Saturday, October 01, 2016
Berlin News to Know September 23, 2016
BERLIN NEWS TO
KNOW September 23, 2016
This communication
is put together and distributed on a volunteer basis by resident Corinne
Stridsberg simply in an effort to share information and build community, it is
not from the town of Berlin.
Please share this
with your Berlin friends and neighbors. If you're not already
receiving this news directly by email, send an email to request this to corinnestridsberg@gmail.com.
*
For current news
look for "Berlin, Vermont" on facebook for a constant flow
of information. You don't need to be a facebook user to access it, but if
you do use facebook, be sure to "Like" it:
For historical news
look for "Berlin, Vermont Memories" on facebook.
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NOTE! Let the countdown begin, the pick-you-own
potato date has been set!! See details below!
Below you will find:
APPLEPICKING
VERMONT AVIATION
EXTRAVAGATION
MUSEUM DAY LIVE! FREE TICKET
FRESH TRACK FARM HARVESTIVAL
CENTRAL VERMONT MUSICIANS
PLAYING
WHO CAN SAVE THE HISTORIC
MIDDLESEX TRAIN STATION?
BERLIN TRAIN STATION IMPROVEMENTS
CENTRAL VERMONT RAILWAY EXHIBIT
COMMUNITY POTLOCK
POTATO PICKING DATE
SET!
BERLIN MEMBERS – ACT 46 NOT IN BERLIN’S BEST INTEREST
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APPLEPICKING
The Vermont Tech Orchard will open on September 24. Hours are Saturday and Sunday 10am – 5pm;
Monday & Friday 3-5 pm (Tues-Thurs CLOSED).
Prices: $11 per half bushel.
Weather permitting.
***
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VERMONT AVIATION EXTRAVAGATION
Saturday, September 24th
(rain date Sept 25) 10am – 4pm Knapp State Airport, 2000 Airport Rd,
Berlin. Aerobatics & Skydiving;
Helicopter & Glider Rides; Aviation Displays; Activities for kids; Food
& Refreshments. Don’t miss the
Berlin Historical Society display which will be there taking a look back at the
airport.
The Civil Air
Patrol is having a pancake breakfast before the Aviation Extravaganza gets
underway. 8:30am – 10:30am there will be
pancakes, eggs, bacon, toast, muffins, juice, coffee/milk – Adults $8, kids $5,
under 5 free. 2081 Airport Road.
***
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MUSEUM DAY LIVE! – FREE
TICKET
There is an annual celebration that came to my attention this
week. Smithsonian magazine is offering
free tickets to participating Vermont museums (and throughout the country) for
this one day celebration on Saturday, September 24, 2016. The Vermont History Museum at the Pavilion
building in Montpelier is included as well as the Vermont History Center in
Barre. Details and tickets can be found
at:
***
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FRESH TRACK FARM
HARVESTIVAL
Saturday, September 24th at Fresh Tracks Farm Vineyard
& Winery 1pm - 8pm on VT Route 12.
Includes live music from multiple bands, crafts & games for the
kids, and amazing food. This is a benefit
concert for the Vermont Foodbank, there is no entrance fee. Please pre-register your two team of two
people for the grape stomp contest. http://freshtracksfarm.com/upcoming-events/harvestival
***
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CENTRAL VERMONT MUSICIANS PLAYING
The Suspects are
playing down at the Old Town Hall in Brookfield on Saturday, September 24th.
Event starts 6pm. This central Vermont band includes: Phil Hyjek
(vocal/guitar), Chris Stone (harmonica), Lee Gardner (lead guitar), Al Roy
(drums) and Berlin's Sam Burke (bass).
***
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WHO CAN SAVE THE HISTORIC MIDDLESEX TRAIN STATION?
Neighbors:
The historic Middlesex
railroad station is about to be torn down. Sticks &Stuff owner Jeff
Lamphere just told the Middlesex Historical Society that we have until
September 26, 2016 to make an offer to pay the $1600 lease to the railroad
company and to purchase the building for $1. (Sticks & Stuff, a lumber
facility and home improvement center in Middlesex, owns the depot building.)
The Society has a dollar, but we do not have the resources to own a building of
our own, nor a site available to move the station. The station must be moved, as required by
Canadian National, which owns the railroad bed and adjacent property now leased
by Genessee and Wyoming Railroad to Sticks &Stuff. We felt Middlesex residents as well as
citizens in neighboring communities should be made aware of this situation. Please address comments and concerns and
last-minute creative ideas to the Middlesex Selectboard and owner Jeff
Lamphere, c/o Sticks &Stuff, 13 Gallagher Road, Middlesex, VT 05602
(PS I’ve heard there is a
Middlesex person who has property that the building may be able to be moved to)
***
***
BERLIN
TRAIN STATION IMPROVEMENTS
The Montpelier Junction station is having some
improvements made. It appears to be
handicap accessibility work being done both inside and out. They expect it to take 2 – 3 weeks.
***
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CENTRAL
VERMONT RAILWAY EXHIBIT
At the St. Albans Museum there are two floors
of exhibit rooms and the one that is intriguing is the Railroad Room dedicated
to the story of the Central Vermont Railway. See the collections page for more
info. The season is not over yet, it ends October 7th. It's open Wednesday -
Friday 11am - 4pm and Saturdays 10am - 2pm. $6 adults, $3 students (5-17 &
college).
***
***
COMMUNITY POTLOCK
What makes for an awesome potluck isn’t just the delicious food,
it’s getting together with your friends and neighbors. Hoping to see many of you at 6pm on Oct 1st
for the Community Potluck at Capital City Grange. Bring a dish to share, a loaf of bread,
or perhaps a beverage. Vintage dishware
provided. Free and open to the public. These will continue on the first Saturday of
the month. http://capitalcitygrange.org/event/community-potluck/2016-10-01
***
***
POTATO PICKING DATE SET!
Pick-Your-Own Potatoes, one day only, Sunday,
October 2, 2016 at Chappelle’s in Williamstown, VT, picking behind the digger
9am – 5pm. Pick for yourself, friends,
neighbors, relatives, a community breakfast, church supper, etc. The cost is by the pound and it’s always a
great deal! Last year it was just 35
cents per pound.
Note heavy rain the night before or that
morning might postpone the event as they need to be able to run the digger –
updates will be posted to the Berlin, Vermont facebook page www.facebook.com/Berlin-Vermont-205922199452224
Look for “POTATOES” signage with arrows on
Route 14 in Williamstown (or from whatever direction you’re coming from) to get
up to the specific field they will be using this year.
Bring buckets, milk crates, grain or coffee
bags, or whatever works for you to carry the potatoes. Wear
sneakers that can get dirty! Some like
to wear gloves. You might want a water
bottle.
The digger goes through and brings the
potatoes up so you can walk along and pick the size and quantity of potatoes
you want. Some people pick 25 lbs.,
while other pick 500 lbs. or more. We
use 5 gallon buckets to pick into and carry them over to waiting bags and put
two bucketfuls of potatoes (about 22 lbs per bucket) into each bag. When you’re finished, you carry your
containers over to the scales to be weighed and pay. You’ll be able to bring your vehicle over to
load them in.
Check out the WCAX story from 2013 if you’ve
never been www.wcax.com/story/23496106/families-gear-up-for-potato-picking (our daughter and grandson are included in the
story!)
This is my absolutely favorite day of the
year. Coming home and fixing that big pot of mashed potatoes – YUMMY! It’s
wonderful to know there is delicious food in the house to have all the way
through spring. We’ve been going to the
Chappelle’s for over 25 years. We made a
slatted bin which stores several hundred pounds of potatoes down in the
basement.
Pre-picked 50 lb bags of potatoes are
available throughout the season at the Chappelle warehouse, prices ary
depending on the type you get (unclassified, #1, chefs, bakers).
During normal operations, the potatoes go
from the digger up into a truck to get them over to the warehouse for
sorting. On the pick-your-own day,
pre-teens / teens are paid to pick potatoes by the bucketful (that aren’t
picked up by those attending) and get them into the truck. All our kids have done this over the years, it’s
money well earned. Hats off to Barbara
and Robert Chappelle along with their family and crew of workers for this
opportunity to purchase delicious basic local food at such a reasonable price.
(Note: Pick-your-own
potatoes typically happens in mid to late September)
***
***
CORRECTION TO DATE OF HISTORY WALK
Manny Garcia will lead a walk on Thursday,
October 13th. Meet on the
Pavilion porch (109 State Street, which is on the corner of Gov. Davis Ave) at
1pm. The walk will go along the Winooski
River (heading toward Main Street) with lots of wonderful information shared
about Berlin and Montpelier history. The
Winooski River (formerly called Onion River) was the boundary between Berlin
and Montpelier until the annexation February 1st, 1899.
***
***
BERLIN MEMBERS SAY - ACT 46 NOT
IN BERLIN’S BEST INTEREST
WORCESTER MEETING ENDS IN DISARRAY
Pub. 9/23/16 Times Argus by Gina Tron
WORCESTER — A contentious Act 46
study committee meeting on the future of Washington Central Supervisory Union
schools took place at the gymnasium of Doty Elementary school Wednesday night.
Dozens of residents attended, participated in a discussion that pondered the committee dissolving, and another that resulted in the chairman resigning.
It was up to the committee to vote on whether or not to explore merging elementary schools in Calais, Middlesex, Berlin, East Montpelier and Worcester — the five towns within the Washington Central Supervisory Union — under Act 46.
Approved by the Legislature in 2014, Act 46 is designed to encourage school districts throughout the state to explore the potential benefits of consolidation with an eye toward improving educational quality for the students they serve at a cost that is affordable and sustainable.
If the merger option fails to go to the voters, the state would step in and alternatives will be discussed.
The committee has struggled to make recommendations regarding school governance.
One of the issues at hand was that the Act 46 consolidation would require towns to take on other towns’ debt.
The Act 46 bond indicates that East Montpelier Elementary School will need a $8.7 million bond to finance renovations and improvements to bring the school into compliance with the fire code and make it handicap-accessible. Voters approved that bond. Voters also approved a $3.5 million bond for improvements to Rumney Memorial School in Middlesex. In November, voters will decide on a $3.5 million bond for Berlin Middle School.
Before the meeting, the three Berlin representatives of the Act 46 study committee sent a letter to the committee stating that it is not in the best interest of the representatives’ constituents, Berlin school staff and Berlin taxpayers to continue participating on the board. It went on to say that the Berlin representatives would not vote on the consolidation. The letter cited displeasure at the debt bond decisions, and the three members expressed their interest in alternatives.
By subtracting their votes from the committee, they have made it nearly impossible for the board to take a vote on anything. Eleven members have to be present and nine have to vote.
Chauntelle Eckhaus, committee member and chairwoman of Calais School Board, said that they may as well disband at this point, because there is no hope for a vote to take place.
“We started this out in good faith,” she said. “That faith has been broken. This has not been the committee that we said we would be.”
Some members went so far to say that the Berlin members have violated a breach of trust.
“We can’t decide anything because we can’t get 11 voting members here,” said Committee Chairman Stephen Looke.
Eckhaus stated that she didn’t think that the schools in the districts would even quality for alternatives. She said if that is the case, then the state would impose what they want upon the schools in question.
When the public had the opportunity to speak, Susan Clark of Middlesex suggested a hiatus so that people interested in alternatives could learn more about it, and so that board members could hash out some of the details of alternatives. Some of the committee members also expressed that they would like to be better educated about alternatives so that they can have an idea of what will happen if the merger does not go through.
Ginny Burley of East Montpelier said that she hadn’t heard the words “kids” or “children” mentioned once in recent meetings regarding the Act 46 merger.
Looke said he was furious with the situation.
“We don’t know where we stand,” he said. “And, to short-circuit a process before it can reach its end is wrong, fundamentally wrong. Fundamentally, I thought we had 11 people who agreed to participate. This letter short-circuits that.”
Looke tried to get an answer from the committee about how to move forward: disband or continue to try and get a vote to the public. No conclusion could be met, and at that point Looke stepped down as chairman. He said that he failed to lead the committee to a good place. He did not resign from the committee.
Before the meeting adjourned, the committee decided to hold at least one more meeting. There will likely be a warning of an action item, but it has not been decided whether or not that be a disbandment or a vote on Act 46.
Minutes from the meeting will soon be posted at: www.wcsu32.org
gina.tron @timesargus.com
Dozens of residents attended, participated in a discussion that pondered the committee dissolving, and another that resulted in the chairman resigning.
It was up to the committee to vote on whether or not to explore merging elementary schools in Calais, Middlesex, Berlin, East Montpelier and Worcester — the five towns within the Washington Central Supervisory Union — under Act 46.
Approved by the Legislature in 2014, Act 46 is designed to encourage school districts throughout the state to explore the potential benefits of consolidation with an eye toward improving educational quality for the students they serve at a cost that is affordable and sustainable.
If the merger option fails to go to the voters, the state would step in and alternatives will be discussed.
The committee has struggled to make recommendations regarding school governance.
One of the issues at hand was that the Act 46 consolidation would require towns to take on other towns’ debt.
The Act 46 bond indicates that East Montpelier Elementary School will need a $8.7 million bond to finance renovations and improvements to bring the school into compliance with the fire code and make it handicap-accessible. Voters approved that bond. Voters also approved a $3.5 million bond for improvements to Rumney Memorial School in Middlesex. In November, voters will decide on a $3.5 million bond for Berlin Middle School.
Before the meeting, the three Berlin representatives of the Act 46 study committee sent a letter to the committee stating that it is not in the best interest of the representatives’ constituents, Berlin school staff and Berlin taxpayers to continue participating on the board. It went on to say that the Berlin representatives would not vote on the consolidation. The letter cited displeasure at the debt bond decisions, and the three members expressed their interest in alternatives.
By subtracting their votes from the committee, they have made it nearly impossible for the board to take a vote on anything. Eleven members have to be present and nine have to vote.
Chauntelle Eckhaus, committee member and chairwoman of Calais School Board, said that they may as well disband at this point, because there is no hope for a vote to take place.
“We started this out in good faith,” she said. “That faith has been broken. This has not been the committee that we said we would be.”
Some members went so far to say that the Berlin members have violated a breach of trust.
“We can’t decide anything because we can’t get 11 voting members here,” said Committee Chairman Stephen Looke.
Eckhaus stated that she didn’t think that the schools in the districts would even quality for alternatives. She said if that is the case, then the state would impose what they want upon the schools in question.
When the public had the opportunity to speak, Susan Clark of Middlesex suggested a hiatus so that people interested in alternatives could learn more about it, and so that board members could hash out some of the details of alternatives. Some of the committee members also expressed that they would like to be better educated about alternatives so that they can have an idea of what will happen if the merger does not go through.
Ginny Burley of East Montpelier said that she hadn’t heard the words “kids” or “children” mentioned once in recent meetings regarding the Act 46 merger.
Looke said he was furious with the situation.
“We don’t know where we stand,” he said. “And, to short-circuit a process before it can reach its end is wrong, fundamentally wrong. Fundamentally, I thought we had 11 people who agreed to participate. This letter short-circuits that.”
Looke tried to get an answer from the committee about how to move forward: disband or continue to try and get a vote to the public. No conclusion could be met, and at that point Looke stepped down as chairman. He said that he failed to lead the committee to a good place. He did not resign from the committee.
Before the meeting adjourned, the committee decided to hold at least one more meeting. There will likely be a warning of an action item, but it has not been decided whether or not that be a disbandment or a vote on Act 46.
Minutes from the meeting will soon be posted at: www.wcsu32.org
gina.tron @timesargus.com
***
# posted by Corinne's blog of Berlin and area happenings @ 7:15 PM 
