Mar 9-15, 2016
Why Bennington County Sends More People to Jail; The Legacy of Vermont’s First Female Architect; The Lowdown on Lesser-Known Liquors
Cover Story
Bennington Locks Up More People Than Any Other Vermont County
More than 300 Vermonters have died of drug overdoses in the past three years. But rarely has a dealer faced criminal charges as a result. A St. Johnsbury woman received a suspended sentence of two to five years for selling a fatal dose of heroin to a Groton man in 2014. Two years ago, a…
Obituary: Theresa ‘Lorraine’ Rhodes (Bleau), 1928-2016, Burlington/Winooski
Lorraine went to be with her Lord and Savior on Tuesday, March 8, 2016, surrounded by her loving family. Lorraine was born in Winooski on May 6, 1928. She was a devoted wife, mother, grandmother and great-grandmother. She married the love of her life, Homer, on August 3, 1946. Her love for him never faded,…
Obituary: Julie Leclerc Kessler, 1960-2016
Julie Leclerc Kessler, 55, passed away on March 4, 2016 surrounded by her loving family. She was born in Burlington on April 25, 1960 to Leonard and Shirley Leclerc. She worked at Champlain College for over 20 years and while there she earned her MBA. She loved horses and enjoyed riding throughout her life. Julie…
Obituary: Norah Marie Auer, 1934-2016
Norah Marie Auer, 81, passed away peacefully surrounded by her loving family on March 7, 2016. She was born on December 21, 1934 in New York City to the late Lyman and Nora (Dwyer) Wescott. She often spoke of her wonderful memories growing up in NYC, especially square dances in Central park, spending the day…
Barbie Blitz: An Exhibition in Montréal Is All Dolled Up
You could say that I misled my husband when I encouraged him to join me on a day trip to Montréal. I promised him a room full of big-busted blondes. And that’s what he got, but I neglected to mention that the gals were part of the new Barbie Expo. On February 11, the downtown…
Opinion: The Problem With Prayer at Town Meeting
The sign welcoming a driver to Groton says, “Where a small town is like a large family.” Not like my family, I grumbled. I was on my way to the Groton town meeting, which was going to open with a prayer. In January, Groton’s selectboard adopted a resolution to reinstate prayer at the gathering. “Recognizing…
Free Will Astrology (3/9/16)
PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): “I wish I knew what I desire,” wrote Palestinian poet Mahmoud Darwish, born under the sign of Pisces. “I wish I knew! I wish I knew!” If he were still alive today, I would have very good news for him, as I do for all of you Pisceans reading this horoscope.…
Soule Monde, Smashed World
(Self-released, CD, digital download) Soule Monde are quite likely Vermont’s smallest supergroup. The avant-funk outfit boasts but two members, drummer Russ Lawton and organist Ray Paczkowski. Still, their collective résumé is remarkable. Soule Monde was born of Lawton and Paczkowski’s collaboration in the Trey Anastasio Band — Lawton has been a member of the Phish…
Vermont’s First Female Architect, Ruth Freeman
The Gutterson Fieldhouse at the University of Vermont. St. Mark Catholic Parish on North Avenue. The Given Medical Building of the UVM College of Medicine. The NBT Bank on Bank Street. The Sustainability Academy at Lawrence Barnes. Ohavi Zedek Synagogue. Rice Memorial High School. What do all these greater Burlington buildings from the 1940s, ’50s…
Counterpoint, All Mixed Up! Counterpoint Sings the Music of Pete Seeger
(Self-released, CD, digital download) Pete Seeger was a man of many passions and principles. While the late folk-music icon was perhaps best known for the populist messages in his now canonical music, one of his core beliefs was that people should sing together, in large groups and as often as possible. Chorus singing, he believed,…
Does Copeland Hanzas Have the Game to Be House Speaker?
Sarah Copeland Hanzas, Vermont’s House Democratic majority leader, was babysitting her 3-year-old nephew, Oliver, one day last month. The toddler moved restlessly from playing with a train set to coloring quietly to squirming on his aunt’s lap. “Let’s go to the big room,” urged Copeland Hanzas, meaning the House chamber, where her fellow members were…
Six Mixologists Talk Cocktail Culture
A girl walks into a bar. She sidles up to a stool. The bartender gives her a nod and hands her a cocktail list. The cocktails have names like the Dye House, the Hetty Green and Bête Noire, and each is explained only by a list of ingredients. The girl recognizes some of them —…
Greek Out: UVM Frats, Sororities Protest New Property Taxes
No beer bottles were in sight at the Phi Gamma Delta house when a reporter arrived Thursday to discuss the sobering news facing the 10 fraternity and sorority houses affiliated with the University of Vermont. The property tax exemptions on Greek houses are set to expire January 1, 2017. Unless the legislature grants them a…
Soundbites: First Jazz Fest Acts Announced; Anders Parker Returns
For the past week, I’ve been sailing the seven seas — well, one of them, anyway — on a cruise ship to the Bahamas with local 1960s tribute band Mellow Yellow. You can read all about our swashbuckling adventures in next week’s paper. (Spoiler: Did my girlfriend and I get the Zika virus? Maybe!) Moving…
Hinesburg Residents Scramble to Keep Gas Pipeline Out of Park
In 2014, the Hinesburg Selectboard struck a secret deal with Vermont Gas that’s now blowing up in its face. Just last month, residents learned of an agreement that spells out conditions for allowing the utility to route its controversial pipeline through a town park. Within days, Hinesburgers launched several last-minute attempts to stop it. One group…
Art Review: ‘Salvage,’ Chandler Center for the Arts
Rescue, save, recover: Salvage can be defined in different ways. Devoting an exhibition to recycling and upcycling trash is itself a recycled idea, and not a small curatorial challenge. For “Salvage,” the current show at Chandler Gallery in Randolph, multimedia artist and curator Josh Turk chose works that not only rescue discards but elevate them,…
Trumped Up: Who Were Donald Trump’s 19,974 Vermont Voters?
Last Tuesday, 19,974 Vermonters voted for a bigoted demagogue whose presidential campaign has been fueled by venomous rhetoric targeting women, Hispanics, Muslims, veterans and the disabled. But even though Donald Trump — the orange-hued reality-television star and steak salesman — won Vermont’s Republican primary, his voters are an elusive breed. “I gotta be honest: I…
My Boyfriend Doesn’t Like Sex During My Period
Dear Athena, My boyfriend is really uncomfortable with being intimate with me while I’m having my period. The problem is, I get really horny when the “red tide” is happening. What should we do? Should he overcome his discomfort, or should I be gentle with his squeamishness? In essence, we all come from periods, and…
Tyrannosaurus Hackie
“So, is Uber affecting you guys?” This is now the No. 1 question my customers ask me, displacing “How’s business tonight?” I’ve formulated a droll response: “Well, put it this way — I now know what a phone booth feels like.” This is known as “gallows humor” or “whistling past the graveyard.” It’s a psychological…
Whiskey Tango Foxtrot
Somewhere at this very minute, Joe Piscopo is probably pitching a comedy in which he travels to Afghanistan for one zany reason or another. Have you noticed? It’s the latest unnecessary, completely counterintuitive Hollywood subgenre: “Saturday Night Live” alums looking for laughs in one of the least funny places on the planet. It backfired on…
Zootopia
Zootopia is a bouncy, candy-colored animation, not an overt political allegory, yet it’s an apt movie for this primary season. When a villain sneers, “Fear always works,” the film offers a succinct illustration of how scapegoating a feared minority makes a power grab possible. This dark insight emerges from a cute Disney story about talking…
Allen Gilbert Wants You … to Hold Government Accountable
Originally published April 10, 2013. Allen Gilbert has been thinking a lot about drones lately. Not the ones that rain Hellfire missiles on militants in remote parts of the Middle East and Asia. But spy drones that could monitor the movements of Vermonters — and, indeed, of all Americans — here at home. “I think…
Kismet and Tiffany Pfeiffer’s Journey to Jazz
When it comes to a musician’s career, sometimes the stars align in unpredictable ways, revealing unforeseen collaborations, musical directions and even geographic relocations. Richmond, Vt., singer Tiffany Pfeiffer, who at one point in her career wrote horoscopes for a San Francisco arts mag, is a fantastic example of how serendipity can change an artist’s direction.…
Theater Review: The Hounds of the Baskervilles, Northern Stage
When we go to a play, we volunteer to be deceived. But in their adaptation of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s The Hound of the Baskervilles, Steven Canny and John Nicholson seem to have taken a little oath: “We won’t trick you.” And it’s the funniest trick of all, as this Northern Stage production demonstrates. While…
Warren’s Common Man to Close
Over the weekend, the owners of the Common Man Restaurant in Warren announced that the upscale restaurant will shut its doors at the beginning of April. In an email to customers, owners Adam Longworth and Lorien Wroten wrote, “It is with both heavy hearts and excitement we are writing to you to announce that we…
In Brattleboro, the Women’s Film Festival Turns 25
Last month’s Academy Awards ceremony may have jokily co-opted some of the rhetoric of the #OscarsSoWhite protest, but that didn’t diminish the force of the movement’s message: Mainstream Hollywood films, and the industry’s awards system, are anything but racially diverse. This week, a film festival in Brattleboro highlights an equally vexing imbalance: that of gender.…
Leading Ladies: New American Women in Vermont
There’s an African saying that if you educate a man, you educate an individual. But if you educate a woman, you educate a nation. To pay homage to Women’s History Month, Seven Days spoke with three African women who have made Vermont their home and represent an emerging female leadership in our multicultural community. The…
Vermonters Make Magic in ‘She Sings to the Stars’
Filmmaking isn’t typically a family business, unless your family name happens to be, say, Coppola. But then, Vermont residents Jennifer and Jonathan Corcoran are anything but typical filmmakers. They were raised in Italy. She was trained as a theater director. His background is in business and marketing. The siblings have always loved movies, however, and…
Letters to the Editor (3/9/16)
Food Flaw We’re hoping you’re open to another letter about correct vocabulary. It pertains to those who are hunger-insecure in Vermont. The Side Dishes article [“Around Town,” February 17] contains a common misuse of terms. It states, “Getting to the food bank to pick up food during business hours can be hard.” But for our…
Great Harvest Bread Co. Is for Sale
Owners Sara and Ethan Brown have put their Burlington franchise of Great Harvest Bread up for sale. While they will stay with the company as long as necessary to find the right buyer, says Sara Brown, “We are looking to transition to the next phase of our lives. We have other things we’re feeling pulled…
Special Delivery With Helm Nottermann, the Frozen Butcher
Once a month throughout the winter, Helm Nottermann, aka the “Frozen Butcher,” transports meat from his Snug Valley Farm in East Hardwick to a dive bar in Essex Junction. Customers drop by between 6 and 7 p.m. to pick up orders: bacon, pork loin, ground beef, and other pork and beef products. Last Friday, I…
Winooski Beverage Debuts Growler Bar
Locals who frequent Winooski’s Beverage Warehouse may have noticed new projects at the liquor store and craft beer outlet. For the past few months, owner Jen Swiatek’s husband, Shon Flaherty, has been working to install a six-line growler bar that will soon flow with fresh beer to go. Thanks to an advanced Pegas CrafTap draft…
