Berlin Community News

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Sent by Corinne Stridsberg and also posted at: http://socialenergy.blogspot.com
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Check out the Berlin, Vermont Community News page on facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/pages/Berlin-Vermont/205922199452224

Included below please find:

WAY TO GO!
COMMUNITY SUMMER SWIM LESSON SIGN-UP
BERLIN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL GRADUATION / END OF YEAR
PLAYGROUND FUNDRAISER DINNER AT WAYSIDE RESTAURANT
BERLIN STUDENTS WORK TO 'GREEN UP'
MOUNTAINEERS
"SHAKESPEARE IN THE HILLS" SUMMER CAMPS IN MONTPELIER
LOCAL SEARS: NEW OWNERS, SPECIAL EVENT MAKE NEWS
A TAX FOR CROSSING THE BORDER?


Two nearby events for kids are the Gunner Brook event in Barre on June 1st and the Martin's Brook (aka Shady Rill Brook) in Middlesex on June 8th.  Note that the Barre Fish & Game Club have both a website and a facebook page.  A complete listing of kids fishing events along with contact information can be found at: http://www.anr.state.vt.us/fwd/fish_kidsbrook.aspx

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   May 13 – 17. It’s Way to Go Time!  Sign up to reduce your carbon footprint.
   Have you signed up for Way to Go week? Way to Go! is designed to raise awareness of transportation options among commuters by encouraging them to travel in ways other than driving alone. Participants pledge to take the bus, bike, walk, carpool, car share, or telecommute during the week of the challenge, and become eligible to win a variety of prizes, including gym memberships, ski passes, hotel stays, transit passes, and much more.  New this year, organizations can sign up to challenge another business to a Carbon Throw Down!  The Mad River Valley Planning District has challenged Yestermorrow to get the highest percentage of employees signed up in what promises to be an exciting local battle.
   “We are really thrilled to be participating in Way to Go! again this year,” said Josh Schwartz of the Planning District. “I know that taking advantage of commuting options such as carpooling, bicycling, walking, and public transit, you can save big money – and you’ll have a lot of fun doing it.”
   Sign up today at www.waytogovt.org, challenge another business, and help us spread the word!

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COMMUNITY SUMMER SWIM LESSON SIGN-UP
   Sign-ups are Thursday, May 23^rd from 5:45 – 6:30 p.m. in the Learning Center. 
The Berlin Recreation Committee subsidizes this swim lesson program at First in Fitness on Granger Road in Berlin to keep the cost at $25.  per child, per two-week session.
   The sessions available are:
June 24^th – June 28^th
11:45 – 12:30               Levels 3+3+5/6
12:30 -   1:15               Levels 1, 2 & 4

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July 8^th – July 12^th
11:45 – 12:30               Levels 3+3+5/6
12:30 -  1:15                Levels 1, 2 & 4

      Forms will be sent home with students closer to the sign-ups.  If you have any questions, please contact Sonia Parton at son_ rx@hotmail.com .   If you would like to have your child take swim lessons but can not make sign-ups, please call after the sign-up date.

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The 6th grade graduation at Berlin Elementary is on Monday June 17th at 6pm
The last day for students to attend school is Thursday, June 20th.

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Did you know you can find the Mountaineers on facebook?  https://www.facebook.com/pages/Vermont-Mountaineers-Fan-Page/329932026457?fref=ts

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We hope you will join in for a great dinner and friendly service at The Wayside Restaurant on Tuesday, May 14th from 5pm - 8pm. For every meal that is purchased that evening, the Wayside Restaurant & Bakery will donate 25% of the proceeds to support Berlin Elementary School’s Playground Fundraiser. Simply tell your server that you are there to support Berlin Elementary School’s Playground Fundraiser.

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Pub. 5/5/13 Times Argus by David Delcore
   BERLIN — Just call it “sweat equity” because a group of local fifth-graders, who have been yearning for a better place to play, were busy working hard for it this weekend.
   They also had a lot of help.
   Thanks to a Vermont tradition that had residents around the state scouring roadsides for loose litter and debris on Saturday and the generosity of a local car dealership, a group of students from Berlin Elementary School inched ever closer to their goal of raising enough money to buy a play structure they will actually be able to use before heading to U-32 in seventh grade.
   Green Up Day was, in more ways than one, all about the “green” for the students who juggled Green Up bags and “bottle drive” signs on Saturday in their quest to raise the last several thousand dollars they’ll need to expand a playground that they view as dated.
   It’s actually not such a bad playground, but Annika Lague will tell you most of the equipment has been there for longer than any of her classmates can remember and a good bit of it has been off limits to them since they all hit third grade.
   “We’re too old and too big to use it,” she said. “We wanted equipment we could play on.”
   What started out as the shared lament of Annika, 11, her twin sister, Allyson, and their friend, Rachel Lawson, quickly morphed into a project for a core group of students who had already raised more than $12,000 — not counting $10,000 in matching funds pledged by the School Board — before Green Up Day dawned.
   Business was brisk during Saturday’s bottle drive and while students did squeeze in a little greening up of their own, they were counting on others in central Vermont to help them make the most of Twin City Subaru’s pledge of “Cash for Trash.”
   A roll-off container at the car dealership was well on its way to being filled by 11 a.m. on Saturday, as residents like Don Tofani of East Montpelier rolled in to drop off what they’d picked up.
   “It’s amazing what people throw on the side of the road,” said Tofani, who spent two hours Saturday morning picking up a mile-long stretch of Coburn Road with his wife, Dee.
   “She (Dee) walked, I drove,” said Tofani, who had a full pickup truck to show for their shared effort.
   “She likes to walk,” he said.
   So, it turns out, does Holly Thompson.
   Thompson, 45, of East Randolph was getting her car serviced at Twin City Saturday morning. She didn’t plan to go greening up when she left for home, but she filled two bags with litter she scooped up in the Berlin Mall parking lot and along Fisher Road while she waited.
   “I brought crocheting and a book, but this (pitching in on Green Up Day) seemed more productive,” she said.
   With Twin City pledging to donate to the playground project whatever they end up paying to dispose of Green Up Day trash in their third year as a regional sponsor of the event, every bag helped.
   Just ask 11-year-old Logan Carbo. Moments after plucking a bottle from the wooded area that skirts the field behind Berlin Elementary School, Logan said while he doesn’t like litter, he sure likes the idea of making money by finding it.
   “I guess that’s the upside,” said Logan, who joined the Lague twins, Lawson, Dylan Lawrence and Emily Frazier in launching a fundraising effort that started in February following a face-to-face meeting with Principal Chris Dodge.
   “This whole project has been completely spearheaded by kids,” Dodge said Saturday, crediting the students for quickly identifying two play structures — one suitable for the oldest students at Berlin’s K-6 school and the other for younger children.
   “They really thought it all out,” he said.
   After persuading the School Board to match up to $10,000 and securing a few sizeable donations — including $5,000 from Berlin resident/Northfield businessman Barry Chouinard, and $1,000 each from Cody Chevrolet and the Concord Group — the students have continued to raise funds, both in school and in the community.
   Emily’s father Craig predicted early on the Green Up Day efforts would put a serious dent in what was a shrinking $6,000 gap, and a May 14 fundraiser planned at the Wayside Restaurant should all but erase it. With the roll-off container at Twin City overflowing at 3 p.m. and more than $1,000 in bottles and cans collected during the course of the day, Frazier’s mid-morning prediction was looking good.
   The students deserve a lot of credit, according to Frazier, who said he loves the fact they’ve learned a lot along the way. However, what has been most heartening for him as an interested observer and facilitator was the outpouring of support they have received along the way.
   “This is a total community effort,” he said. “This is really for the community, by the community.”
   Frazier said both he and his wife, Vera, who serves on the School Board, are products of Berlin Elementary School, and while the playground has changed a lot since then a recently removed ‘triple tire swing” was there when they were kids.
   The tire swing and two aging balance beams are the only pieces of playground equipment being removed, though two swing sets will be relocated to make room for a community garden that will soon be installed with a $16,000 grant.
   “There is a lot going on,” he said, noting that Mike Pitonyak of Capital Earth Moving has volunteered to re-grade the adjoining soccer field starting Monday.
   However, on Saturday as Green Up bags were piling up at Twin City Subaru and bottles were being dropped off at a steady clip, students were all buzzing about the “fitness cluster” that will be installed along with a second play structure for younger children over the summer.
   Logan, the boy who noted there was an “upside” to trash on Saturday, said he wasn’t bothered that the fifth-graders will only get one good year’s use out of the new playground equipment they’ve been working for.
   “It’s not just for us,” he said.
   Emily Frazier quickly agreed, noting she likes the fact that the soon-to-be-expanded playground will be there for her 5-year-old sister, Alyssa, to enjoy.
   “A lot of kids are going to get a lot of use out of this … not just us,” she said.
   david.delcore@timesargus.com

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Echo Valley Community Arts is hosting their 7th year of "Shakespeare in the Hills" Summer Camps.  This summer the camps will be held in downtown Montpelier at Christ Episcopal Church in the Taplin Auditorium.  Co-Directors Naomi Flanders, Tom Blachly and Assistant Director Justin Rowe, together with a vibrant staff of young interns brings Shakespeare to life in two camps for ages 9 through 17.
Camp 1: introductory level camp, July 8th - July 20th will perform The Tempest.
Camp 2: an advanced level camp, July 29th - August 10th will perform the second half of Hamlet.
Consider a camp with adventure, philosophy, insults, romance, life, death, and a vocabulary to knock your socks off... (that's why we don't hold the camps in the winter!)
Register on our website at http://www.shakespeareinthehills.com and visit Echo Valley Community Arts Facebook page!  For more information call Sue Hudson at 454-7770.
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"A pox o' your throat, you bawling, blasphemous, incharitable dog!"  - The Tempest, 1.1
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"Doubt thou the stars are fire; Doubt that the sun doth move; Doubt truth to be a liar; But never doubt I love."  - Hamlet 2.2
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LOCAL SEARS: NEW OWNERS, SPECIAL EVENT MAKE NEWS
Pub. 5/6/13 Times Argus
   BERLIN — A local store owner wants people to know his business supports the “little guy.”
   Tom Coulter and his wife, Robin, took over the Sears on the Barre-Montpelier Road in April 2012. Since then, he said, they have expanded the tool section, bought new fixtures and added a bedding section. To show off the additions, as well as the new ownership, the store will be holding an event Friday and Saturday.
   Tom Coulter said the event, which runs during normal business hours of 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. Friday and 8:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday, will feature special discounts, giveaways and raffles for items such as a new grill and a $250 Sears gift card. A cookout will be held at the store Saturday.
   Coulter said their store is not like the bigger corporate stores in Burlington or West Lebanon, N.H. Their store is an independent retailer where the couple sell Sears merchandise for a commission.
   “We’re the little guy. We’re local. We support 10 jobs here trying to support 10 families. When you shop here, those dollars go back into the community,” he said.
   He said the event will also give him a chance to let the public know about the services the store offers. Being a Sears retailer, he said, the store can schedule free consultations for those looking for installation of windows, siding, doors, flooring, roofing, kitchens, countertops and bathrooms. He said the store can then reach out to local contractors to do the work.
   Coulter said that when he and his wife took over the store last year from Lou and Candace Lacroix it was a “baptism by fire.” He said what made it difficult was it was the beginning of the lawn and garden season.
   “It was absolutely nuts. It was like a fire drill every day,” he said.
   Now he and his wife are better prepared for what the year will bring, having already handled all four seasons.
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A TAX FOR CROSSING THE BORDER?
Pub. 5/4/13 Times Argus by PATRICK LEAHY
   Last month the Department of Homeland Security made a misstep in including in its budget proposal a request for appropriations to study charging people admission for crossing the border into the United States. It does not take a study to know that charging Canadian relatives, friends, tourists, business people and shoppers a fee to enter the United States is a bad idea. I do not intend to let this half-baked idea see the light of day.
   I will be fighting this on all fronts. Next week, as chairman of the Judiciary Committee I will introduce an amendment to the immigration bill, which is before the committee for bill-writing sessions that begin Thursday. My amendment would bar — outright — the implementation of this type of fee. I also am writing to Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, asking her agency to shelve the idea of a study about this bad idea. And as the most senior member of the Senate Appropriations Committee I am committed to ensuring that no appropriations for a border crossing fee or study will be included in the DHS budget that we will soon begin writing in the committee.
   The United States and Canada have a 236-year tradition of free and open borders. That is part and parcel of our unique relationship. On both sides of the line we are proud that we have the world’s longest border between two peaceful neighbors, and the freest. Canada is the United States’ number one trading partner. Some 300,000 Canadians cross to visit the United States every day, spending about $235 million. In 2006 Canadians made 642,400 visits to Vermont, spending $115 million while they were here. In a recent year Canada bought 44 percent of Vermont’s exports, amounting to $4.9 billion and 15,700 jobs. The border crosses through communities along the 90-mile border in Vermont and Quebec and in other sections, and six airports even straddle the border in other states. Here in Vermont our economic prosperity is interwoven with Quebec’s prosperity. The Burlington International Airport depends on Quebec for nearly one-third of its passengers. Resorts like Jay Peak draw thousands of people south to Vermont every day, contributing to our local economy. And there are dozens of businesses producing goods — from IBM’s semiconductors, to Barry Callebaut’s chocolates — that depend on a free and open border to create jobs here in Vermont and in Quebec. That’s not theory; it’s a practical, daily fact of life in our state, and it’s worth keeping and defending. A new fee on these activities would threaten the core of our economy.
   Vermont’s border communities are inseparable from Quebec’s border communities. Our children play hockey across the border. Our fire departments respond across the border. Our families live across the border. And as my wife, Marcelle, attests — she was born in Newport to parents who emigrated to Vermont from Quebec, and she grew up speaking French and English in her home — even our languages and customs drift both ways across the border. Putting a tollbooth at the border would be akin to taxing our culture.
   There are legitimate border security needs, and I have worked to make possible sensible improvements, along with the resources, staff and equipment to implement them. But like many Vermonters, I am frustrated by the overdone security strictures that have been imposed on our border communities. From requiring passports to cross borders that are staffed by our neighbors whom we know by name, to closing streets that served as arteries to our communities, to erecting interior checkpoints on I-91, DHS has made living in Vermont’s border communities more challenging. U.S. Customs and Border Protection, the border services agency here in the United States, is tasked with balancing security and facilitating commerce. Slapping a penalty for visiting Vermont would not enhance security, and it would certainly deflate this vital commerce.
   The steadfast men and women who serve as Border Patrol and field operations officers here in Vermont are law enforcement officers. We ask them to not only vet the people and goods that come across the border but also to be experts on the laws of international trade — all while having firearms strapped to their waists in case they come across a criminal or terrorist. We should not also ask them to be tollbooth operators.
   These are exceptionally difficult budgetary times, and I understand the pressures the Department of Homeland Security is facing. I remain committed to ensuring the agency has the funds it needs to carry out its vital mission — both of securing our border, and facilitating trade. In return, I want to make sure federal laws and federal agencies respect the more than two-centuries-old relationship that Vermont and Quebec have forged over many, many generations.
   A tax for crossing the northern border? This Vermonter is emphatically saying “no.”
- Patrick Leahy, a Democrat, is Vermont’s senior U.S. senator. He is chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, which begins writing a comprehensive immigration reform bill next week. He lives in Middlesex.
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