MARCHERS RAISE A RUCKUS ABOUT RAILROAD’S PLANS IN SHELBURNE
MAY. 2, 2016, 3:40 PM BY PHOEBE SHEEHAN
Protesters march through Shelburne on Sunday to decry the planned construction of a road salt storage facility near the LaPlatte River in town. Photo by Phoebe Sheehan/VTDigger
SHELBURNE — Marchers banged pots and pans and chanted, “Environment, yes! Pre-emption, no!” in a protest Sunday against plans to build a road salt storage facility near the LaPlatte River.
The “Reckless Rail Rally” began at the Shelburne Community School, then the line of several dozen people moved down Harbor Road toward the Town Hall.
Vermont Railway and Barrett Trucking want to build the facility on a 32-acre parcel the railroad owns behind Harbor Industries to replace a salt shed on Flynn Avenue in Burlington. City Market intends to build a grocery store on the Burlington site.
Vermont Railway, a subsidiary of Vermont Rail System, also plans to build a fueling station, an access road, offices and parking on the Shelburne property.
The town and the railroad are in a legal battle over whether the project should be subject to state and local environmental and zoning review. That case is slated for hearings this week before a federal judge, who is expected to decide whether, and to what extent, those regulations are pre-empted by federal laws placing regulatory authority for railroads with the Surface Transportation Board.
In a Feb. 2 letter to the town, Vermont Rail System owner David Wulfson said the project will still get a thorough environmental review by federal officials. He has said he hopes to start construction this spring.
Protesters at the rally voiced their frustration that the railroad has already cleared trees from 18 acres at the project site near the LaPlatte River.
From left, Lydia Clemens, Shelburne Selectboard Chairman Gary von Stange and Dave Connery applaud at the rally Sunday. Photo by Phoebe Sheehan/VTDigger
Dave Connery, a Shelburne resident and member of the group Vermont United, which helped organize the rally, spoke to the crowd. “We’re gathered here to talk about Shelburne, about the environment, about pre-emption, about Act 250, about the LaPlatte River and how it was great that the eagles came back and we want to keep seeing them,” he said.
The other groups behind the rally were Citizens for Responsible Railroads and the Toxics Action Center.
Gary von Stange, chairman of the Selectboard, said he just wants a level playing field and called for Vermont Railway and Barrett Trucking to go before the Act 250 panel that administers Vermont’s land use law. “The town’s goal is not to stop this project. Its goal is simply to have this project abide by the same rules as every other project,” von Stange said.
In an interview Monday, Selden Houghton, intermodal fleet manager for Vermont Rail System, said the company has to go through some federal review, including for a construction stormwater permit and an operational stormwater permit.
“We remain committed to this project, and it will be built according to all applicable laws and regulations. We look forward to how it’s going to benefit our Vermont community as a whole,” Houghton said.
Road salt is shipped by rail and transferred to trucks for distribution to municipal customers. “Right now our salt storage capacity is limited and we only have enough salt that we can bring in during the summer months to get us through the first part of the winter,” Houghton said.
In his letter, Wulfson said the relocation of the salt facility will be better for the environment and keep the highways safer by reducing truck traffic and keeping large trucks from going through residential streets, because the new site would have direct access to Route 7.
Shelburne residents Eva Espenshade, left, and Lisa Espenshade hold signs during the rally Sunday. Photo by Phoebe Sheehan/VTDigger
Shelburne resident Lisa Espenshade expressed concern over where the construction would go if it weren’t in Shelburne. “That accusation, ‘You just don’t want it here,’ that’s very effective to stop everyone from saying anything at any time. So it’s important to be thoughtful about this,” Espenshade said.
Her daughter, Eva Espenshade, said she was happy with the turnout of young adults at the rally. “I think a big problem, something that really discourages teenagers, kids or young adults from participating in this sort of activism, is the language they use. It’s very complex and it’s very easy to get embarrassed because you don’t know what this means,” Eva Espenshade said. She said the organizers did a good job of making the issue understandable.
Lydia Clemens, a member of Citizens for Responsible Railroads, told the crowd that she used to be nostalgic for the railroad of her childhood. “The romance of the trains of that era is gone. We’re in a new era, an ugly era, the era of big rail,” Clemens said.
Charlotte resident Emma Burrous said hearing Clemens’ speech at the rally raised even more concerns for her. “After hearing today, the railways in general need an incredible amount of regulation,” Burrous said.
“It’s a very complicated issue, and it’s one that needs to really slow down and then come under a tremendous amount of oversight,” Burrous added. “The transparency issue is huge.”
WINOOSKI FIRE CHIEF RESIGNS AFTER MISCONDUCT ALLEGATIONS
APR. 21, 2016, 1:53 PM BY PHOEBE SHEEHAN
After being placed on administrative leave amid allegations of inappropriate behavior, Winooski Fire Chief David Bergeron resigned Monday.
Bergeron, 65, has worked with the Fire Department for 43 years and filled the chief’s role for the past 26 years, said his lawyer Bill Norful. Bergeron also worked as building inspector, according to the city of Winooski’s news release issued Monday.
Bergeron has been on paid administrative leave since March 22, and his resignation will become effective May 21, according to the release.
“The resignation was mutual,” said Norful. “He’s enjoyed the city work very much.”
Norful declined to comment further.
At the time of the initial investigation on March 22, City Manager Katherine Decarreau declined to comment but provided a redacted letter sent to Bergeron notifying him of the city’s investigation. The redaction was to protect the privacy of another city worker, Decarreau said. The letter cited “inappropriate conduct” and “printing inappropriate materials on city property” on March 17.
Decarreau declined to comment on Bergeron’s resignation Wednesday.
Bergeron’s responsibilities as fire chief are being carried out by acting Fire Chief John Spittle, while the code enforcement office has assumed responsibility for his building inspection responsibilities, the release stated.
TWO DEATHS, CLOSE CALL BLAMED ON HEROIN IN A MONTH IN BURLINGTON
APR. 19, 2016, 4:58 PM BY PHOEBE SHEEHAN
BURLINGTON — Police reported three heroin-related incidents in the past month, including two overdose deaths.
Rup Paudel, 28, of Burlington, died at a Luck Street apartment April 13, according to a recent news release.
Paudel was found unresponsive after consuming what police believe was heroin, but his usage did not indicate an intentional overdose, according to officials. Investigators are waiting on the toxicology results to determine the actual drug ingested. They say he may have consumed another drug as well.
Paudel’s is at least the second death apparently caused by a heroin overdose in three weeks, according to a separate statement Thursday by Mayor Miro Weinberger.
Investigators are also awaiting the toxicology results in the other death. Leslie Johnson, 50, was found dead in her North Street apartment March 22.
On April 8, Burlington police and UVM Rescue were called to a South Willard Street apartment for a 25-year-old woman who was suffering from a suspected heroin overdose. Officers administered two doses of naloxone to reverse the woman’s symptoms, according to police.
She was hospitalized and made a full recovery, according to officials. Police said investigation confirmed she overdosed on heroin.
Weinberger cited the incidents as further evidence of the need for an urgent and expanded response to the opiate problem.
“I thank the City Council for their approval … of the CommunityStat municipal effort to coordinate a regional approach to this terrible crisis and the many people who have contributed to the recent reductions of the Chittenden County treatment waiting list and other newly instituted strategies,” Weinberger said in his statement.
CommunityStat is a data-driven initiative championed by Burlington Police Chief Brandon del Pozo that is intended to improve the city’s response to heroin use by better tracking outcomes.
UVM teacher translates Dante’s “Divine Comedy”
Reading Dante Alighieri’s “Divine Comedy” is an upward spiritual journey, not only for the story’s narrator, but also for the reader, who may be surprised to discover that the 700-year-old poem contains practical advice for self-improvement.
“Dante understands the great struggles of real life,” said UVM professor Tom Simone.
“He talks about serious human challenges and potential more than almost any other writer.”
Simone held a reading of his translation of “Purgatorio,” the second book in Dante’s trilogy, at Phoenix Books March 13.
German professor Wolfgang Mieder commented on his appreciation of Simone and Phoenix Books for sponsoring this event.
“It is good to see that town and gown get together so that the important work going on at the university is also shared with the Burlington community,” Mieder said.
Junior Cleo Rohn attended the reading and noted Simone’s passion for Dante. “He made a strong case for why Dante’s writings are not only significant in the contemporary world, but needed here,” Rohn said.
Simone said he has been translating the “Divine Comedy” since 2005. The poem, completed as a trilogy, was revolutionary in its time for being written in Italian rather than Latin, Simone said.
Simone, who is half-Italian, has since published his translations of “Inferno” and “Purgatorio,” the first two sections of the “Divine Comedy,” and is on sabbatical this semester to work on the final book, “Paradiso,” he said.
“I can’t emphasize enough what a heroic endeavor this is, the translation of the entire ‘Divine Comedy’” English professor Huck Gutman said.
Although the “Divine Comedy” already has multiple translations, Simone said he wanted to provide a translation of Dante’s work for modern times.
“Important works of the past need to be retranslated into the language of the current world,” he said. “I trust Dante and want to be as close to him as I can, as accurate as I can, but also understandable to the modern reader.”
Simone’s translations of “Inferno” and “Purgatorio” consist of an introduction at the beginning of each canto as well as annotations at the foot of the page.
Mieder said it was a good decision for Simone to place his explanatory notes at the bottom of the pages of his translation so that readers could easily access them.
“‘Inferno’ is about human suffering – human drama wrapped up in the self,” Simone said. Simone also said that human suffering is a condition Dante closely related to, having been exiled under threat of death from his native city of Florence for his political beliefs.
Human nature has changed little since Dante’s time, which makes the “Divine Comedy” that much more accessible for modern readers Simone said. Simone believes we are not distant from human unhappiness in the world.
“If you want to find ‘Inferno’ go down to Church Street or the old North End.” Simone said. “Go look where drug dealing, or violence or anger is let loose in our community.”
But human suffering is only part of the story, and, as Simone is famous for saying, “only reading ‘Inferno’ is to remain in ‘Inferno.’”
“Dante sees the potential of the human soul, sees possibilities of addressing unhappiness and wants a sense of curing the soul and allowing the souls to commune with one another and rise to a higher level of understanding and shared love,” Simone said.
“If you only read ‘Inferno’ you don’t realize the ‘Divine Comedy’ is about love.” In “Purgatorio,” Simone said Dante “addresses how might we move from obsessive or destructive behavior to a more positive sense of who we are.”
Simone, who has been teaching at UVM for over 30 years, said he continues to find new ways to appreciate Dante’s writing and to engage at a deeper level with the meaning of his work.
Simone’s reading also consisted of a presentation and question and answer at the end. “He combined his assessment of Dante with wonderful images of the poet-from his Italian contemporaries up through twentieth century artists like Salvador Dali-as a way to enable everyone who attended to ‘see’ Dante as well as hear him” Gutman said.
“Great writers are both engaging but also have many different levels, different aspects that as you come back to them or reread them or research a different one aspect of them you learn a good deal more,” Simone said.
Simone said the universal nature of Dante’s themes will ensure that his work flourishes in modern times.
“Dante understands the great struggles of real life, and I hope that students can get past it being difficult or old and unfamiliar to get echoes of Dante’s engagement of what he sees as real life, both its unhappiness but also its potential,” Simone said.
Simone teaches a seminar on the “Divine Comedy” every other fall semester.