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News | May 1, 2025

Updates: Mohsen Mahdawi freed from federal detention

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News | May 1, 2025

Settlement proposed in Woodstock Foundation case

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News | May 1, 2025

Woodstock Selectboard okays water company purchase, short-term rental software, and flower baskets

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News | May 1, 2025

Two WUHS musicians gain entry to prestigious All-State Music Festival

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Features | May 1, 2025

Journalist and author Peter Canellos will talk about his book, ‘The Great Dissenter,’ and the current Supreme Court at Bookstock

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News | May 1, 2025

Local fire departments secure critical FEMA grant for new air packs

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Hartford
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Girls Tennis 4/30
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Boys Tennis 04/30

News

Updates: Mohsen Mahdawi freed from federal detention

By Tom Ayres, Senior Staff Writer

Local resident and Palestinian rights activist Mohsen Mahdawi was freed from federal detention on his own recognizance Wednesday morning by a federal judge at the United States District Court in Burlington.

Madhawi, a 34-year-old Columbia University student and green card holder, is a legal permanent resident of the U.S. He was arrested by federal immigration agents in Colchester on May 14 when he appeared for what he’d believed would be a final interview in his quest to become a naturalized citizen. Mahdawi has lived and worked in the Upper Valley, predominantly in Whiter River Junction, except when pursuing college studies at Lehigh and Columbia, for the past decade.

U.S. authorities on Wednesday sought to keep Madhawi imprisoned at the Northwest State Correctional Facility in St. Albans, where he had been detained since his arrest following a failed attempt to whisk the Palestinian rights advocate away to a prison 1,600 miles away in Oakdale, La., where other student activists are currently being detained without charges while awaiting deportation proceedings in a U.S. Immigration Court. Mahdawi and his attorneys said Wednesday that the federal agents who arrested him on April 14 already had a plane ticket on hand in his name but arrived at Burlington International Airport nine minutes too late for the scheduled commercial flight. In the meantime, U.S. District Court Judge William Sessions issued a stay ordering the government to keep Mahdawi in Vermont for 90 days – an order that was extended by Sessions’ fellow federal judge, Geoffrey Crawford, at an initial status hearing in the case on Wednesday, April 23.

It was Crawford who, at the release hearing for Mahdawi on Wednesday morning, delivered a blistering commentary on the Vermont resident’s continued incarceration, rejecting arguments by Acting U.S. Attorney for Vermont Michael Drescher that Mahdawi should remain in federal custody. “Two weeks of detention now constitutes great harm. Even another day of detention is not to be tolerated,” Crawford told the packed courtroom, with many of its 60 seats occupied by friends, supporters, and fellow faith community members of Mahdawi’s from Woodstock and surrounding Upper Valley communities.

Crawford released Mahdawi on his own recognizance, declaring that he did not consider the activist to be a flight risk or a threat to the community. The only condition imposed on the release is that Mahdawi remain in his Vermont home except for potential travel to New York and classes at Columbia University, from which he expects to graduate later this month with a degree in philosophy. Mahdawi, Crawford noted, has already been admitted to a graduate program at Columbia commencing this fall.

Referencing an argument made before the court by Mahdawi attorney Matthew Melewski, Crawford likened the government action against the native of a Palestinian refugee camp on the West Bank to the Palmer immigration raids of the 1920s, when federal agents under the orders of President Herbert Hoover rounded up thousands of alleged “foreign radicals and anarchists,” and to the McCarthy era of the 1950s, with its fervent Communist “witch hunts.” The Hoover and McCarthy era clampdowns were “not chapters that we look back on with much pride,” the federal judge opined. “This is not the first time the nation has seen chilling action by the government intended to shut down debate,” he said.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, representing the Trump Administration, has argued that Mahdawi’s activism and continued presence in the U.S. could “possibly undermine” U.S. peace talks in the Middle East. Rubio has also contended that federal immigration authorities have a right to deport those in the U.S. – both legal permanent residents with green cards and student visa holders – if they  have engaged in “activities counter to the foreign policy interests of the country.”

Exiting federal courthouse upon his release, Mahdawi smiled broadly and flashed a peace sign to a jubilant crowd of approximately 250 people, an estimated 50 to 70 of whom journeyed to the district court site in Burlington from the Upper Valley to support their friend, neighbor and colleague, Windsor County State Sen. Becca White noted. Addressing the joyous throng and a bevy of local, state, and national media, Mahdawi was unreserved, especially when it came to thanking the people of Vermont for their support and encouragement.

I want to thank everyone who held the sign, who raised their voice, who wrote a post, who contacted their representatives, who sang a song, who made a prayer,” Mahdawi said. “I also want to thank my people in Vermont. Vermonters, I love you. I’ve always learned that home is where you feel safe and loved, and that those who surround you, they are your people, and you are my people,” the Palestinian man and 10-year resident of the local area offered, his voice ringing with passion.

“If you don’t know the history of Vermont, you should look up the Underground Railroad. If you don’t know Vermont, you need to search the history of the civil rights and the anti-Vietnam War movements to understand what Vermont is. In Vermont, we have the people and the representatives, Democrats and Republicans, spiritual people and intellectual people who all come together to say, ‘The people united will never be defeated.’”

The crowd echoed that time-tested chant of sociopolitical activists, which reverberated resoundingly off the walls of the federal courthouse. They cheered even more vociferously moments later, responding with shouts of “No fear!” when Mahdawi defiantly addressed those who brought the case officially entitled “Mahdawi vs. Trump” before the federal court.

“I’m saying it clear and loud to President Trump and his cabinet,” Mohsen Mahdawi intoned. “I am not afraid of you.”

For further updates, please check back at thevermontstandard.com.

Settlement proposed in Woodstock Foundation case

The Woodstock Foundation Board of Directors have agreed to a proposed out-of-court settlement with the former longtime chair and vice chair of the board in their lawsuit over claims they were improperly removed and that the Woodstock Inn & Resort and the Billings Farm & Museum had been mismanaged.

 The Foundation Board secretly began to oust both Chair Ellen R.C. Pomeroy and Vice Chair Salvatore Iannuzzi in November 2022, after the two leaders attempted to investigate and address multiple credible employee complaints about mismanagement and malfeasance, records show.

The removals of both Pomeroy and Iannuzzi were completed in what has been called an 11-minute “annual meeting” orchestrated by the defendants on Jan. 27, 2023, according to the plaintiffs’ local lead lawyer, Michael Hanley of White River Junction.

Pomeroy and Iannuzzi filed an initial 31-page blockbuster lawsuit on behalf of themselves and to protect the Woodstock Foundation and the WRC Holdings LLC. Pomeroy and Iannuzzi amended their initial eight-count lawsuit at least three times after uncovering new claims, new evidence, and new defendants as the case unfolded, records show. 

A counterclaim was filed on behalf of the defendants named in the lawsuit: James S. Sligar, the current chair, David M. Simmons, the president, Michael D. Nolan, John T. Hallowell, Douglas R. Horne, Williams S. Moody, Gail Waddell, and Angela K. Ardolic.

The counterclaim maintained Pomeroy and Iannuzzi had breached their fiduciary responsibilities and had overstepped their authority as longtime board leaders. 

The defendants also filed a general denial in court for the various misconduct claims in the lawsuit. Both sides, without explanation, later agreed to drop Moody, who worked for the Rockefeller Brothers Fund for 40 years, as a defendant.

The two sides, who have not agreed on much during the 2 ½-year legal fight, have now filed in Vermont Superior Court in Woodstock a proposed five-page settlement agreement with multiple signature pages for all the parties and lawyers on the case.

The presiding judge must approve the derivative claims and ensure all shareholders and members are properly notified before the court will consider closing the case, according to the filing.

Pomeroy and Iannuzzi appear to have prevailed on several of the key claims they had sought in their long-stalled lawsuit, according to details included in the proposed settlement. 

Judge H. Dickson Corbett will need to sign off on the proposed agreement in the coming weeks after a full legal review.

 For our full story on the proposed settlement, please see our May 1 edition of the Vermont Standard. 

Swanson files $5 million lawsuit

Former Woodstock Police Chief Joseph Swanson has filed a $5 million civil lawsuit against Municipal Manager Eric Duffy and five Village Trustees over his recent demotion and removal as head of the police department.

Seton McIlroy, the board chair, Jeffrey Kahn, the vice chair, and fellow trustees Brenda Blakeman, Lisa Lawlor, and Frank Horneck are named, like Duffy, as individual defendants in the case filed this week in Vermont Superior Court in Woodstock.

The Village and Town of Woodstock, along with Burgess Loss Prevention Associates of Lebanon, N.H., also are named as defendants in the wide-ranging 31-page lawsuit.

The lawsuit maintains the defendants were involved in the “extraordinary unlawful efforts” to remove Swanson as the police chief and to “demote” him to patrol officer.

The actions of the defendants “damaged the professional reputation of Plaintiff and caused him to suffer extreme emotional distress and economic damages,” the lawsuit notes. It also claims the defendants caused Swanson “to suffer profound economic losses, psychological distress, and irreparable damage to his reputation.”

The Vermont Standard had reported last week that Swanson’s defense lawyer stated a civil lawsuit would be forthcoming after the Village Trustees secretly ruled they would uphold Duffy’s plan to demote Swanson.

“The trustee’s written findings contain inflammatory, malicious, insulting attacks on Chief Swanson’s character consistent with the bad faith motives of Mr. Duffy and the Village in their extraordinary unlawful attempts to remove Chief Swanson from his contracted position,” his attorney, Linda E. Fraas, had told the Vermont Standard last week.

She promised the causes of action in the civil lawsuit would include “breach of contract, wrongful discharge, intentional infliction of emotional distress, discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, and tortious interference with contract.” 

The lawsuit followed through on her promise to seek damages. It requests a judgment of $5 million “inclusive of compensatory and punitive damages against the defendants to provide full, fair and complete compensation for all past and future losses.”

A jury trial is also requested.

The lawsuit was filed this week by Fraas of Manchester, N.H., who represented Swanson during his 14 ½-hour demotion hearing that started on Wednesday, March 19, and ran into the early morning hours of Thursday, March 20.

Various attempts to reach all the defendants for a comment about the civil lawsuit were unsuccessful. Duffy said in an email Tuesday afternoon he was busy with the upcoming closing on the water system and might not have time to respond. 

McIlroy, Kahn, Blakeman, Lawlor, and Horneck opted not to offer a comment to the Vermont Standard about the claims filed against them.

For more on this, please see our May 1 edition of the Vermont Standard. 

Woodstock Selectboard okays water company purchase, short-term rental software, and flower baskets

The Woodstock Town Selectboard unanimously okayed the long-awaited town purchase of the privately held Woodstock Aqueduct Company utility at a special board meeting on Monday afternoon.

Selectboard Chair Ray Bourgeois and Municipal Manager Eric Duffy were authorized to execute all documents on behalf of the town. The closing papers were slated to be signed by all parties to the purchase and sale of the water utility at Woodstock Town Hall on Wednesday afternoon, shortly after this issue of the Standard went to press.

In other action, the selectboard opted to enter a one-year contract with Deckard Technologies of San Diego for use of its specialized software platform to monitor and manage short-term rental units (STRs) in the community. Emily Collins, the STR officer for Woodstock Village, said the Deckard program was found to be much more user-friendly for both the town staff and applicants for STR permits than the software presently used by the town.

Collins did not state the total cost of the Deckard software usage for the next year, but reinforced that it is substantially less costly than the current platform used for STR management by the town and village. The Village Trustees are expected to approve the software acquisition at their next regular meeting.

The Town Selectboard also voted unanimously to reconsider a previous motion regarding funding for the long-standing flower basket and holiday lighting programs overseen by the Woodstock Area Chamber of Commerce and intended to beautify the Village core during the summer and Thanksgiving-to-New Year seasons. For one more year, both those programs will be funded fully with grant funding from the Woodstock Economic Development Commission’s grant coffers. 

For more on this, please see our May 1 edition of the Vermont Standard. 

Two WUHS musicians gain entry to prestigious All-State Music Festival

Two students from Woodstock Union High School (WUHS) have garnered entry into the prestigious Vermont All-State Music Festival, which will take place Wednesday through Saturday, May 7-10, at Essex High School.

This year marks the 98th anniversary of the juried music festival, which got underway in Burlington in the 1920s and has moved to high schools around the state since the 1980s. The festival, which brings together the finest high school musicians from throughout Vermont, gives young music achievers the opportunity to rehearse and perform in a concert band, orchestra, jazz group, modern band, chorus, or a cappella ensemble. The festival is coordinated annually by the Vermont Music Educators Association (VMEA).

Lia Gugliotta, 17, a WUHS junior from Pittsfield, and Satori Rossi, 16, a school-choice sophomore from South Royalton and Cabot, each gained admission to the celebrated high school music festival through a rigorous, statewide audition process in January. Gugliotta is an alto saxophonist who will be performing in the Concert Band category at the May festival, while multi-instrumentalist Rossi will hold down the rhythm section on his signature instrument, the electric bass, in the Modern Band section of the All-State gathering. The pair are the first WUHS musicians to gain entry to the audition-only Vermont All-State Musical Festival since 2003. As an added perk of the festival, Gugliotta, Rossi, and their fellow student musicians will work under the tutelage of some of the finest conductors in the United States.

For more on this, please see our May 1 edition of the Vermont Standard. 

Local fire departments secure critical FEMA grant for new air packs

In a significant win for local emergency services, the Plymouth and Bridgewater Fire Departments have successfully secured a Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) grant to replace their outdated self-contained breathing apparatus (SCBA), commonly known as air packs.

The regional Assistance to Firefighters Grant (AFG) was awarded in the summer of 2024, following an application submitted in late 2023. For Bridgewater, this meant receiving 14 new air packs with spare bottles and a rapid intervention pack, while Plymouth received 10 air packs and additional bottles.

This collaboration was strategic. As Fran Kissell of Plymouth explained, “The reason that we had Bridgewater sign on with us [was] because we needed a new compressor, an air compressor to fill the SCBA bottles, and a fill station. And the only way we could get those through the grant was to do a regional grant with another fire department.”

The application required extensive documentation from both departments. “We had to combine Bridgewater and Plymouth information together, such as fire equipment, personnel, population, square miles, infrastructure,” Kissell explained. “All that stuff had to go into the grant application. Then you also had to have a really good write-up [about] why you think you need this equipment.”

The grant’s timing was critical, as both departments were facing equipment that had exceeded its service life. “They have about a 15 to 20 year life on them, and our packs were beyond that 20-year life,” Maxham said.

Shortly after receiving the equipment in late February, they were notified that funding might not be available due to federal program scrutiny. Bridgewater and Plymouth  had decided to put the packs in service regardless, prepared to use their reserve fund if necessary.

Josh Maxham, Deputy Chief at Bridgewater Fire Department said, “This was roughly going to cost us around $200,000 that would have come out of our pocket.”  Fortunately, the funding came through last week.

The two departments are already collaborating on their next grant application. “We’re going to be working on and submitting another joint grant with Bridgewater for all new radios,” said Kissell. 

For more on this, please see our May 1 edition of the Vermont Standard.

Features

Journalist and author Peter Canellos will talk about his book, ‘The Great Dissenter,’ and the current Supreme Court at Bookstock

Author, legal scholar, and current managing editor for Enterprise at POLITICO, Peter Canellos, will be attending Bookstock this May to read from his latest book, “The Great Dissenter: The Story of John Marshall Harlan, America’s Judicial Hero.” He will also be participating in a discussion with research assistant and colleague Adam Willis regarding the history and present influence of the Supreme Court, as well as his current writing project: an exploration of the conservative legal movement, structured through the life and decisions of Samuel Alito. 

After graduating in the 1980s from Columbia Law School, Canellos spent most of his career writing and editing for various publications. As a Boston-native, he dedicated several years to the Boston Globe before moving on to his current role at POLITICO. Canellos was also the editor of the New York Times Bestseller “Last Lion: The Fall and Rise of Ted Kennedy,” before publishing his own book, “The Great Dissenter,” in 2021.

Spending the last ten years at POLITICO, Canellos says he continued to reflect on a career that provided him with the opportunity to see news media up close. “I’ve gained a seasoned and nuanced perspective on politics, and the seismic shifts that can permeate from our three branches of government,” he explained. 

Canellos’ book follows the life and legacy of Justice John Marshall Harlan — a Kentucky native who stood against all the forces of Gilded Age America to fight for civil rights and economic freedoms. “With the cloud of the Civil War descending, and the stakes for human life and liberty being so high, it brought a kind of rigor to Harlan’s opinions and demolished certain personal prejudices and ideological precepts,” Canellos explained. “His commitment to the future and sustainability of our country, along with his dedication to equality, were just a few things I came to greatly admire about Justice Harlan and why I believe he is one of the most influential dissenters in Supreme Court history.”

While Canellos’ Bookstock event will begin with a reading from “The Great Dissenter,” it will be followed by a discussion of his upcoming project on the conservative shift in the Supreme Court, as well as an in-depth look at Justice Samuel Alito.

“There are some tremendous commonalities in these two stories — Harlan and Alito — one being the centrality of the Supreme Court. When you look back at Harlan’s era, the two biggest things happening in the country were segregation and the broken promise of Reconstruction. When you asked what the key determinants of that time were, the answer always came back to the Supreme Court’s rulings.” 

As tensions continue to rise in the wake of mass deportations and inflated executive power, some can feel hopeless or powerless. To this, Canellos said, “I would tell people to not completely give up on the Supreme Court as a potential check on the presidency. That is one thing Harlan has taught me — people can always surprise you and rise above preconceived notions. A Southerner who grew up in Civil War time would go on to become one of the most zealous advocates for equality and freedom. Harlan completely confounded society’s expectations, and we’ve seen this happen all throughout Supreme Court history. Some people might say that the confirmation process has become so politicized that it’s much less likely to happen right now, and to that I could agree. But I don’t think that means we won’t see a return to the status and virtue Harlan brought to the bench. Only time will tell, but I would urge people to not lose hope just yet.” 

Canellos will be discussing this relevant and timely material in even greater detail at his Bookstock event on Saturday, May 17, from 12-1:30 p.m. at the Norman Williams Public Library. Entry to the event is free; more information can be found on Bookstock’s https://bookstockvt.org/2025-schedule/.

For more on this, please see our May 1 edition of the Vermont Standard. 

Our community mourns the passing of Pope Francis

In the early hours of Monday, April 21, Pope Francis passed away at the age of 88, just hours after making his final public appearance on Easter Sunday. Known for being a kind, welcoming, and liberal-minded Pope, the world deeply mourned his death. The weight of his passing reached even the small communities in our area. 

Hartland resident Tom Sanders told the Standard, “His impact was profound. Pope Francis made me feel accepted in the church, in the Catholic faith, perhaps for the first time. The world darkened on the day of his death.”

John MacGovern, Windsor resident and Catholic scholar, spoke to the Standard about Pope Francis’ impact on our community. “He seemed to have touched a lot of people who had been previously untouched by the message of Christ in the past,” MacGovern said. “Pope Francis emphasized an element of our faith that may have been overlooked previously by the church: the act of service. Pope Francis called us to serve in many ways — serving the poor, the helpless, the many. He was truly an extraordinary figure.” 

MacGovern continued, “Each Pope is different, bearing their own strengths and weaknesses. Pope Francis was Jesuit-trained, and I feel as though that made him very well-educated, very cerebral in his process. Sometimes that caused issues within the church, some people took his words the wrong way.” 

“I found that his Jesuit education lent to his mercy and understanding,” echoed Father Brian Cummings, a Vermont priest who was in Rome on the day of Pope Francis’ passing. “His training by no means placed him on an intellectual pedestal but actually did quite the opposite. This was a man who actively worked to be with the people, to smell like his flock.” 

Cummings spoke to the Standard at length on his experience being in the Pope’s presence during Easter Weekend, and feeling the sadness permeate throughout the Vatican when he passed. 

For the full story, please see our May 1 edition of the Vermont Standard.

Vermont author Kerstin Lange explores Germany's ‘Phantom Border’ in new book

When the Berlin Wall fell in November 1989, Kerstin Lange watched the historic moment on television from her living room in upstate New York, thousands of miles from her home in Germany.

Thirty-five years after that momentous event, Lange, a Vermont-based writer and journalist, has published “Phantom Border,” a book that explores the 1,400-kilometer (approximately 900 miles) border that divided East and West Germany throughout the Cold War.

At her April 17 presentation, Lange described how she used the former border as “a prism and a compass” for a journey by bicycle and on foot, investigating the human, societal, and ecological stories surrounding the former German borderland.

Lange’s exploration went far beyond the well-known Berlin Wall. While many have heard of the wall that divided Berlin, fewer are familiar with the longer border that cut through the German countryside and remained in place for 40 years.

A native of northern Germany,  Lange’s reconnection with this history began around 2007 when she heard a radio story about the former border becoming a nature preserve called the Green Belt. This ecological corridor emerged because of the border’s existence — the absence of intensive agriculture allowed rare plants and wildlife to thrive in areas where humans were restricted.

Her investigation took shape over several years as Lange conducted a segment-by-segment exploration of the former border, meeting former border guards, local residents, and activists. The project expanded when she received a writer’s residency near the border in 2021.

Lange’s initial ecological investigation evolved into something more complex as Lange discovered ongoing tensions between former East and West Germans.

A writer with an interdisciplinary background, Lange holds an M.A. in Anthropology and an M.S. from UVM’s Field Naturalist/Ecological Planning Program. Her experience working for the Green Mountain Club in 1995 first connected her to Vermont and deepened her interest in how landscapes tell stories.

Lange’s book draws parallels between polarization in present-day Germany and the United States.

Although Germany and the United States have different historical contexts, Lange sees similarities in how contemporary political divisions form. “There are historians who see what’s going on now partly as a sort of continuation of the Civil War,” she said, “just on a very different time scale.”

“Phantom Border” was published earlier this year by Ibidem Press. Lange will continue her book tour with additional appearances in the coming months.

For more on this, please see our April 24 edition of the Vermont Standard. 

Sports

Boys Lacrosse takes down Rutland in 6-4 victory

The Woodstock boys lacrosse team pulled out a 6-4 win against Rutland on Monday in a defensive battle that saw Woodstock mostly dominate the game for possession.

The Wasps went in with a 1-5 record, including a narrow loss against Rutland, just two weeks ago, on April 10. Monday’s game just about marks the halfway point in the season, a crucial time for the Wasps as they improve to 2-5, says Coach Brandon Little. “We’ve always been a second half of the season team,” says Little, “We get better as the season goes on.”

With eight games left in the regular season, the Wasps certainly have the runway to improve their record.

Junior Kyler Eaton had a good night, with two goals and one assist. Eaton believes the game was decided on defense. “It was a defensive battle, and I’m really proud of our defense for keeping control of it. We fought for those ground balls, and kept possession as much as possible.” 

While time of possession is not recorded, the Wasps did come out ahead on ground ball recoveries, with fourteen.

The boys’ next game will be against Stratton Mountain this Friday at 4 p.m., and it will be a chance for the Wasps to see if they can truly turn this season around.

For more on this, please see our May 1 edition of the Vermont Standard. 

Video Features

April 14 edition: Legislative update with State Rep. Charlie Kimbell

Obituaries

Charles A. Martin Jr.

Charles A. Martin Jr., 87, of Woodstock, passed away at his home on April 17, 2025. Born and raised in Woodstock, he was the son of the late Charles A. Martin Sr. and Ethel (Blanchard) Martin.

Charles was a 1957 graduate of Woodstock High School. Afterwards, he served his country honorably in the U.S. Army during the Berlin Wall crisis. After his military service, he went on to work at Miller Automotive, where he devoted 41 years of hard work, craftsmanship, and quiet dedication.

Charles was known for his deep connection to the land and took great pride in his large garden plot, which he tended with care and joy. Whether it was sharing fresh vegetables with family or simply spending time outdoors, his garden was one of his greatest passions.

He was predeceased by his siblings Lloyd Martin and Carolyn Martin, and is survived by his sister Marilyn (Martin) Kalanges. He also leaves behind beloved nieces and nephews: Judy (Martin) Lewis, Scott Martin, Deb Kalanges, Dawna (Kalanges) Renshaw, and Kevin Martin.

A private family gathering will be held in his memory. Those wishing to honor Charles are encouraged to plant something in his memory or make a donation to a local veterans’ organization.

An online guestbook can be found at https://www.cabotfh.com/.

Imants Vitols

Imants Vitols, a longtime resident of Woodstock, died peacefully at home on April 19, 2025. Imants was born March 12, 1948, in Munster, Germany, to his Latvian parents, Karlis and Ilze. He then immigrated with his family at age 2 to Rutland, Vermont, where he grew up and graduated from Rutland High School in 1966. He went on to attend the School of Pharmacy at the University of Connecticut, where he met his wife, Karen. After graduating in 1972 he returned to Rutland to work as a pharmacist. In 1973, he came to Woodstock to be the managing pharmacist at the Shire Apothecary. After purchasing the business, he continued to provide a “friendly drugstore” for the community until 2013, when he retired.

Over the years, he was involved with the Woodstock Chamber of Commerce and the first Pentangle Town Hall project. Once golf became his sport of choice, he was very involved with the Men’s Golf Association at the Woodstock Country Club. Besides golf, he enjoyed gardening and cooking.

Imants will be missed by his wife, Karen; son Karl, his wife Andrea, and their children Tovahn and Liba; daughter Emily, her husband Robert, and their children Ethel and Willibald. As well as all his extended family and friends. 

A funeral service will be held on May 3 at 3 p.m. at St James Episcopal Church in Woodstock. Reception to follow. 

In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to Ottauquechee Health Foundation or the Woodstock Community Food Shelf.

An online guestbook can be found at https://www.cabotfh.com/.

Jean E. Silva

Jean E. Silva, 82, died on Saturday, April 19, at the Jack Byrnes Center in Lebanon, N.H., surrounded by her family.

Jean was born on July 31, 1942, in Pawtucket, R.I., the daughter of Earnest E. and Barbara (Conway) Brown.

Jean will always be remembered for her impeccable style, her commitment to walking, and having the very best advice. 

Jean was always happiest when the sun was shining and she was outdoors. She loved walking every day and always looked for the hills rather than a way around them. She loved spending time with her family and it really didn’t matter doing what. She began skiing again in her 60s so she could ski with her grandchildren. She was always up for a hike to Lucy’s Lookout, up Mt. Tom, or just a four-mile loop around Woodstock. People would always stop us to say, “I saw your mom walking, she’s amazing!” 

Jean was fortunate to have a wonderful group of friends. Together, they would have day trips and lunches and all sorts of fun.

We couldn’t have had a better mom, grandmother, sister, or friend. We love you and will miss you so, so much. Say hi to Dad.

Jean is survived by her children, Robin Halik (Cliff), Jennifer Silva, and Christopher Silva, her siblings Barbara Roller and Kevin Brown, six grandchildren, and six nieces and nephews.

A memorial service was held on Saturday, April 26 at the South Woodstock Community Church.

Memorial donations can be made to the Jack Byrnes Hospice and Palliative Care Center, One Medical Drive, Lebanon, NH 03756.

An online guestbook can be found at https://www.cabotfh.com/.

Helena Allaire duPont Wright

Lana Wright of Chesapeake City, Md., passed away peacefully at home on April 23, 2025 at the age of 85. Lana was a “First Lady” in the equestrian world. She was an avid and extremely accomplished horsewoman growing up in a foxhunting family in Delaware. After graduating from Oldfields School her life revolved around horses. In 1964, in Tokyo, Japan she set a record as the first female to ride in Olympic Three-Day Eventing bringing home a team silver medal and in 1991 in Zwettl, Austria was a member of the first United States Pair Driving Team to win a gold medal at a World Driving Championship. 

Among her many equestrian accolades, in 2012 she was inducted into the United States Eventing Association Hall of Fame and in 2015 was awarded the United States Equestrian Federation Lifetime Achievement Award. The endurance challenge was one Lana was passionate about in both Eventing and Driving so it was a natural progression that her equestrian career continued to compete in Endurance taking her to the Pan American Endurance Championship in Winnipeg, Manitoba. Lana continued to enjoy foxhunting long after her competitive years. Lana touched countless lives sharing her love of horses, her knowledge, her horses and property inspiring and encouraging young equestrians through Pony Club. 

She was never happier than when taking her daughter and grandchildren on a picnic trail ride on horseback at Fair Hill where she devoted hours designing and building combined driving & endurance riding courses for Fair Hill International. A devoted mother and grandmother, Lana is survived by her daughter Lucy Dunne (Michael) of Reading, Vt.; grandchildren Wright Morris, Beale Dunne & Ridgely Dunne. She was predeceased by her parents Richard C. and Allaire duPont, brother Richard duPont, Jr., husband Dr. William Wright and daughter Beale Morris. 

A celebration of Lana’s life will be held on Thursday, May 1 at 11 a.m. at St. Augustine Church, 310 & Mitton Road, Chesapeake City, MD 21915. The burial will be held privately. A gathering will be held after the services. In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made payable to “Fair Hill International, Inc.,” and sent in care of R.T. Foard Funeral Home, P.A., P.O. Box 248 Rising Sun, MD 21911.

Roger Paul Trachier

It is with sadness that the family of Roger Paul Trachier of Hartland, announces his passing after 88 journeys around the sun. Roger succumbed to a fast-growing, very rare form of cancer on April 16, 2025, while being cared for by family at home.

When asked recently how he would sum up his life, Roger replied “coming and going.” That says it all… or does it? He was a man of few words — a very humble, quiet and shy person, unless discussing a topic that he really cared about — and he squeezed many activities into his time between coming into this world and quietly going out.

Roger was born on May 17, 1936, to Florice (Best) LaMountain and Earl LaMountain at Mary Hitchcock Memorial Hospital in Hanover, N.H. He was raised in Woodstock. When his mother married Maurice Trachier, who became Roger’s much-loved adoptive father, his name was legally changed from Roger Earl LaMountain to Roger Paul Trachier. Roger completed Woodstock High School in 1954, in the last class to graduate from that building. Not immune from some of the “devilish” pranks that boys sometimes get up to, Roger once put a cherry bomb onto Owen H’s car starter motor. It went off with a loud “bang,” a whistle, and lots of smoke, creating a memory that, when shared recently, still brought a laugh and a twinkle to his eyes. 

Finding the love of his life happened quickly: Roger met Clydene Richardson of Hartland during a double date arranged by his cousin Marilyn Best. They became engaged after a short courtship and married on Oct. 6, 1956, at the Brick Church in Hartland. That began a tight partnership which lasted for the rest of his life. Roger’s son, Gary, arrived in April 1959, and daughter Andrea was born in March 1963. Providing for his family was a responsibility Roger took very seriously.

Roger worked hard at a variety of paid jobs, invariably punching above his weight. His first was as a laborer at the Bridgewater Woolen Mill. He learned a lot about carpentry and other construction techniques while working for Max Boynton. He was a machinist for some time, and he did property maintenance and construction at Quechee Lakes for several years. After all these, he started his own very successful business, “Roger Trachier Builders,” which he and Clydene, who was vice president and bookkeeper for the business, operated as a team until their retirement. Roger never shied away from hard work, but he was also very canny about making whatever task was at hand as efficient as possible and making the best use of resources that other people might not notice. This skill became a key to his professional success and a boon to the community projects he was involved in.

Roger’s resourceful and persistent nature led him to many impressive accomplishments. At his daughter’s birth, he became the first father allowed into the delivery room at Mary Hitchcock Memorial Hospital by wearing down the doctor’s resistance to the idea. Afterwards, a survey of prospective parents resulted in a policy change, and fathers attending births became accepted practice. Roger built the family home himself, with some help in the early stages from friends and neighbors. In 1959, that meant a lot of manual labor: building forms, mixing and pouring concrete, and even hauling logs cut on the property to the mill, then returning the sawn boards to the house site. The project taught him many things about home construction — and began a long-term passion for seeking out and using the best and most up-to-date construction practices for his clients. In 1980, as an early adopter of energy-efficient construction practices and solar power, he installed a solar hot water system on the roof of his home, and it worked well for four decades! In 1993, Roger played key roles in devising and implementing an ingenious system for removing, not just trimming, Eurasian Watermilfoil from Halls Lake in Newbury, Vt.: a slow-moving barge both supplied air to divers below while they carefully hand-pulled the invasive plants by the roots and also used gentle suction to remove the pulled plants and convey them into fine-mesh baskets in a floating trailer, to be emptied and taken to a landfill. The rig was so successful that it was rented by the town of Fairlee for Lake Morey, and in 1998 the Vermont Agency of Natural Resources conferred upon Roger the “Excellence in Lake Protection” award in the area of Eurasian Watermilfoil management.

Along with his busy work life and raising a family, Roger made time to promote and volunteer for many community-enhancing projects, several with long-lasting benefits. Here are highlights from the long list of projects — many in Hartland — for which he was either the spark plug or a strong team member.

  • When a serious drought affected many Hartland residents, Roger helped set up a pump at a spring at the former fairgrounds to bring water to the surface for townspeople who needed it.
  • In the late 1960s, when Hartland’s small separate schools were becoming overcrowded, Roger and Clydene joined other townspeople to successfully campaign and vote to build a single, consolidated school. Roger also served on the building committee for the new school.
  • At a town auction of surplus property, he bought the bell from each of the three closed schools, then built an outdoor display for them at the new school, preserving this history for all to enjoy.
  • When the community outgrew the Martin Memorial Library, Roger was part of the effort to have the town buy the land and build a new library on Foster Meadow. He also served on the library building committee after the town acquired the property.
  • Vermont’s inaugural “Green Up Day” was in 1970, and Roger was there to organize Hartland’s volunteers to pick up trash from the sides of all town roads — a role he continued for several years.
  • He organized the cleanup of Lull Brook and its banks — from the headwaters to Martinsville — after many decades of people discarding unwanted things there. After he walked the entire length of the brook, taking notes, he organized volunteers to haul out all of the debris, including refrigerators, chest freezers, cars, car tires, and countless smaller items. Lull Brook is now a welcoming recreational and natural resource for the community.
  • Roger and longtime Hartland resident Henry Merritt worked together to build the post-and-beam gazebo which is on the Hartland Recreation Center grounds. Roger also helped move the gazebo a short distance, when that became necessary.
  • When the Hartland Volunteer Fire Department outgrew the tiny storage building used for the North Hartland fire truck, Roger facilitated the framing and roofing of the new station in one day.
  • Seeing a need to help aging neighbors remain at home during their later years, Roger and Clydene became early supporters of Aging in Hartland (AiH). In two examples of “what goes around comes around,” Roger delivered meals on wheels for some time and received such meals while recovering from surgeries, and he and Clydene not only relied on timely visits from a Hartland Community Nurse but also allowed use of the former Roger Trachier Builders business office as the program’s home base.

When Roger allowed himself some leisure time, it often involved the outdoors. As a boy, he and his dog would ramble over the hills between Woodstock village and Hartland. Garvin Hill in Hartland and Mount Peg in Woodstock were his favorite areas. Later in life, hunting was an excuse to be in the woods and see what’s on the other side of the next hill. He also enjoyed downhill skiing with family and friends, and he was an avid baseball player, first on Woodstock teams, then the Hartland town team, mostly playing first base. His urge to see the other side of the next hill extended to exploring Vermont, New England, and many other locations that he and Clydene could get to in a camper. Perhaps the frosting on that cake was their trip to Steamboat Springs, Colorado, where they met up with “the Fearless Five” (their daughter, her husband, their two teenage kids, and a friend). The five bicycled back to Vermont with Roger and Clydene meeting them most evenings to share a meal and camp together.

Closer to home, Roger and Clydene relaxed contentedly at their camp on Halls Lake in West Newbury, Vt. After he fully winterized the camp, he would enjoy a cross-country ski on the lake before hunkering down next to the woodstove in the evening. In warmer weather, few things gave Roger more pride than to share this happy place through picnic gatherings with family and friends. His most cherished way to spend leisure time there was soaking up sunshine, puttering on projects, and reading. In fact, he became a voracious reader of non-fiction and enjoyed learning more about the history, flora, and fauna of his native Vermont.

Roger was predeceased by his mother Florice Best LaMountain Trachier, stepfather Maurice Trachier, and father Earl LaMountain; sister Louise Trachier Maville and half-siblings Marie LaMountain Wurtz and John LaMountain; and Hartland aunts and uncles Joyce Best Motschman, Helen Best Hatch, Ralph Best, Clifford Best, and Floyd Best.

Roger is survived by his wife Clydene; son Gary Trachier (Ione) of Hartland; daughter Andrea Trachier Ambros (Theodore) of Hartland; grandson Marshall Ambros (Megan) and their children Asher, Ingrid, and Gordon of Wisconsin; granddaughter Alexandra Ambros of Oregon; half-siblings Nancy LaMountain Richard (Kevin) of Indiana, Shirley Tullar (Wayne) of Lyme, N.H., and Robert LaMountain (Alice) of East Thetford, Vt.; and several nieces, nephews, and cousins.

At Roger’s request, there will not be any calling hours, funeral, or burial service. His ashes will be scattered at a location he has chosen. There will be a summertime celebration of Roger’s life at Damon Hall in Hartland on Saturday, July 12.

Donations may be given in Roger’s memory to Aging in Hartland, the Brick Church of Hartland, or Visiting Nurse and Hospice for Vermont and New Hampshire.

An online guestbook can be found at www.cabotfh.com.

Helena Parker

Helena Parker passed away peacefully on April 14, 2025 at Woodstock Terrace. Born October 2, 1930, in Providence, R.I., to Manuel and Ermilinda Silva. Helena’s zest for life and infectious smile touched all who knew her.

Helena’s love for dance was a constant throughout her life. It led to meeting her future husband, Collins Parker, at Arthur Murray Dance Studio and carried her into her final days. Collins and Helena married on February 4, 1956. They raised two children together, Roy and Sally. After initially settling in Cape Cod, the couple embarked on a new adventure — establishing Burgundy Hill Farm in Brownsville. There, they raised prize-winning Herefords, horses, and a menagerie of other animals.

Helena enthusiastically supported her children’s various endeavors. She encouraged Roy’s love of little league and football and nurtured Sally’s talent as an award-winning equestrian. Her Brownsville home became a haven for family and friends, especially during lively Fourth of July celebrations. She was an integral part of the Mt. Ascutney ski community and the Green Mountain Horse Association, always sharing her love for skiing and horses with the next generations.

“Gram” cherished time with her grandchildren and great-grandchildren, sharing her love for skiing, horseback riding, and dancing with each of them.

Helena is survived by her sister, Eileen Sullivan, son Roy DeCesare and his wife Nancy, daughter Sally Gottling and her husband Bill, grandchildren and great-grandchildren, and dear friends Robert and Esther Allen. She was predeceased by her husband Collins, parents, brothers John and Eugene, and beloved grandson, Geoffrey. Helena’s joyful spirit will be deeply missed by all who knew her.

In memory of Helena, please consider a donation to Ascutney Outdoors, PO Box 101, Brownsville, VT 05037. Please note Helena Parker, School Ski Program with your donation. 

Helena’s family would like to express their sincerest thanks to Woodstock Terrace and Bayada Home Health Care for their loving care of Helena. The family will be holding a private ceremony to celebrate Helena’s life.

An online guestbook can be found at www.cabotfh.com.

Margaret H. Audsley

Margaret H. Audsley passed away on Dec. 25, 2024 at the Jack Byrnes Hospice and Palliative Care Center in Lebanon, N.H. surrounded by her family.

She was born on February 14, 1929 in Woodstock, daughter of Harley and Helen (Washburn) Olmstead.

“Peggy” as most people knew her, went to Woodstock schools. She graduated class of 1947. Peggy went to Fanny Mae Cooking School in Boston, Mass. She worked at various jobs in the area.

Peggy married John Audsley in January 1950. They were married just shy of 75 years before her passing.

Peggy and John owned and operated the “WASPs” Snack Bar for 38 years. She made the pies and won a few blue ribbons at the fairs. 

Peggy enjoyed baking, reading, and traveling. She also loved being with her family; going to family reunions and parties of any kind. Being with family was her joy. BINGO was one of her most favorite activities with her bingo girlfriends in their day!

Peggy is survived by her husband John; three children, Alexander of Woodstock, Patricia Eastman of Woodstock, and Christopher of Sebec, Maine. Five grandchildren, Benjamin Merriam (Cait) of Claremont, N.H.; Lenny Merriam (Jacky) of Windsor, Vt.; Lindsey Phillips (Mike) of White River Junction; and Tyler Audsley of Woodstock. Also eight great-grandchildren and one great-great-grandson; three brothers, Everett Olmstead of Bridgewater, Stanley Olmstead (Joyce) of North Hartland, and Arthur Olmstead of Hartland; and many nieces and nephews. 

She is predeceased by both sisters; Miriam Hammond and Rowena Ussery and her youngest brother Warren “Pete” Olmstead and her aunt Edith Washburn.

A graveside service will be held on Saturday, May 3 at the Riverside Cemetery in Woodstock, beginning at 2 p.m. A family reception will follow after the service at the Audsley home in Woodstock.

In lieu of flowers please send memorial donations to St. Judes Hospital or CHAD.

An online guestbook can be found at https://www.cabotfh.com/.

Annual Appeal

The Standard is a 'window' to our wonderful world--let's keep it open

By Dan Cotter, Publisher

Choosing the centerpiece photo to appear on the front page of the paper is one of the highlights of the week for those who work at the Standard.

Through the years, deciding on this photo was something longtime publisher Phil Camp relished. Each Tuesday morning, the Standard’s page designer printed out and displayed all the best images that our photographers had captured in their assignments, along with any photos that were provided by community organizations that held events during the week, or even photos submitted by readers. There might be dozens of choices. Phil delighted in his weekly ritual of looking through all of them and picking his favorite. Others on the staff weighed in as well. Today we still do a similar ritual, only we do it digitally rather than with printouts.

It’s fun, but picking the cover photo is also an important decision. That picture will be the very first thing readers see when they pick up the latest edition of the Standard.

Photos of kids, whether at a community event or participating in sports, nearly always make the final cut. And you can never go wrong with a picture of a cute dog. Here in Vermont, photos of birds, horses, sheep, and oxen are fair game too. And of course, photos shot at the scene of the week’s news stories — such as a fire or other emergency, a public meeting or vote, a performance or festival, a construction site, etc. — are always strong contenders.

To me, our weekly photo ritual pretty well symbolizes what our Annual Appeal is all about. The Vermont Standard is essentially a snapshot of life this week here in our community. Just as it has been every week for the last 171 years.

And we’re trying to preserve that. Beyond the front page, the Standard is filled with articles and photos that document and describe how life is playing out right here in our community. There’s no wire copy or state or national news in this paper. Just original reporting about the people here. The happenings here. The decisions made or the ones we need to make here. The triumphs and tragedies that take place here. What’s beginning, what ended, and what’s just plodding along. Here. This week.

The paper paints a portrait that helps everyone in our community process, celebrate, and commemorate what we’re going through together. It’s about our friends, our neighbors, our kids, our characters, our heroes. Every single week, the Standard tells a new unique story about our life as it’s unfolding right here. Like a window into our world.

The Standard is the only entity that endeavors to create this mirror image of life playing out in our beautiful communities. Both in print and online, the Standard is the one comprehensive local news source just for us; that we can all enjoy. One we can trust. A common experience for the people here in this place. For those who care about this place.

We believe that’s incredibly valuable. Other communities have lost their paper – whether it has gone out of business or whether it has become so diminished that it’s hardly worth reading. Those communities are left with a void. At some level, they become “news deserts” that don’t have a reliable source of credible local information. There, misinformation, which is often spread via social media, goes unchecked, and even worse, forces with dubious agendas emerge to purposely spread disinformation. Communities like that have experienced increased polarization and a decline in civic engagement.

But here, we’ve still got a quality paper that informs and connects our citizens in a positive way. And we’ve worked to make the Standard even better in recent years. Even though advertising revenue is no longer sufficient to sustain it, we think the Standard is special and worth saving.

To keep it going, though, we need everyone to chip in. We’re asking you today for your help now before it’s too late. We need tax-deductible contributions to our Woodstock Region Journalism Foundation so that it can help fund the Standard.

Today is the end of our 4-week annual appeal, but our need in the coming year is 52 weeks long. And we intend to preserve the Standard so that it can forever continue to provide quality local journalism for our wonderful community, which counts on it to be the weekly window into our own little corner of the world.

Our need is urgent, and we are deeply appreciative of anything you’re willing to do to help us. If you’d like, Phil and I would be grateful for an opportunity to meet with you to talk more about our need and our plans. Please don’t hesitate to contact us at dcotter@thevermontstandard.com or (802) 457-1313.

We sincerely hope you’ll join us in our mission by contributing to this year’s 2024 annual appeal.

Also, if you have a family foundation, please consider adding the Woodstock Region Journalism Foundation (EIN: 93-3287932) to the worthwhile causes you regularly support.

The Foundation is a public charity so your gift will be fully tax-deductible.

Your donation will be utilized in the form of project grants to support the Vermont Standard’s mission to inform, connect, and educate our community on issues of public importance.

If you’re willing to make a tax-deductible donation to our 2024 Annual Appeal, please send a check to PO Box 88, Woodstock, VT 05091, or go to our Vermont Standard THIS WEEK website at www.thevermontstandard.com to make a contribution with your credit card. Be sure to make your check out to the “ Woodstock Region Journalism Foundation.”

A letter to our readers

To our readers,

The Vermont Standard Annual Appeal is the one time each year when we come right out and ask for your help with our mission to preserve quality local journalism for our community.

We believe that an informed public is essential if a community like ours is to have a well-functioning democracy. We think credible journalism – the local news, information, and community connection that only a local newspaper provides – is necessary to maintain the quality of life here.

Unfortunately, newspapers throughout the country are going out of business at a rate of more than two per week, and many of those that are still functioning have been debilitated.

The 171-year-old Vermont Standard is our state’s oldest weekly newspaper and at this point, it’s rather unique. To this day, it continues to provide high-quality journalism in print and online to Woodstock and the surrounding towns that the paper serves -– including Hartland, Pomfret, Bridgewater, Barnard, Quechee, Reading, West Windsor, Plymouth and points beyond. In recent years we’ve taken steps to improve the Standard’s coverage, and it has been repeatedly recognized as the best small weekly newspaper in New England.

It’s worth saving.

Professional, ethical, accurate, and fair journalism that you can trust is needed now more than ever in a society dominated by social media echo chambers, political and social division, and the proliferation of misinformation. As seen elsewhere, losing the local newspaper diminishes residents’ civic engagement and leaves a void in the community that bad actors with a cynical agenda often rush in to fill with disinformation campaigns.

Unlike most others, the Standard is an independent newspaper. We are purpose-driven rather than profit-driven. The Standard delivers a colorful, comprehensive local news report in print each Thursday, as well as online updates all week long. Nearly all articles and photos in the Standard are original reporting by our tiny staff, freelancers and volunteers. The community embraces this paper – circulation is strong and steady.

But, just like newspapers throughout the country, the Standard is struggling to remain economically viable.

The smaller, locally-owned businesses that traditionally supported local news organizations with their advertising have been replaced by chains, big box stores, and online sellers that do not actively support community journalism. Classified ads for homes, cars, jobs, and used merchandise are no longer a substantial source of funding for local news because they are now often run online instead.

The Standard, which already operates on a shoestring, has resisted the strategy embraced by so many newspapers across our nation to further strip down its small operation to bare bones, to the point that it can’t get the job done. Instead, we are striving to preserve the Standard as a quality news operation that can continue doing the job serving our community.

Funding local journalism now largely depends on philanthropic support from civic-minded residents who care deeply about this community and recognize the value the Standard brings to the table.

2024 Annual AppealIn the past year, a small local board has established a 501(c)(3) public charity called the Woodstock Region Journalism Foundation to help ensure that our community will always have quality local journalism to inform and connect our neighbors; to help ensure the Standard keeps going. All donations to the foundation are tax-deductible.

Preserving the Standard is obviously important to the Greater Woodstock community. But this also has bigger implications.

Most local newspapers are on the brink of insolvency even though they are still the primary entities America counts on to cover local news and inform our citizens — especially in smaller towns. The newspapers are every bit as important to the functioning, spirit and soul of those towns as their public library, their theaters, their churches, and other vital institutions. We must find a way, both collectively and individually, to keep credible local journalism alive. The future of our communities and democracy depends on it.

If there is any one place in the country where residents truly appreciate and embrace both their community and their newspaper, it’s here. If our community can’t find a way to sustain its local journalism, there’s probably little hope for most others.

We sincerely hope you’ll consider making a contribution to this year’s 2024 annual appeal. Our need is quite urgent, to say the least, and we are profoundly grateful for anything you can do to help us.

The Foundation is a public charity so your gift will be fully tax-deductible.

Your donation will be utilized in the form of project grants to support the Vermont Standard’s mission to inform, connect, and educate our community on issues of public importance.

If you’re able to help, please send a check to PO Box 88, Woodstock, VT 05091. Be sure to make your check out to the “Woodstock Region Journalism Foundation.” Or go to our Vermont Standard THIS WEEK website at www.thevermontstandard.com to make a contribution with your credit card.

Also, if you have a family foundation, we hope you’ll add the Woodstock Region Journalism Foundation (EIN: 93-3287932) to the worthwhile causes you regularly support.

We consider it a great honor that you trust and count on the Standard to cover local news in our community. We can’t thank you enough for your friendship, your readership, and your support of this worthwhile mission we’re pursuing.

Phil Camp, president        Dan Cotter, publisher

We invite you to join us on a hero’s journey

By Dan Cotter, publisher 

“So, how’s Phil?”

I get that a lot. Oftentimes, just when I’m about finished talking on the phone with someone from Woodstock or the surrounding towns they inquire about my good friend and partner in publishing the Vermont Standard, Phil Camp – the 88-year-old lifelong resident of our community who is its most enthusiastic booster.

The callers know that he battles the health ailments that often come at his age, and then some. I typically reassure them that he remains unfailingly positive, no matter the challenges that he or the Standard faces.

Not too long ago, a caller signed off by saying something to the effect of, “You know, in our house we regard Phil as a hero.”

That’s not surprising. There’s something pretty darn heroic about a guy who dearly loves his town and has wholeheartedly dedicated the last fifty years to making sure it has a quality news source to inform and connect its citizens. Despite the advertising revenue loss that threatens its viability. Despite the flood, fire, and pandemic that made things even more difficult. Despite his own health challenges. He still wants nothing more than just to see the Standard continue to thrive into the future.

I’m reminded of another local publisher, Tim Calabro at the Herald in neighboring Randolph, who I read about recently in a story published by Seven Days. He bought his hometown paper about ten years ago, but these days, the article said his publisher duties include being the editorial director, selectboard correspondent, staff photographer, newspaper deliveryman in the early morning hours, building repairman, and head of finance, among no doubt many other roles he juggles as he strives to keep the paper afloat.

He told Seven Days reporter Rachel Hellman, “I would be really upset if this community didn’t have a newspaper. I would be OK not being the person who ran that newspaper, but I don’t see anyone else who is particularly willing or capable of doing it. So, I kind of feel like I have to do this for as long as I can.”

And Tim is certainly not alone. Independent newspaper publishers here in Vermont and throughout New England and the rest of the country all find themselves trying to hang in there — despite the intense pressure and red ink — trying to do whatever it takes to continue producing credible, quality local journalism that serves as the glue for their beloved communities.

2024 Annual AppealSome would question why Phil, Tim, and the rest of us are continuing to shoulder the responsibility for keeping local news flowing and the lights on. It’s a steep uphill battle and it’s obviously not for the money (whenever I see my financial planner I simply avoid making eye contact…)

At some level, there’s patriotism and a devotion to what we see as our job to help foster a cohesive, informed community that has a reliable place to turn for fair and accurate information that residents need to make good decisions, both personally and collectively. There’s also Phil’s passion and mine that the Standard should be a news source, both in print and digital formats, where people can get to know about — and be inspired by — their neighbors’ accomplishments; one that reveals and celebrates the many occurrences in our day-to-day lives here that are so uplifting.

And then there’s that point in each week when the Standard rolls off the press, and what started as a blank page just days ago is now full of local news articles, photos, entertaining and educational feature stories, local personality profiles, opinion columns, town correspondents’ reports, announcements, listings of things to do for fun, local obituaries, bits of news and ads from local businesses and organizations, and the stories of our children’s triumphs in school and in sports. 

I think that’s when we are most reminded why we do this.

This is important. The Standard is the only medium that produces this for our community. If we’re no longer viable, all of that will cease to exist.

Whether or not local publishers working against the odds to sustain this weekly miracle are truly “heroic” is probably best judged in the eye of the beholder. But it’s certain that all the responsibility for preserving local journalism can’t fall only on the shoulders of the publishers. That’s just not sustainable. 

As Phil has often said, this paper belongs to the community.

We sincerely hope you’ll consider joining us on this journey by contributing to this year’s 2024 annual appeal. When all is said and done, my friends, you’re the real heroes that our community is counting on. 

Also, if you have a family foundation, we hope you’ll consider adding the Woodstock Region Journalism Foundation (EIN: 93-3287932) to the worthwhile causes you regularly support.

The Foundation is a public charity so your gift will be fully tax-deductible. 

Your donation will be utilized in the form of project grants to support the Vermont Standard’s mission to inform, connect, and educate our community on issues of public importance. 

Our need is quite urgent, and we are profoundly grateful for anything you can do to help us with this mission.

If you’re willing to make a tax-deductible donation to our 2024 Annual Appeal, please send a check to PO Box 88, Woodstock, VT 05091, or go to our Vermont Standard THIS WEEK website at www.thevermontstandard.com to make a contribution with your credit card. Be sure to make your check out to the “Woodstock Region Journalism Foundation.”

With astonishment and gratitude, the Standard begins our 2024 annual appeal

By Dan Cotter, publisher

Labor Day is coming up, signaling a time of year that’s taken on new meaning for the Vermont Standard and the Woodstock Region Journalism Foundation. This point in the calendar when we honor our nation’s workers is also when we begin our four-week Annual Appeal to raise funds to keep quality local journalism flowing for Woodstock and the surrounding towns that the Standard serves in Windsor County.

By now, most everyone knows that newspapers have been struggling mightily – despite the fact that communities throughout the nation still count on them to employ the journalists who are primarily responsible for covering local news. The main problem has been the evaporation of much of the advertising revenue that traditionally supported local journalism.

Those who advertised in newspapers through the years were typically smaller, local businesses, which in many cases have fallen prey to competition from chains, big box stores, and online sellers (like Amazon). Many of them have now been bought up by bigger regional or national operations or they closed down.

Classified section advertisers also pulled back on the ads they ran in newspapers for jobs, cars, real estate, and used merchandise when online options, which are often free, became available.

So, this left local newsrooms all across the country without much of a funding mechanism. Many sold out to national newspaper chains owned by corporations or hedge funds that proceeded to gut the paper’s staff and resources in a cynical attempt to squeeze out what little profit might be left. Other papers just closed their doors as their financial losses piled up.

So far, the country has lost about a third of its newspapers — almost 3,000 have gone out of business in the past twenty years, and we’re currently on pace to continue losing more than two per week. More than 200 counties now have no credible, comprehensive local news source. They call those places “news deserts.”

To make matters worse, while many other communities still have a local newspaper, it has been reduced to just a shadow of its former self because corporate scavengers “right-sized” it, leaving the paper incapable of performing its duty for its community.

However, there are still some independent publishers in small communities like ours who know that we cannot have a well-functioning democracy if the public isn’t adequately informed. They know that a local newspaper is entrusted with reporting about the issues that matter. They also know that communities function better — and the quality of life is better — if people know what’s going on and if they know and appreciate each other. So, those publishers are finding ways to keep the lights on at their newspaper any way they can, while at the same time attempting to create new revenue streams that could help sustain their local journalism in the future.

The Standard is one of those newspapers.

Last year, the Woodstock Region Journalism Foundation was formed as a public charity to raise funds to help ensure that our community won’t become the next news desert. The Foundation is dedicated primarily to preserving the Standard and its role in informing citizens and supporting democracy in our area well into the future. We’re not trying to merely keep some semblance of a diminished newspaper alive here. We’re trying to preserve a good, trustworthy, 171-year-old purveyor of local news and information (both in print and digital formats) that our community can continue to rely upon and be proud of. We believe that having fair-minded, professionally produced local journalism is extremely important to maintaining the quality of life here.

And we are not alone in this effort. There are still businesses here that help pay for your local journalism with their advertising in the Standard and its ancillary publications. Any business or organization that advertises is doing more than just promoting a service, sale or event – it is also showing you that it cares about this community, that it wants a thriving, strong democracy here.

The Woodstock Region Journalism Foundation has a board made up of a small cadre of local residents who fully recognize and appreciate the value the Standard provides. Of course, Phil Camp and I are on the board too. We are extremely fortunate to have these board partners in the trenches with us as we chart the path forward.

Increasingly, though, we’re finding that those who care most deeply about our community are the same ones taking action to also care for its journalism. Some newspapers in the U.S. have been fortunate to have a rich owner – such as Jeff Bezos at the Washington Post or John Henry at the Boston Globe. Those owners are doing a fine job of sustaining quality journalism in their metropolitan areas. But here, we’ve got our own benefactors who are largely responsible for why the Standard is still alive. I’ve found that these wonderful, caring people fall into three categories.

First, we have a sizable group of very kind donors who truly appreciate the important role local journalism plays in our community and they step up to take part in our annual appeals each year. Their donations vary in size from a modest amount to hundreds of dollars. We couldn’t be more grateful to these supporters. Our hearts leap a little each time we open their envelopes or receive notice of their credit card contribution. Their donations add up to a significant amount that has literally sustained our journalism. We simply could not keep going without you. We regard each donation we receive not only as sustenance but also a pat on the back that encourages us to “keep trying, keep going.” And we will.

We also have a smaller number of major donors who dig deep and send us large donations that make a very big difference for us. Their donations go a long way in helping us make ends meet – some of their individual contributions alone can pay a substantial bill or help supplement our cash flow during the slowest advertising times of the year. These very generous donors have an outsized influence on our ability to provide the community with quality journalism. Rest assured, we know each of you by name and we count our blessings each day to have you on our side.

And speaking of blessings, we also have a select few who have literally taken on this mission, shoulder-to-shoulder, with Phil and me and the Foundation board. These donors are guardian angels for our community who have done some very heavy lifting, providing substantial funds to help us not only survive for today but also to strengthen our organization so that we can build the new revenue streams we need to sustain us in the future. I can assure you that there would not be a Standard today for you to read without their extremely generous assistance. Some of these friends also help us spread our message and encourage others to support us. We really have no words to adequately express our gratitude to them – we’re simply astonished at the love they’ve shown to us and to this community.

We sincerely hope you’ll join us in this year’s 2024 annual appeal. And for those who have a family foundation, we hope you’ll consider adding the Woodstock Region Journalism Foundation to the worthwhile causes you regularly support.

The Foundation is a public charity so your gift will be fully tax-deductible.

Your donation will be utilized in the form of project grants to support the Vermont Standard’s mission to inform, connect, and educate our community on issues of public importance.

Our need is quite urgent, to say the least. We are profoundly grateful for anything you can do to help us with this mission.

If you’re willing to make a tax-deductible donation to our 2024 Annual Appeal, please send a check to PO Box 88, Woodstock, VT 05091, or go to our Vermont Standard THIS WEEK website at www.thevermontstandard.com to make a contribution with your credit card. Be sure to make your check out to the “Woodstock Region Journalism Foundation.”

Now it’s official -- IRS approves Journalism Foundation as public charity, donations are tax deductible

By Dan Cotter, publisher

A huge sigh of relief and a fist pump were my first reactions, as well as a gaze skyward as I mouthed the words “thank you!” The tears welling up in my older friend’s eyes were his response when I told him.

Then we shared a long, hard hug.

After lots of research and preparation, and then six months of waiting for the application to be processed, Phil Camp and I recently learned that the IRS has approved the Woodstock Region Journalism Foundation’s application for tax-exempt status under section 501(c)(3) and deemed the Foundation to be a public charity.

The approval wasn’t in much doubt, really. But now it’s official.

The Foundation was established last August and it is primarily dedicated to preserving the Vermont Standard and its role in informing citizens and supporting democracy in our area well into the future. The Foundation has a board made up of local residents who care deeply about our community and the value local journalism provides. Phil and I are on the board too. Together, we’re working to keep the 171-year-old Vermont Standard going while taking steps to position the paper’s print and digital journalism for long-term sustainability.

Recognizing the critical role the Standard plays in informing and connecting our community, this Foundation wants to avoid letting our area become a “news desert,” as has happened in hundreds of other places throughout the US in recent years. Newspapers like the Standard are currently dying off at a pace of 2.5 per week. Nor do we want to end up like the hundreds of cities and towns where profit-seeking corporations that have no devotion to the public welfare have acquired their local paper and stripped it of its resources, to the point that it is only a pathetic shadow of its former self and incapable of doing its job.

Providing accurate, credible, reliable news and information to its audience is a local news organization’s primary role. A functioning democracy requires an informed, engaged public. The Woodstock Region Journalism Foundation’s board members, advisors and friends will help Phil and I in our mission to raise enough money to keep quality journalism flowing here.

So, I’m glad to report that any donation you’ve made to the Woodstock Region Journalism Foundation to support the Standard’s mission to inform, connect, and educate our community on issues of public importance is indeed tax-deductible dating back to the inception of the Foundation in late August 2023, as all donations will be going forward.

At 88 years old, Phil feels a real sense of urgency about making sure that our community will always have local journalism – especially given the 40+ years he’s dedicated to leading the paper and his unrivaled love for Woodstock and its surrounding towns. We know we’re in a race against the clock. But now, with the Foundation’s charity status and your tax deduction confirmed, we hope there will be even more support from donors and family foundations that will help us accomplish this very important mission.

Thank you from the bottom of our hearts for your encouragement and generosity. If you would like to contribute to our Annual Appeal, please send us a check at PO Box 88, Woodstock, VT 05091, or go to our Vermont Standard THIS WEEK website at https://thevermontstandard.com/annual-appeal/ to make a contribution with your credit card. Please be sure to make your check out to the “Woodstock Region Journalism Foundation.”

Hard to imagine Woodstock without the Standard 

“View From Here”

By Sandy Gilmour, Woodstock resident

If you are reading this column right now, that’s good news for the community. It means you probably paid for this paper, hard copy or online, maybe even made a donation to it, and value its contribution to our lives in Woodstock and surrounding areas. We are so fortunate to have the Vermont Standard week in and week out. For years, small-town dailies and weeklies have been closing their doors, leaving communities without a soul. Papers like the Standard are dying off at the rate of two per week across America. 

Such towns are called “news deserts.” Imagine weeks, months and years going by with no professional reporting on selectboards, trustees, school boards, taxes and roads. Zero stories about public school events, sports, student accomplishments, obituaries, gardening tips, neighborly cooking advice, local history, and no reports from towns from Brownsville to Pomfret. 

We would know next to nothing about the interminable Peace Field Farm restaurant delay, the Ottauquechee Trail head fiasco, the high-stakes Woodstock Foundation controversy and the fatal shooting off Central Street, including the bravery of Woodstock Police Sgt. Joe Swanson. In my view, these stories have been really well reported. 

To not get these stories delivered to us every week would be a news desert right in verdant Woodstock, for sure, a gaping hole left to be filled by rumor and mis- and dis-information, the precursors of community dissolution. So we are blessed indeed to have had the Vermont Standard around — nonstop — since 1853, and owned by beloved Woodstocker Phil Camp, now 87, since 1981. 

But as Mr. Camp has pointed out many times over the years, the paper’s solvency hangs on a thread and now more than ever. In hundreds of towns across America, owners, beleaguered by losing subscribers and advertising to social media, simply folded or sold out to hedge funds and private equity firms, whose investors are bereft of community values. Not Phil Camp. He has always said, “I never sold out. I’m never giving up.” He made up for past deficits (difference between expenses, like staff, and income from subscriptions and ads) out of company savings from better times, week after week. He stayed with it after being flooded out by Tropical Storm Irene in 2011 and being burned out by the Central Street fire of 2018 (taking out his camera and snapping photos of the flames and rubble).

The paper was in dire straits when COVID hit, saved by the forgiven federal PPP (Paycheck Protection Program) loans through 2021, when the largesse ended. Then beginning in January 2022, the community stepped up, responding to a fundraising appeal. I was rather stunned to learn from the Standard’s publisher, Dan Cotter, that the paper’s annual shortfall of $150,000-$200,000 is being covered by donations from local Woodstock residents. There are many (and appreciated) donations in the $50-$100-$200 range, but really heavy lifting is being done by donors of means who, Mr. Cotter says, highly value the contribution local journalism makes to communities. Several of these more-than-generous and anonymous donors contribute $20-25,000 and more — each — and, Mr. Cotter says, without any hint of trying to influence coverage. Without them, surely there would be no Vermont Standard in the mailbox or online, just the unreliable grapevine. At the same time, the paper is moving to create other revenue streams, including an online advertising app for Woodstock happenings and a magazine, in addition to improving thevermontstandard.com website for go-to news. 

Still, the operation is bare bones. It seems to me a miracle the paper “hits the streets” without fail every Thursday with some pretty good and important stories that we need to know about, and many features that are good to know about. And there are just two, count them, two, full-time staffers who report stories: the seasoned and prolific Tom Ayres, and Tess Hunter, who is also the managing editor. Ms. Hunter says reporter staffing is the big issue; she has on hand freelance contract reporters that can be assigned to stories if they are available and if they want to spend the evening at yet another unexciting if important selectboard meeting. “It’s a constant juggling act,” Ms. Hunter told me, “between finding the right person for the story and just getting people to say ‘yes.’” Still, she is committed, saying, “Without us making the attempt, there would be no common base of understanding and little sense of the community spirit of the area or the hard news happening within it.”

Volunteer contributors are crucial; regular community writers like Jennifer Falvey (insightful musings on life) and Kurt Stauder (pointed political observations) are popular. Mary Lee Camp’s business column is relentlessly informative. 

Other key staff are listed in the box below — lean and spare!

Publisher and editorial content director Dan Cotter, 64, hired by Mr. Camp in 2018 after years of informal consulting for the Standard, is not a household name in Woodstock, though he is hands-on every issue. He owns a condo in the area and is here about half the month, returning to his home and wife in Chicago for the remainder. He has decades in the industry as an executive and consultant, was head of the New England Newspaper and Press Association, and takes a no-nonsense hard line on newspaper independence and objectivity. It’s an unusual situation but Mr. Camp, still the president of the company, has total confidence in Mr. Cotter and has turned over the Vermont Standard, its operation, assets and its future, to his close friend. Mr. Camp has indeed not “given up,” but hopes to ensure his dear newspaper’s future with this arrangement. 

So where does the Standard go now? Around the country, journalists are reinventing newspapers and online reporting. The most promising seems to be the non-profit model, where deductible contributions from community-minded supporters can be made even as the publication accepts subscription fees and what advertising there is left. There are indications that the Standard is moving in this direction, and the sooner the better, in my view. When I pressed Publisher Cotter on the issue, he responded with this very encouraging comment: 

“In the past couple of years, members of the community have literally kept the Standard alive with their donations — and a handful of them have given very substantial sums, even without the benefit of a tax break. That’s how much they value the role our local journalism plays in the quality of life in our area. We are working now to put the paper on a path to where donors could indeed have a tax benefit. For it is essential to our democracy and our own survival that we have the financial support we need from the community to maintain a news organization — modest as it is — that’s capable of producing good local journalism that adequately informs our citizens.”

I can’t imagine Woodstock without the Vermont Standard. The new business model provides great hope the paper will not only survive but as a Woodstock-based non-profit, continue to expand coverage to benefit all of us in this great community. 

Note: This (unpaid) column originated with me alone! 

Sandy Gilmour is a retired NBC News correspondent who lives in Woodstock.

Newspapers Are In a Race Against the Clock

Throughout the country newspapers are in a fight for their lives.          Here too.

Race Against The Clock VT Standard Front Page

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