Sep 7-13, 2011
Vermonters Get to Work Cleaning Up After Tropical Storm Irene; Artists Help Flood Victims in Creative Ways; Lauren Ober Tours Vermont Iconic Route 100; Hanging With an Art Collector
Here For Phish? How About You Lend a Phreaking Hand?
Last Tuesday, Vermont’s phavorite jam band, Phish, announced that they would play a special benefit concert for victims of Tropical Storm Irene. Unsurprisingly, the quartet’s announcement created tremors of excitement around Vermont and across the whole of Phish phandom. No sooner had word gotten out about the phoursome’s show then dedicated Phish phollowers the country…
A Portrait of Irene: The Back Behind
On the night of Saturday, August 27, Gerry and Conrad Zendzian made the decision to open the Back Behind Restaurant & Barbecue Smokehouse as usual the following day. “Look, it’s no problem. They’ve downgraded it to a Tropical Storm,” Gerry recalls telling employees. Heeding warnings of high winds, the Zendzians drove two of their three…
9/11 Anniversary: Rarely Used Emergency Gear Proves Crucial in Flood Response
The search-and-rescue trailer housed at Colchester Technical Rescue hasn’t seen much action since it was purchased with federal homeland security dollars two years ago. Most days, it sits parked in a three-bay garage at the town ambulance service, packed with gear, waiting for a crisis. Two weeks ago, the crisis arrived in the form of…
BTV Lawyer Helps Flood Victims and Proves Not All Lawyers Are Jerks
Like a lot of Vermonters in the past couple weeks, Geoff Hand had been moved by the images he’d seen and the stories he’d heard about the flooding caused by Tropical Storm Irene. So moved, in fact, that he wanted to get off the couch and do something. So Hand, a partner with the Burlington…
George Clooney as Howard Dean? Watch the Trailer
Movie theaters are currently playing this trailer for The Ides of March, starring and directed by George Clooney, to be released on October 7. It’s based on Farragut North, a play by Beau Willimon, who worked on Howard Dean’s unsuccessful presidential run. The New York Times called the play “predictable but enjoyable.” Now it’s a…
They Lost Their Cars to the Floods — But in Doing So, Saved Crucial Computer Servers
As flood waters from Tropical Storm Irene swamped the Waterbury state office complex, seven employees from the Vermont Agency of Human Services rushed inside to rescue computer servers that are critical for processing welfare checks and keeping track of paroled prisoners living around the state. Two AHS employees —network administrator Andrew Matt and deputy chief…
Movies You Missed 3: X
This week in new DVDs: Two prostitutes on the run — with split-screen effects! Each week I review a brand new DVD release picked for me by Seth Jarvis, buyer for Burlington’s Waterfront Video, where you can obtain these fine films. (In central Vermont, try Downstairs Video.) Most of these movies never hit our big…
![Waitsfield & Warren, 5 Days After Irene [239]](https://i0.wp.com/www.sevendaysvt.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/episode239.webp?resize=400%2C300&ssl=1)
Waitsfield & Warren, 5 Days After Irene [239]
9/2/11 – Eva tours Waitsfield and Warren with local resident, Tracy Martin. Although it is only 5 days after the flooding, much progress has already been made and American Flatbread is open for dinner. Stops are also made at The Green Cup and The Pitcher Inn.
Gov. Shumlin Names Former Top Republican Aide to Head Irene Recovery
Gov. Peter Shumlin today appointed Neale Lunderville, an executive at Green Mountain Power and former top aide to Republican Gov. Jim Douglas, to coordinate the state’s recovery efforts in the wake of Tropical Storm Irene. Lunderville is taking a four-month leave of absence from his post at GMP, the state’s second largest utility, to help…
The More the Mexican
Four new restaurants beef up Vermont’s south-of-the-border options
Photo Slideshow: Taking the High Road Down Storm-Ravaged Route 100
Tales of ruin, and resilience, along storm-ravaged Route 100
News Quirks
Curses, Foiled Again Authorities identified Audrey Shirley, 34, as the woman who stole money and credit cards from homes in Forsyth County and Milton, Ga., by asking to use the bathroom. A victim mentioned the thief first asked to use the phone because her car had broken down. Investigators dialed the number Shirley had called…
Free Will Astrology
ARIES (March 21-April 19): “Don’t be angry with the rain,” counseled author Vladimir Nabokov. “It simply does not know how to fall upward.” In the coming week, I advise you to apply that principle to a host of phenomena, Aries. Don’t get all knotted up about any force of nature that insists on being itself,…
Letters to the Editor
The Real Story on Seat Belts [Re Whisky Tango Foxtrot: Why Don’t Vermont School Buses Have Seat Belts? August 31]: Whenever I have posed the question to school officials of “Why not?” regarding school bus seat belts, the answer has generally been along the lines of increased legal liability due to the necessity to monitor…
Post-Irene Volunteers Get Chummy With Shummy
In Moretown last Saturday to help residents clean up after the storm, volunteers Meaghan Cormier of Colchester and Carly Schwer of Jericho got an appreciative hug from Gov. Peter Shumlin, who was there to rally the troops and reassure the beleaguered residents. Moretown was hard hit by flooding caused by Tropical Storm Irene. Cormier tells…
Health Department: Don’t Eat Any Produce Touched By Floodwaters
It may be months before we know exactly what toxins Tropical Storm Irene washed into Vermont’s waterways and onto its landscape, but for now state health officials are taking no chances. On Tuesday, the state issued a new advisory warning residents not to eat any food that has come into contact with floodwaters because of…
Silty but Standing: Vermont Farms After Irene
Three Vermont farms assess the damage and look ahead
The Phish Tales Are True! Phab Four to Play CV Expo on 9/14
Rumors have been swirling for a couple of days now that VT’s Phinest would be throwing an Irene benefit gig within the next week or so, somewhere in the state. Well, guess what? According to a press release just sent out by Higher Ground Presents, it’s on. The band will play the Champlain Valley Expo…
