Aug 31 – Sep 6, 2011
Tropical Storm Irene vs. Vermont: Readers Report on the Floods; How Irene Assaulted the Arts; A Tempest at the Table; Back to School
Restaurants Reach Out Post-Irene — And How You Can Help
Even as the rains from Tropical Storm Irene pounded Bridgewater Corners last Sunday, Long Trail Brewing Company Visitors Center & Pub stayed open. The brewery was finally forced to close when firefighters evacuated the building. By then, several employees, including Long Trail’s CFO, Tom O’Grady, and visitor center manager, Garrett Mead, had learned that surrounding…
Waterbury Cleans Up After Irene [VIDEO]
Last week, Eva Sollberger took her video camera to Waterbury to record the flood-recovery efforts. She captured footage of volunteers ripping out the bar at the Alchemist Pub and Brewery, and talked with Jeremy Ayers, who sells his pottery at Burlington’s Artists Market. Says Eva, “Community spirit is high as neighbors and volunteers join together…
![Waterbury, 4 Days After Irene [238]](https://i0.wp.com/www.sevendaysvt.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/episode238.webp?resize=400%2C300&ssl=1)
Waterbury, 4 Days After Irene [238]
9/1/11: 4 days after Tropical Storm Irene hit Vermont and the town of Waterbury is in the process of cleaning and rebuilding. Despite suffering massive property losses, the people I spoke to seemed upbeat and positive. Community spirit is high as neighbors and volunteers join together to dig in and clean up. Featured in this…
Gittin’ er Done — Lareau Farm and Inn Clean-Up
There’s not much that I love more than shoveling mud. Unless it’s carrying five-gallon buckets of mud. Love it! Which is why I signed up to lend a hand at the Lareau Farm Inn in Waitsfield, home of the original American Flatbread. Like many properties in the Mad River Valley along Route 100, the Lareau…
On a Tour of Damaged Trailer Park, Shumlin Consoles Flood Victims and Praises Recovery Efforts
Gov. Peter Shumlin spent nearly an hour Saturday morning touring a heavily-damaged Duxbury trailer park and nearby homes — offering hugs to residents on the verge of tears and promises of help to those left homeless by the disaster. For days, the residents of Patterson Trailer Park felt isolated as they watched hundreds of volunteers…
And Now a Word From Our Generous Sponsors at FEMA…
Now that President Obama has put his John Hancock on Vermont’s official disaster declaration, the folks who set up shop this week at the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s Joint Field Office in Burlington — as well as those who never left town from our last flood disaster in May — have an urgent message to get…
Citibank Sues Burlington, Seeks Repossession of Burlington Telecom
Citibank filed a long-anticipated lawsuit in federal court Friday, seeking tens of millions of dollars in damages and the repossession of Burlington Telecom’s equipment. The lawsuit was filed as a result of the city of Burlington failing to make payments on a $33.5 million lease-financing agreement. Talks between Citibank and the city broke down in…
At Waterbury Farmers Market, an “Oasis”
In downtown Waterbury yesterday, a constant stream of cars and trucks rumbled down South Main Street. People stripping down and cleaning up their flood-ravaged homes and businesses could barely step onto the sidewalk without encountering another curious passerby or media gawker (guilty as charged). At the pharmacy, prescriptions were being dispensed at the counter as…
Dance Review: No Boundaries in ‘Critical State’
Even if you’re spending your weekend volunteering on the Irene clean-up, you’ll need to take a break at some point. Head up to Morrisville for an unusual interactive evening with some of the area’s most exciting performers. Polly Motley, a dancer and choreographer based in Stowe, premiered a work-in-progress of her “Critical State” a…
Hundreds of Trailer Park Residents Displaced Statewide
While hundreds of volunteers, media reps and post-disaster gawkers flooded through downtown Waterbury on Thursday, residents of the Patterson Trailer Park across the Winooski River in Duxbury quietly salvaged what few mementos and personal treasures they could from their demolished homes. “I’m just trying to save my little guy’s toys and my wife’s pictures,” said…
No, You Really Can’t Get There From Here — a Reporter’s Irene Notebook [PHOTOS]
If you’ve heard it once during this whole T.S. Irene craziness, you’ve heard it a thousand times: You can’t get there from here. It’s a common adage that grizzled, dyed-in-the-wool Vermonters like to say to stupefied out-of-towners who can’t figure out why it takes two hours to get 30 miles. But, in the wake of…
Movies You Missed 2: True Adolescents
A young woman buys a cheap video camera to record the progress of the storm forecast to hit her town. What she ends up filming is far more than she bargained for — hours of crouching in an attic with her husband, neighbors and dogs as water rises around them. I thought of this movie…
Construction Workers Stranded by New Flash Floods, Rescued by Helicopter
From the Vermont State Police press office comes this pulse-pounding tale about a road crew rescued from a new round of flash floods yesterday. According to the state police, construction workers Kenneth Clark, 43, and Robert Butler, 25, both from Danby, were repairing a section of storm-damaged Route 7 in Clarendon on Thursday afternoon when…
Taking Stock Of Vermont’s Pets And Farm Animals Affected By Irene’s Flooding
As state and federal disaster-relief workers shift from rescue to recovery mode in the wake of Tropical Storm Irene, officials from the Vermont Agency of Agriculture, Food and Markets, as well as nonprofit animal-welfare advocates are only now beginning to assess the full scope of the impact on the state’s non-human victims. Due to limited communications…
UVM Employees and Allies Threaten “Takeover” If Labor Contract Isn’t Settled
A battle is brewing at the University of Vermont between administrators and unionized maintenance workers who say they’re “pissed off” about the golden parachutes and salaries handed out to former President Dan Fogel and other university leaders. At a rally outside the Waterman administration building Wednesday, the head of UVM’s maintenance union told 100 supporters…
Vermont Scrambles to Determine Damage to Sewer Plants
As Vermont entered its third day of cleanup from the remnants of Hurricane and Tropical Storm Irene, one question remained unanswered: Just how much raw sewage was dumped into Vermont’s waterways after more than a dozen sewage treatment plants were overcome by the deluge? In short: We don’t know shit about, well, shit. Part of…
Putting Snooki on Hold to Save Vermont
The “Jersey Shore” and disaster relief go together like spray tans and muck boots. Which is to say, not at all. But somehow, the folks behind the Tropical Storm Irene relief website vtresponse.com are making it happen. Inexplicably, the team connecting Vermont storm victims with eager volunteers are also the people in charge of a…
TV MD
After years as a small-screen doc, UVM med student Peter Wingfield is training to be a real one
Katrina Recovery Veteran Launches #VTResponse
Vermonters looking for a way to help their neighbors in need are connecting with volunteer opportunities through #VTResponse, a new website at vtresponse.wordpress.com. The site aggregates requests from people and agencies, letting volunteers know who to contact and where to show up. Recent posts include “Help Wanted: Marlboro” and “Update: Resources in Northfield.” #VTResponse is…
WTF: Why don’t Vermont school buses have seat belts?
Whiskey Tango Foxtrot: We just had to ask…
News Quirks
Curses, Foiled Again While police were driving burglary suspect Kylen English, 20, to the Montgomery County, Ohio, jail, he began banging his head against the car’s rear passenger window when crossing a bridge. “The officer starts to pull over,” Dayton police Lt. Kim Hill recounted, “and once he pulled over, the suspect had the window…
Free Will Astrology
ARIES (March 21-April 19): Strange but true: To pave the way for your next liberation, you will have to impose some creative limitation on yourself. In other words, there’s some trivial extravagance or unproductive excess in your current rhythm that is suppressing an interesting form of freedom. As soon as you cut away the faux…
Vermont Recovers After Tropical Storm Irene
The latest on Irene’s aftermath in the Green Mountains
Letters to the Editor
’Doo It Right I’ve been a didgeridoo teacher, performer and instrument builder for the last 25 years, so your [Whiskey Tango Foxtrot: “What’s up with the mask-wearing Church Street didgeridoo player?” August 17] caught my eye. One of my life missions is to promote this wind instrument, and I was glad to see it get…
Surveying Irene’s Destructive Path in the Mad River Valley and Beyond
Merely 15 minutes from Burlington, Irene’s legacy is mud and dust, buzzing generators and pumps, chairs and rugs and the entire contents of houses left on front lawns to dry. In Richmond and Waterbury, Waitsfield and Moretown, you can tell where the filthy waters travelled by the grey-brown crust that coats porches, flowers, cars, and…
Federal Disaster Coordination Has Vermont Roots
When President Barack Obama signed a federal disaster declaration Monday designed to bring federal support to the water-ravaged Green Mountain State, he did so under the so-called “Stafford Act.” It was named for former Vermont governor and U.S. Sen. Robert T. Stafford. The ironies don’t end there. Stafford championed federal funding for higher education (does…
![Tropical Storm Irene Hits Vermont [237]](https://i0.wp.com/www.sevendaysvt.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/episode237.webp?resize=400%2C300&ssl=1)
Tropical Storm Irene Hits Vermont [237]
8/29/11: One day after Tropical Storm Irene left flooding and devastation in many Southern Vermont towns, Burlington and Winooski residents flocked to the Winooski Falls to see the raging river for themselves. Eva was one of them. Music: F Schubert Sonata in A, D 959, Andantino – Performed by Annemieke Spoelstra,Toccare http://www.annemiekespoelstra.com/ Related Stories
