Around Town, June 14
Congratulations to Madison Tieso of Charlotte who earned placement on the Castleton University Dean’s List for the 2017 spring semester. Madison met the requirements of full-time student status and maintaining a grade point average of 3.5 or higher.
Congratulations to the following students at Rice Memorial High School from Charlotte who earned awards for the 2016/2017 school year. Underclassmen: Cooper Harvey, Governor’s Institute on Environmental Science & Technology Award; and Andrew Slauterbeck, Junior John Donohue Award for Growth and Achievement and the Saint Michael’s College Book Award. Graduates: Anna Schibli, Vermont Principals Association Scholar-Athlete Award; Caroline Breen, Vermont Principals Association Scholar-Athlete Award; Emma Hudziak, Vermont Principals Association Scholar-Athlete Award; and Saige Alpeter, Vermont Principals Association Scholar-Athlete Award.
Congratulations to Chase Weaver of Charlotte who graduated from Clarkson University, Potsdam, N.Y., earning a bachelor of science degree with great distinction in civil engineering.
Congratulations to the following Charlotters who earned undergraduate degrees from the University of Vermont this year: Nathaniel Bauman, B.A. in history; Gabriel Bosen, B.S. in natural resources; Benjamin Comai, B.S. magna cum laude in environmental studies; Nicholas Ferrentino, B.S. in business administration; Meia Freese, B.A. in psychological science; Jessica Hella, B.A. in English; Silas Hill, B.S. in mechanical engineering; Tylor Mayfield, B.A. in computer science; Lindsey Mick, B.A. summa cum laude in history; Christopher Moran, B.S. in business administration; Ezra Mount-Finette, B.S. in a self-designed major; Bradley Ohlson, B.S. in music education; Elizabeth Richards, B.S. cum laude in civil engineering; Ashley Strong, B.A. in political science; Jamieson Thayer, B.A. in political science; Kyla Williamson, B.A. in mathematics.
Congratulations to the following Charlotters who earned Dean’s List honors at the University of Vermont for the 2017 spring semester: Abigail Postlewaite, Addison Zinner, Benjamin Recchia, Bradley Ohlson, Brooks Jordan, Jasper White-Hansen, Lindsey Mick, Maeve Higgins, Mi Mucklow, Sophie Judge, Stephen Donahue, William Sudbay.
Congratulations to Elaine Ittleman whose abstract landscape art work will be on display through June 25 in the Jackson Gallery of the Town Hall Theater, Middlebury.
Congratulations to CVU senior Carly Alpert from Charlotte who earned the title of second-place winner in the Vermont Real Entrepreneurship Video Pitch contest for her creation of “The Flow.” Carly was chosen because of her “innovative and viable idea of starting a food boat business on Lake Champlain.” This year’s judges were impressed also by the way she presented her “pitch” with “knowledge, poise and professionalism.”
Congratulations to the incoming new staff at Charlotte Central School for the 2017/2018 school year. Matt Kent will replace Robyn Davis as a physical education teacher and Katie Duprat will replace Cindy Schnell as school nurse.
Town Bite
Register your dog (s) now
No pun intended, this bite is a request to register your dog/dogs now if you have not done so already. Town Clerk Mary Mead wrote in Front Page Forum that dogs were to have been licensed by April 1. She then said some stragglers have been reported, and she has a list of their owners. She apologizes if there are names on the list that should not be there. She says she received several phone messages from people who said they no longer had their dogs but did not leave their names. Mary asks that they call her back. Fees are $11 for spayed or neutered dogs and $17 for intact males and females.
Regional Bites
Seven Days asks whether Vermont Public Radio is fulfilling its responsibility
In his column for Seven Days (May 31), John Walters asks whether another Vermont news medium, Vermont Public Radio (VPR), is producing the type and quality of news it should be, given what he feels is a hefty budget—nearly $9 million in 2016. He compares it to New Hampshire Public Radio that spent about one and a half million dollars less ($7.3 million) last year. He speaks at length with VPR’s CEO, Robin Turnau of Charlotte. She feels VPR has grown rapidly and dramatically to serve its audience well, and that, she says, has taken a good deal of fund raising. She is quoted as saying, “It takes money to raise money.” Only about one quarter of the revenue comes from pledge drives. The rest comes through major donors, corporate underwriters and 13,000 monthly donations. That also takes time to manage it, Walters says.
Walters suggests that much of what comes across the waves is no longer in a standard news format. It is what he terms “lifestyle-y programming,” and he feels that perhaps the balance may be slightly tipped in terms of more “lighter fare.” Robin, on the other hand, feels that, in fact, they do “a lot of hard news, but we do it in a different way.” And she does believe that they will need to invest in more investigative journalism as the station moves forward. It seems that part of the reason the question arises is that VPR holds a good deal of influence with its audience, and Walters leaves the piece with the question of whether it is fulfilling its responsibility at the price it pays.
To make it personal or not?
Charlotte and Washington, D.C. attorney Brady Toensing, who also happens to be vice chair of the Vermont Republican Party, has entered the debate about making personal emails of state employees open to the public. The debate had a national bearing during the presidential election when Hilary Clinton’s private email account became a point of controversy over what some felt was political content. Toensing has appealed a state ruling that the attorney general’s office need not ask state employees whether their personal email accounts contain any “responsive public records,” according to a June 8 Burlington Free Press article. The Vermont Press Association joined Brady in his appeal.