The Hartland Selectboard will hold the first of two public hearings on the proposed 2026 Town Plan on Monday, June 1, at 6 p.m. at Damon Hall.

By state statute, town plans in Vermont are supposed to be readopted by local governing bodies every eight years. Late last year, the Hartland Selectboard readopted the municipality’s 2017 Town Plan, allowing six months beyond the earlier plan’s expiration date for the local Planning Commission to deliberate regarding the recommended provisions of the 2026 blueprint for the future development of the community. At its regular bimonthly meeting on Monday, May 4, the town selectboard voted 4-1 to move a draft of the 2026 Town Plan forward to the public for its consideration at the upcoming public hearing.

Depending upon what the selectboard members hear from the public on June 1, the proposed plan could be amended to reflect the sentiments of local residents, including homeowners, renters, businesspeople, and more. In any event, the 2026 plan will be subjected to further scrutiny at a second public hearing, which must be warned 15 days in advance following the June 1 hearing. The upcoming gathering will be devoted solely to discussion and consideration of the newly proposed 2026 Town Plan, with the regularly scheduled bimonthly selectboard meeting that evening postponed until Monday, June 8.

The distinction between strong verbiage, such as the use of the word “shall” in a town plan, and more conciliatory wording, such as “should” or “consider,” was the subject of considerable discussion as the Hartland Selectboard moved forward with the latest draft of the 2026 plan on May 4. Bryan Kovalick, a planner with the Two Rivers-Ottauquechee Regional Commission (TRORC), worked on the latest revisions to the Hartland Planning Commission-recommended version of the new plan, focusing on inserting less directive language into the plan that will be presented to the public at the first hearing before the selectboard. Kovalick reviewed his modest changes to the document in a brief presentation to the board members last week. Selectperson Jim Rielly voiced his opinion that Kovalick’s final edits to the draft should be returned to the Planning Commission for its review, but other members of the town governing body demurred, contending that the review process had gone on long enough and that it was time for the proposed 2026 Town Plan to be subjected to public review and comment.

“We are going to take all the comments we [receive] at the public hearings, and then at a future selectboard meeting we can discuss [them] and make changes if that’s what we decide to do,” Hartland Selectboard vice chair Thomas Kennedy offered. “We can ask the Planning Commission to please come to the [June 1] public hearing with suggestions regarding the changes that have been made, and the selectboard can consider those changes. We may not agree with them, but we can consider them.”

Coincident with the ongoing work on the new town plan, the selectboard and the municipal planning commissioners have been working in partnership with the TRORC since late last year to craft the municipality’s first-ever unified development bylaws, which will incorporate detailed, proscriptive zoning regulations that will be legally binding but will flow from the less specific verbiage of the yet-to-be-adopted 2026 Town Plan. Carefully defined zoning regulations carry much more weight in Act 250 land use and Vermont Environmental Court deliberations than the looser, more discretionary language typically contained in town plans.

For more on this, please see our May 14 edition of the Vermont Standard. 

By Mike Donoghue, Senior Correspondent

Investigation continues into the suspicious death of an elderly Windsor County woman, who served three terms in the Vermont legislature representing Pomfret, Sharon and Royalton. 

Noel A. Neely, 82, was found dead inside the family home on Douglas Hill Road about 10 a.m. last Saturday, Norwich Police Chief Matthew Romei said.

She has served as the longtime office manager for her husband, Dr. Donald Neely, who operates Hanover Orthodontics in Hanover, N.H.

The chief said Vermont State Police troopers from the uniform division actually arrived first at the home for the welfare check and found her deceased. 

Romei said after conferring with the road troopers, and based on evidence at the scene, a decision was made to call in state police detectives and the Major Crime Unit.

Initial investigation indicates the woman’s death occurred under potentially suspicious circumstances. Everyone associated with this matter is accounted for, and there is no known identified danger to the public, State Police spokesman Adam Silverman said. 

The victim’s body was brought to the Chief Medical Examiner’s Office in Burlington for an autopsy to determine cause and manner of death.

As of Tuesday, the cause of death was still being withheld.

Neely served in the legislature in the late 1970s and early 1980s for three Windsor County towns. She and her husband have previously lived in Woodstock, Pomfret, and were residing in Norwich. 

She served on the Vermont Advisory Committee to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights when it was chaired by former Gov. Phil Hoff in 1983. 

Her husband said he comes from a family of dentists and orthodontists, according to the website for his practice. Dr. Neely also said on the website that his profession has changed through the years, but he still enjoys the work. 

The investigation also involves members of the Norwich Police and the Vermont Crime Scene Search Team, which processed the home looking for clues. 

Silverman said investigators are working closely with Windsor County State’s Attorney Ward Goodenough concerning the circumstances. 

Anybody with information on the case is asked to call the state police barracks at Royalton at 802-234-9933.

More than 70 trees at the 154-acre King Farm in Woodstock have been harvested in order to help restore and stabilize the riverbank of the Ottauquechee River along Route 4, less than a mile downhill, according to a press release sent out last week by the Vermont Land Trust (VLT). “Addition of this woody material will provide natural protection for the riverbank, reduce erosion, slow down and filter water during high-flow events, and provide cover and habitat for fish,” the land trust stated in the release.

The river restoration project is being led by the Connecticut River Conservancy (CRC). “These trees will continue to provide environmental benefits in Woodstock for years to come, including reducing nitrogen runoff into the Ottauquechee River,” said Ron Rhodes, director of programs at the CRC. “We were thrilled to be able to partner with VLT to source the trees locally for the project.” 

VLT lead forester Pieter van Loon worked with Ben Canonica of Canonica Landworks — the company based in Chelsea, Vt. that will execute the restoration project — on the tree harvest, which took place over a period of two weeks in March. Suitable trees were identified and marked by van Loon, who used an ecological forest management plan to manage the harvest. “The trees were dug on three sides, tipped, and their rootwads gently cleaned,” according to the VLT press release. 

The river-bound trees are currently being stored at King Farm until the restoration project is implemented this summer, when the rootwads — with about 25 feet of trunk still attached — will be moved from King Farm to the restoration site. “The trunks will be anchored into the riverbank so that only the rootwads are in the water. The rootwads will trap sediment and debris, slow water flow, and provide habitat for fish and other aquatic organisms. The decomposing trunks will allow shrubs and trees to grow back along the bank over time. The resulting vegetated bank will be stronger and more resilient against erosion and rising waters,” VLT said in their statement. 

For more on this, please see our May 14 edition of the Vermont Standard.

Bookstock 2026 takes place in Woodstock this weekend, May 15, 16, and 17. The literary “Festival of Words” will include author events, masterclasses, a used book tent sale, and several special events. The board, which includes local residents Priscilla Painton, Jon Spector, Michael Stoner, Julie Moncton, and Kari Meutsch will be at the helm of the festival again this year.

Parking for the event will be available at the Ottauquechee Health Center, the Woodstock Rec Center, the Woodstock Elementary School, and at East End Park, according to Stoner. 

Festivities begin on Friday with daytime activities on The Green, including the Used Book Sale from 1-5 p.m., and it continues on Saturday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.  But Bookstock isn’t just for the grown-ups. Little ones are encouraged to come to The Green for face painting, book readings, and crafts.  The children’s tent will be open 3-5 p.m. on Friday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday, and 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Sunday.

Meanwhile, the Rare Vintage Book Sale will run throughout the weekend at the Norman Williams Public Library, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Friday and Saturday, and 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Sunday. There will also be a sidewalk sale at various shops around Woodstock Village. 

Artistree Community Arts Center in South Pomfret will host the official opening event of Bookstock. The evening will start with Artistree’s 14th annual UNBOUND Exhibit, featuring artwork of books, about books, and made from books. Viewers will experience the fascinating world of Artists’ Books, objects with visual narratives and complex constructions that are one-of-a-kind artworks. 

Azusa Mihara, gallery coordinator for Artistree, spoke with the Standard about the opening reception. “This is the 14th year that Artistree has presented a book-art exhibit. In the last few years, we have started making this exhibition a little more inclusive — expanding the bounds of what ‘unbound’ truly means.

“We wanted this to be a community gallery where artists from Vermont and New Hampshire gather and share their literary-inspired creations. This exhibit is open to all, and we feel like it is the perfect way to kick off Bookstock,” Mihara added. 

After viewing the UNBOUND Exhibit at the Artistree Gallery, some lucky attendees will move to Artistree’s Hayloft for a sold-out conversation with Vermont Book Award winners and finalists. Moderated by Vermont Book Awards director Miciah Bay Gault, the event will feature writers of poetry, fiction, non-fiction, and children’s literature. 

Stoner assured the Standard that at least one Vermont Book Award winner will be speaking at the opening event — Sasha Hom, who won for her book “Sidework.” “Sasha won the fiction award this year, and we are all so excited to hear her speak about her fantastic and evocative novella. It will be a wonderful way to open Bookstock,” he said.  

For a full comprehensive breakdown of Bookstock festivities, please see our May 14 edition of the Vermont Standard. 

Pemberley Garden & Antiques officially opened its doors for the first time during Mother’s Day weekend. Located at 29 Pleasant Street in Woodstock, the historic property had been home to Wigren-Barlow Art & Antiques since 1950.

Pemberley is co-owned by Carolyn Kimbell and Sukie Shaw-Azar. Now the third owners in the building’s history, Kimbell stressed continuity in her and Shaw-Azar’s mission. “We wanted to keep the tradition of antiques alive in this building, as well as bring the garden theme to town. That’s why we have both.”

The reimagining included filling each room in the building with its own particular look and purpose. “Each room has its own feel,” Shaw-Azar told the Standard. “We have sort of a general store room with some antiques and china. We have a cottage room, which is the old cabinet-maker shop, and that feels more like a dining and living room with some outdoor furniture as well as the antiques.”

“An English garden feel is what we’re trying to go for,” added Shaw-Azar.

For more on this, please see our May 14 edition of the Vermont Standard. 

Pemberley co-owner Carolyn Kimbell, right, talks with a customer who visited during the store’s opening weekend. Kathryn Whalen Photo

The Yoh Theatre Players’ production of “Pride and Prejudice” treated audiences to this Jane Austen staple at the Woodstock Union High School on May 1, 2, and 3. Play attendee and Yoh supporter Janet North summed up audience sentiment with the comment: “It was a fabulous play — beautifully performed from start to finish. The seniors should be incredibly proud to close out their time on such a high note with this production.”

Right, Mrs. Bennet (Mimi Kanda-Olmstead) attacks Lizzy (Lia Gugliotta) in her excitement to see her consenting to marry, as Jane (Lylah Zeitlin), Mr. Bingley (Sam Hauze), Lady Catherine (Tula Klock), Mr. Bennet (Brady Kruse-Ely), and Mr. Darcy (Tegan Miller) look on in the background.

Above, the cast of “Pride and Prejudice.” Back row, from left: Judah Bowers, Molly Fielder, Lexi Gabardi, David Solitaire, Brady Kruse-Ely, Libby Fraga, Orly Agin, Basile Walker, Lux Ringenberg, Moira Helene, Alyssa Charbonneau, Olivia Follet, and Satori Rossi; Middle row: Jay Allen, Ana Sailsbury, Zara Paczkowski, Ella Hardy, Mimi Kanda-Olmstead, Tula Klock, Quinn Eckler, Lylah Zeitlin, and Sam Hauze; Front row: Alex Foley, Tee Miller, and Lia Gugliotta. Nancy Nutile-McMenemy Photos

Poet Carlene Kucharczyk of Woodstock won the Vermont Book Award in Poetry on Sat., May 2. Up against three other collections of poetry that made it to the final round, Kucharczyk walked away with a cash award of $1,000, along with a sculpture by artist Bess French, depicting a miniature Vermont scene with evergreen trees, red Adirondack chairs, and a duck pond.

“It feels really wonderful to be recognized in this way. There are so many writers I love who live in this state, whose books I have been reading for years — and I’m always coming across new ones, too. It feels great to be among them and receive this honor, in a state I’m glad to call home,” Kucharczyk told the Standard after receiving the award.

The Vermont Book Awards is an annual literary event now in its tenth year. This year’s reception and ceremony was held at Montpelier’s Greenway Institute campus (formerly the campus for the Vermont College of Fine Arts), featuring a keynote speech by current Vermont poet laureate Bianca Stone, who emphasized the importance of literature in our lives, and the special role of poetry as the first written art form.

For more on this, please see our May 14 edition of the Vermont Standard. 

Earlier this month, the Center for Research on Vermont at the University of Vermont Alumni House honored Woodstock native Howard Coffin with the 2026 Lifetime Achievement Award. 

The Lifetime Achievement Award recognizes individuals who have made outstanding contributions to the state of Vermont and to its people. Recipients are researchers, government leaders, community leaders, teachers, artists, and historians who have had enduring, significant, and positive influences on the state. Holly Painter, the center’s director, spoke to the Standard this week about why Coffin was chosen to receive the award. 

“This award belongs to those who are true experts in their field. Howard not only can recount something substantive about the wartime experiences in each Green Mountain town and village, but he also has written expertly about the history that shaped our nation. It is not simply his ability with the written word but the way he captivates a crowd that made him a prime recipient of this award. Howard has exposed so many people in this state to the rich history of Vermont; it was an honor to give him the Lifetime Achievement Award.” 

Coffin talked with the Standard this week about his distinguished career. 

“I grew up in Woodstock. My lineage goes back quite a few generations in that area. My grandmother Coffin had a book full of old Civil War pictures. When I was a child, on a rainy day in Woodstock, when there was nothing else to do, we’d go through the photographs and see what that part of history looked like.” 

“This was when I was three or four years old,” Coffin added. “My mother remembered her grandfather, who had fought in the Civil War — so between hearing stories about him and looking at the picture book, I was hooked on the Civil War before I even knew it.” 

What started as a childhood obsession soon grew into a lifelong dedication. Coffin is a self-taught historian, as he told the Standard. “I was a college dropout and never went back to finish my degree. I was drafted into the army and spent a couple of years serving through 1966, when I took a job at the Rutland Herald. I took a year off to go down south and prowl around the battlefields and teach myself about the Civil War. I read and read and read everything I could get my hands on about that era of history.” 

When asked how the Civil War held Coffin’s attention for years, he credits his mother’s storytelling. “My mother was a fantastic storyteller,” Coffin said. “She knew how to make history come to life. Then, when I was 25, I spent two weeks in Virginia at an Army summer camp during which I took a trip to the countryside. I stumbled on a Civil War battlefield, and there was a church there that had been in the middle of the fighting. I came around the corner of the church, and there were bullet holes in the bricks. I’ll never forget putting my hand into those holes made by those bullets all those years ago. It was like I felt something pull me in. To know that I was actually touching a piece of history, I knew I’d be hooked on this subject for the rest of my life.” 

Coffin has authored four books on the Civil War, nine total, with a specific focus on Vermont and exploring the rich history of the war as it relates to the Green Mountain State.

For more on this, please see our May 14 edition of the Vermont Standard. 

Nestled along the brooks of Barnard, in a cottage steeped in mysticism and fairy lights, lives Tess Hunter, debut fantasy novelist. Everything about Hunter’s life has led her to the fantastical, from growing up in just about every time zone in the continental U.S., to being the first in her film program to graduate with a screenwriting specialization, to completing a Master’s degree in Cornwall in the United Kingdom, and — most recently — serving as managing editor of the Vermont Standard for the last five years. Hunter says she has utilized all of these experiences to bring her debut adult fantasy novel, “The Spark & The Star,” to life. 

“The Spark & The Star,” is set in a world where magic disappears every twenty-five years. On the shores of the Kotov Islands, we meet Danika, an ambitious alkhemist desperately searching for a cure to her wasting illness before time runs out and magic is gone. She and her sister join a young man’s revolution in an attempt to find the one object that can save her — the Philosopher’s Stone. Blending the genres of fantasy, history, and romance, Hunter’s story is steeped in adventure, longing, and sacrifice — all while transporting readers to a far-off land where anything is possible, even magic. 

The Standard sat down with Hunter recently to discuss her publishing debut and how this story came to be. 

“I think it was 2017 when the idea first came to me,” Hunter said. “This is my fourth manuscript — I had written two sci-fi [stories] before this, and one fantasy [novel] during my master’s program. 

“I wanted to write the story I’d gravitate towards as a reader. One day, I asked myself what I was super passionate about. I started making a list and then tried to figure out how to mesh everything together in a fun way that would also make for an interesting story.” 

In creating this epic, Hunter felt herself drawn to elements of Russian history and the concept of a magic system that disappears every 25 years.

“I really gravitate towards stories interlaced with royalty and fantasy, but sometimes I feel like [those pieces] are very thin, like they are just sort of the veneer of a royal family and not a ton of exploration of hereditary trauma, or the depth of the political systems or hierarchical systems that exist around royalty,” she said. 

It was after reading the non-fiction epic “The Romanovs: 1613-1918” by Simon Sebag Montefiore that inspiration struck Hunter. “There are some elements of Anastasia in this story, but also so many other cool facets of Russian history that I had never heard anyone talk about before. I wanted to explore this lore but also fuse it with the concept of a fantasy world where the magic system disappears, and how that would completely wreak havoc on a society…I basically built an entire monarchy/political system around this magic cycle, asking how this would affect the functionality of the world and those who live within it.” 

After four manuscripts and a decade honing her craft, Hunter not only felt primed to subvert genre expectations, but bring an odyssey to life on the page. “This was absolutely the most ambitious story that I’ve ever tried to tackle. But also, this was one of the first novels I wrote where I asked myself, ‘What do I want to tell with this story? What do I want to convey to the reader?” Those questions added a level of meaning to me I hadn’t necessarily experienced before.” 

After spending two years plotting the world of her novel — buried in the diaries of people who traveled with the Cossacks in the 1700s and crafting an entire sociopolitical system from scratch, Hunter felt ready to write “The Spark & The Star,” with the help of her writing group — The Inksters.

“The Inksters writing group started during the pandemic. I had been writing seriously for 10 years, trying various writing clubs at my local library or spaces online, but I never found my community of people that had the same interests and writing struggles. I have two best friends that are the best-read ladies I know, especially in the fantasy and sci-fi genres. They are my greatest champions and were my best readers when I showed them my work. One day, I told them they should also write a book.” 

And with that, The Inksters online community was born — a writing group that advocates for anyone being able to write a book. Hunter used her years of writing experience and education to create PowerPoints and guides to help members walk through the world of writing and finally get their story down on the page. 

In the last year, The Inksters has flourished into a disciplined and supportive group with the goal of helping independent authors write and publish their stories. 

After a decade spent struggling to break into the traditional publishing industry, Hunter decided to embark on the journey of indie-publishing — with her community by her side. 

“It can be disheartening, I think, for young authors to be faced with rejection. You get so close, but nothing really solidifies. I think I had a moment where I just wanted to stop wasting my time on hoping someone would pick up my book and instead invest in myself and my business,” she said. 

Hunter’s book officially launched on Monday, May 11. She will also be in attendance at Bookstock on The Green this weekend, Saturday, May 16, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Hunter’s booth will include book signings, giveaways, and a raffle. She is also working in collaboration with the Woodstock-based coffee shop, Dreamscape. Folks can browse her book and enjoy a bottled, themed latte at the same time. 

On Saturday evening at 7 p.m., Hunter will host a book launch party at Dreamscape Coffee in Woodstock. That event will include an author reading, Q&A, book-signing, free tarot card readings, themed cocktails and snacks, giveaways, and activities. All are welcome. 

“The Spark & The Star” is available for purchase at Yankee Bookshop, at theinksters.com, and everywhere books are sold. 

The Woodstock Union High School girls tennis team bested Rutland 6-1 on Monday afternoon at the Woodstock Athletic Center. The two teams have a rematch on Thursday at 4 p.m. in Rutland.

Above, Jess Pierce competes in her match against her Rutland opponent. Rick Russell Photo

By Tyler Maheu, Staff Sportswriter

Up 3-2, with two outs in the bottom of the seventh, the Woodstock Wasps baseball squad looked poised to continue its undefeated season last Saturday. But, in a torrential downpour, the Leland & Gray Rebels dashed those hopes and walked it off for a dramatic 4-3 win.

Saturday was a special day in Townshend, as the baseball and softball teams held their annual “Dingers for Dylan” event. The day featured two high school games, youth matchups, a home run derby, and other activities, with all proceeds benefiting the Dylan Landers Memorial Scholarship Fund. The meaning of the day was not lost on those who knew Landers and the town as a whole.

“My player Shane Lecours was his cousin,” said Leland & Gray head coach Tyler Francouer. “Today was a huge day for these guys and the whole community. Win or lose, it was going to be a good day. But to pull out a win like this, it’s almost poetic.”

The Rebels got on the board first in the bottom half of the opening frame, when an errant pick-off attempt from Woodstock pitcher Aksel Oates allowed a run to score. This lead did not last long, however.

The Wasps pushed across all three of their runs in the second inning to take the 3-1 lead, two of which came off a sacrifice fly from Grayson Hughes and a throwing error from Leland & Gray. The inning could’ve been much more, however, as Woodstock left its runners stranded with the bases loaded. “We need to be a little more aggressive at the plate and understanding of situational hitting,” said Wasps head coach Jason Tarleton. “This kid tended to throw back-to-back fastballs, and we should’ve been more ready for that.”

The kid in question was Rebel pitcher Ryder Butynski, who did not allow another run after the second inning, including a stretch of four straight one-two-three innings to keep his team in contention. “I had to change my mindset,” he said of what changed after the second. “I wasn’t being aggressive in those first two, and then I flipped a switch.” His coach had high praise. “Ryder is an absolute leader and to say it lightly, has that dog in him,” he said. “He fights hard, battles at all times, and will fight until the last breath.”

To his credit, Oates also pitched a gem on the mound. The Woodstock senior pitched all seven innings and accumulated six strikeouts despite the harsh weather. “He was mixing his pitches well and keeping them off balance,” said Tarleton on what his pitcher was doing well.

But, with two outs in the seventh and the bases empty, the rainstorm swelled to a crescendo and created chaos. Oates plunked two Rebels in a row. Then, the home squad read their opponent’s pick-off move to perfection, taking second and third base without a ball entering play. “With the conditions near the end, he lost the grip on his curveball, which dictates what pitches you select to throw,” said Tarleton. “I think that was ultimately an issue in the last inning.”

Standing ready to face him at home plate was his pitching counterpart, Butynski. “Before every swing I tell myself barrel, barrel, barrel,” he said, referring to the sweet spot on the bat. In a 3-2 count, with the game on the line, in his own words, he “finally caught one.” The pitcher shot a single into right field, which died in the wet grass and allowed two runs to cross home and give his team the 4-3 win. “It means a lot, especially today, to do it for Dylan,” he said.

The win boosted Leland & Gray to 6-1 on the year, and Francouer believes his team can keep this momentum rolling. “We’re going to keep going, keep playing our game, and the baseball will do the rest,” he said.

Woodstock’s first loss of the season put them at 5-1, but Tarleton did not fear the effect the defeat would have on his team. “They’re mentally tough, I’m not worried about them,” he said. “We’ll be ready to go Monday.”

And ready to go they were, as the Wasps traveled to Montpelier and picked up a 7-0 win to move their record to 6-1 on the season.

By Tyler Maheu, Staff Sportswriter

Wasps pitcher Riley O’Neal put himself into rarified air last Thursday, as the senior tossed his 100th career strikeout.

According to the 18-year-old senior from Plymouth, baseball has been a core part of his life since the start. “I’ve been playing baseball for as long as I can remember, starting with tee ball,” he said. While he may have started playing early, pitching was not his first position. “In elementary school, I played catcher,” he recalled. “Because of this, the coaches saw I could throw, and I started pitching then.”

O’Neal said he realized he was “decent” at pitching in eighth grade, when he was a pitcher for Woodstock’s junior varsity team despite being in middle school. Woodstock head coach Jason Tarleton credited a lot of his star pitcher’s growth to the team’s offseason pitching program.

Baseball coach Jason Tarleton congratulates Riley O’Neal after O’Neal reached his impressive milestone. Katharine Whalen Photo

“For the last three years, we’ve started a throwing program in January,” he said. “A consistent throwing program and being ready before the season starts has paid off. That’s why you’re seeing a lot of consistent pitching. They’ve put in a lot of work in the offseason, and it’s paying off.”

O’Neal agreed. “The launch of a preseason pitching program at Woodstock has completely upgraded the program, not only for me, but for everyone on the team,” he said. “Rather than jumping in with two weeks until the first scrimmage, myself and the whole team have already been getting loose for months.” He said it’s been a great tool for tweaking pitching mechanics, since in-season bullpen sessions can be hard to come by.

A lifetime of pitching training led to his accomplishment last Thursday, May 7. During a home game against White River Valley, O’Neal took the mound with a chance to create Wasps history. “It hasn’t really happened, not in my 26 years of coaching,” said Tarleton, before commenting that nobody had accomplished the feat of 100 strikeouts during his own playing career in the 1980s, either. “At least in the last 30 years, it hasn’t been done.”

In front of a home crowd ready to celebrate one of their own, the senior rose to the challenge. “Passing this milestone felt amazing,” he said, after leading his team to a 2-1 victory. “It felt so rewarding to achieve this milestone given all the work myself and my coaches have put into my pitching career.” While excited about his personal achievement, O’Neal has his sights set on something bigger. “That said, this is my final year, and I’m pushing for a bigger achievement, a championship.” With his Wasps currently at 5-1, he may be well on his way.

After graduating this spring, the Vermont native will be traveling to New York to continue his education at Clarkson University in Potsdam. There, he hopes to make an impact in the classroom and on the baseball diamond. 

“I am still working towards earning the opportunity to be a part of their baseball team,” he said.

By Tyler Maheu

Staff Sportswriter

“This one’s all on us,” said Woodstock boys lacrosse head coach Brandon Little on Monday after his team suffered a disappointing loss to the visiting Burr & Burton Academy Bulldogs, 7-4.

The battle of the two one-loss behemoths started well for the Wasps, when just two minutes into play, senior Kyler Eaton found senior Ian Coates for a goal to give them a 1-0 lead. However, that would be the first half’s lone bright spot.

Burr & Burton raced out to a 3-1 lead after the first quarter, thanks to two goals from senior Jack McCostis, the second of which was his 100th career point. “It’s taken a lot of effort, and to do it in just two years on varsity means a lot,” he said, while commenting that he believes 60 of the 100 came from goals, with 40 from assists. “I take pride in being a feeder,” he said. 

He added a third goal just 10 seconds into the second quarter, and his team netted two more to take a 6-1 halftime lead.

“We were making mistakes and throwing the ball away,” said Little on what went wrong in the first half. “This one’s all on us.” While he said his coaching staff didn’t make any major adjustments at halftime, just “the little things,” the Wasps came out with a fire.

Three minutes into the third quarter, sophomore Cole Little fired a pass from the top of the box to fellow 10th grader Declan Roylance, left of the net, for a goal to make it 6-2. Here the score would stay headed into the fourth. 

Burr & Burton would score their seventh and final goal of the night six minutes into the quarter, before Cole Little added two of his own to close the gap 7-4. With time winding down, the Bulldogs successfully ran out the clock before storming the field to celebrate their win.

With the victory, the Bulldogs move to 8-1 on the season, and McCostis views this as just the beginning. “We have all the momentum,” he said. “We are going to win out, take the first seed in the state of Vermont, and then win the state championship. We are going to keep having a good year.”

For Coach Little, his team has areas to improve in order to compete with the top of the division. “We need to be better on ground balls, getting them to passes and taking baby steps up the field,” he said. “It’s all about personal responsibility, owning mistakes and correcting them.” He continued on a positive note. “We are a good team, we just didn’t put four quarters together.

Woodstock, now at 6-2, hopes to get back on track Wednesday against Stowe. 

Elizabeth Stetson, cherished mother, grandmother, and lifelong member of the Pomfret community, passed away peacefully on May 11, 2026, in Pomfret, Vermont.

Arrangements are not yet finalized for services. A full obituary will appear in an upcoming issue of the paper.

The Cabot Funeral Home in Woodstock is assisting the family.

With deep sadness, we announce the passing of Blair Fahnestock Baldwin, 47, of Pomfret, Vermont, who left us early on Monday, April 27, 2026. He died peacefully in his sleep due to a sudden cardiac event, after spending the weekend with his cherished wife and three daughters.

Blair lived every day radiating joy, love, and a sense of fun. He danced daily to the tunes of his favorite band, Phish. He took his girls hiking in the woods of his beloved Vermont farm. Whether he was taking professional calls or walking through the grocery store, Blair brought his creative, playful approach, elevating the mundane to a grand adventure.

Blair was born April 7, 1979 in New York City, to Deborah Stoddard Baldwin and Blair F. Baldwin. He grew up sharing his time between Southampton, N.Y., and Newport, R.I., where he spent long summers with his grandparents, Helen and John Winslow, and his uncle, W. Barton Baldwin, and developed a love of tennis and sailing.

For high school, Blair attended St. Paul’s School in New Hampshire. During his time there, he spent a Semester at Sea and a term teaching at an Aboriginal school in Australia. He then started his college career at St. Andrews University in Scotland, where he formed deep friendships, came into himself as a scholar, and learned to focus his brilliance and energy.

Blair transferred to Harvard halfway through his sophomore year, and found himself in Dunster House. There he built bonds of friendship so strong that his rooming group was featured in the Harvard Gazette for the strength of their support for one another despite being very different humans. He worked in the Dunster Grille, and was very active in the Dunster House Committee, taking his role as a Zorbel Meister seriously. He fortuitously served as a Sophomore Outing leader for incoming Dunsterites, during which he met the love of his life, Lindsay Hyde, at Walden Pond.

After graduating from Harvard College, Blair continued to build a community of friends that would become akin to a chosen family, and traveled the world as a consultant with Digitas, further cementing a life-long love of adventure and travel that ultimately took him to six of seven continents.

Blair enrolled in Harvard Business School (HBS) in 2007. It was there that he discovered his entrepreneurial spirit and became part of a community of founders who continue to champion each other to this day. During this time, he also married Lindsay at a wedding in Southampton that was attended by family and friends from around the country and the world.

Following his time at HBS, Blair immersed himself professionally in the world of startups. He founded and led four startups over his career, and played critical leadership roles in five others. He also provided mentorship and generous advice to hundreds of early-stage founders.

Together, Lindsay and Blair lived full and rich lives. Blair was a true partner in all aspects of life. No matter what Lindsay was doing, Blair showed up and did whatever needed to be done.

Anyone who knew him knew he was her biggest champion, her greatest love, and her teammate in the good and hard moments of life.

He extended this devotion to his many friends and colleagues. Over the years, Blair was the person many called to share the best and most terrible times. He effortlessly sustained connection with people from many eras of his life, and will be mourned and deeply missed by countless members of the many communities to which he belonged.

Blair’s mother says that from his earliest days, when asked what he wanted to be when he grew up, he said, “A father.” In addition to his many personal and professional achievements, Blair first and foremost focused on being a great dad to his three girls: Campbell, age 9, Jones (JoJo) age 6, and Hawthorne (Hattie) age 2. Blair was an active volunteer in their school, sharing his love of skiing through the school ski program. He told original bedtime stories every night from his vivid imagination, and built family traditions like Taco Tuesday, annual camping trips, and morning Phish dance parties.

Blair is pre-deceased by his father, Blair F. Baldwin, and his step-father, Charles Moulton. He is survived by his mother, Deborah Stoddard Moulton, his sister, Sarah Moulton Faux, and his uncle, W. Barton Baldwin. He leaves behind his wife, Lindsay Hyde, and their three daughters.

A Celebration of Life was held at St. James Episcopal Church in Woodstock, Vermont, on Saturday, May 9, 2026 at 10 a.m. In lieu of flowers, consider making a contribution to college funds for Blair’s three girls. You can do so at online-tribute.com/blairbaldwin.

John F. Cullen, III, age 84, long time teacher and coach at Woodstock Union High School, died peacefully on Aug. 30, 2025 at his home in Lake Oswego, Ore., surrounded and held by his family. He was born in Taunton, Mass. on Aug. 8, 1941 to John F. Cullen, II and Virginia Cullen (Nichols). He is survived by his wife, Dona Cullen, and his daughter, Amanda Cullen-Crofut (Benjamin Crofut) WUHS Class of ‘92, also of Lake Oswego, and grandsons Orion (24) and Tashi (20); and his son, Brendan Cullen (Rebecca Krouner) WUHS Class of ‘90, now of Lexington, Mass. and grandsons Aidan (12) and Asher (2). John is also survived by his sister, Joan Kuliga (Mitchell Kuliga), of Assonet, Mass. and his brother, Peter Cullen (and friend Sheila Parker), of New Bedford, Mass. He leaves nieces and nephews he holds dear — Kristen Kuliga, Kim Kuliga, Peter Kuliga, Meghan Cullen (Ruscitto), Caitlin Rollins and Kelsey Cullen (Davidson) and all of their children.

Also known as “Jack” and pictured here as you might have remembered him in the ‘70s, was a graduate of Taunton High School and quarterback of the football team. He spent a 5th year at Brewster Academy (NH) playing football and basketball. He then attended and played football at Southern Colorado University, graduating in 1965. Jack was a beloved teacher and coach all of his life. He started at Bridgewater-Raynham High School in Massachusetts; then moved to Vermont and had 29 wonderful years (1970-1999) teaching earth science and coaching at different times football, tennis, hockey, basketball, track and gymnastics. He went on to run programs in hockey, basketball and tennis in Prescott, Ariz.; and finally landing in Oregon, coaching boys’ tennis at Tigard High School and mentoring his grandsons, friends and teammates in football, basketball and tennis at Lakeridge High School in Lake Oswego.

Countless youth over the decades benefited from his devotion and meticulous instruction, his wit and ability to connect, entertain and educate. So many adults report how Jack Cullen changed their lives, inspired them to have faith in themselves and to aspire for excellence. He had dozens of awards and championships and, to his last breath, was lecturing caregivers on nature and the environment. He is sorely missed.

There will be a Memorial Service and Celebration of Life at the Unitarian Universalist Church in Woodstock on June 14 at 1 p.m., with a simple reception to follow. Come with your stories.

Preceded in death by husband, John (aka Jack), sister Mary Lu, and brother, Bruce. Survived by children David, (JoAnn), Emily, (Matthew), Amy, and Edward, and grandchildren Sadie, Sam, Hannah, Iris, Jordan, and Maggie as well as siblings-in-law Janet Bender and Charles Mathis, and her nieces and nephews. Born in Cooperstown, N.Y., her father’s work as a Methodist minister took Ruth to several towns, notably Scranton, Pa. Throughout her childhood, she enjoyed spending time with her grandparents, including at the family farm in Chenango Bridge, N.Y. She met Jack Hunter at Lycoming College. After he helped Ruth on move-in day, and later recognized her in the library where she worked, Jack asked her to the homecoming dance. They married on June 1, 1956. Ruth went where Jack’s teaching career took them, creating a niche for herself, being mother to her children wherever they landed, be it Boston, Denmark, Greensboro, North Carolina, Vermont, Maryland, California, the Hudson Valley, Pennsylvania and finally returning to Vermont for retirement where she spent her last years. On moving to Vermont the first time, Ruth helped found Saltash Mountain Camp, beginning an association with Farm and Wilderness Camps that would endure her whole life. 

Over the years, Ruth applied her library science degree at schools such as John Woolman, Oakwood Friends, Westtown, and as an archivist at Bryn Mawr, and Lincoln University where she helped to curate the Langston Hughes collection. At each library where she worked Ruth made certain to have books that welcomed each student. After retiring she started Ruth’s Book Repair out of her home in Woodstock. She was a doting grandmother, and active in Hanover Friends Meeting, a volunteer at the Women’s jail, the League of Women Voters, the Food Shelf, and the Vermont Institute of Natural Science. She was a gifted singer, who effortlessly brought warm tones to whatever gospel or pop tune she tried, often in community choral groups. She was also a graceful swimmer at Fiddle Lake, Tiny Pond, Mel’s Lake, Woodward Reservoir, the Yuba and Feather rivers, to name a few. Ruth instilled in her children a love of books, the outdoors, and an unwavering passion for justice. To meet her was to feel warmth and kindness. She was impossibly loveable and will be dearly missed by her children, grandchildren and all who met her were better people for knowing her. 

Please feel free to donate in her memory to the Vermont Institute of Natural Science at vinsweb.org, the Campership Fund (Affordable for All) at the Farm and Wilderness Foundation at farmandwilderness.org or the Vermont Food Bank at vtfoodbank.org.

A memorial service for Blair Baldwin, 47, who died on April 27, will be held Saturday, May 9 at the St. James Episcopal Church in Woodstock, beginning at 10 a.m. The Cabot Funeral Home in Woodstock is assisting the family. A full obituary will be published at a later date.

Richard ‘Rick’ Bates A celebration of life for Richard “Rick” Bates, who died Nov. 21, 2025, will be held on Saturday, May 9 from 1-4 p.m. at The Thompson Center in West Woodstock. A time to share memories of Rick will take place at 2 p.m. at The Thompson Center. The Cabot Funeral Home in Woodstock is assisting the family.

Heather Marie Regan, 53, of Everett, Mass. passed away peacefully on April 19, 2026, surrounded by her family.

Born in Saugus, Mass. to her parents Paul and Beverly Regan of Milton, South Woodstock, and presently Hingham, Mass. Heather graduated from Milton High School and Colgate University where she received a BS in Biology and a minor in Chemistry.

Growing up in Milton Massachusetts Heather joined a Blue Hill Reservation Pony Club called “The Ponka-Pog Pony Club” which led to her attending a two week summer horse camp here in Woodstock at Green Mountain Horse Association in South Woodstock.

Future summers were spent with her parents at their home in South Woodstock, surrounded by the Green Mountain Horse Association. During some of those summers, Heather worked at both The Grand Union Food Market and The White Cottage Restaurant.

Throughout her college years, she was active in support of Habitat for Humanity.

After college, Heather joined The Peace Corp. and served in Niger, Africa.

Upon her return to the States, skills developed at Colgate University led her to her positions at both Harvard Medical School, running a lab overseeing retina research for the National Health Institute and then on to Boston University Medical School putting to use her expertise in electron microscopy.

Heather’s passionate “What’s next?” curiosity meant career moves through the years, becoming a talented baker working at Boston top hotels with James Beard recognized chefs; starting her own company “The Collared Canine;” and finding her niche in bartending at the Boston Park Plaza Hotel for over 20 years.

She was an extraordinary cook, involved and caring neighbor, creative collector, and a master gardener.

She is survived by her husband, Dennis St. Aubin, her parents Paul and Beverly Regan, her closest friend Beth Degen and her numerous aunts, uncles, cousins, close neighbors, and many of her favorite patrons.

A Mass of Christian burial will be celebrated at St. Agatha Church, 432 Adams Street, Milton on May 15 at 11 a.m. Family and friends invited. Visiting hours at Dolan Funeral Home, 460 Granite Avenue, EAST MILTON SQUARE, prior to the mass from 9-10:30 a.m.  Burial will be private.

By Dan Cotter, Publisher 

Well, my friends, this is my fourth and final article of our 2025 annual appeal. 

Once again, this year, it’s been a privilege to talk directly with you about the mission we’re on at the Vermont Standard and the difficult challenges we face — to ask if you’ll please consider donating to the Woodstock Region Journalism Foundation in support of our efforts to connect our community and keep you informed on issues of public importance.

Today, the main thing I want you to know is that we are proud to work for you.

We know you’re counting on us to be your eyes and ears — filling you in about local government actions that affect you, about local crime, about court cases playing out here, about notable news items and occurrences, the accomplishments of our neighbors and local youth, about developments at our schools, churches, businesses, and charitable or civic organizations, about the happenings and things to do in the local area, and lots more. 

We are the one and only news source that’s entirely focused on our area; reporting news that’s primarily of interest right here. Our work — week in and week out — is entirely dedicated to the welfare of this community. 

That’s the way it’s been here for 172 years. And Phil Camp and I and our small team are now trying to produce a 2025 version of the Vermont Standard that’s the best it has ever been in the paper’s long history.

The Standard is for you. It exists simply to benefit you and your neighbors. We regard this responsibility and the trust you place in us as a badge of honor. We pledge to give it our best. All we’ve got.

As I’ve explained before, the financial pressures we face are intense. And, tragically, various powers that be are trying to exert additional pressure in a sad attempt to undermine the press. By extension, their actions undermine you, the public. That’s nothing new, really, but it’s pretty acute right now. Shame on them.

However, with your donations to keep us afloat, we’re hanging in there, staying strong and getting stronger. We are continuing to work, not only on improving this week’s Vermont Standard, but next month’s and next year’s too, as we attempt to set things up so we can produce high-quality local journalism for the long term. 

We’ll make sure your gift is put to good use as a worthwhile investment in one of the key components of the critical infrastructure that underpins this community.

As a citizen, it’s essential for you to be well-informed. That’s the only way we can have a functioning local democracy and a lively, connected community. As your eyes and ears, we’ll continue to follow the news closely and report it to you in new, better, and more engaging ways as time goes on. 

We hope to make you proud as we strive to do the best community journalism in the country. We believe that’s a realistic goal. This weekend — for the ninth time in the last twelve years — the Standard will once again be a finalist for the honor of being named New England Weekly Newspaper of the Year.

When it comes to journalism, we believe you deserve the absolute best.

We are deeply appreciative of any financial help you can offer in this year’s 2025 annual appeal. In fact, if you’re interested, Phil Camp and I would be very grateful for an opportunity to meet with you in person to talk more about what’s needed and our plans. Please don’t hesitate to contact us at dcotter@thevermontstandard.com or 802-457-1313.

Also — very importantly — if you have a family foundation, please consider adding the Woodstock Region Journalism Foundation (EIN: 93-3287932) to the worthwhile causes you regularly support. We’ll be deeply indebted to you.

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

If you’re willing to make a tax-deductible donation to our 2025 Annual Appeal, please send a check to PO Box 88, Woodstock, VT 05091, or go to our Vermont Standard THIS WEEK website at thevermontstandard.com to make a contribution with your credit card. Be sure to make your check out to the “Woodstock Region Journalism Foundation.” 

By Dan Cotter, Publisher 

Lord knows, there are lots of fascinating people in our community.

At times, it seems as if every person you meet here in the course of a day is even more interesting than the last one. Sometimes, I marvel at how in the world all these wonderful and impressive folks are either from here or ended up here, in this little corner of Vermont.

Of course, I’m lucky. I get to participate in our story planning meetings at the Standard each week to decide who and what we’re going to write about next. Beyond the breaking news, what feature stories should we write – about which people, which organizations, which businesses?

It’s a joy.

There are always plenty of nominations. And then, even though you think you pretty well know who someone is or what an organization does and stands for, our reporter does a deep dive and provides new insight about them or their work or their cause in an account that’s simply breathtaking. Who knew? Right here among us! 

I often refer to the Vermont Standard as a kind of “glue” for our community. It’s a paper everyone can turn to in order to stay informed about the local news — the goings-on, the things to do. Something to look forward to each week to catch up on the latest. A common experience shared by those who live here or care about this place.

But maybe the best part about the Standard is the way it enables us to connect as a community. The way it helps us get to know each other better by introducing us to that really interesting person who lives next door (sometimes literally). And I’ve found that typically the more impressive people are, the less likely they are to talk about themselves. They’re too modest. So, it takes a nosy reporter to get them to tell their full story.

And the same goes for some of the incredible organizations in the area, including charities, nonprofits, schools, churches, arts organizations, libraries, history centers, and many more. They aren’t always focused on touting or telling their story – about what they do, who they help, what they accomplish. Often, they toil away under the radar. But the Standard is eager to bring their story to the public’s attention. We want to shine a spotlight, applaud their work, and make the folks who might decide to join or support them aware of them.

Soon, we’ll be bringing you those kinds of stories on video too, as we roll out our Headliners and Inside Scoop programs this fall.

The bottom line is that living in a community is much more fulfilling for most of us when we get to know more about the ordinary people among us, who are doing some pretty extraordinary things. Reading about them and their aspirations and accomplishments in the Standard is fun, and, on occasion, when those stories also explain their struggles and failures, their resilience and ultimate triumphs, it can be touching to read, inspiring even. 

These stories help us all feel a deeper sense of kinship with the people and organizations in our midst. They connect us and make us feel that we all truly belong to this beautiful community.

As I said, being this glue that strengthens our connection? It’s a joy.

We are deeply appreciative of any financial help you can offer in this year’s 2025 annual appeal. Our effort to preserve quality journalism for our community is quite urgent, my friends. And Phil Camp and I would be very grateful for an opportunity to meet with you to talk more about what’s needed and our plans. Please don’t hesitate to contact us at dcotter@thevermontstandard.com or (802) 457-1313.

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 Woodstock Region Journalism 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 2025 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.” 

By Dan Cotter, Publisher

For the past 15-20 years, most local newspapers have been trying to “do more with less” in an effort to survive. And, of course, since that’s not a good long-term strategy, it has put our industry into a slow death spiral.

America has lost 3,200 of its newspapers in that same period of time, and currently, an average of more than two per week go out of business. Hundreds more papers are on life support, as they try to hang on by cutting staff, cutting pages, cutting the frequency of their publishing days, and eliminating their print editions. In their resulting emaciated state, those papers certainly can’t serve the need for local news and information in their communities.

Those withered newspapers are called “ghost papers,” because they are hollowed out shells of their former selves. Technically, they still exist. They continue to survive. But the communities counting on them? Well, they can no longer really count on them.

The handful of hedge funds and corporate raiders that bought up so many of our nation’s newspapers and ruined them wrote the playbook. In their effort to “rightsize” (meaning to dramatically downsize…) their papers in the face of diminishing advertising revenue, they chopped the expenses. Severely.

For newspapers, the primary expense is paying the people who work there. After many rounds of staff cuts, those papers barely cover any news at all, because they no longer have enough people to do it.

And as many of the small independent papers – like the Standard – encountered those same advertising revenue headwinds, lacking a better plan, they began following the same playbook. Consequently, in their efforts to survive, they now f ind themselves in that same never-ending spiral of cost-cutting.

Also, newspapers in that ragged state aren’t able to do the type of development work required to create a sustainable path for the future. In order to survive beyond just this week or this year, news organizations must create new services and revenue streams that will support them long-term. To do that takes time, thought, experimentation, risk-taking, and perseverance.

The beleaguered staff that’s left at most newspapers today simply lacks the energy for that.

“Doing more with less” (and less, and less…) was originally supposed to be a stopgap measure to buy time for newspapers to get their feet under them so they could forge a path to sustainability. Sadly, though, for most, it’s simply become standard operating procedure.

Fortunately, for our community here, the Vermont Standard has not followed that all too popular “survivor” playbook. We’ve never wanted to preside over a slow death march, just to be able to say we’re still publishing, but, in fact, failing to serve the very real need for local news, information, and connection in this community.

Thanks to your financial support, we’ve been able to go another way. Instead of doing more with less, we realize that we – and all local news organizations, especially in today’s political climate – just need to do more. Much more. And while doing that, we also need to create a sustainable path forward so we can live on to serve this community in even better ways for many more years.

Our efforts to survive are actually just the first step towards our real intention, which is to thrive.

In fact, with your help, we’ve upgraded our staff and improved our publication in recent years. The team we have reporting local news is now stronger than ever. They have a good deal of talent and a whole lot of heart, working for ridiculously low wages at this frugal newspaper, yet fueled by such a worthy mission. At the Standard, we haven’t forgotten why we exist in the first place. We are striving to provide wall-to-wall coverage of a steady stream of complex stories that are of great interest and importance to this community we serve.

We’ve also enhanced the look, feel, and utility of our publications.

And we’ve expanded our digital news and information products – we are doing more and more online programming with them. This fall, we are introducing our new series of “Headliners” interviews with local newsmakers that you’ll be able to view on our Vermont Standard THIS WEEK website. Also, we’re introducing a new show called “Inside Scoop”, which will give you an in-depth, insider look at the goings-on at many of the businesses and organizations that make our community so special.

At the Standard, we are trying to save a real newspaper that offers the powerful local journalism our community needs to function properly. Not a ghost paper. The Standard has to be good enough to get the job done now and survive in the long run. “Right-sizing” here does not mean a diminished publication that’s essentially worthless, as it does in so many communities throughout our nation. Here, it means being just big enough to provide the essential local journalism that contributes mightily to the quality of life in our community, and break even.

That’s the kind of Vermont Standard we are trying so hard to preserve, while setting things up so we can provide the quality local journalism our community needs well into the future.

I sincerely hope you’ll join us on this very important mission.

As we begin this year’s 2025 annual appeal, we are deeply appreciative of any financial help you can give us. Our mission is quite urgent, of course, and Phil Camp and I would be very grateful for an opportunity to meet with you to talk more about what’s needed and our plans. Please don’t hesitate to contact us at dcotter@thevermontstandard.com or (802) 457-1313.

Also, if you have a family foundation, please consider adding the Woodstock Region Journalism Foundation (EIN: 933287932) to the worthwhile causes you regularly support.

The Woodstock Region Journalism 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 2025 Annual Appeal, please send a check to PO Box 88, Woodstock, VT 05091, or go to our Vermont Standard THIS WEEK website at thevermontstandard.com to make a contribution with your credit card. Be sure to make your check out to the “Woodstock Region Journalism Foundation.”

By Dan Cotter, publisher

It’s been said that there are very few things in life that you can always count on. But there are indeed a few, and I believe you’re holding one of them in your hands right now (or perhaps reading it on a screen).

For 172 years, the people of Woodstock, Hartland, Pomfret, Barnard, Bridgewater, Reading, West Windsor, Quechee, Plymouth, and the surrounding towns have counted on the Vermont Standard to keep watch on things in order to keep them informed, empowered, and connected. Our columnist, Dave Doubleday, replays some of the top stories of the day that took place 10, 20, 50, 75, or 100 years ago in each installment of his brilliant “Olde Woodstock” feature. It’s amazing and quite reassuring that people here were reading this same paper all those years ago simply to find out what’s happening.

Just as you are today.

All this time, citizens – informed by the Standard — were able to fully participate in their local democracy as our area progressed to the state it’s in today. What a huge responsibility it must have been, and still is today, to produce this newspaper each week. To prepare a quality news report to help readers experience and enjoy day-to-day life here and make good decisions for their community.

It’s the honor of a lifetime to be entrusted with this responsibility. The Standard has a small crew of talented, fair-minded, and underpaid journalists doggedly pursuing their mission week in and week out — trying to produce an interesting local news report that will inform, educate, and entertain the people who live here. It’s a “weekly miracle.” We start with a blank page each Wednesday afternoon, and we work tirelessly to pursue stories and produce the very best finished publication we can by the following Wednesday, so that it will be in your mailbox or at the store for you on Thursday.

In the century and a three-quarters that this paper has existed, this is our time, and our team is attempting to make a proud contribution to its legacy.

Ours certainly isn’t the easiest time to be a journalist in the Standard’s and our community’s history. This is a time of transition, when traditional forms of funding for local journalism have waned. Now, we have not only to strive to produce an excellent news report each week, but we also have to hold our breath that we’ll even be able to stay afloat.

An average of more than two newspapers fold in the U.S. each week (3,200 have vanished in the past twenty years!), leaving their communities without this kind of “glue” – without the common experience of reading in print or online about issues that affect them and their neighbors and a comprehensive set of facts for all to know about what’s happening in their local area each week.

Making matters worse, hundreds of other towns throughout the nation now only have a “ghost newspaper” that is so financially compromised it can barely cover any local news in its meager news product.

Some people – perhaps taking a page from the playbook being used at the national level – might prefer that ours was a weaker, sleepier paper and that they could exert some kind of pressure to compromise the Standard’s coverage.

But they’re mistaken. It hasn’t worked in 172 years, and we won’t let it happen now. Count on it.

We’ve had many complex (and interesting!) local stories to cover just in this past year — news that people here are counting on us to follow and explain. From the Woodstock Foundation lawsuit, to school policy, budget and reorganization issues, to Peace Field Farm, to the water company purchase, to short-term rental ordinances, to the police chief demotion, to the proposed cell phone tower and farm outlet store in Hartland, to the ECFiber case, to the ongoing housing and child care shortages, to the impact of federal funding cuts on local organizations. And we’ve had many milestones and achievements to celebrate, from our football state championship team, to our local priest’s 50^th anniversary of his ordination, to the resurgence of Bookstock, to local artists and authors who released their latest works, to this year’s graduates, to a pair of brothers who achieved the rank of Eagle Scout, to the dedication and resilience shown by those remarkable protesters in Woodstock. Even the announcement of plans for a new performing arts center, and the sighting of low-flying military planes over Woodstock. Those stories aren’t easy or inexpensive to cover, but like the journalists at the Standard who were our predecessors throughout those many, many years, it’s our solemn responsibility to inform the public about the public’s business, the very best we can.

Indeed, we can, primarily because we now have the support of hundreds of residents and readers who truly understand and value what quality local journalism does — and has always done — for our community here. They respond to our annual appeal each year. They keep us afloat. They keep us encouraged. They harden our resolve to try ever harder to serve this community and this local democracy. We count on all of you.

Oftentimes, I’ve asked individual donors, “What can we possibly do to thank you for your generosity?” And, to a person, they always say, “Just keep putting out a darn good newspaper.”

In appreciation for you, our friends, the Standard has only one single objective and guiding light going forward: to keep trying to put out a better and better paper each week in service to this community.

You can count on us.

As we begin this year’s annual appeal, we are deeply appreciative of any financial help you can give us. Our mission is quite urgent, of course, and Phil Camp and I would be very grateful for an opportunity to meet with you to talk more about what’s needed 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 2025 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 Woodstock Region Journalism 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 2025 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.”

“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.

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

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