by Caroline Abels; photos by Annie Tiberio Cameron

It’s the only downtown storefront with windows so high you can’t see into them. It’s not trying to sell you food, books,

clothing or bath soaps. It’s rare that you see anyone leaving or entering, although you might hear someone being buzzed in the front door. The 1950s-era façade, it seems, hasn’t had a face lift in decades.

In short, the American Legion post at 21 Main Street is mysterious enough to be a speakeasy and familiar enough to be a corner bar. Turns out, it’s a bit of both—and more.

To enter, you have to know the code, as in the speakeasies of yore. But the code isn’t a password or a phrase—it’s a code of conduct, a code of honor, that only folks who have served in the military know. To enter the American Legion’s Vermont Post No. 3 on Main Street, you have to be a veteran who served during an official American conflict (Vietnam, Korea, Iraq), or be a close relative of such a veteran, and be willing to pay an-nual legion dues.

Not many people in central Vermont fit this criteria, and eligible younger veterans are joining the legion in fewer and fewer num-bers. No wonder only a handful of Mont-pelier residents seem to know what goes on inside Post No. 3.

Charlie Karparis, the post manager, echoed this when he and six other post members sat down to talk about the legion.

“Yeah, Father Mike next door [of St. Au-gustine Catholic Church], we invited him over to supper about a week ago,” Karparis said. “And he goes, ‘I’ve been here for seven years and I’ve always looked out my win-dow and wondered what goes on inside that building.’ Well, he got in here and he was overwhelmed. We had supper, he met all the troops—it was great, and we invited him back here again.”

“Here” refers to the sunny, spacious room

you enter after getting buzzed in. A handful of veterans might be gathered there on any given Montpelier weekday. On the left is a bar ringed by a few red swivel chairs and a flat-screen TV that coos country music videos. Behind the bar, coolers are stocked with Bud Lights, Coronas and a few Magic Hats ($2.50 for any bottle), and Slim Jims, Reese’s Pieces and Babe Ruths are for sale on the counter. Across from the bar, a pool table

IN THIS ISSUEHOW MUCH IS

TOO MUCH?Examining city debt

9

SCHOOL TALKConversations with the

board chair and candidates

11

GRIEF AND LOVERemembering Sarah Billian

14

SETTING DOWN ROOTS

Montpelier man realizes farming dream

15

CINEMA SEASONPreviewing the film festival

16

ELECTION BUZZLetters on option tax, races

and other ballot items

20

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Connecting Montpelier and nearby communities since 1993 | MARCH 1–14, 2012

Montpelier’s American Legion Post: It’s About Family, Bonding and a Legacy

A Place for Patriots

Charlie Karparis was recently hired as post manager. “We call this the Legion family,” he said. “We’re bonded together by our previous life experiences and I think that’s so unique.”

PAGE 2 • MARCH 1–14, 2012 THE BR IDGE

THE BR IDGE MARCH 1–14, 2012 • PAGE 3

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HEARD ON THE

STREETFinal call for snow. Don’t give up on skiing or snowshoeing just because it seems

over. The best, longest, sunniest days are here, and skiing is fabulous, even when one must clomp over wet bare ground to reach that next run of compressed, diamond-like spring snow. Trails are less necessary, since the fields are perfect for exploring slowly, taking in each track, each sign of spring. And there are plenty of signs. If you are out on the fields near the North Branch Nature Center, look for stone flies crawling across the snow, and listen for flocks of sparrows and finches moving through. Or just lean against the south side of a tree and catch a few minutes of solar warmth.

—Nona Estrin

Nature WatchOccupation Cooperation

Last issue’s Heard on the Street reported the news that some local Vermont organizers and activists involved in the Occupy Wall Street movement were taking umbrage at the

scheduled March 10 conference at Plainfield’s Goddard College. The conference, which is being heavily promoted as a discussion of the Occupy movement, also included some of the trappings of an actual Occupy event (such as the trademark general assembly meeting), and the college did not reach out to local Occupy activists in putting together the $10-a-head event.

Since that report, Goddard has reached out to local Occupy activists. Although some of them were unimpressed with Goddard’s initial overtures, which they felt were more about the college looking to assign support duties than forming a partnership, bridges are now built and fences seem to be mended.

In a letter to the editor included in this issue, Goddard President Barbara Vacarr indicated the establishment of a no-one-turned-away option for local activists who may want to attend but balk at the price tag. Vacarr also indicated that the plan for a general assembly would be dropped.

News from local Occupy supporters also indicates that Goddard has agreed to include local occupiers Emma Lillian from UVM, Nathan Gusdorf from Dartmouth, and Elizabeth Beatty-Owens from Johnson State College in the program.

Local Filmmaker Tells a Multilayered Story

Montpelier filmmaker Kim Brittenham, along with sister Tiffany Rhynard, have an-nounced area screenings of their film, Little House in the Big House, which, in the

words of the press release, “is the story of one home and the 45 women who built it. Four of those women tell their stories as they face challenges while incarcerated and upon reentering society.”

The film focuses on women incarcerated at the St. Albans correctional facility who took part in a program (administered by Vermont Works for Women) in which inmates learned job skills through the construction of modular homes.

It’s interesting timing for the film’s release—and perhaps a bit uncomfortable for the ad-ministration of Governor Peter Shumlin—as Vermont’s female inmates no longer reside at the St. Albans facility and have instead been moved to the Chittenden County Correctional Facility as a way to open up more beds for Vermont prisoners being housed in out-of-state prisons (as well as to make money by leasing those beds to non-Vermont prisoners).

The move from St. Albans has been criticized by many, as the other facility is seen as poorly suited for this inmate population, in part because rehabilitative programs—such as the modular home building program—cannot be maintained there.

In other words, the film is lauding the success of a visionary, Vermont-created rehabilitative program for women that the administration has essentially pulled the plug on.

Little House in the Big House will be screened in Montpelier as part of the Green Mountain Film Festival on Saturday, March 24, at 2 p.m. at the Pavilion Auditorium, and again on March 25 at the Savoy Theater. More information on the film can be found at littlehouse bighouse.com.

Show Me the Money!

Common Cause of Vermont wants to set a new standard for tracking campaign contribu-tions in the state, and to that end is launching a searchable, online database of contribu-

tions during the 2010 cycle, broken out in a more user-friendly and intuitive way than what exists on the secretary of state’s website.

The database is being announced on March 1, and as such was unavailable for review by The Bridge at press time. According to Common Cause, the new system and its downloadable data “includes pre-sorted secondary databases that breakdown each candidate’s contributions into the following categories, Individuals, Businesses, PACs, Candidate & Family, and Party Committees. The databases are accompanied by a ‘Guide and Users Manual.’”

Hail to the Chiefs

The Montpelier High School Boosters will be honoring a pair of high-profile graduates during its upcoming 19th annual Celebration of Excellence. Police Chief Tony Facos and

Fire Chief Bob Gowans, class of 1984 and 1975 respectively, will be the stars at the March 31 event to be held at the Capitol Plaza.

Looking Ahead to Warmer Seasons

Former Montpelier Alive executive director Suzanne Eikenberry will be the point person for planning and pulling off the capital city’s Independence Day festivities this year,

which will, as usual, be held on July 3 (a Tuesday). If you want to get involved, the e-mail contact is festivals@montpelieralive.org.

—all items by John Odum

P.O. Box 1143, Montpelier, VT 05601Phone: 802-223-5112 | Fax: 802-223-7852 montpelierbridge.com; facebook.com/montpelierbridge

Published every first and third Thursday

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Subscriptions: You can receive The Bridge by mail for $50 a year. Make out your check to The Bridge, and mail to The Bridge, PO Box 1143, Montpelier VT 05601.

Copyright 2012 by The Montpelier Bridge

Correction

In “A Conversation with Anya Rader Wallack” [Editorial, February 16], we quoted a remark from Governor Peter Shumlin from the January 6, 2011 issue of The Bridge.

The numbers given there are incorrect; the state in fact spends more than $5 billion on health care every year, up from $2.5 billion in 2003, and future spending could be as much as $7.5 billion.

The Bridge regrets the error.

PAGE 4 • MARCH 1–14, 2012 THE BR IDGE

by Phil Dodd

A group of Montpelier residents with business experience has joined to-gether under the auspices of Mont-

pelier Alive to form a business mentor team that will provide several hours of free advice to entrepreneurs who are thinking of start-ing a business in Montpelier or moving a business here.

An interested entrepreneur can choose to work with one or more of the advisers, get-ting advice on every-thing from a business plan to city permits to negotiating a lease.

One of the men-tors, Andrew Brewer, proposed the concept of the business men-tor team late last year to a subcommittee of the revived Montpe-lier Alive economic development committee, and the idea quickly gained traction.

“I had the benefit of being able to talk informally with many local business people when I bought Onion River Sports, and I’ve enjoyed being able to share what I’ve learned with some others over the years,” Brewer said. “So the idea was to have a varied and discreet group of people who could be avail-able to chat about Montpelier and what it’s like doing business here. We’re a welcome-wagon committee with some years of experi-ence to share.”

The group of advisers includes downtown retailers, current or former owners of other types of businesses, and business consul-tants. At the present time, the mentors are Brewer, Eric Bigglestone, Thierry Guerlain, Edmar Mendizabal, Leigh Seddon and Nina Thompson. Others with relevant experience are welcome to join the team.

Anyone thinking of starting up a business or moving a business to Montpelier can take advantage of the program. The proposed Montpelier business could be anything from

a tech company to a food-product busi-ness to a retail store to a small home of-fice. The only re-quirement is that the entrepreneur must have prepared a basic business plan. All in-

formation shared with advisers will be kept confidential.

To get connected with the business men-tor program, interested entrepreneurs can contact Montpelier Alive by phone (223-9604) or e-mail (director@montpelieralive.org). More information is also available at montpelieralive.org/businessmentors.

So far, without any publicity, one per-son interested in moving a business here has already contacted the team. The hope of the team members, Brewer said, is that many more entrepreneurs will recognize that “Montpelier is open for business” and that

there are local businesspeople willing to help them get started here.

Below is further information about the six mentors currently participating in the program.

Andrew Brewer, who grew up in central Vermont, has had a lifelong rela-tionship with Onion River Sports, first as a customer, then working there on and off from 1985 to 1991, returning to manage the store in 1995, and finally purchasing it in 2000. Since then, he’s opened the Shoe Horn (2001) and Onion River Kids (2008), as well as a thriving Web business selling car racks, snowshoes and cross-country skis.

Eric Bigglestone is a third-generation Montpelier business owner with over 20 years of hands-on retail experience. A graduate of Southern New Hampshire University, he cur-rently co-owns Capitol Stationers in Montpe-lier, Mr. B’s Hallmark in Berlin, and Biggle-stone Investments in Montpelier (commercial property rental). He is currently the chair of the Montpelier Business Association.

Thierry Guerlain, a Montpelier resi-dent since 1995, has worked as a businessper-son for 35 years. In Vermont, he has worked for the Johnson Company of Montpelier, Hearthstone Stoves of Morrisville, started a small wooden weathervane business, and owned and managed a large-format digital printing business, Graphitek, with 15 to 20 employees. In addition, he spent four years as a business consultant.

Edmar Mendizabal is a producer and director of business development in the video game industry. After moving to the area in 2008 he founded MontP.com, an events calendar for the capital. Prior to his work in the entertainment industry, he managed the operations for a large consortium of nonprofits working on housing issues on Long Island, where he also founded a medi-cal billing software company. He also enjoys property development and is a landlord in the capital area.

Leigh Seddon is a Montpelier resident of 35 years with experience in technology business start-ups, project management and nonprofit organizational development. He is the founder of Solar Works (1980), which be-came Alteris Renewables in 2008 and is now part of publicly traded Real Goods Solar. He currently works as a renewable-energy consultant with a focus on community-scale renewable energy deployment.

Nina Thompson is a Montpelier resi-dent and business consultant specializing in transition management. She has experience helping small and medium-sized companies of all types to start up, streamline, reimagine and expand. Nina’s clients come from the service, manufacturing, food, agriculture, restaurant and high-tech industries, as well as the nonprofit sector. Her experience also includes project management, large-scale event logistics, community-development work and Vermont political campaigns.

Montpelier Launches Business Mentor Team

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THE BR IDGE MARCH 1–14, 2012 • PAGE 5

Capitol NotebookSTATE HOUSE NEWS & COMMENTARY

by John Odum

It’s one of the most tried and true axioms in politics: If you’re going to generate news that’s likely to cause you problems,

be sure and release the news on Friday. That way it gets covered in the Saturday newspa-pers, and those are read by fewer people. Dur-ing the legislative session, it works even more in your favor, as the legislators don’t return to the State House until Tuesday. After four days, your bad news could well be old news, and some other shiny object may have dis-tracted the lawmakers and the press corps.

It’s a principle that was routinely exploited by former governor Jim Douglas, but in terms of sheer scale, Peter Shumlin may have just set the new bar.

On Friday, the Shumlin administration announced it would be laying off 80 state workers who staffed the Vermont State Hos-pital (VSH) before it was flooded out by Irene. Shumlin, with the support of the leg-islature, had previously announced plans to replace the facility with a combination of beds in other regional facilities and a new, far-smaller, state-built facility.

To say that legislators—and the media—were caught off guard would be an under-statement. The announcement caused a delay on a vote authorizing funds to replace VSH until lawmakers’ heads stopped spinning. And word is that the union that represents the workers to be laid off—the Vermont State Employees Association (VSEA)—is livid.

In fact, VSEA’s (shall we say) dynamic relationship with this administration seems to be the underlying political drama of the 2012 legislative session. With some suspicious rhetoric exchanged between the two at the end of 2011, 2012 has seen the two come into conflict over double-time pay for some Irene-displaced workers, only to have them seem to come back together over state employees’ contracts.

This latest round is unlikely to drift away quickly, despite the announcement’s timing.

63 Percent of Voters May Agree . . . but Which 63 Percent?

It’s always interesting how some of the very bills that bring Republicans and Democrats together can be the ones that have no chance whatsoever.

The reason why you rarely see anything earth-shattering come out of the legislature is that as soon as a bill starts making fundamen-tal changes (as opposed to simply tweaking the rules already on the books), it becomes controversial—and when something becomes controversial, you’re going to have two legisla-tors back away for every one that is support-ive. This is why so much fundamental change

happens only when required by the courts (e.g., Act 60 and civil unions), or incremen-tally (e.g., same-sex marriage would never have passed without civil unions, which only passed because the courts demanded it).

Most of these bills are considered to be firmly in one party’s camp or another, but sometimes the bills that break the mold are the very ones that cross party lines. Case in point: house bill 427.

H.427 would “decriminalize” possession of small amounts of marijuana. Note—this is “decriminalize,” not “legalize.” It would reduce the penalty for possession of less than an ounce to essentially the equivalent of a traffic ticket. It’s sponsored by the tripartisan group of Representatives Jason Lorber and Chris Pearson (Democrat and Progressive, respectively, both from Burlington), and Re-publican Adam Howard of Cambridge.

One supporter it does not have is Speaker Shap Smith, whose office has indicated that the bill will not receive a floor vote (transla-tion: the bill is dead).

There is a companion bill in the Senate—S.134 (sponsored by the bipartisan team of Chittenden senator Philip Baruth and Cale-donia senator Joe Benning)—but word is that the chairman of the Senate judiciary com-mittee (Senator Dick Sears of Bennington, who has reportedly been supportive of the concept) had been taking a “wait and see” ap-proach to see if the legislation had any chance in the House before letting it out of his com-mittee. Looks like the wait is over.

According to press reports, Smith has said that he’s quashing the bill due to concerns in the law enforcement community. That might seem an odd calculation, given the recent poll from Public Policy Polling (and commis-sioned by a national pro-legalization group) indicating that 63 percent of Vermonters supported decriminalization.

But herein is an important lesson in how legislative leaders think. Sixty-three percent is a big number, sure, but if that 63 per-cent overwhelmingly resides in Chittenden County, it’s only worth so much to the head of the Democratic caucus (who does not run a statewide campaign the way the governor—who has been supportive of the idea—does). Hubbub is that there are members of the Democratic caucus who feel nervous about taking a vote on the issue—due to concerns over the voters in their own districts—and would rather it went away.

And until that changes, this bill will meet the same fate year after year after year.

John Odum is the news editor of The Bridge and a longtime political blogger and online journalist. He lives in Montpelier.

Don’t Be Caught Looking Away on Saturdays

PAGE 6 • MARCH 1–14, 2012 THE BR IDGE

is lit by a low-hanging light in the shape of a beer bottle.

Legion members said they are very aware that the public associates their national orga-nization with drinking—that the posts are seen as places for vets to go drown their sor-rows. They were eager to dispel this notion.

“A lot of people think, oh, I’ll go down and have a few beers, cheap beers,” said Dick Harlow, the current Post No. 3 commander. “Well, that’s not what the American Legion is about. I can honestly say, in the last two years, we’ve really changed the image of this post, and I’m very proud to be a part of it.”

Indeed, there’s a lot more at Post No. 3 than a bar. Beyond it, red formica tables and chairs invite members to gather and swap stories. On the walls are yellowing photos of sepia-toned military men standing proudly with their firearms and marching band in-struments. There are black-and-white pho-tos of 1950s-era military women looking perfectly put together, as women back then always seem to.

One of the photos is of Barb Witham, who explained that the other woman in the photo was her twin sister, also a veteran. Barb was an Army cook, stationed stateside and overseas in the late 1950s and early 1960s. A past commander of Post No. 3, she’s now

in charge of its holiday decorations—the hearts, shamrocks, Easter eggs and candy canes that, like clockwork, go up in those front windows as soon as the previous holi-day is over.

“My sister used to do it,” Barb recalled, “and I came down one time and she said, ‘Will you help me decorate?’ We got the tree up for Christmas and she said, ‘Well, it’s your job now, do it better than I did,’ and I’ve been doing it ever since.”

At the back of the ground-floor room there’s a glass case with trophies awarded by dart clubs, little leagues and bowling teams. Everywhere you turn, you see reminders of how people passed the time before iPads and smartphones. Certificates, citations and pre-ambles to various legion charters also grace the walls.

There’s no restaurant or food service at the post, but upstairs is a commercial kitchen and dining area (available for rental by out-side groups) that fits 80 people and is used for special events. There’s a gun room, shut with a padlock, where firearms are kept for use in parades. There’s also a stuffy treasurer’s of-fice that “needs to get cleaned up,” Barb says (leaving you with the impression that if Barb thinks so, it will get cleaned up).

Post No. 3 is structured for conversation, for camaraderie.

“Almost every day, we have a little group

LEGION, from page 1

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Above, Mark Hughes, one of the younger members of Post No. 3, said the legion “ is about hav-ing a voice, about having an opportunity to take action and to leave a legacy.” Right, members of the American Legion are issued special hats; Barb Witham’s is replete with pins marking her service.

THE BR IDGE MARCH 1–14, 2012 • PAGE 7

that sits around a table and we talk,” Charlie Karparis said. “We share a lot of life experi-ences. We could have been on the deck of an Air Force carrier, we could have been over in Germany, we could have been over in France. You never know. But it’s a bond, and you can say we’re just talkin’ over old times, but it keeps that bond together.”

Vermont has 72 legion posts, with a total of 14,500 members. Montpelier’s Post No. 3—so numbered because it was the third one formed in the state after the American Legion was founded in 1919—has roughly 350 members. (The VFW requires com-bat experience for membership; the legion doesn’t.)

The Sons of the American Legion and La-dies’ Auxiliary, groups for relatives of legion members, has about 200 members.

When asked about its younger members, the assembled veterans—nearly all of them in their 60s and 70s—struggled to name a young person who had recently joined. (They did mention “a nice young lady” who came out of the Coast Guard, and they noted that cadets at Norwich University would be more likely to join the Northfield post.) But they didn’t have a shortage of explanations for the age gap in their membership.

Bob Buley, a 79-year-old Korean War vet-eran, said it was easier to sign up legion members back when people in the service were generally of the same age, due to the draft.

“Now, because of the way the wars have been, you don’t have millions of guys coming in and out at the same time,” he said. “When they get out, there may not be another per-son in the service they even know. It’s hard to get someone to come to a place where they don’t know anybody.”

Mark Hughes, a 48-year-old retired Army warrant officer who joined Post No. 3 last year, noted that other national fraternal or-ganizations with local chapters—the Elks, the Masons, the Veterans of Foreign Wars—are suffering membership declines in an age when people can easily connect with their communities on Facebook.

There’s also the age thing. “A guy who’s 25 who’s talking to a guy who’s 70, he’s think-ing, OK, why would I go down there and hang out with you guys?” Hughes said. “But it’s fun—we have dinners, we have parties, we have events, we do things in the commu-nity, and you can be in the color guard.”

“We’re guilty of not blowing our own horn,” Buley chimed in. “We do a lot of things, but people don’t know we do ’em.”

Indeed, the list of scholarships and pro-grams they contribute to—both in time and dollars—is longer than a dinner-party shop-ping list. Buley, the post treasurer, rattled some off: two $500 scholarships for local high-school students, a legion baseball pro-gram for high-school boys, sponsorship of the Montpelier Tigers little-league team,

and support of the Green Mountain Con-servation Camp, Boy Scout troop #742, the Kiwanis Santa program and more.

Since taking the position of post com-mander two years ago, Dick Harlow has been working with post members on raising the profile of the group and getting more involved in these local endeavors.

“This organization is about having a voice, about having an opportunity to take action and to leave a legacy,” Hughes said.

Perhaps the future of the legion hinges on veterans like Hughes, who knows there’s a part of him that “can’t be understood by a civilian,” which is why he goes to the legion—to be understood. Vets of any age could probably relate.

“We have our own language here,” Hughes

said. “We have a culture and we have a fam-ily. These are the people I can relate to, that I understand and that understand me.”

And perhaps the future of the legion—as well as the quirky little building sandwiched between Rite Aid and the China Star restau-rant—also rests with its older members, like Dick Harlow, who know what the legion used to be and what it can become again.

“We’re really on the move, we’re doing great things,” Harlow said. “We’re trying to get back to what the American Legion is all about.”

Caroline Abels lives in Montpelier. She is the editor of Vermont’s Local Banquet magazine and the website humaneitarian.org.

A community-based nonprofi t organization serving Montpelier adults and teens for over 40 years with FREE, individualized programs in basic reading, writing, math, and computer operation, as well as English as another language, high school completion, work readiness, and preparing for college.

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Vote for Change on March 6th

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homework and understands the problems and politics of Montpelier. Best of all, he has the time, ability and desire to eff ect change. —Dot Helling“Th ierry is an approachable, energetic pro-

fessional with a “can do” attitude who will bring new and creative ideas to the table.

—Jake Brown

“Th ierry combines a love of our city with the ability to help improve its effi ciency.

—John Rahill

“Th e most empowering thing about Th ierry is his positive nature.

—Meg Hammond

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From left: Bob Buley, Dick Harlow (post commander), Barb Witham, Tom McGibney and Frank Killay (state commander).

PAGE 8 • MARCH 1–14, 2012 THE BR IDGE

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THE BR IDGE MARCH 1–14, 2012 • PAGE 9

by John Odum

On Town Meeting Day, Montpe-lier voters will be asked to vote to authorize the city to add on up to

$870,000 of new debt through municipal bonding. The service on this debt will con-tinue to be paid by city taxpayers for the life of the 20-year bond. Despite these financial implications, municipal debt and bonding continue to be mysterious to many voters.

Most people have some familiarity with treasury bills—bonds sold by the federal government. Municipal bonds work the same way but are issued by local govern-ments to raise money for an assortment of projects. The municipality sells the bond to an investor, who lends the city the money for a set period of time in exchange for regular payments. These municipal bonds are gen-erally considered very safe investments for investors.

But how much debt is too much debt for the city? According to the 2011 audit, Mont-pelier carried just short of $7.7 million dollars in bonding debt at a wide range of interest rates—some of that debt dating back to street repair and fire-department upgrades approved in the 1990s.

And that does not include debt authorized (but not yet incurred) by Montpelier vot-ers for the district heat system and Carr lot improvements.

There’s no hard and fast answer to the question of “how much is too much?” Ac-cording to Bob Giroux, director of the Ver-mont Municipal Bonding Bank, state law sets Montpelier’s limit into the stratosphere.

“I can tell you, under state statute, Mont-pelier’s cap is 10 times the grand list, but that would never happen,” said Giroux. With the most current grand list topping out at close to a billion dollars, it’s safe to say that nobody would argue that point.

According to Giroux, “for a municipality

of Montpelier’s size and services—probably 1,000 to 1,500 dollars on average per capita” is the typical amount of debt carried, with some significantly lower and others (such as Cabot) significantly higher. Giroux added that Montpelier’s per-capita debt load was “2,500 to 3,000 . . . on the high side,” but attributed that to the city’s unique burdens as the state capital.

In terms of real amounts to real taxpayers, Montpelier’s debt level required service pay-ments of $771,646 for fiscal year 2012 if you consider only the general-fund-related debt. Factor in citywide debt, including infrastruc-ture commitments off the general fund bud-get, and that figure jumps to $2,496,208.

While there aren’t hard and fast guidelines for debt ceilings, the city produced its own last September. City councilor Tom Golonka participated in a city group that formalized an official debt policy.

Golonka looked at Moody’s financial rat-ing service with an eye toward comparable towns and the goal of ensuring at least an

“A” rating for Mont-pelier.

“It worked out pretty well for a town of our size,” Golonka said of the process. He believes the policy is “a good

benchmark so we can compare year to year . . . are we better or worse off than when we started.”

Golonka indicates that the current amount of debt is manageable, noting that the biggest factor is the water facility. “I’m comfortable with this debt in terms of what we’re using it for,” he said.

According to the policy, “Total direct debt service (principal and interest) for Govern-ment Activities (General Fund and other Governmental Activities) of the City will not exceed 8.2% of the total budgeted revenues for Governmental Activities.” In addition, “Total direct debt service (principal and in-terest) for the City as a Whole (Governmen-tal Activities and Business Activities) will

not exceed 15% of the total budgeted rev-enues for the Governmental Activities and the Business Activities (Water Fund, Sewer Fund, Parking Fund).”

But some bonds already approved by voters have not been issued yet, specifically bonds approved to fund district heat development and Carr lot improvements. Montpelier fi-nance director Sandy Gallup indicates that the long-term plan that keeps Montpelier under its self-imposed debt limit calls for that debt to be issued in the coming fiscal year.

“I would apply for a bond bank issue in May, and it could be issued in July,” Gallup said, pointing out that such plans are always subject to change, if necessary.

In fact, according to figures provided by the city, if the district heat and Carr lot bonds had been issued in FY12, it would have breached the newly established debt ratio ceiling. As it is, current projections for FY13 with that additional debt would bring the city to within a percentage point of that ceiling, with the margin increasing over the following years as other debt is re-tired and the overall debt starts to decrease again. The debt service payments as well will begin to decrease from a FY13 peak of $899,403 (general fund) or $2,536,080 (citywide total).

This also means that, based on the city’s assumptions, the debt service will increase

next year by approximately $40,000, mak-ing budget discussions start from a point that much higher, assuming neither of the proposed local option taxes pass, even one of which would more than cover the increase. Off the record, some critics of the city coun-cil have suggested that the council may have had coverage of this debt in mind when the controversial local option taxes were placed on the ballot.

There is also a large amount of bonds the city continues to pay off that will be retired in coming years, which could offset that increase, at least partially.

However, the city has recently acknowl-edged that the district heat system will cost the city another $937,000 beyond the ex-pected $4,000,000 and that the numbers the city has been working from (and which were made available for this article) are likely to change—and the entire project is already coming under renewed scrutiny. John Hollar, who is running unopposed for the position of mayor, offered his opinion during a forum at the Savoy Theater on February 28 that the district heat plan should be “revisted” (Hol-lar supported the original proposal).

If the city council authorized further in-debtedness to cover the increased price tag, the city would likely still be able to stay within the new policy guidelines but would likely increase the annual debt service by a figure of roughly $70,000.

A Closer Look at City Bonding

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PAGE 10 • MARCH 1–14, 2012 THE BR IDGE

Charlie Phillips

Charlie Phillips has served on the Mont-pelier school board for three terms (six

years) and is running uncontested for another two-year term.

Why are you running for reelec-tion?

I spent 37 years of my professional life in the Montpelier school system. I was very for-tunate and my family has been fortunate to live in Montpelier. I will have four grandchil-dren in the school system come September. I’m fortunate that my two daughters have been able to come back to Montpelier with their families. I think it speaks volumes that they wanted to come back to Montpelier. All this means I have vested interest in Montpe-lier school system.

Do you have a personal agenda of things you want to achieve in the next two years?

We’ve been fighting declining enrollment for the past eight or nine years. It’s worked its way through the school system. It’s pretty much through the elementary and middle school. The major impact right now is at the high school.

Can you remember how many students were at Montpelier High School at the highest point of enrollment?

Yes, it was about 1,000 students. This had to be in the late ’60s or early ’70s.

And what are student numbers at the high school now?

At the high school, it’s about 340 now. I’ve been told the incoming freshman class next September will be just about 50 students. This incoming freshman class will be the smallest class in the school’s history.

We have declining school num-bers and rising budgets. Can you discuss that?

We are going to pay as much to heat the high school whether there are 600 students or 200 students. All of the infrastructure of the school system will stay the same regardless of the number of students. The only place you can cut is through staff reductions.

So that leads to cutting staff.And we have. The difficulty is that we

have absolute quality teachers in the school system. We have people teaching for about

15 years (they are the low people on the totem poll in many cases.) They would be cut first.

Why are we loathe to swing the budget-cutting axe at them?

Because they are quality teachers.

Is this a matter of compassion or good sense?

In my case it’s both. We don’t want to lose these outstanding teachers.

Have we cut teachers?We have cut teachers. We will cut two-

tenths of a teacher or four-tenths of a teacher. That means they will leave Montpelier and teach somewhere else.

And that’s a loss to the Montpelier school system?

Absolutely.

I understand the budget repre-sents an increase of 4.9 percent. Isn’t that high?

It sounds higher than I believe it to be.

I understand that the superin-tendent proposed a budget that was less than the budget that was finally approved by the school board? What happened?

We’ve done that to our superintendents for every one of the last three years. We gave the superintendent certain goals. When he came back he had to cut a number of teaching posi-tions, and the school board was unhappy about that. That has been the story this year and last year. It was true with Steve Metcalf as well.

Can you expand on this?The school board is saying, “We can’t lose

teacher X or teacher Y.” Let me give you an example. Let’s talk about the math program. The math teachers wanted to address some weakness in the math scores. They volun-tarily agreed to take on additional teach-ing responsibilities. As a result there were dramatic improvements. After these special classes, Montpelier’s 11th grade tested high-est in the state in the NECAP [New England Common Assessment Program] standardized tests. I think they were providing in the neighborhood of 10 to 12 classes of math support

In addition to the 11th-grade scores, MHS was singled out for exceptional performance in both math and science in the advance placement tests.

We could close the middle school and perhaps save taxpayer dol-lars. Why not?

So far the community as a whole has said, “No, we don’t want to do that. We have a good school system. We don’t want to do that.”

Jen BeanJen Bean is a school board candidate run-

ning for her first term in an uncontested race.

Why are you running for a seat on the Montpelier School Board?

It’s about being a parent and wanting the best education for the kids. It’s about being

Interviews with School Board Candidates

MONTPELIER HIGH SCHOOL'S 19TH ANNUAL

Celebration of Excellence D inner

Honoring Police Chief TONY FACOS, MHS class of ‘84; and Fire Chief BOB GOWANS, MHS class of ‘75

Saturday, March 31, 2012Capitol Plaza Hotel, Montpelier

6 p.m. social hour • 7:15 p.m. dinnerTickets $50

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THE BR IDGE MARCH 1–14, 2012 • PAGE 11

a community member and wanting to give back to the community I live in. It’s about valuing education, educators and the critical role they play in our children’s future.

Montpelier has great schools, a passion-ate and committed school board and high expectations in education. All this with bud-get constraints and tremendous challenges ahead. I’d like to be a part of shaping the future and would be honored to serve on the school board.

Do you have a personal agenda of things you’d like to pursue as a school board member?

I don’t have a personal agenda. I want to see what the landscape looks like before forming opinions. I want my opinions to be educated. I think there’s a learning curve to service on a school board. I’m looking forward to asking questions and getting fa-miliar with the budget process. There’s a lot there—the heating initiative, for example.

Would you be willing to discuss the budget issues?

This was a difficult year for the budget process. What concerns me is maintaining programmatic integrity.

What do you mean by “programmatic integrity”?

It’s hard when you have a budget where you have to make cuts. I want to keep an eye out on budget cuts—so that we don’t cut so deeply that we can’t provide students with the kind of educational offerings we pro-vide now. I’m committed to maintaining the depth and breadth of the curriculum.

Something that really concerned me this year is that we had to cut a really fantastic teacher’s salary, so that this teacher had to get another teaching job. It concerned me to lose a teacher who was talented and ef-fective. I would love to figure out a way to retain teachers who have had the greatest impact on kids. It breaks me up that the kids coming along may not have the benefit of really talented teachers, because, when we cut them back from full-time teachers, we also cut their salaries. This is what I mean by maintaining our programmatic integrity. We need to keep our best teachers, and we need to preserve the diversity of our program offerings. This is how we stay at the level where we are now. The question is how do we make a long-range plan to weather some of the storms and keep our most talented and effective teachers and offer the children who

are coming up the same kind of quality that we have now.

Sue Aldrich

With 11 years of service, School Board Chair Sue Aldrich is the longest-

serving member of the school board. This is her first year as chair. She is not up for reelection.

What do you see as the major issues facing the school board?

One of the major issues is declining enroll-ment. This year’s eighth-grade class is the smallest class ever. When they reach high school next year, the school will have the lowest enrollment in years—certainly since I first came onto the board. The good news, however, is that we’re seeing a swelling of numbers in the lower grades. Enrollment is expanding at Union Elementary School. We have had to add a couple of kindergarten classes and now have five. That’s a very good sign for the future.

Can you discuss the impact of declining enrollments in Montpelier?

Our struggle is that we know we have some fantastic teachers in our system that we don’t want to lose in the short term. We have high-school graduates who are going to Har-vard, Yale, Stanford, Middlebury. The level of acceptance is really great and depends so much on our great teachers. We don’t want to lose them simply due to a short-term drop in school enrollment.

Why don’t you hold onto the very good teachers and let go of the teachers who are less effective?

The teacher’s union contract makes that very difficult to do, and we do what we can. But I’m pleased to say that the real truth is there aren’t that many underperforming teachers.

We’re always hope-ful we can bump up student enrollment numbers. Sometime we do this by work-ing with neighboring school districts or by working with private schools. In any given year, we don’t know the actual student numbers until September. I am pleased that we appear to be getting a lot more students than in the past attending Montpelier High School as “tuitioned-in” students. But as anyone who follows our meetings knows, the school board constantly asks itself, “Do we strictly follow the enroll-ment numbers or do we try to hold onto our really good teachers?”

There has been talk about merging Montpelier’s superin-tendent’s office with the U-32 superintendent’s office and realizing some dollar savings—what about that?

We regularly reach out to discuss sharing programs and services with U-32 and other districts—most recently with Northfield. Basically, no one wants to give up their local control, but we believe that sharing some classes, some athletic programs is healthy and good for our community.

The bottom line is I think very few people in either Montpelier or U-32 would be in favor of a complete merger. At the very least we would immediately lose some of the fantastic competition between our districts (could you believe those two recent buzzer-beaters?).

Closing the middle school has been proposed as a way of saving taxpayer money. Why not close the middle school?

We have looked at this proposal. Two things have led to keeping the status quo. The first is that there appears to be a general consensus in Montpelier to keep the middle school separate from the high school for programmatic and developmental reasons.

The second, and more defensible reason, is cost. Twice, in the past five years, we have explored moving the middle school to the high school—the last time only a year ago. In the last review we asked former Montpe-lier school superintendent Brian O’Regan to look at closing down the middle school and report back to us. His findings confirmed

that the cost of merg-ing the middle and high schools didn’t justify the expense.

Can you talk about special education? It appears to be

an expensive budget item.Special education is an entitlement issue.

Students with special needs are entitled to get help. Vermont is also known as a state that addresses special needs very well.

As a citizen I have to trust the trained professionals who interview these kids and identify their needs. We are seeing more and more kids whose lives are affected by social issues for whom the schools are really the last place in which their lives may be turned around. As a society we can’t turn our backs on these children or their families. These may be students from families afflicted by alcohol or substance abuse. Or, due to pov-erty, some children arrive at school not hav-ing had breakfast. How can we ignore their issues, or, as bad, not treat each one’s issues independently? There is no simple solution, and no simple answer here.

Children affected by all of these things are bringing their problems into the school. The schools need to diagnose these kids and identify the problems and see what’s going to work for these students. I think the impact of these social issues is placing a heavier and heavier burden on the school. We have more children with special needs such as dyslexia. We can’t just slash the special education bud-get. Then there are people who are moving to Vermont from other places because of our attention to special education. Montpelier does a particularly good job at special educa-tion, and that’s true for Vermont as well. It draws people to the state.

Other issues?The budget is important. But the school

board is aware that the world is constantly changing. The old educational format—rows of kids sitting in chairs with a teacher at the front of the class—is giving way to new modes of learning and teaching. We continue to ask ourselves, “What the best way to educate our students in a responsible fashion so that when the kids leave school, they’re excited, passionate and ready to join in the local and national community and make a difference, whether they want to be an an artist, an auto mechanic or a college professor?

We want every kid to follow their dream or their passion. What’s the best way to deliver a 21st-century education to our children? That’s what the school board is all about.

Elections

Watch the Montpelier Candidate Forum!The Bridge and ORCA Media sponsored a forum featuring mayoral candidate John Hollar, District 2 incumbent city councilor

Nancy Sherman, District 2 challenger Thierry Guerlain and District 1 incumbent Alan Weiss. It took place on February 20 in the city council chambers, and was moderated by Cassandra Brush.

The forum will be rebroadcast on ORCA’s Channel 17 at the following times ahead of the election: March 1 at 1 p.m., Saturday, March 3 at 8 p.m. and Monday, March 5 at 4 p.m. The forum is also available for streaming at orcamedia.net. The video player is in the center of the screen, and the menu is on the right-hand side. Look for: “Mplr City Candidate’s Frm” in the menu, click on it, and the evening’s forum will play.

Curious about candidates beyond Montpelier? The Bridge has compiled a list of other local races; it’s available on our website, montpelierbridge.com, and our Facebook page, facebook.com/montpelierbridge.

PAGE 12 • MARCH 1–14, 2012 THE BR IDGE

by Jo Ann Corskie Gibbons

In the last five years, 75 percent of Mont-pelier residents who voted approved the municipal budget as written. How many

people have read through and understand the proposed fiscal year (FY) 2013 budget?

If we listen carefully to the city’s budget message, we hear that we are doing well, spending at par for our size, and have no room to pare down costs. Does this imply we are so efficient that there are no savings or reallocations to be made anywhere in the entire budget?

The FY2013 budget is projected to be $10,635,878; add to that the ballot items of $474,150 and the total general fund will be $11,110,028. The 2012 annual city report states that the average residence in Montpe-lier is valued at $223,000. The average tax bill is $2,139 (excluding the school taxes). The largest shares of dollars are for fire and emergency medical services at $393; police at $387; public works at $321 and admin-istration at $315. Putting these numbers in perspective, the property-tax dollars raised for FY 2013 will generate $6.9 million of the total $11.7 million revenue projected to be raised from all sources.

In light of the current budget debates, here are some questions to examine.

On TechnologyThe City of Montpelier has established a

website. This initiative has been a large bud-get item. Hardware, software and technology support are needed to establish and maintain this site.

• Could a city our size have used a profes-sional webmaster instead of hiring people in house as employees?

• What would the cost savings be? This challenge of moving to a digital-records access is a challenge every community is facing in this new information age.

On Budget Policy, Procedure and Process

• Could the city council and administra-tion take a fresh look at expenses and be more creative at reallocating resources?

• Are there some new positions that can be temporary? This would reduce the future legacy accounts related to pension and insurance costs.

• Are some tasks better performed by professionals from the outside for a fee instead of a salary?

• Could we become more efficient with technology, thereby reducing payroll hours?

On Equipment Acquisition• Can we lease more as an alternative to

purchasing?• Can we make the budget-making pro-

cess more transpar-ent throughout the year and get more input from the com-munity?—Perhaps a group of volunteers could assist in the research and analy-sis of items that are

needed and report back the cost of leas-ing versus purchase on each.

On Bonding• What categories of items should qualify

as bond items? • The City of Montpelier has been bond-

ing for maintenance. Is this the best way to move forward?

• Should we continue to bond items as we have, or should bonding be for planning items that are well thought out and al-located in advance?

On the Matrix Consulting Report

• Could the report be interpreted and dis-cussed by a Montpelier volunteer com-mittee and reported to the citizens for more transparency?

• How many of the recommendations from the study have been implemented?

• What would our cost savings be if we make the changes in the 2013/2014 bud-get year?

On the Whole Budget• There are items that grow automati-

cally. Payroll and benefits are the best examples. Can we curb personnel and administrative expenses?

• Can we make some compromises and open up a discussion for new hires?

• Is it possible to change the way the coun-cil relates to the city manager?

• Is it possible to change the city charter to accomplish this?

• What are we paying for?• Is this fiscal path sustainable?

Jo Ann Corskie Gibbons is a management consultant. She lives in Montpelier.

Querying the Montpelier Budget

Opinion

Tell them you saw it in The Bridge!

THE BR IDGE CALENDAR OF E VENTS MARCH 1–14, 2012 • PAGE C .1

Upcoming EventsFRIDAY, MARCH 2Stress-Busting Recipes for HealthWith Marie Frohlich, health coach. Learn about foods that cause stress and fatigue, make a serenity smoothie and taste delicious, calming treats and tea. Recipes and handouts included. 5:30–7 p.m. Hunger Mountain Coop community room, Montpelier. $6 member/owners, $8 nonmembers. Register at 223-8004, ext. 202, or info@hungermountain.com.

CoffeehouseEnjoy live music and share your own. Fellowship, potluck snacks and beverages.7–9 p.m. Trinity United Methodist Church, 137 Main Street, Montpelier (park and enter at rear). Free. Dick, 244-5191, 472-8297 or rawilburjr@comcast.net. Event happens every first Friday.

Arnowitt Plays BachPianist Michael Arnowitt performs an all-Bach concert, including J.S. Bach’s Partitas 1, 2, 3, and 5, and some of the pianist’s favorite selections from the Well-Tempered Clavier. 8 p.m. Unitarian Church, Montpelier. $20, $18 seniors, $5 students. Tickets at Bear Pond Books in Montpelier or at the door. 229-0984 or mapiano.com.

SATURDAY, MARCH 3Snowshoe with the Green Mountain Club, Montpelier SectionSnowshoe to the fire tower on Gore Mountain in Avery’s Gore. Difficult; 8 miles round trip. A joint outing with the Northeast Kingdom Section. Contact leader Michael Chernick, 249-0520 or chernick5@comcast.net, for meeting time and place.

Healing Art and Writing with Patricia FontaineFor all those affected by cancer or chronic illness. No experience necessary. 10 a.m.–noon. Mountainview Medical meeting room, CVMC Building B, Berlin. Free. 225-5449.

Montpelier Winter Farmers’ MarketLive music by the House Carpenters.10 a.m.–2 p.m. Gym, Vermont College of Fine Arts, Montpelier. Carolyn, 223-2958 or manager@montpelierfarmersmarket.com. Market happens every first and third Saturday through April.

Corporations are People, Money is Speech: Why Should You Care?Attorney Anthony Iarrapino will explain recent changes in law that are fueling town meeting resolutions supporting an amendment to the U.S. constitution. Potluck follows.5:30 p.m. Capital City Grange, 6612 Route 12 (Northfield Street), Berlin. Free. Marj, 229-0782.

Shape-Note Singing School Ian Smiley leads tunes from The Sacred Harp. All welcome; no experience necessary. 6–8 p.m. Tulsi Tea Room, 34 Main Street, Montpelier. By donation. Ian, 229-4008 or vtshapenotesingers@gmail.com. Event happens every first and third Saturday.

Free Family ConcertContemporary Christian music with Vermont recording artist Madeleine McHugh. Bring a refreshment to share. 6–8 p.m. Calais Woodbury United Church, South Woodbury, Route 14. 371-7969 or srbr@underoneroofministry.com. Sponsored by by Under One Roof Ministry.

Art Songs of France and SpainSoprano Roxanne Vought and pianist Annemieke Spoelstra perform songs by Canteloube, Chausson, de Falla and Rodrigo. Presented by Vermont Opera Theater7:30 p.m. Unitarian Church, 130 Main Street, Montpelier. Suggested donation: $15 adult, $10 low income, $5 student. 223-8610 or vermontopera.org.

Contra DanceAll dances taught; no partner necessary. All ages welcome. Bring soft-soled shoes.8–11 p.m. Capital City Grange, 6612 Route 12 (Northfield Street), Berlin. $8. 744-6163. Event happens every first, third and fifth Saturday.

SUNDAY, MARCH 4Ski with the Green Mountain Club, Montpelier SectionEasy, 2-mile ski on Coburn Pond in East Montpelier. Meet at 1 p.m. at Montpelier High School. Leader: Thomas Weiss, 223-5603.

Bagels and Challot Baking with Deb BailinLearn how to make bagels, and get tips and recipes for making challah. 2–4 p.m. Beth Jacob Synagogue, Montpelier. $7 synagogue members, $12 nonmembers. Register with Emily, 279-7518 or bjprogramming@gmail.com. bethjacobvt.org.

Film Event: The Naked OptionScreening of a recently released award-winning documentary about Nigerian women’s struggles to fight big oil companies in their communities, followed by Q&A with a Goddard faculty member who helped produce the film.7–9 p.m. Haybarn Theater, Goddard College, 123 Pitkin Road, Plainfield. 454-8311 or goddard.edu.

MONDAY, MARCH 5Cardio-Dance and Yoga with Allison MannA cardio workout with great moves and music, complemented by sustained yoga postures to strengthen, lengthen and balance the musculature. Drop-ins welcome.Noon–1 p.m. Contemporary Dance and Fitness Studio, 18 Langdon Street (third floor), Montpe-lier. 229-4676 or cdandfs.com.

Hurricane Irene Support Group for Recovery WorkersGet peer support and help processing emotions, strengthen relationships, and learn coping skills. Led by Ellia Cohen and Christina Ducharme.3:30 p.m. Unitarian Church, 130 Main Street. 855-767-8800. Group meets every other Monday.

Foot Reflexology for HealthWith Alicia Feltus, foot reflexologist. Enjoy an aromatherapy foot bath and learn basic reflex-ology techniques, reflex points on the feet, benefits and self-care for health and well-being.5:30–6:30 p.m. Hunger Mountain Coop community room, Montpelier. $5 member/owners, $8 nonmembers. Register at 223-8004, ext. 202, or info@hungermountain.com.

Acupressure for Self-Care With Larken Bunce, core faculty. Learn simple point location and self-massage techniques for headaches, digestive upset, colds, anxiety, fatigue and more. 6–8 p.m. Vermont Center for Integrative Herbalism, 250 Main Street, Montpelier. $10 VCIH members, $12 nonmembers. Register at 224-7100 or info@vtherbcenter.org.

Classic Book Club6 p.m. Cutler Memorial Library, Route 2, Plainfield. Free. Daniel, 793-0418. Event happens every first Monday.

see UPCOMING EVENTS, page C.2

Live MusicBAGITOS28 Main Street, Montpelier. All shows 6–8 p.m. unless otherwise noted. 229-9212 or bagitos.com.Every SaturdayIrish/Celtic session, 2–5 p.m.Friday, March 2Blue FoxTuesday, March 6Jazz with Karl Miller Wednesday, March 7Acoustic blues jam with the Usual Suspects and guestsThursday, March 8Aaron Marcus (traditional)Friday, March 9Clancy HarrisSaturday, March 10A Taste Of Mint (jazz)Tuesday, March 13Jazz with Karl Miller Wednesday, March 14Acoustic blues jam with the Usual Suspects. 5–7 p.m.Comedy, 7–8 p.m.Thursday, March 15Colin McCaffrey and Sarah Blair

BIG PICTURE THEATER48 Carroll Road (just off Route 100), Waits-field. Most shows by donation. 496-8994 or bigpicturetheater.info.Wednesday, March 7Valley Night with Don & Jenn

Wednesday, March 14Valley Night with Phineas Gage, 6 p.m.

BLACK DOOR44 Main Street, Montpelier. All shows start at 9:30 p.m. with $5 cover unless otherwise noted. 225-6479 or blackdoorvermont.com.Friday, March 2D’Moja (world)Saturday, March 3Hot Neon Magic (1980s)Wednesday, March 7Swing night with live band, 8 p.m.Friday, March 9Swing Caravan (gypsy swing), $10Saturday, March 10The Amida Bourbon Project (folk/Ameri-cana)Wednesday, March 14Comedy open mic with B.O.B.

CHARLIE O’S70 Main Street, Montpelier. 223-6820.Every TuesdayKaraokeEvery ThursdayBingo for Vermont Foodbank, 9 p.m.Friday, March 2Township (rock)Saturday, March 3Horseshoe Lounge Playboys (bluegrass)Friday, March 9TBA

CIDER HOUSE RESTAURANTRoute 2, Waterbury. 244-8400Every SaturdayDan Boomhower (piano), 6 p.m.–close; no performance March 10

FRESH TRACKS FARM 4373 Route 12, Berlin. 223-1151 or info@freshtracksfarm.com.Friday, March 2Meg’s Kitchen (Celtic/jazz/swing), 5–8 p.m.

GUSTO’S28 Prospect Street, Barre. 476-7919 or gustosbar.com.Saturday, March 10Dave Keller Band, 9:30 p.m.

NUTTY STEPH’S CHOCOLATERIERoute 2, Middlesex. All shows 7–10 p.m. un-less otherwise noted. 229-2090 ornuttystephs.com.Every ThursdayBacon Thursdays, hot music and live conver-sation, 6 p.m.–midnight

PURPLE MOON PUBRoute 100, Waitsfield.Saturday, March 3The Starline Rhythm Boys (honky-tonk/rockabilly), 8:30–11:30 p.m.

SKINNY PANCAKE89 Main Street, Montpelier. 262-2253 or skinnypancake.com.Every SundayOld-time sessions with Katie Trautz and friends, 4–6 p.m. (intermediate to advanced players welcome to sit in)Sunday, March 4 Mind The GapSunday, March 11Paul Cataldo (Americana)

Ø TheaterTHE RULES OF COMEDYA physical comedy extravaganza in one act, presented by 17 actors age 9–15 from the winter Youth Theater Produc-tion Camp.Friday, March 2, 5:30 p.m. Lost Nation Theater, 39 Main Street, Montpelier. $5. 229-0492 or lostnationtheater.org.

YOUTH AUDITIONS FOR MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHINGShakespeare in the Hills’ youth pro-duction, for ages 9–18. Performance June 8. 15-minute interview; no prepa-ration necessary.Sunday, March 4, noon–4 p.m, Plain-field Community Center, 153 Main Street (above the co-op). Call Peter, 454-9334, to schedule an audition.

CALL TO PLAYWRIGHTSVermont Playwrights Circle seeks 10-page or 10-minute scripts by Vermont authors for Ten-Fest in August. For more information, contact Jeanne, rialto@tds.net, or visit vermontplay wrightscircle.org. Deadline is March 31.

Æ

SUBMIT YOUR EVENT!Send listings to calendar@

montpelierbridge.com. Deadline for the March 15 issue is Friday, March 9.

Better Birding Series: Deciphering DucksWith Larry Clarfeld of the North Branch Nature Center. Learn a simple approach to watching waterfowl and how to distinguish species in flight or when they’re just sitting in front of you.6:30 p.m. First Baptist Church, School Street, Montpelier. $10. 229-6206.

New England Winds ConcertOn tour from Hanscom Air Force Base, Massachusetts, the quintet performs popular, Broad-way, patriotic, jazz and folk music, as well as traditional woodwind quintet repertoire.7 p.m. Kellogg-Hubbard Library, Montepelier. Free. 223-3338 or bandofliberty.af.mil.

Guest Speaker: Frances Moore LappéThe nationally known speaker on environmental sustainability and ecological and social justice talks about her new book, EcoMind: Changing the Way We Think, to Create the World We Want. Q&A, books for sale and book signing to follow.7 p.m. Haybarn Theater, Goddard College, 123 Pitkin Road, Plainfield. 454-8311 or goddard.edu.

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 7Agatha Christie: Creator of Miss Jane Marple and Hercule PoirotWith Helene Lang, professor emeritus at the University of Vermont. Part of the weekly Osher Lifelong Learning Institute spring series.1:30 p.m.; doors open at 12:30 for brown-bag lunch. Vermont College of Fine Arts, Montpelier. $5 suggested donation. 223-1763 or clb247@cornell.edu.

Spices Beyond Salt and PepperWith Delna Boyce. Learn how to use cardamom, mace, black mustard, coriander, clove, carom seeds, anise and more to bring the varied flavors of international cuisine to your meals.5–6:30 p.m. Hunger Mountain Coop community room, Montpelier. $10 member/owners, $12 nonmembers. Register at 223-8004, ext. 202, or info@hungermountain.com.

The Door That Led to the Night StrangersBestselling novelist Chris Bohjalian discusses the inspiration for and the writing of his latest novel. A Vermont Humanities Council event.7 p.m. Kellogg-Hubbard Library, Montpelier. Free. 223-3338.

Classic Film NightThis 1937 fantastical comedy, directed by Mark Sandrich and starring Roland Young, Cary Grant and Constance Bennett, involves the haunting of a banker by two ghosts.7 p.m. Jaquith Public Library, Marshfield. Free. 426-3581 or jaquithpubliclibrary@gmail.com.

Ecstatic DanceFreestyle boogie with DJ using Gabrielle Roth’s mediative dance form, 5Rhythms.7–9 p.m. Worcester Town Hall, corner of Elmore Road and Calais Road. $5–$10 donation. Fearn, 505-8011 or fearnessence@gmail.com. Event happens every first and third Wednesday, and fourth Wednesdays at the Plainfield Community Center.

THURSDAY, MARCH 8Ski with the Green Mountain Club, Montpelier SectionOutings of various distances for all abilities at the Mount Mansfield Touring Center in Stowe.Call leaders Mary Garcia, 229-0153, or Mary Smith, 505-0603, for meeting time and place.

Stress Reduction and MassageWith Sarah Shapiro of Greenheart Massage. Learn about the effects of stress, do hands-on exercises to get into your body and learn how to give and receive seated shoulder massage.6–7:30 p.m. Hunger Mountain Coop community room, Montpelier. Free for member/owners, $5 nonmembers. Register at 223-8004, ext. 202, or info@hungermountain.com.

Ukulele Group All ages and abilities welcome.6–8 p.m. Montpelier Senior Activity Center, 46 Barre Street, Montpelier. 223-2518. Event hap-pens every second and fourth Thursday.

Winter Bike Workshops: International Women’s DayPower to the pedal! Celebrate women of our community, cycling and peace.6–8 p.m. Magic Wheel, 34 Granite Street, Barre. $25 or two Onion River Exchange hours; five workshops for $100. Register at 477-7800, ext.18, or magicwheelvt@gmail.com. magicwheel.org. Workshops happen every Thursday through March.

Come Visit BhutanTina Muncy shares stories and pictures of her visit to Bhutan last fall.7 p.m. Montpelier Senior Activity Center, 46 Barre Street, Montpelier. Donations welcome for the MSAC scholarship fund. 223-2518.

Film Showing: Once in Afghanistan Jill Vickers, Peace Corp volunteer and Vermont filmmaker, shows her documentary of one Peace Corps group’s experience in Afghanistan in the 1960s vaccinating against smallpox.7 p.m. Crossett Brook Middle School Library. Free.

Ecumenical GroupSongs of praise, Bible teaching, fellowship.7–9 p.m. Jabbok Center for Christian Living, 8 Daniel Drive, Barre. Free. 476-3873. Event hap-pens every second and fourth Thursday.

FRIDAY, MARCH 9The Alexander TechniqueWith Katie Back. Improve your sense of well-being, feel more present and alive, and regain the natural grace and poise of a child. For all ages and bodies. Bring a mug and a blanket or mat.5:30–7:30 p.m. Hunger Mountain Coop community room, Montpelier. $3 member/owners, $5 nonmembers. Register at 223-8004, ext. 202, or info@hungermountain.com.

String Workshop with Paul ReynoldsPaul Reynolds unravels the mysteries of tone production for string players. Learn different ways to use the bow and left hand to create the best possible sound. Open to all levels. Bring your instrument and pieces you are working on. Auditors welcome.6:30 p.m. Monteverdi Music School, 46 Barre Street, Montpelier. $20 suggested donation.

Naturalist Journeys Lecture Series: Shipwrecks of Lake ChamplainLake Champlain has the largest collection of shipwrecks in North America. Alex Lehning of the Lake Champlain Maritime Museum presents the stories of several of these vessels and explores the environmental issues affecting their documentation and conservation.7 p.m. Unitarian Church, 130 Main Street, Montpelier. By donation. 229-6206. Sponsored by the North Branch Nature Center.

Red HorseThis folk supergroup is John Gorka, Eliza Gilkyson and Lucy Kaplansky, three of today’s finest folk/roots singer-songwriters. Part of the TD Bank Celebration Series. 8 p.m. Barre Opera House. $10–$30. Tickets at 476-8188 or barreoperahouse.org.

SATURDAY, MARCH 10Snowshoe with the Green Mountain Club, Montpelier SectionTrek from Route 12 to Little Elmore Pond. Moderate; 4 miles round trip. Call leader Priscilla Daggett, 454-1234 or pdaggett@myfairpoint.net, for meeting time and place.

Occupy! Goddard: Occupy Wall Street and Student ActivismAn open discussion about the role of higher education in student protest, the core values of OWS and the future of the Occupy movement. Keynote by author Les Leopold.

UPCOMING EVENTS, from page C.1

Support GroupsTURNING POINT CENTERSafe, supportive place for individuals and their families in or seeking recovery.• Alchoholics Anonymous, Sundays,

8:30 a.m.• Making Recovery Easier workshops, Tues-

days, 6–7:30 p.m.• Wit’s End Parent Support Group, Wednes-

days, 6 p.m. • Narcotics Anonymous, Thursdays,

6:30 p.m. Open daily, 10 a.m.–5 p.m. 489 North Main Street, Barre. 479-7373.

KINDRED CONNECTIONSFor anyone affected by cancer. Get help from Kindred Connections members whohave been in your shoes. A program of the Vermont Cancer Survivor Network.Call Sherry, 479-3223, for more information. vcsn.net.

BEREAVEMENT SUPPORT GROUPFor anyone who has experienced the death of a loved one.Every other Monday, 6–8 p.m., through April 16. Every other Wednesday, 10–11:30 a.m., through April 11. Central Vermont Home Health and Hospice, 600 Granger Road, Barre. Ginny, 223-1878.

BRAIN INJURY SUPPORT GROUPSOpen to all survivors, caregivers and adult family members. Evening group facilitated by Marsha Bancroft; day group facilitated by Kathy Grange and Jane Hulstrunk.Evening group meets first Mondays, 5:30–7:30 p.m., DisAbility Rights of Vermont, 141 Main Street, Suite 7, Montpelier, 800-834-7890, ext. 106. Day group meets first and third Thursdays, 1:30–2:30 p.m., Unitarian Church, 130 Main Street, Montpelier, 244-6850.

GRANDPARENTS RAISING THEIR CHILDREN’S CHILDRENFirst Wednesdays, 10 a.m.–noon, Barre Presbyterian Church, Summer Street. Second Tuesdays, 6–8 p.m., Wesley Methodist Church, Main Street, Waterbury. Third Thursdays, 6–8 p.m., Trinity United Methodist Church, 137 Main Street. Child care provided in Montpelier and Waterbury. Evelyn, 476-1480.

LIVING WITH ADVANCED OR METASTATIC CANCER Second Tuesdays, noon to 1 p.m. Cancer Cen-ter resource room, Central Vermont Medical Center. Lunch provided. 225-5449

WRITING TO ENRICH YOUR LIFEFor anyone affeced by cancer. Third Tuesdays, noon to 1 p.m. Cancer Center resource room, Central Vermont Medical Center. 225-5449

BEREAVED PARENTS SUPPORT GROUP

Facilitated by Central Vermont Home Health and Hospice (CVHHH).Second Wednesdays, 6–8 p.m. CVHHH, 600 Granger Road, Berlin. Jeneane Lunn, 793-2376.

CELIAC AND FOOD ALLERGY SUPPORT GROUPWith Lisa Masé of Harmonized Cookery.Second Wednesdays, 4:30–6 p.m. Central Vermont Medical Center, conference room 3. lisamase@gmail.com.

CANCER SUPPORT GROUPThird Wednesdays, 6 p.m. Potluck. For loca-tion, call Carole MacIntyre, 229-5931.

MAN-TO-MAN PROSTATE CANCER SUPPORT GROUPThird Wednesdays, 6–8p.m. Conference room 2, Central Vermont Medical Center. 872-6398 or 225-5449.

MAMA’S CIRCLE GROUP Support for parenting in a group setting. For babies, toddlers and preschoolers; books, toys and light refreshment available. Hosted by Good Beginnings of Central Vermont.Thursdays, 10 a.m.–noon. 172 River Street, Montpelier.

NAMI: CONNECTIONA peer-led, recovery-oriented group for indi-viduals living with mental illness.First and third Thursdays, 6–7:30 p.m. Kellogg-Hubbard Library, Montpelier. 800-639-6480 or connection@namivt.org.

DIABETES DISCUSSION GROUPFocus on self-management. Open to anyone with diabetes and their families.Third Thursdays, 6:30 p.m. The Health Center, Plainfield. Free. Don, 322-6600 or dgrabowski@the-health-center.org.

MEN’S GROUPMen discuss challenges of and insights about being male.Thursdays, 6:15–8:15 p.m. 174 Elm Street, Montpelier. Interview required: contact Neil Davis, psychologist-master, 223-3753.

DIABETES SUPPORT GROUPFirst Thursdays, 7–8 p.m. Conference room 3, Central Vermont Medical Center. 371-4152.

OVEREATERS ANONYMOUSTwelve-step program for physically,emotionally and spiritually overcoming overeating.Fridays, noon–1 p.m. Bethany Church, 115 Main Street, Montpelier. 223-3079.

NATIONAL FEDERATION OF THE BLIND, MONTPELIER CHAPTERFirst Saturdays. Lane Shops community room, 1 Mechanic Street, Montpelier. 229-0093.

FAMILIES OF COLOROpen to all families. Play, eat and discuss is-sues of adoption, race and multiculturalism. Bring snacks and games to share, and dress for the weather.Third Sundays, 3–5 p.m. Unitarian Church, 130 Main Street, Montpelier. Alyson, 439-6096 or alyson@suncatchervt.com.

PAGE C .2 • MARCH 1–14, 2012 THE BR IDGE CALENDAR OF E VENTS

9 a.m–5 p.m. Haybarn Theater, Goddard College, 123 Pitkin Road, Plainfield. $10, includes lunch. Full schedule and registration at goddard.edu/occupy.

Dental Town Meeting with Bernie SandersShare your thoughts and concerns about obtaining affordable dental care in Vermont.Refreshments at 10:30 a.m.; meeting begins at 11 a.m. Montpelier High School. Free. RSVP requested but not required: 800-339-9834 or sanders.senate.gov.

Acro Yoga Montreal Workshop Beginner-friendly workshop with Lori Mortimer.10:30 a.m.–12:30 p.m. River House Yoga, Plainfield. $20. Preregister at 324-1737 or sattvayoga.wordpress.com.

ZumbathonJoin Melissa Story and eight other local Zumba Instructors to sweat for a great cause: finding a cure for ALS (Lou Gehrig’s disease). 1–3 p.m.; doors open at 12:30 p.m. Vermont College of Fine Arts gymnasium. $20 person, $30 for two. 272-4305.

Art’s FirstFree art activities for youths age 7–10.1–3:30 p.m. Studio Place Arts, Barre. Register at 479-7069. Event repeats Saturday, March 17.

Crafternoon for Adults and Teens: Simple Beaded JewelryWith local artisan Sue Premore. Make a necklace, bracelet or earrings. 2–4 p.m. Waterbury Public Library. Free, but space is limited to 10 participants: call the library at 244-7036 to register.

Vermont Fiddle Orchestra Spring Town Hall TourDinner, music and dancing to benefit the Friends of Doty Elementary School enrichment activities.Dinner at 5 p.m.; music and dancing at 6:30 p.m.. Worcester Town Hall. Suggested donation: $10 individual, $30 family. 877-343-3531 or vtfiddleorchestra.org.

Adamant Winter Music Series: Rusty RomanceOptional potluck before the show.5:30 p.m., potluck; 7 p.m., concert. Adamant Community Club, intersection of Haggett and Mar-tin Roads. $10 in advance at the Adamant Co-op, $15 at the door.

Annual Library Fundraiser Contra Dance With Susannah Blachly and Susan Reid on fiddles and George White on guitar. Benefits the Jaquith Public Library in Marshfield. Refreshments available.7 p.m. Vivien and Michael Fritz’s barn, 693 McCrillis Road, Marshfield. 426-3581 or jaquithpubliclibrary@gmail.com.

Sixth Annual Kaleidoscope of Talent Variety ShowInstrumental, vocal, dance and comedy performances by talented local folks. Benefit for Green Mountain United Way.7 p.m. Spaulding High School auditorium, Barre. $10 adults, $5 children and seniors. Tickets at 229-9532, gmunitedway.org or at the door.

SUNDAY, MARCH 11Snowshoe with the Young Adventurers ClubAn easy outing in Worcester for all ages. YAC is a group of the Montpelier Section of the Green Mountain Club devoted to helping parents and kids 0–6 years old get outdoors.Call leader Shawn Keeley, 229-0933, for meeting time and place.

Second Sunday Concert9:30 a.m. Bethany United Church of Christ, 115 Main Street, Montpelier. Free.

WGDR/WGDH Annual Community Address Community celebration of independent Vermont media and local arts, culture and activism with keynote speakers Shay Totten, Robert Resnik and Barbara Vacarr.12:30–5 p.m. Haybarn Theater, Goddard College, 123 Pitkin Road, Plainfield. 454-7367 or wgdr.org.

Theosophic Midrash and the Zohar’s Theory of JusticeDartmouth College professor Ehud Benor talks about the Kabbalistic text, the Zohar. Lecture-style workshop with some discussion and time spent studying text. 2–4 p.m. Beth Jacob Synagogue, Montpelier. $5 suggested donation. Register with Emily, 279-7518 or bjprogramming@gmail.com. bethjacobvt.org.

Vermont Sisters in Crime Read New Mysteries Vermont mystery writers read samples from new work. Refreshments provided.2:15 p.m. Unitarian Church, 130 Main Street, Montpelier. Free. sincne.org.

Film Series: Migrant Workers in Vermont, Immigration and GlobalizationExplore what life is like for Vermont’s undocumented workers, as well as global influences and policies. Today’s film: 9500 Liberty. Facilitated discussion follows.3–5 p.m. Unitarian Church of Montpelier, 130 Main Street, Montpelier. Free. Madeline, 229 5951. Event happens every second and fourth Sunday through April.

Shape Note/Sacred Harp SingNo experience needed. All welcome.5–7 p.m. Plainfield Community Center (above the co-op). By donation. 426-3849 or 426-3850. Event happens every second Sunday.

MONDAY, MARCH 12Open House at Pacem School and Homeschool Center 4:30–6:30 p.m. 29 College Street, Montpelier. 223-1010

Meditation GroupPeople of all abilities and experience levels welcome for meditation and discussion based on Adyashanti’s writings and talks.6:30–8 p.m. Kellogg-Hubbard Library, Montpelier. Sherry, 479-3223, oreaseofflow.com.

Maine to Greenland: Exploring the Maritime Far NortheastSlideshow about the forthcoming Smithsonian project and publication by Will Richard, research fellow at the Smithsonian and the Uummannaq Polar Institute). Part of the Osgood Lectures on the North series.7 p.m. Kellogg-Hubbard Library, Montpelier. Free. 223-3338. Sponsored by the Center for Cir-cumpolar Studies.

TUESDAY, MARCH 13Medicare and YouNew to Medicare? Have questions? We have answers.3–4:30 p.m. Central Vermont Council on Aging, 59 North Main Street, Suite 200, Barre. Free. Register at 479-0531. Event happens every second and fourth Tuesday.

Nutrition Response TestingWith Alicia Feltus, health educator and nutrition coach. Learn how this technique helps deter-mine chemical and metal toxicity, food sensitivities, and immune and nutritional imbalances.5:30–6:30 p.m. Hunger Mountain Coop community room, Montpelier. Free. Register at 223-8004, ext. 202, or info@hungermountain.com.

Quilting GroupWorking meeting of the Dog River Quilters.6 p.m. Maplewood Quilts, 29 East Street, Northfield. 223-7984. Event happens every second Tuesday.

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 14Preschool Discovery Program: Tap a TreeHow does maple syrup get produced? What is special about our state tree? Kids age 3–5 ex-plore the sugaring season and the world of the sugarmaker. 10–11:30 a.m. North Branch Nature Center, 713 Elm Street, Montpelier. $5 per child. 229-6206. Event repeats Thursday. March 15.

Music to Go to the Dump By: Community Radio in VermontWith broadcaster Ken Squier of WDEV and WCVT. Part of the weekly Osher Lifelong Learn-ing Institute spring series.1:30 p.m.; doors open at 12:30 for brown-bag lunch. Vermont College of Fine Arts, Montpelier. $5 suggested donation. 223-1763 or clb247@cornell.edu.

Europe by Bike or FootSecond meeting of interested travelers. Connect with others in groups organized by interest in biking or hiking/walking and preferred destination. A slideshow on DVD is available.5 p.m. Montpelier Senior Activity Center, 46 Barre Street, Montpelier. Donations welcome for the MSAC scholarship fund. 223-2518.

Wellness for Kids and Parents With Shona MacDougall, clinical herbalist. Learn which herbs, foods and supplements can rev up your immune system and keep your whole family healthy. Take home herbal preparations.6–8 p.m. Vermont Center for Integrative Herbalism, 250 Main Street, Montpelier. $15 VCIH members, $18 nonmembers. Register at 224-7100 or info@vtherbcenter.org.

Art & ExhibitsCALL TO ARTISTSWork by Washington, Orange and Lamoille county visual artists age 70+ wanted for third annual Art of Creative Aging show.Submit digital photographs of up to three works of art for jury review by March 16. Send submissions to Margaret Harmon, mharmon@cvcoa.org or 476-2681. Sponsored by the Central Vermont Council on Aging.

CENTRAL VERMONT MEDICAL CENTERFrom Vermont to Italy, works by Ray Brown. 130 Fisher Road, Berlin. Through April 6. cvmc.org.

CITY HALL Portraits by Nancy Smith.

39 Main Street, Montpelier. Through March 10. 225-6489 or 229-9416.

CONTEMPORARY DANCE & FITNESS STUDIODiscography, new work with disks in grids by Janet Van Fleet.18 Langdon Street (third floor), Montpelier. Through March 28. 229-4676 or cdandfs.com.

GODDARD COLLEGEThe History of Goddard College, 1969–1979, photographs, films and archival documents, curated by Goddard staff member and alum-nus Dustin Byerly.Pratt Center Library, Goddard College, 123 Pitkin Road, Plainfield. Through June. 454-8311 or goddard.edu.

GOVERNOR’S GALLERYSound Proof, black and white photographs of Vermont musicians by Matthew Thorsen.109 State Street, Montpelier. Through March. Photo ID required for admittance.

GREEN BEAN ART GALLERYBorn in Vermont, watercolors by Sienna Fontaine.Capitol Grounds, 27 State Street, Montpelier. March 3–31. curator@capitolgrounds.com.

KELLOGG-HUBBARD LIBRARYBlack, White, and Color, acrylics on board by Barb Leber (first floor), and Birmingham and Beyond, pastels and oils by Cheryl Dick (second floor).135 Main Street, Montpelier. March 7–April 23. 223-3338.

MEN’S STOREExploring the Form of the City and the Archi-tecture of the Body, oil paintings by architect Ward Joyce. 30 State Street, Montpelier. Through April 20.

SHOE HORNDogs, Penguins, a Pig and a Frog, paintings by Jody Stahlman.8 Langdon Street, Montpelier. Through April.

artwhirled23@yahoo.com.

SKINNY PANCAKEPeople, drawings and paintings by Glen Co-burn Hutcheson of gods, saints, locals and the artist’s mother, among others. 86 Main Street, Montpelier. Through March. 262-CAKE.

STUDIO PLACE ARTSStorytime, multimedia group show exploring the human impulse to construct narratives, and Never Forget, multimedia group show on the creative journey of women.201 North Main Street, Barre. March 6–April 7. Reception Friday, March 9, 5:30–7:30 p.m. 479-7069 or studioplacearts.com.

VERMONT HISTORY MUSEUMVermont agriculutral murals by Grace Brigham, depicting maple sugaring with draft horses, apple picking, farmstead views, chickens, and dairy and beef cows.109 State Street, Montpelier. Through spring 2012. 828-2291 or vermonthistory.org.

see UPCOMING EVENTS, page C.4

THE BR IDGE CALENDAR OF E VENTS MARCH 1–14, 2012 • PAGE C . 3

PAGE C .4 • MARCH 1–14, 2012 THE BR IDGE CALENDAR OF E VENTS

Weekly EventsBICYCLING★ Open Shop NightsHave questions or a bike to donate, or need help with a bike repair? Come visit the volunteer-run community bike shop.Mondays and Wednesdays, 5–7 p.m. Tuesdays, 6–8 p.m. Freeride Montpelier, 89 Barre Street, Montpelier. By donation. 552-3521 or freeride-montpelier.org.

SPIRITUALITYChristian ScienceGod’s love meeting human needs.Reading room: Tuesday–Saturday, 11 a.m.–1 p.m.; Tuesdays, 5–8 p.m.; and Wednesdays, 5–7:15 p.m. Testimony meeting: Wednesdays, 7:30–8:30 p.m., nursery available. Worship service: Sundays, 10:30–11:30 a.m., Sunday school and nursery available. 145 State Street, Montpelier. Free. 223-2477.

CRAFTSBeaders GroupAll levels of beading experience welcome. Free instruction available. Come with a project for creativity and community. Saturdays, 11 a.m.–2 p.m. The Bead Hive, Plainfield. 454-1615.

FOODLenten Fish DinnerBaked fish, soup, salad, vegetable, potato, beverage and dessert. Fish sticks and mac and cheese also available. Weekly raffles of gift certificates to local businesses. Fridays, 5–6:30 p.m., through March 30. St. Augustine’s parish hall, 16 Barre Street, Montpelier. $10 adults, $6 students, free for age 3 and younger, $29 family of four; benefits Central Vermont Catholic School. 793-4276 or pte1218@aol.com.

GAMES Apollo Duplicate Bridge ClubAll welcome. Partners sometimes available.Fridays, 6:45 p.m. Bethany Church, Montpe-lier. 485-8990 or 223-3922.

HEALTHFree HIV TestingVermont CARES offers fast oral testing.Thursdays, 1–4 p.m. 73 Main Street, Suite 40, Montpelier. vtcares.org.

KIDS & TEENSThe Basement Teen CenterCable TV, PlayStation 3, pool table, free eats and fun events for teenagers.Monday–Thursday, 3–6 p.m.; Friday, 3–11 p.m. Basement Teen Center, 39 Main Street, Montpelier. 229-9151.

★ Story Time at the Waterbury Public LibraryOn spring break: resumes March 7. Mondays, age 18–36 months. Wednesdays, age 0–18 months. Fridays, age 3–6 years. 10 a.m. Waterbury Public Library. Free. 244-7036.

★ Library Activities for Kids• Story time, Tuesdays, Wednedays and Fri-

days, 10:30–11:30 a.m.• Crafts, first Tuesdays, 3:30 p.m.• Games, second Tuesdays, 3:30 p.m.• Lego club, third Tuesdays, 3:30 p.m.• Teen Advisory Group meeting, fourth Tues-

days, 3:30 p.m.• Chess club, Wednesdays, 5:30 p.m. (call

Robert, 229-1207, for info) • Comics club, Fridays, 3:30–5 p.m., March

9–April 13• Young Adult Nights (games, movies, food,

crafting and more for youth age 10–17), third Fridays, 6–9 p.m.

Kellogg-Hubbard Library, Montpelier. Free. 223-4665.

Youth GroupGames, movies, snacks and music.Mondays, 7–9 p.m. Church of the Crucified One, Route 100, Moretown. 496-4516.

Story Time and PlaygroupStory time: for children age 0–6. Playgroup: story, art, song, nature activities and coopera-tive games. Dress for the weather.Story time: Mondays, 10 a.m. Playgroup: Wednesdays, 10–11:30 a.m. Jaquith Public Li-brary, 122 School Street, Marshfield. 426-3581 or jaquithpubliclibrary@gmail.com.

★ Cub Capers Storytime and SongsFor children age 3–5 and their families.Tuesdays, 9:30 a.m. Children’s room, Bear Pond Books, 77 Main Street, Montpelier. 229-0774.

Morning PlaygroupStorytelling inspired by seasonal plants, fruits and herbs with in-house astrologer MaryAnna Abuzahra, plus crafts, games and activities. Walk follows. All ages welcome.Tuesdays, 10 a.m. Tulsi Tea Room, 34 Main Street, Montpelier. Free. tulsiteallc@gmail.com.

Second-Language Story TimeTales in American Sign Language, plus monthly special events with native speakers.Tuesdays, 3 p.m. Cutler Memorial Library, Route 2, Plainfield. Free. 454-8504 or cutlerlibrary.org.

Story Time at Onion River KidsFun outdoor adventure tales and childhood classics.Sundays, 10:30 a.m. 7 Langdon Street, Mont-pelier. 223-6025.

LANGUAGELunch in a Foreign LanguageBring lunch and practice your language skills with neighbors.Noon–1 p.m. Mondays, Hebrew. Tuesdays, Ital-ian. Wednesdays, Spanish. Thursdays, French. Fridays, German. Kellogg-Hubbard Library, Montpelier. 223-3338.

MUSICSing With the Barre TonesWomen’s a cappella chorus.Mondays, 6:30 p.m. Alumni Hall (second floor), near Barre Auditorium. 223-2039 or rjmorgan1956@comcast.net.

Capital Orchestra Rehearsals Community orchestra. No audition required. All orchestral players welcome. Culminates in April concert.Mondays, 7–9 p.m. U-32 School band room. Dan, 272-1789 or liptakdan@gmail.com.

SPIRITUALITYDeepening Our Jewish RootsFun, engaging text study and discussion on Jewish spirituality.Sundays, 4:45–6:15 p.m. Yearning for Learn-ing Center, Montpelier. Rabbi Tobie Weisman, 223-0583 or info@yearning4learning.org.

Christian Meditation GroupPeople of all faiths welcome.Mondays, noon–1 p.m. Christ Church, Montpe-lier. Regis, 223-6043.

Shambhala Buddhist MeditationInstruction available. All welcome.Sundays, 10 a.m.–noon, and Wednesdays, 6–7 p.m. Program and discussion follow Wednes-day meditation. Shambhala Center, 64 Main Street, Montpelier. Free. 223-5137.

Zen MeditationWednesdays, 6:30–7:30 p.m. 174 River Street, Montpelier. Call Tom for orientation, 229-0164. With Zen Affiliate of Vermont.

SPORTSRoller Derby Open Recruitment and Recreational Practice Central Vermont’s Wrecking Doll Society in-vites quad skaters age 18 and up to try out the action. No experience necessary. Equipment provided: first come, first served.Saturdays, 5–6:30 p.m. Montpelier Recreation Center, Barre Street. First skate free. centralvermontrollerderby.com.

Coed Adult Floor Hockey Equipment provided.Sundays, 3–5 p.m. Montpelier Recre-ation Center, Barre Street. $5. 363-1531, bmfloorhockey@gmail.com or vermontfloorhockey.com.

THRIFT STORESTrinity Community Thrift StoreTuesdays and Thursdays, 10 a.m.–4 p.m.; Sat-urdays, 11 a.m.–5 p.m. Trinity United Method-ist Church, 137 Main Street (use rear entrance), Montpelier. 229-9155 or tctsvt@yahoo.com.

YOGASliding-Scale Yoga ClassesWith Lydia Russell. Weaving in seasonal poetry and myth, intermediate-level Anusara-inspired classes help build strength, flexibility and safe postural alignment. Saturdays, 10–11:15 a.m., Shambhala Center, Montpelier; Mondays, 5:30–6:45 p.m., River House Yoga, Plainfield. $5–$20. saprema-yoga.com.

★ Rhythmic Flow Vinyasa With Lori Mortimer.Tuesdays, 6–7:15 p.m., March 13–May 29. All Together Now, East Montpelier. $5–$15 suggested donation. 324-1737 or sattvayoga.wordpress.com

★ indicates new or revised listing

Weatherization SkillshopHands-on workshop on home energy efficiency and weatherization techniques, taught by a Building Performance Institute–accredited contractor.6–9 p.m. 19 Gable Place, Barre. $25, includes reference book, informational materials and light dinner. Register at 888-514-2151 or weatherizationskillshop.com. Sponsored by Central Vermont Community Action Council.

Hurricane Irene Financial Planning and Educational WorkshopFor residents of Waterbury, Richmond, Bolton, Duxbury, Moretown and Middlesex. Learn how to access funding, learn financial planning tools and ask questions about financial issues. 6 p.m. St. Leo’s Hall, 109 South Main Street, Waterbury. 855-767-8800.

We the People . . . Not We the CorporationsDavid Cobb of Move to Amend discusses two legal threats to democracy: corporate person-hood and money being considered free speech. With Ginny Lyons and Jerry Greenfield.Free ice cream and live music at 6 p.m.; talk at 7 p.m. Big Picture Theater, Waitsfield. Free. Marge, 496-4655, or gmgf.com. Sponsored by Green Mountain Global Forum.

D.I.Y. Pannier-Making WorkshopLearn how to make simple, cheap bike panniers out of two old backpacks, one square 5-gallon bucket, and a bungie cord. If you can, bring supplies. Hardware provided.6:30–8 p.m. Freeride Montpelier, 89 Barre Street. $5 suggested donation or Onion River Ex-change hours. Register with Madeline at sharrow32@yahoo.com.

THURSDAY, MARCH 15Preschool Discovery Program: Tap a TreeSee Wednesday, March 14, for description and information.

Meeting on Disability IssuesShare stories and concerns.1–3 p.m. Vermont Center for Independent Living, 11 East State Street, Montpelier. 639-1522 or 229-0501 (both are also V/TTY numbers). Event happens every third Thursday.

Richard Czaplinski: Simple Living and Energy ConservationWith photos and examples, Czaplinski describes how he has lived simply for the last 30 years, and how living this way can help us face looming social and environmental problems.6 p.m. Kellogg-Hubbard Library, Montpelier. Free. 223-3338. Sponsored by Transition Town Montpelier.

Science of Mind PrinciplesStudy group for inquiring minds of all faiths.6–8 p.m. Universal Rivers of Life, 28 East State Street, Suite 4 (second floor), Montpelier. 223-3427 or robin@universalrivers.com. Event happens every first and third Thursday.

Around the World Travel TalksFeaturing photos and discussion.6 p.m. Cutler Memorial Library, Route 2, Plainfield. Free. 454-8504 or cutlerlibrary.org. Event happens every third Thursday.

Winter Bike Workshops: Cycling Body and MindLearn how to make cycling a stress-relieving, rejuvenating, healthy, lifelong passion. Learn about simple diet planning, warm-up techniques, breathing, training plans and the zone.See Thursday, March 8, for time, location and information.

Windows on Waldorf: Grades 1–8Explore the grade school and take a walk through Waldorf education. Faculty will lead a guided tour describing the core curriculum and showcasing student work.6:30–8:30 p.m. Grades building, Orchard Valley Waldorf School, 2290 VT Route 14N, East Montpelier. Free, but registration requested. 456-7400.

Songwriters’ MeetingMeeting of the Northern VT/NH chapter of the Nashville Songwriters Association Interna-tional. Bring copies of your work.6:45 p.m. Catamount Arts, St. Johnsbury. John, 633-2204. Event happens every third Thursday.

Film Premiere: WinterNarrative Ski Channel film of some of the most talented people in mountain sports, plus auc-tion and raffles. Event honors Sarah Burke, a world-renowned skier who died in January.8:30 p.m. Savoy Theater, Montpelier. $10; benefits a foundation being set up in Burke’s name.

UPCOMING EVENTS, from page C.3

THE BR IDGE MARCH 1–14, 2012 • PAGE 13

ClassesCOACHINGWOMEN IN TRANSITIONCoaching group beginning March 8, 6–8 p.m. Four sessions. Two openings left. $150 ($135 in advance). It will change your life. Stillpoint Associates LTD, Fran Weinbaum, Life Coach, 802-249-7377 or stillpointlifecoach@yahoo.com.

MOVEMENTALEXANDER TECHNIQUE FUNDAMENTALS With Katie Back. Tuesdays, noon–1:30 p.m., March 13–April 17. Reawaken aliveness

through movement awareness studies, touch and verbal guidance. Deepen your under-standing of your natural design and discover freedom and ease in any activity. $90 for six-week series. Preregister: 223-7230 or katie@balanceofbeing.com.

POTTERYCLAY SESSIONHave a great mud season at Montpelier Mud in Middlesex! A new session for adults, teens and older kids starts March 5 and runs for seven weeks. Contact us at our website, montpeliermud.com, or call 224-7000 for more information.

ClassifiedsFOR RENTARTIST, MUSICIAN SPACEStudios available this spring in assorted sizes at 46 Barre Street (site of Monteverdi and Summit School). Reserve your space and become a part of the Montpelier area’s center for the arts, learning and music. For details call Paul Irons at 223-2120 or 461-6222.

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PAGE 14 • MARCH 1–14, 2012 THE BR IDGE

by Mark Billian

Every time I find myself at the corner of State and Main, waiting for the light to change, I notice a parade of seem-

ingly confident young women crossing the street on the way to who knows where. And I ask myself, Why? Why couldn’t it be my daughter among those coffee-cup-grasping, cellphone-talking, dance-shoe-holding eager women on the way to the rest of their lives? For me, it’s a fruitless question, but when you lose a child, it’s a question you ask nonetheless.

One year ago this week, we lost a beautiful, sweet, sensitive and loving daughter. Sarah was many things, a brilliant student, a talented writer, a fre-quent traveler and explorer, a first grandchild, an only sibling, a stand-up comedian, poet, baker and carpenter. She had a sometimes caustic wit, a penchant for impersonation and a deep sense of humor. We still have a birthday greeting card received from Presi-dent “Bill Cliton” penned secretly, I suspect, by my 10-year-old practical jokester!

But she was also a caring and supportive friend and a peer leader on her college cam-pus, and she became an outspoken advocate for others, others like herself, who struggled

with depression and the battle for physical and mental health.

In those awful hours that followed the re-alization that our beloved little girl was gone, my first instinct was to run away and hide. I did not want to see or be seen, not by the community or friends, nor even by family. But there is nowhere to run when you live in a small town and so we surrendered ourselves to the love and support that we needed so

much. There is no gift in

the death of a child. While you may wake up some days in awe of the loving kind-ness that has come to lift and surround

you, it hardly toughens you to the pain of burying one you were meant to nurture and protect. Yet somehow, beneath the almost incomprehensible and crushing grief, some-thing positive emerges that, in the words of a dear friend, “changes you in a fundamental, irrevocable way.”

What you find is that, almost for the first time, you see the world more clearly. The petty judgments that weighed you down, like some overfilled backpack, seem to lose their power and drift away. But something else, even more profound, happens along the way. For when you give up trying to conceal your terrible wound, you find that others carry

their own hidden scars. Among the people you see every day, the folks who deliver your mail, sell you groceries, fix your car or cut your hair, there are many who are marked by their own personal losses. A parent gone, a sibling lost, a spouse or child stolen away by accident, or something worse, their grief hidden just below the surface until it can be shared with another who understands.

And when the sadness returns, as it always does, and sucks your breath away, someone you may hardly know will come up quietly and restore your faith with a hug. It is at that moment that you realize how lucky you are to live in this place at this time. Twenty-four years ago we somehow landed in central Ver-mont and Montpelier. It seems now we were destined to find this community without knowing how important it would be in the years that lay ahead.

Before she died on March 3 of last year, Sarah told us we would be strong, we would survive. So when the pain seems too much to bear, and I find myself filled with doubt, I think back about the confidence she had in us. For if she had the strength to battle her demons, how can I do anything less?

There is a place in Hubbard Park, a glade of trees I pass every morning when walking Sarah’s precious black lab, Sophie. Each time I pass, I stop and look and imagine there is someone among those trees gazing back at me. In the year that has passed since Sarah

died, I have begun to learn, rather than searching for that which is not there, to see the things that are. To appreciate the fragility of life, the value of friendship, the impor-tance of community and to know, now with certainty, that openness, love and support are all that matter.

Mark Billian, Anne Brin and Hannah Bil-lian live in Montpelier. Sarah Billian gradu-ated from Montpelier High School and Smith College. She wrote for her school newspapers and was a contributor to The Bridge.

On Grieving, Healing and Community

EssaySarah Billian. Photo courtesy of Mark Billian.

THE BR IDGE MARCH 1–14, 2012 • PAGE 15

by Marsha Barber

Andrew Stowe has had a passionate dream for decades. When we talked on Sunday, February 26, that dream

was two days away from being fully realized. He’d given notice at his two jobs and was working his last day at Uncommon Market. By now, he is living at Highfields Farm in Randolph, serving as farm manager and get-ting his hands dirty in his beloved soil. The desire to farm has always been in his blood, and the excitement with which he talks about farming is contagious.

Stowe was born in Connecticut, but, he says, “I did a lot of growing up in Vermont. My father’s family is from St. Johnsbury, and when I came up here to visit family I always felt more of a connection to Vermont and to the land up here than anywhere else.” Stowe moved back to Ver-mont in January 2011 and began work at both the Uncommon Market and Hunger Mountain Coop in the produce department. He also worked on the side as an organic garden consultant under the moniker Handful of Soil.

Stowe’s passion for farming includes a deep attention to the health of the soil. “I traveled and worked on farms for about four years be-fore I moved back to Vermont: a farm in south-ern Vermont, a sage farm in Hawaii, a farm in Alaska, and farms in India and Nepal. You travel the world and each farm has something to teach you, but the one thing you realize is that the soil is everything, The soil is the key.

“You can break farming down to two ap-proaches: The ‘feed the soil’ approach and the ‘feed the plants’ approach. The feed-the-plants approach is what you see in the big midwestern mainstream agricultural sys-tems. The philosophy is, ‘Don’t worry about the soil, put down the fertilizer and what the plants need and don’t worry about next season.’ This approach requires constant fer-tilizing, and a lot of people don’t see this as a sustainable long-term approach to agricul-ture. The feed-the-soil approach is beautiful,

because if you take care of the soil, especially thinking about long-term fertility, you will grow amazing plants both [in] one season and many generations [in the future].”

Stowe credits work on the Hawaii farm of Ben Nichols with enhancing his passion and drive for local food, local systems, the organic food movement and small-scale agriculture. “Ben was the one who gave me the philo-sophical context—the big picture. At the end of the day, feeding the soil is only a small part of . . . what goes into working on a farm, but it is the most important part. . . . For me it resonates with the word ‘stewardship,’ pre-serving the land for a long time to come.”

Stowe’s dream of farming didn’t stop at working the soil and harvesting. “I had a vision that my farm would serve as a center of learning and connectivity for members

of local community and people travel-ing through: a small farm or garden with a café or restaurant on-site or nearby, where people could eat food grown in

that garden; a place with local lectures, a place where people could trade stories, have local music, work in the garden in exchange for a meal; maybe a little bookstore. I’ve worked on a lot of farms and am comfortable with that aspect, but have no experience in the food-service industry for the café. That’s why I got jobs at the co-op and the Uncom-mon Market—I figured it would take a year or two or three. Once I had that down I’d look for some farmland.” As it turned out, he didn’t have to wait that long.

He tapped in to some local databases, in-cluding the Vermont agriculture land access database. There he found a posting for High-fields Farm in Randolph, owned by Chris Recchia, deputy secretary for the Vermont Agency of Natural Resources and his part-ner, Julie Iffland, executive director of the Randolph Area Community Development Corporation. “They posted on the UVM database that they wanted to continue their full-time jobs but couldn’t manage their farm at same time. They were seeking someone to

come take over the farming side, and wanted to create a collective business partnership. If it went well, then there was the possibility for a long-term relationship, including transfer of the land. The farm is two miles outside down-town Randolph, a beautiful piece of land, south-facing slopes, sandy loam soil really high in organic matter, a woodlot on the up-hill north end of their land which draws water up through the hillside, which also serves as a natural windbreak. Their sheep and chickens have built up incredibly rich soil.”

Stowe couldn’t believe what he’d stumbled upon. “When I had that vision of what I originally wanted to do, I’d envisioned it in the Bethel, Royalton, Randolph area. It’s a beautiful area, kind of centralized; it has this feel of a place of people passing through, but there’s a strong local community, too. It seems perfect to set up a farm and and do the café, bookstore, education stuff I’d always wanted to do. Chris and Julie felt good about it. It’s not set in stone. . . . Right now the focus is making the farm sustainable: that’s what they want and I want too. Ten years

down the road, if we build up strong capital and name recognition, we could take that other step. I’d bring my vision back on the table. But right now I want to be there grow-ing delicious food, building up the soil and working with these guys.”

Stowe plans to have celery and onion starts going this week at Highfields Farm.

“What it comes down to is that feeling of deep connectivity, where farming connects me both in a physical and mental and emo-tional way to the land, and through that I feel a connection everything else,” he explains. “When you’re growing food, it starts with the soil, and there’s also the sun and the rain and the plants. And when you sell or give what you’ve grown to someone, they’re also taking that sun and rain and soil connection. It’s amazing how you can stand on farmland and have a discussion about biology, politics, mathematics, social and cultural trends. It’s a lens for understanding the rest of world.”

Marsha Barber is a freelance writer who lives in Montpelier.

Soil in the Soul: Pursuing a Dream to Farm

Andrew Stowe. Photo by Marsha Barber.

Kindergarten RegistrationUnion Elementary School 1 Park Ave, MontpelierRegistration for children entering kindergarten in the fall of 2012 will be on Monday, March 19, Tuesday, March 20, and Wednesday, March 21, from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Additional evening hours are on Thursday, March 22, from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m.

Please call 802-225-8204 if you have any questions.

Registration is for children born on or before September 1, 2007. Please bring birth certificate and proof of residency.

Vendors Wanted!Sat, April 28th, 2012 • 9 am to 6 pm

Barre Civic Center, Barre Vt

Vendor info: call 802-431-3540

or email resourcewizard@yahoo.com

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PAGE 16 • MARCH 1–14, 2012 THE BR IDGE

SMART FINANCIAL STRATEGIES: Learn strategies for securing a more stable financial future with Ryan LeCroix, Edward Jones. Thursdays, 6–8 pm. March 1–April 19. $165.

DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY & PHOTOSHOP: Learn photography and editing techniques with the digital camera with BTC’s Ric Nudell. Mondays, 6–9 pm. March 12–April 16. $185.

SERVSAFE: Saturday, May 12, 2012, 8 a.m.–5 p.m. With BTC’s Chef Wendy Clark. $175 with $10 discount for two or more.

EASTER PASTRIES: An April evening of baking at BTC’s new pastry shop in downtown Barre with Chef Wendy Clark. Call for information.

CONVERSATIONAL SPANISH: TBA. Call for information.

New Adult Education Classesat the Barre Technical Center

Custom Classes for Local Businesses!For more information on any classes, contact Dottye Ricks at 476-1487 or drickbvt@u61.net, or visit barretechncialcenter.org.

Enjoy Life-Long Learning at the Barre Tech Center

by Michelle Barber

The Green Mountain Film Festival (GMFF) ushers in each spring and pulls many of us out of our cabin

fever. With highlighter or pen in hand, we comb through the schedule and plot our course through the 10-day festival, sched-uled for March 16 to 25 this year.

This year’s festival offers 80 films and two film competitions at five venues in Montpelier and St. Johnsbury. Attendance is expected to reach 11,000 to 12,000 in Mont-pelier and 1,500 in St. Johnsbury.

When asked to divulge a few of his fa-vorite selections, GMFF programmer Rick Winston smiles and says “don’t get me started” and that each film is selected for a reason. Donald Rae, GMFF executive direc-tor, highlights the 48-hour film slam, a slew of guest critics, directors, actors and histori-ans, and the inevitable themes that emerge at each festival.

Film SlamThe second annual Green Mountain 48-

Hour Film Slam brings together approxi-mately 40 filmmakers for a whirlwind film-making spree. On Friday, March 16, teams of six to seven writers, editors, actors, direc-tors of photography and sound people are given a prop, one line of dialogue and a specific location that must be used in the film. A genre is selected out of a hat and the

team sets off to create an original 10-minute film in 48 hours.

The films are rushed to submission by Sunday, March 18, at 7 p.m., just minutes before being viewed in the Pavilion Audi-torium. “Last year was an experiment. We didn’t know if anyone would show up,” said Rae. But the Pavilion, which seats 200, actu-ally sold out. Rae expects this year to sell out as well.

After the films are viewed by the audience and judges alike, the filmmakers take the stage for a Q&A and discussion while the judges gather to make their decisions. First prize is $1,000, second prize is $500 and third is $250, so the stakes and chances of winning are high.

Vermont Films

In addition to the locally made, last-minute films of the film slam, the festival features other Vermont films and connections.

Circus Dreams, a documentary about the Greensboro-based Circus Smirkus, will be shown three times, examining the peculiar and exciting lives of the 12- to 18-year-old troupers. The film also examines the finan-cial stability of the troupe as they approach their 25th anniversary tour this summer.

Craptastic, from Rutland filmmaker David Giancola, features a circus of its own by doc-umenting Anna Nicole Smith’s last feature film, Illegal Aliens.

More serious films take us into the Ver-mont State Archives; to the Westin Trailer Park in Berlin with the documentary Strength of the Storm; into the lives of four recent im-migrants from Somalia, Iraq, Bosnia and Rwanda in a sneak preview of Burlington filmmaker Mira Niagolova’s Welcome to Ver-mont; and into the Vermont state women’s prison, with Little House in the Big House, where 45 women are trained by Vermont

Works for Women to build a house from start to finish.

A Whisperer in Darkness is based on H.P. Lovecraft’s novel of the same name, which is based on the author’s 1928 visit to Ver-mont. Set in New England and filmed in White River Junction, the film was released in 2011 but produced in black-and-white “mythoscope,” a blend of modern and vin-tage film techniques that produce an authen-tic, 1920s-era feel.

Featured GuestsGMFF doesn’t just bring movies to the

capital city. It introduces audiences to many directors, writers, critics and actors each year. This year, festival-goers will have the opportunity to hear from Michael Murphy, Jeanine Basinger and Peter Rainer, among others.

Michael Murphy is known as a first-rate supporting actor, longtime Robert Altman collaborator and Woody Allen’s best friend in Manhattan. Murphy will be discussing several of his films playing during the festi-val, including Manhattan, Brewster McCloud and one episode of Tanner ’88, as well as speaking with fellow Altman alumnus Allan Nichols on Sunday, March 18.

Jeanine Basinger, film historian and “one of the most important film scholars alive today,” will speak with GMFF’s Winston about the “studio system” of the 1930s and 1940s on Sunday, March 25. She’ll also be

Green Mountain Film Festival Preview

Circus Dreams

Tell them you saw it in The Bridge!

THE BR IDGE MARCH 1–14, 2012 • PAGE 17

Summer Camps!

discussing The Far Country, a classic 1953 Jimmy Stewart western, and Midnight, a 1939 comedy starring Claudette Colbert, Don Ameche and John Barrymore.

In many ways, films are dependent on film critics, but the written art form is dying and dwindling with the immediacy of social net-works and the rise of online rating systems like Rotten Tomatoes, where viewers can rate films themselves. Nonetheless, it takes a keen eye, historical knowledge and excel-lent writing skills to not only inform the public about films, but to also provide true insight. Peter Rainer has been doing just that since the 1970s and is one of the few critics remaining with a regular print outlet. Rainer will be discussing film criticism on Saturday, March 24, in addition to discussing Night of the Hunter and Pianomania.

My Personal SelectionsI appreciate the GMFF for the films it

brings to my attention: documentaries I haven’t heard about, locally made films that haven’t received broad-based showings and off-the-beaten path movies of all sorts. I’m particularly looking forward to the following films this March.

The Topp Twins: Untouchable Girls couldn’t be described with more surprising adjectives: they are the world’s only comedic, singing,

yodeling twin sisters from New Zealand. If they were also cross-dressing activists with honorary degrees, I couldn’t be more sur-prised—and they are! The winner of many film-festival audience-selection awards and grossing over $2 million at the New Zea-land box office, this film is one I’m excited about.

Until 2010, a warren of studios and apart-ments were perched above Carnegie Hall, home to the likes of Marilyn Monroe, Isa-dora Duncan, Barnett Newman, Norman Mailer, Marlon Brando and, more recently, Josef Astor, Bill Cunningham and Don Shir-ley. In 2001, however, the Carnegie Corpora-tion began to systematically evict the tenants in order to renovate the spaces. First-time director Josef Astor chronicled the last years of Lost Bohemia and will be at the GMFF to discuss the film after both showtimes.

The 15th annual GMFF has something for everyone, from film competitions to film

viewings, from Being Elmo, which is sure to tickle the kid in each of us, to a series on American documentary’s radical roots from 1932–1948, and from revolutionary films to Japanese anime.

Michelle Barber’s career in higher-education marketing funds her passion for movies and GMFF tickets. She lives in Barre.

The Topp Twins

Being Elmo

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PAGE 18 • MARCH 1–14, 2012 THE BR IDGE

Ask The Home Team

This column is produced by Efficiency Ver-mont, a nonprofit organization that provides energy-efficiency information and services and is funded by a surcharge on utility bills. The three members of the Home Team, Kathleen Brown, Bob Murphy and Li Ling, are staffers at Efficiency Vermont. For more informa-tion or to submit a question, go to efficiency vermont.com/askthehometeam or call, toll-free, 888-921-5990.

My grandson and his wife gave me a heated mattress pad so I could have a warm bed to get into at night. They said it saves $131 per year on energy bills, but I don’t see the logic in that, so I haven’t used it. Can you tell me the truth about heated mattress pads?

What’s true is that, if you stay in bed with the pad on and with the house thermostat low, you’ll stay warm and you won’t use as much central-heating fuel over the course of a night. However, the same can be said any-time you turn down the house thermostat at night and keep your bed warm. Many people are able to warm the bed with blankets and body heat. Some use a hot-water bottle. If you prefer to add an electric mattress pad or electric blanket, you’ll increase your electric-ity costs.

As for the $131 claim, it’s based on the manufacturer’s assumption that you’ll turn down your house’s thermostat eight degrees, around the clock, for 25 weeks, and use the mattress pad for eight hours each night of those weeks. That would mean about six months of keeping your house eight degrees colder than you now keep it. I don’t know how you’d feel about such a change, but it

makes me shiver just thinking about it. So, I’m with you; I don’t see the logic in the claim.

If you want to use your grandchildren’s gift to make the bed warm when you get in it, I suggest using an appliance timer for your electric mattress pad. You could set the timer to turn on the pad about half an hour before bedtime and to turn it off at bedtime. You can experiment with the timing to get it right for you. Thanks for sending in this interesting question.

—Kathleen for the Home Team

I’ve been seeing ads for Amish or infrared quartz heaters. Are they really better at saving en-ergy than other electric space heaters?

No. All portable electric heaters produce the same amount of heat per kilowatt hour consumed. A claim of energy savings from any portable heater is based on the idea that you’ll turn down your central heat and use the portable heater to keep you warm only in the room you’re occupying. But electricity is one of the most expensive heating fuels in Vermont. So, the cost of the electric heat is likely to outweigh the energy savings from reducing your use of your central heating system unless you turn down the house ther-mostat substantially.

Unfortunately, the colder a house gets, the more you put it at risk of problems like frozen pipes, cracked plaster or drywall, and wetness on the inside of the home and the outside. As notable is the potential problem of condensation forming on cool surfaces. Without enough heat to dry them out, these surfaces can become ideal spots for mold and wood rot. This may happen where you can see it or where you can’t—within the walls, floors or attic.

A better approach is to make your central heating system work as efficiently as pos-sible. Be sure your furnace filter is clean. Seal and insulate heating ducts, and have your furnace or boiler professionally inspected, cleaned and tuned as often as the manufac-turer recommends. Vacuum or dust heating vents or baseboards and move furniture away from them so heat can circulate.

—Bob for the Home Team

THE BR IDGE MARCH 1–14, 2012 • PAGE 19

by William Fraser, city manager

The annual city meeting voting takes place Tuesday, March 6, at City Hall from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Absentee and

early ballots are available now. We are elect-ing a mayor, a city clerk, three city council members and two school commissioners, among others. We are also considering the city, school and recreation budgets, along with several ballot items. Included among those articles are an infrastructure bond and three proposed charter changes—two involving local option taxes, which I wrote about in the last edition of The Bridge. The city’s annual report has been distributed, which contains detailed information about the various budget proposals. Please read the report and please vote.

Roads and InfrastructureOne obvious issue is the poor condition of

our roads and infrastructure. Several years ago, the city adopted a capital funding plan which capped the amount of money being spent on major infrastructure projects. This plan worked from the point of view of pro-viding predictable dollar amounts and man-aging the tax rate. It did not work from the point of view of having funding keep pace with needs. This occurred mostly because of very costly and important, but much less vis-ible, projects such as retaining-wall replace-ments and flood mitigation work. Fitting those necessary items into the capital plan without raising the funding cap resulted in inadequate sums of money left available for paving, road work, sidewalks and other major items, including equipment and build-ing maintenance.

City officials spent a great deal of time this year identifying infrastructure, equip-ment and facility needs and estimating costs associated with addressing those needs. An initial assessment was that an additional $500,000 per year was necessary to address the backlog. Rather than simply adding this money to the budget and tax rate this year, the city council chose to take advantage of the current low interest rates and propose an $870,000 bond to accompany the annual funding level. This results in total capital project funding increasing from $515,849 in fiscal year (FY) 2012 to $1,124,193 in FY13. The specific funding for roads and sidewalks is rising from $218,000 to $528,558. Items specifically included within the bond are those with an expected 20-year (or more) life to match the bond payment period. The amount of the bond falls within the city’s adopted debt affordability guidelines.

Tax Rate and Services

The tax rate is always a key issue when considering budgets. The total of every money item on the ballot, including peti-tioned items, would increase the tax rate by 4.3 cents, or 1.9 percent from last year. This is still 3 cents or 1.2 percent lower than the tax rate was two years ago. The average tax payer would pay $66 less in FY13 than they paid in FY11.

Montpelier’s tax rate is higher than our neighboring towns because the city provides a much wider range of services than those towns, in large part because the city is a regional center. Let’s compare 2011 effective tax rates and local services within our im-mediate region.

The chart above right illustrates tax and service differences between Montpelier and its neighbors. School tax rates are fairly constant throughout, but the average resi-

dential tax rate for the 8,801 residents in the surrounding four towns was 19 percent less than the Montpelier resident rate. The tax rate for Barre City, however, is 13 percent higher than Montpelier for similar services. What services do Montpelier residents re-ceive for these additional taxes?

Full-time, 24/7 fire and ambulance service based in downtown Montpelier. Volunteer fire and ambulance departments do excellent jobs, but they can’t match the response time or training level of full-time staff people. Dispatch records show an aver-age ambulance response time of four minutes in Montpelier, compared to eight and a half minutes in the combined towns. This differ-ence may not seem like much but, statisti-cally, makes an enormous difference in the spread of a fire or in a medical emergency. The full-time fire department is actively involved with fire prevention efforts along with emergency response.

Full-time, 24/7 police service based in downtown Montpelier. A 911 emergency call gets a local police officer at your door within minutes. Officers are on patrol at all times. One officer is involved with the school system full time. In communities served by state police, one trooper may be on duty covering many towns at once, and response can be significantly delayed.

Full-time dispatching service. Emer-gency calls are answered in and dispatched from the Montpelier police station by people familiar with both the community and the local police, fire and ambulance operations. Our dispatch center, in fact, handles calls for most of the surrounding towns (and is paid by those towns for that service).

Paved and quickly plowed roads. Ninety-six percent of Montpelier’s roads are paved, compared with 20 percent in neigh-boring towns. Gravel roads can mean more dust, dings on vehicles and difficult access during certain seasons (mud) and weather conditions. When you’re in a business rush

or personal emergency, you need to rely on being able to pass over your road year-round. Neighboring road crews do a fine job, but with an average of one person per 17 miles of road, one cannot expect the same service as Montpelier, which staffs one person per 4.3 miles of road. Neighboring towns also don’t have responsibilities for snow removal in downtown, sidewalk plowing/maintenance, bike-path plowing and maintenance, street lights or traffic signals, roundabouts, on-street parking or parking lots, or as many significant bridges as Montpelier. Paved roads are far more expensive to maintain than gravel roads, which has been a major struggle in Montpelier.

Public information. Virtually all mu-nicipal and school meetings are broad-cast on local cable TV. City meetings are streamed on the Web and archived for view-ing at a citizen’s convenience. All property- assessment records are on line. The city is continually adding as much information as it possibly can to our website for all to see. The city’s annual report has won awards for public presentation. Both the school and the city contribute regular pages in The Bridge newspaper (these pages aren’t free). The city maintains Facebook and Twitter sites for people to receive up-to-date information and notices and has recently implemented a new emergency notice system.

Services also include a full slate of recre-ation programs, municipal water and sewer systems (rather than wells and septic tanks), storm-drain systems to avoid washouts and direct drainage away from properties, the City Hall auditorium and arts center, the swimming pool and rec facilities, and con-veniences like quarterly tax payments and water/sewer bills with automatic bank de-ductions if you want them.

There are also many services that Montpe-lier residents support from which neighbor-ing town residents also benefit at low or no cost. Hubbard Park and North Branch Park

are two prime examples. Others include the Kellogg-Hubbard Library, the Montpelier Senior Activity Center, sidewalks and bike/pedestrian paths, street sweeping, the Mont-pelier arts fund, downtown enhancement initiatives—not to mention design review and planning efforts, which are occasionally causes of controversy but which regularly help keep the city looking as wonderful as it does for all to enjoy. Most everyone enjoys events like Independence Day, First Night, the Vermont Mountaineers games and other celebrations. None of the sur-rounding smaller communities provide or pay for these services or activities.

Over the last 12 years, the city council has proposed budgets that have held an average increase to 1.45 percent per year as compared to an average inflation rate of 2.54 percent per year. In four of those 12 years, there was no proposed increase. The comprehensive survey that the city conducted in 2009 in-dicated very high levels of satisfaction and support for city services. The council works hard every year to balance the delivery of programs, services and capital needs against increased property taxes. A management consultant retained to review city operations found that most operations were “right and tight.” The city has been very active in an effort to look at public safety services on a regional basis. City officials welcome sugges-tions from residents with regard to municipal priorities. Continued review of departments, services and costs will be a major focus of the upcoming year.

I appreciate your interest in city government. As always, please feel free to call me at 223-9502 or e-mail wfraser@montpelier-vt.org if you have questions or comments. Please like City of Montpelier, VT on Facebook or follow @vtmontpelier on Twitter.

Budget and Taxes

A Message from City HallThis page was paid for by the City of Montpelier.

Montpelier Barre City Berlin Calais Middlesex E. Montpelier

Population 7,855 9,052 2,887 1,607 1,731 2,576

2011 effective residential tax rate

$2.31 $2.61 $1.82 $2.04 $1.76 $1.82

2011 effective school tax rate

$1.29 $1.12 $1.40 $1.48 $1.35 $1.33

2011 effective municipal tax rate

$1.01 $1.49 $0.42 $0.56 $0.41 $0.49

Police depart-ment

17 full-time (FT), 6 FT, 1 part-time (PT) dispatch (for 17 towns), 2 CSO 24-hour service

18 FT, 7 FT, 2 PT dispatch, 1 CSO, 9 PT reserve, 24-hour service

7 FT 7 a.m. to 2 a.m. coverage, 19-hour service

None; state police only

None; state police only

None; state police, sheriffs, 2 con-stables

Fire depart-ment

17 FT, 1 EMT only; call force

17 FT; call force All volunteer All volunteer All volunteer All Volunteer

Ambulance; av-erage response time

FT emergency medical services (EMS) provided by fire department; 4 minutes

FT EMS and para-medics through fire department; 3 minutes

Contract with Barre Town; 7 minutes

Contract with Barre Town, East Montpelier fast squad; 12 minutes

Contract with Montpelier, volun-teer fast squad; 10 minutes

East Montpelier fire and rescue; 5 minutes

Road/mainte-nance crew

12 FT, 1 PT 12 FT 4 FT 4 FT 4 FT 4 FT

Roads 53 miles total, 2 miles dirt

49 miles total 75 miles total, sev-eral dirt

72 miles total, 69 miles dirt

65 miles total, 44 miles dirt

59 miles total, 45 miles dirt

Sidewalks 26 miles total 23 miles total none none none none

Bike paths 1.75 miles total paved

0.85 miles none none none none

Recreation facilities

Hubbard Park, N. Branch Park, swim-ming pool, 2 rec fields, rec center, civc center, ten-nis and basketball courts, playgrounds, Mountaineers, senior center

Barre auditorium, 7 playgrounds, swim-ming pool, tennis and basketball courts, 2 rec fields, 3 parks, playing fields, picnic areas

Outdoor skating none Wrightsville Beach (regionally funded facility)

Rec field

Tax information is taken from the 2011 annual report of the Vermont tax department. Service information was provided by each community.

PAGE 20 • MARCH 1–14, 2012 THE BR IDGE

Adverse Effects from Wireless Not Backed Up by Science

To the Editor:Concerning the article “Calais Man Cam-

paigns Against Wireless Radiation” in the Feb-ruary 16 issue, I feel it’s important for readers to know that statements made about adverse health effects of electromagnetic radiation from cell towers, cellphones and other devices are not supported by the scientific evidence.

The claim that electromagnetic radiation causes cancer is true for high-energy radiation from the near-ultraviolet through X-rays and gamma rays, but not for microwaves. Quot-ing Bob Park, (emeritus professor of physics at the University of Maryland and a former director of public information at the Ameri-can Physical Society), “All cancers are caused by mutant strands of DNA. Electromagnetic radiation can’t create mutant strands of DNA unless the frequency is at or higher than the blue limit of the visible spectrum—the near-ultraviolet. The frequency of cellphone radia-tion is about 1 million times too low.”

A three-year review by the National Re-search Council (NRC) of more than 500 scientific studies conducted over a 20-year period found “no conclusive and consistent evidence” that low frequency electromagnetic fields harm humans. Neurobiologist Charles F. Stevens, chairman of the NRC panel, said, “Research has not shown in any convincing way that electromagnetic fields common in homes can cause health problems, and ex-tensive laboratory tests have not shown that electromagnetic fields can damage the cell in a way that is harmful to human health.”

As far as someone being electrosensitive, double-blind, controlled studies have repeat-edly shown that electrosensitives can’t tell the difference between genuine and sham electromagnetic fields. In one study in 2007, a Norwegian research team conducted tests using 65 pairs of sham and mobile phone radio frequency (RF) exposures. Their con-clusion; “The study gave no evidence that RF fields from mobile phones cause head pain or discomfort or influence physiologi-cal variables. The most likely reason for the symptoms is a nocebo effect.”

—Douglas Aja, East Montpelier

Occupy Conference is About Inquiry and Engagement

To the Editor:I noticed in the February 16 Heard on the

Street column a piece that mentioned concern by some central Vermont Occupy activists about the purpose of Occupy! Goddard, an upcoming conference addressing issues raised by the Occupy Wall Street movement.

I would like to clarify Goddard’s purpose. This conference is part of a larger effort for Goddard to engage its activist roots and to be a leader in thinking about the change that is needed in education. Our political system can’t change if our education system does not change.

Higher education is broken, marked by competition and tuition that outstrips in-come. The issues raised by the Occupy move-ment afford us all a teachable moment as citizens of a democracy.

This is not an Occupy event or action. It is a conference, hosted by a college whose mission has always been radical and experi-menting. The conference is designed to invite inquiry leading to effective action. In no way are we trying to usurp the goals and actions of the Vermont and national Occupy move-ment. We are trying to understand and en-gage the issues raised by the movement.

In an effort to make it clear that Goddard is hosting a conference rather than an Oc-cupy event, we have decided to remove the general assembly from the day’s agenda.

We are charging $10 per person to offset costs. If paying the fee causes financial hard-ship, a code on the registration page allows people to register at no cost. There is also an opportunity to make a contribution to sup-port these no-cost registrations.

I am grateful for the feedback we are re-ceiving from local Occupy activists. We want to make this a truly national conference that places Goddard and Vermont where they should be—in the midst of a discussion on the central role of education in ensuring the health of our democracy.

—Barbara Vacarr, president, Goddard College

Corporations Stifle Free SpeechTo the Editor:Thank you for including my opinion,

“Vote for People, Not Corporations,” in your February 16 edition. However, to shorten it, you deleted what I feel was the critical middle paragraph:

The concept of free speech holds that every person has the right to express his or her opinion and to be heard. It encourages open dialogue on all issues. In an election cycle, people want to obtain knowledge to inform their vote. The problem is that when corpo-rations use their vast reserves, or super PACs spend their huge contributions, to purchase space in major media outlets to support or oppose a particular candidate or issue, many people are influenced to follow that advice simply because other opinions are smothered by the overwhelming output from corporate and monied interests. As of January 31, $67 million dollars, half of the total donations to the candidates’ super PACs, had been given by just 22 individuals and corporations. Big money can elect candidates who are corpo-rate-friendly, which leads to the appointment of judges who are corporate-friendly, which leads to legislation and judicial rulings that are corporate-friendly.

Also, to clarify a point in the first paragraph of my opinion, in Citizens United v. FEC the Supreme Court struck down the restrictions in the McCain-Feingold campaign finance reform bill that prohibited “electioneering communications” (funding issue ads within a certain time of an election) by corporations and unions, declaring that those restrictions constituted a violation of the right of free speech. In the process, the court defined corporations as people and money as a form of speech or communication. Therefore, cor-porations cannot be restricted from spending money on election issues even right up to the day of an election. They are supposedly still prohibited from donating directly to candi-dates, but the super PACs provide a medium to get around that.

Please vote yes on Article 40.—Page Guertin, Montpelier

Option Tax LettersOption Taxes are a No-Brainer

To the Editor:Having just voted absentee ballot in Mont-

pelier, I had the chance to look over and think about the two proposed options taxes. While I don’t like flat taxes in general, be-cause they’re regressive, the importance of the revenue generated from these two taxes is a no-brainer. Eighty percent of the revenue from the 1 percent local sales tax would go towards offsetting revenue from municipal property taxes, with 20 percent going towards business development and promotion. And of the 1 percent rooms and meals and alcohol taxes, fully 100 percent of the revenues would go towards infrastructure improvements and maintenance; and if ever there were a city in

LettersA Blueprint for Needed Action

For the 35-plus years I’ve lived in Montpelier, there’s been a constant complaint about high property taxes. And I’ve wondered, “Are property-tax complaints today any different from

the property tax complaints of 20 or 30 years ago?”Yes, I’d say, although the complaints may sound the same, the situation is different because

the world is different, the economy is different.To be blunt, it strikes me that individually and as a people and a nation, we have become

poorer, we are facing greater debt and our capacity to create wealth appears to be in decline.Each of us has a different financial profile. But whether it’s gas at the pump, college tu-

itions, propane or oil to heat our houses, cuts in government fuel assistance, rising food costs, health-care costs—each us has a list that’s ours alone—many of us, and I include myself here, feel the money we have this year isn’t stretching as far. It’s buying us less.

I’m aware this may not be a majority view, but I line up with people who question why Montpelier taxpayers are carrying one of the highest municipal tax burdens in the state.

As a new Montpelier City Council assembles after March 6, here’s one blueprint for needed action.

Cut the municipal budget. In one of the new council’s earliest March or April goal-setting meetings, let’s ask the council to make a commitment for a city-council-approved FY14 budget proposal that reduces municipal expenses. Please put a number on that reduc-tion—1, 2, 3 percent. Commit to something solid. Then create a FY14 budget that meets that goal

Change the budget-making timetable. Let’s ask the new council to bring in an approved FY14 budget proposal for citizen review and comment in late summer or early fall—not in December in the lead-up to the holidays or later during the fevered final discus-sions in January.

Put everything on the table. In building a new FY14 budget, ask the new coun-cil to put everything on the table: city staffing levels, compensation and benefit packages, also the major city departments of police, fire and ambulance, and public works, as well as other city functions. And give clear instructions to the city manager in any negotiations with unionized city employees.

Examine the big city departments. In reviewing the efficiency of the big city departments—public works, police, fire and ambulance—start out from zero appropriations and rigorously question all assumptions. Once the assumptions have been revised and ac-cepted, rebuild the budget and implement the efficiencies.

Test regional programs for taxpayer fairness to Montpelier residents. In building a new budget, insist that Montpelier pay its fair share of regional services but no more than its fair share. Regional services include, for example, the Montpelier senior center, the Kellogg-Hubbard Library, the community justice center and mutual aid arrangements for fire and ambulance between the City of Montpelier and nearby communities.

Come up with a more rational process for dealing with agency re-quests. The new council needs to create both a process and a rationale for the timely re-view of requests for Montpelier taxpayer help to charitable organizations. Voters at the polls need to know that each agency request has been reviewed and evaluated and that only those agencies whose requests have been screened and recommended proceed to the ballot for voter consideration. The process feels opaque at the moment.

Plug in the voting public. At the 2011 city meeting, some seven out of 10 Montpelier voters sat out the city meeting election. This has to tell us something. We can and should do better.

Editorial

Update: The Bridge’s Annual Campaign

Recent, timely, and deeply appreciated contributions to the annual campaign to benefit The Bridge give us a new total of $10,197 toward the overall campaign goal of $12,000.

We had a fundraising envelope that accompanied our February 16 issue. But if you don’t have our address, here’s the information. Please, if you can, contribute to the annual campaign that benefits The Bridge by making a check out to The Bridge and sending it to our mailing address: The Bridge, P.O. Box 1143, Montpelier, VT 05601. Or feel free to stop by our office. We are located in the lower level of Schulmaier Hall on the Vermont College campus and we are open from about 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday. Again, thanks.

The Power of Music

During a week when I was not too well organized, I waited until late to try to buy a ticket to the February 19 Massively Mozart Concert sponsored by Capitol City Concerts.

The tickets were gone, but on the afternoon of the event I turned up at the door and put my name on a waiting list. Just a few minutes before the concert started, my name was called.

We are seeing bigger and bigger audiences for classical music in Montpelier. Last fall, when the Montpelier Chamber Orchestra and the Capitol City Concerts held two separate concerts on the same Saturday evening, both concerts sold out.

It’s not hard to understand what’s happening. The Massively Mozart concert was a clear run of lyric joy, from the singing of Julie Boulianne to the flute performance with orchestra of Karen Kevra to the joyously masterful clarinet performance of Daniel Gilbert in a piece that Mozart wrote within two months of his death, his final piece for an orchestral instrument.

Karen Kevra first came to know the Mozart flute concerto that she played in concert when, as a 9-year-old music student, she was given a boxed record set of Mozart wind concerti by her elementary-school music teacher and “fell in love” with his Concerto No. 1 in G Major. Daniel Gilbert’s awakening to the Mozart clarinet concert was similar. He was 8 years old when “somebody gave me a record of Robert Marcellus playing the concerto. I was mesmer-ized,” he wrote. Marcellus later became his clarinet teacher,

It’s impossible to express what happened at the February 19 concert. I was there. I was hearing the music. I didn’t want to be anywhere else. I know how I felt as I entered the per-formance space; I know, also, that I left feeling transformed.

THE BR IDGE MARCH 1–14, 2012 • PAGE 21

need of that, it is Montpelier now. I encour-age support for these two percentage-wise-very-small taxes, because of the benefits that would result.

—Lew Friedland, Montpelier

Montpelier Alive Concerned About Extra Downtown Taxes

To the Editor:In response to community interest in

learning more about the impact of the local option taxes on businesses and residents, Montpelier Alive hosted a community forum on the issue on February 23. The goal of the moderated forum was to clearly identify what local option taxes are and discuss how they may affect Montpelier’s residents and busi-ness owners. The event filled every seat in the room at the Capitol Plaza.

While we understand that Montpelier’s mu-nicipal budget is strained, Montpelier Alive is concerned that the adoption of local option taxes will make it more difficult to accom-plish our mission, which includes “collabora-tion with businesses, civic and governmental organizations, and the wider community to enhance the city’s position as a preferred location for business.” Further, Montpelier Alive is concerned that the adoption of local option taxes may impede the development of a downtown assessment district, which we view as a viable alternative way to support and enhance our downtown.

We wish to extend sincere appreciation to all of the community members who attended the forum as well as the moderator and panel members who made the event a success: The moderator was Todd Bailey of KSE Partners. The panel featured Ken Jones of the Vermont Department of Taxes; Bill Fraser, Montpelier city manager; Bob Gross, Montpelier resi-dent; and Rob Kasow, Montpelier resident and co-owner of Bear Pond Books and Riv-endell Books. We also would like to thank the Capitol Plaza for hosting, and ORCA Media for broadcasting this event.

—Greg Guyette, board president, Montpelier Alive

Election LettersOdum is Best Fit for City Clerk

To the Editor:I’m writing to encourage Montpelier voters

to cast their vote on March 6 for John Odum for the position of city clerk. In my opinion, John is the best fit for this position: he is friendly, intelligent, skilled, responsible and well-versed in local news.

I have gotten to know John through our neighborly and friendly exchanges. Whether chatting over the grill during neighborhood barbeques or jumping our cars on those below-zero mornings, John is always willing to lend a hand. He is dependable and authen-tic in his caring attitude.

As the news editor for The Bridge, he is always well informed about what is going on around town. Additionally, he is famil-iar with the electoral process and has done great work for Planned Parenthood and the Vermont Natural Resources Council. I trust John as a neighbor and a friend and I trust he will make a great city clerk; his service-oriented demeanor and commitment to this town makes him an ideal candidate.

—Christopher Pyatak, Montpelier

Marinelli Passionate About Serving Others

To the Editor:As a lifelong resident of central Vermont,

I was very happy to hear of Mike Marinelli’s intent to run for Montpelier city clerk. The vacancy being created by Charlotte Hoyt povides a unique opportunity for a person like Mike. Having known him for some time now, I believe he is the ideal candidate I would like to see in the position. I have never seen anyone more dedicated and pas-sionate about serving others. On numerous occasions he has bent over backwards for his

family, friends, coworkers and even complete strangers. He is one of those people who I know will take his responsibilities seriously and come into the office every day with an open mind, ready to take on the diverse tasks of being the city clerk.

Mike wants to make a difference in the Montpelier community in even the smallest ways. He is intent on increasing the number of voters participating at the polls through outreach efforts, as well as encouraging recip-rocal community service. Mike has deep roots in Montpelier that will allow him to reach out to a large percentage of the city’s residents.

To me, some of the more important quali-fications for this position are strict attention to detail, a genuine caring for people from all walks of life and the ability to prioritize. Mike has these qualities, and I have complete faith that he is the man for the job.

—Eva Morse, Calais

Odum Has Skills, Experience and Sound Ideas

To the Editor: Montpelier voters will be choosing a new

city clerk for the first time in more than two decades. It’s important to elect someone who is dedicated to the community and also has relevant skills and experience.

Both candidates share the former attri-bute, but John Odum also brings the needed skills and experience. And he has a solid plan for making the clerk’s office more ef-ficient through the use of technology. As a longtime information technology/database professional, he knows how to make the the clerk’s office more accessible to citizens in person and online, and make it more envi-ronmentally friendly by cutting down on the use of paper.

I don’t know Mike Marinelli. In his cam-paign announcement, he touted his biography and background, and promised to bring “fam-ily values” to the clerk’s office. I have no idea what that means; family values are nice, but how are they relevant to the office he seeks? His announcement gives no indication of his professional skills, his ideas or his plans.

Faced with a choice between two family-minded candidates with strong ties to the community, I urge a vote for the one with relevant experience and sound ideas: John Odum.

—John Walters, Montpelier

Guerlain Has EnergyTo the Editor:Montpelier is so fortunate to have such a

qualified person as Thierry (called “Terry”) Guerlain running for city council, District 2.

Thierry has not only the background but the high energy to tackle some of the city’s most vexing problems. We all suffer with broken roads and unsafe sidewalks that have crumbled over the past 10 to 15 years.

He wants Montpelier to live within its means and help solve so many of our prob-lems by addressing just how city management directs its dollars and find the solutions to what has been our ever growing problems.

—Don Lyons, Montpelier

Sherman Supports HousingTo the Editor:Nancy Sherman has been a dedicated city

council member for 12 years. Her experi-ence and her willingness to listen and explore creative solutions are invaluable. She has been supportive of the senior-activities-center re-building, the district heat project and a new transit center on the blighted Carr lot. Her experience includes working with the Sabin’s Pasture study committee on a plan to build high-density housing in one area while pre-serving another part for open space. This project could revive when the housing market revives.

Nancy encouraged my husband and me when we converted our barn into an auxiliary apartment. She was helpful with the permit-ting process as we did the construction. It works out well for us to live in the smaller

space, and a young family lives in the main house.

Nancy supports new housing that meets the needs and preferences of moderate- income residents who want to be in walking distance of downtown. She is always willing to listen to concerns and questions from her constituents. We want her to continue her good, thoughtful and experienced work on the city council addressing the issues that are important to us and to future residents.

—Hedi Ballantyne, Montpelier Guerlain Will Help City Improve Efficiency

To the Editor:I am part of a Montpelier business that I

started over 30 years ago, which has grown over the years to 29 people. I have served three terms on the design review board. Our downtown location, in the Blanchard Block, has been a great place to work.

We first met Thierry Guerlain when we hired his business consulting firm to help our company improve its efficiency, productivity, profitability and, therefore, its sustainability. Thierry has a wonderful grasp of financial, as well as managerial, business issues. He is also a good communicator. He was a big help in showing us ways to improve our busi-ness, build on our strengths and our terrific employees.

I am excited about the prospect of having a person join the council who combines a love of our city with the ability to help improve its efficiency.

As architects, we help people work on projects in many cities around the state, and it is clear that although Montpelier’s taxes are often significantly higher than in these towns, the services seem to be no better, and are sometimes worse. Finding out how we can improve our efficiency will help this city remain vital in the long run, and Thierry Guerlain is a positive character who is well suited to assist in this worthy task.

—John Rahill, Montpelier

City Council Needs BalanceTo the Editor:After reading the most recent Bridge, I felt

grateful for those people running for elected office in the upcoming Montpelier March election. The positions expressed were civil, rational, moderate and positive. Reading all the candidates’ thoughtful answers and ob-serving the lack of contest for mayor got me looking at the election as a whole and the potential new compositions of Montpelier’s city council.

Labeling is tricky, but I think it is fair to say there are no extreme antigovernment, Tea Party–like candidates, nor, for that matter extreme antibusiness candidates. I also think it fair to say that the positions of John Hol-lar and Thierry Guerlain are quite similar and might be described as moderate fiscal conservatives, and that Mary Hooper and Nancy Sherman’s positions have been also quite similar and might be described moder-ate fiscal progressives.

There will be two possible election results in terms the overall composition of the city council. If Nancy is reelected, with John replacing Mary, the council will have one replacement member who is relatively more conservative. If Thierry replaces Nancy, the council will have two replacements, both relatively more conservative than the former members.

Montpelier needs and has council mem-bers with both types of political biases, one more cautious and one more trusting of government’s capabilities. I am sure some Montpelier residents would be pleased by having two more conservative replacements, but I don’t think the majority of Montpe-lier would be pleased with such a result. As a moderate progressive who regrets losing Mary’s voice, I will be hoping that Nancy holds on to her seat.

—Harris Webster

Guerlain Is Genuine, Friendly, Successful Businessman

To the Editor:I have been living and working in Montpe-

lier for well over 20 years, and I have known Thierry Guerlain, city council candidate for Montpelier’s District 2, for that entire time. He has been a highly successful businessman working in many diverse areas: Johnson En-viromental, Black River Design, Hearthstone stoves, Graphitek (his own graphic company) and Vermont Weathervanes (again his own company). He has always excelled, because he combines mental acuity and administra-tive skill with an ability to communicate with people in an easy and natural manner. He is one of the friendliest people you could ever meet. His concern for other people is genuine and sincere. Montpelier would be fortunate to have Thierry Guerlain working on its behalf.

—Thomas Mulholland, Montpelier

Sherman: Thoughtful, Forward-Thinking, Experienced

To the Editor:The approach of Town Meeting Day is a

time for taking stock. In Montpelier, we have important decisions to make about our bud-get items and which candidates would best represent our values. I will vote for the school and city budgets and for candidates who are committed to maintaining the services that make our city an attractive place to live. That candidate in District 2 is Nancy Sherman, a thoughtful, forward-thinking and experi-enced council member who understands the issues, including the importance of gaining the most value for our tax dollars.

Nancy’s challenger for the District 2 seat is running on a platform to reduce real-estate taxes without informing us about the depth of tax cuts over time that he believes will make Montpelier “affordable” or identifying the services to be eliminated in the process. Budget cuts would benefit the wealthy dis-proportionately and deny services to those who are most dependent upon them.

Over the years a generosity of spirit has created a very special community in Mont-pelier. We have chosen wisely to invest in professional emergency services whose re-sponse times save lives and property and a school system that is successful in preparing our kids for the future. We have a wonderful library that is the heart of our community and recreation and senior programs that con-tribute to the quality of life for many of our neighbors. I hope that my fellow citizens in Montpelier will join me in voting to support these and other services that help to form the fabric of life here.

—David R. Abbott, Montpelier

Guerlain Brought Community to His Neighborhood

To the Editor:I support Thierry Guerlain for city coun-

cil. If elected, Thierry will listen to his con-stituents and work tirelessly on their behalf. He will offer a fresh perspective, creative solutions, work collaboratively with his fel-low councilors and be a unifying force for positive change. I know this to be true, from having watched Thierry in action ever since he moved into our neighborhood.

Our neighborhood was always great, but after Thierry moved in it became even bet-ter. He brought a real sense of community to our street. He organized the first block party. Last summer we celebrated the 16th annual block party. Thierry became the neighbor who everyone went to for help. Skilled with tools of all kinds, he would spend a day with his chainsaw clearing out overgrown trees from a neighbor’s back yard, or assisting those of us less skilled than he with home repairs. Thierry is always ready to roll up his sleeves for a neighbor. He put up a basketball hoop in his front yard, not his driveway. Street ball flourished. He painted a four-square block on the street, and not just kids

see LETTERS, page 22

PAGE 22 • MARCH 1–14, 2012 THE BR IDGE

by the Montpelier Business Association

The public forum on local option taxes (LOTs) on February 23 made it ap-parent that there are still some people

in Montpelier who are willing to risk that an increased 1 percent on sales and rooms and meals would be “no big deal.” We hope ev-eryone takes time before Town Meeting Day to learn more about the complexities of the city council’s proposal to raise taxes in this way. The Montpelier Business Association feels strongly that LOTs will be detrimental to Montpelier businesses and residents alike for these reasons:

Who will pay? LOTs increase costs to you and our customers and directly increases overhead costs of businesses and commercial properties in Montpelier. Businesses will be required to pay the additional taxes on heat-ing fuel, equipment purchases, supplies and any taxable item regardless of where it is purchased. This will have the double effect of driving up business fixed costs and increasing prices on consumer goods.

Are LOTs an unfair shift of the tax bur-den? Yes. Montpelier’s tax rate is among the highest in the state, and adopting LOTs is not an efficient, fair or sensible course for raising revenues. Thirty percent of the taxes collected from LOTs would go directly to the state. There are no guarantees that any of the remaining funds would go toward eco-nomic development, despite the city’s prom-ises. LOTs shift the tax burden to loyal and predominately local consumers, including low-income residents and seniors who shop solely downtown.

Keep downtown vibrant. Vermont enjoys a strong shop-local movement and a commu-nity that understands the importance of sup-porting local independent businesses. Mont-pelier businesses, in kind, contribute heavily to the cultural life of downtown Montpelier

financially and materially. We’re afraid that LOTs will act as a disincentive to shop locally and will alienate our loyal customers and par-ticipants in the many cultural events hosted by Montpelier. We recognize that the greater central Vermont community and out-of-town tourists are valued customers and a vital part of keeping downtown Montpelier vibrant.

Keep Montpelier strong. A difficult eco-nomic climate is no time to increase taxes and make Montpelier business less competitive.

With an ongoing recession, stiff competition from box stores, the popularity of Internet shopping and the lingering effects of two floods, downtown businesses are facing dif-ficult financial realities. The potential loss of sales and the increased overhead costs result-ing from LOT will put even more pressure on our fragile downtown.

The Montpelier Business Association does not believe that LOTs are an equitable or effi-cient way of solving the city’s budgetary prob-

lems. We all have to face the realities of living within our budgets and the City of Montpe-lier is no exception. We are valuable members of the community and generous supporters of local nonprofits, schools and other local busi-nesses to help keep Montpelier the wonderful place that it is. In our estimation the city’s plan to increase sales and rooms and meals taxes will hurt our businesses and ultimately your pocketbook by adding another tax on an already overtaxed community.

by Mary Hooper

The chamber of commerce and busi-ness association have done an excel-lent job of presenting a case against

local option taxes. They worry about how this will affect our business community. The chamber suggests that because we can collect money more efficiently from property taxes, that is how we should pay for services.

Montpelier’s residential community deeply values our downtown and commercial part-ners. We have worried about our locally owned retailers and small entrepreneurial businesses. We support them by shopping locally and by investing property-tax dollars in the downtown.

We make these investments because they make us a stronger, more vital community. We need to keep investing in our commu-nity, but we have stretched our property-tax payers too far.

We have not heard about the burden our residents are facing. Many in our community live on small fixed incomes; many are state employees who have seen 3 percent and 5 percent reductions in their pay over the past three years. All face the same rising costs of

health insurance and energy.We have not heard of the slow shift of

paying for services to the residential sec-tor. Twenty-five years ago, residents paid for about half of the cost of services. Today they pay for two-thirds of these services.

We have not heard about who consumes Montpelier services. Montpelier has more employees per capita than any community except Williston. This distinction is part of what makes our community so vital—20,000 people coming into town each day. And it is what makes our taxes so high—as we pay for the services they use.

Nor have we heard a clear explanation of who pays local option taxes. Rooms, meals and alcohol taxes are easy to understand—the people who rent a room, buy a meal or a drink will pay the additional 1 percent.

Sales taxes are more complex. There are lots of exemptions. Most food and clothing, farm equipment, residential heating fuel, ve-hicles, items bought for resale and many other items are exempt from the sales tax.

Specific data on sources of sales tax is not collected by the state. But one of our large businesses pays $175,000 annually in sales tax. Extrapolating from this, it is safe

to assume that the major employers pay at least half of the sales tax. This is the same commercial sector that draws people into the town and that has seen its share of property taxes rise at a slower rate than residential property-tax payers.

We do know that less than half of the sales taxes paid in Montpelier will come from the people who shop locally. We do know that as the charter changes are proposed, the local option taxes will reduce property taxes on the average residential property in Montpelier by about $150, in addition to investing an addi-tional $100,000 in the business sector. And that if Montpelier passes local option taxes, the average residential property-tax payer would have to spend more than $15,000 to offset this tax savings.

We should not allow this conversation about local option taxes to devolve into a business versus resident debate. I hope we will carefully consider how we support the needs all of this community. How do we fairly share the responsibility of providing services to all in our community?

Mary Hooper is mayor of Montpelier.

but adults would stand in line to play. The street in front of Thierry’s became the gath-ering spot. Watching Thierry, one cannot help but be impressed by his intelligence, ingenuity, positive attitude, creativity and community-building skills. He is equally at home in his Jane Austen book group as he is climbing in the dirt to shore up the founda-tion of a sagging building. As a result, he is able to relate to and empathize with every-one he encounters. More importantly, he inspires them to join together for the com-mon good. Thierry Guerlain has improved the quality of our neighborhood. If elected to city council, he will do the same thing for Montpelier.

—David Kidney, Montpelier

Odum and Guerlain Will Add Value to Government

To the Editor:I urge Montpelier residents on March 6

to support John Odum for city clerk and, for those who live in District 2, Thierry Guerlain for city council.

I have interacted with John Odum as a professional work colleague and also when he coached my son’s baseball team. His un-derstanding of computer systems, and da-tabases in particular, is very strong. And as a coach he demonstrated both fairness and diplomacy. It seems to me a combination of technical savvy and strong interpersonal skills are the sorts of attributes a successful city clerk should possess.

Thierry Guerlain I have known over a decade. On two occasions Thierry has pro-vided me with timely, invaluable advice on important personal and business-related financial matters. His clear thinking was extremely helpful to me in those cases. I fully expect he would bring this same sort of

solid, critical analysis to city government.Both John Odum and Thierry Guerlain

are dedicated, intelligent Montpelier resi-dents who love this city and who would add significant value to city government.

—Jake Brown, Montpelier

Sherman Has Quiet, Responsive Commitment to Community

To the Editor: In this day of bravado and showboat ten-

dencies, Nancy Sherman represents a quiet and responsive civil servant. She neither seeks the limelight nor follows it. Her de-portment exemplifies what most folks have forgotten: that one can serve responsibly in a quiet manner.

Nancy has participated in moving items forward that have been neglected: from al-ternative sources of energy for a Montpelier downtown heating system to accessible and affordable modes of transportation for all. Even the current controversy concerning local option taxes that Nancy and others have put forth for Montpelier’s citizens is a way of keeping the conversation going about how to generate new revenue sources in a city that has become a commercial and cul-tural center for so many other Vermonters.

We often hear the rallying cry of throw-ing the old out with the next vote, but there are times when this is not a good idea. It helps to have city representatives who have been involved in governance and policy is-sues over time. Without such members, a board lacks memory. Nancy has helped to forge directions and to encourage conver-sations with her electorate. Certainly, the Taser controversy demonstrated a thorough review of the matter before the public, and rightfully so.

In the midst of all the issues and con-troversies that come with public office,

Nancy listens to her constituency and takes her office of representing District 2 voters seriously.

We have known Nancy for a long time and have seen her continued commitment toward all members of the larger commu-nity. Her work with adult basic education as well as her present position with the Council on Aging as AmeriCorps director demonstrates her commitment. She bridges gaps and creates supportive structures where all can succeed. The truth of the matter is that we need more Nancy Shermans in these complicated times, not fewer

—Cynthia and David Hartnett, Montpelier

We Need Guerlain’s ChangeTo the Editor:Nancy Sherman is a wonderful woman

who has performed tirelessly for the City of Montpelier for years. We are very grateful for her service. However, Nancy’s time has come. Montpelier needs new blood, a non-partisan perspective and fresh energy. With Thierry Guerlain on city council and John Hollar as our new mayor, we have a chance to change the way we do business and make some fiscally responsible decisions before it’s too late. If changes do not occur soon, the middle class will seek other places to live and businesses will seek other commercial venues that are affordable.

Kim Cheney must not have met Mr. Guerlain before he wrote to The Bridge [Letters, February 2]. Thierry is not a Tea Party voice. He has solid business acumen. Thierry has done his homework and under-stands the problems and politics of Montpe-lier. Best of all, he has the time, ability and desire to effect change.

We need change, no question. We need a new approach to finances, and we need re-

vised priorities. Too many of our city leaders have been wedded to projects like the Carr Lot and the district heating plant that go nowhere and make no practical fiscal sense. We have real issues to address, like our lousy streets and too high taxes. We continually hear justifications from City Hall about why we can’t fix the roads, why we blew it with Scott Construction, why a local option tax is good, etc. It is a dizzying merry-go-round of excuses.

My wish for Montpelier is new leaders who will make things change, stop spend-ing money unnecessarily and frivolously, and address our infrastructure first and foremost, then move on to the amenities if there is money and a desire from our citizenry.

—Dot Helling, Montpelier

Guerlain Has Business AcumenTo the Editor:About 10 years ago, Thierry Guerlain

bought a floundering graphic signs business in Bennington. I was the insurance broker for the business, both before and after Thi-erry bought it. This is what I know about Thierry: He took this business and its 10 or so employees from the brink of failure to become a stable, profitable business through imaginative ideas and a lot of hard work.

In my 25 years as an insurance broker, I’ve met a lot of business owners and have seen how they run a business. I’ve met very few whom I respect as much as I do Thierry, both for his fiscal acumen and for his ability to encourage his staff to use their own ideas and skills to make the workplace better and more successful. I wish I had 10 more clients just like him, and if he were running for office here in Bennington, he’d certainly get my vote.

—Mark Kevorkian, Bennington

Don’t Burden Local Business: Vote No on Option Taxes

LETTERS, from page 21

Option Taxes Would Ease Burden

THE BR IDGE MARCH 1–14, 2012 • PAGE 23

by Jed Guertin

The presentations and discussion at the Montpelier candidates’ forum were excellent. However, a recurring

theme was, “The tax rate is too high,” and “We have champagne tastes and a beer bud-get.”

Sadly, sound bites skew the debate away from the issues. Here are some numbers to consider (see chart at right).

These are all older nuclear cities with ex-tensive and aging infrastructure, surrounded by rural communities. These cities provide amenities to their surrounding towns. Note that Montpelier’s median home values are the highest, and the tax rates are the low-est, of these comparable cities. Montpelier’s high tax bill, viewed from this perspective, appears to be a function of the relatively high

property values, not the tax rate. Property values have probably remained high because Montpelier is a desirable place to live. If we mindlessly cut taxes just to cut taxes, we run the risk of undermining property values by removing some of the amenities that make the city attractive.

I hope that the candidates, in the next week, can restructure their dialogue to an open conversation of the real issues. I have questions for each of the District 2 candi-dates for city council:

Nancy: You have mentioned the issue of regional equity; that is, assuring that the surrounding communities contribute equi-tably to the cost of the city’s amenities. On what basis did the council determine that regional equity is an issue? What options, besides sales tax, are there for resolving the inequity?

Thierry: You said that young people are discouraged from buying property in Mont-pelier because taxes are too high, yet contin-ued high property values suggest that there is still a demand for Montpelier housing. Do you have statistical, as opposed to anecdotal, evidence to support your statement? How

do you explain the significant differences in market value between Montpelier and these other comparable cities?

Jed Guertin is a Montpelier resident.

by Dan Jones

As we approach Montpelier’s town meeting, we are seeing profound divi-sion emerging, expressed in both the

heated debate over the local option taxes and in the city council contest between Nancy Sherman and Thierry Guerlain (represent-ing his Vibrant and Affordable Montpelier (VAM) coalition). While it’s exciting to have such a debate, the arguments require more than assertions and assumptions. All I am hearing from the antitax side are unfounded assertions. They simply state that any new taxes hurt business and home owners, but where is the proof? Guerlain claims his bud-getary discipline will force a new direction, but, again, where is his proof? I, too, would love lower taxes, but not without a serious discussion of the long-term consequences of such austerity. All I hear instead are short-

term assertions that echo right-wing political arguments of the last two years.

We are told tax policies will benefit busi-ness and keep more residents in their homes. Why? Their simplistic answers basically re-peats the Fox News position that all taxes are bad bad bad. I would love to hear concrete, low-cost plans to preserve Montpelier’s most treasured assets: its safety, its human scale and stable quality of life. However, I’m old enough to know that such valued qualities do not come cheap.

Sure, the VAM coalition and businesses who oppose the local option tax claim to want a “vibrant” Montpelier. They just don’t say how that will be maintained with their no new taxes and across-the-board 3 percent budget cut. Such demands for fiscal austerity remind me of Tea Party demands based on the idea that all government is wasteful. We saw how that movement played out in Con-

gress last year, to no good end. Do we really want to encourage that type of thinking in our city council? This is not a attack on Mr. Guerlain, who reputed to be generous, socially progressive and a good father. How-ever, I do wish he and his coalition engaged in more concrete proposals for the budget than simply demanding the city manager decide what programs to axe.

Look at what has happened in California when mandatory austerity (similar to VAM’s proposal) was imposed on local governments by Proposition 13, passed by angry California voters during a deep recession in 1978. Prop 13 put a tight lid on property taxes, prevent-ing growth of local government. Over the last 30 years, this law has utterly decimated the state’s public education system and left hun-dreds of California municipalities mired in a world of hurt, often bankrupt. Do we really want Montpelier to start down that road?

We are all living in economic fear be-cause growth is stalled, unemployment is high, and many of us are in debt up to our ears. In this environment, our city, like any good household, needs closely manage its expenses. But we have to do it responsibly. So, before engaging in wholesale tax trash-ing, could Montpelier have a real debate on what we actually want for future services and how we pay for them? This debate needs more sophistication than simply asserting that controlling waste and better manage-ment will save Montpelier’s budget. We need candidates and proposals who will provide leadership, not just assertions, in the face of looming economic challenges. We must rec-ognize that our collective quality of life here has a value way beyond a percentage point on our tax bill. Next, we must act accordingly.

Dan Jones is a Montpelier resident.

John Odum

For more than two decades, Charlotte Hoyt has given Montpelier citizens a

clerk-treasurer office built on a foundation of dedication and hard work. Job 1 for the next clerk will be to keep that foundation se-cure. Job 2 will be to find ways to build on that foundation for greater efficiency and savings.

I can offer Mont-pelier the profes-sional skills, the management experience and the track record of accomplishment required to meet these challenges.

I am a credentialed database programmer and Internet technology specialist. In the last two decades, I’ve worked for organiza-tions such as the Vermont Natural Resources Council and Planned Parenthood (where I was responsible for maintaining a database application used by clinics over three states). These professional skills will allow me to identify opportunities to increase efficiency in the office and cut down on paper use. As a Web programmer, I’ll also be able to identify ways to make the website more useful.

My experience will also serve me well in some of the more particular responsibilities of the city clerk. As a former Montpelier justice of the peace, I have firsthand un-derstanding of how the clerk supports the board of civil authority. As the news editor of The Bridge, I’ve been a close observer of the city council (particularly the budget process) and have a strong understanding of city governance, which will help me support the council.

I have extensive professional experience with election campaigns in Vermont—both at the state and local level. I am ideally suited

to be the local point person on election law, as well as to run smooth election pro-cesses for the city.

Finally, my years spent supporting political candidates, nonprofit member-

ship and medical clinics have more than prepared me for the task of maintaining a responsive and positive customer-service

environment in the clerk’s office.I am both a husband and a parent and

have a strong attachment to our community. My wife, Cary, works at Norwich Uni-versity, and I have two boys—Tucker and Zane—who are in the Montpelier schools. From raising these kids, along with being a local baseball coach for the last couple years, I know that Montpelier is the greatest place in the world to raise a family.

—John Odum, Montpelier

Mike Marinelli

As a longtime resident of Montpelier, I am excited and will be honored to serve

each and every resident of the City of Mont-pelier in the capacity of city clerk and will

bring to fellow residents my hardworking values, dedication and commitment.

I am a graduate of Montpelier High School and Paul Smith’s College, with a degree in hospitality and culinary-arts management. I have worked all of my adult life in the food-service industry and 20 years as manager of Knights of Columbus, a nonprofit fraternal benefit society. My work experience and skills parallel many of the skills needed to perform the duties of city clerk.

Most importantly, I have excellent com-munication skills to effectively interact with a diverse group of people. I have proven interpersonal skills, tact, diplomacy and a cooperative attitude.

I have sound business-management skills. I am fiscally responsible and efficiency-minded. My strong organizational skills and goal-oriented mindset will ready me to ac-complish objectives for the city.

I have working knowledge of and experi-ence with personal and business computer and accounting applications. I am eager to learn the city’s systems for maintaining and recording vital records, land records, the election processes and collaborating with other city officials to make improvements, if needed.

Montpelier is known as a family city where community and commitment to your fellow residents is given top propriety. I want to give back and serve the Montpelier community that has been an integral part of my family’s life through this position of public office.

I appreciate your support, thank you!—Mike Marinelli, Montpelier

City Clerk Candidates Introduce Themselves

OpinionsDiscussion Needs Statistics, Not Anecdotes

Tax RateMedian Prop Value Population

Median Tax Bill

MedInc (1=VT)

Med-Home (1=VT)

Tax on $200K Home

Barre City 1.4725 $130,110 9,052 $1,916 .77 .70 $2,945

Rutland City 1.3095 $132,900 16,495 $1,740 .78 .75 $2,619

Springf ield 1.1799 $142,000 3,901 $1,674 .64 .65 $2,360

Brattleboro 1.0941 $187,970 7,414 $2,057 .72 .91 $2,188

Montpelier 1.0074 $212,900 7,855 $2,145 .99 .99 $2,014

(“MedInc” is the community’s median household income divided by VT median household income. “MedHome” is the community’s median home value divided by VT median home value.)

We Need More than Assertions

PAGE 24 • MARCH 1–14, 2012 THE BR IDGE

Always Answering ServiceAubuchon HardwareBob Sheil, Juvenile DefenderBonnie Johnson-AtenBuch Spieler

Capital CopyCapital KitchenCapital StationersThe Cheshire CatThe Drawing BoardElm Street Barber Shop

First In FitnessThe Getup Vintage ClothingGlobal GiftsGuitar SamHeather’s Nearly NewThe Jolly Trader Antiques

and Vintage DelightsKatie’s JewelsManghi’s BreadMinuteman PressNo. 9 BoutiqueORCA Media

Pinky’s on StateSarducci’sState Street EngravingThat’s Life SoupThe Leahy PressTulsi Tea Room

Uncle Mike’s DeliThe Uncommon Market Vermont Trading CompanyVillage PizzaWoodbury Mountain Toys

The Washington County Youth Service Bureau/Boys & Girls Clubis an important resource to the residents of Montpelier.

Referrals to our services come from parents, school personnel and other organizations, the VT Department of Children and Families, the VT Department of Corrections, churches, police officers and young people themselves. Many are received through our 24-Hour Crisis Response Service. The Youth Service Bureau/Boys & Girls Club is a private, non-profit, social service agency. All programs and services are funded by foundations, state government, federal government, private donations, area towns, Medicaid, private insurance and fundraising activities.

The following Montpelier businesses urge you to support the Basement Teen Center on Town Meeting Day and throughout the year.

During the past year the Washington County Youth Service Bureau/Boys & Girls Club provided the following services to young people and families in Montpelier:

240 Teens participated in the Basement Teen Center in Montpelier that pro-vides supervised drop-in time, leadership opportunities, and many activities & events.

57 Teens were served by the Community Assistance Program that helps youths avoid substance abuse or make connections with treatment services.

26 Youths and their Families were assisted by the Country Roads Program that provides 24-hour crisis intervention, short-term counseling, and temporary, emergency shelter for youth who have run away, are homeless, or are in crisis.

41 Teens were provided with Substance Abuse Treatment.6 Family members (3 teens and 3 children) participated in the Teen Parent

Program that helps teen parents build parenting and life skills, continue their education, and create healthy homes.

14 Teens participated in the Transitional Living Program that helps homeless young people make the transition to independent living.

1 Young man was served by Return House that provides transitional assis-tance to young men who are returning to Barre City from jail. Return House is staffed 24/7.

192 Community Members were served through the 39th Community Thanksgiving Dinner organized by the Bureau (83 of these were provided with home-delivered meals).

10 Youths were served through the VT Green Youth Program that helps youth living in difficult circumstances in central VT access trainings and certi-fications that lead to successful employment in the green jobs field.

The Basement Teen Center/Boys & Girls ClubThe Basement Teen Center Boys & Girls Club, located in the basement of Montpelier’s City Hall, is a substance-free, adult-supervised space for teens to gather, attend workshops, learn leadership skills, and have fun. At the Basement, teens have snacks, cook, talk, play pool, listen to music, and participate in a wide variety of activities.

The Basement is open from 2-6 pm Monday through Thursday, and 3-10 pm on Friday. In the past program year:

146 Montpelier teens participated in the Basement’s daily activities. 66% of the 221 individual teens who participated in the Teen Center were Montpelier residents.

94 Montpelier teens participated in special activities and events. Of the 117 youth participating in special events and activities, 80% were from Montpelier.

145 activities were sponsored by the Basement including Friday night din-ners, filmmaking workshops, photography, health and fitness workshops, Montpelier Amazing Race, paintball, movie nights, digital photo scavenger hunts, music Mondays, pool tournaments and much more!

28 community volunteers donated time to lead activities, help with special events, or help during drop-in time.

Daily drop-ins ranged from 5 to 36 teens. Teens made a total of 2,725 drop-in visits to the Basement.