Vol. 158 No. 039 (USPS) (5133-8000)

IN BRIEF

Messenger $1.00

Tuesday, February 16, 2016

Vermont’s Oldest Evening Newspaper Established in 1861Berkshire MontgoMery sheldon FairField highgate richFord enosBurg swanton georgia FairFax Franklin BakersField Fletcher

St. Albans

BATTLING HUNGER

By ELAINE EZERINSMessenger Staff Writer

ST. ALBANS — Andrew Judge, founder of Seeds for Growth,

hopes to implement the chicken pot pie project again this year, but on a much larger scale. Last time around, Judge worked mainly on his own. He reached out to the University of Vermont’s Extension Embryology Program for free chicks. He raised them, los-ing a few to foxes and hawks along the way. He drove to the Hannaford Career Center in Middlebury to process and package the chickens. When the chicken pot pies were donated to Martha’s Kitchen in the fall, 19 birds went to create more than 180 pot pies.

Local charity soliciting community volunteers

Quinnlan Steele (8) and Seneca Lamos skate toward cen-ter ice at Cairns Arena on Saturday in a St. Albans Saints 10-and-under state hockey tournament game. The Messenger will feature photos of several local youth hockey teams throughout the week.

SEE SPORTS,PAGE 1B JOSH KAUFMANN, St. Albans Messenger

A CHICKENFOR EVERY POT PIE

Swanton delayscelebrationdue to fatality SWANTON – The Swanton Enhancement Project has announced that its scheduled celebration of community accomplishments, which was to be held Thursday, has been postponed.

The action was taken as the result of the death of Swanton resident William Fournier, 23, who died last weekend after his truck fell through the ice and into the icy waters of Campbell’s Bay. Molly Lambert, an event organizer, said, “The town is grieving and it seems the right thing to do. We’ll keep you posted about reschedul-ing.”

TOWN MEETING DAY

Georgia revenues

assist budget

By ABBY LEDOUXMilton Independent

GEORGIA — Voters here will see reduced tax bills

on the town side this year, thanks to growth in the Grand List and anticipated revenue. At $2.74 million, the General Fund proposal actually spends more than in 2015, but it also assumes nearly $260,000 more in revenue, requiring a $1.5 million tax levy – a 5 percent decrease or $82,000 less than in 2015. Calculated with the cur-rent Grand List, the 2016 tax rate will decrease about a penny and a half, town trea-surer Amber Baker said. For a $250,000 home, that means about $40 in savings. Recent development is expected to grow the Grand List even more, Baker added. She referred to Fairfield devel-oper Tim Reed’s 19-unit sub-division off Georgia’s Route 7 that will help further reduce the tax impact. Some of the biggest savings come from cell phone tower rent payments, projected at nearly $92,000 compared to last year’s $79,000. Having $110,000 cash in-hand to apply to the 2016 budget also helped tamp down expenses, Baker said. Revenue from the state is up almost $5,000, while money from fees, licenses and fines is down about $7,000, as the town budgeted for fewer zoning and recording fees in 2016. The town made its last loan payment for the John Rhodes land use lawsuit settlement in 2015, and this year will see the final payments for the fire department tanker voters approved in 2013. The selectboard also increased that department’s reserve fund by $30,000 for cap-

Spending up,tax levy down

ELAINE EZERINS, St. Albans MessengerRobert Ostermeyer, Andrew Judge, Bob Begley, OFS, and Natalie LaRocque-Bouchard all pose in front of the new logo for the 2016 chicken pot pie project. The slogan “Together We Cook” exemplifies Judge’s need for community members to come forward and raise chickens for free.

Messenger file photoLast year, more than 180 chicken pot pies were donated to Martha’s Kitchen. Judge hopes to expand upon the three flavors: American Classic, Chicken Curry Karma and Toulouse La Cluck.

GRAND ISLE (AP) — Authorities say a ferry con-necting New York and Vermont has been re-opened after high winds and waves closed it Monday night. The Grand Isle County Sheriff ’s Department says Lake Champlain Transportation Co. re-opened ferry service Tuesday morning. The ferry connects Grand Isle, Vermont and Plattsburgh, New York. On Monday night, Sheriff Ray Allen said there were high winds and waves on Lake Champlain. Allen said there was concern about waves com-ing onto the deck with large chunks of ice.

® See GEORGIA on page 10A® See HUNGER on page 5A

Tonight: Rain ending. Low 28.Tomorrow: Afternoon snow showers. High 32.FORECAST, PAGE 6A

WEATHER:

SaintAlbansMessenger SAMessenger samessenger www.samessenger.com

ON THE WEB:www.samessenger.comfacebook.com/saintalbansmessenger

Authorities: Grand Isleferry reopened

IN BRIEF

LEGISLATIVE HEARING:

Governor’s state budget under committee reviewBy MICHELLE MONROEMessenger Staff Writer

ST. ALBANS — The competing demands on Vermont’s state budget – educa-

tion, health care, economic development

– were on display Monday night as mem-bers of the House and Senate Appropria-tions Committees took testimony from the public on Gov. Peter Shumlin’s proposed budget.

Area residents address wide range of issues

MICHELLE MONROE, St. Albans Messenger® See BUDGET on page 5A

Schools close;merger forumwill be held

ST. ALBANS — Although schools across the region were closed due to weather for the first time this year, a planned forum on the proposed merg-er of the Fairfield, St. Albans City and St. Albans Town school districts will take place as scheduled tonight. The forum will be begin at 6 p.m. in the Bellows Free Academy library on South Main Street in St. Albans.

INSIDE

Vermont Adult Learning and RiseVT seek ways to continue collaboration. That, plus a calen-dar of local wellness and support groups in health, PAGES 8-9A.

From left: Rep. Kathleen Keenan, Sen. Bobby Starr and Rep. Chuck Pearce take testi-mony on Gov. Shumlin’s pro-posed budget during a hear-ing Monday night at the St. Albans Town Educational Center library.

The session was held in the St. Albans Town Educational Center library, where speakers focused on the needs of the Community High School of Vermont, Medicaid reim-bursement, and the state college system. Sen. Bobby Starr, D-Essex-Orleans, Rep. Kathy Keenan, D-St. Albans, and Rep. Albert “Chuck” Pearce, R-Richford conduct-ed the meeting. Starr repre-sents the Franklin County towns of Montgomery and Richford. A number of individual area residents raised points for consideration. Carl Rosenquist, of Georgia, a former state representative, urged the Vermont Legislature to make certain local courts are not closed. Judicial processes should happen close to the people involved, in his view. “Many of the people involved in the judicial pro-cess can’t travel that eas-ily,” said Rosenquist. “Don’t cut the judicial branch any more than it has been,” he said. Basil Burt, also of Georgia, expressed concern about dairy farming. “The whole industry is starting to decline,” he said. He urged careful consid-eration of environmental requirements. “Farmers know what they’re doing, and they don’t want to pol-lute the lake,” said Burt. “You need to listen to the farmers.” Scott Magnan, who has a custom cut business in St. Albans, urged legislators to continue to support the Working Lands grant pro-gram. He received a small grant that has enabled him to expand his business with a manure injector and no-till planter. “It was a real big jumpstart, and we were able to build off of those funds,” said Magnan.

Vermont State Colleges

Beth Walsh and Tyrone Shaw, of Johnson State College, spoke about the loss of state funding for the Vermont State Colleges.

The state provides just 13 percent of the funding, despite a 1962 commit-ment to fund the colleges in whole or in part, said Walsh. When the colleges don’t receive state funding, they must increase tuition. Less funding for college means more debt for students, said Walsh. Eighty percent of Johnson State College grad-uates remain in state, she said. Walsh encouraged the state to find other sources of revenue for the colleges, such as a share of revenues from taxes on marijuana if it is legalized. The state currently con-tributes $84 million to high-er education, with $41 mil-lion going to the University of Vermont to educate 3,000 Vermont students each year, and $26 million to the Vermont State Colleges to educate 9,000 Vermonters. “Why not flip those num-bers?” he asked “This would not cost anything but some political capital,” said Shaw. Health care Janet McCarthy, director of Franklin County Home Health, and Joe Halko, director of Community Relations for Northwestern Counseling and Support Services (NCSS), urged that Medicaid reimbursement rates for their agencies be increased. Nursing homes receive a cost-of-living increase in their reimbursement each year, but home health providers do not, said McCarthy. Halko asked for a 3 per-cent increase in reimburse-ment for the designated agencies. Agencies such as NCSS serve Vermonters with complex needs at low cost, said Halko. Their services reduce the need for hospi-talization and institution-alization of Vermonters,

while also helping to reduce use of hospital rooms, he argued. In addition, demand for services for those with developmental disabilities, substance abuse or mental health issues is increasing, said Halko. Unlike other service pro-viders, the designated agen-cies cannot shift costs to private insurance to make up for low Medicaid reim-bursement, because the majority of their patients are Medicaid recipients, explained Halko. Because reimbursement has not kept up with infla-tion, wages at the desig-nated agencies lag behind those for comparable posi-tions at other care provid-ers resulting in turnover, said Halko. That turnover, in turn, has a negative impact on patients. Jonathon Fitzgerald, of Franklin, an NCSS client, spoke about the importance of the services he received which let him attend Johnson State College. He is currently working part-time in Franklin and his

NCSS caseworker assists him with getting con-tinuing education as he looks for a full-time job, Fitzgerald explained. He also teaches a class for other people with dis-abilities, explaining their rights to employment, edu-cation and voting, he said. Chris Halperin, of Essex, drove north to urge the Legislature to consider expanding Dr. Dynosaur, the state health insurance program for children. If schools, towns and the state no longer had to pay to insure the children of employees, it could save taxpayers money, he sug-

gested. On the prevention side, Amy Brewer, chair of the Tobacco Education and Review Board, spoke about the impact of cuts to pro-grams to reduce and pre-vent tobacco use. “We’re losing the ability to have a comprehensive program,” said Brewer. With the advent of e-cig-arettes tobacco use among youth has risen to 25 per-cent, she said.

Community High School

David Luce, of Waterbury, a member of the Community High School of Vermont board, addressed the governor’s proposal to end funding for the school’s eight street sites. The sites are housed with probation and parole offices and serve prisoners who may not have been able to complete a high school degree or technical certificate while incarcerated, Luce said. Without a degree a for-mer prisoner’s ability to get a job is limited, he said. “We already do a num-ber of things in our many programs that saves tax-payers money,” said Luce, such as use of educational software to reduce the need

for one-on-one instruc-tion when students miss classes. At the Northwest State Correctional Facility, he noted, prisoners grow much of their own food. For example, they canned 1,260 gallons of tomato sauce last season. Prisoners who com-plete Community High School programs have lower recidivism rates, he said. Annually, 30 prison-ers complete their degrees through the street sites. Keeping them from return-ing to prison saves the state $900,000, said Luce.

Budgetcontinued from page 1

This year, Judge has upped the stakes. The UVM program agreed to donate 300 chickens to the project. However, Judge can’t raise 300 chickens in his two-acre backyard. This is where the public comes into play. “We’re looking for peo-ple to raise these birds for seven weeks,” Judge said. “They provide the food and water. We provide the coop and the birds and we pro-vide the processing.” “What they get back is just like they would in a store,” he explained. “Vacuum sealed, USDA cer-tified [chicken]. And these birds last a long time in the freezer.” Judge hopes people will come forward to raise up to 15 chickens. Of that total, only one third will be donated to the pot pie proj-ect. The rest will be pro-cessed and returned to the people who raised them for consumption. “I’d keep one third,” he said. “From 100 chickens, I could make 1,000 pot pies.” The chickens would be raised in eight by four foot mobile coops, made out of reclaimed lumber. “You can put up to 25 birds in the coop,” Judge said. He

used the same design for last year’s project. “You can move the coop across the lawn.” “We are going to man-ufacture our own coops,” he said. “These are light weight coops, predator proof. Ideally, everyone who’s getting chickens will come and help build their own coop and that of their friends and neighbors. It’s like a barn raising.” Anyone who partici-pates would get the birds on May 27 and seven weeks later, the chickens would be picked up for processing. The third of the meat donated to the project would go into pot pies, later to be distributed to NorthWest Family Foods, Martha’s Kitchen and other organizations that reach the food insecure. “It’s an opportunity to reach out into the com-munity for the kind of support that food shelves need,” Robert Ostermeyer of NorthWest Family Foods said.

According to Ostermeyer, 30 to 50 fami-lies stop by the food shelf daily, an increase of 20 per-cent from last year. “Our ability to make use of resources in the com-munity becomes more and more important,” he said. “Projects like Andrew’s are wonderful ways that we can reach out to the community to get the kind of support that we’re going to need going forward.” Raising chickens isn’t the only way the communi-ty can help with the project. “There’s a lot of way you can be a part,” Judge said. “Help us build coops. Help us make the pot pies when its time.” “We’re looking for peo-ple who want to raise beds and build gardens with them,” Judge said. “UVM is going to supply seeds spe-cifically for the pot pies so folks can grow vegetables.” Once again, the garden-ers would keep two thirds of the vegetables they grow, while one third would go to

the pot pie project. “Then we have as many locally grown vegetables for the pot pies as possible,” he said. Judge said he needs one person to step forward and say they will take care of the birds. He believes it will have a ripple effect in the community, encouraging more people to volunteer. “We’re hoping it’ll be something a family can do together,” Judge said. “You know, there’s a lot of peo-ple who grew up on farms and maybe it’ll be a way of them teaching their kids the value of raising your own food.” Anyone who is interest-ed in participating or wants to learn more can attend an informational meeting on Feb. 19 from 7 p.m. to 8 p.m. at the State Building con-ference room on Federal St. in St. Albans. Questions can also be directed to Lisa Judge at lisa_ackel@hotmail.com.

Hungercontinued from page 1

5AThe St. Albans (Vt.) Messenger, Tuesday, Feb. 16, 2016

T he CrossingFine Dining - Pub - Banquet Facility - Lodging

14 Province St., Richford, VT (802) 848-3393 | www.thecrossingvt.com

Try Our MARINATED STEAK

St. Albans Co-op Store

138 Federal Street • St. Albans, VT 802-524-9366 • 866-237-2704 (Toll Free)

May is Chick Month! Call store for details.

333 SWANTON, RD.,HIGHGATE COMMONS, ST. ALBANS, VT

802-524-0999 / FAX 802-524-0998LUNCH: MON-SAT 11AM-2:30PM

DINNER: MON-SAT 4PM-9PM CLOSED SUN.

Thai House Restaurant

DIN

E IN

TAK

E O

UT

AUTHENTIC THAI FOOD

BRING YOUR OWN BEER & WINE. MUST BE 21 OR OLDER

in Richford,

‘We’re looking for people to raise these birds for seven weeks.’Andrew Judge, Seeds for Growth

JUDICIARY:

Judges express security concerns

By ELIZABETH HEWITTVTDigger.org Staff

BURLINGTON — Four Vermont judges have

flagged courthouse secu-rity as a major issue in the state’s judicial system. The concerns were raised last week when the four judges appeared before lawmakers during hear-ings to decide whether they should stay in their posts. Superior Court Judge Helen Toor said she believes “it’s really urgent” to have equal security across all of Vermont’s courthouses. Currently, security varies from county to county, as well as the type of court. “I know that money is an issue, but ideally there should be a person in every courthouse whose sole job is security,” Toor told the panel of lawmakers. Environmental Judge Thomas Durkin said he too worries that courthouses do not have enough secu-rity. “We’re in the dispute res-olution business,” Durkin said. “They don’t come to our shop unless they have a dispute, and some people come with very, very strong emotions.” Superior Court Judges Robert Mello and David Howard also spoke about security. Howard said there was an incident in court when he was presid-ing earlier this week, and he believed the only rea-son it didn’t get worse was because there were two local police officers there to help. Court security has been a topic of increased scru-tiny recently in the wake of the shooting death of

social worker Lara Sobel outside the Department for Children and Families office building in down-town Barre. The parking lot is near the building that houses the family and crim-inal courts for Washington County. In the report submit-ted to the Legislature last week, judiciary officials recommended an increase in their operating budget of $1.8 million in order to fund 35 new court officer positions. The report also recom-mends investing $2.1 mil-lion in security infrastruc-ture across Vermont’s courthouses. The invest-ment would be made out of the capital bill beginning in fiscal year 2017 and in increments over the next few years. The infrastructure investment would include replacing outdated X-ray machines, installing new metal detectors, surveil-lance cameras and other measures. Court Administrator Pat Gabel said the comments from the four judges reaf-firmed the need for invest-ing in court security. Sen. Peg Flory, R-Rutland, who sits on the judicial retention panel, chairs Senate Institutions — one of the legislative committees charged with overseeing state building security. Flory said that discus-sions about increasing courthouse security raised broader questions about safety in society. “We talk about protect-ing the court personnel, but I keep think about the hor-rible death of our social worker, which we keep for-getting was the fourth mur-der that day,” Flory said. “So, how do we create a risk-free society?”

Bill requests $1.8Mto provide guardsfor Vt. courthouses

‘The whole industry is starting to decline.’Basil Burt, farming advocate

‘We’re losing the ability to have a comprehensive program.’Amy Brewer, tobacco educator

Police probinggunshot deathin Shrewsbury SHREWSBURY — Vermont State Police are investigating the fatal shooting of a woman in Shrewsbury Monday night. Police reported being called to a residence on Cold River Road at 11:28

p.m. The caller said he had been in an argument with his girlfriend and she had been shot. Police found the woman dead of a gunshot wound. The male was taken into custody. The identity of all those involved were not released. Updates were expected later in the day.

VERMONT IN BRIEF

FIND US ON TWITTER:

@samessenger