Feb 14-20, 2018
Skip Vallee, Vermont’s Gasoline Mogul and Republican Provocateur, Fights Cancer; An Opium Museum for Enosburg Falls?; In Orwell, a Butter Maker Pivots to Perfume
Cover Story
‘The Last Minute to Play’: Oil Mogul Skip Vallee Takes the Fight to Cancer
In a subterranean hospital room on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, Skip Vallee rolled up the right sleeve of his dress shirt and rested his arm on a pillow. A nurse pressed a needle-nosed tube into a vein near his wrist. “Relax your fingertips,” the nurse said. “There you go. Much more relaxed.” Vallee,…
Seriously: The Year of the Dog
In this episode, Bryan examines Gov. Scott’s new position on gun control and speaks with Rusty the Recently Retired Police Dog about vehicle searches and perfume. CREDITS: Written, filmed and edited by: Bryan Parmelee Artwork/photography by: Alicia Freese, Paul Heintz, Meredyth Hope Hall, Kim Scafuro, Caleb Kenna, Molly Walsh, Matt Morris, Mark Davis, Bryan Parmelee,…
The Cannabis Catch-Up: Vermont Lawmakers Know the Value of Taxing Weed
State budget gaps are not unique. But Vermont legislators took a novel tack last year to fill a shortfall by using money raised through the state’s medical marijuana program. That means lawmakers know full well the value of taxing marijuana, but they’ve yet to figure out how to legalize and implement a full taxed-and-regulated system.…
The Parmelee Post: Scott Administration Proposes $140 Million Military Training Complex for Students
The administration of Gov. Phil Scott is proposing that Vermont contract with a private company to build a $140 million military training complex for the state’s public school students and faculty. The proposal came just days after Gov. Scott said the state should focus on providing more training and drills for staff and students rather…
From Old Dogs to Future Searches, Cops Learn Tricks of Marijuana Law
Before Vermont lawmakers voted to allow adult marijuana possession, cops and prosecutors routinely weighed in, saying that they rarely pursued criminal cases for people found with pot. But as the July 1 legalization date approaches, authorities are realizing that legal weed will have an enormous impact — and some unintended consequences — for law enforcement.…
Eat This Week, February 14 to 20, 2018: Year of the Dog
Sit for a five-course feast of handcrafted Chinese fare from chef Vicky Regia. Start the evening with sesame-and-shiitake congee, then move on to smoked-duck salad, braised pork ribs, and hand-pulled noodles with Chinese sausage, shrimp and veggies. Savor a sweet, gingery “bird’s nest” soup to finish. A vegetarian option is available. Chinese New Year Dinner:…
Message Trouble: Senate Dems Struggle on Political Front
Vermont’s Senate Democrats got a bit of unwanted publicity last week over a “secret” meeting they held out of public view. It didn’t stay secret for long, thanks to reporting from Seven Days’ Alicia Freese, who crashed the party with colleague Taylor Dobbs and documented it. The meeting’s purpose: the search for a political narrative…
Ask Athena: My Girlfriend Left But We’re Trying to Work It Out
Dear Athena, My girlfriend and I have lived together four years. Two years were rocky because I wasn’t taking my anxiety meds. She left three months ago, and we are trying to work it out. She said she can’t get over her resentment and that she wants to miss me like she used to before…
The Latest Community-Supported Restaurant: Vergennes Laundry
In October, chef Christian Kruse purchased Vergennes Laundry from original owners Julianne and Didier Murat. Now he’s turning it into a “community-supported restaurant.” The move adds the Vergennes bakery and restaurant to a hearty list of eateries that raise some of their capital from patrons and repay them in credit. The Bobcat Café & Brewery…
Stoehr Time: Reviving Choral Works by a Neglected Composer
In 1938, a well-respected and prolific Viennese composer named Richard Stöhr fled Nazi-occupied Austria for America. At 63, he had been teaching at the Vienna Conservatory for 34 years. Though he had converted to Christianity in his twenties, Stöhr had been born a Jew. After plummeting wartime enrollment put an end to his teaching stint…
Letters to the Editor (2/14/18)
Unfair to Infinite “Two Against One” [January 31] attempts to summarize Mayor Miro Weinberger’s political history and campaign tenets. However, it is clear that Carina Driscoll is the candidate who is tickling reporter Katie Jickling’s fancy. Driscoll’s campaign methodology and philosophy are described in detail. The research into her past, interviews with supporters and cross-comparison…
Movie Review: Clint Eastwood Unexpectedly Gets on the Avant-Garde Train With ‘The 15:17 to Paris’
Clint Eastwood will be 88 in May. This is the director’s 36th film. I mention these facts up front because The 15:17 to Paris makes one thing abundantly clear: It’s not at all clear the filmmaker still knows what he’s doing. But, Rick, you gave the movie four stars. And I’d have added a question…
Soundbites: Stop the Presses; Window Watchers
One mildly frustrating thing about writing a weekly print column is that I have to wait at least until the following week’s paper to address any clarifications, corrections or updates about news I’ve broken or events I’ve previewed. And sometimes it takes longer than that. For instance… Two weeks ago, in the January 31 Soundbites,…
Instacart Grocery Shopping Launches in Burlington; Shanty on the Shore to Add Outdoor Deck
An online grocery service called Instacart will open for business in the Burlington area on February 14, according to a company news release. Customers will be able to order groceries and other products at Instacart.com or via a mobile app, then choose a time frame for delivery within an hour or two of the order.…
Art Review: ‘Edwin Owre: New Constructions,’ BCA Center
Edwin Owre’s “New Constructions,” currently on view on the second floor of the BCA Center in Burlington, radiate a can-do exuberance. Here is 1960s hard-edged geometric abstraction made playful, accessible and nearly three-dimensional. The constructions are made from that most democratic of materials: plywood. Picture a rectangular plywood sheet from which geometric (or, in a…
‘I Am Evidence’ Documentary Examines the Rape-Kit Crisis
In a 2010 episode of “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit,” New York Police Department Detective Olivia Benson, played by Mariska Hargitay, travels to Detroit to collect evidence on a serial rapist who has assaulted women across the country. Arriving at a police evidence storage facility, she stops dead in her tracks. “You’ve got to…
Princess Nostalgia Answers to No One But Herself
Nineteen-year-old musician/producer Lilian Traviato arrived in Burlington last fall as many young adults do: restless, eager, totally alone and ready to begin her college experience at the University of Vermont. But a globe-trotting gap year, which included a stint at a Danish folk school near Copenhagen, left the first-year student in a bit of a…
Free Will Astrology (2/14/18)
AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): The posh magazine Tatler came up with a list of fashionable new names for parents who want to ensure that their babies get a swanky start in life. Since you Aquarians are in a phase when you can generate good fortune by rebranding yourself or remaking your image, I figure you…
Why Don’t Basic Insurance Plans Cover Vision and Dental?
Most of the time, this column answers questions that are specific to Vermont: Why is there a phallic mushroom sculpture on Burlington’s waterfront? Why is the Lord’s Prayer carved into a boulder outside Bristol? Why does a golf-ball-shaped dome stand atop a mountain overlooking St. Albans? This week, we tackle a noggin-scratcher that applies to…
St. Clair Scents Brings the Farm to Perfumes
Vermont foodies know Diane St. Clair as the maker of the high-end butter named for her Animal Farm. She sells the hand-churned golden dairy product to a small number of prestigious restaurants including the French Laundry and Per Se. Recently, though, the 61-year-old Orwell farmer made the transition to a new medium: perfume. St. Clair…
Agnès Varda’s ‘Faces Places’ Screens in Vermont
If you missed legendary filmmaker Agnès Varda’s Faces Places, the opening film at last fall’s Vermont International Film Festival, your second chance has arrived. The grandmother of the French New Wave’s latest essayistic documentary will screen at two locations in coming weeks: on Friday, February 16, at the Briggs Opera House in White River Junction,…
Proposed for Enosburg Falls: A Museum of Substance Abuse
When Dr. Ashbel Parmlee Grinnell conducted a study of Vermonters’ opiate usage, he couldn’t believe the results. According to Grinnell’s statewide survey of physicians, druggists, store owners and medical wholesalers, the state’s population was consuming 3.3 million doses of opiates per month. The University of Vermont physician, professor and dean was so surprised by the…
Movie Review: ‘Fifty Shades Freed’ Offers an Unsexy Paean to Wealthy Living
I tried to give the Fifty Shades of Grey movies the benefit of the doubt. Watching the first film, I told myself it was just a wish-fulfillment fantasy, and fantasies are OK. I tried to be grateful that E.L. James’ best sellers about a bondage-loving billionaire and his demure bride-to-be make for racier, more eventful…
Album Review: Adam Wolf, ‘Songs I/II’
(Self-released, digital download) Sometimes you’re lucky enough to encounter an album that not only resonates with you on an emotional level but also perfectly captures and mirrors the world around you at the moment you first hear it. To wit: For months on end, Vermont’s wintry pallor ranges merely from ghostly to alabaster, and the…
Infinite Possibility? Mayoral Candidate Culcleasure Aims to Lead From Behind
At a February 7 organizing meeting for Burlington mayoral candidate Infinite Culcleasure, three dozen supporters discussed the art of “guerilla-style canvassing” as they munched on tofu stir-fry. With 28 days remaining until the Town Meeting Day election, the group couldn’t afford to run a typical campaign, organizer Parker Beaupré told attendees, who sat in rows…
NOFA-VT Cultivates Farmer-to-Student Connections
Circled up last Friday morning in their Robinson Elementary School classroom in Starksboro, Ruth Beecher’s third and fourth graders considered why it might be important to learn about farming in their community. “Because people are cutting down trees, and we need to keep nature,” suggested Thompson Davis. “Farmers use nature to help them farm,” added…
Three Vermont Sportswriters Hit the Bookshelves
Vermont may never be known as a bastion of sports writing, yet the state quietly fields a potent lineup of such scribes, most notably Sports Illustrated’s Alexander Wolff. And he’s hardly the only sports journalist to call Vermont home or to find athletic inspiration in the Green Mountains. To wit: Three new sports books with…
Album Review: Will Stamp, ‘That Old Familiar Heartbreak’
(Self-released, digital download) Whether it comes in the form of a breakup, a damaged friendship, a departed pet or the end of a bad habit, loss is an inevitable fact of life. It’s also a theme that threads through Vermont singer-songwriter Will Stamp’s debut release, That Old Familiar Heartbreak, a collection of six country-tinged acoustic…
Manual Cinema Spins Stories With Puppets, Projectors and Live ‘Film’
Overhead projectors may not be used much in schools anymore, but that doesn’t mean they’re obsolete. In the hands of Chicago performance company Manual Cinema, the humble light-and-mirror box becomes a tool for elaborate and emotional storytelling. On Wednesday, February 21, the company’s multimodal narrative prowess will be on full display in “Ada/Ava” at Burlington’s…
Obituary: Alfred Fengler, 1942-2018
On February 9, Alfred (Fred) Fengler left this earth for his next adventure — an adventure he was intrigued by and had extensively researched and taught courses in: “Is there life after death?” He believed strongly that there is and that the experience is more beautiful and loving than can be described in words. Almost…
Amid Turnover, Educators Seek Burlington School Board Seats
Four people who are running unopposed for seats on the Burlington School Board would bring a pro-teacher bias to contract negotiations on pay and benefits, according to board member and former chair Mark Porter. Two of the candidates are retired teachers. One is a school librarian. The fourth is married to a teacher’s aide. They’ll…
Canna Care Docs Stop Seeing New Patients in Vermont
A health care practice intent on growing Vermont’s medical marijuana patient registry has stopped accepting new clients. Canna Care Docs, which operates a two-room clinic inside Green State Gardener in Burlington, is assessing its future in Vermont, founder Kevin Kafka said. When the company first opened in the Queen City in September, it planned to…
Ben Colley Keeps Local Coffee Machines Happy
On a sunny, snowy day in February, Ben Colley, owner of Java Joe’s Coffee + Espresso Equipment Service in Waterbury, is tucked in a back room at the Colchester Costco Wholesale, digging stuck beans and stale grounds out of a Bunn grinder. He tests to make sure the machine is properly calibrated, making small adjustments.…
La Casa Burrito Is Now Open in St. Albans
For fresh south-of-the-border fare, Vermonters can now head north — to St. Albans. In the former Build a Bagel location at 30 South Main Street, La Casa Burrito just finished its second week in business. At lunch, visitors will find quick-serve tacos, burritos and rice bowls in a build-your-own format that should be familiar to anyone…
