’t just leave it like that."  Moving forward  Neither Strothman nor Lonie Lisai, who had been planning to operate the store, knows what role, if any, the Lisai family will play in the store’s future.  Lonie Lisai, his wife Obe, and their son Ben — third- and fourth-generation community grocers with Putney roots — had been working for almost a year to bring the store back to life.  “We did everything we possibly could do to make this store work,” Lisai said the morning after the fire. “We’re still stunned. The only good news is that the tenants next door got out.”  The Lisais posted a message on “Save the Putney General Store,” a Facebook group that Strothman had set up for the original rebuilding efforts last year.  “We were so graciously welcomed by the Putney community and so looked forward to being the next proprietors. We feel especially bad for the Putney Historical Society who worked so hard to bring this building back from the last fire,” the family wrote.  Strothman said the efforts to rebuild will require a renewed financial support from the community and some fresh blood.  “We need their support. We need fresh people to step up and join our board and join our task forces and help us sort through,” he said.  “[The store] remains the heart of our town,” he said, describing how he witnessed community members on the green showing their support as “very moving” and “a powerful moment.”  And the emotions continued throughout the week as people worked through their community’s loss.  On Friday, Nov. 6  a community vigil will take place on the tavern green at 7 p.m., where people will gather and share their memories and their sadness, says state representative Mike Mrowicki.  “It’s not a time when we should lose heart,”  Strothman said.“We are the bridge,” says Rob Levine, regional executive of the Vermont and New Hampshire Valley Chapter of the American Red Cross.  To respect the confidentiality of the tenants of 10 Kimball Hill left homeless by the Putney General Store fire, Levine spoke generally about the American Red Cross’ role during emergencies.  Volunteers from the Green Mountain Chapter of the American Red Cross train and work all year preparing for emergencies. A call can come any time day or night, according to Levine.  Volunteers arrive on site within two to four hours of an emergency and assist disaster victims for an average of 72 hours. According to Levine, 72 hours is the usual time frame to get people’s pressing needs met and until other support systems kick in.  In the case of a fire, says Levine, people generally need shelter, clothing, and food.  Where appropriate, volunteers also assist with mental health concerns.  After an initial interview, volunteers provide individuals with enough money to cover immediate needs. The money comes from donations to the Red Cross.  Levine points out that when American Red Cross volunteers serve during a disaster,  they assist their friends and neighbors, not nameless strangers.  Anyone interested in becoming a volunteer can contact Bruce Pollock, director of emergency services at the Green Mountain Chapter in Brattleboro, at (802) 254-2377 or visit www.gmcarc.org.Only days after the Nov. 1 fire that destroyed the historic Putney General Store building, the State Police Fire Investigation Unit ruled the fire criminal, and an investigation has proceeded, largely out of the public eye.  But on a cold Sunday night in early December, south of the store site, on Route 5, state troopers and agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms/Explosives managed a temporary checkpoint.  As troopers stopped drivers and handed out fliers, asking anyone with information about the store fire to come forward, James Mostyn, resident agent in charge of the Vermont ATF field office in Burlington, confirmed the U.S. Attorney will prosecute the Putney Store arson case at the federal level.  The fire destroyed multiple businesses, including the Offerings Jewelry retail space, and the General Store restoration had received both state and federal grants.  Because of the business disruption and the federal government’s stake in the project, the ATF  has joined the Fire Investigation Unit to conduct a joint investigation. The federal agency investigates crimes involving interstate commerce.  Vermont Deputy State Attorney Steven Brown and Windham County District Attorney Tracy Shriver will prosecute any other associated crimes committed by the perpetrator(s) at the state level, he said.  But they must first find a suspect.  “Some people may not have come forward because they think what they know is not important or that it’s information we already have,” said Mostyn, who commutes from Burlington to work the case. “But there’s no detail too small.”  “We’re making positive progress,” said Det. Sgt. Fred Cornell, lead investigator for the Vermont Fire Investigation Unit. “We’ve received a lot of calls. Cases like this generate a lot of collateral information to be verified and followed up on.”  Cornell, stationed in the Saint Johnsbury barracks, explained that the people who set fires think the fire will destroy all physical evidence.  “Everything is not destroyed,” he said.  The investigators have purposefully kept details of the fire confidential. Credible leads usually contain details unknown to the public. Also, should the case go to court, they do not want it thrown out on a technicality.  Cornell says there are many possible reasons someone might burn a building, but that the only person who truly knows the reason is the arsonist.  Cornell will continue to commute to Putney during the investigation and will continue working with local officials, including Fire Chief Thomas Goddard. Cornell said Goddard has helped the investigation immensely by making every resource available.  “I think the community should know how helpful Chief Goddard has been to us,” Cornell said. “He’s opened the firehouse to us and provided every resource possible."  The state and federal investigators acknowledge that the community seeks justice, but cautions that it could take a long time to build the case properly.  “Be patient. Let us do our work, although it can be slow,” advised Cornell, whose last arson case took approximately a year and a half to prosecute.  Rebuilding  A chain link fence circles the charred gash at the corner of Kimball Hill and Route 5. Mementos dot the silver metal: a peace sign wreath, a bright yellow coffee punch card, a note, prayer flags covered with children’s drawings. Woven through the metal links,  silk flowers and cotton tape spell: “We are the general store.”  The Putney Historical Society, which owned the building, has announced its plans to “cautiously” pursue plans to rebuild the local landmark.  “If we don’t rebuild, every time we drive by we’ll see evidence [of the fire],” says Putney Historical Society member Jeff Shumlin.  “It would be a tragedy to give up now and allow this negative intent to overcome Putney’s great positive spirit,” Shumlin said.  The Historical Society had purchased the building in 2008 after an earlier fire destroyed the roof and third story of the structure. The organization had signed on Bellows Falls and Grafton grocer Lonie Lisai to lease the retail space and bring the store back to life.  It took only minutes for those plans to change.  The State Police Fire Investigation Unit has ruled the fire a criminal act, and the investigation is ongoing.  Recent meetings led to the formation of four task forces: fundraising, headed by Shumlin; publicity, headed by Historical Society President Stuart Strothman; building, encompassing new building design and project management, headed by Lyssa Papazian, and the fence committee, charged with making the chain link fence surrounding the site more appealing.  People committed to the store’s rebuild show generosity with their hearts and their wallets. Strothman reports a surge of new members on the Save the Putney General Store! Facebook group. Membership has increased from 500 to 1,730. A Nov. 20 benefit hosted by Eric Bass of Sandglass Theater raised $3,400.  “It was a very positive event,” says Strothman. “There were easily 225 people there.”  The historical society has also received more than $8,000 in private donations towards rebuilding, says Strothman.   “But more help is needed,” Papazian adds.  Insurance settled  The Historical Society’s insurance company has paid $335,490, representing the full value of the organization’s investment.  The settlement is needed to repay bridge loans that originally helped the society buy the store, Papazian said. The money also must be used toward costs associated with clearing the site and security — expenses directly related to the fire.  The bridge loans allowed the historical society to begin construction while anticipating funds from a federal Community Development Block Grant.  Unlike some of the money pledged or received for the former building’s renovation, the federal funding awarded by the Vermont Department of Housing and Community Affairs targeted economic development in Putney’s designated downtown.  Papazian meets soon with officials in Montpelier to discuss the bridge loans and future funding, as the goal of the grant was to reopen the store.  Papazian says she’s “optimistic but not sure” that the DHCA will allow the society to apply the block grant funds to a replacement building.  Along with the building, the project’s $250,000 worth of tax and code credits turned to smoke.  Tax credits, explains Shumlin, are a funding tool used by many non-profit organizations. These credits can be sold for cash to other companies, such as banks, to raise cash that can be used for large capital expenses like building projects.   The general store received tax and code credits on the condition that it preserve and improve the building that burned last month. Money raised from the credits was earmarked for modern building improvements, like ADA access, electrical improvements, and fire safety installation.  “I’m hoping we will have some [more] places to apply for state and federal funding,” Papazian says.  Building designs  Papazian adds they are cautiously exploring possible building designs. The future design depends on current fundraising.  And new volunteers have begun stepping up.  Volunteer Maria Ogden of Putney helped with fundraising after the first fire. She was busy, however, and told the historical society her time was limited.  “But,” she says. “ The second fire really did make it obvious we need to make time in our lives [for this project].”  Ogden says the amount of time volunteers donate varies. She puts in about four hours a week between fundraising and coordinating events. Her husband Ward also volunteers.  She sees rebuilding the store as “an all-hands effort,” and if people want to participate, there will be a place for them.  “The silver lining in this experience is it will draw people together,”  Ogden says.  Arson jitters  Shumlin and Papazian have heard from some community members expressing fear “the arsonist” will strike again if they rebuild.  “That [fear is] perfectly natural,” says Detective Lieutenant Jim Cruise, commander of the State Police Fire Investigation Unit, Rutland Barracks.  Cruise explains suddenly removing or destroying a community institution can “shock the senses.”  In 2008, the State Police Fire Investigation Unit responded to 295 scenes, of which 124 were determined arson.  According to Cruise, arson accounts for 17 percent of fires in the United States, making it the third-most-common cause of fire. Cooking fires rank number one and heating fires number two. He says Vermont’s numbers usually parallel national statistics.  A fire chief contacts the fire investigation unit when a fire results in injury or death, appears suspicious, or its cause or origin remain undetermined.  Scenes are processed by a state police officer of detective sergeant rank or above, and a member of the Division of Fire Safety.  If the cause is determined criminal, the state police take the lead in the investigation.  The unit also provides statewide training to fire departments in arson awareness and scene preservation. “We enjoy getting fire chiefs up to speed,” Cruise said.  Cruise declined to comment further on the unit’s procedures in general or the Putney General Store fire specifically, due to the ongoing investigation.  “We take this case seriously,” says Cruise. “We’re investing a lot of time and resources.”  He adds the investigators are not going away, as they know this is an emotional issue for the community.  In the meantime, the Historical Society continues its drive to move the project forward.  “I feel after this horrible event that more than ever we have a responsibility to rebuild,” Shumlin said. “We will move forward. Great things are happening.”For eight days in October, downtown merchants collected patrons’ zip codes to assist Building a Better Brattleboro and consulting firm Arnett Muldrow & Associates develop a long-term economic development strategy.  Data culled from the zip code collection helped snap a virtual group photo of downtown Brattleboro shoppers as they answered questions like what types of goods and services they spend money on, questions designed to find out what types of retail items “leak” money away from downtown.  The survey was a preliminary step. Arnett Muldrow will file a full report and recommendations with BaBB in January.  More than 1,900 zip codes were collected by 23 merchants from Oct. 13 to 22. They revealed that 70 percent of the zip codes were local, or from the nearby tri-state region.  Of the local zips, 42 percent belonged to 05301, one encompassing Brattleboro, Guilford and portions of Marlboro and Dummerston.  Andrea Livermore, BaBB executive director, said people have expressed concern that 42 percent seems low for zip covering such a large geographical area.  Visitors also came from 41 states and the District of Columbia, four provinces, seven countries and two unidentified military locations.  “There’s no way we can discount the importance of visitor traffic,” said Tripp Muldrow, a planner with Arnett Muldrow.  Muldrow said that among the towns he has evaluated, Brattleboro ranks in the top five for visitor traffic.  Livermore said “it was a shot in the arm” to hear Muldrow refer to Brattleboro as a “world-class downtown.”  “Now, you have to start acting like it,” he told Livermore.  Markets, opportunities and leaks  Muldrow told BaBB members at a Nov. 16 meeting that the zip codes broke shoppers into primary, secondary and unique markets.  Brattleboro and Marlboro residents comprised Brattleboro’s primary-market customers, shopping almost exclusively in town.  The secondary market — customers who frequent downtown, but who also shop elsewhere — included those from Jamaica, Newfane, Putney, Townshend, Vernon, Wilmington, and Chesterfield and West Chesterfield, N.H.      Greenfield, Mass., and Hinsdale, N.H., held the “unique” market, showing up in downtown the least.  Muldrow calculated a potential $375 million in spending for downtown if, and only if, customers don’t “leak” their money to outside areas, instead buying all their items or services from Brattleboro merchants.  He said only $234 million of that potential is flowing through downtown.  But, said Muldrow, if Brattleboro could prevent the dollars leaking away it could expand its cash flow by $100 million. Persuading downtown’s secondary market alone to stop shopping elsewhere could harness a potential $78 million.  The firm found would-be local customers tend to buy furniture, clothing, shoes and jewelry from out of town.  Muldrow suggested building businesses through a two-pronged approach to stopping the leaks.  The first entailed a process of growing from within, by expanding existing businesses and helping them thrive. The next step would involve attracting new businesses.  Working with existing businesses will be important because downtown is almost at 100 percent occupancy, said Livermore and Muldrow.  Grocery stores pull in sales from residents of towns other than Brattleboro.  Restaurants also pull in outside traffic and contribute the strength of downtown. Muldrow said quick-serve family restaurants — but not fast-food franchises — would help that market grow.  Muldrow told BaBB members the town does well with sporting goods and could “grow” its book sales. He suggested adding a general electronics store to the downtown mix.  Muldrow posited that Walmart, which absorbs about $22 million in sales, could lurk behind the lack of general merchandise in town.  The big take-aways  Muldrow said none of the merchants he interviewed told him they were in “dire straits.” According to Muldrow, merchants spoke with “guarded optimism,” while acknowledging how special Brattleboro is.  Other communities currently working with Muldrow are mired in a sense of desperation that is absent in Brattleboro.  “I don’t want to sound too Pollyanna-ish,” said Muldrow. “But it leaves you feeling really good.”  Muldrow said the economic shakeup of the Walmart in Hinsdale, built in 1992, has “played itself out.” Any stores that were going to close due to losing sales to Walmart have already done so, he said, describing Walmart and the state liquor store in Hinsdale as “a two-trick pony” — two types of retail that Brattleboro has moved beyond.   When the existing Walmart moves up Route 119 and reopens as a Super Walmart that sells groceries, it might cut into Brattleboro’s grocery trade, but Muldrow doesn’t anticipate any of the town’s grocery stores closing as a result.  Rarely does Muldrow see a faraway zip code — a sign of a singular customer, one whose movements can be tracked with obvious precision — hop from shop to shop as it did downtown. Alaska and Hawaii appeared in the survey — a good sign, he said, that tells him visitors coming downtown tend to browse, whereas locals tend to “target shop.”  “Downtown Brattleboro is a specialty district friendly to visitors, yet still relevant to locals,” Muldrow said.  Muldrow views this as a strength. He hopes people in town will take a long look at how best to maintain a balance between services for locals and services for visitors. He used the Latchis as a symbol of this balance. The Latchis Hotel caters to visitors, yet the theater and Flat Street Brew Pub and Tap Room Restaurant welcome both.  “And that’s a wonderful mix,” he said.  Muldrow hopes residents realize they have a “high-performing” downtown that still has staple retail stores like the Brattleboro Food Co-op and Brown & Roberts Hardware.  He hopes residents will think about how their downtown grows and continue to acknowledge the engine it is for the economic health of Brattleboro, “because it could be taken for granted,” he said.  Downtown will face a few challenges, such as the New England-wide challenge of flat population growth.  But, Muldrow feels there is one “fun” strategy challenge ahead for Brattleboro, a town high on quality.  “How can Brattleboro continue to play in the big league? Because it is big league,” Muldrow said.  Livermore said she looks forward to reading Arnett Muldrow’s full report in January and will use the data to apply for grants toward long-term economic development strategies.The Selectboard voted Dec. 7 to terminate Kevin Turnley immediately as police chief, after a final closed-door deliberative session concluded that he gave false testimony at two meetings.  Turnley, hired as the acting police chief in September 2005 and given the job permanently the following February, filed a complaint Oct. 6 with Windham Superior Court against the Selectboard and town. The former chief claims the town violated federal wage law, thus owing him 1,335 hours of overtime for hours worked between February 2006 and this past Sept. 28.  According to board members, the former chief lied to them and the public about when he received an e-mail about a change in the state’s sex offender registry from the Vermont Department of Public Safety’s Criminal Information System, alerting him that a registered sex offender had moved to Vernon.  At the Oct. 6 meeting at the Vernon Elementary School, “Keeping Your Kids Safe,” organized by State Rep. Patricia O’Donnell, a citizen asked Turnley if he knew a registered offender had moved to town, and the chief said he had found out only days before — a timeline he repeated at the Oct. 19 Selectboard meeting.  The Selectboard suspended Turnley without pay at its Oct. 26 meeting and began the termination process.  In a Nov. 9 public termination hearing, the Selectboard entered into testimony an e-mail from the state registry dated Aug. 13.  Turnley’s lawyer, William McCarty of McCarty & Buehler, did not contest the board’s allegations, but challenged the Selectboard’s authority to conduct the termination hearing and accused the board of coercing witnesses.  The board made its final decision in a closed session.  The Selectboard concluded that the four members “communicated with the witnesses solely to ask them to come before the hearing to testify, and did not coach their testimony,” according to the report.  The board heard testimony from Police Department Clerk Rebecca Blake, Selectboard Secretary Elaine Howard, and two citizens who attended the Oct. 6 safety meeting, Dale Gassett and Tom Fox. Both town attorney Richard Coutant and Turnley’s attorney, William McCarty, questioned the witnesses, and Coutant “was afforded the opportunity to [ask] the witness additional questions,” according to the Selectboard’s report of the deliberative process.  “The board has got to have the real deal,”  Selectboard Chair Mike Ball said before the final deliberations.  “The whole thing is just a huge mess,” Selectboard member Robert Miller said. “He’s really a nice guy. And he’s very likable.”  Board members examined testimony and exhibits entered by the two attorneys from the Nov. 9 hearing, including McCarty’s charge that the Selectboard operated beyond its authority and influenced witnesses.  The Selectboard concluded the board acted in accordance with the Vernon Personnel Manual and the Vermont Municipal Administrative Procedure Act. According to Ball, Selectboard members also filed affidavits saying they did not provide any guidance to the witnesses.  Neither Turnley nor McCarty appeared at the December hearing, nor did either respond to multiple requests for an interview.  Going to court  The town may have had its complaints, but so does Turnley, who outlined numerous allegations in his civil complaint against the town and the Selectboard.  In addition to his dispute over wages, the former chief claims the Selectboard breached his contract and charged that the board abused its statutory authority by micromanaging him and his department.  The town and Selectboard denied almost every point in Turnley’s lawsuit in a response filed Nov. 3.  Vermont law affords selectboards the power to determine compensation for municipal employees. The law also permits selectboards to inquire into the conduct of municipal employees and investigate town affairs.  Normally powers to hire and fire fall to a town manager. Since Vernon does not have a town manager, the responsibility falls to the Selectboard, Miller said.  At the Nov. 9 hearing, McCarty charged that the selectboard is retaliating against his client.  “This isn’t retaliatory,”  Ball responded.  Ball added that Vernon is insured under the Property and Casualty Intermunicipal Fund (PACIF) program of the Vermont League of Cities and Towns (VLCT). The town has not denied Turnley’s allegations for financial reasons, he said.  In answer to Turnley’s accusation of micromanagement, Miller responded that the Selectboard was trying to help him. Both Ball and Miller, the liaisons for the Police Department, say they met with Turnley to address some of the complaints and emerging issues.  “Don’t think he was micromanaged,” Miller said.  Hourly or salaried?  In his complaint, Turnley stated he was retained at an hourly wage of $20.58 and that both parties had entered into an “appropriate contract.”  But according to the job description on file with the town clerk’s office, the position of police chief is classified as salaried with compensation determined and administered by the Selectboard.  Miller, who was present at Turnley’s hiring, said Turnley was hired with a salary — an amount calculated on the basis of a 43-hour work week at $20.58 per hour — but the former chief’s compensation never fluctuated based on the duration of the work.  If |Turnley is owed as an hourly employee, the 1,335 hours at that rate would translate to $41,211.45 at overtime rates (see sidebar).  Both Miller and Ball also said Turnley never had an employment contract. According to Miller, none of the town employees has an employment contract. Instead, their job descriptions and the town’s employee handbook serve to document roles and expectations.  The audit results  Miller pointed to the Selectboard authorizing a performance audit of the police department as the starting point of Turnley’s discontent.  “We thought it would help the police chief and the Selectboard,” he said.  In July 2008, board members informed Turnley they wanted to conduct the audit to dispel rumors and complaints coming from the community. The board also stated the decision was not personal, and that it was only a way to shed light on the department’s strengths and weaknesses, according to the minutes of the meeting.  “The board is not an expert on the police department,” Ball said about the board’s decision to bring in an outside consultant to perform the audit.  “First, the Selectboard wanted to assess the problem and fix it, and since we didn’t know how, we wanted someone who did,” Miller said.  Miller declined to share details of the complaints due to confidentiality, but comments from multiple sources suggest at least some concern that the chief did not respond fast enough nor aggressively enough when investigating citizens’ concerns.  For example, at the Aug. 18, 2008 meeting, one resident, Tom Hendricks, was concerned with “what he has perceived as a lack of timely communication regarding five legal matters being handled by the Police Department, especially the matter of identity theft,” according to the minutes.  Turnley was invited but did not attend the July 2008 meeting where James Cronan & Associates was retained to conduct the audit, a $7,000 expense. A copy of the audit appears on the Selectboard’s Web site, vernonvt.org.  The audit found the police departmental policies and procedures were comprehensive but portions were out of date, as the document had last been revised in 1977. Cronan suggested updating policies regarding use of force, vehicle pursuit, domestic violence, infectious disease control, and missing persons.  The audit also found the department did not comply with the Vermont Incident Based Reporting System (VIBRS), Vermont’s common record keeping system for law enforcement. The report also said  other police departments and court officials described Vernon police officers as lacking experience to perform such duties as filing paperwork like affidavits.  The audit also found the police department’s budget was the lowest it had been in five years, and Cronan said the department specifically needed an administrative assistant — deficiencies the Selectboard addressed as a result.  Other examples point to a souring relationship between Turnley and the Selectboard prior to the audit.  Minutes from the past two years show complaints from the public and the fire department against the police department, and Turnley appeared at a July 22 “working session” with his attorney.  The minutes also document conversations about the relationship through the previous months.  Moving forward  “A lawsuit is kind of the final signature for complete failure of the system,” said Jeffrey, who says the best way for a town to ensure a happy work force is to make sure employees feel respected, empowered,  and properly compensated.  “I hope the board and new chief learn from this experience and avoid the same mistakes,” he said.  Selectboard members agree. “I don’t want to see this again. It’s bad for everyone,”  Miller said.  Jeffrey also said there needs to be open communication. If an employee makes a request that cannot be fulfilled, then they deserve a clear explanation.  The VLCT head did not have a concrete answer to the question of how boards ensure employees feel respected, empowered and properly compensated in daily practice. Materials from a May 2006 VLCT workshop discuss personnel management, stressing employment management as a board’s most important function because it is how a board influences the quality of service delivered to the community. The materials also stress that personnel management can prevent costly employment litigation.  The materials suggest tools for supporting personnel management, include a personnel policy, job descriptions, and an evaluation system. Board members said the town has worked to develop a new human resources process, a task that began prior to the police chief controversy.  All of that is too late for Turnley and the board. Both parties have requested a trial by jury.Employers generally decide if a position is hourly or salaried. Certain criteria must be met, however, for salaried positions.  The federal Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) dictates standards for the basic minimum wage and overtime pay for hourly (“non-exempt”) employees.  Hourly federal minimum wage is $7.25. Vermont state law supersedes the federal standards, and state employers must pay $8.06 an hour. The federal and Vermont overtime is set at 1.5 times an employee’s regular rate of pay.  On the other hand, jobs that meet certain criteria can be excluded (“exempt”) from FLSA coverage.  Employees performing executive, administrative, professional, or outside sales duties are exempt from receiving overtime.  Exempt executive employees must earn a base rate of $455 a week. Their primary duty must entail managing a department. They must regularly manage at least two or more full-time or four part-time employees, a role described in the police chief’s job description.  Executive employees must have the authority to hire, fire, or promote other employees, or they must influence those who do have that authority, as now-former Police Chief Kevin Turnley did in his bringing his hires to the Selectboard for approval.  Dirk Anderson, attorney with the Vermont Department of Labor, doesn’t see a scenario where a salaried employee can legally claim overtime, even if Turnley routinely worked 90 hours per week. “I do not believe there’s a maximum number of hours that if worked would violate a salary unless it was a breach of a verbal agreement,” he said — for example, an acknowledgment that additional time should be compensated.  Anderson did not know of any precedent for Turnley and the Selectboard’s debate or similar situations in Vermont.  Vermont League of Cities and Towns Executive Director Steve Jeffrey says that although normally a salaried employee — by definition — receives no overtime, he or she can contest the classification if treated like an hourly employee (if the employer docks the employee’s pay, for example).  Jeffrey stresses that arguing a salaried employee receive back overtime pay would be a case-by-case issue. He declined to comment in depth on Turnley’s case, as VCLT serves as Vernon’s insurance carrier and might be called to appear in court should the case go to trial.With expenses outpacing contributions, the First Baptist Church’s decision to sell a valuable stained-glass window caught the national press’s attention and triggered an outpouring of donations and community concern.  Will the new donations be enough to keep the window in the church?  “We’d like to keep the window, and it’s what we’re working towards, but it’s too soon to tell,” says Trustee Karen Davis.  The 88-member church’s finances have been ravaged by declining membership. When the current building was dedicated in 1868, the First Baptist Society had 412 members, according to Mary Cabot’s Annals of Brattleboro history.  Selling the one-of-a-kind, 9-foot-tall window, with an estimated value of $75,000, is not the church’s first attempt to rebuild finances.  Louis Comfort Tiffany helped revitalize and reinvent the art of stained glass. The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York describes him as “one of the most versatile         and talented American artists working in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.”  According to the museum’s timeline of art history, “Tiffany and his early rival, John La Farge, revolutionized the look of stained glass, which had remained essentially unchanged since medieval times when craftsmen utilized flat panes of white and colored glass with details painted with glass paints before firing and leading.”  The two artists “experimented with new types of glass and achieved a more varied palette with richer hues and greater density. By 1881, each had patented an opalescent glass, a unique American phenomenon that featured a milky, opaque, and sometimes rainbow-hued appearance with the introduction of light.”  Three years ago, the trustees sold the parsonage and recently they liquidated a number of endowments.  “We need more paying members — that’s the realistic end of it,” Trustee Sylvia Seitz says.  According to Seitz, the church needs a conservative annual budget of $150,000 to cover a full-time pastor, administrative assistant, heating, and insurance. To cut costs, Pastor Suzanne Andrews agreed to a part-time salary, and the church eliminated the sexton’s position, bringing the budget to $102,000.  But the cuts were not enough, and when slim finances threatened the church’s other programs, the trustees asked the congregation for permission to sell the window depicting Saint John the Divine.  The thin finances threatened the town’s overflow homeless shelter at the church, open in the winter months from 5:30 p.m. to 7 a.m. when the Morningside Shelter is full.  “We are emotionally and spiritually invested in the homeless shelter,” Davis says.  Grace’s Kitchen also feeds the hungry in the community on Wednesday nights. The church also serves as headquarters for Brattleboro Pastoral Counseling and provides meeting space for Alcoholics Anonymous.  Seitz and Davis say that the church donates the use of the building for these programs. Some programs like AA give “at-will” donations, but those funds are not enough to offset extra costs such as heating.  Despite the financial setbacks, the generosity comes because “American Baptists are mission-oriented, more than wanting gold-leaf in the church,” Seitz says.  According to Davis, sale of the window and gifts from a recent estate could carry the church through 2011.   “It’s only wise for us to consider what we could get for the window,” says Davis. She noted the church also considered selling its bell, a similarly traumatic decision that would not generate as much revenue.  Coverage strikes a chord  News of the church’s plight hit The Boston Globe Nov. 23. From Boston, it was a short hop, skip, and jump to the Associated Press and finally national broadcast on ABC News in December.  Responses to the decision vary. Some comments posted on sites like iBrattleboro and ABCNews.com commend the congregation for choosing their spiritual mission over a material window. Other postings worry about the community’s loss if the window leaves Brattleboro.  The story struck a chord and spurred people into action.  Even into the new year, donations to save the window arrive in a steady stream. A group of concerned Brattleboro community members — including Greg Worden of Vermont Artisan Designs and other representatives from the Historical Society, the Chamber of Commerce, and Building a Better Brattleboro — approached the trustees to see how the community could help the church keep the window in town.  “We wanted something we could do as a unit to help with funds, keep the window in town and help with the homeless shelter at the same time,” Worden says.  The outpouring of support may alter the trustees’ plans for the window.  “We’re in flux,” says Seitz. “If money is coming in, that’s sort of like a bid too.”  Seitz and Davis agree that as much as they would like the window to stay, it is too early to foretell the outcome.  “We are very grateful for the donations and prayers and consideration of the people sending money,” says Seitz.  Approximately $4,000 in donations have come in so far, says Davis. “They are generous. Especially those coming from strangers,” says Seitz.  Davis describes many of the letters accompanying the donations as touching and heartfelt, a community reaction that Worden also describes as a “generosity of spirit.”  The Estey family remodeled the building from 1895 to 1900 to accommodate an Estey organ, still in use today. The Tiffany window was dedicated in 1910 to the memory of Levi Fuller, who served as governor from 1892 to 1894 and who was the husband of Abby Estey.  The details of how the purchase would work remain in the air. A buyer might purchase and remove the window. The church has described the concept of seeking a donation that would keep the window in place for at least five years. Worden and his group have proposed purchasing it on behalf of the town and moving it to a public space.   Davis says, regardless of the final decision, the church must rebuild its finances to meet short- and long-term needs. The trustees welcome suggestions and volunteers.  “We don’t know how long this congregation will exist, but we’re stepping out in faith,” says Davis.Residents got a new place to dump banana peels, paper towels, meat, kitty litter and other organic waste when Vernon joined Project COW, Windham Solid Waste Management District’s organic waste composting program in 2009.  A container for residents opened Oct. 10 at the town garage, and town officials say the program already shows promise.  “The people who utilize the program are extremely excited,” says Mike Courtemanche, the Vernon Selectboard member who has marshalled the program with fellow resident Bob Spencer.  The Project COW (Commercial Organic Waste) composting program has two branches. The original Project COW serves businesses in the Windham Solid Waste Management District. Residential COW serves the residents of 10 participating towns within the 19-town district.  Project COW started serving businesses five years ago. According to Program Director Cindy Sterling, WSWMD received a small Vermont state composting grant.  With the assistance of an Antioch graduate intern, the district  approached five Brattleboro restaurants as part of the pilot project. The restaurants used their existing cardboard trash bins to hold the organic waste. Triple T Trucking of Brattleboro, with a pre-existing route to Martin’s Farm Recycling in Greenfield, collected the waste and delivered it to the farm.  Project COW now includes multiple businesses, schools, including Vernon Elementary, and supermarkets. It is in the process of expanding into Wilmington.  The residential composting service is less than a year old. A  container at the WSWMD’s Convenience Center on Old Ferry Road in Brattleboro has been available to all residents in the district since May.  The pilot project, funded by a grant from the USDA Rural Development Agency from May through October. Sterling was surprised at how willingly residents drove their organic waste to the dumpster.  The project received tremendous support from the community and the WSWMD decided to continue subsidizing the program when grant funding expired in October, says Sterling. The project’s funding structure will need to be reassessed.  Diverting an expensive waste stream  “Fifty percent of garbage can be composted,”  says Sterling, who became a composting aficionado in the 1990s.  When the organic waste breaks down, it adds nutrients to the soil. Food waste aids nitrogen levels; paper increases carbon levels.     The program goes beyond the scope of home composting involving vegetable scraps and yard clippings plunked in a corner of the backyard. Project COW accepts a wider range of organic waste like meat and non-recyclable paper like tissues, waxed cardboard, and frozen food containers.  Martin’s Farm grinds up the organic waste with grass clippings. The compost, piled in long windrows (a drying process), is turned, and an eye is kept on temperature and moisture content. Eventually the farm sells the mature compost and the cycle continues.  Courtemanche and Spencer pitched Project COW to the Selectboard as a money-saving strategy after a March 2008 town meeting. Voters expressed concerns over the town’s high budget, and the Selectboard needed to slash $150,000 without cutting town services.  Courtemanche suggested saving $30,000 on tipping fees by building up Vernon’s recycling and composting program.  For Vernon, which provides curbside trash pickup to residents, reducing the amount of trash collected curbside saves the town money by reducing tipping fees assessed on weight. Organic wastes contain a lot of water and are deceptively heavy, says Spencer.  “It’s a nice service to have,” says Spencer. “It could cost a family $250 to $300 a year if they had to pay individually.”  Courtemanche says when he joined the Selectboard in 2008, Vernon sent 865 tons of household trash a year, 72 tons a month, to the landfill. After promoting the recycling program in 2009, the yearly total dropped by 128 tons, saving the town $13,000.  Courtemanche and Spencer estimate Project COW has helped drop the landfill amount by 24 tons and counting — another two tons each month since Oct. 10.  All about the bacteria  Spencer, an environmental planning consultant, explains how those 24 tons represent financial and environmental savings.  “Composting is all about the right bacteria,” he says.  Bacteria break down organic waste in both landfills and compost piles.  Organic waste rotting in a landfill without oxygen creates methane. Bacteria in composted organic waste, on the other hand, use oxygen to break everything down. The byproduct of this process is heat.  Spencer describes methane, a greenhouse gas, as 60 times more potent than carbon dioxide. Projects that capture methane and use it as a source of alternative energy reduce methane’s free rein.  “The program works [financially],” says Courtemanche. “Plus we want to save the planet.”  Even though the combined recycling and composting programs have not reached the targeted $30,000 savings, they have reached Courtemanche and Spencer’s first benchmark: financial viability, one of the challenges facing recycling programs.  “If we really get people in town to participate we could save [the full] $30,000,”  Spencer says.  Enough people need to participate to offset costs like hauling recyclables to a processing center and wages for anyone covering the drop-off site. Vernon’s population of 2,141 cannot support the cost of curbside pickup of recyclables, so residents must voluntarily drop their recycling at the Town Garage.  According to Spencer, one reason the town could participate in Project COW is Triple T Trucking already had a designated pickup route along Route 142.  Sterling says Project COW would like to process the compost locally. This could help reduce hauling costs and open the program to more communities.  “Any recycling system is always [about] collection and transportation. If you can make collection easy, then the program will be a success,” she says.    Educating citizens  The Project COW trash container is open Saturdays, 8:30 a.m. to noon at the Vernon Town Garage.  Volunteers help residents understand what can be composted and what is household rubbish. Courtemanche and Spencer say they have counted 50 cars passing through the recycling area on an average Saturday. Of those, 20 to 30 are stopping to drop off composting.  “One of the challenges [for us] is that a lot of people still don’t know about the program,”  Courtemanche says, so educating residents to utilize the program is a priority. More volunteers can help expand compost drop-off times.  “We could really take this [program] over the top,” says Courtemanche.What does it mean to be human?  Seventh and eighth graders at Hilltop Montessori School study this question from multiple angles as part of a two-year curriculum, Being Human.  Their latest six-week segment, “A Sense of Place,” explores what comprises a community, and students’ studies have culminated in films that feature a montage of photos, music, and storytelling called “Life in Brattleboro: The Society Project.”  “The purpose of the project is to get students into the field to discover what constitutes the society of a town and who are the people who make that town what it is,” says Finn Campman, who teaches the two-year curriculum with teachers Paul Dedell and Jessica Turner.  Students interviewed local citizens from a variety of professions such as small business owners, doctors, firefighters, and artists. The students’ goal, according to Campman, was to understand their subjects’ public roles rather than conduct a study of their personal lives.  “These are students who are emerging citizens exploring what it means to belong,” Dedell says.  Among the many local residents to be profiled are metalworker Lester Dunklee, Sam’s Department Store owner Pal Borofsky, Brattleboro Retreat psychologist Dr. Helen Daly, Brattleboro firefighter Rusty Sage, glassblower Randi Solen, and Vermont Youth Theater director Stephen Stearns.  To prepare for their interviews and individual projects, students performed research, learned how to conduct interviews, storyboard a film, and edit footage using Final Cut, digital film editing software.  Jackie Elliott, a seventh grader from Brattleboro, interviewed Robert Johnson, founder and president of Omega Optical.  She wanted to interview Johnson because engineering interests her, she said. She toured Omega twice, once to prepare for her interview and then with Johnson, who gave her a firsthand look at the production process of the precision lens manufacturing company.  “It was cool to see how much he cared about his work,” she says.  Elliott used filter effects in her short film to echo Omega’s filters. “It was really awesome to learn a new program,” she says.  “I think when you have a sense of place, you know the place really well and you are connected either through your family or an event,” says Maya Sutton-Smith, an eighth grader from West Brattleboro.  Sutton-Smith interviewed Dr. Lauren Schneski from the Brattleboro Veterinary Clinic. She interviewed a veterinarian because she loves animals and is thinking about becoming one herself. Dr. Schneski performed surgery on a dog the day Sutton-Smith shadowed her.  “I’d never seen that before,” she says.  Sutton-Smith hopes the people watching her short film get a better sense of who Dr. Schneski is as a veterinarian and person.  “I had a lot of fun with this unit,” she says.  “I’m really proud of them [the students]. The films all capture something of their person,” says Campman.  Campman and Dedell say connections made with the adult interviewees will have a lasting impact on the students.  Campman notes students come away from the exercise with a broader understanding of Brattleboro and the continuity of the community through the past into the present and future.  “[Being Human] is purposefully a broad subject and purposefully very interpretive,” says Campman.  He adds, part of the goal for the “Sense of Place” unit is to help students build the skills and become willing to go out and explore these big questions.   “All the students developed a much closer connection to their idea of place,” Dedell says. “Place is not necessarily geographical. They came to recognize that place is so often what they make of it.”Calling the proposal to refurbish the Chestnut Hill reservoir for $219,000 a cost the town could ill afford and a benefit for too few of its citizens, the Selectboard will seek voter approval to sell the property at this year’s representative annual town meeting.  “I cannot support this proposal,”  Selectboard Chair Jesse Corum said. “It may be pennies in the bucket, but the bucket’s full and there’s no more pennies the bucket can hold because there’s no more pennies to get, as far as I’m concerned.”  Public Works Director Steve Barrett had presented the board with his suggestion for refurbishing the reservoir, built in 1884 as the town’s municipal water source and disconnected from the water system since the early 1970s.  Some neighborhood residents spoke in favor of Barrett’s recommendation,  which he had based on an engineering report from  consultants DuBois & King, Inc.  The reservoir is surrounded by homes on Chestnut Hill, a small road off High Street. The neighborhood borders the Brattleboro Retreat woods.  The approximately 25-feet-deep and 11-foot-high dam is constructed of mortared stone blocks. On the downstream side, an earthen embankment creates the basin that holds 642,000 cubic feet of water at the crest. A stone gatehouse on the site also connects to the reservoir.  “I can see both sides of the story. Everyone has an opinion on everything, so you listen and see what happens,” Public Works Highway/Utilities Superintendent Rick Ethier said.  According to Ethier, Chestnut Hill is unusable as a reservoir, with its untreated water not meeting state standards. The pipes leading to the town water system are disconnected. Pleasant Valley reservoir, in the Municipal (Watershed) Forest, provides Brattleboro’s water.  Ethier explained that the reservoir and its dam have not undergone major renovations or maintenance since the 1970s. Since 2007, the Vermont Office of Dam Safety Inspectors has expressed concerns about the structure’s condition.  Ethier noted there is no automated water level control because the reservoir lacks a standpipe. The structure shows fatigue.  The state designated the dam “high risk,” a designation reflecting the state’s concern over the potential damage if the dam failed, not the fear that it would.  The DuBois & King study — an analysis that cost the town $25,000 by DeGray’s estimates — outlined concerns with the reservoir’s condition.  Potential issues included no automatic method of regulating water; structural fatigue and leaking in the gatehouse; deteriorating concrete around the reservoir; trees growing on the embankment; and no written town emergency action plan.  DuBois & King suggested eight options for the reservoir to “provide the town and its citizens with the information necessary to make an informed decision on the future of the Chestnut Hill Reservoir,” said Barrett, who noted that he had gone through the DuBois & King evaluation with the public and the Selectboard prior to the meeting.  Barrett, who recommended an alternative that would restore the site to its historical condition and meet state standards, said the majority of the residents he surveyed supported preserving the site, an option that would cost the town $219,000.  Repairing the site would keep future costs down, he said.  “I’m certainly in favor of Steve’s [Barrett] recommendation and particularly to say when I’m gone and when I die and when the other residents die that this area will be enjoyed by Brattleboro residents and it will continue on,” said Chestnut Hill resident Barbara Fitts.  Another resident of the neighborhood, David V. Dunn, did not agree.  Although Dunn said at the meeting that he could “live with” the second DuBois & King alternative, he later clarified his opini0n of the reservoir.  “It’s an unusable and unattractive cement pond, fenced in, with black water, no wildlife, and the sides caving in,” he said.  Meeting takes a turn  Town Manger Barbara Sondag pointed out that refurbishing the reservoir would need to be an agenda item at the March town meeting.  The $219,000 price tag requires a general obligation bond, she said, whose payment would come from the Utilities fund. She said the town had calculated the rates on a five-year plan to start repaying the wastewater treatment plant bond of approximately $30 million.  “So, I just bring that up because people are seeming to agree on everything, and I thought I’d just throw that out to remind people that eventually you have pay for it as well,”  Sondag said.  “I think we ought to have a motion to sell it,” concluded Corum.  Contacted after the meeting, Corum said this has been a long-term goal — that he had wanted to sell the reservoir since he joined the board in 2008.  Vice Chair John Allen and Clerk Martha O’Connor said they could not support board member Dick DeGray’s motion to spend $219,000. Allen said he was concerned about the liability the reservoir posed. O’Connor said she could not justify asking the entire community to pay for something that was only a small part of one neighborhood.  “And if any of you had sit through the budget hearings we’ve been having, we’re down to nickels and dimes with everything,” O’Connor said. ”And to me, the $219,000 is just not something that we can sustain and that’s what we’d be asking all the residents to do.”  “This has been a very tough year, and I can’t in all good conscience go to the tax payers of Brattleboro and say we’re going to put $219,000 into a reservoir that very, very few people enjoy,” Allen said.  DeGray’s original motion failed, 3–2, with Corum, Vice Chair Allen, and O’Connor voting against committing town resources to the property. Bouboulis sided with DeGray.  “I think selling it is unrealistic,” said Bouboulis said.  Allen made the motion to sell the Chestnut Hill Reservoir. After discussion from the Selectboard and community members, the motion to sell passed 3–2.  To sell or not to sell? A town’s responsibility  The reservoir discussion raised questions at the meeting.  How many people in Brattleboro know the reservoir exists? What about preserving this open space for future generations? What is the liability if the town sells the reservoir to a neglectful landlord? What if the town has to pay more to get the reservoir ready for sale than the original $219,000? Who would buy a run-down reservoir?  One question reached beyond the reservoir.  “Just because we own something and it costs us money, is it prudent for us to sell?” asked DeGray, pointing to the Brattleboro Museum and Women’s Crisis Center buildings, two assets used by the community that require an influx of money.  “[The Municipal Building] costs us money, but I don’t think you can compare it to a hole in the ground that has water in it,” said Corum.  According to Corum, the cost of any asset needs to be weighed against its benefit, current use, past use, and future use.  Corum explained that with the town’s tight budget, some services might need to go.  “[People expect] Cadillac service on a Chevy budget, and it’s starting to show,” he said.  “I think it’s setting a bad precedent that we turn and run every time something costs us money in the community,” DeGray countered.  The proposal generated a healthy debate.  “It’s just a spot that once you’ve lost it, you’re not going to get it back,” said Chestnut Hill resident Bill Penniman.  “If we’re asking the town to repair [Chestnut Hill] then we need to open it to the whole community,” said Dunn.  “We’re [the Selectboard] not just representing small pockets of the community. We have to serve the whole community,” said O’Connor.  “Some issues bring people out. Wish we had participation like that at all the meetings,” said DeGray.The River Garden hums with conversation. More than 50 community members and organizers committed to local food line up for soup, bread, and sweets at this, the final statewide data-gathering meeting for the Farm to Plate Initiative.   A trip to the local grocery store is like a trip around the world. Vermonters’ food comes from California, New York, Mexico, Minnesota, Chile, Brazil, New Jersey, Maine, Germany, and France.  And that’s a short list.  Farm to Plate, an initiative approved by the legislature in 2009, calls for 20 percent of food purchased by Vermonters to be produced locally by 2020. If successful, the program could help all Vermonters access affordable, quality, local food and give Vermont farmers and producers access to a sustainable income.  “We’re looking to identify things that are doable, fixable and fundable,” says Vern Grubinger from the University of Vermont Extension office in Brattleboro.  “Part of what we’re doing is truth-testing perceptions [of Vermont’s agricultural and food production capabilities] with actual data and interviews to determine to what extent are there challenges,” says Ellen Kahler, executive director of the Vermont Sustainable Jobs Fund, the organization developing the Farm to Plate plan.  The Vermont Sustainable Jobs Fund held eight public data-gathering meetings, called food summits, across the state. Information from this Brattleboro Jan. 15 meeting will contribute to the 10-year strategic plan developed for the legislature by the Vermont Sustainable Jobs Fund and the Sustainable Agriculture Council.  The 10-year plan, according to Kahler, will identify strengths and weaknesses in Vermont’s current food system, along the way identifying actions that can sustainably increase Vermont’s food production to meet the challenge.   Areas studied for Farm to Plate include production such as fruit, vegetables, maple syrup, livestock,  processing (milk, cheese, breweries, slaughterhouses), storage, and distribution.     Participants listen to Kahler’s presentation on Farm to Plate before breaking into discussion groups. She asks them to identify strengths, challenges and actions for the Windham County’s food system.  Attending tonight are farmers, teachers, policy-makers, students and other community members with varying experience and expertise.  “We’re seeing a renaissance of local food systems,” says Roger Allbee, the state’s secretary of agriculture, food & markets.  Allbee remembers growing up in Brookline with a local food system. More people grew their own vegetables; there were more working farms and processors, such as Geo. E Thomas and Sons Dairy.  Gradually, he says, Vermont’s food system shifted from local, to national, to international. More consumers wanted convenience foods as McDonald’s and other fast-food chains “sprung up” everywhere, he says. More people shopped at large grocery chains. To accommodate these changes, farms went from small to mega-, and eventually corporate America took over.  But about 10 years ago, according to Allbee, the pendulum began swinging back toward local food. Consumers have provided momentum, he says. They want to know their food’s origins, along with recent environmental, safety, and security concerns.  The Vermont Sustainable Jobs Fund aims to complete the first draft of the Farm to Plate plan by March. The finalized plan goes to the legislature in June after more statewide feedback sessions scheduled for the spring. Fundraising and policy changes in response to Farm to Plate begin in 2011.  “Once the plan is developed, that’s only the beginning,” Kahler says.  The discussion groups hand their notes and suggestions to Kahler. The summit completed, people continue to discuss local food in Windham County.   “People are saying Vermont is the leader [in the local food movement],” Allbee says. “Vermont is the leader, but we’ve got a long way to go.”Buoyed by almost $750,000 from grant support and contributions from individuals, the Putney Historical Society plans to rebuild and open a new Putney General Store as soon as this fall.  “It’s a highly ambitious opening date, but I do believe construction happens that fast if there’s the money,” Historical Society President Stuart Strothman said.  “We’re pretty optimistic,” Project Manager Lyssa Papazian said.  The historical society, community, and friends of the Putney General Store banded together after arson took the their beloved store building Nov. 1.  Support for rebuilding the store came in many forms. Some sent donations. Some joined committees. Many rolled up their sleeves and got busy.   The society was in the process of renovating the 210-year-old “G Store” building, heavily damaged by another fire in 2008. Until the recent fire destroyed the building, the store was scheduled to reopen this May.  According to Papazian, generous community support, continued assistance from the Preservation Trust of Vermont, and two recent grants from Chittenden Bank and the Harris and Francis Block Foundation located in Marshfield continue to back the project.  Thinking back, Strothman remembers struggling with a sense of exhaustion immediately after the fire.  “We’d been working really hard for a year and a half and were close to the home stretch,” he says. “We were feeling overwhelmed, and I thought I couldn’t go on.”  But Strothman and historical society members met Nov. 2 with Town Manager Chris Ryan and Fire Chief Tom Goddard. The group talked about the General Store’s importance to the town and offered one another support.  Ryan and Goddard’s outreach to the historical society members and their encouragement made a huge difference, Strothman says.  “It was like they carried us then.”  The society had to weigh other issues as well — an arsonist still at large, to name one.  “Some people felt with the arson that [rebuilding] was too risky. But we made a clear decision to not be intimidated,” says Papazian about the historical society’s decision to rebuild.  Strothman agrees, “Once we knew the town was behind us, we never looked back.”  Completing the funding  Papazian reports the design committee is finalizing plans and specifications for a new structure. The design is based on the former building and “takes the historical aesthetic of the village into account.” Local residents will donate timber and milling for the store’s frame.  Even with donations of goods and services, the cost of constructing the new store will cost approximately $850,000 depending on the finalized design.  The Preservation Trust of Vermont recently added $10,000 to an anonymous $20,000 matching grant.  Funds awarded through a matching grant are contingent on the organization raising, or matching, the amount offered by the donor.   Two recent donations include $2,000  from Chittenden Bank and $8,000 from the Harris and Frances Block Foundation.  According to Papazian, this leaves a funding gap of $100,000.  Another recent matching grant — $20,000  from the Thomas Thompson Trust — could help reduce the gap.  The Thomas Thompson Trust awards grants to organizations promoting health, education or “the general social or civic betterment” in Windham County and Dutchess County, New York. The trust rejected the historical society’s application twice, in 2008 and in 2009, before the fire.  Papazian credits town resident and business owner Jeff Shumlin with acquiring the grant.  “Basically, he had the gall to go back a third time,” she says, adding that the trust cited the community’s “inspiring” support as the reason they finally awarded the grant.  To receive the Thompson Trust’s matching funds, the historical society will need to raise $20,000 by June.  “[We’ve asked] a lot of work from the community already,” says Papazian.  Local donations have raised almost $180,000 since 2008. According to Strothman, over $75,000 of that came in after the Nov. 1 fire.  New merchants needed  Another new challenge for the historical society: finding a shopkeeper to lease and run the store.  The Lisai family, third-generation grocers with markets in Bellows Falls, Chester, and Grafton, was preparing to lease and operate the store when the building burned down.  In light of the second fire, the Lisais decided not to continue with the project. Papazian and Strothman expressed disappointment at the decision but say they understand.  The historical society is contacting other people in the grocery business and will post a Request for Proposals on the project’s Web site (www.putneygeneralstore.org) soon.  Arson investigation proceeds  Meanwhile, the arson investigation continues under the jurisdiction of Vermont State Police and the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms.  Detective Sergeant Frank Cornell of the Vermont Fire Investigation Unit cannot give details of an open case but did say the investigation has made “positive progress.”  Anyone with any potential information can contact the Vermont Arson Tip Award Program at 1-800-322-7766 or Cornell at (802) 748-3111.Meteorologists reported multiple snowstorms would hit Windham County beginning Tuesday, Feb. 23 and continue for many days. They didn’t say the fast-falling white stuff would turn Route 100 into a plow-your-own-way adventure.  They also forgot to mention power outages, hurricane-force winds, and shoveling. Lots and lots of shoveling.  The National Climate Data Center’s preliminary data reports as much as 45 inches of snow fell in western Windham County. Those reports could be high but an unofficial eyeballing of the snow banks around the lower elevations attest, once again, banana-belt Brattleboro escaped the worst.  For those who love winter, these storms were a blessing. For those who are sick of the snow, March 20 is the first day of spring.  Green Mountain Power works to keep lights on  Heavy snow and everything else falling from the soggy February sky knocked out power to homes and businesses across Vermont.  Green Mountain Power’s auto-updated outages map showed more than 11,000 reported Friday, Feb. 26. In Windham County, 1,950 homes and businesses lost power. Windsor County had the dim honor of the most outages, with 4,540 outages reported.  “All emergency crews are working really hard to get power back on, with some crews working overnight in order to ensure power by dawn for White River Junction,” said Dorothy Schnure, manager of corporate communications for Green Mountain Power. She added that the company was being careful that the crews were getting “the appropriate rest.”  In their Feb 26 broadcast New Hampshire Public Radio reported 300,000 homes and businesses in that state darkened by 90-mile-per-hour winds and heavy snow. More than a million people from Maine to Pennsylvania lost power due to the storm.  Crews from northern Vermont who had restored power in their region before the second storm hit were driving down to help the Southern part of the state.  “As soon as they have gotten power back on in our companies [Green Mountain Power], we’re going to send crews to aid with returning other utilities as well,” said Schnure.  Could have been worse  After a December 2008 ice storm coated the Northeast, some homes in Vermont went a week without power.  “This storm wasn’t as bad as the ice storm. Poles were broken, lines were down,” said Jeff Brown of Whitingham.  Brown, employed with a local plow company, spent most of the storm moving snow. The snow fell fast and heavy. Neighbors shoveled their roofs two or three times during the storm. Too much snow weight and — viola! — an unwanted skylight in the living room.   “I’d come home to grab a meal, getting about four to five hours of sleep [a night]. We’ve worked a lot of hours in the past four days,” Brown said.  Damage left by the 2008 ice storm kept cleanup crews busy into the summer. This time, Whitingham and Wilmington saw more snow than snow damage, Brown said.  Breaking out the heavy equipment  Ray Boyd of Jacksonville broke out the Payloader normally reserved for shifting earth in his gravel pit to clear the 35 driveways he plows every winter.  “That’s 35 driveways too many when we get a big storm,” he joked.  After an average snowstorm, Boyd clears his 35 driveways in seven to eight hours. The first six hours of the February storm proved too much for his trusty truck and plow.  “Spent five days in the loader. But it’s almost fun to run it after a storm like this,” he said.  The alternating snow and rain dumped about 36 inches at his place.  “It reminded me of the storms we used to get years ago,” he said.  Boyd operated the Whitingham town grader in the 1950s and ’60s before snowplows had “wings,” or plows jutting at an angle from the side of the truck that pushes back snow banks.  “I’d just get them [the snow banks] winged back and then it’d snow again,” he says.  During his days operating the grader he spent “every day but two” clearing roads in the winter.  “I’m hoping this storm will be the last one,” he said. “It’s almost sugaring [time].”Town Manager Barbara Sondag said voters at this year’s Representative Town Meeting will make decisions in the context of constraining the town’s budget without cutting essential services during tough economic times.  Sondag called the recent budget decisions “tricky.”  “We didn’t want to come in with unacceptable cuts,” she said. “You need to prioritize services because people need them. It’s important that financial resources and human resources go toward services that are the right priorities.”  “From the town’s perspective, I think we’ll have some good discussions,” said Sondag about the Saturday, March 20 Annual Representative Town Meeting. The meeting, which begins at 8:30 a.m. in the Brattleboro Union High School gymnasium, will be broadcast on Brattleboro Community Television.  Residents can view the town Web site, www.brattleboro.org, for the meeting warning (on the Elections page) and contact information for district representatives (linked to the home page).  Sondag said she doesn’t anticipate any contentious issues this year, although the budget reflects some operational changes.  “We have to continue to get better at looking at the numbers. Cost savings require we change our operations. Don’t see things getting much better much quicker,” says Sondag about changes to the budget.  Pay as you throw  One addition is $20,000 to fund a one-year recycling coordinator position.  “The position is the result of the Selectboard listening to the community and trying to meet some of those needs,” says Sondag.  According to Sondag, the new position was created in response to a survey conducted by the Solid Waste Department last year. According to Sondag, the survey revealed that voters felt the town needed to hire someone to oversee the pay-as-you-throw policy approved by the Selectboard Jan. 6, 2009. The Recycling Coordinator position was discussed but not approved at last year’s Selectboard meetings and 2009 Representative Annual Town Meeting.  Brattleboro has received guidance from Windham Solid Waste Management District Program Director Cindy Sterling but, as Sondag explains, Sterling’s mandate is to assist towns of fewer than 10,000 residents. Brattleboro has a population of 16,444, according to figures from the 2000 U.S. Census.  According to Sondag, the revenue from the mandatory pay-as-you-throw trash bags will cover the $328,000 annual cost of disposing of the town’s solid waste. Taxes will cover the $500,000-plus operating costs of the program, including trash collection and maintenance.  Budget reflects staffing shuffle  This year, some of the operational changes involve staffing.  Weekly hours at Brooks Memorial Library have been cut by eight hours. The stock clerk position in the public works department has been eliminated. The highway and utilities departments will share one employee who will work half time in each department.  According to Finance Director John Leisenring, “The overall budget in the Finance Department will be reduced by half a person.” After Treasurer Emilie Thomas leaves her position this summer for personal reasons, Leisenring will take over many of the treasurer’s duties. A clerk will be hired to perform clerical duties in the office. “We’re not losing a body but downgrading the position,” he said.  Personnel decisions do not need approval at Town Meeting. Representatives approve the budget amount to be raised by taxes, and individual departments decide how to use the approved funds,  Leisenring explained.  A police officer position that had been frozen will be eliminated. “This [cutting the officer position] comes at a time when we’re seeing increased crimes that are a little more violent. It’s a change I prefer we didn’t have to make,”  Sondag said.  Residents can voice their concerns at two public pre-town-meeting informational sessions.  Town issues, budget, and changes will be discussed at an informational session Wednesday, March 10; the school portion of the agenda, Thursday, March 18. Both meetings will take place in the gymnasium at the Academy School, 860 Western Ave.  During the meeting, voters will also:  • Debate the sale of the former Chestnut Hill Reservoir property “upon terms and conditions approved by the Selectboard.”  • Debate authorizing the purchase of 6.7 acres adjacent to the Wastewater Treatment Plant from Boston & Maine Railroad “at a cost not to exceed $25,000.”  • Borrow $175,000 at a rate no higher than 6 percent, for a term of at most 20 years so the town can resurface the parking lot and drive at Living Memorial Park. Voters will decide this capital improvement question by Australian ballot.  • See if the Town School District will lease a portion of the Crowell Lot on Green Street to the town for a skateboard park. The Selectboard voted Feb. 16 to reject a bid for the land that serves as a greenway that connects Western Avenue and Stockwell Park — at least for now.  During the public comment section of the Feb. 2 meeting, commission member Peter Gaskill asked the Selectboard to reject all bids for the property, telling the board that the commission only recently learned of the decision to sell.  Despite Gaskill’s request, the Selectboard continued the process, opening one bid for $525 the next day from the  0.5-acre parcel’s three abutting landowners.  But according to Town Manager Barbara Sondag, at the Feb. 16 meeting, the Selectboard decided to keep the land because of the low bid and because the abutters stated they  intended to keep the land as is.  Voters unanimously authorized the board to sell the parcel at the 2009 Annual Town Meeting.New Hampshire Representative Steven Lindsey appeared before the Selectboard seeking the town’s support for naming the two bridges spanning the Connecticut between the town and Hinsdale, N.H.  Lindsey, a sponsor of two pending bills in the New Hampshire House of Representatives that name the bridge, told the board that the smaller, eastern Parker truss bridge on Route 119 from the island to Hinsdale would be named the Charles Anderson Dana Bridge.  Charles Anderson Dana, born 1819 in Hinsdale, worked as a journalist, author, and assistant secretary of war during the Civil War. He served as editor and co-owner of the New York Sun.  Plans had been in the works to name the larger of the two spans from Brattleboro to the island, for Rudyard Kipling, the British author who had lived from 1892 to 1896 in Dummerston, where he wrote his classic Jungle Book.  Lindsay said that upon further discussion, however, legislators have reconsidered naming the 1920 western Pennsylvania truss bridge after former Hinsdale resident and Brattleboro Retreat founder Anna Hunt Marsh.  According the Brattleboro Retreat’s Web site, Marsh bequeathed $10,000 to found the first facility for the mentally ill in Vermont. If New Hampshire approves the name, it will be the second bridge that Lindsey knows of in New Hampshire or Vermont named after a woman.  Explaining that the chair of his legislative Public Works and Highways committee assigned him to solicit support from those affected by the name change, Lindsey appeared at the Feb. 2 meeting requesting a letter of endorsement.   The Selectboard voted to authorize Chair Jesse Corum to send a letter endorsing naming the bridges for Dana and Marsh. The New Hampshire House is scheduled to vote March 3 on the two bills.The Selectboard denied a permit for a sandwich board sign on a town-owned sidewalk, sparking debate among the members of the board and the public at the Feb. 2 and Feb. 16 meetings.  Musa Alici, owner of Alici’s Bistro at 51 Harris Place, had received a zoning permit from the Development Review Board for a sandwich board sign at the corner of Main and Harris Place near TD Bank.  The sign sits on town property, and to fulfill conditions of the permit, Alici’s Bistro needed permission from the Selectboard.  In addition, the Development Review Board approved the sign on the condition that it not obstruct pedestrians or people using wheelchairs.  But the Selectboard denied permission because off-premise signs are in violation of the town sign ordinance, Town Manager Barbara Sondag explained. The Selectboard also raised concerns that the sign routinely blocked pedestrians.  “I’m being emotional because I feel I’m being singled out,” Alici said at the Feb. 16 meeting. “I apologize, but I have every right to feel emotional because I see hundreds of signs, mine is the only problem, and it makes me sad and angry.”  Selectboard member Dick DeGray asked if it would be fair to deny Alici’s a permit given other Main Street businesses’ use of noncompliant sandwich boards and off-premise signs. He suggested the town develop an ordinance to bring all businesses into compliance.  Sondag said on Feb. 26 that the town would address the sidewalk sign issue with a new sign ordinance proposal within a month. She said she is also working with the Brattleboro Area Chamber of Commerce and Building a Better Brattleboro on the new protocols.“It’s not that we have a lot more money. We don’t. We’re using it a lot more wisely,” Financial Director John Leisenring told the Selectboard in discussing the comprehensive town audit for fiscal year 2009.  According to Selectboard member Dick DeGray, the town used to overspend its budget routinely without reflecting a deficit when it took in more than the bottom line. After the town experienced a revenue shortfall in 2005, a number of difficult budget years followed, requiring the town’s staff and department heads to increase their budget oversight.  “Our expenditures were $417,000 less than anticipated… I’d like to commend the staff and department heads for their excellent job for spending our money in a careful and fruitful manner and because of that we have a surplus this year,” DeGray said.  The independent audit was prepared by Mudgett Jennett & Krogh-Wisner, P.C., an accounting firm in Montpelier.The Works Bakery Café will open on Main Street this spring, marking the sixth store for the enterprise.  The 21-year-old café plans to open its doors in May in the Galanes building at 118 Main St., the former location of Optima Computers. The Works Bakery Café also has locations in Keene, Portsmouth, and Concord, N.H. and Portland, Maine.  President Richard French of Spofford, N.H., appearing before the Selectboard at the Feb. 2 meeting, said the business is “committed to making and selling the highest quality pure and natural foods.” The café serves breakfast and lunch. It makes bagels, artisan breads, sandwiches, and smoothies.  French and Planning Director Rod Francis appeared before the board, which approved a five-year, $40,000 Small Business Assistance Program loan at 3 percent interest.  The revolving fund is available to qualifying new or undercapitalized businesses, “particularly industrial and commercial ventures which have a demonstrable gap in a loan financing package,” for business expenses like signage, renovations, equipment, and inventory.  Works Bakery Café fully recycles and purchases products from local and fair-trade producers whenever possible, including cream cheese from the Cabot cooperative and coffee from Rio Negro Farm in Costa Rica.  “We want to push the green-building envelope,” French said in discussing renovations for the café.  French will work with ReNew Building Supplies and Materials to supply recycled building materials for the renovation, which will restore the space’s original tin ceiling and plaster walls.  French anticipates hiring eight full-time staffers with benefits, plus filling other part-time positions. He said the company sales gross approximately $4 million annually.   The board approved the loan 4–0. Selectboard Member Dick DeGray, whose family owns the commercial property, abstained.Entergy representatives met with the Selectboard at its Feb. 15 meeting to clarify the impact of tritium leaking from the Vermont Yankee nuclear plant.  Board members of the plant’s home town, whose residents overwhelmingly stood in favor of the plant at last year’s Annual Town Meeting, found themselves reassured.  “Tritium is found in water everywhere in small amounts,” said John Dreyfuss, then the director of nuclear safety assurance at the plant who was removed from his duties and placed on administrative leave Feb. 24. [See related story this issue.]  Dreyfuss explained that tritium, a radioactive isotope of hydrogen with a half-life of 12 years, exists as a natural part of background radiation and is found in everyday objects like illuminated exit signs. When combined with oxygen, tritium acts like water.  “It is water,” he said, though according to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, this radioactive tritiated water “is chemically identical to normal water, and the tritium cannot be filtered out of the water."  Entergy continues testing wells at the plant, on the property of residents of Governor Hunt Road, and at the school. Public health is Entergy’s “top mission,” and the plant would close if the tritium levels became dangerous, said Dreyfuss. “We remain far, far below any levels that would shut down the facility.”  Emergency Preparedness Manager Mike McKenney added that the plant has conducted weekly sampling of the wells in town as well as on the New Hampshire side of the Connecticut.  “We are getting closer to the source,” Dreyfuss said of the elusive leak.  Alleviated concerns  After the representatives left, Selectboard members expressed their personal opinions. Board members agreed that company employees answered questions and alleviated concerns.  “It’s not a doomsday issue,” said Selectboard member Lynda Starorypinski, comparing the tritium issue to the spate of publicity in the 1990s over health effects from the natural radioactive gas radon.  Chair Mike Ball, by day a senior engineer at the plant, said he received calls from three community members concerned about dropping property values as well as calls from The New York Times and news crews from two Burlington television stations, WFFF and WCAX. Another Pond Road resident told Ball he had started drinking bottled water.  Starorypinski said she had had a recent conversation with an individual involved in the January Safe and Green Campaign’s Step It Up march to Montpelier. The individual told her the march was intended to convince people north of Montpelier that the plant needs to be shut down.  “All we’re looking for is for people to be educated,” said Ball.  Ball and Starorypinski said people should start by getting their information from more than one source. The Selectboard has posted links to the Vermont Department of Health’s investigation into tritium at VY on the Selectboard’s site, www.vernonvt.org.  Individuals can also review information from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission in public documents about the plant kept at the Vernon Library.  Entergy’s property accounts for 54 percent of the town’s tax base, according to a document issued by the town during a January press conference in Montpelier, where Ball joined Emily Andrews (the daughter of Assistant Fire Chief Dave Andrews, an Entergy employee) and Mike Hebert (chair of Vernon School Board) to voice the town’s official collective support.  That official support was determined by a discussion at the 2009 Annual Town Meeting, which resulted in the town contracting with lobbyists William S. Smith III and Edward A. Miller Jr. The town has paid $10,000 for the duo to advocate in the state legislature for the continued operation of the plant on behalf of the town and its citizens.Lisai’s Bellows Falls Cash Market will get a new home in October, when manager Mike Lisai will relocate the 86-year-old business from 92 Atkinson Street four blocks down the road to 128 Atkinson St.  “I can’t wait to get down there,” Lisai says.  Plans for the new 9,000-square-foot store, where Cornerstone Pediatrics has offices until March 31, include an expanded meat counter, wide aisles, four checkout lanes, and 50 parking spaces.  Lisai tells current customers to start their wish lists.  “I like to say to customers, ‘what do you need?’ and then I’ll stock it,” he says.  Lisai, 35, grew up in the family grocery and butcher business.  His great-grandparents, Tony and Lena, opened the original 2,500-square-foot Bellows Falls Cash Market, at 92 Atkinson St., in 1924. The small, red community market sold custom-cut meat, produce, and household items.  Lisai’s grandfather, Lolik, inherited the business. Today, the Lisai family operates markets in Bellows Falls, Chester, and Grafton, providing customers with custom meat cutting and everything from avocados to Zippo lighters. Lisai’s uncles, Lonnie and Brent, own the Chester store, and Brent owns and operates the general store business in Grafton, leasing the building from The Windham Foundation. Lisai’s father Gary and uncle Brent own the Bellows Falls store.  Lisai worked in the store through high school and college. He started working full time there in 2001.  The current location — and its original 2,500-square-foot area — presents challenges in a building that has not changed much in 86 years.  Lisai shakes his head in frustration. “This space is not very efficient,” he says.   The building’s facilities affect daily operations. Unlike stores with loading docks, where  an entire order can be unloaded in minutes, Lisai employees line up in the back alley twice a week, break down pallets, and wheel deliveries into the store bit by bit. Lisai says the process takes an hour.  The shelves only hold a few of each item and require constant restocking. Limited checkout stations translate into long lines.   The aisles are so narrow customers with carts cannot pass each other.  With almost four times more space than the original store, the new location means better organization and efficiency.  Lisai’s customers are talking. “I think people are excited to have a bigger place in town [to buy groceries],” he says.  Lisai, who designed the store’s layout, says there will be more product selection in all departments. Customers will see larger produce and meat sections and 6-foot-wide aisles.  Behind the scenes, Lisai has planned a new pricing system using scanners. This saves employees having to individually price each item as they do now and decreases checkout times.  When Lisai carries purchases to customers’ cars, he often finds the back seat filled with competitors’ bags. Customers come to the market to buy meat, the Lisai family’s expertise, but drive to Walpole, Claremont, or Keene, N.H. for their weekly staples.  Lisai says limited selection in the store is part of the issue, but the other part is perception.  “Our prices are competitive, but we’re small, so people think they’ll pay more,” he says.  Lisai remembers as many as five community markets on Atkinson Street. His uncle Lonnie, co-owner of the Chester market, offers a reason why Lisai’s has survived for four generations and the others haven’t.  “Tony [the founder] focused on meat, which is the main staple on the plate,” he says. “Most people decide what meat they’ll have for dinner, then plan the rest of the meal around it.”  The 128 Atkinson St. building’s For Sale flyer crossed Lisai’s desk as he was leaving for a vacation in Maine. He couldn’t stop thinking about the space. He describes the process of buying it and expanding the business as “a no-brainer.” He jokes he had to quickly finish his vacation and get back to work.  Plans for the 92 Atkinson St. store are in the works. The Lisai family will continue to own and operate a new enterprise there — possibly a convenience store, deli, or bakery.  With his father, Gary, Lisai bought the building, making him a new co-landlord. As with the current store, Lisai’s father and uncle Brent own the business, which Lisai will continue to manage.  “I want to give them [dad and uncle] a breather. Give them time to do what they want now. They’ve worked hard,” he says.  Lisai looks forward to starting renovations in April. Renovating the building and moving the business carries an estimated price tag of $800,000.  “When you’re done, you hope your numbers are close,” he says.  Lisai says his father Gary and uncle Brent support him completely (no pressure).   “Any problem [with this project], I’m going to be dead,” he says with a laugh.“Tonight you’re going to see how powerful it is when one woman stands up and says ‘no’ or how powerful it is when one woman stands up and says ‘yes’,” says Women’s Crisis Center Executive Director Marilyn Buhlmann.  The Women’s Film Festival opens March 5 with a special benefit premiere of Precious at the Latchis Theatre. The festival officially begins March 12. All proceeds from the 27 films showcasing the stories of women’s lives from Utah to Iraq benefit the Women’s Crisis Center in Brattleboro.  The Women’s Film Festival is unique among U.S. film fests. Unlike festivals designed as venues for industry professionals to wheel and deal, the volunteer-run Women’s Film Festival provides outreach and raises funds for the Women’s Crisis Center.  “We’re not typical,” says Arlene Distler, head of publicity.  She says the festival is developing a reputation with filmmakers beyond Brattleboro. They respond to the festival’s non-commercial nature and high standards of filmmaking, say Distler and Merry Elder, head of the film selection committee.  Buhlmann says the festival serves a dual purpose: as a yearly fundraiser and a long-term way to send the message to the community that violence in all its forms is not tolerated — especially men’s violence towards women.  “These films portray incredible women.  These are the kinds of role models we don’t often see,” says Buhlmann.  The Crisis Center, founded in the late 1960s as a grassroots response to local women’s needs, serves women by offering confidential safety planning, shelter, peer support, advocacy, education, and information.  The film festival began 19 years ago to honor area resident Judith Hart Fournier, murdered in broad daylight at a Putney Road gas station by her boyfriend.  “I don’t think men set out to saying, ‘I’m going to rule this person.’ It’s an issue of many men not having the skills to cope with loneliness, loss, or challenges to their self-esteem. They’re socialized to be tough guys,” says Buhlmann.  Last year, 15 of the 20 homicides committed in Vermont were related to domestic violence, explains Buhlmann. Abuse often begins with a whisper and ends with a roar. Most batterers start by isolating their partners, then eroding their partners’ self-trust, making them more dependent on the batterer. Typically, such a relationship ends in violence.  “We live what we’re taught, and it requires a level of consciousness we can’t muster 24/7 to rise above,” says Buhlmann.  Buhlmann wishes more people would come to the festival. She knows the film selection has a perception of being too quirky.  But not all selections are, she notes. Many films this year will appeal to a wide audience.  Elder says the selection committee chose films with a broad range of issues, parts of the world and ages. She admits some films do deal with hard subjects.  “It’s very important for people to see what’s going on. It’s ugly, we don’t want to look but it’s important,” she says.  Although the festival does not choose a theme, trends arise, explains Distler. She thinks the trends are connected to what is important to society and what funding is available for projects. For a while, many films focused on breast cancer survivors. This year many of the projects deal with “girls at risk.”  The film selection committee screened 135 films and chose 27, says Elder. One film, Entre Nos, received a unanimous vote from the committee. Based on true events, the drama tells the story of Columbian mother Mariana (Paola Mendoza) and her two children abandoned by her husband after they move to New York.   This year, a few films have local connections, like Orgasm, Inc., by Liz Canner about pharmaceutical companies’ racing to develop a female Viagra.  The Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences, home of the Oscars, awarded the film festival a $2,500 grant this year, opening the event to more low-income audience members. The outreach committee has been busy contacting organizations serving at-risk and low-income populations. Besides providing tickets, explains Distler, the festival has hired professionals to provide sign-language translation for the hearing impaired at select events.  According to Buhlmann, organizers hope the festival raises between $12,000 and $15,000 this year through ticket sales and donations.  “I hope the audience will be inspired to think about what they can do in their lives even in the smallest ways,” says Buhlmann.  She remembers in 2003 how the film Georgie Girl, about Georgina Beyer, inspired her. In 1999, Beyer became the first transgendered woman in the world to hold public office, elected by a conservative constituency into the New Zealand parliament.  “I thought, if a transgendered Maori woman can become powerful in politics where no one accepted her, who am I not to try to do something?” she says.Discussions and disagreements around the town’s new trash-disposal policy have cycled and recycled like the waste stream itself, with citizens filing a petition to bring pay-as-you-throw (PAYT), approved March 20 at Representative Town Meeting, to a town-wide vote for repeal.  Pro or con, the issue over PAYT, the policy that as of July 1 would require residents to purchase town-supplied, branded trash bags to cover the cost of trash removal, has touched a nerve.  On the one hand, “the reality is people have to pay for their trash one way or the other,” according to Windham Solid Waste Management District Program Director Cindy Sterling. “It looks at waste [disposal] like the utility it truly is.”   “Every single community is unique and every single community needs to find the [waste disposal] approach that works the best,” says Brattleboro resident Moss Kahler, an opponent of the policy.  Town Meeting representatives first rejected PAYT in 2009, but with the provision that the Selectboard refine the program then bring the issue back to the floor this year.  According to Selectboard Chair Dick DeGray, Brattleboro is one of three towns in Vermont still providing curbside pick-up.  Over the past year, discussions at Selectboard meetings, Representative Town Meeting, and in the media sometimes turn personal.  “I’m shocked. Only [Vermont Yankee] brings up such a strong response,” says Selectboard member Daryl Pillsbury.  With a petition in place, residents and town officials face two choices: adopt PAYT, or keep the current tax funded system.  A town-wide vote?  Residents wanting to keep Brattleboro’s current tax-funded trash-disposal system submitted a petition to the town offices March 25. According to Kahler, one of three people heading the effort, 546 people signed.  The Selectboard voted on the petition at a March 29 special  meeting, which drew nearly 20 residents opposing PAYT and supporting the petition.  “My primary concern right now is the sanctity of the [town] charter and how the Selectboard will treat it,” said Kahler, an opponent of switching to PAYT.  Kahler is also concerned the town has not taken a hard look at other options before pushing PAYT. He is concerned that those who live in apartment buildings with five or more units will continue to fall outside the town’s waste-management purview, with the cost absorbed by building owners.  He noted that the cost of the bags will be a new expense for renters, people who earn low incomes, and the elderly.  Kahler has calculated approximately 20 percent of trash in PAYT towns is unaccounted for. He says the explanation must be the missing trash is illegally dumped, burned, or buried.  David Gibson, a lawyer working with the group, told Kahler their petition was valid and worded correctly.  But Town Attorney Bob Fisher advised the Selectboard not to sent the petition to a town-wide vote.  Selectboard Clerk Jesse Corum explained that according to the town charter, the petition cannot address a portion of a Town Meeting article but must address the whole article.  In this case, PAYT was a line item (portion) of Article 9, the town budget (whole).  Corum said that if the Selectboard members voted to send the current petition as is to a town-wide vote, they would open the result of the vote to legal action.  The amended petition would still allow a town-wide vote, except instead of voting directly on PAYT, voters would weigh in on Article 9, the town budget, the original question in which the question was bundled.  “I don’t care how we get there [town-wide vote], we just want to get there. This is a good compromise,” said Pillsbury.  “The Selectboard wants this [issue] to go to a town-wide vote,”  Town Manager Barbara Sondag affirmed.  After hearing from the public, the Selectboard voted 3–2 that the petition did not conform to referendum rules in the town charter.  “Delaying a vote by legal maneuvering will only enflame the signers of the petition (and hundreds of other people),” Kahler said.  “Do you believe that this petition for a referendum is so flawed, so nefarious, that by calling a Special Town Meeting  it will somehow damage or weaken our town charter?  Because that reasoning is absurd!  “To not call a Special Town Meeting is tantamount to tearing the charter in two and casting it aside,” said Kahler.  Members of the Selectboard made a second motion to allow the original petition signatories to sign an amended petition, one worded in accordance with the town charter.  “The faster we can get through this issue, the faster we can help the poor and the elderly we want to help,” said Selectboard member Martha O’Connor, referring to the ongoing argument that maintaining the current system would be better for such residents.  The Selectboard voted 4–1 in favor of an amended petition.  After the meeting Kahler said, “The Selectboard within 14 days must put the [original] petition to a special town meeting. We’ll continue to wait for that to happen.”  According to Kahler, after 14 days the Selectboard will be in violation of the town charter and “ripe for lawsuits.”  Compromise creates pilot program  Representatives tackled the contentious PAYT issue for a second year in a row at Town Meeting on equinox, March 20.  “It’s going to be spring in two hours. Hope this discussion won’t start in the winter and end in the spring,” joked George Roberge, district 1.  After hours of wintertime and springtime discussions, PAYT passed 82–52.  “Business as usual is not sustainable,” Selectboard Clerk Jesse Corum asserted in his opening remarks.  According to minutes from 2009 Town Meeting, PAYT had been included in the proposed budget but was defeated 78–54. Representatives listed a number of concerns, including the cost of bags, recycling outreach and education, effect on the tax rate, andnegative financial consequences on low-income households.  Corum said in 2009, Brattleboro recycled 17 to 18 percent of its trash and was one of only four towns in Vermont providing trash pickup.  In his 2010 opening comments, Corum outlined developments in the PAYT proposal.  He explained that $328,000 in the proposed budget would cover tipping fees, or the costs associated with disposing of municipal garbage in the landfill.  Revenue for those expenses will be generated through  sales of approved trash bags, rather than taxes.  The town had found a source for bags, which will cost $1 for a 15-pound bag and $2 for a bag that would hold approximately  30 pounds of waste.  The new position of a recycling coordinator was also added to the program, with a salary of $20,000.  PAYT proponents say that the program would let people individually control their waste disposal costs, much as they pay for the electricity or for the water they consume.  “Bags [would be] picked up the same as always. Just in purple bags. [PAYT] encourages rather than discourages recycling,” he said.  A town representative asked, “What truly is the goal? Level budget or increased recycling?”  Those in favor of PAYT said it would encourage recycling and composting. Others said they crunched the numbers and the program would cost less than what they currently pay in taxes.  Representatives raised a number of concerns with PAYT.  Many asked how the community could ask the poorest in the community to pay for bags. Others asked if the town had a plan for how the program would work.  State Representative Sarah Edwards suggested the town approach PAYT as a one-year pilot and proposed a two-part compromise:  • Raise the recycling coordinator’s salary to $40,000 and make it a full-time, one-year position.  • Use $150,000 to purchase bags for households who cannot afford them to be picked up in person from a designated location.  The additional $190,000 would come from deficit spending.  Edwards’ compromise met with discussion and finally adopted.  Vice-Chair Dora Bouboulis expressed frustration that people who could not afford bags would have to pick them up in person.  “You’re still asking people to self-identify. Still [creating] a class of people being treated differently,” she said.  She said giving every household one free bag a week was fair as suggested by Representative Judy Davidson earlier that day.  “Like anything else we have to have a first step. We may fall down and scrape our knee. But this is a good solution, and a good first step,” DeGray said.  Two sides to every trash heap  “PAYT is all about punishment. They’re going to punish us for having trash. And this is supposed to make people want to recycle? It’s been my experience that when you ram something down people’s throats, they generally don’t like it,”  Lise LePage wrote in an entry posted on the community forum Web site iBrattleboro.com.  “The PAYT plan seems to me to be a wise move for Brattleboro. It is a way to grow in responsibility. For years, many of us have enjoyed not having to think much about it, so the change in not comfortable,” wrote Brattleboro resident Laura Burdo in an open letter to the Town Meeting Representatives.  Debates surrounding PAYT break into two primary camps: environmentalism and economics.  Supporters predict PAYT will increase recycling and composting rates. Opponents predict that PAYT will increase illegal dumping and say  that Brattleboro’s recycling program cannot handle increased volume.  Supporters say PAYT would allow individuals to control costs. Opponents say PAYT will place an unfair burden on low-income families.  “Any kind of change, even welcomed change, usually meets with some resistance. I think the associated issues are largely solvable,”  Burdo said.  Pillsbury said the process of implementing PAYT would have been better if the recycling coordinator position was in place a year before the transition. This person could have sorted out many of the logistics of how best make PAYT work for Brattleboro.  “We need to work hard to make sure it’s done right,” says Pillsbury.  According to DeGray, building a zero-impact or level-funded budget was one of the Selectboard’s goals for the 2011 fiscal year. Without the “pay” in PAYT, taxes would have risen by 2.8 percent.  A solution before a plan?  “We [Brattleboro] are not ready,” Selectboard Vice-Chair Dora Bouboulis said while leaving the Selectboard’s March 29 special  meeting.  In Bouboulis’ view, PAYT needs community support to succeed, and that’s not happening. She adds that PAYT may go away in the end because of changes at the state level.  According to Bouboulis, the state has asked solid waste management districts to develop comprehensive waste plans. These plans could render PAYT obsolete in favor of better options.  “It’s like making a quilt. We have some of the pieces, but we don’t know what the quilt will look like,” she says.The Selectboard has voted  to allow Vernon Fire Association, Inc., to continue operating as the fundraising arm for the Vernon Fire Department and other area emergency services after having questioned the appropriateness of VFAI’s fundraising strategies.  Fire Chief Tom Fox and Assistant Fire Chief David Andrews appeared at the March 15 Selectboard meeting to address the board’s main concern: the use of taxpayer money to generate income by an organization that was not legally associated with the town.  In one fundraising measure, VFAI raises money by charging residents to fill their swimming pools.  “I agree with the idea of VFAI,” Selectboard member Mike Ball  said. “[But] you’re using Fire Department equipment and fuel [paid for] by taxpayers. Only the Selectboard can authorize the spending of [taxpayer] money,” said Ball, adding that VFAI must somehow reimburse the cost of using the equipment and fuel.  “It seems like a money-laundering scheme,” Ball added, describing the financial structure of the organization.  “There are no attempts here at ‘circumvention,’” said Assistant Fire Chief David Andrews, referring to an e-mail exchange in which Selectboard members, according to Andrews, implied that VFAI acted to the detriment of taxpayers.  Andrews explained that all funds raised by VFAI are earmarked for the Vernon Fire Department and area emergency services and therefore benefit the town.  According to Andrews, the Fire Department cannot act as its own fundraiser because it is a municipal department and therefore subject to the town’s accounting rule that any funds the department raises must go into the town’s general fund and cannot be kept by the department itself.  VFAI was organized as a response to liability and fundraising complications in recent years.   In August 2008 the Selectboard voted to disassociate the town from what was then the Vernon Fire Company.  The Company had no legal standing, a status that raised liability issues for the town, explained Andrews.  To solve the issues of liability, the Fire Department became a municipal department in the summer of 2009. Andrews stated that the Fire Department’s first serious fundraising efforts — which raised approximately $9,000 — “added a whole new wrinkle.”  VFAI, a separate organization comprised of five board members, was thus formed with the sole purpose of raising funds. VFAI incorporated as an organization in November 2009 and has applied to be recognized as a nonprofit organization under the federal tax code to be eligible for state and federal grants.  VFAI skirts the liability issue because any projects carried out by the Fire Department are covered by the town’s insurance.  “I see VFAI as a John Deere tractor with a hook on it [which] shakes trees and collects the money,” said Andrews with a smile.   He added that VFAI’s benefits extend beyond the Fire Department, including projects such as a Vernon Police Explorers program, currently in the early development stage.  Selectboard members at the meeting voiced support for VFAI.  “These guys [VFAI’s board members] are volunteers,” said Selectboard member Leonard Howard. “There’s more gain to this town letting them use the fuel and equipment. We should let these guys proceed.”  Treasurer Sally Brassor added, “VFAI is supposed to improve the Fire Department. I don’t think taxpayers will have a problem as long as they can see this.”  The Selectboard voted to allow VFAI to continue operations without the need to reimburse the town for use of Fire Department equipment and fuel.  Andrews said that VFAI operates with transparency and that the group will post all financial records on its website, www.vfai.info, as they become available.Town Meeting representatives have voted to deny permission to sell the Chestnut Hill Reservoir, countering the Selectboard’s Jan. 19 decision.  The facility, in need of repair, provided municipal water beginning in the 1880s, and the town disconnected the reservoir from the municipal water system approximately 35 years ago. The Selectboard had voted 3–2 to sell the reservoir, a measure that needed final Town Meeting approval.  Representatives killed that strategy by a voice vote at the March 20 Annual Town Meeting.  Selectboard Clerk Jesse Corum, a proponent of the sale, told Town Meeting representatives that the town had two duties: to supply potable water and to treat the waste on the other end. He wondered how the town could ask ratepayers outside of the eight-family Chestnut Hill neighborhood to pay for its upgrades.  “Enough, already. Time to unload the dam,” he said.  “We as a town need to be very wary of selling assets,” said District 3 representative Elizabeth Gentile, a Chestnut Hill resident. She also said the reservoir played an important role in the town’s history and listed multiple birds using it as a stop over.  “I don’t think selling it is realistic.” Selectboard Vice-Chair Dora Bouboulis countered. “It’s a town asset. We should hold onto it."  Sell or repair?  According to Director of Public Works Stephen Barrett, the state inspects all dams yearly and has asked the town repeatedly to repair the facility and write an emergency action plan.  Because of the volume of water in the reservoir, the state classifies Chestnut Hill as a dam.  In summer 2009, the town commissioned DuBois & King Consulting Engineers of Randolph to conduct a study of Chestnut Hill. The firm proposed eight courses of action, ranging from draining the reservoir and knocking a hole in the dam, to bringing it to code, to filling the site completely.  Cost estimates for the various alternatives ranged from $135,000 to $629,000.  Barrett suggested DuBois & King’s  $219,000 scenario, which would restore the dam and meet all safety requirements.  “No major upgrades or maintenance costs have occurred in the last 50 years, so the proposed upgrade should last for many years to come,” said Barrett.  The Chestnut Hill dam is further branded as “high hazard” because of the potential risk of damage to the community if it fails.  According to the engineers’ report, “The state generally follows the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers guidelines for Hazard Classification, which defines a dam as high hazard if failure of it would result in loss of ’more than a few’ lives or ’excessive’ economic damage."  Representatives debate  “Collectively, most residents at the June 25 Selectboard meeting expressed the general view that the reservoir was a positive, defining element of the neighborhood and one that they would like to see maintained,” according to the DuBois & King report.  Many representatives said they had received calls from people in their districts about the reservoir. George Harvey (District 3) said he knew selling the site could increase tax revenue, but he didn’t see a good reason to sell.  Tom Finnell (District 3) suggested using the reservoir for “pump storage,” a method of generating alternative energy.  Water could be pumped uphill from the West River at night when electric rates were at their lowest, he said, and then flow downhill during the day when the demand for electricity was higher, generating electricity that could be sold at a higher rate.  Lynn Corum (District 3) asserted that the damn was not safe. She called an assertion by Gentile that local students used the site as part of their curriculum a “stretch.”  She suggested the site be sold so a developer could put it into enterprise. It wasn’t fair for eight homes in a better section of town to ask the rest of the town to pay higher water rates so the reservoir could be repaired.  Peter Falion (District 3), noting he was distressed at the town’s “inability to address what the state is telling us,” urged the town to at least repair the dam to the point it is no longer in violation of safety standards.  Next steps  “A neighborhood is a neighborhood, and you have to preserve [it],” a happy Barrett said as he left the meeting.  Barrett said the newly reconstituted Selectboard must decide what to do next. He hopes the board will go with his original $219,000 recommendation, which would add an overflow pipe and make repairs to the gatehouse and dam.  Barrett noted that the discussion has helped bring to light potential uses for the property.  “There are so many ideas now that people are talking,” he said.Entergy’s Executive Vice President of Operations Mark Savoff told federal, state, and town officials and the media that Vermont Yankee employees had isolated and stopped the recent tritium leak at its source.  “[The leak was] totally unacceptable performance for Entergy. Safety is the number one priority of our company,” said Savoff. He added Entergy would work hard to restore public confidence after a crisis of confidence over a chain of revelations stemming from the leak, pinpointed to a clogged floor drain.  Engineers installed the drain, located in an underground concrete tunnel, in 1978 to catch water and return it to the Advanced Off Gas Building (AOG) to be processed,  Savoff explained.  Debris and mud congested the drain. Over time, tritiated water and steam leaking from two pipes collected in the tunnel to a depth of three to four inches finally seeping through an unsealed joint in the tunnel wall and into the surrounding ground water.  The elevated levels of tritium, a radioactive isotope of hydrogen that results from the atomic energy process, first came to Entergy’s attention Jan. 6.  A third-party lab found the initial contaminant while examining a routine sample from one tritium monitoring well at the plant.  The lag between the November sample and Entergy receiving the report in January was the normal turnaround time for such laboratory work, according to Savoff.  Larry Smith, director of communications for the plant, said burying pipes was the accepted best practice at the time.  Entergy took 40 days to isolate the leak, said Savoff. After the company received the report indicating elevated tritium levels, it independently confirmed the presence of the isotope with samples that revealed 17,000 picocurie per liter in the groundwater.  The Nuclear Regulatory Commission requires that levels of 30,000 picocuries per liter or higher be reported.  According to Smith, Entergy decided to report the tritium levels voluntarily despite levels falling short of those set by the NRCs.  By Feb. 10, samples in another monitoring well near the AOG building helped narrow the search.  The task force investigating the issue isolated the leak’s source Feb. 14 and confirmed one of the leaking pipes Feb 15. Task force members confirmed a second leaking pipe in the same tunnel March 9.  Both leaks have been fixed, said Savoff.  No tritium or other contaminants have been found in the Connecticut River or local wells, said Smith.  As part of the clean-up process, 150 cubic feet of soil will be removed and sent to a federal low-level waste facility,  Smith explained.  The soil contains trace amounts of “low-level radionuclide,” including cobalt and manganese that washed out with the tritium.  According to Smith, these contaminants were contained by the soil surrounding the leak and have not been found in any testing wells.  Savoff said the tritiated water — water resulting from oxygen and the radioactive hydrogen — around the leak site would be pumped out and reused in the plant. An anticipated 300,000 gallons of shallow ground water will be pumped into above-ground containers, treated to remove particulates and organic matter, and then recycled into the nuclear plant.  At the Mar 25 briefing, Savoff announced the company’s six-point, initiative throughout its eight nuclear plant sites “to become an industry leader in tritium leak prevention, detection, and mitigation.”  The initative includes creating industry benchmarks, developing more inspections, installing more monitoring wells, and improving mitigation strategies.  “This was not a pleasant experience because tritium outside [the plant system] is not okay,”  Smith said during a tour of Vermont Yankee and the leak site.  He added, however, that VY voluntarily dug the tritium monitoring wells located around the plant two years ago that allowed investigators to find the tritium.  The monitoring system was instituted several years ago in the aftermath of tritium leaks at other plants. The Nuclear Energy Institute, a pro-nuclear policy and lobbying organization, developed the monitoring well program several years ago.  “The system worked,” he said.The Selectboard proclaimed March 21–27 as Boys and Girls Club Week in Brattleboro.  According to Davidson, unit director for the Flat Street location, the Boys & Girls Club, which operates centers on Flat Street, in West Brattleboro, and in Bellows Falls, served more than 1,400 members and 4,000 nonmembers at its three locations in 2009.  Davidson explained most important for the young people coming to the club spend time with safe, caring adults who are good role models and mentors.  “I became involved [with young people] because I wanted to make a difference in the world. I wanted to be the adult I never had growing up,” he said.  The doors to the club are open to any young person, but membership allows one to access specific programs like college and careers, health and life skills, sports and fitness, the arts, and leadership programs.  Dinner is served three nights at the Flat Street site and one night in Bellows Falls. The meal program is open to everyone.  The Boys and Girls Club has had a positive long-term impact on many young people. Davidson remembers that when he first started working at the Flat Street unit in 2004, he asked a young man, then a sophomore in high school, what he wanted to do after high school. The sophomore finally admitted he wanted to work as an athletic trainer.  Davidson said he needed to go to college for that.  “I can’t. Only rich kids get to go to college,” the youth told Davidson.  Davidson said he and his colleagues worked with him, first helping him to see college was possible, then teaching him the concrete skills necessary to get accepted, like taking the SATs.  Finally, the Boys and Girls Club staff took him to programs for students who had been accepted to the colleges where he had applied to help him make a final decision.  The young man is now a junior in college and on track to graduate.  “Although he did change his major,”  Davidson said.  For more information, visit www.bgcbrattleboro.com.The Selectboard has authorized the Town Manager’s office to send letters supporting Vermont Telecommunications Authority’s efforts to make Vermont one of Google’s ultra-high-speed broadband network test sites.  The “Fiber to Communities” project is Google’s plan to build and test such networks in trial communities nationwide.  According to Google, the network would deliver fiber-to-the-home connections of 1 gigabit per second to “at least 50,000, and potentially up to 500,000 people.” Google intends to operate a wholesale network for other providers, like Internet and phone companies, rather than provide a service direct to customers.  “An ultra high-speed statewide network would be a huge economic development opportunity for our state. Submitting a statewide application will set Vermont apart from the thousands of community applications that Google will likely receive,”  VTA Executive Director Thomas Murray wrote in a letter to the town.  “While success is a real long shot, we believe that Vermont has a great story to tell and this application may accelerate the goal to make Vermont an ‘e-state’,” Murray continued.  Murray cited “Vermont’s innovation culture, the quality of life and strong education system” as qualities that will set Vermont apart from the other applicants. “Plus, building a high-speed network around mountains and to remote, currently unserved, towns will make a very large statement,” he said.  Town Manager Barbara Sondag told the Selectboard that Vermont’s telecommunications authority could provide an competitive edge.  Selectboard member Daryl Pillsbury added the VTA has a high bonding capacity of at least $40 million. This can help meet one of Google’s criteria that the test communities help build the network quickly.  The deadline for communities to submit Requests for Information was March 26. Google has not set a date for announcing the target communities, but hopes to have the network completed “as soon as possible.” Acting in their capacity as liquor commissioners, members of the Selectboard approved a first-class liquor license and entertainment license for Richard Ticino, who plans to open Rocky Top Tavern at 97 Main St.  According to Ticino, of Bellows Falls, the tavern will have pool tables on the first floor and serve food on the second. It will host live entertainment Friday and Saturday nights, with a possible open-mic night on Thursdays. Open six days a week, the tavern will serve lunch and dinner.  Rocky Top Tavern is not Ticino’s first foray into the pub world. He owned the Dark Star Pub in Keene, N.H. but closed it, he says, because of the demands of raising a young son. Now his son is older and Ticino says he is ready to open a new business.  Ticino plans to open May 1 after the current tenant, Distinctive Décor, moves down the street and renovation is completed.Voters elected Daryl Pillsbury to the Selectboard and returned members Dora Bouboulis and Jesse Corum in an election noted for unusually low voter turnout.  Pillsbury, a resident of Brattleboro since 1979 who works at Brattleboro Memorial Hospital, previously served on the board from 1997 to 2001. He has served on many town and state committees, as well as a number of regional non-profit boards. Pillsbury co-founded and serves as co-director of the Windham County Heat Fund, which provides emergency funds for county residents in need.  In the March 2 election, Bouboulis, a previous board member who was reappointed in 2009 to fill the unexpired term of former Selectboard member Rich Garant, won against Agave, 787–524. Pillsbury and Corum won the four-way race for two open one-year terms, with 996 and 626 votes respectfully. Incumbent John Allen received 541 votes, and Leah Stuart came in with 477.  Of the 9,247 eligible Brattleboro voters, 1,462 cast ballots.  Polling officials and candidates alike commented on the low attendance as the election night came to a close.  “Local elections are among the most important moments in a town’s life,” Agave said as he waited to hear the results. He pointed to the lack of press coverage of this year’s election as one reason for the disappointing turnout.  Bouboulis and Stuart stood outside the Brattleboro Union High School greeting last-minute voters on their way to the polls there.  “It’s a little disappointing. Elections should be a festival,” Bouboulis said.  Bouboulis, wearing a cardboard sandwich sign that read “Vote for Dora,” said it had been slow all day. Winter can be hard but the polls should be open longer for people with kids or who work, she said.  Stuart, a graduate student completing her teaching portfolio at World Learning, spoke to some supporters exiting the gym.  “Everyone in this town makes this town work,” she said.  Stuart decided to run Selectboard because she believes there are different sides and voices in Brattleboro that are left out of the democratic process. She highlighted the need for the Selectboard to make decisions based on inclusiveness and not reacting out of “panic,” using the decision to sell the Chestnut Hill Reservoir as an example of a decision based on fear rather than looking at the town as a whole.  “The polls are now closed,” called a polling official.  Bouboulis, Stuart, and others waiting to hear the unofficial results filed into the school.  Inside, candidates Pillsbury, Corum, Allen, and Agave spoke with the press and well-wishers. The sound of rustling ballots being counted echoed across the mostly empty basketball court.  The immediate unofficial results do not include any write-in candidates, explained Town Clerk Annette Cappy. Results become official after write-ins are counted, “but these rarely change the winners,” she said.  The unofficial results were announced declaring Bouboulis, Corum, and Pillsbury winners.  Stuart and Agave both said they would continue working for the community in different ways despite the night’s loss.  “I want the people who supported me to know I’m not going to disappear. I’ll still be a voice for you,” said Stuart.  Agave said he would continue working in the community as a member of the Development Review Board, chair of the Charter Revision Committee, and a Town Meeting Representative.  He said the town faces the highest unemployment and underemployment this year as well as the presumed eventual closure of Vermont Yankee.  “The Selectboard has its work cut out for it with those challenges,” he said and hoped he could work together with the new board to find solutions.  “I’m where I should be. Hometown politics are the best,” said  Pillsbury, who served in the House of Representatives from 2001 to 2008. He grinned, saying he prefers local politics: There is more accountability and no two-party system, he noted.  He expressed disappointment over the turnout, however.  “[The local level] effects everything and only 16-percent showed up? It’s bad,” he said.  He added many residents don’t bother to vote, assuming the same people automatically win every year.  “But I’m not an incumbent, and I got the most votes,” he said.Architects are in the process of designing a new Putney General Store to change in step with its community over the next 200 years.  Lyssa Papazian, the project manager for the store, which will begin construction in June, said the volunteer design committee and the architecture firm of William Maclay Architects & Planners pushed the building’s design to anticipate the next generations’ needs.  Maclay Architects, the firm behind the Putney Field House and a 16,800-square-foot addition at the Putney School, specializes in environmentally efficient design with an eye towards carbon neutral and ecologically sustainable buildings.  Many of the firm’s projects are “net zero” buildings that generate more energy than they consume.  “We’re rebuilding for change in use and change in tenants while trying to capture the essence of the old building and character of the downtown,” Maclay Project Manager Chris Cook said.  Thanks to the work of dedicated volunteers, unwavering community support, and stellar fundraising, the Putney Historical Society, which purchased the store in 2008, plans to pour the foundation in late June, with a timber frame raising scheduled for mid-July.  “We’re charging ahead. It’s exciting,” Papazian said.  Keeping options open  Cook says architects have anticipated future needs for the second floor, including expanding the store’s retail space, private apartments, or offices.  The architects created the desired flexibility by planning extra “chase spaces” — empty canal-like spaces in the walls and floor to run electric wires and plumbing fixtures — and a deeper ceiling/floor in the store’s timber frame design.  “That’s why you tend to see a lot of wall sconces in timber frame houses: because the ceiling/floor isn’t thick enough to run the wires for ceiling lights,” says Cook.  The General Store’s extra chase spaces will allow for bathrooms or kitchens to be added or removed according to future needs, and they will help maintain the insulation’s integrity over time.  Good insulation is the key to the new general store’s efficiency, Cook said. Future carpenters and plumbers can run wires and pipes without digging into the insulation.  “It’s being proactive,” Cook said.  Efficiency through insulation  The new general store will have above-industry-standard RF ratings and the potential to add solar panels, although it will not be a “net zero” structure.  “[Better insulation] lowers the heating and cooling needs for the building, which in turn means a smaller, less complicated and more energy-efficient HVAC system for the building,” Cook said.  The two HVAC systems on the table are a less-complicated air source pump system — Maclay’s first choice — and a ground source heat system.  “The heating and cooling system works much like a refrigeration system, pulling heat or cooling out of the air in what looks like a vertical air conditioner condenser/tower,” Cook said. “They have a high efficiency and can be set up to eventually be powered by solar panel.”  Also under consideration is an energy-efficient lighting system.  The architects are also looking at bringing more daylight into the building. To achieve this, high windows overlooking Sacketts Brook would be installed and a proposed opening in the second floor would bring midday sun to the ground floor.  “Every effort is being made to accommodate foot traffic into and past the building,” Cook said. “We are holding the footprint back from the original to provide sidewalks along Route 5 and on the Kimball Hill side of the building.”  Cook added they upgraded the firewall between the store and 10 Kimball Hill next door.  Papazian said the harvesting and hewing of  local wood for the timber frame has begun. Contractor Andrew Rockefeller,  owner of Cross Creek Farm, will donate time and timber to build the frame, along with other local loggers and carpenters.  Both Papazian and Cook stressed that the building will have a sprinkler system and a security system  during construction, given that the building replaces one lost in a blaze attributed to arson.  “[The design] was at a little added expense but we wanted to do it right,”  Papazian said.  Looking for an operator  She says the historical society’s other focus is finding an operator to lease and operate the general store.  Papazian said the historical society did not receive applications from local proprietors in a recent request for proposals. The search committee has widened their search to Boston and New York and placed ads in trade journals.   The committee will take “however long the search takes,” Papazian said. “There is someone out there who’s right.”A state environmental official has encouraged residents, frustrated with odors and air quality from the Putney Paper Co.’s mill, to keep records of when the offensive odors linger over the town center.  Many of the more than 20 people who attended an April 21 meeting with Philip Etter, environmental analyst with the Vermont Department of Environmental Conservation live within miles of the Putney Paper Co. Inc.’s mill on Route 5.  They complained to Etter of noxious odors from the plant, which they say sends “little bits of paper like confetti” into the air that settle along Main Street and residences south of the mill.  “This is more than an aesthetic issue for some,” said resident Anne Fines, who said she does not live in her home at Putney Commons, a co-housing community south of the mill. The air quality aggravates her allergies and creates respiratory issues.  The big question posed to Etter: what information did the state need to spur action?  Fines said the group’s immediate goal was to improve the air quality by reducing the odors generated by the mill.  ‘Proud of our record’  “I think voluntary involvement with Putney Paper Mill will work,” said Etter, who suggested residents keep logs to track the odors and meet with mill management to find solutions.  The mill is one of two facilities owned by Putney Paper Co. Inc. According President Frank Tarantino, who has his corporate office in Claremont, N.H., the mill and nearby converting plant produce sheeted tissue paper, paper napkins, and paper towels.  Putney Paper has produced 100-percent recycled products for 50 years, explained Tarantino. The mill diverts from landfills enough paper a month to equal over 2,000 tons of recycled product.  The company employs 130.  Putney Paper’s customers cover the Northeast and mid-Atlantic states, with the bulk of its business in New York City. Retailers like Macy’s and Pier One buy Putney Paper’s sheeted tissue to wrap customers’ purchases. The mill’s paper towels dry many a hand in public restrooms.  Tarantino did not hear about the April 20 meeting until Etter called him the next day.  “We’re very proud of our record and how we do things. We try to address issues when things come up,” said Tarantino.  “I don’t know why we weren’t invited. We would have sent a representative,” he said.  Tarantino said he has not received “that many complaints” over the past year.  “The environmental side is a significant part of our business. It was much less so 20 to 30 years ago,”  Tarantino said.  Fines said the goal of the meeting was to allow residents to voice their concerns to Etter and hear his perceptions of the situation, not communicate directly to the paper mill. “That wasn’t the purpose,” she said.  “There was no intention to slight,” she said, adding that trying to speak with Tarantino in the past has been frustrating. She mentioned frustration around Putney Paper’s decision to not allow residents into the plant to conduct their own research.     Some of the residents at the meeting said similar conversations with the state, town officials, and mill management had already taken place without noticeable success.  Reducing the sludge  The gathering was a follow-up to a September 2009 meeting with Etter and a fall 2009 community meeting, “Visioning Putney,” hosted by State Representative Mike Mrowicki.  Etter’s recommendations in 2009 included keeping logs of the time, duration, and intensity of the odors. According to meeting notes, Etter said, Putney Paper Mill would complete installation of a $1 million clarifier that October, a measure that should have affected the odors caused by sludge.  Wastewater produced by the paper-making process contains sludge, a mix of fiber cellulose and clay, which gives magazines and other glossy paper its shine. The sludge is chemically similar to clay used in pottery and causes odor when it accumulates.  A unit called a clarifier pulls the sludge to the top of the water, skims it off, and extracts excess water. The new clarifier pulls sludge at 15-minute intervals compared to the previous clarifier that removed sludge after several days.  According to Tarantino, the clay byproduct is used in composting, to seal open landfills, and animal bedding.  Noxious or toxic? The anatomy of stink  Etter, who has 26 years of experience as an environmental analyst, explained at the April meeting the complexities of investigating odor complaints.  “We’re constantly breathing in various toxins. They’re there all the time. It’s all a matter of concentration and risk analysis,” he said.  He said that when the state investigates an odor complaint, it needs to determine its root source and if it is toxic or noxious.  Noxious odors are considered a public nuance. One odor, from lilacs to rotten eggs, can result from a combination of multiple chemicals. People vary in their reactions to odors as well.  The nose also detects hydrogen sulfide, the primary odor of paper mills, at smaller quantities than most mechanical monitors. The compound smells like rotten eggs.  Hydrogen sulfide is produced by bacteria breaking down human and animal waste or organic materials. It is an irritant and chemical asphyxiant in high doses. In low concentrations hydrogen sulfide can irritate the eyes and respiratory system.  Etter said hydrogen sulfide is dangerous in confined spaces because if it builds up it can suffocate someone. He cited the extreme cases of farmers who died from entering an unventilated silo containing silage.  Etter referred to the level of hydrogen sulfide in Putney as “noxious” and not as “toxic.”  Tarantino said that the Putney’s wastewater treatment plant — like all wastewater treatment plants — also produce hydrogen sulfide. He stressed that the hydrogen sulfide from the mill was due to organic materials only.  Craig Stead, owner of Stead Consulting in Putney, said that because the town is in a valley it experiences “intense air inversions.”  In general, inversions occur when warmer air traps colder air so it cannot rise. Anything in the colder air like smog is also trapped. Stead said the inversions in Putney create the most trouble around sunrise and sunset.  Etter recommended residents keep detailed logs including type of odor, time of day, duration of smell, severity of smell and physical reactions, if any. Those logs would help the agency respond effectively. He also recommended working hand-in-hand with Putney Paper.  “The more you [residents] keep the town apprised of the issue the more we can back you up,” Selectboard Chair Joshua Laughlin said. “The more you have recorded, the better we can act.”  Laughlin also stressed the importance of working with the mill.  “[We should do] as much as we can to be good neighbors. They are an important part of our economy,” he said.  Many residents agreed that as much as they wanted the odor to leave, they wanted the mill to stay.  “It’s good to have information, because without it you can’t solve the problems. We welcome input from the residents,” said Tarantino.  He added the more detail the company received the better to help pinpoint the odor’s source.  Daniel Hoviss, owner of Dosolutions in Putney, agreed to develop an online database where residents can keep their log. This electronic form can easily convey information to the state.  He said residents should look for more information and how to enter their own data on iPutney and a link on the town site.  The group decided to gather more information before meeting with Putney Paper management to share their findings.Friends of Algiers Village has leapt closer to the $300,000 needed to buy the Guilford Country Store.   “I can’t imagine what would happen without [the store] there. It would be beneficial to the whole community that it remain not only as it is physically but to improve it with services,” town resident Herb Meyer told Guilford Central middle school students during an interview for their video documentary, Preserving Community: The Guilford Country Store.  FOAV is using the 17-minute video to promote the project. It is available at the organization’s Facebook group, “Preserving the Guilford Country Store in VT,” at www.facebook.com.  “Our mission is to preserve the historic character of the village and not just leave it to chance. I really want to see the village alive again,” says Eric Morse, president of the nonprofit community group.  Following in the Putney Historical Society’s footsteps with plans to rehabilitate a historic general store, the FOAV intends to buy the building and business from its current owner, Pat Good, then lease the enterprise to a new operator.  Buying the building, finding an operator  Good and her late husband, Jim, purchased the store 22 years ago. After entertaining an offer from 7 Eleven, a Texas-based convenience store chain, Good approached FOAV, which purchased and renovated the Tontine Building across the street, to see if they might consider a similar project to preserve the 1816 building.  As a nonprofit organization, FOAV qualifies for grant funding from many foundations and charities. Those donating to the cause may deduct their contribution from their federal income taxes.  FOAV signed a purchase-and-sale agreement in September 2009 which gives the group until July 1 to buy the store and building known as the Broad Brook House. The organization has entered discussions with a potential proprietor and will also release a request for proposals soon.  Members raised more than $228,000 through grants and 38 private donations.  The total includes a $70,000 grant from the Vermont Housing and Conservation Board and two private donations totaling $160,000, the result of a friendly challenge between Guilford residents, Morse said.  A portion of the challenge came in the form of stocks. Joseph E. Little, a certified financial planner with Park Place Financial Advisors in Brattleboro, recently donated his time and helped FOAV establish a brokerage account to accommodate the request of donors. A Community Development Block Grant is pending.  The group recently met with Mike Comeau, the proprietor of the Richmond Corner Market, a general store in Richmond (see story this issue), for grocery business advice, and with David V. Dunn, assistant state director of the Vermont Small Business Assistance Program, to develop a business plan.  Morse says a general appeal letter will be mailed to the community mid-May. “[Fundraising] is challenging with the economy but achievable. I like deadlines.”  Paul Bruhn, executive director of the nonprofit Preservation Trust of Vermont, is working with groups like the Friends of Algiers to encourage nonprofit ownership of general stores in an effort to protect the icons of the Vermont landscape.  Bruhn says general stores are a key to “maintaining a strong and vibrant village.” General stores provide a neutral place for citizens who might otherwise have little in common with one another to interact and serve as economic engines for small towns.  In the student video, a number of Guilford citizens — old and young alike — agreed with Bruhn’s premise in their comments about the village and the store’s role in the community.  “My dad used to drag me down there screaming and yelling every two to three months to get a hair cut for 50 cents,”  resident Richard Clark said. “You bought everything you needed in there. It was a mom-and-pop store.”   “Algiers [Village] is the only chance we have of having Guilford be somewhat self-sufficient,” Clark said.  Future plans  Morse, a land surveyor with his own renovated historic office space in Algiers, assisted on previous restoration projects like the Sadawga Springs Apartments in Whitingham with the Windham Housing Trust.  The Tontine Building and Broad Brook house are parts of the organization’s long-term goal of revitalizing the triangle in Algiers Village, the patch of land carved out by the crossing of Route 5, Guilford Center Road, and Grist Mill Drive.  FOAV is working with the Windham Housing Trust to improve housing in the village and connect Algiers to municipal water and sewer.    Friends of Algiers received a grant with the help of U.S. Senator Patrick Leahy to pay for the improvements and plan to use this money to replace disused warehouses along Guilford Center Road with affordable housing units and connect Algiers to the Brattleboro’s municipal systems next year.   The group’s master plan also calls for creating and maintaining open spaces and parks with pedestrian access.  According to Morse, the building and store will require repairs and renovations, but what type and how much is unknown.  The group will apply for a planning grant to hire an architect. The group is also applying for a grant from the Preservation Trust of Vermont to pay for improvements to the building.  Members of the Friends of Algiers met with Guilford Selectboard April 26 to discuss, landscaping, pedestrian safety, and improvements to the recycling area. Morse says he would like to see the recycling bins stay near the store but have their own designated area.   “And absolutely there will be coffee [at the store],” said Morse.The union representing the town’s employees has taken exception to a Selectboard member’s public criticism of several workers this winter, threatening legal action against the town if such actions continue.  Bert Russo, New Hampshire and Vermont business agent for the International Union of Operating Engineers Local 98, cited recent “offensive” statements by Selectboard member Ann DiBernardo and asked for a formal apology on behalf of town employees.   DiBernardo’s statements appeared in the March issue of The Commons in a story covering what turned out to be the temporary termination of Finance Director John O’Connor.  In an interview with reporter Allison Teague, DiBernardo charged that “a town employee was trying to stir the pot” by revealing O’Connor’s termination to the Brattleboro Reformer and the Rutland Herald.   “It sounds like there are some really dysfunctional people in Town Hall,” DiBernardo said at the time. “If we are to go forward at all, we need employees who are professional. Whoever she is should be terminated.”  The trade union, which represents engineers, health industry workers, and public employees, has a collective bargaining agreement with Rockingham town employees, with a contract that covers working conditions, pay, and hours.  The union represents approximately 25 employees in the administration offices, water, sewer, and highway departments.  Russo read an April 6 letter from Charles E. Blitman of Blitman & King, attorneys for Local 98.  “Your statements to the extent they reflect upon the bargaining unit were in poor judgment and generate poor labor relations,”  Blitman wrote. “This letter is to serve notice on you of your actions and should they continue, the bargaining unit will have no alternative but to undertake the appropriate efforts to protect themselves.”  The union could take legal action to protect themselves if needed, in the form of a civil lawsuit.  Apology standoff  “I don’t think I used the word ‘dysfunctional’,” DiBernardo responded after Russo read Blitman’s letter.  DiBernardo, who later told The Commons that the original reporting had been correct, stood by the rest of her comments at the board meeting.  “There were some issues in the town not related to the incident with the financial director. There was a problem with information being leaked from the town hall to private individuals and to the press,” she said.  Russo countered that DiBernardo was referring to the people he represents.  “I’m not going to apologize for something I feel was accurate,” she said.  Russo warned DiBernardo that she and the board would probably hear from Local 98’s attorney.  Interim Town Manager Francis “Dutch” Walsh and Selectboard Chair Thomas MacPhee tried to mediate.  Walsh said officials needed to talk to the newspaper to get “more accuracy” regarding the March article, but neither Rockingham nor Bellows Falls officials contacted The Commons either after the original story or following the complaint from Russo.  MacPhee suggested he, Walsh, DiBernardo, and Russo meet the following day to discuss the matter. All four agreed.  DiBernardo said to Russo, “I would like to talk to you. There’s always stuff you can’t say in public.”  “This was not in reference to all the employees,” she added. “I view most of the employees in the town hall as very professional, and I think most of them know that.”  DiBernardo described the union as “kind of like all-for-one-and-one-for-all. If you make a comment about one person and one thing that’s going on, I don’t know why they all feel—”  Russo cut DiBernardo off, saying, “If there was a problem with an employee, I would stand behind you and whatever you had to do to that person to straighten it out.”  But, he said, “In reaction to your comment, I would protect them. That’s why this letter is here.”  After Russo finished, resident Mary Barber commented that “it might behoove all the officials and all the administrators to be very cautious of what is said to the media.”  “It’s not always accurate what appears in the press,” MacPhee responded.  “Which is why it’s probably a good reason not to talk at all about issues that can be sensitive,”  Barber said.  “We can’t do that either,” MacPhee said.  ‘Things will improve’  Reached on April 29, the key players reflected on the letter, the exchange, and the interactions between town officials or employees and the local media.  MacPhee described Barber’s suggestion as “inappropriate.”  “Town officials should be talking to the press,” MacPhee said, characterizing most of the reporting in the local newspapers as correct.  For her part, DiBernardo said she doesn’t anticipate any lawsuits from the union.  According to DiBernardo, the town attorney feels she could have been talking about any town employee — like the town manager — so the union does not have a case.  “I think things will improve. If other people do their jobs, things will improve,” she said.  Though Russo characterized labor relations with the town and the union employees as good, he said employees have had issues with DiBernardo before when she accused employees of using town equipment for personal use and damaging it in the process.  That dispute ended when DiBernardo retracted her accusations, Russo said.  “Hopefully she’ll mend her ways,” he said.  Walsh confirmed that he, MacPhee, DiBernardo, and Russo spoke briefly the following day.  He said the union’s letter has been sent to the town attorney and that “the matter is pending.”  He declined further comment.What does it take to run a general store successfully?  The owner of a successful enterprise in northwestern Vermont has recently shared his grocer-know-how with one organization in Windham County that will soon be in the business.  “If you’re not on the ball in this business, you’ll be upside down real fast,” says Mike Comeau, who has assisted six general stores as an independent proprietor and consultant for the Preservation Trust of Vermont (PTOV).  Comeau and Paul Bruhn from the PTOV met in April with Eric Morse from the Friends of Algier Village, which is raising money to purchase the Guilford Country Store (see related story this issue).  “He provided a lot of advice that will help make the [Guilford] project work long-term,”  Morse said after the meeting.  “Village stores are critical to the identity of a village. Not just for goods, but as a place to meet neighbors,” says Ann Cousins, field service representative for the Preservation Trust of Vermont, which has consulted with the Putney Historical Society and Friends of Algiers Village, Inc.  She says community spaces like general stores or post offices act as “gathering places” where people communicate face-to-face, maintaining the social fabric of a town.  On the corner  The 2,500-square-foot market serves 1,800 households in and near Richmond, close to Burlington off Interstate 89. The store sells groceries and meat instead of convenience store items like cigarettes and gas pumps.  “It’s not a run-and-grab store. Customers carry a shopping basket and put dinner together,” says Comeau.  Comeau, 38, began his grocery career in high school. After graduation, Comeau (who described himself as “not the best student”) decided against college, opting for a “dead-end” job bagging groceries until he figured out his next step.  But as his employer, recognizing his hard work, offered him promotions and raises, Comeau discovered he liked the grocery business.  By his mid-twenties, while still working at the grocery store, he saved enough to buy an apartment building, adding landlord to his résumé. When he reached his late twenties he decided he wanted to own a store, not just work in one.  Comeau bought the 100-year-old, run-down, nearly bankrupt Richmond Corner Market and apartments in 2004.   “It just sort of fit the two things I was good at,” he says.  Comeau rolled up his sleeves and turned around a failing general store, elbow-grease style.  Bringing the business up from the bottom in two years was a big challenge but also his biggest reward, he says.  Comeau says he never had a budget or a business plan, but he would never advise other businesses to go the same route.  “I’ve been on this wonderful rollercoaster ride. I’ve never had a plan, and for whatever crazy reason it works,” he says.  Sans plan, Comeau’s grocery business thrives.  The Richmond Corner Market will open in a new location this June. Comeau bought a local liquor business and will combine it with the market. With the building no longer on a corner, Comeau will change the name to Richmond Market and Beverage.  These tomatoes have a story  A market like Richmond’s cannot compete on pricing with supermarket chains like Hannaford or Shaw’s. Comeau focuses instead on customer service, offering quality products and buys local when possible.  “Customers can buy tomatoes at Shaw’s, but my tomatoes have a story behind them,” he says of the local farmers who sell to him.  Comeau says the store’s meat counter also draws customers.  Customers come specifically to see  butcher Pat Quin, 85, who owned the Jonesville Store in neighboring Jonesville for 50 years before coming to the Richmond Market.  Quin answers questions and sells local beef, but more importantly, says Comeau, people know him. Parents remember buying meat from Quin with their parents and now bring their children to the store.   A new home  Comeau decided to move after customers told him they would prefer to shop exclusively at the market if it had a wider product range.  The new 11,000-square-foot full-scale grocery store will offer produce, dairy, a meat counter, personal items, paper products, and liquor.  Comeau designed the space with his customers in mind,  separating the liquor from the groceries because he caters to families, he says.  His current location generates $10  to $15 per sale. He hopes the new location’s expanded merchandise will increase his average sale to $30.   Sharing know-how  Comeau became involved with the Preservation Trust of Vermont four years ago after Cousins, a loyal customer,  asked him to work with the PTOV to advise struggling general stores.  Cousins says Comeau’s business “know-how” impressed her.  “We think the world of him,” she says.  “I don’t try to go into these stores and pretend I’m some sort of genius,”  Comeau says, adding he learned his trade by watching his customers and understanding how best to serve them.  According to Cousins, most general stores in Vermont work well until they run up debt — an easy trap because the profit margins are so small.  “There’s no cookie-cutter solution,” she says.  She explains that some stores, like the Guilford Country Store and the Putney General Store, will work well under the model of a nonprofit purchasing the building and then leasing the business to an operator.  “Your customers like buying soup — so you want to buy soup to pay the bills. But your vendor is unhappy because you owe money so you can’t buy the soup you need to sell,”  Comeau says.  Comeau says that in his visit with the Friends of Algiers Village (FOAV), he talked about finding operators for the Guilford Country Store and staying debt-free.  Comeau and Bruhn suggested FOAV have a lawyer draw up the new proprietors’ contract. They advised FOAV evaluate the proprietors’ résumé, knowledge of the grocery business, and ensure they have operating cash for initial inventory.  “These small stores are hard to run. You have to wear so many hats,” says Comeau.  Comeau suggested the new proprietors own inventory outright rather than buy on credit. This way, profits go back into the store instead of paying off inventory.  He also suggested, if the operators need to cover bills by increasing sales, they should break daunting amounts into smaller bits. Instead of thinking sales need to increase by $1,000, he says, store owners should try to get each customer needs to spend $0.50 more.  “Across [my] 300 customers, that 50 cents adds up to $150 a day. That’s over $4,000 extra a month in sales,” he says.   Despite the hard work and long hours, Comeau loves the grocery business. He still “gets a kick” out of customers thanking him for saving them the 10-mile drive to the nearest supermarket.  “It makes it easy to come to work when people appreciate what you’re doing,” he says.The Selectboard has approved a new ordinance designed to ensure pedestrians passage on Brattleboro’s sidewalks and offer a simplified, enforceable permitting process for sandwich boards.  “We’ve talked about this issue for two years or more. This ordinance is fair to pedestrians, and businesses, and is understandable,” said Selectboard member Martha O’Connor after the  second reading of the new sidewalk ordinance  April 20.  According to Town Manager Barbara Sondag, the ordinance allows sandwich boards on sidewalks providing that pedestrians, wheelchairs, and scooters are left with 42 inches of free passage.   The ordinance, approved with a 3–2 vote, shifts the permitting process and responsibility from the Planning Commission to an appointed administrative officer.  Business owners wanting to place a sign on someone else’s property need permission from the property owner. Businesses that violate the ordinance will be subject to fines and possible confiscation of the sign.  Building a Better Brattleboro Director Andrea Livermore presented suggestions complied by BaBB’s board.  Suggestions included requiring 48 inches of free passage to accommodate larger mobility scooters and removing a restriction that the sign can have text only on one side  Livermore suggested limiting one sign per address “to keep downtown vibrant but not cluttered,” she said.   Livermore said she spent the day downtown with a measuring tape and was confident business owners could easily maintain 48 inches of clear passage.  The board voted to amend the ordinance to include BaBB’s suggestions.  Musa Alici, chef and owner of Alici’s Bistro at 51 Harris Place, behind the Gibson-Aiken Center, endorsed the ordinance.  “It is outstanding,” he said.  Alici experienced difficulty and frustration trying to draw customers to his side-street bistro. In February, the Selectboard denied his permit to place a sandwich board at the corner of Main Street and Harris Place.  Alici asked the article requiring permission to put a sign on another’s property be deleted, a provision that would require permission from either TD Bank or Fairpoint Communications to return his sandwich board to the corner.  Not everyone received the sidewalk ordinance with open arms.  Selectboard Vice-Chair Dora Bouboulis and member Daryl Pillsbury voted against the ordinance.  “Has someone talked to the business owners to get their feedback? I’ve only heard Musa in favor of it,” Bouboulis said.  “What are the implications of removing the power of legislating signage from the planning commission?” she asked.  Bouboulis said she wanted BaBB to work on the sign issue with other pertinent boards, specifically looking at wayfinding signs to direct pedestrians, a topic the board has talked about implementing for years.The Selectboard has allocated $219,000 to repair the Chestnut Hill Reservoir, making the dormant water supply comply with state regulations.  The funds cover repairs to the dam and gatehouse and installing an overflow pipe based on a report from engineering consulting firm DuBois & King.  The dam has been out of compliance with state regulations for over two years.  On April 20, board members voted 4–1 in favor of repairing the Chestnut Hill Reservoir.  “I can’t support this,” said Selectboard member Jesse Corum, predicting the project will drive up water rates. He said he has heard from people who can no longer afford to live in Brattleboro because taxes are too high.  “There’s always another penny. At some point, we’ve got to say stop,” he said.  “You wore me down. I’m tired of it [this issue]. Time to move on, get it over with and talk about issues serious to Brattleboro,” said Selectboard member Martha O’Connor, explaining why she would vote for the funding despite her heart not being in it.  The debate to sell the centenarian structure and town asset began in January when Public Works Director Steve Barrett presented DuBois & King’s report and repair options to the Selectboard.  Barrett supported the $219,000 option favored by the majority of Chestnut Hill residents, but Selectboard member Jesse Corum championed a plan sell the property, a strategy the board backed 3–2.  Town Meeting Representatives voted to keep the dam, sending the Selectboard back to the drawing board.  At the April 6 board meeting, Corum said he could not support the original $219,000 project. The Selectboard asked Barrett to see if the cost could come down.  Matt Melowski of DuBois & King, told the board that the $219,000 was a conservative estimate and could be cut.  He cautioned, however, the project contained multiple “unknowns” like the condition of the underground pipes to which a new overflow pipe would need to connect.  Corum made the motion to allocate $135,000 for the project instead, to fund DuBois & King’s least expensive suggestion: knocking a hole in the dam and draining the reservoir, leaving a dry hole.  “An empty hole in the ground is not a good idea,” said Selectboard Vice-Chair Dora Bouboulis. Chestnut Hill residents present echoed Bouboulis’ statement.  Selectboard Chair Dick DeGrey said he understood Corum’s concerns but said members of the town and neighborhood worked together to find a solution to the Chestnut Hill Reservoir problem and because of this he would vote to support the more expensive plan.  The board voted 1–4, defeating Corum’s proposal.  “This board is looking out for every nickel and dime this town spends. They should be commended,” said Selectboard member Daryl Pillsbury.  But Pillsbury added that he would vote against Corum’s motion.  “Fifty years down the road this [reservoir] could be a valuable asset,” he said.Within weeks of the state’s June 24 deadline to lodge the grand list, the Selectboard voted to table the Listers’ request for a 30-day extension until their next meeting on June 1.  Listers Gary Carrier, Eric Annis and Hugh Barber with Town Appraiser Albert Jerard cited anticipated lengthy tax grievances filed by residents in reaction to the town-wide property reappraisal as reason for the extension.  “This [30-day extension] is standard for a reappraisal year,” said Carrier, the Lister chair. “Bottom line reason, we don’t have any idea how many appeals and grievances we’ll have here. Obviously, all grievances must be given a good hearing and consideration.”  Jerard said that during the previous 2005 property reappraisal, it took seven weeks to hear more than 800 grievances.  “We’re not anticipating that many,” he said, adding they anticipated taking three to four weeks to hear this year’s grievances.  Property values, part of Brattleboro’s grand list, need to be set before the town’s tax rate can be calculated.  Normally, property owners receive their tax bills in June and must pay within 30 days. This year the town anticipated receiving the first tax payments around Aug. 16. An extension could delay the town receipt of taxes until Sept. 15.  Selectboard Chair Dick DeGray said he had “serious issues” with the request. He said that an extension placed the level funded budget many departments had worked for in jeopardy. Depending on the outcome of the town-wide “pay-as-you-throw” vote, the budget could see a 2.8 percent increase in taxes.  Finally, receiving tax payments in September rather than August could create cash flow issues for the town. Town Manager Barbara Sondag said that if the tax monies were delayed 15 days, the town would be short $2,750 and short $5,500 if delayed 30 days.  “If this [extension] is customary, why was the request not made at town meeting?”  DeGray asked.  Carrier responded saying the newer members in the Listers, Selectboard and finance offices did not foresee complications because they lacked an institutional memory. Carrier read from a 2005 memo from the previous town manager explaining more time is required in reappraisal years because of the high volume of grievances.  This explanation did not wash with members of the Selectboard.  Sondag called the Listers lack of communication “upsetting” but added, “I can have those concerns and I can have that irritation, but I don’t want to throw the baby out with the bathwater if the [Selectboard’s] frustration is with communication.” The old adage says you can’t change the past. But sometimes, you can use the past to help preserve the future.  In a tough economy that trounced similar conservation efforts, memories of the former Hogback Mountain Ski Area and love for the mountain fired volunteers to raise $1.7 million to purchase and preserve Hogback for future generations.  The Hogback Mountain Conservation Association (HMCA), the volunteer organization behind the four-year fundraising success, bought the property and turned it over to the town of Marlboro for use as a public, low-impact recreational area.  Hal Himmelstein gazed from the Skyline parking lot across Route 9 to the green hills rolling and dipping under a hazy sky to the horizon.  “This is more than a beautiful view,” he said.  Day-trippers driving east on Route 9 stop at the lookout near the Hogback Gift Shop snapping photos of the property’s famous “100-mile view.” They turned and shade their eyes, looking up at the happy crowd in the Skyline parking lot above them.  HMCA hosted a celebration at the Skyline Restaurant on May 22 for supporters and volunteers to honor their work and success. Bob and Nancy Anderson, who spearheaded the movement, estimated 150 people attended the gathering.  In addressing the crowd, Nancy Anderson told the people to pat themselves on the back.  “This project has involved all of you,” she said.  Remembering a landmark  “People had their special times here,” said Dick Hamilton, who ran the Skyline with his wife, Joyce [White] Hamilton, for 48 years.  Harold White first owned the Hogback property in the 1930s and served hot dogs from his cart at the lookout point, said Jane Douglas, the daughter of Holland Douglas, one of the ski area’s founders.  Hogback Ski Area operated from 1946 until 1986. The White and Hamilton families ran the ski area, gift shop and Skyline Restaurant, respectively.  “We were a united family,” said Hamilton.  Holland Douglas ran the ski area part of the business.  “Mom used to say he got to play all his life,” said Jane Douglas.  Despite this, the Douglas children were not allowed to ski. Their father was afraid they would break a leg or get hurt. When Jane Douglas was 17 and away at college, she signed up for ski lessons.  “I didn’t tell him for four years that I’d learned to ski,” she said with a laugh. “I was too afraid.”  A combination of weather and finances closed the ski area in 1986.  Hogback’s trails relied on Mother Nature to blanket them with snow and the ski area couldn’t match the snowmaking machines at neighboring resorts. Liability insurance premiums finally outpaced profits after two accidental ski-related deaths on the mountain, said Douglas.  Douglas thinks conserving the mountain is a “great thing” and that her father would be happy.  Marlboro resident Dan MacArthur remembers the annual Easter family costume contest.  The rules were simple. Skiers had to be able to ski down the hill in their costumes. The family with the best costumes won a family season’s pass for the next year.  Then MacArthur, his four siblings and his parents skied down the slope dressed as musical instruments. They received special permission to assist his two-year-old sister down the hill. She was the harmonica.  MacArthur said he skied Hogback for 30 years.  He brought his kids to the mountain and volunteered as a ski teacher for Marlboro students, who were allowed to ski free. He was on the school board in the 1980s when the White, Hamilton and Douglas families asked the school help pay for the students’ passes. The ski area’s insurance premiums were so high, the free passes had to go.  MacArthur said his memories of Hogback instigated his participation with HMCA but conserving the land was his top priority.  A Method for Success  According to Nancy Anderson, the first step was buying the land ahead of developers.  A group of seven “conservation buyers” stepped forward. These local residents pooled $1.4 million to buy and hold the land until HMCA could raise enough funds to buy it back.  One conservation buyer who wished to remain anonymous said that giving the money was a “casual” and lawyer-free process.  He trusted the Andersons and his community.  “Everything came together,” he said, adding he was concerned about would happen to the mountain if no action was taken.  “The alternatives [like condos] could potentially change the character of the town immensely,” he said.    “I just can’t say enough about the people in the group,” said Nancy Anderson.  Nancy Anderson attributes HMCA’s success to its members who never said “no” or “I’m too tired to help.”  She describes the members as determined and possessing a wide variety of talents. These qualities helped the group maintain momentum in part because everyone contributing different skills spread the whole task across the shoulders of many rather than one.  “There was a lot of work,” she says.  Even with the Vermont Land Trust as their partner in the process, Nancy Anderson said the work had to come from within the group and that they couldn’t expect an outsider to take it on.  “Of course,” she joked. “If we’d known how much work was involved beforehand, we may not have tried.”  MacArthur says what stuck out for him was an early conversation that HMCA had with a fundraising consultant who said that no matter what happened, they needed fire in their bellies for this project to be a success.   “More than a beautiful view”  Hogback contains characteristics important to wildlife, said Himmelstein. The property contains vernal pools that serve as breeding grounds for wood frogs and salamanders, wetlands and is a travel corridor.  Travel corridors, according to Himmelstein, allow animals to move freely from one territory to another without needing to navigate urban areas.  Without these corridors, animals can become “hemmed in” and have trouble reproducing. Their quality of life suffers. Bears may take to rummaging in a compost heap rather than foraging in the woods, or foxes and coyotes build their dens under porches.  Himmelstein said the trail committee designed White’s Loop, a multi-use trail on the north side of Route 9, in deference to the wildlife. When they cut the trail, volunteers avoided wetlands and vernal pools whenever possible.  The trail committee also considered the needs and fitness levels of future walkers, snowshoers, Nordic skiers and bikers.  Himmelstein said they wanted the trails accessible to as many people as possible.  “Not everyone’s outside all the time but everyone should be able to enjoy it [outside],” he says.  Looking toward the horizon  HMCA named portions of the property in memory of the White and Hamilton families.  Joining White’s Loop is Hamilton Hill, which also lies on the north side of Route 9. It rises 2,248 feet above sea level and is circled by a Vermont Association of Snow Travelers (VAST) snowmobile trail.  David Holzapfel, who was master of ceremonies for the day, said the HMCA is still scouting for the perfect area to name in honor of the Douglas family.  “We’re open to suggestions,” he said.    Voters will have their say on Pay-As-You-Throw on Tuesday, June 29.  The town-wide vote will take place at the Municipal Center in the Selectboard Meeting Room (Room 212) from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m.  The Municipal Center was chosen as the polling site because the schools were unavailable. Town Manager Barbara Sondag said she is arranging special voters’ parking in the municipal lot.  A “yes” vote on the issue will mean voters support the adoption of a PAYT trash collection system where individuals purchase special trash bags. A “no” vote will mean voters oppose adopting PAYT and instead want to maintain the current trash collection system paid through property taxes.  “[Voters] have an opportunity to make a statement here. I’d be disappointed with less than 50 percent voter turnout,” said Selectboard Chair Dick DeGray.  The vote comes after months of debate, two petitions and flared tempers.  “I’m shocked. Only VY brings up such a strong response,” Selectboard member Daryl Pillsbury said in March.  DeGray announced at the May 18 Selectboard meeting an agreement had been reached with Moss Kahler and Leo Barile, two residents at the forefront of the PAYT opposition, to circulate a second petition.  The second petition, an initiative petition, required 450 signatures, the equivalent of 5 percent of registered voters. Initiative petitions are advisory and non-binding, but the agreement between the Selectboard and opponents stipulated the PAYT vote would be binding.  In under a week, Kahler and volunteers gathered 660 signatures. The Selectboard held a special meeting May 27 to officially schedule the June 29, PAYT vote.  Parsing the language  Kahler and Barile’s original petition, submitted March 25 to Town Clerk Annette Cappy, fell into controversy when the Selectboard, on advice from Town Attorney Robert Fisher, deemed the petition invalid.  According to DeGray, the sticking point in the petition was the phrase “final action,” implying that Representative Town Meeting members had line item authority over the municipal budget. He said town meeting members can advise on line items but the Selectboard makes the final decision.  Selectboard Clerk Jesse Corum said, “I didn’t agree [with the first petition] because it didn’t follow the correct procedure. I don’t think we should have town-wide votes on miscellaneous subsidiary motions when they have the effect of a line-item veto on the town budget,” he said.  “We still feel we met all the requirements for a referendum with the first petition. I’m still disappointed the Selectboard didn’t act on the first petition,” said Kahler.  The Selectboard turned the petition over to Windham Superior Court asking the court rule on the definition of “any action” in the referendum section of the Brattleboro Town Charter. In response, Kahler and his lawyers, David Gibson and Lawrin Crispe, filed a countersuit.  Another stipulation for the second petition was that all pending court filings be dropped.  Pillsbury expressed disappointment that the questions surrounding “any action” were not resolved.  Kahler said he, Barile and their lawyer weighed the choice of circulating a second petition to achieve a binding town-wide vote against determining the definition of “any action” through the courts. They decided the town-wide vote the “prudent” choice.  “If they [the Selectboard] really wanted to have a town-wide vote, why not accept the [original] petition?” he asked.  Kahler feels the Selectboard is trying to get the referendum language in the town charter changed so it will limit referendums.  Corum said he wanted to be clear that despite his voting to send the original petition to Windham Superior Court rather than immediately scheduling a town-wide vote that, “I fully support the town-wide vote. I always supported it. I think it is the right thing to do.”  He added, “People should know, if you’re voting ‘no’ [on PAYT] you’re voting to increase taxes by 2.8 percent. If we’re worried the elderly and the poor, which we always hear about, then we should vote ‘yes’ on this initiative.”  “I’m really excited we were able to resolve this amicably. Other [court] options were going to be drawn out,” said Selectboard Vice-Chair Dora Bouboulis.  Charter Review Commission member Spoon Agave said the commission had been waiting for the court’s ruling before revising any petition-related wording. Since the court will not determine the “any action” issue, the commission is discussing how best to proceed.  In a phone message, Agave said the commission did receive a suggestion from Fisher to clarify the charter by substituting the phrase “only warned articles” in place of “any action.” Agave said the commission would have to discuss this suggestion. The Strolling of the Heifers is the summer kickoff party of the year, drawing crowds downtown to see cute heifers walking up Main Street with wreaths of flowers around their necks, watch the Celebrity Milking Contest, and try free samples of local food — and don’t forget the Dairy Godmother.  But the Strolling of the Heifers is more than a community celebration.  “Strolling of the Heifers, Inc. has a serious side. Our mission is to bring awareness of sustainable agriculture and the food people eat,” says its Executive Director Orly Munzing.  The organization’s work continues long after the crowds have returned home and the last pooper scooper has scooped Main Street clean. According to Stroll spokesman Martin Langeveld, the festival’s roots grew from the need to help local farmers struggling financially.  “We think the Strolling of the Heifers is a great, neat way to keep spreading the message and show appreciation to [local] farmers,” he says.  This year, approximately 30 farmers have signed-up to participate in Heifers’ weekend.  A few of the Stroll’s year-round programs include a microloan program that is part of the Carrot Project, a Massachusetts-based nonprofit that helps small and mid-sized Northeast farms obtain capital.  The Stroll provided small grants to local schools to implement programs to bring farmers into schools or help school children plant gardens. Munzing says that many of these programs have become sustainable and continue in their own right as part of the curriculum funded through the school budgets.  Last year, 15 at-risk youth participated in a new apprenticeship program at five area farms, a program Munzing describes as win-win. The farmers receive labor and a stipend for teaching the participants. The apprentices receive wages, paid by the Strolling of the Heifers organization, along with skills and job opportunities.     According to Langeveld, most Vermont dairy farms are located in the northern part of the state. Windham Country’s hilly landscape makes it difficult to maintain large herds of cattle.  As of Nov 2009, there were 429 farms in Windham County of which 43 were dairy farms. Franklin County has 241 dairy farms the most of all the Vermont Counties.  He says some dairy farmers are receiving the same price for their milk today as they did 30 years ago, yet the costs of production like grain and fuel have increased — a discrepancy that threatens the stability of many dairy farms.  Farms are, in part, responsible for Vermont’s famous, open, working  landscape. They also provide a local food source. “[Losing local farms] is a loss to all of us,” he says.  Figuring out the money dairy farmers receive monthly is a complicated process.  “There are three people in the world who can explain milk pricing. Two are dead and one has dementia,” says Vermont Secretary of Agriculture Roger Allbee.  Milk pricing frustration  Allbee says the milk pricing system, with the exception of organic milk, was developed in the 1940s.  Farmers receive a “blended price” based on how the milk will ultimately be used. Fluid milk receives the highest price and has the shortest shelf life. Then comes milk used to make products like cottage cheese, ice cream and yogurt. Milk used for hard cheeses comes next and finally powdered milk and butter. These four uses make up the “blended price” farmers receive each month for their milk.  Vermont dairy farmers produce approximately 2.4 billion pounds of milk a year, with about 85 percent shipped out of state, said Allbee. Half of the milk is fluid milk and half is used in other dairy products.  Allbee says other factors also determine the blend price such as the overall national production and distance from the big consumer markets. Vermont’s consumer markets are Boston, Providence, R.I., Hartford, Conn., New York and Philadelphia.  All this financing shakes down to the monthly milk check’s bottom line. Farmers receive between $11 and $15 per 100 pounds (or hundredweight) for their milk: about $1 to $1.25 a gallon, down from about $1.60 to $1.80 per gallon in 2008. The average production cost is $18.50 per hundredweight.  Farmers, like all business owners, manage the tricky balance between profits and expenses. Animal feed, transportation costs, electricity, and labor are rising expenses farmers face regardless of the milk check.  Glenn Rogers, regional farm business management specialist with the University of Vermont Extension, says 2009 was the hardest year for dairy farmers that he’s seen in his 35 years in the industry.  “[Dairy] is a world market, and we need to recognize that,” he says.  It only takes a 2 percent rise in global production to drop a Vermont farmer’s milk check by 20 to 30 percent.  “We desperately need a good year,” says Rogers.  He says that it is common for dairy farmers to borrow $50,000 to $100,000 in start-up money in the spring of each year to pay for seeds or equipment. They then pay the money back in the fall with the summer profits. Dairy prices dropped low enough in 2009, however, that farmers had to borrow again in the fall to get through the winter.  Allbee says the average Vermont dairy farm has 130 cows: tiny herds compared to the mega-farms in states like California and Texas that keep 20,000 to 30,000 head of cattle. Many of the mega-farms also receive subsidized water and electricity, so their costs are lower.  Allbee says the average Vermont farmer loses $100 a month per cow under the current milk pricing system, which translates to $130,000 in lost equity each month.  There were 1,079 dairy farms in Vermont at the beginning of 2009. As of this month, there are 1,017. Allbee believes that in a worst-case scenario, where milk prices don’t improve, Vermont will lose up to 200 farms.  “But farmers are eternal optimists,” said Rogers. “Like winter and spring, they know good and bad times come and go like the weather."  Allbee says his office has been working with the Vermont congressional delegation, Sens. Patrick Leahy and Bernard Sanders and Rep. Peter Welch, to change the federal milk pricing system.  Rogers explains that the new pricing system the Vermont delegation is working on is a type of “quota” system similar to what’s used in Canada. Under a quota system, farmers would be paid less for milk produced above a cap amount.  Although some people in Rogers’ world shiver at the word “quota,” he says the current system is not working.   Local diversity  Langeveld, Allbee and Rogers agree that diversifying is key to many farmers’ survival.  Rogers says that Taylor Farm in Londonderry and Lilac Ridge Farm in Brattleboro are two classic examples of diversified farms that are making it.  Jon Taylor, a dairy farmer, branched into cheesemaking and later started selling raw milk when the milk check no longer paid the bills. Lilac Ridge Farm sells produce and flowers.  All agreed that buying locally and keeping money in the local economy was the best action consumers could take to support their local farmers.  Allbee says many programs to help farms tie into the local food movement — programs like “Keep Local Farms,” where companies and grocers such as Hannaford agree to put 10 to 15 cents for each milk sale into a fund to help stabilize milk prices.  Vermont’s “Farm to Plate Initiative” — an act of the state Legislature passed in 2009 that set a goal that 20 percent of food purchased in the state will be from local producers by 2020 — is another way to boost local farming.  Rogers added that Vermonters should also buy food products in season, remind their friends in big dairy markets like Boston to buy New England products and remember to check the location of products’ parent companies as well.  Munzing says Strolling of the Heifers is upgrading the organization’s  website to make it a year-round local foods resource. Organizers have already  added “get to know” sections to put consumers in touch with local cheese  makers, bakers, and maple sugar producers.  Langeveld says Windham County’s residents have a strong awareness of local foods which other areas of the country have a harder time developing. People living in New York City, for example, have no choice but be removed from their local farmers.  “[Buying local] is the privilege of living in this area. Why wouldn’t you do that?” he asks.Saint John the Divine is leaving town for a museum in the Midwest.  Last week, the congregation of the First Baptist church voted 17 to 8, with two abstentions, in favor of selling the 1910 Tiffany window for $85,000.  Adrian Hamers Inc. of Larchmont, N.Y., which specializes in custom manufacturing of liturgical objects such as chalices, altar crosses and stained glass windows, brokered the sale. The window was valued at $75,000.  According to church trustee Karen Davis, the congregation is grateful. The sale will help keep the church open to 2011.  The church had received a second offer to keep the window in Brattleboro. The Arts Council of Windham County, the Brattleboro Museum and Art Center, and The Eisner Foundation, offered the church a challenge grant totaling $47,500. The church would have needed to raise $37,500 to meet the challenge.  Davis said the church could have used a portion of the donations received since December toward the challenge amount.  Last November, the congregation voted to “empower” the trustees to sell the window. The decision received national media attention and $50,000 in donations poured in from across the country.  “We had two good options to choose from,” said Davis. “Part of the dilemma was to keep the window or move [sell] it.”  “We’re sad to see it [the window] go but the spirit is there and we wish them the best. We’re happy the sale will help them keep going,” said Greg Worden, president of the Arts Council of Windham County.  According to church trustee Sylvia Seitz, the church requires a conservative annual budget of $150,000. Davis says the congregation choose Hammer’s offer because it helped to support the church’s bottom line.  The church’s bottom line has always been its mission of helping the homeless. The building on 190 Main St. is also home to Grace’s Kitchen, Brattleboro Pastoral Care, and Alcoholics Anonymous meetings.  “American Baptists are mission-oriented more than wanting gold-leaf in the church,” Seitz said in a January interview.  Davis said, in her opinion, there was a sense of resignation after the May 23 vote. Members who wanted to keep the window felt they had done what they could. Those who voted to sell felt confident the church would continue in a stronger financial position.  “The community has been very supportive and rallied behind feeding the homeless guests,” said Davis, adding that the Rotary Club recently completed renovations to the kitchen.  Davis says the church still needs volunteers to help raise funds and keep the church open. Members are developing a fundraising plan. All denominations are welcome.  “We want to avoid future dire [financial] situations,” she said.Torben Larsen pulls off his work gloves. A sharp line of copper-colored dirt marks where the glove ended like a sandy tan line.   He’s covered in dirt and sweat like his four fellow wall builders, all working to beat the 7½-hour time limit for their dry stone wall certification test.  The dry stone walls that snake through New England’s woods and fields can stand strong for 150 years when built correctly.  But because many dry stone walls are failing, architects and planners are turning to concrete walls, thinking the problem is inherent to dry stone walls, not with building techniques.  The nonprofit Stone Trust, Inc. is working to reverse this trend by teaching  the craft of dry stonewalling to both newbie wallers and professionals like Larsen, a landscaper from Westminster.  “Walling is less appreciated and respected than it should be. It’s good for Vermont if it is more respected as a craft,”  Larsen says.  Stone Trust aims to become the “go-to” resource for dry stone wall building and preservation. The organization helps educate stonewallers in the art and technical aspects of dry stonewalling through workshops and certification tests.   When complete, the organization’s website will host resources for wallers, interested students, and potential clients.  Members are also working with legislators to develop state standards for dry stone walls, standards that Vermont does not have.  Stone Trust is developing its teaching practices and workshops based on standards set by the Dry Stone Walling Association of Great Britain (DSWA). The two organizations’ informal relationship is still evolving.  Jared Flynn, a waller and member of Stone Trust, says the DSWA’s methods are not the only methods wallers can use — and he says this carefully. Stone wall building is a personal art, and he doesn’t want to offend his fellow wallers.  Stone walls  According to members of the Stone Trust, European immigrants from England, Scotland, Wales, Ireland, Portugal, Italy and Switzerland brought the craft of dry stone walls to North America.  Dry stone walls survive the freeze-and-thaw cycle of New England seasons better than other constructions. Their mortar-free design gives the walls the flexibility to expand and contract.  In the style taught by Stone Trust and DSWA instructors, the walls are wider at the bottom, like an A-frame. The sides of the wall are actually two walls — “skins” — with smaller stones in the center. The structure is secured with a “through stone,” a component of larger stones that cover the skins like a tabletop.  Layers of skins and through stones are added until the desired height is achieved. The wall is topped with copingstones. With this method, the weight of the wall pushes inward so the stones stand  against each other.  Some stone-stacking methods weaken the structure and shorten the wall’s life.  One such building technique is pouring small pebbles, gravel or sand into the wall’s interior. Over time, as the stones expand and contract or are washed by rain, the small fill shifts, and the wall collapses.  Another example is stacking a long stone lengthwise so the long side faces out, creating gaps in the wall’s center.  Turning the stone into the wall so the skinny end is visible is a better choice because it interlaces the stones, strengthening the wall, instructors Andrew Louden and Dan Snow — DSWA-certified master craftsmen — tell the group.  Standards for professionals  Behind the Dummerston Center Fire House, Larsen and landscape architect Brian Post build their test sections of wall. Larsen is testing for his level-one certification and Post for level two. Snow and Loudon mark the men as they go.  Wallers say the personality of each waller shows in his or her stone-wall work.  “It [walling] keeps your mind engaged,” says Snow, who is also an author and Dummerston resident.  This misconception that stone walls are less durable than their concrete counterparts costs wallers jobs on state and municipal projects.  To reverse this trend, the Stone Trust offers certification tests to help create a pool of certified wallers. They believe this measure will keep wallers better employed and tax dollars better spent.  Post, a landscape architect in Springfield, studied in England and Wales as an undergraduate. His section of wall nearly complete, he places small boulders on the top to make a freestanding English wall vertical cope.  Post says he built his first wall when he was 10 years old. He’s been walling professionally for 15 years. He wanted to earn the level II certification for professional and personal reasons.  Post says being able to advertise a level II certification will be good for his business. There are fewer than a dozen Vermont wallers certified as level II or higher.  Personally, he says, the test “pushes you to excel.” Normally, he says, he wouldn’t build a wall the size of the test wall in 7½ hours.  Loudon explains the test is timed to a “commercial speed.” The DSWA wants wallers’ craft to be economically viable.  The next generation  “Every Vermonter is a waller,” Flynn says.  Late-afternoon sun heats the field along Dutton Farm Road. Everyone is covered in dirt and dust, but no one noticed as the students examined their work.  At this Stone Trust May workshop, the students’ classroom is a 74-foot of a tumbled-down stone wall at Scott Farm in Dummerston. The 19 students received 15 hours of instruction, including 10 hours of  hands-on building.  The neglected stone wall, which had been stripped, taken apart, and rebuilt over two days, stands strong, as if it had always been there.  “[A stone wall] is something you can build in a rural landscape that doesn’t shout at you,” Loudon says. “It’s a way of leaving your mark on the landscape without anyone knowing about it.”Entergy Nuclear Vermont Yankee completed a scheduled 29-day refueling outage and on May 22 started powering the reactor up, creating quite literally a fresh start for the troubled plant.  Instead, two new problems cropped up.  On May 26, the reactor went into an automatic shutdown mode that plant spokesman Larry Smith said may have been triggered by a malfunction in the electrical switchyard just outside the plant. The switchyard takes electricity generated by Vermont Yankee and puts it on the New England power grid. Smith said no radiation was released during the shutdown.  Then, on May 28, plant officials said another leak of radioactive material was uncovered. Vapor and water containing 13 different radioactive substances was found coming from a pipe in a hole that workers had dug to find the source of an earlier tritium leak. Smith said that the new leak had been found and fixed on Saturday.  These two mishaps were preceded by the admission by plant officials that the radioactive substance Strontium 90 was found in soil samples near the site of the leaky pipes that sparked a major controversy back in January.  “Strontium is a hard to detect isotope and takes longer for the lab analysis [to come back],” said Smith.  Strontium 90, a radioactive isotope produced in nuclear reactors, is the most soluble in water and chemically mimics calcium in the human body.  According to Arnie Gundersen, nuclear engineer, consultant and chief engineer at Fairwinds Associates, Inc., strontium 90 has links to leukemia because it lodges in the bones — like calcium — and affects the production of white blood cells.   Gundersen explained that the Environmental Protection Agency’s limits for strontium 90 in water is 8 picocuries per liter. The amount found in VY samples was 8,500 picocuries per gram.  Plant officials, however, say that strontium 90 has not so far been found offsite or in monitoring wells at Vermont Yankee.  “The strontium is out of the soil and ready to go to a containment facility,” said Smith, adding that Entergy is working to make sure leaks like this won’t happen again.  Still, critics of the plant have voiced concern that if substantial amounts of strontium 90 are found in the soil and water at the plant, the cost of decommissioning the plant could skyrocket.  Entergy Nuclear Vermont Yankee is seeking a license extension from the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission to operate the 650-megawatt reactor for another 20 years after the expiration of its current license in 2012. It also needs legislative approval and a certificate of public good from the Vermont Public Service Board to continue operation. In February, the Vermont Senate voted against a bill that would have authorized the Public Service Board to relicense the plant.Members of the public have voiced concerns regarding the Selectboard’s perceived lack of public hearings regarding new mast arm traffic signals slated for downtown.  This summer, the Vermont Agency of Transportation plans to repave Route 5 from Fairground Road in Brattleboro to Putney including replacing the current pedestal traffic signals on Main Street with mast arm lights. On mast arm traffic lights, the signal lights hang from a long boom stretched across the street.  There are also plans to install traffic lights at the “Malfunction Junction” intersection at Main and Bridge streets.    Funding for the project will come from the town, the state, and federal government. The Selectboard approved the AOT plan at a Selectboard meeting Oct. 6, 2009. The project is at the bid stage.  Fire Chief D. Michael Bucossi described the current pedestal signals as “band-aided” together and “antiquated.” Finding parts is difficult.  By contrast, the mast arms can be fitted with optical devices that allow emergency vehicles to control the lights and with cameras to assist traffic flow.  A public process  Selectboard Vice-Chair Dora Bouboulis requested the traffic light issue be on the board’s June 1 agenda.  “Didn’t seem like there was a lot of public input on this,” she said.  Bouboulis said she was concerned the mast arm lights would not fit the historical character of downtown, adding that the public should have had a chance to discuss something that would change “how Brattleboro looks for many years.”  Town Manager Barbara Sondag said the Oct. 6 meeting had been properly warned, fulfilling the public hearing requirement. Bouboulis disagreed, saying the public had never been given the opportunity to find alternatives to the mast arm lights.  Selectboard member Jesse Corum and town resident Steven K-Brooks squared off at the end of the discussion.  K-Brooks said that the Federal Highway Administration requires public input specifically for areas like downtown which are on the National Register of Historic Places.  “Public participation means that people really have the chance to know what’s going on,” said K-Brooks.  “I don’t mind hearing from the public, but I don’t have to hear from the public three to four times,” said Corum.  The process  Ken Upmal, the AOT’s manager on the Route 5 project, spent nearly a day and a half consolidating reports and meeting minutes to demonstrate the agency had done due diligence. A call came down from Sen. Bernard Sanders’ office via the upper echelons of AOT to “find out what happened.”  As Upmal understands it, a Brattleboro resident called Sanders’ office concerned about the lack of public participation.  “It’s frustrating to work as hard as we do and then this happens. We’re not trying to do anything secretive,” he said.  He said the Route 5 project started in 1996 under a previous project manager and a required public right-of-way hearing was held in 2003. At the hearing, the Agency of Transportation heard public concerns about pedestrian crossings, bike lanes, and concerns about loss of business.  “From the agency’s perspective, we were thrown out of town,” said Upmal.  The project sat.  Upmal took over the project in 2008. He worked with Sondag, Planning Director Roderick Francis, Public Works Director Steve Barrett and planner Matt Mann from the Windham Regional Commission to redesign the project balancing concerns voiced in the original 2003 hearing with the needs of the project. The Traffic Safety Committee approved the redesigned project on December 2008. The Selectboard approved it in October 2009.  A second right-of-way hearing was not required, but Upmal did obtain a “106 clearance” required by the National Historic Preservation Act.  Upmal said he didn’t hear a thing about mast arm traffic lights until three weeks ago, when he received an e-mail from Sondag.  “We did due diligence and maintained communication [with the town]. Don’t know what else we could have done,” said Upmal.The Selectboard approved the Listers’ request for a 30-day extension to file the reappraisal Grand List Abstract with the state.  Under the new timeline, the Selectboard will set the tax rate early to mid August. Residents will also receive their tax bills early to mid August.  Town Appraiser Al Jerard said the reason for the extension was to allow enough time for grievance hearings, which increase during reappraisal years. Over 800 grievances were filed in the previous reappraisal year 2005.  “The Division of Property Valuation and Review considers such requests to be routine for Reappraisal Towns. They have encouraged us to apply for the extension in order to avoid any possibility of noncompliance problems,” wrote Jerard in a memo to Town Manager Barbara Sondag.  Jerard and Lister Chair Gary Carrier reiterated the importance for a fair and accurate Grand List and their commitment to any scheduled grievance hearings.  “Our job is to determine the fair market value of the property in town. The fairer it can be the better off for our town,” Carrier told the Selectboard.  The Listers Office has taken steps to minimize any further delays explained Jerard including staff members working overtime to “complete remaining tasks,” and a temporary staff member has been hired to assist in the data review process.  According to Jerard, the town had budgeted for extra assistance and overtime during the reappraisal process and the state provides funds as well.  The Listers’ earlier request for an extension at the May 18 Selectboard meeting received a frustrated response from board members who felt the request should have been made sooner.  “We believe we are doing, under difficult circumstances, a very good job,” said Jerard adding, “We’re sorry that the timing is such that it’s coming later than some members of the Selectboard wanted.”“The first thing people need to know about PACE is that it’s not PAYT,” said Peter Falion of the Brattleboro Town Energy Committee.  PACE, Property Assessed Clean Energy, is an opt-in program enabling commercial and residential property owners to pay for energy improvements through property taxes. In Vermont, five towns have voted in PACE and 30 more are considering the program.  “This is a completely optional program. It won’t raise anyone’s taxes,” said Paul Cameron, town energy coordinator and director of Brattleboro Climate Protection.  The Town Energy Committee — along with Peter Adamczyk —the energy finance and development manager at Vermont Energy Investment Corp. — presented the energy-financing program to the Selectboard on June 1.  The program met with more resistance than the energy committee anticipated. Some Selectboard members said they needed more time to review the program’s financing structure.  “If we can’t get PAYT through, there’s no way we can do this,” said Selectboard member Jesse Corum.  “If the Selectboard approves the motion, all you’re doing is allowing the process to go forward and signing onto a network [of other towns] who can help [citizens] understand the program,” said Cameron.  How it came to be  In 2008, the Vermont Legislature passed Act 92, which created Clean Energy Assessment Districts, allowing property owners to pay for improvements through property taxes.  Cameron said PACE helps bypass some of the barriers to energy improvements. Many of the property owners who want to make their homes or businesses more energy efficient can’t afford the upfront money. Other financing options, such as home equity loans, have too short a repayment period to make projects equitable.  A PACE district includes an entire town allowing home or business owners who qualify for the program participate.  PACE is a two-step process, according to Adamczyk. First, residents vote to establish a town-wide special assessment energy district, then individual property owners decide to opt-in to the program.  “It’s a pretty exciting program. The more people who do it the better. It’s not another tax,” said Putney Energy Committee Chair Daniel Hoviss.  PACE is the national name equivalent to Vermont’s Clean Energy Assessment Districts.  VEIC spearheads the PACE program on behalf of the state. VEIC also manages Efficiency Vermont, another program created by the legislature.  Nationally, 14 states have PACE programs. According to VEIC, Boulder County in Colorado has had great success with its programs, with 393 projects worth approximately $7.5 million.   Under Vermont law, the cost of a PACE financed project can’t exceed 15 percent of the property’s assessed value. Also, the loan-to-value ratio of any mortgages plus the PACE assessment amount can’t exceed more than 90 percent of the assessed property value. The repayment period is 20 years.  Setting up energy districts  Act 92 also sets the goal that 25 percent, or roughly 80,000, of the state’s homes to be energy efficient by 2020.  “We’re way behind,” said Adamczyk.  Adamczyk estimates it will take $40 million a year for 12 years for Vermont to reach the 2020 goal. He says he is not aware of other funding options that could bring nearly $500 million into Vermont to help reach this goal.  Special assessment districts have been around for nearly a century. They allow towns to pay for improvements, such as sidewalks, through property taxes. Adamczyk, a former resident of California, said his property tax bill used to have as many as eight lines of assessments.  “The major difference between PACE and other assessment districts is that homeowners can opt-in,” he said.  He explains those who want to make energy efficiency improvements to their homes or businesses pay for the work through their property taxes and receive the benefits. Those who don’t want to make improvements don’t join and don’t pay.   Hoviss said Putney’s PACE program has 10 property owners interested in the program and Putney has yet to advertise it.  Ann Livingston, Sustainability Coordinator for Boulder County, Colorado, said her organization has hosted homeowner workshops on the best way to make energy improvements and to decide if PACE is the right fit.  Whereas California’s PACE funding tends to go towards solar projects, Boulder County’s focuses on energy efficiency.  “We tell workshop participants to eat your energy-efficiency vegetables before your renewable dessert,” she said.  Money flow  PACE takes advantage of a town’s taxing infrastructure to make funds available and collect repayments.  “This is a good option and meets a need for people in the town,” says Town Manager Barbara Sondag.  Towns do not raise money for PACE improvements. They act as a conduit for PACE monies between the financer and contractors making the improvements.  “Each dollar has a home,” says Adamczyk.  Adamczyk describes the money flow as an upside down funnel with funds flowing from the financer, like the Vermont Bond Bank, through the town and out to individual PACE projects.  Once the voters agree to a PACE district, residents wishing to opt-in to the program contact the town to begin the approval process.  Property owners go through an approval screening process similar to applying for a mortgage. One financial goal of PACE is to create a “cash flow positive” situation where monthly energy savings from the improvements exceed the monthly repayment.  Each town, according to Adamczyk, designs its own approval criteria. For example, Burlington requires homeowners maintain a record of paying property taxes on time for three years.  After a property owner receives approval, an energy audit is performed on the property. The property owner receives a full report with recommendations and estimated costs. A copy is also filed with the deed for future reference since assessments stay with the property.   The maximum repayment period for PACE improvement is 20 years. Any costs cannot exceed the life of the improvement. For example, a property owner cannot use PACE monies to buy a water heater that will only last 10 years, but spend 20 years paying it off.  Based on the energy audit, the property owner decides what improvements to make and contacts the town.  The town approaches a financer, like the Vermont Bond Bank, with the total of all improvements for property owners in the program.  The town pays the contractors after improvements are completed and the property owner is satisfied. The town attaches a tax lien to PACE properties.  Come property-tax bill time, PACE participants pay their property taxes, plus the respective assessments. Nothing changes for non-PACE participants.  One misconception about PACE is that the town will lose property tax money. The PACE program adds repayment as a surcharge to other property taxes.  The assessment stays with the property, so if an owner decides to sell, he or she can negotiate with the buyer. The seller can pay off the PACE assessment in full, or the buyer can take over paying the assessment.  “The buyer also takes over the benefits of the energy improvements,” said Adamczyk.  Adamczyk said property owners do not need to set a higher asking price for a property to cover the cost of the improvements, because they never shelled out the money in the first place.  “Even when someone opts in [to PACE], they’re still eligible for state and federal rebates,” said Hoviss.  Results  Cameron said PACE’s benefits are three-fold.  The program can help improve Vermont’s housing stock by making homes more comfortable and less costly, he said. It can help reduce Vermont’s dependence on foreign oil. The program helps keep more money in the local economy.  “You can’t do an energy retrofit from China,” said Adamczyk, adding that 80 percent of the money spent on energy in Vermont leaves the state.  Adamczyk said much of Vermont’s housing is old and energy inefficient. The average Vermont household spends 60 percent more to heat and power their home than the rest of the country. PACE can also free up participants’ income, he said, because the energy savings are more than the monthly assessment.  Livingston said Boulder County has generated $10 million in projects and seen almost $1 million pumped into the local economy.  Challenges  “We’re certainly excited, but there are a lot of gotchas,” said Hoviss.  He explained that since PACE is new, the committee doesn’t know the whole process. The reporting requirements are high and “there are a lot of i’s to dot and t’s to cross.” Also, the committee is deciding how to organize the nuts and bolts of the program — such as what interest to charge, if any —to make the program fair for all.  The Putney Energy Committee applied for and was awarded a $50,000 grant to jump start PACE in that town.  Livingston said the program took more staff time than first anticipated. Towns need to be committed to making the program work. Administrators must be motivated to provide leadership.  “No single town can do this alone. The more towns onboard, the better,” said Hoviss.  Economy of scale is one challenge facing Vermont, Adamczyk said. States like California and metropolitan areas like Boulder County have an easier time finding investors and financing programs because they are operating on a larger scale.  One of VEIC’s proposed solutions is to consolidate and funnel the participating towns’ administration and personnel costs through the agency, reducing costs by consolidating and streamlining the process.  Adamczyk also acknowledged the program has met with skepticism.  “It is a new concept and sometimes complicated to explain,” he said.  Recently, government-sponsored mortgage lenders Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac both took positions against PACE. According to Adamczyk, both lenders claim that in the event of a foreclosure, energy assessments or loans cannot be paid off before mortgages.  Adamczyk feels these arguments are “nonsense.” He said there is a clear national law prioritizing taxes, assessments and mortgages.  In a foreclosure, taxes have the superior position, then assessments then mortgages. Also, PACE is classified as an assessment, and assessments are not loans.  Livingston said they are “watching and waiting” to see how the situation develops.  PACE faces another wrinkle at the state level.  Last year, Vermont passed a law in conjunction with the banks establishing that PACE assessments as superior to mortgages except in the case of foreclosures. Therefore, banks can demand a town release its lien should a property go into foreclosure.  Adamczyk says VEIC and legislators are working to change this but in the meantime, they are setting up a reserve fund so towns won’t be held responsible for assessments on foreclosed properties.  Money for the fund would come out of a one-time payment taken from the amount requested for a PACE projects. Adamczyk also reminds people that Vermont ranks 49th nationally in foreclosures.  “[The reserve fund] is a great idea and will work as long as there’s enough money,” said Adamczyk, adding that building up the fund will be hard for the first few years of the program.  Putney is setting up such a reserve fund locally.  “It’s unfortunate, because [putting money into the reserve fund] takes away from what can be loaned,” said Hoviss.  “These are improvements made directly to the structures. [PACE assessments] aren’t a new mechanism,” said Livingston.  She said when people are considering PACE, they need to decide what motivates them to make the improvements and take on paying the assessment. Do they want to save on bills, increase the comfort of their home, or do they want to be green? Next, they need to take action and be willing to see the process through.  Adamczyk said there is no rush for Brattleboro to sign on to the PACE program and he will be available should town representatives have questions.This summer, the Estey Organ Museum will present “A Lifetime for Sound,” a retrospective of physicist Harald Bode and his contributions to electronic music.  This is a 50-year survey in image and sound recordings, documenting the contributions of Bode, one of the great pioneers of electronic sound. His career spans 50 years of innovation, during which he produced more than 15 instruments.  “There’s adventure and excitement [in his career path],” said his son, Peer Bode, who directs the Harald Bode Archive.  Bode says his father was an entrepreneur and did not follow the same university or company-sponsored career path as his contemporaries.  “He wore many hats,” he said.  He hopes visitors will see the historical connection between his father’s pioneering work and today’s new media as “a way of understanding were we are now."  The exhibit includes an “audio jukebox,” digitized sound files of Bode’s music and music using his synthesizers from 1949 to the mid-1980s.  “It’s great to have real, live people connected to this [music], and not have it be just about the technology,” he said.  In 1937, Harald Bode built his Warbo Formant electronic organ, which had capabilities similar to those found in modern synthesizers. In the 20 years that followed, he developed a series of electronic keyboard instruments whose design variously balanced between imitating known instruments and enabling completely new sound possibilities. He is credited with the first modular synthesizer/processor and renowned for his later standalone processors.  Bode also contributed to the field of electronic sound with inventions like the Melochord (1947-1953), the first postwar electronic instrument in Europe.  Harald Bode and his family moved to Brattleboro in 1954, where he was vice president and director of research and development for the Estey Organ Corp. until 1959. He brought to the Estey Organ Co. the latest in electronic organ development. Along with a team of young engineering talent, he developed the new, state-of-the-art, Estey Electronic Organ models S and AS1.  In 1960, when Bode presented his modular synthesizer and sound processor at that year’s convention of the Audio Engineering Society, he ushered in the era of the analog modular synthesizer. Bob Moog was in attendance and inspired by Bode’s concept of the modular sound studio. This led to the development of the famed Moog Synthesizer.  The Bode Frequency Shifters (1961-1980) have become a legend. To this date, they remain in high demand. The instrument has been cloned by other manufacturers as well as emulated in computer software.  The music made with the Bode Frequency Shifter ranges from the classical avant-garde of  Vladimir Ussachewsky and Wendy Carlos to the electo-pop of Kraftwerk. The Bode Ring Modulators (1961) were also used in major academic and professional music studios including those of Joel Chadabe, Paul Bley and Motown.  The Bode (Moog) Vocoder (1977) was a particular success and is noted for its unique sound. It can be found on hit records of the era, including the 1979 Lipps Inc. megahit, Funkytown.  Among the many artists who purchased the instrument were musician Michael Boddicker, who used it on Michael Jackson’s, 1982 record breaking album, Thriller. Suzanne Ciani made significant use of the Bode Vocoder for her many radio and television ads. And it can be found in the work of video artists such as Woody Vasulka and Gary Hill.  The exhibition will be open this summer on Saturdays and Sundays from 1-4 p.m at the museum, at 108 Birge St. For additional information or special arrangements please call 802-254-4280. A discussion of the problems and solutions to the violence, drugs and intimidation taking place on Elliot Street came up before the Selectboard last week.  “It has really become an unsafe, violent place in our community. That needs to stop,” said Selectboard Chair Dick DeGray.  The discussion quickly turned emotional as Selectboard members, business owners and residents weighed in. Many business owners and residents shared stories of intimidation and verbal assault. One local woman said she has been repeatedly accosted by a woman — and Elliot Street regular — known to carry a knife.  Dan Yates, president of Building a Better Brattleboro, BaBB, submitted a letter signed by over 100 supporters outlining four areas of concern. Overt illegal activity such as drug dealing and vandalism, sexual harassment, intimidation, and nuisance issues that contribute to an “uncomfortable atmosphere.”    Police Chief Eugene Wrinn said that for the past two years, the department has had direct patrols in the area, specifically in the early afternoon and when the bars close. Often officers work overtime to cover Elliot Street during these times.  “Would cameras help?” asked DeGray.  “People are less likely to commit crimes if they know they’re being taped. So yes, cameras would help,” said Wrinn.  The group also discussed the feasibility of creating a loitering ordinance, adding staff to the police department, enacting fines for parents whose children cause problems on Elliot Street and developing a street outreach program similar Burlington’s.  “[The street outreach program] is a tool. The more tools the better you are. They’re like spokes in a wheel,” said Chief Wrinn.  The business owners who spoke said the situation is out of hand. Even though Elliot Street has always had a reputation, they said what they are seeing now has escalated beyond what they’ve experienced in the past.The biggest problem on Elliot Street is that “a lot of people just don’t feel safe down there,” Police Captain Michael Fitzgerald said.  The Selectboard voted June 15 to support strategies to deal with the latest low-pressure system that has settled along the Elliot Street and Harmony parking lot area — a system that multiple people have recently called an “atmosphere of intimidation.”  The problems facing the merchants, residents, and youth frequenting the area have been discussed constantly since a discussion at the board’s June 1 meeting.  On Tuesday, the Selectboard voted to increase police foot patrols, install cameras along the street, and support the creation of a neighborhood watch.  The board also voted to support the efforts of Larry Hames, executive director of the Brattleboro Community Justice Center, to reach out to local youth groups and involve young people in the solutions.  Board members decided not to vote on enacting a loitering ordinance. Police Chief Eugene Wrinn said the effectiveness of such a measure is controversial and that the police can use other enforceable means like public disturbance laws.  Building a Better Brattleboro has agreed to work with merchants to help maintain existing lighting and to secure roof access where possible. At times merchants have complained about people using their buildings’ roofs to hide from police, for clandestine drug deals, or to just hang out.  The decision to monitor Elliot Street with cameras has been debated at almost all the meetings.  “Quality-of-life issues don’t show up on cameras,” said Selectboard Vice-Chair Dora Bouboulis, the only one of the five board members to vote against the town’s camera purchase.  But cameras could, in some cases, deliver quick and definable fixes to some problems, some argued.  Selectboard member Daryl Pillsbury said he is not normally in favor of cameras but supported them in this instance most people he’s spoken to on Elliot Street want to see them in place.  Policing and beyond  “The board recognizes this [Elliot] is a problem area,” said Selectboard Chair Dick DeGray.  Members of the Selectboard conducted a walk-around June 14, soliciting information from residents and business owners regarding the problems they witness.  The problems highlighted regularly by Elliot Street merchants focus around intimidation like yelled insults, fights, spitting, foul language, and illegal activities like drug dealing.  More than 100 people signed a letter urging the board to address these issues [The Commons, June 9].  Building a Better Brattleboro Executive Director Andrea Livermore said merchants have told her they want to differentiate between people causing trouble and slapping the label of “troublemaker” on all young people in the area.  Gina Richard, co-owner of the Weathervane Music Hall at 19 Elliot St., said her business has suffered in part because adults are uncomfortable walking Elliot Street at night.  “Overall, it’s nothing to do with bar patrons,” she said. It is not uncommon for the bars to clean their stoops  of cans and bottles of beer bought elsewhere.  Since the June 1 Selectboard meeting, the Police Department has increased patrols, and merchants told members of the board visiting the street Monday that the increased police presence has already made a positive difference.  Wrinn said Elliot Street and Harmony Lot constitute 3 percent of the department’s calls.   “You can play the numbers however you want, but if people perceive it’s a problem then it’s real. No one should have to feel that way [afraid],” he said.  Wrinn added at times the department is placed in a sticky position because some words or actions that make people uncomfortable are not illegal and, therefore, not something the police can ticket.  With an uncomfortable atmosphere on Elliot Street as much a consequence of unwanted behavior as lawbreaking, board members and town officials are looking beyond law enforcement measures to solving a larger issue.  “That stuff isn’t going away unless you address it,” Bouboulis said.  “I don’t think we’re doing anything person to person to solve the problem — just calling in the police,” Sondag said.  Sondag also suggested local residents and merchants receive guidance in how to speak effectively in intimidating situations, like saying “this is not okay” to people spitting at pedestrians.   “I believe the residents have to reclaim the space,” Sondag said.  Fitzgerald said he was encouraged by the conversations he had with people during the June 14 walk-around.  Noting that many had other ideas besides relying solely on the police, the captain described community engagement and responsibility as “paramount.”  The board asked Wrinn to give an update on the changes and progress on the Elliot Street problems at the June 20 meeting, sustaining the momentum and connection board members have developed with merchants and residents through the recent efforts.  “We don’t want it to fall to the back burner,” DeGray said.   The feds say gathering public input is the state’s responsibility.  The state says it takes its cue from the Selectboard.  The Selectboard says it’s up to the state.  The state says it’s regulated by the feds.  The feds say members of the public need to take responsibility and engage with the process.  So, whose responsibility is it to get public opinion on proposed mast arm traffic lights for Main Street?  “There is a public process here. We followed the process, and some input was taken. No matter what you say, some people will like the process and some people won’t,” Selectboard Chair Dick DeGray says.  The state Agency of Transportation (AOT) wants to install mast arm traffic lights along Main Street as part of the Route 5 repaving project that’s due to start within weeks.  The choice has ignited a fiery debate over public participation and historic preservation.  Selectboard Vice Chair Dora Bouboulis is circulating a petition requesting that the AOT hold public input meetings on the traffic lights and that the AOT, Selectboard, state legislators and congressional delegation “advocate for a public process.” Bouboulis says at least 500 people have signed.  “I’m always looking for more public process on anything. The more people see it, the better plan you come up with,” Bouboulis says.  The AOT started planning and designing the Route 5 project in 1996. It includes repaving the road to Putney, expanding some sidewalks and and narrowing others, adding traffic lights at “Malfunction Junction,” and replacing the traffic lights at the intersections of Main, Flat, Elliot and High streets. Federal and state monies are funding the project. According to Town Manager Barbara Sondag, the state waived the 10 percent municipalities are usually required to contribute.  The project received unanimous support from the Brattleboro Traffic Safety and Control Committee in December 2008 and a unanimous vote from the Selectboard in October 2009.  “We did our due diligence and maintained communication with the town reps,” AOT project manager Ken Upmal says.  “From my standpoint, why isn’t this going through the Planning Commission?” Bouboulis asks.  The Traffic Safety and Control Committee is not a public committee, unlike the Planning Commission, which is designed for public process and looking at the town’s growth holistically.  Bouboulis, who originally voted in favor of the project, raised concerns about the mast arm street lights at a June 1 Selectboard meeting [The Commons, June 10] and in an interview on iBrattleboro.com.  “If people change their minds after the fact, I don’t know if there’s much the agency can do,” Upmal says.  The type of project dictates the type of public hearings required by the federal government.  According to John Zicconi, AOT’s director of planning, outreach and community affairs, the Route 5 project dictated AOT hold a public hearing — required when there are right-of-way issues — and obtain a historic preservation clearance.  The AOT met both requirements, Zicconi says. The agency held the first public hearing in 2003. A historian at the AOT ruled the project had “no adverse [historical] impact” on the downtown and awarded the clearance Sept. 14, 2009.  “Just because the state works slowly doesn’t mean you get to approve [the project] and 10 years later do it,” Bouboulis says.  Zicconi says Brattleboro is not the first historic downtown AOT has developed projects for and that the agency must meet federal and state safety standards, especially when receiving federal funds.  The mast arm lights meet the standards for visibility and safety.  “We followed all procedures required by law. If the community wants to put the brakes on this project, we take our cue from the Selectboard,” he says.  He suggests in the future citizens engage earlier when the project is being shaped.  How public is public debate?  The mast arm debate has raised questions as to whether the Selectboard sidestepped public process.  “That’s totally inaccurate. We’ve taken public input,” says Selectboard Clerk Jesse Corum. “I have no problem with public input, but you have to do it on a schedule.”  Corum says the Route 5 project was passed by the Traffic Safety and Control Committee and discussed at publicly warned meetings. He cites the creation of the Recycling Coordinator and budgeting $150,000 for PAYT bags for people who can’t afford them as examples the Selectboard incorporating public input.  He added that the state open meeting law requires the town to inform, or warn, the public about meetings. He cautioned against going beyond the required legal minimum because the town could get into trouble if an extra notification, step or action is used for one meeting but not another.  Matt Mann, transportation planner with the Windham Regional Commission, participated in the municipal committee, working with the AOT beginning in 2008. The committee included Sondag and Planning Director Roderick Francis. He feels AOT employees did their due diligence.  “[They were] willing to do outreach, but also had to keep to a fast-tracked schedule,” he says.  Mann suggests it may be helpful if the town hosts a “talk-through” meeting following municipal meetings where large projects like Route 5 have been presented. People can have a chance to digest the information, but it will still be fresh in their minds.  “For me, I’m wondering why people feel they didn’t get opportunity to participate. When people want to discuss something, they find their way to a Selectboard meeting,” says DeGray.  But Brattleboro voters don’t make it a habit to attend meetings or cast their votes.  DeGray uses the Brattleboro Union High School annual budget meeting as an example. About 1.5 percent of the 15,000 registered voters attend to discuss a $27 million budget. To his knowledge, only 255 absentee ballots have been processed for the upcoming pay-as-you-throw vote June 29.  “People need to take some responsibility,” he says.  Building a Better Brattleboro members sent a letter listing their concerns — among them, preserving the town’s historic character — in 2009.   Executive Director Andrea Livermore says in an ideal world the whole process would have been better, yet it was not a failure. She used the example of grades: there is a difference between an A+ and a C–, but they are both passing marks.  “The public process [with this project] does not get an A+, but it also gets a check in that [passing] box,” she says. “Let’s trust each other that we’re all [in Brattleboro] trying to do the right thing.”  Upmal says the project is still moving forward. The agency, which needs to start work within weeks to meet a Dec. 12 completion, will work with the contractor to find potential ornamentation for the mast arm lights to help mitigate the situation. They will send the contractor’s findings to the town.  “When it’s all said and done, I think the community will be pleased. I hope the community will appreciate what we’ve done,” Upmal says.Perceiving a lack of public process for the traffic light design, four citizens gathered to say their piece during the public participation segment of the June 15 Selectboard meeting.  Resident Steven K-Brooks, who circulated fliers encouraging citizens to attend the meeting and speak about the issue, raised concerns that the mast arms had already been ordered by project contractor Lane Construction Corporation of Cheshire, Conn., despite the ongoing discussions.  K-Brooks told Selectboard members that he was concerned the mast arms had been ordered so the town or state could say, “it’s a done deal,” he said.  John Zicconi, director of planning, outreach and community affairs for the state Agency of Transportation, confirmed earlier on Tuesday that the contractor had not ordered the mast arms.  “We’ve been accused of not having a public process when we’ve had one off and on for 10 to 15 years,” he said.  He added he would be willing to sit down and discuss the mast arm design if the Selectboard would like him to.  At the meeting, Selectboard Vice-Chair Dora Bouboulis and Clerk Jesse Corum landed on opposite sides of the debate.  Bouboulis charged that there had not been enough public input and that the public had not been listened to.  Corum countered that multiple open public meetings took place between 1996 and 2009.  “Length of time for a project is not an excuse not to have public meetings,” Bouboulis said.  “For whatever reason, that [10 to 15 years] is the time frame for the state,” Town Manager Barbara Sondag said.  Sondag said that the state will spend $4.6 million this year on infrastructure projects like Route 5 — more money than Brattleboro will spend on infrastructure improvements in 10 years.  “It doesn’t mean we acquiesce to the state, but it is something to take into consideration,” she said.  Town Manager Barbara Sondag helped clear up confusion about the narrowing of downtown sidewalks as part of the Route 5 repaving project.  “Don’t think [the changes] are as big. They are actually adding more than they are taking away,” she said at the June 15 Selectboard meeting.  Many residents had been concerned the state was narrowing all the sidewalks along Main Street to accommodate truck traffic.  According to plans sent to the town manager’s office on Tuesday, six feet of sidewalk will be added to “Malfunction Junction.”  The sidewalks at the intersection of Flat and Main streets will not see any changes in width but will be made more universally accessible.  Sidewalks at the corner of Elliot and Main streets by Turn it Up! will be tapered, narrowing it by approximately 1 foot, while contractors will widen the sidewalk across the street.  The sidewalks at the intersection of High and Main streets will also be tapered at the corner by Dragonfly Dry Goods, and those across the street widened.  At the intersection of Main, Grove and Harris streets, the sidewalks’ corners will be rounded, reducing the area of those surfaces.  Pretty road, bad for business?  “It would be a pity if we have a really pretty street and a lot of empty storefronts,” Alison Macrae, owner of Verde told the Selectboard.  Macrae, like many business owners, is concerned about the impact the Route 5 paving project will have on her business [see story, page 1]. She said there has been a lack of information, in general, about the project.  “We’re all aware of the impact downtown. It’s not Armageddon,” said Selectboard Chair Dick DeGray.  He assured her the town is working with the state to do the best job with the least amount of disruption.  The Route 5 repaving project is due to start within weeks. The state is on a tight deadline to finish the project by Dec. 12, AOT Project Manager Ken Upmal said Monday.  He said part of the crunch is that next year, AOT is slated to begin work on Interstate 91 and the agency can’t have both roads tied up at the same time because that would disrupt north/south travel.  Town Manager Barbara Sondag said much of the work will be done at night and that the state plans to keep at least two lanes of traffic moving during construction.  She said the town is working to develop signage to help direct drivers to parking and to direct travelers on Interstate 91 to use exit 2 to avoid the construction.  Director of Public Works Stephen Barrett introduced Deborah Spaulding, public information officer for Lane Construction Corporation, the contractor for the Route 5 project. Spaulding will work exclusively on the Route 5 project.  She said after the construction meeting — the final sit-down among representatives of the state, town, and Lane Construction on June 22 — she will begin to send out project updates. She plans to speak to many local business owners in person, as well as produce regular radio updates and fliers.  “You will be well informed. My job, full-time, is to inform you,” she told the board.The Selectboard has delayed a decision on formally expressing interest in a national program designed to help property owners pay for energy improvements through property taxes.  Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) is in its early days in the state, but already five towns have approved the program and 30 more are interested, Peter Adamczyk, the energy finance and development manager for VEIC, said last week [The Commons, June 9].  The Vermont Energy Investment Corporation (VEIC) manages PACE in Vermont.  The Selectboard resumed debate about the Town Energy Committee’s request that the town joining the PACE Quick Start initiative, a step that designates the town as interested in participating in PACE.  Joining the Quick Start Program does not come with any financial obligations or commit the town to forming a PACE assessment district, said Town Energy Committee member Peter Falion.  “I would like to see the food before I order it,” said Selectboard Chair Dick DeGray, who had more questions about the program — questions he thought the Energy Committee could answer without the town’s joining Quick Start.  Selectboard member Martha O’Connor said she did not support the program at the moment because she preferred more answers before she signed anything.  Slectboard Clerk Jesse Corum said he had concerns that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were not in favor of energy assessment districts and wanted mortgages to be paid before assessments, thus leaving the town holding the bag on any foreclosed properties.  Town Energy Coordinator Paul Cameron agreed that there were still questions, but told board members that by entering Quick Start the town can get their legal and technical questions answered.  “What we’re buying into is a network across the state. The network is meant to pool resources to get the maximum efficiency and to [implement PACE] right,” Falion said.  “We can move forward on our own, but it won’t happen efficiently,” said Falion, who reminded the board that one disadvantage facing Vermont is a lack of an economy of scale.  Selectboard Vice-Chair Dora Bouboulis and Selectboard member Daryl Pillsbury both supported joining Quick Start.  Bob Reuter of the Energy Committee’s PACE subcommittee said the board needed to think of Quick Start more like a dating service than like committing to a marriage.  This analogy got a laugh from the board, which nonetheless voted to table the motion until its July 20 meeting.Teachers in the Windham Southeast Supervisory Union have unanimously approved a new two-year contract.  The terms of the two-year contract, which takes effect on July 1, call for a salary freeze for all teachers in the first year. In the second year, teachers eligible for step increases will receive them and teachers eligible for longevity, taught for 10 or more years, will receive a pay increase of 0.75 percent.  The health insurance premium percentage of 15 percent paid by teachers remains.  “I was quite surprised [by the teachers’ vote],” said Jack McKiernan, the Windham Southeast Education Association’s chief negotiator and a special education teacher at Oak Grove School, after Monday’s vote.  He adds, however, there was a strong consensus among the membership that neighbors are experiencing pay cuts and teachers felt voting for the salary freeze was the right course of action.  According to McKiernan, approximately 150 members out of 300 voted.  On Tuesday, a joint meeting in Dummerston of five of the six WSESU member boards also unanimously approved the deal, except for Vernon, which was not present.  According to David V. Dunn, chairman of the Windham Southeast Supervisory Union school board, only four “yes” votes were needed to move forward, so the Vernon School Board’s absence had no effect on the final outcome. The school board also OK’d the deal by a 13-2 margin.  Wages and benefits comprise 80 percent of the WSESU’s operating budget, according to Dunn.  “Negotiations were cordial and professional. Negotiations are about expressing your position and understanding the other side,” said Dunn.  “We were bargaining in unprecedented times,” said McKiernan about the economic atmosphere surrounding the process.  Last August, the supervisory union ratified a one-year collective bargaining agreement with the WSEA that provided eligible teachers a slight boost in wages. That contract was set to expire at the end of this month.  Talks between the WSESU Negotiating Committee and the WSEA broke down earlier this year. By law, the two sides are required to generate a fact-finding report through an independent third party.  That report, released earlier this month, recommended step increases in salary for half of the estimated 350 teachers in the district and no changes in the insurance agreement.  However, the WSESU committee rejected the report and decided to move ahead and recommend imposing a salary freeze on all teachers.  The WSEA spoke to town school boards in the district to challenge the WSESU’s position.  In a letter sent to the school boards, McKiernan warned, “relations between boards and teachers have suffered enormously in every school district within the state of Vermont that has ever imposed a settlement. We do not want that to happen here.”  Teachers contended that the negotiating committee’s decision did not keep within the preceding settlements in Vermont’s bargaining law over the last 40 years. According to the WSEA, an imposed settlement has never occurred in Windham Southeast.  “While we understand the frustration caused by the difficult economic times we face, we feel strongly that imposing a contract upon the teachers of WSESU is a harmful and destructive way to resolve the contract negotiation impasse,” wrote McKiernan. “There have only been a handful of imposed settlements in Vermont throughout the 40 year history of our teacher bargaining law.”  In each of those cases, he added, “imposition has resulted in severe damage to the relationship between the school boards and teachers. Imposing a settlement on the teachers of WSESU will unquestionably and irrevocably damage the relationship we have all worked so hard to foster over the past 40 years of collective bargaining.”  While teachers have the right to strike in Vermont, there has never been a work stoppage in Windham Southeast.  The WSESU and teachers’ union finalized a tentative contract June 17. Dunn said a contract needed to be finalized by the end of June or the previous contract would have remained in effect and teachers would have received the raises scheduled in the previous contract.  The 18 teachers moving from step increases to longevity “would have received a 9.3 percent [pay] increase,”  Dunn said.  “It was purely economic issues that made us move to finality,” he added.  The union agreed to submit the contract to Arbiter Bruce Frazier, said McKiernan, but that the WSESU was unwilling to do the same.  He also said that the bargaining teams had until the start of the 2010-11 school year to finalize the contract, but that the board made a “good-faith presumption” in thinking that the contract needed to be finalized by the end of June when the previous contract expired.  Dunn said the WSESU pays competitive wages compared to nearby supervisory unions. Other New England schools, however, are looking at teacher benefits and wages relative to performance. He says some schools in Massachusetts have handed out 5- to 10-percent pay cuts as part of this movement.  “Performance is an extremely challenging thing to put into a contract,” he said.  The WSESU, he said, wants to shift its philosophy and instead of cutting teachers to stay competitive with wages, it wants to keep teachers and control costs through wages. He said this new philosophy was expressed during negotiations.  “Things aren’t easy, but you’ve got to do your best work when things aren’t easy,” said McKiernan.“I never realized how deep my love for him was,” says Yvonne Shippee, mother of David Snow, who was stabbed to death on Elliot Street last year.  On the one-year anniversary of his death, candles, framed photographs, flowers, a sign bearing the handwritten words “Violence is not the answer/Love is” and notes of remembrance marked the spot where Snow was killed on June 15, 2009.  In discussions regarding Elliot Street, many people in town refer to Snow’s death as “the stabbing.”  According to police reports, Snow, 27, died at 3 a.m. after Andrew Sheets, 41, stabbed him in the neck when Snow stepped between his younger teenaged brother Travis Sprague and Sheets during a confrontation.  Witnesses reported Sheets, who believed he’d been “ripped off” on a drug sale and later tested positive for cocaine, was acting aggressive and threatening to “kill someone.”  He stumbled across Sprague and friends hanging out on Elliot Street by the entrance to the parking garage. Sheets confronted Sprague, accusing him of stealing his money.  Snow happened to be out walking his dog when he saw Sheets threatening his little brother and stepped in, telling Sheets to calm down.  A year later, Snow’s family and friends gathers on the ramp from Elliot Street into the parking garage.  Sprague stands with his hands in his jean pockets, shoulders hunched forward. He stares at the ground as he speaks. There are circles under his eyes. He moves like he’s been hit by a Mack truck that repeatedly backs up and runs over him again.  “He was a hero,” says Sprague.  He remembers his big brother as a rebel everyone could relate to and go to for help.  “He’d give you the shirt off his back,” he says.  Sprague says that Snow’s death left his family an “emotional mess.” Only their little sister, Hollie Shippee, has her act together, says Sprague.  Shippee and Sprague say that if the situation had been reversed and Sprague was threatening Sheets, Snow would have protected Sheets.  Because that’s the type of person he was.  ‘Was’ can be a hard word to say  Elizabeth Evans Pittman, bereavement care coordinator for Brattleboro Area Hospice, describes grief as “our holistic response to the loss of anything we have an attachment to.”  Grief hits people emotionally, mentally and physically, and runs its own course on its own timeline.  Pittman says that for parents, grief can take on other dimensions.  “The death of a child is out of the natural order, and it seems abysmally wrong to be out of order,” she says.  Parents also feel they are charged with protecting their children no mater what. The children can be toddlers playing on the swings or adults with their own families, but the parent still carries the feeling of responsibility.  Pittman says when children die, parents often say, “But I should have been able to protect them.”  Barbara Rosof, M.S., writes in her book The Worst Loss: How Families Heal from the Death of a Child that murder comes with a “set of unique complications.”  Specifically, families deal with the fact that someone deliberately hurt their child. They also cope with the legal system and judgments from society.  Common experiences for the parents Rosof interviewed include a desire for revenge, frustration and anger at a legal system that was “supposed to protect them,” hearing judgments about their child or accusations that the death was the child’s fault, endless round-robins of “what if,” and guilt.  “Grief is an organic process. If we try to just make if be something, we’re missing an opportunity [for growth],” says Pittman.  Pittman says a community’s response to grief after a tragic event can be complicated. On the one hand, those affected by death are coping with emotions: anger, fear, loss of a sense of safety or peace. On the other hand, daily life still goes on: the bills need to be paid.  People can also feel confused if the event impacts them emotionally but they did not personally know the people involved.  But, she says, sometimes what a community needs to do is “bear witness” and say “this matters. We don’t want this happening in our community again.”  Everybody’s sons and daughters  Shippee holds a red velvet album filled with photos and other remembrances of her son.  She flips through the pages looking for a picture of his headstone’s design. Earlier that morning, family had met at Snow’s grave. They wrote letters to him with “the things they’d never had a chance to say,” tied them to helium balloons and let them go.  “I exist,” says Shippee. “That’s it.”  She says she lost a whole year of her life after Snow’s death. She was in a fog, out of work for 10 months and still feeling like she has “a permanent hole” inside.  She’s grateful to have her other children Sprague and Hollie Shippee, to care for or she would have completely fallen apart.  Shippee says there was a lot of talk about her children in the press and from other people after Snow died. People asked what her kids were doing out late at night. She said people assumed they were bad kids.  She is angry because Snow was a “peace maker” and Sprague was “barefoot and unarmed.” What harm were they doing? she asks.  And, she asks, what was a 41-year-old man doing approaching kids on the street?  The kids hanging out on Elliot Street? “They’re people’s kids. Everybody’s sons and everybody’s daughters. Aren’t we suppose to protect our youth?” she asks.  “Hello? Remember David?” asks Shippee, angry and afraid the town has forgotten him.  Anger coats the words of the friends gathered.  “He [Sheets] killed someone who never hurt anyone,” says Nicole Grover, 21, a friend of Snow’s and a former Brattleboro resident.  Grover says Brattleboro changed about five to six years ago. She remembers when people used to sit on the street painting and “getting along.”  Now she describes the situation as “pure violence,” where people get killed “over stupid stuff.”  She says she moved out of the state because she didn’t like the area anymore.  The friends gathered say the biggest problems are the lack of jobs, a lack of respect between townspeople and nothing to do especially for people between 18 and 30. They also feel that the kids on Elliot Street get lumped together in a generalized group labeled “bad youth.”  Grover adds that in her opinion the cops are getting “worse.” She remembers a time when a Brattleboro police officer confiscated a friend’s skateboard. The cop told the friend heroin was safer than skateboarding. This memory makes Grover angry.  Karl Blank of Brattleboro says he sees apathy in town, where people complain about things but do nothing about changing the situation.  He says he knows he could attend Selectboard meetings, but he believes his opinion wouldn’t make a difference to how the Selectboard feels on issues. This is the source of his own apathy, he says.  Selectboard members voted at their June 15 meeting on measures to improve conditions on Elliot Street [The Commons, June 16]. The measures include developing a neighborhood watch, installing wireless portable cameras and maintaining increased police patrols.  ‘No one wants to join’  Shippee and Sprague have found support with families who have also lost children. They attend a Parents of Murdered Children (POMC) support group meeting with six other families.  POMC is a national organization providing emotional support to families and friends who have lost people to violence. The group meets the first Thursday of each month at the Keene Public Library from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m.  “Don’t know what I would have done without that group. It’s the group no one wants to join,” she says.  “I never thought it would happen to me,” says Shippee, who offers some advice to parents whose children are still alive.  “Know where your kids are,” she says. “Love them no mater how mad you get, even when they’re running out the door and your yelling at each other, always tell them you love them.”  “Never let them think otherwise,” she says. “Life is unpredictable.” The town’s 37th annual Independence Day Celebration on Sunday, July 4 marks the first effort by a new citizens’ committee to keep a Brattleboro tradition alive.  “By the People: Brattleboro Goes Fourth” begins at 1 p.m. with a parade that starts on Canal Street, travels up Main Street and ends at the Common. Festivities will continue at Living Memorial Park with children’s activities and public concerts starting at 2:30 p.m. Fireworks begin at 9:30 p.m. All events are free.  “It’s a great day for the community as a whole to get together. You see people you don’t normally see,” says the group’s chairman, local lawyer and town moderator Timothy O’Connor.  The multi-generation parade will be led by local skateboarders from the Brattleboro Area Skatepark Is Coming (BASIC) group, as well as Grand Marshal Gordon Wheeler, an 84-year-old Brattleboro resident and one of the parade’s founding fathers.  More than 50 groups and floats are scheduled to participate. The parade is divided into three divisions with the themes of  “Honor the Past,” “Celebrate the Community” and “Welcome the Future.”  Residents of Holton Home, Pine Heights and Thompson House, Vermont Partnership for Fairness and Diversity, Brattleboro Winter Carnival, KidsPLAYce, and Fireworks Finale Float, starring local personality Alfred Hughes Jr., are a few of the people and organizations marching on the day.  The Recreation and Parks Department will offer public concerts, sporting events and children’s activities at Living Memorial Park off Western Avenue and Interstate 91 Exit 2 from 2:30 p.m. to the start of fireworks at 9:30 p.m.  Performers include the University of Vermont–born band Hey Mama, featuring Avi Salloway and Celia Woodsmith singing folk, country, bluegrass and rock; the Massachusetts duo Vic and Sticks — the husband-and-wife team of Vicki and Rick Ethier — offering children’s entertainment; and New England native Peter Miles singing rock, funk, blues and jazz.  Various food vendors “to take care of your taste buds” and children’s activities like a moon bounce will also take place a Living Memorial Park, says Recreation and Parks Director Carol Lolatte.  For a complete list of events, times and parking information, visit www.brattleborogoesfourth.com.  The people behind the parade  A volunteer group in partnership with staff of the Brattleboro Recreation and Parks Department took over planning the July 4 celebrations after the Brattleboro Area Chamber of Commerce decided to stop organizing the event.  “This celebration has been a town tradition for the past 30 years, and the committee is going to ensure that it continues,” says O’Connor.  Despite busy schedules, volunteers made time to bring the parade together. Booking the musical acts began in November and planning the parade in January, says Lolatte.  Peggy DeAngelis, chair of the Recreation and Parks board, grew up in Brattleboro and volunteered to serve on the parade committee because she wanted to see the parade continue.  “It’s important to give back to the community that has given [me] a wonderful life,” she says.  Brattleboro resident Art Greenbaum moved to the area 40 years ago. He believes volunteerism is important and dying out. He joined the parade committee specifically because he has fond memories of bringing his daughters, now in their thirties and forties, to the parade when they were children.  “Everybody is busy, but if you don’t take time out to make things of value, and only think about ‘me,’ then you’ll have bigger worries later in life,” he says.  “People have to wake up if they want to enjoy the day,” says Grand Marshall Wheeler.  Wheeler volunteered and co-organized the 4th of July parade in 1973 and then chaired the parade committee from 1974 to 1980. He says he stepped down because the parade and activities “started going downhill” for a variety or reasons.  He re-upped this year because he wanted to see the parade return to the family and community event it had been in the past.  Some of the volunteers also reflect on the Independence Day holiday itself. Greenbaum says July 4 reaffirms our belief in freedoms taken for granted like the right to disagree in a civil way.  “The fourth is very patriotic to me,” says Wheeler. “It’s our birthday.”  A parade’s beginning  According to Wheeler, the late J. Wayne Corbeil, then the Brattleboro Area Chamber of Commerce president, wrote a letter to the editor in the Brattleboro Reformer asking if people wanted to meet and plan the day’s parade and activities.  The Chamber became involved with the parade through Corbeil and organized it for most of its previous 36 years.  Chamber Executive Director Jerry Goldberg says many residents don’t realize how young Brattleboro’s 4th of July celebrations are compared to those in other towns.  “My hat is off to them [the committee],” says Goldberg.  Last year, the Chamber decided to cross the parade off its to-do list.  In light of the “hideous” economic situation most area businesses have been in, the Chamber staff asked themselves why they were putting so much effort into an event that “deflected or sapped their energies” away from helping the business community, says Goldberg.  “[Instead,] we wanted to focus ourselves on how to help this town,” says Goldberg.  Following on the hooves of the popular Strolling of the Heifers, the July 4th parade is often forgotten and not feeling “as new and exciting,” in comparison says Goldberg.  He says, however, they are two different events. Strolling of the Heifers is intended for a wide audience and to bring awareness to agriculture. The July 4th events are “home grown” and intended for Brattleboro.  At times, residents took the July 4th parade for granted, assuming the town put on the parade, he says. But, he adds, the Chamber always felt its parade efforts financially supported by a business community that had already heavily supported the Strolling of the Heifers.  This parade has been made possible by...  The committee worked and raised $15,000 through individual and corporate donations. The amount covers costs like the bands’ transportation costs and fireworks by Northstar Fireworks of Montpelier, which cost $6,000, says Lolatte.   “The community has been very supportive, not just this year but in the past as well,” she says.  C&S Wholesale Grocers is the parade band sponsor, and Entergy Nuclear Vermont Yankee is sponsoring the fireworks. Other major corporate supporters include the Brattleboro Savings & Loan Association, The Richards Group, New Chapter, Key Bank, and WTSA Radio.  Most of the parade participants, including the three bands, hail from Windham County.  The committee’s theme for the celebration is “A Celebration of Community,” and members hope participants will internalize this theme and buy July 4th supplies from local businesses.  “Studies show that for every $100 spent at a national chain, all but $13 goes out-of-state,” the group wrote on its parade signup forms. “The same purchase at an independent store results in a local yield of $45 — more than three times the community reinvestment,” the committee added in its press releases.  Lolatte encourages residents to leave their dogs at home because fireworks can upset them. She also reminds people not to bring any personal fireworks to the park and “let the professionals do their job.”  There will be parking near the park, and arrangements have been made to open the Creamery Bridge to cars.Locked doors and a locked computer cart did not prevent thieves from stealing 28 computers worth approximately $34,000 from the Dummerston School on the night of June 19 and June 20.  “Most schools [in the area] have alarm systems,”  Vermont State Trooper Genevra Cushman said, adding Dummerston is unusual in this respect.  According to Cushman, one or more intruders broke a window lock and entered the school.  Locked doors prevented the thief or thieves from entering the classrooms via the hallway. They went back outside and found an unlocked window that happened to be a classroom with a computer cart containing 24 laptops.  They took bolt cutters to the computer cart and removed the laptops. They also took four iMacs from different desks in the classroom and library.  “That was the astounding part. They took their time and came prepared,”  Dummerston School Principal Jo Carol Ratti said.  “Normally what we see [in schools] is vandalism,” Cushman said.    Cushman said the State Police suspect the thieves were acquainted with the school’s layout because they accessed the library through a blind side door off the administration offices that students are not allowed to use and most casual visitors don’t notice.  “[Security systems are] just so expensive, but I think we’ll just have to take the plunge,” Ratti said.  Many school administrators wrestle with balancing school security against maintaining an open public institution.  Ratti said the issue plays on her thoughts constantly. She said she wants to create a welcoming environment to let visitors feel comfortable, yet also keep the kids safe.  Approximately six years ago, Ratti instituted new security measures at Dummerston.  The school locks side doors and funnels traffic into the school through one main door. Everyone must sign in and sign out. The playground is open to the public only after school hours.  Replacing the machines  Ratti communicates daily with the school’s insurance company, whose agents are still sorting out how much of the replacement cost will be covered. She hopes insurance will cover the entire cost and that the computers will be replaced before school opens on Aug. 31.  According to the school’s website, the school owns 45 iBook computers. They are at least three years old.  She said the school is deciding what security upgrades to make.  One complication, she said, is that most security systems try to prevent “people incidents” like violence or strangers in the schools, not theft. Common buzzer systems — for example, where people are “buzzed” into a locked building — would not have helped protect the computers, she noted.  State police do not have any strong leads. The suspects left footprints at the scene but no fingerprints.  “We haven’t really eliminated anything yet,”  Cushman said about the ongoing investigation.  The police are monitoring online sale sites, area thrift stores, and pawn shops. Cushman said the computers are equipped with notification software so when they are powered on, the computers will send out a location notification to the police.  The computers’ serial numbers have also been added to the FBI’s National Crime Information Center (NCIC), a national database containing information on stolen property. Cushman said if the computers end up in another state, they can be tracked.  The Dummerston theft mirrors other computer thefts in the tri-state area, says Cushman, but police have yet to determine if the incidents are connected.Computer thieves have hit other education facilities in the area.  About $15,000 to $20,000 worth of specialized computers were stolen from the Windham Regional Career Center in Brattleboro three years ago.  “They showed us all the holes in our security system,”  Director David Coughlin said.  Cameras and alarms guard the facility at night, but Coughlin said that the thieves operated similarly to those in the 1990 art theft at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston. Coughlin said the thieves entered during the day, hid until the building emptied out, then walked away with the computers.  The Career Center’s insurance plan covered only a portion of the computers’ replacement cost.  Coughlin says the feeling of being violated accompanied the theft. He described the facility as the teachers’ second home.  The center updated its alarms, which are going through another update at the moment.  Coughlin says he believes, however, that the Career Center is a public resource and therefore needs to be open to the public.  “Bottom line, you hope in the honesty of people,” he says.By nearly a two-to-one margin on Tuesday, Brattleboro voters rejected a plan to have the town adopt a pay-as-you-throw system of trash disposal.  As a result, Brattleboro residents will continue paying for trash pickup and disposal through property taxes.  According to Town Clerk Annette Cappy, 2,000 residents — 22 percent of registered voters — cast ballots in the special referendum vote held at the Municipal Center, and 1,354 voted against PAYT, while 646 voted in favor.  Cappy said 834 voters — 42 percent of Tuesday’s total — cast their ballots early via absentee ballot.  Tuesday’s election saw a higher turnout than the 14 percent who voted during town elections in March. Some voters exiting the polls said they wanted to vote because they felt PAYT was an important environmental issue.  One resident, who showed up to vote but couldn’t because she had registered the same day, said she would have voted yes on the issue.  “Even if the system [PAYT] proposed isn’t perfect, this is something that can work with town participation. If people are thinking and talking about it, then they will find something that will work,” she said.  Other voters said they had come out to vote because they didn’t like how the Selectboard had handled the issue.  “I wasn’t really pleased with how it was handled by the board and wanted my vote to say that,” said Lisa Taylor.  Tuesday’s town-wide vote was the result of two representative town meetings, two petitions and much verbal rancor over the fate of PAYT.   “The reality is people have to pay for their trash one way or the other. [PAYT] looks at waste like the utility it truly is,” said Windham Solid Waste Management District Program Director Cindy Sterling in a May interview.  Proponents of the trash disposal system, where residents buy special bags, thus paying only for what they throw out, said that PAYT encourages recycling, reduces tipping fees, saves residents money and keeps recyclables out of landfills.  Opponents of the system said it will encourage illegal dumping of trash, will save the town money but cost residents more, and that Brattleboro’s proposed PAYT system is not developed enough to be effective.  Brattleboro is one of the few towns in Windham County where trash disposal is paid through property taxes. Westminster recently voted down PAYT.  The long saga  The long debate over PAYT in Brattleboro began two representative town  meetings ago.  “I think PAYT is about responsibility and democracy and I don’t want to pay for some else’s irresponsibility and some else’s trash,” said Jane Southworth of the Solid Waste Study Committee.  Southworth, who championed PAYT on the Solid Waste Committee, said at first the committee was opposed to PAYT. In her experience, the turning point came after committee members attended the  annual conference of the Northeast Resource Recovery Association (NRRA).  NRRA is an information clearinghouse and provides technical and marketing assistance in waste reduction and recycling.    But despite the urging of the committee, Town Meeting Representatives rejected the system in 2009 largely because the majority felt the logistics and details of the system needed better definition.  Representatives charged the Selectboard and the town Solid Waste Study Committee to go back to the drawing board and develop a better nuts-and-bolts plan for PAYT.  The next year, representatives voted in favor of PAYT after many hours of discussion.  But instead of ending debate, the vote spurred citizens opposed to PAYT to file a petition asking for a town-wide vote on PAYT.  The Selectboard deemed the petition “invalid” on the advice of town counsel. The petitioners believed they had the right to petition on “any action” taken at town meeting in accordance with the Town Charter. The Selectboard believed the phrase in the town charter — which provides that citizens may take “any action” — pertained only to articles that had received motions as voted on.  The Selectboard sent the first petition to the Windham Supreme Court to rule on the matter. Moss Kahler and Leo Barile, two petitioners at the head of the anti-PAYT movement, filed a countersuit.  Finally, the Selectboard and petitioners struck a compromise. The Selectboard would send PAYT to a town-wide vote if the petitioners circulated a second petition with valid language and dropped the countersuit.  “I’m really excited we were able to resolve this amicably. Other [court] options were going to be drawn out,” said Selectboard Vice-Chair Dora Bouboulis in a May 27 special Selectboard meeting.  Brattleboro’s trash future  After the polling results were announced, Kahler said, “Clearly, the people who turned out today feel strongly about PAYT – that it’s not the right thing for the town and not the right time.”  Kahler also said that he was concerned people in town would think that those opposed to PAYT were also opposed to recycling, which he said is not true.  “I’m very disappointed, and I think the process issue got in the way of the issues of recycling, responsibility and democracy, which are the big issues [around PAYT],” said Southworth.  Southworth said the issues surrounding the original petition and letting PAYT go to a town-wide vote are separate from whether PAYT is good for Brattleboro.  She added that she feels the opposition’s “sound bite” approach to the controversy swayed voters to vote no. As one example, she cited the proposition that PAYT would increase illegal dumping in town.  “One could feel the process was wrong if you weren’t paying attention. PAYT is the only solution I’ve seen in 20 years of experience in solid waste that increases recycling and decreases trash,” she said.  Selectboard Vice Chair Dora Bouboulis disagrees. She said the “no” vote is a vote against losing another vital service in town.  “[The current trash system] is something that works, and we didn’t have systems in place to support PAYT,” she said.  At the previous town meeting, representatives approved $40,000 to hire a full-time, one-year, coordinator to support the implementation of PAYT. According to Bouboulis, this person may be hired but the future of the position without PAYT is uncertain.  Other Selectboard members were unavailable for comment at press time Tuesday night.  Going forward, Kahler says composting is key to reducing the trash stream and tipping fees in Brattleboro, compostable waste comprises the heaviest and bulkiest items disposed by residents. He hopes the town will still hire a recycling coordinator.  “[We need to] put PAYT out of our minds and see what other aspects of our [trash disposal system] programs we can address,” he said.An early morning fire Friday heavily damaged The Marina restaurant on Putney Road.  No injuries were reported.  “It’s surreal,” said Jill Johnson, wife of Marina owner Dennis Smith.  Johnson said she and Smith watched the flames and emergency lights across the West River as they drove down Route 30 after receiving a call 45 minutes after the fire was reported.  The roof of the Marina had collapsed above the kitchen. Dreadful burn marks surrounded most of the broken windows.  Glass shards and litter were scattered about as heartbroken employees and customers gathered to offer support.  The boats docked below on the river were not harmed and that portion of the marina remains open at this time.  “Devastating. I think that’s the word-of-the-day,” said Brain “Radar” Patenaude, who has tended bar at the restaurant for 20 years.  Patenaude says he was the last one out at 11:30 p.m.  Despite knowing he closed the building properly, the worry he forgot something still “played on” his mind.  Brattleboro Fire Chief Mike Bucossi said the fire was reported at 3:06 a.m.  When fire crews arrived, Bucossi said that about half of the restaurant was engulfed in flames.  “The kitchen end of the building was fully involved when we got there and the fire spread into the dining area,” Bucossi said. “We made an initial attempt to fight the fire from the inside, but we didn’t get far. It was just too risky.”  Firefighters were kept outside of the building to control the blaze, and Bucossi said the fire was brought under control at 5:35 a.m. Crews from Putney and Keene and Hinsdale, N.H. assisted on the scene, along with personnel from Rescue Inc, Brattleboro Police and the Utilities Division of the Department of Public Works.  A preliminary report from Vermont State Police fire investigators concluded that the fire was not suspicious.  “They said it started in the kitchen, but with the electrical wires and gas lines in there, they weren’t exactly sure how it started,” said Bucossi. “They just know that it wasn’t suspicious.”  Bucossi said that Smith, the owner of the restaurant, told him he wants to rebuild as soon as possible. Staff from the town offices have already been in contact to help, Bucossi added.  “It’s tough to lose a business right before a big holiday weekend,” Bucossi said.  According to Manager Kate Theriault, the fire has left 40 people unemployed right before a major weekend. Patenaude said, the rainy summer two seasons ago had a negative impact on the business and finally this summer the finances were stronger.  The Marina completed a round of renovations two years ago to the 1950s-era structure. The restaurant was painted, repairs made in the kitchen, and new carpet added.  Theriault said community members were stopping by in a steady stream to show their support.  “It’s meaningful we’ve been getting this outpouring of sympathy and support,” said Johnson.  Patenaude said the customers’ energy has been the engine keeping the restaurant running over the years.  Theriault says for this 4th of July, instead of cooking for Brattleboro at the restaurant, the employees of the Marina are “going to march in the parade” to let people know they’re coming back, and then enjoy the holiday with their families.  “We want to rebuild as soon as possible and hopefully the Marina will be back on its feet soon,” she says.  Additional reporting provided by Paxton Reed and Randolph T. Holhut.The Marina may be down, but it’s not out.  An early-morning fire on July 2 heavily damaged the landmark restaurant off Putney Road, right on the eve of one of its biggest weekends of the year. But owners Jill Johnson and Dennis Smith have vowed to rebuild and hope to have The Marina back in business by next spring.  That optimism was demonstrated at Brattleboro’s Fourth of July parade, as a contingent of about 30 current and former employees of The Marina marched and chanted “We’ll be back!” to the cheers of the crowd that lined Main Street.  It was a much-needed boost for The Marina’s staff, after the shock just two days earlier of seeing their beloved restaurant on the banks of the West River damaged heavily by the fire.  Johnson said she and Smith watched the flames and emergency lights across the West River as they drove down Route 30 early Friday morning. They received a call shortly before 4 a.m.  Brattleboro Fire Chief Mike Bucossi said the fire was reported at 3:06 a.m.  When fire crews arrived, Bucossi said that about half of the restaurant was engulfed in flames.  “The kitchen end of the building was fully involved when we got there, and the fire spread into the dining area,” Bucossi said. “We made an initial attempt to fight the fire from the inside, but we didn’t get far. It was just too risky.”  Firefighters were kept outside of the building to control the blaze, and Bucossi said the fire was brought under control at 5:35 a.m.  Crews from Putney and Keene and Hinsdale, N.H. assisted on the scene, along with personnel from Rescue Inc, Brattleboro Police and the utilities division of the Department of Public Works.  A preliminary report from Vermont State Police fire investigators concluded that the fire was not suspicious.  “They said it started in the kitchen, but with the electrical wires and gas lines in there, they weren’t exactly sure how it started,” said Bucossi. “They just know that it wasn’t suspicious.”  The scene at The Marina on Friday afternoon was disheartening. The roof  had collapsed above the kitchen, and burn marks surrounded most of the broken windows. Glass shards and litter were scattered about as heartbroken employees and customers gathered to offer support.  The boats docked below on the river were not harmed and that portion of the marina remains open.  “Devastating. I think that’s the word of the day,” said Brian “Radar” Patenaude, who has tended bar at the restaurant for 20 years.  Patenaude says he was the last one out at 11:30 p.m.  Despite knowing he closed the building properly, the worry he forgot something still “played on” his mind, Patenaude said.  According to Marina manager Kate Theriault, the fire has left 40 people unemployed. Patenaude said the rainy summer two seasons ago had a negative impact on the business, but finally this summer, the finances were stronger.  The Marina completed a round of renovations two years ago to the 1950s-era structure. The restaurant was painted, the kitchen repaired, and new carpet added.  Theriault said community members were stopping by in a steady stream.  “It’s meaningful we’ve been getting this outpouring of sympathy and support,” said Johnson.  Patenaude said the customers’ energy has been the engine keeping the restaurant running over the years.  “We want to rebuild as soon as possible, and hopefully The Marina will be back on its feet soon,” Theriault said.The town of Halifax celebrates its 260th anniversary this year and, as part of the celebration, residents will hold Old Home Day on July 16, 17 and 18.  “It’s to bring people back [to their home town], to meet new people and to reacquaint with old [friends],” says Joan Courser, chair of the Halifax Old Home Days committee, about the reason behind the July celebration.   Festivities include live entertainment, a parade, barbecue and children’s activities (see sidebar for event schedule).  Events will be stretched throughout the village. Chum Sumner will offer horse-drawn-wagon rides through the village. Roads in the center will be closed to vehicular traffic.  Halifax held its first Old Home Day in 1930. The celebration consisted of a church service and luncheon.  “Someone thought it would be a good idea for people who had been there [in town] and left come back and celebrate the town,”  Courser says.  Theme rings true  For each reunion, held every five to 10 years, the organizing committee chair chooses something in the town to highlight. Ten years ago, the chair highlighted the Historical Society. This year, Courser chose the theme “The Bell.”  In 1935, residents removed the cast-iron bell from the belfry of the Congregational Church — now the Town Hall — in West Halifax village.  Courser is not sure why, but she guesses the belfry was too weak to support the bell.  Instead of reinstalling the bell or melting it down, residents turned it upside down and installed it as a basin on Branch Road to catch spring water.  “I’ve always been intrigued by that,” she says.  She says the spring feeding into the bell served as a primary water source for households and camps in the area up into the 1970s. Some people still stop by for a drink.  Farmers used to water their horses there, and children walked down the road each evening to fill a pitcher to accompany supper.  “It’s real good water if you get it out of the pipe, and not the bell,” she says.  People have approached Courser saying they are glad she decided to highlight the bell, because they didn’t even know it was there.  Halifax was the second town chartered in Vermont. It was part of the controversial 1750 Wentworth Grants, also known as the “New Hampshire Grants,” where New Hampshire Governor Benning Wentworth sold to settlers land that was considered part of New York.  According to Courser, in the 1780s, the town had the highest population in Vermont and almost became the state capital. Halifax had a population of 782 in 2000, according to the federal census.  Organizing the celebration  Courser and a core committee of four began organizing Old Home Days in January. She says she can see a difference in volunteerism since she first joined the committee 30 years ago. Fewer people are joining the committee, and fewer donate their talents or goods.  “You have to pay for a lot that we didn’t have to back then. Volunteerism seems to be on the decline,” she says.  The Old Home Days committee received $2,000 from the town. The committee also raised funds through raffles and bake sales earlier this year.  “There’s a lot on the chairman’s shoulders,” says Courser, who has served on the committee for 30 years. She took over from her neighbor, Lavern Corey, who chaired the event for 40 years.  “She’s a tough act to follow,” says Courser.  She adds she plans to retire from the organizing committee after this year. She hasn’t found anyone willing to take on the leadership role, and she fears for the future of the small-town tradition.  “I really hope the younger generation will do that [step in],” she says.Riders, eight of them in all, will bike 200 miles between Derby Line and Brattleboro on July 17 and 18 to raise $16,000 for the Boys & Girls Club of Brattleboro.  The group will follow Route 5 for most of the journey with a stopover in Bradford.  Riders cover their own expenses, allowing every dollar donated to go to the Boys & Girls Club, which serves more than 1,200 members and more than 3,000 non-member area youth.  “Truly 100 percent goes toward the project,” says Dr. Robert Nassau, president of the Boys & Girls Club board.  The club experienced a budget shortfall this fiscal year after an annual — and necessary — source of federal funding fell through.  Along with fundraising, Nassau, who practiced pediatrics from 1971 to 2004, is participating in the ride in honor of his 70th birthday.  He says riding 100 miles in one day does not worry him. It’s getting up the next morning and pedaling another 100 miles that concerns him.  But, he adds, one fun thing about riding with a team is not going it alone.  Of the eight riders, four are directly connected to the club: Nassau, fellow board members Sandy Garland and Christopher Chapman, and Mike Marchand, program director at the club’s unit at the Westgate Housing Community.  “The Boys & Girls Club has become very close to my heart,” says Nassau.  Nassau says he first became involved with the club after he retired. He didn’t know much about the club but knew the tough situations some of his young patients came from — patients who needed support from such a place.  He describes the club as “a safe place for kids to be.”  “It’s not babysitting. It’s being engaged either physically or mentally through programs. I really believe in this organization as an institution,” says Nassau.   Nassau invited the other four community members — Jim Robinson, Kathryn Karmen, John Bentley, and Jim Sweitzer — because he knew they enjoyed long rides.  “It was very heartwarming to me how they became committed to the event, not just as a fun bike ride but as a way to support the Boys & Girls Club,” says Nassau.  In the process of preparing for the ride, however, they learned about the club and what it offered area youth.  “I was only vaguely aware of the Brattleboro Boys & Girls Club,” Karmen says. “My focus was the ride; raising money for this local cause was merely a nice add-on.”  “However, at our first meeting I was so moved as I listened to some of the staff describe their work that I made a 180-degree shift,” she added.  “A community reaching out in a positive way to its at-risk children creates a healthier and safer world for all. Only the school system serves more youth than the club,” says Robinson, an area resident for 38 years.  “It made sense to get involved after work hours,” says Marchand, calling this year his “rookie season” for completing a long-distance ride.  Marchand, who decided to participate in the ride because he enjoys bike riding and being physically active, says he is dedicated to working with area youth because of the tough financial situation so many nonprofits find themselves in this year.  He says biking is the easier part of the undertaking. The fundraising intimidates him.  He linked the riders’ fundraising page to his Facebook page but found more donations came through as a result of sending  personal letters.  Marchand looks forward to riding with “the team” and says it has been fun getting to know other community members passionate about the club’s mission.  “It may not be the biggest fundraiser [the club does], but I think we’re doing quite well,”  Marchand says.  Nassau says that as a former pediatrician, he sees the Boys & Girls Club as preventative medicine.  He hears people in the town talking about “the young people hanging out at the Transportation Center.” He often parks in the Transportation Center, walks past the kids hanging out, and then walks into the club on Flat Street.  “[The club] is full of kids,” he says. “These are the kids not hanging out at the Transportation Center.”  Nassau sees the club as one factor in helping prepare kids to be responsible citizens.  According to him, mentoring has contributed to the members’ 100 percent graduation rate and their zero pregnancy rate.  “A lot of kinds are let down by the adults in their lives in one way or another or had no adult to turn to. The [club] staff fill the adult role,” he says.  Nassau sees the club as one factor in helping prepare kids to be responsible citizens.  According to him, mentoring has contributed to the members’ 100 percent graduation rate and their zero pregnancy rate.  “A lot of kinds are let down by the adults in their lives in one way or another or had no adult to turn to. The [club] staff fill the adult role,” he says.  Open to all  ““I have the best job ever,” says Boys & Girls Club of Brattleboro Executive Director Beth Baldwin-Page, who says the Club is open to anyone under 19-years old.  “People think it’s just a place for kids to hang out,” she says.  But, she adds, the Club offers more thorough programming, providing homework help and teaching life skills like budgeting.  A national nonprofit Boys & Girls Clubs of America, based in Atlanta, provides support and develops programs for a network of 4,000 independent local clubs nationwide.  Brattleboro is the only local club that also boasts an indoor skate park, which draws youth from Vermont, Massachusetts, and New Hampshire.  Club members can also participate in leadership clubs and community service projects. Recently, members assisted with the Strolling of the Heifers weekend. Other members volunteer in area nursing homes and for the Windham County Humane Association.  “[The kids] are amazing,” says Baldwin-Page. “I have the best job ever.”  She says part of the kids’ willingness to participate in the community comes from their relationships with and connections to club staff, who engage in the kids’ lives in a positive and supportive way.  Of the 1,200 club members, 40 percent live in Brattleboro and 60 percent are from the surrounding area. Brattleboro youth make up about 50 percent of the 3,000 non-members utilizing the club.  The club received $150,000 in federal funds, less than previous fiscal years. That leaves their budget short for programming and mentoring, service that comprise 90 percent of what the club provides.  According to Baldwin-Page, the Boys & Girls Clubs of America receives grants from the Office of Juvenile Justice and Drug Abuse Prevention (OJJDP). These funds are distributed to local Clubs to support various mentoring programs.  The past fiscal year, the Boys & Girls Club of America “encouraged” local clubs to apply for federal stimulus funds, less than what the OJJDP awards, to help retain staff.  The stimulus funds came with the limitation that they could only be used for job retention.  But the OJJDP then decided to use the mentoring funds for other things, says Baldwin-Page. That has left Clubs nationwide short on mentoring funds.  The riders have raised $13,600 of the local Club’s $16,000 shortfall.  Nassau says donors have been “generous” and he is hoping more donations will help the riders meet or exceed their $16,000 target.  All donations are tax deductible and can be to the team as a whole or toward individual riders. Community members wishing to make donations can either send a check or donate online.  Donors wishing to support the riders can write a check to the “Boys & Girls Club” and putting “The Ride” or a specific rider’s name in the memo line.  Checks can be mailed to the Boys & Girls Club at 17 Flat St., Brattleboro, VT 05301. Donating by check saves the club the Internet processing fee.  To donate online, go to www.firstgiving.com/6065/.  For more information about the club and the “Going the Distance Ride,” call 802-254-5990 or visit the club’s website, www.bgcbrattleboro.com.Representatives for the Agency of Transportation, in an attempt to allay residents’ concerns regarding the Route 5 repaving and signalization project, updated the Selectboard about the construction at the board’s July 6 meeting.  “I’m so glad that you came down today. I’m very impressed with everyone and what they did,”  Selectboard member Daryl Pillsbury told AOT representatives after the update.  The AOT appeared in response to citizens’ alarm over the design of mast arm traffic lights slated for installation downtown.  Many residents said the industrial mast arms would clash with the historical look of Main Street. Though the agency followed the letter of the law in warning public meetings, recent critics of the project also believed the AOT shirked due diligence in obtaining public input, resulting in a project whose design took place under the radar of the general public.  The project has been in the planning stages since 1996.  AOT Roadway Design Unit Program Manager Kevin Marshia, P.E. said the agency, in conjunction with project contractor Lane Construction Corporation, has found ornamental options that can be added to the mast arms.  But the Selectboard will need to choose the designs before the traffic signals are installed — and at the town’s expense.   “It’s hard for me to support any amount of money,” said Selectboard Chair Dick DeGray.  He said the money for the ornaments, which could cost as much as $35,000, may require holding a special Representative Town Meeting.  DeGray added he drove to Springfield, Vt., and was “impressed” with the new mast arm lights there.  The ornamental add-ons can be installed later, but Lane needs to know which, if any, ornamental base the town wants so enough room can be left around the traffic pole.  Building a Better Brattleboro board member Bob Stevens suggested choosing the ornamental design options now and, if needed, raising the money through private donations.  Despite earlier anxiety over mast arms, residents attending the meeting focused primarily on the plan to narrow downtown sidewalks.  “There’s a balance here [between pedestrians and vehicles] and we’re trying to balance it out. We’re trying to work with everybody,” said Public Works Director Steve Barrett.  “The sidewalks are vital for this Main Street and downtown were we want people to live 24/7,” Brattleboro resident Jim Maxwell said. “Have a balance, but have the balance shifted toward pedestrians.”  Two areas of sidewalk were slated for narrowing to accommodate the turning radius of large trucks,  Marshia explained: the first at the corner of High and Main streets near Brooks House and the second at the corner of Elliot and Main streets near Turn it Up.  Marshia said he and Barrett spent the afternoon walking Main Street exploring other alternatives to narrowing these areas.  Sidewalks in other areas of downtown will be made wider and  accessible according to the specifications of the Americans with Disabilities Act.  “I want to thank everyone for being responsive [to these issues],” said Selectboard Vice-Chair Dora Bouboulis to the AOT representatives  “I think it’s good you’re having this meeting. I think it should have been a dedicated meeting [not as part of a regular Selectboard meeting],” said resident Steven K-Brooks.  This week, AOT will begin repaving Route 5 from Price Chopper near Exit 1 to Eaton Avenue. Downtown, between “Malfunction Junction” and High Street, they will replace the outdated traffic lights, make ADA improvements to sidewalks, and alter sidewalks to address issues with large trucks driving over the curb when turning on or off Main Street.  Improvements are also planned for portions of Routes 119, 142 and 30.  The expected duration of the Route 5 project is July 6 through November 2010.Representatives for the Vermont Agency of Transportation, in an attempt to allay residents’ concerns regarding the Route 5 repaving and signalization project, updated the Selectboard about the construction at the board’s July 6 meeting.  “I’m so glad that you came down today. I’m very impressed with everyone and what they did,”  Selectboard member Daryl Pillsbury told AOT representatives after the update.  The AOT appeared in response to citizens’ alarm over the design of mast arm traffic lights slated for installation downtown.  Many residents said the aluminum mast arms would clash with the historical look of Main Street. Though the agency followed the letter of the law in warning public meetings, recent critics of the project also believed the AOT shirked due diligence in obtaining public input, resulting in a project whose design took place under the radar of the general public.  The project has been in the planning stages since 1996. AOT Roadway Design Unit Program Manager Kevin Marshia said the agency, in conjunction with project contractor Lane Construction Corp., has found ornamental options that can be added to the mast arms.  However, the Selectboard will need to choose the designs before the traffic signals are installed — and at the town’s expense.  “It’s hard for me to support any amount of money,” said Selectboard Chair Dick DeGray, adding appropriating the money for the ornaments, which could cost as much as $35,000, may require holding a special Representative Town Meeting.  DeGray said he drove to Springfield, Vt., and was “impressed” with the new mast arm lights there.  The ornamental add-ons can be installed later, but Lane needs to know which, if any, ornamental base the town wants so enough room can be left around the traffic pole.  Building a Better Brattleboro board member Bob Stevens suggested choosing the ornamental design options now and, if needed, raising the money through private donations.  Despite earlier anxiety over mast arms, residents attending the meeting focused primarily on the plan to narrow downtown sidewalks.  “There’s a balance here [between pedestrians and vehicles] and we’re trying to balance it out. We’re trying to work with everybody,” said Public Works Director Steve Barrett.  “The sidewalks are vital for this Main Street and downtown were we want people to live 24/7,” Brattleboro resident Jim Maxwell said. “Have a balance, but have the balance shifted toward pedestrians.”  Two areas of sidewalk were slated for narrowing to accommodate the turning radius of large trucks,  Marshia explained: the first at the corner of High and Main streets near Brooks House and the second at the corner of Elliot and Main streets near Turn it Up.  Marshia said he and Barrett spent the afternoon walking Main Street exploring other alternatives to narrowing these areas.  Sidewalks in other areas of downtown will be made wider and  accessible according to the specifications of the Americans with Disabilities Act.  “I want to thank everyone for being responsive [to these issues],” said Selectboard Vice-Chair Dora Bouboulis to the AOT representatives.  “I think it’s good you’re having this meeting. I think it should have been a dedicated meeting [not as part of a regular Selectboard meeting],” said resident Steven K-Brooks.  This week, AOT will begin repaving Route 5 from Price Chopper near Exit 1 to Eaton Avenue. Downtown, between “Malfunction Junction” and High Street, they will replace the outdated traffic lights, make ADA improvements to sidewalks, and alter sidewalks to address issues with large trucks driving over the curb when turning on or off Main Street.  Improvements are also planned for portions of Routes 119, 142 and 30.  The expected duration of the Route 5 project is July 6 through November 2010.At a Public Service Board hearing July 8, area residents overwhelmingly opposed the continued operation of Entergy Nuclear Vermont Yankee in light of a recent tritium leak found at the plant.  “Not all things get better with age,” said Nate Hausman, adding that if the plant — which opened in 1972 — were a car, it would be considered an antique.  “As a Vermont power consumer, I don’t want to be complacent in the risks,” Hausman said, calling the plant “a nuclear facility on life support.”  Vermont Public Service Board Commissioner David Coen, Chair James Volz and Board member John Burke listened to testimony from Vermont, Massachusetts and New Hampshire residents regarding the future of the Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant in Vernon.  The PSB launched the investigation, Docket 7600, in response to January filings by the Conservation Law Foundation and the New England Coalition requesting that the board shut down VY; consider revoking the Certificate of Public Good; and fine the company for the tritium leaks.  Both the CLF and NEC requested that “the board take further steps” regarding the discovery of underground pipes on the plant site, which the company had previously denied existed, and the presence of tritium in the VY monitoring wells.  The PSB agreed. It ruled against Entergy’s assertion that only the Nuclear Regulatory Commission could order the plant closed while employees repaired any leaking pipes.  The board members maintain they have the authority to regulate land-use and economic issues. For example, VY’s recent leaks could impact Vermont economically by increasing the costs of future decontamination and use of the site.  Speaking up  The public hearing took place in the Brattleboro Union High School auditorium, and speakers had two minutes to make their case.  For many individuals testifying, a massive and devastating accident at VY was a question of when, not if.  Haley Peterson of Williston said VY’s failings were not acceptable. Many speakers compared the ongoing British Petroleum oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico with what could go wrong at the aging nuclear plant.  A large number of Massachusetts residents from as far away as Athol and Orange also testified, even though their statements will carry little weight with the Vermont board. One Massachusetts resident said: “The [day] before the BP oil spill, it was possible to believe everything was fine.”  John Ward, a selectboard chairman from Gill, Mass., said he had testified at previous public hearings and expressed frustration that he did not have “much of a voice” with the Vermont Public Service Board, even though his town was within the plant’s 10-mile Emergency Planning Zone.  “If this were a citizen referendum, this plant would be shut down,” he said.  Not all speakers shared these views.  “[Public Service] Boards don’t shut down things in compliance. I think it’s safe enough,” said Meredith Angwin, the founder of Carnot Communications in Wilder, a long-time nuclear energy supporter and an administrator of the Save Vermont Yankee Facebook page. Angwin also writes a blog, “Yes Vermont Yankee” (yesvy.blogspot.com).  Angwin had heard others say they don’t care if their electric bills go up, as long as VY is shut down. In her view, some people don’t have this financial luxury.  “It does matter to some of us if electric bills go up,” she said.  The Nuclear Regulatory Commission fines employees at nuclear plants if they do not maintain proper standards or do their jobs correctly, according to John Dunn, an operator at VY and creator of the Save Vermont Yankee page.  “The employees [of VY] do care,” Dunn said. “I feel very responsible for how the plant operates.”Youth at the Moore Court housing complex are helping to answer a question often heard at farmers’ markets: “What can I make with this vegetable?”  With guidance from AmeriCorps volunteer Dane Kingsley and  Meredith Wade, an education/outreach coordinator at the Brattleboro Food Co-op, a core group of youth prepare samples using ingredients from that week’s farm share to hand out at the Elliot Street Market Basket every Tuesday.  The youth come from Moore Court, a public-housing development of 28 two-, three- and four-bedroom apartment homes owned and managed by the Brattleboro Housing Authority. Kingsley serves as community program coordinator for Moore Court and Ledgewood Heights, another BHA property, serving as a mentor to and providing activities for youth from the two developments.  The Market Basket is a farmers’ market designed by Post Oil Solutions to give people who qualify for the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program — formerly known as food stamps — access to fresh produce.   “We see what’s in the market basket that week, [Wade] comes up with a recipe, the kids make something using those vegetables and then hand out samples,” says Kingsley.  Wade and Kingsley started developing the cooking for the Elliot Street Market program in the spring, after Kingsley took the kids under his charge to a cooking workshop at the Co-op.  He describes his and Wade’s collaboration as “serendipity.”  “Two people working with youth in Brattleboro who crossed paths,” he says.  Kingsley says he emphasizes teaching nutrition, giving the kids healthy snacks and teaching good eating habits. Last week, they harvested garlic, spinach and basil from the small garden he and the kids planted this summer outside the community room.  In the community room at Moore Court, Kingsley clears the long table of the afternoon’s craft project, poster paint, stickers, and markers. The window air conditioning unit blasts a stream of cool air, creating a haven against the 90-degree-plus heat wave sitting on Windham County.  “A lot of my day is spent picking up,” he says, offering a cup of homemade lemonade.   Soaked from playing in the sprinklers outside, five girls ranging in ages from 7 to 17 tumble into the community room.  Wade says when the program began late June, it drew more boys than girls. As the program went on, a core group of mostly girls formed.  She says a lot of the kids have learned new cooking skills. She quotes a recurring comment from the kids: “I don’t do this at home.”  On this day, the group prepared “rainbow salad” coleslaw using some of the vegetables in this week’s farm share. The salad uses prepared raspberry vinaigrette dressing, instead of mayonnaise or dairy-based dressing that could go bad in the blistering heat.  Wade pulls raw beets, broccoli, carrots, cilantro, and apples from a box, one by one.  Wade asks the group if they recognize the vegetables, gently imparting education in her conversation.  All of the youths talk about each vegetable, possible ways to prepare it, if they’ve tried it before, and other dishes they like.  Wade shows two girls, age 7 and 8, how to grate carrots. Kingsley assists other cooks using the food processor.  “I bring more produce [than the recipe calls for] because once they cook it, they want to eat a bunch of it,” says Wade.  One group member, in seventh grade, says she likes to cook and has taken classes at school.  “I like making stir-fries,” she says.  “I like eating it!” says a 13-year-old who also participates in University of Vermont Extension’s Youth Agricultural Project (see story, page 9).  Everyone in the community room agrees that kale chips are the best dish the group has made for the Elliot Street Market Basket.  Kale chips, explains Wade, are made by coating kale in olive oil, baking the leaves on baking sheets, and then sprinkling with salt.  “[The youths] seem really game to try stuff, especially after they’ve cooked it,” says Wade.  Kingsley walks three of the younger girls down School Street to the parking lot of the Elliot Street Café, home of the Market Basket, as the heat and allure of the sprinklers claim the rest of the group.  The three girls pass out samples of the rainbow salad to people picking up their produce shares.  “They [the girls] totally love it,” says Wade.  The salad is a hit.  People ask the girls for the recipe.  The Moore Court youth, led by Kingsley and Wade, will prepare samples for the Market Basket until the season ends  Sept. 28. Kingsley says his AmeriCorps duties will end in late fall. Whether the program continues will depend on who is working with the youth next season, he says. Representatives from seven organizations voiced concerns about the safety and future of Vermont Yankee to Nuclear Regulatory Commission Chairman Gregory Jaczko in a public forum July 14.  Speakers representing the Citizens Awareness Network, Safe & Green Campaign, the New England Coalition, the Conservation Law Foundation, the Vermont Yankee Decommissioning Alliance, Nuclear Free Vermont by 2012, and the Vermont Public Interest Research Group had five minutes each to voice their concerns.  Their comments overlapped on issues of Entergy’s poor track record of telling the truth and safety concerns about the aging plant.  The representatives asked how the NRC would ensure the plant’s safety over the 21 months until the 2012 shutdown? They also asked for a plan from the NRC detailing the shut down and decommissioning process.  In his opening statement, Jaczko said, “We are a better agency because of the involvement of the public. This is an important opportunity to hear from people at the table and hear what are the concerns of the community.”  Chairs rimmed the half-full meeting room. Community members, legislators from as far away as Chittenden and Orange counties, and a large number of print and broadcast media observed the discussion.  Deb Katz of the Citizen Awareness Network said she was “confounded” Jaczko was in Brattleboro at this time considering the legislator’s vote to not renew VY’s certificate of public good.  “We’re here because we see systemic issues at VY,” she said.  Representatives drew correlations to the BP oil spill in the gulf. They also highlighted the cooler tower collapse, recent tritium leaks, and electrical cables submerged in water.  Sandy Levine of the Conservation Law Foundation said her organization has become “increasingly concerned” with the lack of oversight at VY and the NRC’s common response of “don’t worry, whatever Entergy is doing is fine.”  “We need a real cop on that beat,” said James Moore of VPIRG. He added that Entergy and the NRC have given Vermonters good reasons not to trust them.  “As far as we see, the NRC finds it [Entergy’s behavior] acceptable,” he said.  The representatives asked, given the fast-approaching 2012 shutdown, what incentive did Energy have to maintain the plant and prevent future leaks or other accidents?  Jaczko tried to build common ground and understanding by saying everything those gathered said, he and his staff were talking about at the NRC.  He called the lack of trust as “unfortunate” saying trust takes a long time to earn and a short time to lose.  He explained the NRC is bound by process and therefore moves slowly. He used the recent revelation of submerged electrical cables at VY as example. This had come to Entergy’s attention after a generic letter the NRC sent to all nuclear plants. He said this letter was a year in the writing after the NRC did its research and analysis.  His statements did not build a strong, glittering and happy bridge of understanding.  Katz said people’s experience of VY and Entergy is different from what Jaczko said in the meeting and that the NRC gives the impression of doing nothing.  “We gave up on you,” she said.  “It is a zero tolerance for error game here,” said Moore, adding that the NRC’s slow pace doesn’t “gel” for people.  Jaczko responded by saying the NRC is taking action in many ways but not communicating the actions well enough.  “The NRC is not lackadaisical,” he said.  After the meeting, Anne Manwaring — the state representative for Wilmington, Whitingham and Halifax — said she appreciated Jaczko making the effort to attend the meeting and hear the representatives’ comments.  She expressed concern, however, that they did not talk about covering the decommissioning costs. She is worried taxpayers will foot the bill.“There’s a misperception that lower-income people don’t care about local food,” said Jesse Kayan, farmer and community service coordinator at the Westgate Housing Community. “But they just can’t access it. I’ve learned everybody in this community understands [local food’s] importance and value.”  At the Elliot Street Market Basket, which started on June 22, lower-income consumers often bypassed by the local and organic food movement connect with local farmers and produce.  Until Sept. 28, farmers from Hearts Bend Farm in Newfane, Amazing Planet! Farm and Justice Center in Williamsville, the SIT Farm in Brattleboro and organizers with Post Oil Solutions (POS) bring fresh produce to the Elliot Street Café parking lot.  “We’re meeting around food but community is at the heart of it,” said Joshua Davis, an intern with POS, the organization behind the market.  The market basket is an example of community-supported agriculture (CSA) with a twist. The participating farmers are new to farming, cultivating smaller farms. The CSA is open to community members with income levels that quality them for the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), formerly known as food stamps.  The Elliot Street market sprang from a pilot CSA at Westgate, a tenant-led, 98-unit, affordable-housing complex in West Brattleboro near the Marlboro town line.  “We’re feeling very positive about it [the market],” Angela Berkfield, an AmeriCorps Volunteer with POS who is in her second year with the CSA projects.   She said the market fits into POS’ goal of building self-sufficient community and food security in a future society where oil is increasingly scarce or depleted.   The World Health Organization defines food security as “all people at all times [having] access to sufficient, safe, nutritious food to maintain a healthy and active life.”  Berkfield said the whole CSA project grew from wanting to improve access to local food for people whose income and experiences often limit their access.  Holding the market within a neighborhood aids access for people within the downtown community. The “basket style” CSA, where people come and collect the produce with their own bags allows farmers to charge wholesale prices.  At the market  On this Tuesday afternoon, a local musician plays guitar while more than 20 share-owners picking up their farm shares swap recipes. On a whiteboard, Berkfield lists the week’s share, which includes broccoli, leafy greens, and herbs.  She said POS had connections with the farmers involved with the CSA prior to the project’s start and knew they were looking for a market.  Getting the word out to the Elliot Street neighborhood and explaining what it meant to buy a farm share were two of the challenges POS faced said Davis.  Kayan’s partner, Caitlin Burlett, of Heart’s Bend Farm said she comes from a teaching family and entered farming with zero skills.  A summer college job turned her on to agriculture. With an apprenticeship at Picadilly Farm in Winchester, N.H., under her belt, she struck out on her own.  Burlett and Kayan don’t own their farm; they work for their rent at Heart’s Bend, a former summer camp.  They raise sheep and chickens on seven acres of pasture. They sell lamb, eggs and have a small farm stand at the bottom of their road. She said this is her first year selling produce from her quarter-acre garden.   She contemplated selling produce for a couple summers before joining the Market Basket.  Burlett said knowing who eats her food feels rewarding.  It “really took a load off” the farmers having another organization put the Market Basket together and find community members to fill the farm shares, she said.  “You don’t get this kind of support very often,” she added about working with the other farmers and POS.  Jonathan “Slug” Crowell, who says he has “a background in social change,” has worked at Amazing Planet! for two years.  He said after “settling down” in Vermont he wanted work helping “defending food and local family farms.” According to him, the farmers at Amazing Planet! cultivate three-and-a-half acres and diversify their income selling produce, eggs, teaching workshops, summer camps, and agri-tourism.  “People organize for an eight-hour work day,” he said. “I just want eight hours of sleep.”  Learning from the land  The three farmers managing the 1½-acre SIT Farm — Steve Hed, Courtney Bauman, and Katherine Gillespie — till, transport water and harvest by hand.  Produce from the farm goes to the Elliot Street Market Basket, five SIT staff members with farm shares and a Friday on-campus farm stand.  Now in its second season, the goal behind the producer-teacher farm is to create a farming model farmers anywhere in the world can use. Many locations cannot support the large-scale industrial model followed by some American farmers.  Hed hopes students take their skills into their chosen “fields” after graduation.  “It’s one thing to sit in an air conditioned classroom and study all this stuff,” he said, adding that working outside in the heat and rain teaches awareness.  “With agriculture, there’s so many uncontrollable variables like weather and pests. It’s extremely emotional,” said Hed.  He uses the example of Late Blight, which struck area tomato plants last summer. A farmer can spend all season cultivating a tomato crop worth $2,000, and see it destroyed within days, Hed said.  In this region, people have safety nets and food security, but Hed hopes students realize what it’s like for people in areas without resources to fall back on.     “When you do the watering by hand, you’re very aware of how much water you use,” said Bauman.  Bauman fell in love with farming during her time as a student working on the SIT Farm and stayed on to use the farm as the basis of her graduate practicum.  “I just didn’t want to leave,” she said.  Bauman came to farming via international education and social justice. Sustainable agriculture and the local food movement aligned with her values.  “[Farming] is a way for me to do meaningful work and build my own skills,” she said.  Bauman grew up on a 100-head cattle ranch in rural Oklahoma but never wanted to learn farming. She said she didn’t fully appreciate her family’s farming knowledge and, perhaps, neither did they. She does think they’re pleased she’s learning the trade.  It’s ironic, she said, that it took grad school to teach her what she could have learned at home.  Hed said no one at the farm earns a livable wage. Donations, grants and proceeds from produce sales pays his salary once the farm-related bills are paid.  POS Program Coordinator Katherine Gillespie receives an AmeriCorps stipend for her work, while Bauman’s internship is unpaid.  Hed hopes this will change.  “[We’re working toward] a fair return for the farmers,” said Gillespie.  She said in the normal chain of events, farmers send their crop to distributors, who pass it on to grocery stores to sell to the end customer. Farmers and consumers looking each other in the eye is not the normal relationship.  “[Relationships], that’s sustainability,” she said.  Hed agrees, saying he knows of industrial farmers who won’t eat their own crops. He eats what he produces and feels the Market Basket and other farmers markets or CSAs help consumers recognize the labor farmers put into their crops.  Davis said people with shares can pay for their produce on the day of pick up. In the future he hopes more will help provide the farmers with stable income by paying for their shares in advance.   Shares are still available for people who meet the income requirements. Contact Angela Berkfield at 248-904-8324 for more information or to sign up.  Davis said despite Elliot Street’s recent notoriety, “there’s also really good things going on.”The Selectboard approved a Rural Commercial District July 20, a change two years in the making.  The district replaces the Interim Suburban Commercial amendment assigned to Route 9 lands between Edward Heights Road and Sunset Lake Road first adopted in 2007.  According to Planning Commission Chair Gary Goodemote, the zoning changes reflect recommendations in the West Brattleboro Master Plan and public comment gathered through multiple meetings and a public hearing held June 28.  He said the consensus of community members and business owners has been to preserve the “look and feel of rural Vermont” by limiting certain types of businesses such as ones that use drive-through windows.  More than 15 members of the community attended the Selectboard meeting spoke in favor of the new zoning.  Violinmaker Douglas Cox, who works from a studio on Sunset Lake Road, said he uses the “Vermont brand” to draw customers.  “And I’m not alone,” he said.  Cox felt the Rural Commercial District good for business because it would help preserve the landscape his customers think of as “Vermont.”  American Traders CEO Tim Cuthbertson said he generally supported the new zoning with the exception of prohibiting all drive-throughs.  He said he thought the premise behind the ordinance was the community’s desire to control drive-through restaurants. Instead, he said, the zoning could prohibit “anchor businesses” like banks and pharmacies — businesses encouraged in the Master Plan.  “It’s like using a sledgehammer to crack a nut,” he said.  Community members broke into applause when the Selectboard members voted unanimously to create the district.Eight riders recently completed a “double century” bike ride and raised more than $21,000 in donations for the Boys & Girls Club of Brattleboro, exceeding their original $16,000 goal.  Starting on July 17, Robert Nassau, Jim Robinson, Kathryn Karmen, Mike Marchand, John Bentley, Sandy Garland, Christopher Chapman and Jim Sweitzer peddled 200 miles from Derby Line to Brattleboro, with a stopover in Bradford at a cabin own by Garland.  Boys & Girls Club staff and kids welcomed the riders home July 18 with a reception at the Club on Flat Street.  “Everyone finished in good spirits. [The fundraiser] truly exceeded my expectations,” says Robert Nassau, Boys & Girls Club board president and a retired pediatrician.  The riders undertook the fundraising to help compensate for a $150,000 budgetary shortfall experienced by the Club after yearly federal funds from the Office of Juvenile Justice and Drug Abuse Prevention (OJJDP) fell through.  “We’re forever grateful,” says Boys & Girls Club of Brattleboro Executive Director Beth Baldwin-Page.  But more money is needed to make up for the lost $150,000 she said.  The Club serves more than 1,200 members and over 3,000 non-member area youth. According to Baldwin Page and Nassau, the kids at the reception were amazed the eight riders would bike 200 miles on their behalf.  Baldwin-Page said that the kids are always amazed when an adult wants to help them before they get into trouble.  She added many of the young people at the Club don’t know about the $150,000 funding shortfall. That’s the adults’ responsibility.  “Finding funding is not their [the kids’] problem,” says Baldwin-Page.  According to Nassau, the heat and humidity were the hardest part of the ride. The riders “bonded” over the two days and helped each other during hard moments.  “I’m very grateful,” said Nassau.  To ensure all donated monies go directly to the Club, the riders paid their expenses. The Tavern Restaurant donated meals and The Brattleboro Food Co-op donated food for snacks. Sweitzer, who is the owner of West Hill Shop in Putney, donated tools and supplies. One of his vendors, Hammer Nutrition, donated energy snacks and drinks.  Sweitzer said he had no connection with the Club. His love of biking got him involved but as he learned more, the programs at the Boys & Girls Club’s impressed him.  “It’s a great cause,” he said.  Rider and elementary physical education teacher John Bentley first signed up because he loves cycling. He said walking into the Club and seeing former students, who are at the Club almost daily, changed his tune.  “I feel the satisfaction of being able to help the Boys & Girls Club,” he said.  The Club is still accepting donations. Community members wanting to make donations can send a check or donate online. Donations are tax deductible.  Make checks to the “Boys & Girls Club” and putting “The Ride” or a specific rider’s name in the memo line.  Checks can be mailed to the Boys & Girls Club at 17 Flat St., Brattleboro, VT 05301. Donating by check saves the Club the Internet processing fee.  To donate online, go to http://www.firstgiving.com/6065. For more information about the Club and the “Going the Distance Ride,” call 802-254-5990 or visit the Club’s website at www.bgcbrattleboro.com.The primary ballots are in and registered voters wishing to vote early can pick up ballots for the Tuesday, Aug. 24 primary from their Town Clerk’s office.  The deadline to request an early ballot is the end of the business day on Monday, Aug. 23. Closing times vary for each town clerk’s office.  According to the Secretary of State’s website, for an early ballot to count, it needs to arrive at the town clerk’s office by the end of business day on the day before the election, or at the polling place before 7 p.m. on election day.  Voters can cast their early ballots in person at their town clerk’s office. Voters can also request ballots be mailed to their home or delivered by two justices of the peace.  The deadline for unregistered voters to register is Wednesday, Aug. 18, at 5 p.m.  “If you’re registered to vote in the town you reside in, you do not need to register again,”  Brattleboro Town Clerk Annette Cappy wrote in a recent e-mail.  Major political parties use the primary election to nominate their candidates for the general election.  Under Vermont statue, party registration is not required to vote in a primary. On primary day, voters take the ballots for all the major parties into the polling booth and privately choose which party to vote.  Although gubernatorial candidates have received the most attention these past few months, in this primary, voters will also select candidates for the U.S. Senate and U.S. House, as well as for the statewide offices of lieutenant governor, state treasurer, secretary of state, auditor and attorney general.  Several state Senate and House seats have primary contests.  According to the Secretary of State’s website, Vermont has three major parties: Democratic, Progressive and Republican. To be considered a major party, a party’s candidate must have received 5 percent of the vote in a statewide race in the previous election and the party needs to organize in a minimum of 15 towns within the next year.  More than half of Vermont’s voting-age population is registered to vote. As of May 18, 444,493 voters had registered. Voter turnout increased from 48 to 67 percent between 2002 and 2008, according to statistics from the Secretary of State’s office.  On Aug 24, approximately 263 different polling places will open no later than 10 a.m. and close at 7 p.m. Voters should contact their town clerk for polling place locations or go to www.sec.state.vt.us for a complete list of polling locations.  More voting information and a list of candidates can be found on the Secretary of State’s elections and campaign financing website at www.govotevermont.com.On a rainy afternoon in downtown Brattleboro, Lt. Gov. Brian Dubie visited Main Street businesses and introduced himself to business owners and employees.  With seven campaign workers in tow, ranging in age from the late teens to late 20s, the sole Republican candidate for governor stopped into stores to speak with the owners.  The top two topics of discussion? Expanding broadband Internet to the rest of Vermont and the economy.  Last Friday’s heavy rain may have soaked the group’s campaign signs, but it didn’t extinguish their fire.  Richard Cogliano of Dummerston said he used his day off from work to support Dubie.  Cogliano said he has backed Dubie since hearing him speak in 2003. He said likes the candidate’s fiscal policy, his track record as lieutenant governor and his vision for the future.  Three other campaign workers came from the Brattleboro area.  Earlier that day, Dubie visited Cotton Mill Hill, the small business incubator run by the Brattleboro Development Credit Corp.  “It was fascinating,” said Dubie, referring to the number of small and diverse businesses under one roof.  Dubie feels small business are the future of Vermont’s economy. Looking at the statistics, he said small businesses are where the economy is growing in the United States, specifically women-owned business.  “We can grow jobs [in Vermont] if we work to cut taxes and cut red tape,” he said.  Dubie’s long-term plan to encourage Vermont’s economy includes limiting state spending growth at less than or equal to the rate of inflation. Over time, the Dubie said the money saved would be rolled back into the budget to lower property and personal income taxes.  Dubie offered no other specifics about what he calls his 10-point economic plan, which he said he will release after the Aug. 24 primary.  The major changes he proposes wouldn’t come quickly, he adds, but in the long run, Vermonters would have a stronger state.  Dubie said that southern Vermont is important to him and that Windham County would not be “the forgotten county ” if he becomes governor.  “My cabinet will reflect the diversity of our state, including southern Vermont. I will hold myself accountable to that standard,” he said.  Dubie feels that outgoing Gov. James Douglas set a good example regarding inclusion of southern Vermont. As governor, Dubie says he will follow in Douglas’ footsteps.  Dubie, who lives in Essex Junction, is the top fundraiser of all the candidates running for governor, raising nearly $1 million for his campaign since last fall.  Five Democrats are running in the Aug. 24 primary for the chance to take on Dubie in November — Sens. Susan Bartlett, Doug Racine and Peter Shumlin, former Sen. Matt Dunne and Secretary of State Deb Markowitz.  Independents Cris Ericson, Dan Feliciano, Emily Peyton and Dennis Steele are also in the gubernatorial race, as well as the Progressive Party’s Martha Abbott, Socialist Party/Liberty Union Party candidate Ben Mitchell and Working Families party candidate Ben Johnson.Every year, Vermont prisoners complete their sentences and are released back into society.  Some re-offend and land back where they started.  But according to officials with the state DeparAfter eight years of studies into improving the quality of life for its seniors, the Brattleboro Housing Authority (BHA) is in the early stages of implementing a pilot care program to launch January 2011.  The Seniors Aging Safely at Home (SASH) program, supports seniors living in their homes by building a team utilizing existing community organizations and resources.  SASH operates in the spirit of a mutual aid agreement between fire departments, where departments agree to assist each other in emergencies.  “With common communication, you develop creative programs and ways to address individual needs and aggregate them [to everyone’s benefit],” said BHA Executive Director Christine Hart.  Hart said the BHA wanted to set up a licensed assisted living facility in Hayes Court and Melrose Terrace. But, after investigating the prospect, she said the authority discovered it wasn’t financially sustainable.  Brattleboro has a richness of supportive services, Hart said. “Why should we duplicate them? We should make use of them.”  Vermont-based Cathedral Square Corporation in Burlington developed the program and recently finished a yearlong pilot program at its Heineberg Senior Housing site.  “[SASH is] really about collecting resources out there and not duplicating [each other],” said Cathedral Square Executive Director Nancy Eldridge.  She described the program as “person centered.”  Cathedral Square Corporation — originally founded in the 1977 as a ministry of the (Episcopal) Cathedral Church of St. Paul, but now a separate nonprofit — specializes in housing for seniors and individuals with special needs.  According to Eldridge, as Vermont’s senior population grows, so does its need for care solutions.  Also, seniors’ requirements for home care are growing, because the state does not plan to build more nursing homes as part of the Choices for Care program.  As a result, Eldridge said local housing authorities need ways to deliver care without relying on nonexistent financial or medical resources.  “We needed to develop a statewide solution that would work for everyone,” she said. “That kind of efficiency requires you [be able to] replicate the approach.”  Eldridge said residents at Heineberg participated in developing SASH.  “This is their home,” she said.  Hart and Eldridge agree housing providers often find themselves in a tricky spot.  Legally, they only provide housing and collect rent. Socially, however, housing authorities are many elderly residents’ closest support networks and the first to spot when someone requires help.  Eldridge has had residents return from the hospital to a Cathedral Square site after hours, at night, dressed only in a nightgown and carrying a paper bag full of prescriptions and locked out of their building because no one at the hospital communicated with the housing site.  SASH helps bridge this schism allowing housing authority employees to operate beyond the role of landlord without becoming trained medical providers.  Eldridge said the program has received positive feedback from doctors who appreciate knowing someone is helping their patients follow through on their recommendations like taking medication, exercise or nutrition.   “They [medical and housing authorities] have someone to call,” said Eldridge. Before SASH, she said calling 911 was the primary option, regardless of the incident.  Eviction, said Hart, was a housing authority’s only legal recourse if a resident’s condition warranted a medical intervention.  “There’s so many [other programs] out there, it’s just a matter of connecting,” said Eldridge regarding including local housing authorities in residents’ care loops.  Eldridge used the example of a Vermont Nursing Association nurse calling the SASH coordinator at Hinesburg and asking the coordinator check if a resident had taken his or her pills.  That one phone call may seem small, but it saves a nurse who normally serves multiple, far-flung patients from driving out to the site. This frees the nurse to concentrate on other patients requiring higher levels of care.  Because of its success in Heineberg, other housing authorities have signed on to the SASH pilot program.  Rutland Housing Authority, Gilman Housing Trust, Bennington Housing Authority and Central Vermont Community Land Trust will all join Brattleboro as pilot sites.   According to Eldridge, funding finalization is still in progress. Eventually, it will come through Medicaid and work into Vermont’s Blueprint for Health plan.  Eldridge said she and her housing authority counterparts will use the multi-site pilot to evaluate and hone SASH before rolling it out statewide.  Monitors from Harvard, the University of Vermont and The Institute for the Future of Aging Services will formally evaluate the program.  Eldridge said extending SASH beyond the Heineberg apartment complex and into the community as a whole, using the authority as a “hub,” is one goal for SASH.  First, however, the program must work under a variety of conditions and in multiple communities.  Hart said the housing authorities will have the opportunity to customize their SASH programs. The BHA plans to add a meals program and nursing services to its program in January.  “It’s exciting. It’s exactly what I think we should be doing,” said Hart.