Volume 4, Issue 3

BALLOT

Sheriff’s Race

Running Unopposed

GMOs in the Election

Three-way Judge Race

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Writers: Ryan Jenot Kaylee MurphyAdviser: Dan Williams

NewsINK is a publication of the Vermont Center for Community Journalism at Lyndon State College.Find us online at Issuu.com/newsink.

Address queries to Department of Electronic Journalism Arts, Lyndon State College, PO Box 919, Lyndonville, Vt. 05851

Story by Ryan Jenot

History can be made in this year’s race for Caledonia County sheriff as three can-didates vie for the role of top cop.

Independent Daniele Kostruba, a detective in the Saint Johnsbury Police Depart-ment Special Investigations Unit, is looking to become the first female sheriff in the department’s 208-year history and she says a woman could help.

“I know that sounds kind of silly, but women like to talk and we like to work things out,” said Kostruba.

Kostruba, a former police officer in Jacksonville, Florida, also mentioned that hav-ing a female at the helm would improve communication between law enforcement and social service agencies.

“We [Vermont] have so many departments and so many agencies that if we were all on the same page and working together, it’s amazing what we can accomplish,” Kostruba stated. “We [women] like to keep people on the same page.”

In order for Kostruba to win the election, she must first beat incumbent Dean Shat-ney and Independent Joel Pierce.

Shatney, who is running as a Republican, is pursuing a second term as sheriff

A WOMAN’S PLACE IS IN THE... SHERIFF’S OFFICE? Daniele Kostruba vs. Dean shatney

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of Caledonia County. In 2012, Governor Peter Shumlin appointed Shatney to take the role of sheriff. Michael Bergeron, former sheriff of Caledonia County, stepped down from the position at the end of 2011.

Shatney, who is a native to Vemont unlike Kostruba, hopes to continue to keep his department active and transparent to the North-east Kingdom community.

“It’s important because they can put a name to the face, and you know when they have an issue, it makes us more approachable,” said Sheriff Shatney. “We’re not a robot sitting behind the steering wheel of a car; by being actively involved in the community it shows the citizens of Caledonia County that we do care about the North-east Kingdom and what happens in the Kingdom.”

In the views of some residents, drugs are becoming more of a concern, but Sheriff Shatney disagrees. He believes that they have a handle on drug crimes and nothing is out of the ordinary.

“[The] drug problem… I mean there’s a problem here… I mean my biggest avenue is to be proactive,” said Shatney. “I don’t want to have a reactive department.”

On the other hand, Kostruba believes drugs in the Kingdom are on the rise due to the easy access of Interstate 91 and that a drug task force is necessary.

“That’s something that’s a constant problem in Caledonia Coun-ty,” said Kostruba. “So if you have that task force, if they’re not working on something else that’s more important at the time, they can be focusing on the drugs.”

Shatney believes the sheriff’s position is more than just a political position.

“We serve the community, we serve the public,” Shatney told News 7.

The third candidate in the race, Joel Pierce, was unavailable to comment at the time of publication.

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Photo by Ryan JenotDaniele Kostruba,St. JohnsburyPolice Department

Image from News 7Dean Shatney, Caledonia CountySheriff

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Kaylee Murphy

“With my daughter, I want to make good choices about what we eat.”

The words come from a woman. We see her in a kitchen, unpacking groceries with a young girl. She continues:

“So I’m always checking the labels on our food. That’s why I appreciate Governor Shum-lin’s work to make it the law that genetically modified foods be labeled so we know what’s in them. That’s important to me.”

The woman appears in a commercial for Peter Shumlin’s re-election campaign. Five months after signing Vermont’s GMO-labeling bill, Shumlin is still getting mileage from the law.

“It says a lot about Vermont, that we’re the first state to require that,” the woman says,

“and it says a lot about Peter Shumlin that he made it happen.”

The law was controversial from the start – so much so that the Legislature created a $1.5 million defense fund for anticipated lawsuits. In a News 7 interview after the signing, Shumlin said, “they are going to sue us. We know that.” He didn’t have long to wait. Four trade groups filed suit to overturn the law in June. It doesn’t go into effect until 2016.

Voters in Washington and Oregon will de-cide on November 4 whether those states will require labels on foods containing genetically modified ingredients. Maine and Connecticut already have laws on the books, but they were

written so they wouldn’t go into effect until nearby states passed similar legislation.

“We’re not saying you should or shouldn’t eat GMO foods,” Shumlin said. “What we’re saying is the consumer has the right to know what’s in their foods.”

The Vermont Senate voted 28-2 in favor of the GMO bill, while the House vote was 114-30. Among the House members voting “nay” was Lyndon representative Dick Lawrence, who says the law was not worth the lawsuit.

“Everyone has a right to know what is in their food,” Lawrence said in an email inter-view. “I am not in favor of implementing a law that will result in a lawsuit that could cost the Vermont taxpayer millions of dollars while past h istory indicates in similar cases it will not hold up in court. We have better use of taxpayer funds.

St. Johnsbury Democrat Michelle Fay voted “yea” and says her constituents strongly sup-ported the bill.

“I believe that more information about our food is always a good thing,” Fay said in an email. “I don't think that all genetically engineered food is necessarily bad, but I am concerned about the impact of pesticide-resis-tant monocultures on sustainable agricultural systems.”

GMOs are either banned or highly regulated in 60 countries. There are a total of eight crops in the U.S. that are commercial grown with the help of GMO’s: squash, corn, soybeans, cot-ton, canola, alfalfa, sugar beets, and papaya.

GMO label law finds itsway into November 4 election

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assistant JuDge race: caleDonia county

John Hall, St. J Town Manager Roy Vance, Incumbent Asst. Judge

Michael Roosevelt, Art Business Owner

Story and photos by Ryan Jenot

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John Hall likes to use baseball metaphors when referring to his future as town manager of Saint Johnsbury.

“I’m not a nine-inning guy; I’m the guy to come in and retire the side and go away,” he says with a chuckle.

Hall was appointed by the Select Board when the town was experiencing major problems, includ-ing a town manager position that had been vacant for nine months. He plans to retire in the spring, and is running for one of two positions as a Cale-donia County assistant judge. His opponents are incumbent Roy C. Vance and independent Michael Roosevelt.

“We had some real budget issues in our gut when I got here in 2013,” says Hall, 66. “Quite frank-ly, the town report that was presented at the 2013 town meeting in March, [which] would’ve been a reflection of what happened between January 1st and December 31st in 2012, was almost incompre-hensible.”

Hall wasn’t entirely new to the job. After serving as a state representative, he spent four years as town manager in the 1990s.

When he came on board for his second stint, he says, there was only one administrative staff member, who was overwhelmed with the amount of work. He hired four people to help run the office and handle town finances. He says he’s leaving the office in a better state than he found it.

Hall says the assistant judge position would be less of a time commitment.

“I’m at retirement age and my wife has retired from teaching and it will give me something to do but not quite, for lack of word, pressure and stress of a job like this and a lot more flexibility with how I use my time,” says Hall.

Vance might disagree. He says the assistant judge position is close to a full-time job. He has held the office since 1987 and says this will be his last term, if he wins re-election.

Hall being interviewed in the Town Office

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“With 28 years’ experience, I think I should be the top vote-getter,” he tells News 7. “I have been for the last few years. But these two candidates (Hall and Roosevelt) have worked real hard.”

In Vermont, assistant judges sit with presiding judges for criminal and civil non-jury trials. With the proper certifications, they can handle small claims suits, traffic citations and uncontested divorces.

Roosevelt is an artist who has worked as a paralegal for a St. Johnsbury law firm. He works as an adjunct art instructor at Lyndon State College. He says on his LinkedIn page that he has passed the bar.

Roosevelt believes that his experience will be a reason he is elected. “It’s something that I really feel that [I’m] qualified and can do a good job,” Roosevelt

tells News 7. “You know, it’s very interesting to me.” Roosevelt unsuccessfully ran for assistant judge in 2010.

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Dick Lawrence and Marty Feltus have it easy onNovember 4. The two Republicans are runningunopposed for the two seats representing Lyndon in Caledonia District 4 in the Vermont House. And they are not alone. Only half of Vermont’s 104 House districts will hold contested elections this year.

Two years ago, the situation in Caledonia-4 was different. Feltus was running for the House for the first time. She and fellow Republican Lawrence competed against a Democrat, Celeste Marie Girrell, for the district’s two seats. Lawrence came out on top with 40 percent of the votes; Feltus came in second with 37 percent. Girrell finished far behind with 23 percent.

Feltus says she became interested in politics because she wanted to make the community better. She has long served on Lyndon’s Select Board. Feltus worked for Weidmann Electrical Technology for 27 years

Rep. Martha Feltus

Story and photos by Kaylee Murphy

Noworries.Noopponents.

before retiring. Lawrence has served in the Legislature for 10 years. He owned Agway in Lyndon-ville for twenty years and serves as the president of the Caledonia County Fair.

Feltus says it is a relief to run unopposed. She has reduced her campaigning because of it. She tells News 7 that education cost is one of the topics she focuses on in the Legislature.

“We spend more than most other states do in terms of public education per child, and certainly there are some geographical reasons for that,” she said. “But nevertheless it is a very high dollar amount and we need to determine if there are ways to reduce that. To find the solution, I think we need some more in-depth study of exactly where that money goes, how it is spent and are there more efficient ways of doing many of the items that we do.”

Feltus often attends public events with Lawrence, saying it is important to stay in the public eye. Lawrence says legislative spending is a big issue among his constituents.

“Each government agency needs to have an analysis done,” he says. “It is difficult to do that when people are trying to protect their jobs. We are not after their particular job during these investigations. We are trying to make efficiencies and they sometimes don’t understand that.”

Lawrence says the job as a House member is time-consuming and doesn’t pay very much – about $650 per week while the Legislature is in session.

In St. Johnsbury, four candidates are competing for two seats representing Caledonia District 3: incumbent Democrats Michelle Fay and Bob South face challenges from Republicans Scott Beck and Janssen Willhoit. The top two vote-getters win the two seats.

Fay says she hopes a Democrat can be recruited to run in the Lyndon district in 2016.“I don’t know why there’s not a Democratic candidate in the Caledonia-4 district,” Fay said.

“I can say that running for office takes a tremendous commitment of time and energy, especially trying to unseat incumbents.”

Vermont Rep. Dick Lawrence, right, poses with fellow Republican Scott Milne, a candidate for governor, at the Lyndon Freighthouse.

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