Apr 11-17, 2018
Vermont Dairy Farms Devastated by Milk Price Crisis; Comedian Demetri Martin Talks Puzzles and Personal Stuff; Global Roots Film Fest Focuses on Disabilities
Cover Story
Selling the Herd: A Milk Price Crisis Is Devastating Vermont’s Dairy Farms
For 71 years, Mark Lussier has weathered good times and bad on the northern Vermont dairy farm his French-Canadian father bought in 1938. But when the cattle trucks pulled up in February to haul off his herd, the stoic farmer allowed himself a few moments of grief. “I would break down and cry, and then…
Obituary: Susan J. Benoit, 1942-2018
Susan had three sons, Mike, Mark and Matt Szymanski. She lost her older sister, Patricia Damiani on Christmas last year and is survived by her sister Cate Mares in Ohio. She worked at Sears, Fletcher Allen and retired at UVM. She was a very strong woman loved by all who knew her. She had a…
The Cannabis Catch-Up: John Boehner Has ‘Evolved,’ Joins Weed Company
We’ve previously documented that former football players, among others, are getting involved in the legal cannabis market. It’s not just ex-athletes, though — it’s also ex-politicians. On Wednesday, a cannabis company put this statement out in a press release: “Acreage Holdings, one of the nation’s largest, multi-state actively-managed cannabis corporations, announced the appointments of former Speaker…
![Silloway Maple [SIV528]](https://i0.wp.com/www.sevendaysvt.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/episode528.webp?resize=1200%2C900&ssl=1)
Silloway Maple [SIV528]
4/7/18: Last year the state of Vermont led the nation in maple production, bottling 2 million gallons of the sweet nectar. Silloway Maple is a family-run farm in Randolph Center that dates back to 1942. In addition to producing about 3,000 gallons of syrup a year in their solar-powered sugar shack, they also run a…
‘Super Troopers:’ Back in Action, and On-Screen
The year is 2018. Donald Trump is president. In the Green Mountain State, inmates have sneaked pictures of pigs onto state police license plates. Pot is finally sort of legal. And 17 long years have passed since an unassuming comedy troupe called Broken Lizard released a movie about insanely inept Vermont law enforcement officials that…
Album Review: The Tsunamibots vs Brand New Luddites, ‘Man vs Machine’
(Sharawaji Records, CD, LP, digital download) A war is brewing in Vermont’s Mad River Valley. No, it’s not a skirmish between skiers and snowboarders. It’s a primordial conflict that stems back to the dawn of civilization — specifically to the first time early man got his foot run over by his wheel. (Early woman warned…
Letters to the Editor (4/11/18)
Exchange Is Educational [Re “Can China Help Fill — and Fund — Vermont’s Public Schools?” March 28]: As an educator passionate about developing international opportunities for Vermont students, I would like to add as an afterword to Molly Walsh’s piece some of the educational benefits Vermont schools can find in developing foreign exchange programs. A…
Album Review: Doom Service, ‘The Uncanny Doom Service’
(Self-released, CD, digital download) Though its heyday ended in the late 2000s, pop punk hasn’t left pop culture. In August 2016, while the “Dammit” hit makers were touring a new record, the New Yorker published a piece called “Reviving the Pop-Punk Innocence of Blink-182.” Just a few months ago, in the fall of 2017, Rolling…
Movie Review: Only the Silent Survive in the Chilling ‘A Quiet Place’
Don’t look now, but we’re enjoying a new golden age of horror. Not since the 1970s and the revolutionary work of David Cronenberg, Roman Polanski, Brian De Palma and Nicolas Roeg has the genre experienced a comparable infusion of riches. The past four years alone have brought creative creep-outs like It Follows, The Babadook, Don’t…
Scarlett Letters: I Really Like This Guy But Not How He Kisses
Dear Scarlett, I have been seeing this guy for a few months and really like him, but I don’t like how he kisses. His tongue is like a lizard. I really like everything else about him, but I hate kissing him. What can I do? Signed, Tongue Tied (female, 21) Dear Tongue Tied, We’ve all…
Eat This Week, April 11 to 17, 2018: ‘Tis the Saison
For its fifth annual celebration of the farmhouse-style ale, Maine’s Allagash Brewing is teaming up with Burlington’s Foam Brewers for a waterfront tasting extravaganza. The sudsy soirée starts at 11 a.m. with a can release — visitors can snag tall-boys of Foam’s Like Clockwork and Experimental Jet Set — followed by a saison tap takeover. Beers…
Chemical Reaction: Senators Want to Make Vermont Polluters Pay
It’s been about two years since Bennington resident Libby Harris learned that her drinking water had been contaminated with perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), a toxic chemical that had been emitted by a now-shuttered factory. The retired high school teacher and a number of her neighbors are suing Saint-Gobain Performance Plastics, which purchased the factory in 2000,…
Advocates Encourage Vermonters to Complete Advance Directives
Mary Beebe confronted her mortality about three years ago, when her primary care physician handed her an advance directive form during a regular visit. It asked her to specify which life-extending treatments she would accept or refuse in a situation in which she could no longer speak for herself. “They were things that were very…
WTF: Why Is the Town of Westford Suing Its Own Residents?
Ordinarily, Mike Lynch of Ferrisburgh doesn’t read Seven Days’ legal notices. But on a recent night, while working on a crossword puzzle in bed, the retired librarian spotted one in the March 28 issue that piqued his curiosity. It read, “This Summons Is Directed to: Residents of the Town of Westford. You Are Being Sued.”…
Movie Review: ‘Blockers’ Overcomes a Retro Premise to Bridge the Generation Gap
Three parents team up to stop their daughters from losing their virginity on prom night. It sounds like a comedy premise that got lost in the 1980s somewhere, yet here it is in 2018, in a very R-rated film directed by Kay Cannon, the writer of the Pitch Perfect series, and coproduced by Seth Rogen…
Paper Castles Make a Triumphant Return With ‘Acceptionalism’
The idea of American exceptionalism has held a prominent place in public discourse recently. Singer-songwriter Paddy Reagan, front man and creative force behind Burlington indie-rock band Paper Castles, tweaks that nebulous concept for the title of his group’s third full-length album: Acceptionalism. The affable, blue-eyed 34-year-old describes the pun — in stark contrast to the…
Art Review: ‘Animals on the Brink’ Features Endangered Species
What a difference a day makes. Scientists estimate that every 24 hours, 150 to 200 species of plant, insect, bird and mammal become extinct. Though extinction is a natural occurrence, it is now happening at nearly 1,000 times the natural or “background” rate. Many biologists say the phenomenon exceeds anything the world has experienced since…
Vermont Plans to Step Up Logging on Public Land Around Camel’s Hump
On a snow-packed logging road near Camel’s Hump last Thursday, Matt Leonard halted a team of Vermont biologists and foresters who manage the vast woodlands around the mountain. Leonard, a state forester, had spotted deer tracks leading from a cluster of evergreens 50 yards away. Brimming with pride, he described how the state had approved…
The Octopus Defense: Lawmakers Still Seeking Clarity on Waterways Cleanup
It’s been three weeks since Gov. Phil Scott wrote a letter listing a dozen-odd pieces of legislation he opposes, and his administration is still having a hard time explaining his objections to one of the most important: S.260, the waterways cleanup bill. The Senate-passed measure would clear a path toward long-term funding for the federally…
Global Roots Film Fest Focuses on Disabilities
The annals of cinema history include many films about hit men, but very few about hit men who are paralyzed from the waist down. These conventionally disparate elements — the hyper-masculine assassin and the wheelchair user — form the basis of Hungarian director Attila Till’s 2016 film Kills on Wheels (Tiszta szívvel), which uses social…
Free Will Astrology (4/11/18)
ARIES (March 21-April 19): Aries statesman Thomas Jefferson was the third president of the United States. He wrote one of history’s most famous documents, the Declaration of Independence. He was an architect, violinist, inventor and linguist who spoke numerous languages, as well as a philosopher who was knowledgeable about mathematics, surveying and horticulture. But his…
Law and Disorder: Burlington Wipes Archaic Ordinances Off the Books
Burlingtonians who have been hankering to engage in “boisterous conduct in cemeteries” or post “indecent showbills” are in luck. The city is rolling back nine ordinances that govern moral and social codes, ranging from the archaic to the bizarre. Among them: hitchhiking, writing “indecent words or pictures,” “profane language” and “cruising,” which is defined as…
A New Washington County State’s Attorney Cleans Up ‘Unprecedented’ Mess
A dance instructor who molested two students might not be sentenced to prison. Ditto for a drug dealer whose customer overdosed and died. The families of the victims are outraged. It’s the job of newly installed Washington County State’s Attorney Rory Thibault to sort out these cases and many others as he mops up after…
Soundbites: Full Circle; Swell Season
Higher Ground is taking the entirety of April to celebrate its 20th anniversary. As I pointed out two weeks ago, the club is more than doubling its efforts throughout the month by offering a jam-packed cavalcade of superstars, hometown heroes, and up-and-comers. The South Burlington nightclub’s actual anniversary falls on Sunday, April 15, and that…
Mad River Distillers to Change Name of Apple Brandy
Arrêtez! That’s what a French spirits trade group told Mad River Distillers about the name of its apple brandy, according to Mimi Buttenheim, president of the Warren-based distillery. Her business was ordered to “cease and desist” from using the word “Malvados,” she said. The brandy’s name, which means “wicked” in Spanish, is too similar to…
Sexual Violence Survivors Exhibit Artwork of Healing
Artist Stephanie Kossmann was sexually abused throughout her childhood, was raped by family members in her adolescence and endured non-familial sexual assaults throughout her twenties. The 49-year-old Bakersfield artist wasn’t diagnosed with complex post-traumatic stress disorder until about a year ago, and she only told her husband of 19 years about the extent of her…
Stowe’s Picnic Social to Close, Change Concept
Stowe’s popular Picnic Social, the outdoorsy, casual restaurant at the Field Guide hotel on Mountain Road, will close on April 15, a representative from the restaurant said in an email earlier this week. The spot will reopen with a new concept — details TBD — later this year, before foliage season. Chef Justin Perdue, whose work…
Annie Myers Brings Vermont Products to the Big City
It was April 2, but Mother Nature had played a late April Fools’ Day joke on New York City. The snow was coming down hard at 6 a.m. as Manny Mejia and Amanda Burakoski navigated the slushy streets and sidewalks along their delivery route for more than two dozen customers across Manhattan and Brooklyn. The…
Comedian Demetri Martin Talks Puzzles and Personal Life
Standup comedian Demetri Martin is very funny. This interview is not. But please don’t let the lack of levity stop you from reading — or prevent you from seeing Martin when he performs on the Flynn MainStage in Burlington on Saturday, April 14. Martin is currently on his new Let’s Get Awkward tour. For the…
Grilling the Chef: Jackie Major of Butch + Babe’s
Chef Jackie Major Position: Executive chef Location: Burlington Age: 32 Cuisine type: Neighborhood restaurant featuring new American pub fare with a creative twist Education: Art Institute of New York City (defunct; previously known as New York Restaurant School) Family: Lives in South Hero with husband and 4-year-old son Past experience: Pastry chef, Butch + Babe’s and Barrio Bakery,…
All Aboard for the Champlain Valley Dinner Train
There are plenty of restaurants between Burlington and Middlebury, but none that spans the distance. That will change next month with the launch of the Champlain Valley Dinner Train, a restaurant on rails operated by Green Mountain Railroad. Starting May 11, the train will depart from 1 Main Street in Burlington at 5:30 p.m. on…
