The Woodstock Village Trustees are expected to rule within a week on whether they will reject the proposed demotion of Police Chief Joe Swanson or will side with municipal manager Eric Duffy to make him an entry level patrol officer. 

The trustees heard nearly 14 hours of testimony and legal arguments on March 2 and 3 and gave both sides until late Tuesday afternoon to file legal memorandums or proposed findings of fact/conclusions. 

Attorney Linda Fraas, on behalf of Swanson, repeated in her filing this week comments she made earlier that she is not expecting the trustees to budge from their ongoing support of Duffy. Swanson was unable to attend the trustee’s hearing because he is recovering from long-planned back surgery.

“This pleading is therefore likely futile,” wrote Fraas in her 29-page double-spaced memo. 

The hearing and written ruling by the trustees are needed for Swanson to file another appeal to Vermont Superior Court in Woodstock. A superior court judge overruled the trustees for the first hearing they held in March 2025. 

Fraas then goes on to offer proposed findings to the board, “without waiving the position that this hearing was not lawfully conducted given the failure of trustees with clear cut conflicts and demonstrated bias to recuse themselves, as well additional due process violations raised prior to and during the hearing…” 

Fraas also noted that Chief Swanson was unlawfully denied progressive discipline while heading the department. It would have provided for verbal and written warnings, suspensions and an eventual termination if corrective steps were not taken. Progressive discipline was taken out of the town personnel policy on Oct. 11, 2024, four days before he was placed on involuntary paid leave, Fraas wrote.

Burlington lawyer Kendall Hoechst, on behalf of the village, filed a 12-page single-space letter and maintains there are plenty of reasons to support the demotion. 

“Viewed in their totality, the facts are more than sufficient to conclude cause exists to remove Mr. Swanson from the position of police chief,” she wrote. 

Hoechst admitted that the village contract was poorly drafted. “The employment agreement, admittedly, is not a model of clarity. The pertinent section of the contract …states “Employer may terminate Employee’s employment for just cause at any time during the term of this agreement …” 

Hoechst does not represent Duffy, who has his own lawyer, but Fraas could not help but note she was still fighting for him.

“Attorney Hoechst’s advocacy for Mr. Duffy’s position contrary to established law based upon manufactured novel theories will once again lead the Village into protracted litigation until a court once again applies the correct law and overturns the decision,” Fraas wrote in her filing. 

Fraas also maintains in her memo that the actions taken against Chief Swanson demonstrate disparate treatment, bias and discrimination based on his sexual orientation. 

Swanson, who is an openly gay police chief and married to a male, has been treated differently than heterosexual employees based upon his sexual orientation, she said.

Chief Swanson was subjected to retaliation, discrimination, hostility and mistreatment during the time he worked as an unlawfully demoted patrol officer and placing him in this position again in violation of his contract will cause irreparable harm to Chief Swanson,” Fraas wrote.

Hoechst, who joined the case earlier this year, said she disputes any claims made about Swanson’s sexual orientation.

“While this is outside the scope of what the Trustees need to decide, it is nevertheless false,” she wrote in her letter.

Hoechst declined to provide the Vermont Standard with a copy of her post-hearing memorandum she filed this week with the trustees. The newspaper had to obtain it through Fraas, who has maintained since the beginning of the demotion effort that the whole process, including the hearing and all documents, were open to the public.

The board also was asked to provide copies of the village exhibits submitted during the hearing last week, but they balked. The trustees maintained the public hearing was still a personnel matter.

The trustees also have said they do not intend to release their findings to the public. During the first hearing, the board also balked at releasing their report, but the Vermont Standard filed a Vermont Public Records request, which was eventually successful.

The five current trustees need to have their findings issued by St. Patrick’s Day, when the village residents hold their annual meeting, according to their Hearing Officer, Brian Monaghan, a Burlington lawyer. Two trustees, chair Seton McIlroy and member Frank Horneck are not seeking re-election and will leave the board that day, so the decision must be completed, if all five are to participate in the findings. 

 For more on this, please see our March 12 edition of the Vermont Standard. 

Buoyed by the passage of a $111.9 million bond for a school rebuild on Town Meeting Day, officials of the Mountain Views School District (MVSD) are moving forward with an intensive advocacy and lobbying effort targeting state lawmakers engaged in an ongoing debate over education transformation in Vermont.

Voters in Barnard, Bridgewater, Killington, Plymouth, Pomfret, Reading, and Woodstock on March 3 approved the bond issue to rebuild Woodstock Union High School and Middle School (WUHS/MS) over the next three years by a vote of 1,648 to 1,047. The bond proposal was drafted with conditions that would save taxpayers $15 million versus the $99 million rebuild bond that was rejected by school district voters in 2024. The new rebuild bond passed 61.5% to 37.5% this time around.

Empowered by the strong mandate for both the school bond and the passage of a $32.5 million school budget for fiscal year 2027 by an even greater, two-to-one margin, MVSD officials, public school advocates, and state legislators are now working toward passage of legislation in the current State House session that will reinstitute comprehensive school construction aid for Vermont public schools at the state level. School administrators and boards statewide are also pressing lawmakers to enact legislation to separate capital construction debt from the per-pupil education spending penalty built into the state’s current education funding formula. Both issues are related to the contingencies attached to the school rebuild bond approved by voters at Town Meeting last week. If the issues are not resolved by lawmakers and Gov. Phil Scott before the end of the current legislative session in May, MVSD officials will not move forward with borrowing under the rebuild bond.

“We want to roll up our sleeves and get to the lobbying stage with the people who matter about how they can help us to get our voice heard,” MVSD School Board chair Keri Bristow said during a three-way conversation with MVSD superintendent Sherry Sousa and the Standard last Friday. “We’ve got to ride this momentum now and to keep it going forward so that we don’t lose a year or two years in securing at least a promissory note on the school construction aid,” Bristow added. “I think the decoupling will probably happen. It’s a no-brainer. Anyone who got a bond [passed] is probably over the threshold themselves, or maybe not, depending on how big their district is. They might be able to absorb it like we have in the past. But anybody that needs to do renovations, which is probably many schools in Vermont, they’ve got to be freed from this coupled per pupil-spend,” Bristow insisted.

For more on this, please see our March 12 edition of the Vermont Standard. 

Two high-ranking members of the Windsor County Sheriff’s Department say they are planning to make a run for the top spot this fall. 

Capt. Claude Weyant of Windsor, a longtime Chief Deputy for the department, said this week he plans to seek the nomination for county sheriff from the Democratic Party at its Aug. 11 primary election. 

Lt. Richard King of Springfield, who now oversees the patrol division, said he will be seeking the nomination from the Republican Party in its primary on Aug. 11. 

At left: Lt. Richard King. At right: Capt. Claude Weyant

It is unknown if embattled Windsor County Sheriff Ryan Palmer, a Democrat, plans to seek a second term. He has taken a step back from the daily operation of the sheriff’s department to concentrate on defending himself against a series of serious charges in criminal court.

The winners of the primaries for the major political parties, plus any independents or write-ins, will square off in the General Election on Nov. 3. 

Nominating petitions for major party candidates, which need at least 100 signatures, must be submitted to the Windsor County Clerk between April 27 and May 28, according to the Secretary of State.

Both Weyant and King said they will be outlining their political platforms as their campaigns move forward. Both expect to have official websites and be out in the community meeting voters.

Weyant, 70, has spent about 40 years in law enforcement, including more than 20 years with the Windsor County Sheriff’s Department. He worked as the chief deputy under now-retired Sheriff D. Michael Chamberlain, who served the county for 40 years.

Palmer pleaded not guilty last month to five felony charges: two counts each of aggravated stalking and obstruction of justice, and one of lewd and lascivious conduct, along with two misdemeanor charges of prohibited acts.

Following his court arraignment, Palmer stepped back from the department, and he appointed Weyant to oversee the daily operation of the sheriff’s office. King and Administrative Lt. Andy Leonard are assisting. Weyant also is the elected high bailiff for Windsor County.

King, 63, of Springfield, has spent more than three decades in law enforcement and private security work. His longest stint was 20 years with Ludlow Police, where he worked up to the post of detective sergeant before he retired in 2022. 

His retirement did not last long, as Sheriff Palmer asked King to join the department in May 2023 as a sergeant and last year elevated him to one of the two lieutenant slots. 

King also is among nearly 50 Drug Recognition Experts certified in Vermont. 

He was sworn in as a U.S. Secret Service Task Force Officer by Acting U.S. Marshal John Hall in Burlington in January and is undergoing training for the New England Cyber Crime Task Force. He has been active with the Special Investigation Unit for sex crimes in Windsor County.

For more on this story, please see our March 12 edition of the Vermont Standard. 

Last week, the Town of Woodstock announced that beginning in April, a 3% penalty will be applied to full-time residents’ total education tax if they fail to declare homestead status.

In Vermont, all property is subject to education property tax to pay for the state’s schools. For this purpose, a property is categorized as either homestead or nonhomestead. A homestead is the principal dwelling and parcel of land surrounding the dwelling, owned and occupied by the resident as the person’s domicile, according to Title 32: Taxation and Finance of the Vermont Statutes. 

Those who meet this definition of a Vermont homestead must file a homestead declaration annually by the April filing deadline. All properties in Vermont are considered nonhomestead unless they are specifically declared as a homestead, according to Vermont state statute. 

The education property tax rate levied on nonhomestead property differs from the rate levied on homestead property, and it is the taxpayer’s responsibility to file their status correctly, state tax official Lisa Pinkus told the Standard. 

Finance director for the town of Woodstock, Robert Densmore, explained the difference in tax rates for homestead and nonhomestead. He told the Standard, “The tax rate per $100 for a homestead is 2.6670 and 2.1694 for a nonhomestead. For $100,000, homestead would be $2,667, and nonhomestead would be $2,169.40. So roughly the difference between the two filings would be $497.60 per $100,000 of value.” 

Recently, tax bills were made public, and a resident pointed out on the town listserv that four out of the ten elected governing officials in Woodstock had been issued tax bills that did not properly reflect their homestead status. 

During a joint meeting of the village trustees and town selectboard on Monday, Feb. 23, selectboard member Keri Cole and chair of the trustees Seton McIlroy, spoke to the issue. Cole said, “I was late filing my homestead declaration due to an accounting oversight. As soon as it was brought to my attention, I did file before the deadline in October.” 

McIlroy added, “I, too, was initially listed as nonhomestead due to an out-of-state accountant. As soon as I received my tax bill, I immediately went and had it remedied, and that is all on file. It happened as soon as the letter came to my house, and I called and got it remedied. So, I am listed as homestead and a registered voter.” 

Cole went on to point out that the selectboard voted unanimously in November in support of imposing a 3% penalty fee on residents who file incorrectly or fail to file their homestead declarations. The state allows up to an 8% penalty fee, according to finance director Densmore. 

Densmore spoke with the Standard this week about Homestead declarations and the implementation of this new 3% penalty. 

“This is my third year working with tax bills,” Densmore began, “and the penalty has always been waived. So, when we were looking into this process each year, the people who run our accounting software — which also does the property tax bills — have brought up the penalty to us, as a way of nudging the town toward ensuring that residents file their homestead declarations on time.” 

For more on this, please see our March 12 edition of the Vermont Standard. 

Town Meeting voters in Woodstock on Tuesday overwhelmingly approved a $35 million bond issue to finance the cost of maintaining and substantially upgrading the Woodstock Main Wastewater Treatment Facility.

Weighing in on the bond issue via Australian ballot, voters gave it their assent by a 808-to-209 margin. The state-mandated renovation and upgrade of the wastewater facility will include the construction of new biological treatment process tanks and a new building to house them, headworks and dewatering facilities, and an ultraviolet disinfection system.

Members of the Woodstock Town Selectboard and municipal manager Eric Duffy were ecstatic about the big show of support for the plant upgrade from Woodstock voters.

“I’m thrilled for our community,” commented selectperson Laura Powell after the bond vote results were posted at Town Hall Tuesday evening. It’s just another data point that says that our community is looking to the future and ready to invest in meaningful infrastructure. I think that infrastructure like schools and sewers are necessary to Woodstock’s vitality and growth.”

Reached by phone Tuesday evening, municipal manager Duffy pointed out that this is the second major victory that Woodstock voters have delivered for both water quality and quality of life in the community. “This is due to the big steps forward that the selectboard took for the community, going out there and advocating for what they believe is the best for the future of Woodstock,” Duffy offered. “The water vote (for the purchase of the Woodstock Aqueduct Company last year) was 80-20, and now there’s this victory. We are very excited about the support we’re getting from Woodstock residents.”

Town Selectboard vice chair Susan Ford also weighed in enthusiastically on the bond vote. “I’m so excited about the margin. I think this is a nice vote of confidence and recognition of what the town needs,” Ford offered in a phone conversation with the Standard on Tuesday night.

For more on this, please see our March 5 edition of the Vermont Standard.

As Woodstock’s The Prince & The Pauper prepares to serve its final meal on Saturday, March 14, the Standard talked with the owner and staff, who have helped carry on the iconic restaurant’s service to this community for the past 54 years. 

Owner Liz Schwenk, with tears in her eyes, made time for an interview on Saturday afternoon, before the restaurant filled with patrons — many of whom were visiting for one last meal. 

“I’m feeling a lot of mixed emotions,” Schwenk told the Standard. “A lot of gratitude, a lot of sadness. I say to our customers all the time that I am not the person who came up with this lovely restaurant, but I do feel like the steward of it. It’s coming up on seven years of stewardship. We had one year of normalcy before COVID-19, which was comprised of strange, surreal, and uncertain times — offering take-away from a table outside so our local patrons could still enjoy a familiar meal. Then COVID passed, and these walls got used to hearing the sound of laughter and the clinking of glasses, the greeting from a warm and welcoming server. There is a lot to say goodbye to.” 

As for the next chapter of The Prince & The Pauper, Schwenk is unclear about what the future holds. “I don’t know yet what ‘the next chapter’ will be. I’m keeping all my options open. I really want to try and take the next few months to process everything and decide what the best choice will be moving forward. I have two small kids and plan to spend the next few months with them, just processing and taking a moment to breathe.” Schwenk will save as much from the restaurant as she can — from the wooden booths to the servers’ hutch to the Victorian maître d’ stand. 

“My husband has rented a storage unit; I still own all the recipes and the name, so even though we will not physically be in this space anymore, I’m hoping this is just the closing of a chapter, not the end of the story.” 

Schwenk sat in her restaurant on Saturday, surrounded by staff who feel more like family than employees. Some, like Liz Steinrisser and her husband Clemens, have been working at The Prince & The Pauper for 25 years. Liz Steinrisser told the Standard, “It’s interesting when we started working here, we were surprised to find that many of our co-workers had already been here for ten or fifteen years. We thought that was a long time for any individual to work in one restaurant, but then we realized that the main reason people stayed here for such a long time was because it was a wonderful place to work. 

“We never thought we’d be here for this long, but even as the ownership changed hands throughout the decades, this never stopped being a wonderful place to work, full of extremely kind and talented people in both the front and back of house.”

Along with nice owners, Steinrisser remarked on the incredible clientele, who came back week after week, year after year. “I have seen young children grow into adults and still come back with their parents or their grandparents,” Steinrisser said. “Anniversaries, rehearsal dinners, birthdays, a regular Tuesday night — you name it. Being here for so long, I can see the impact this place has made on the community, and I obviously feel the support of that very community each and every night.” 

For more on this, please see our March 12 edition of the Vermont Standard.

“The Children,” a tense one-act show by playwright Lucy Kirkwood, will open on March 25 at Northern Stage. 

This story centers on two retired nuclear physicists — Hazel and Robin — who live a quiet life in a remote cottage. After a recent disaster at the local power station, the area is devastated, and the pair must now live under the constant threat of radiation poisoning. Electricity and water are rationed; fear is spreading. When Hazel and Robin are visited by a former colleague, Rose, they are forced to confront their past actions and the moral responsibility they have to future generations. 

Inspired by the Fukushima disaster, the play serves as an intense exploration of guilt, sacrifice, and the legacy of environmental catastrophe through the lens of a personal and intimate domestic drama. Northern Stage will bring the apocalyptic tale to life with acclaimed actors Daphne Zuniga, Gordon Clapp, and Martha Burns. 

Zuniga — a Woodstock Union High School (WUHS) alum famed for her roles in “Space Balls,” “Melrose Place,” and “One Tree Hill” — sat down with the Standard to discuss what it means for her to return to the Upper Valley and how she plans to bring the character of Rose to life.

Daphne Zuniga

“Last November, I was in Australia shooting the sequel to ‘Spaceballs,’” Zuniga began. “I got this email while I was there with an offer to do a play. At the time, I was in a place of feeling so creatively fulfilled and happy, and I remember thinking to myself, ‘God, I really want to keep this feeling going. I want jobs that require something of me and remind me of why I fell in love with acting in the first place.” 

Zuniga had received an email from Northern Stage’s producing artistic director Carol Dunne and Sarah Elizabeth Wansley, director of “The Children.” 

“We really dreamed big of all the actors we could think to play the character of Rose,” Wansley told the Standard. Clapp and Burns were already signed on as Robin and Hazel. “We came up with the idea of Daphne,” she continued. “Carol and I cold-emailed her with a loose pitch saying, ‘We run a little theater in Vermont and are doing this beautiful play, and we think you’d be perfect.’ We never thought she’d say yes.” 

But Zuniga jumped at the opportunity to return to her roots in the area, as she told the Standard, “It was an instant yes. This offer was a way for me to return to the place I graduated high school from — Woodstock Union High School (WUHS). I know White River Junction, my mother lives in Reading, and has mentioned Northern Stage before. I thought it was just a sign from the universe telling me to go. I wanted to be inspired; I wanted to return to where I began before a 44-year career in film and television — for it was on the stage where I truly began my acting journey.” 

For more on this, please see our March 12 edition of the Vermont Standard.

The bald eagles are back. Windsor and Dewey, a nesting pair of bald eagles named after Windsor County and Dewey’s Pond, have returned to VINS after an early winter in which the staff at the nature center was uncertain of the birds’ late winter destination. As of last week, you can now view the nest — and hopefully get a glimpse of the eagles and, eventually, their hatchlings — via two livestreaming webcams on the VINS website.

Alden Smith, executive director at VINS, told the Standard that the bald eagles likely hadn’t traveled very far from Quechee since their apparent departure from VINS for a few weeks last year, since they are a non-migratory species. “There was a period when it got really cold, and everything was iced up when we lost track of them completely,” said Smith. “I just wasn’t seeing them perched in any of their favorite spots or flying over. We were looking for them because we were trying to find a window when they were not around that we could get the cameras up on the tree.”

Smith and staff found a fair-weather window “well before the nesting season” and were able to install the cameras up into the trees. In just the second year of observing the eagles, Smith has noticed that each time the birds first arrive in February, they then begin making their nests later in the month. 

For more on this, please see our March 12 edition of tbe Vermont Standard.

By Tyler Maheu, Staff Sportswriter

A very successful season for Woodstock’s outdoor winter sports continued this past weekend, with the girls snowboard team winning another state title, five Nordic skiers competing at the Eastern State Championships, and Alpine’s season finishing with a strong showing.

Snowboarding

Woodstock dominated at Jay Peak this past weekend, taking home a team title and the top award for overall. The title-winning team consisted of Sierra Bystrak, Marlena Farinas, Lia Gugliotta, Bonnie and Violet Kranz, and Ava Walker. The team title is the third in the last four years in girls competition.

Individually, the Wasps excelled as well. Bonnie Kranz continued her strong season, finishing first in slopestyle and fifth in giant slalom. Gugliotta was not far behind, in slopestyle with a second-place finish, and bested her teammate in giant slalom, taking fourth. These results helped the team captains split the First Place Overall Female award.

“I can’t tell you with words how amazing this season was,” coach Kimberly Kranz told the Standard. “Having coached these kids for four years, and having the two sisters on the team was just so special.” She continued, recalling teaching many of the team’s athletes how to snowboard during their elementary school days. “So to see them take home the title together is especially meaningful,” she said.”

Nordic

Following their team’s state championship, Woodstock’s Nordic skiers took to the snow again this past weekend for Team Vermont at the Eastern High School Championships at Gore Mountain in North Creek, New York.

Five of the team’s skiers joined the Vermont squad for the event: Isla Segal, Kasia and Maya Sluka, Priscilla Richardson, and Calvin Seaman. Together, they helped Team Vermont take the victory. 

Individually, Richardson took home first in the classic and skate races and second in the sprint. These finishes were enough to win her the top overall female skier prize.

This year’s Team Vermont, which included five Woodstock skiers, took first place at the Nordic Eastern High School Championship last weekend. Barbara Shoemaker Photo

Alpine

Woodstock skiers recently traveled to Burke Mountain to compete in the Vermont state championships. To qualify for this event, they completed strong runs in giant slalom and slalom events previously.

While not all Wasps could complete two runs in order to be scored, one rose to the challenge. Annesonia Beardsley completed both skiing disciplines, topping off her event with a 15th-place finish in the slalom against the state’s best. 

While this year may have been one for rebuilding the program, head coach Steve Foley is optimistic for next year. “Looking forward, we do expect that we will be able to have a team presence, definite on the boys and hopefully on the girls, as our numbers start to grow again,” he said. 

Robert “Bob” Merriam, age 90 has passed away peacefully at home on March 8, 2026, after a brief fight against cancer. He was born July 12, 1935, the son of Harold and Earline Merriam of Bridgewater.

Following high school in Woodstock, Bob attended Wentworth Institute of Technology and graduated in 1955 with an engineering degree. He resided in Ludlow, Vt. for over four decades, enjoying hunting, fly fishing, hiking (completing Long Trail End to End), gardening, and playing Double King Pead with family and friends at the family deer camp in Plymouth. He spent his working life, primarily at Jones and Lamson in Springfield, Vt. as a machine tools engineer during the industry’s heyday. He also had military service, being drafted into the Army Reserve in 1957, where he qualified as Expert Rifleman with a perfect score.

Bob married his high school sweetheart, Shirley Perkins in 1956, and together had four children, Michael, Stephen, Deborah and James. She preceded him in death in 1989.

Bob remarried in 1990 to JoAnn Thomas and shortly thereafter, they retired to Florida for the next 15 years, where they basked in the warm weather and enjoyed the excellent fishing and a vast expanse of friends and neighbors. Only Hurricane Ian in 2022 could change their retirement plans; they rode out being in the eye of the storm track with visiting daughter Deborah and it was a once in a lifetime experience! Shortly thereafter, they moved to Cavendish, Vt.

Bob is survived by sons, Michael, Stephen and James of Maine, Montana and Vermont respectively; daughter Deborah of Alaska; stepdaughter Jill Thomas of Henderson, Nev.; and adopted daughter Kathleen Ehlers of Ludlow, Vt.; nine grandchildren and six great-grandchildren. In remembering Bob, we know we “hit the lottery” to have him as a father and husband and learned the right way to live our lives through the standards of character, decency and humility he personified.

Bob wished for no service and in lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made to Bridgewater Congregational Church, PO Box 4, Bridgewater, Vermont 05034. A Celebration of Life will take place at a future date.

Edward B. Corliss “Ed,” age 86, of Woodstock, formerly of Ticonderoga, N.Y.,  passed away peacefully on Feb. 23, 2026, surrounded by his loving family.

Born on March 15, 1939, in Bristol Vt., Ed carried with him the values of hard work and devotion to his family.

He built his life in Ticonderoga, N.Y., where he raised his family and became a steady, dependable presence in his community. 

Ed was blessed with a loving marriage of 63 years to his wife, Kathleen (Kit) Corliss.  Together they nurtured a home filled with warmth, shared laughter, and adventure.

An avid outdoors enthusiast, Ed loved skiing with family, fishing in Lake George, hunting, and playing golf with his many friends.  

Ed’s greatest joy was the people he loved, and his life was defined by his deep commitment to his family, his quiet strength, and his unwavering kindness. Whether through his guidance, his steady support, or simply his presence, he left a lasting impression on all who knew him.

For more than 30 years, Ed dedicated himself to his career at International Paper, where he was respected for his strong work ethic, reliability, and quiet integrity.

In later years, he returned to Vermont, when he and Kit moved to Woodstock to be close to their family, especially their wonderful grandchildren.  

Ed was predeceased by his parents and his four siblings.

He is survived by his beloved wife, Kit, whose partnership and love were the cornerstone of his life. Ed is also survived by his three children Kimberly (Scott) Smith of Woodstock, Alan (Cathy) Corliss of Canoa Ecuador, and Patricia (Jared) Eames of Woodstock; his seven grandchildren, whom he adored, Britni, Kyrstin, and Cooper Corliss, Allison and Spencer Smith, Caitlin and Hannah Eames; as well as three great-grandchildren, all of whom brought him immense pride and happiness.

The family would like to extend their heartfelt thanks to the doctors and nurses of Mount Ascutney Hospital for their compassionate care and kindness, especially the nurses who provided such comfort during his time in hospice care.

A memorial service to celebrate Ed’s life will be held in June in Ticonderoga, N.Y. to honor his years there and allow family and friends to gather in remembrance. 

An online guestbook can be found at cabotfh.com.

Honoré Hager, known to her many friends as “Honey,” passed away at home in Woodstock, as a gentle snow fell on the evening of Feb. 20.  Death followed a lengthy battle with kidney disease. She was 87 years of age. 

Known for her sparkling personality and spontaneous wit, she loved literature, cooking, entertaining, and good conversation. She harbored strong opinions and a “no-nonsense” approach to everyday life. She took great pride in her ethnic roots, having been raised by an Italian-American mother and an Irish-American father in the city of Rutland, Vt., steeped in the traditions of both cultures. 

As the wife of a television journalist, she readily embraced the rigors of moving around the country and the world, providing family stability and nurturing three daughters while her husband’s profession often called him away for long periods covering breaking news. But no matter where she lived, she always considered Vermont “home.” She delighted in reminding her husband that his beginnings had been from “away,” having moved to Woodstock as an eighth grade schoolboy, whereas she had been born in Rutland — a true native.    

She was justifiably proud of those three daughters whom she encouraged to seek interesting and meaningful careers, resulting in one lawyer, one fashion-industry executive, and one television reporter turned public relations executive. 

She was born in 1938, graduated from Rutland’s Mount St. Joseph Academy in 1956, and attended Castleton College (now Vermont State University).

She met her husband on a blind date, 68 years ago, when the two were still in college and while he was a summertime disc jockey at a radio station in Rutland. They married a year later, after which she went to work to help her husband through his senior year at Dartmouth, where the couple lived in married students’ quarters. 

Following college, the couple moved to North Carolina where, in the racially-segregated South of the 1960s, she worked tirelessly in a program to help Black grade-schoolers prepare for unfamiliar and challenging surroundings in newly integrated schools. Later, in Washington, D.C., she volunteered for years at a soup kitchen and clothes closet for the poor and homeless. 

Beginning in childhood years when, to her delight, she discovered the Rutland Library, and stretching to retirement in Woodstock and long hours reading on the back porch, she had a lifelong love affair with literature — fiction, non-fiction, emotional, technical — she loved and devoured a huge variety of books and delighted in discovering a new or unexpected idea or an artfully turned phrase. She was active in Woodstock’s historic New Century Club, which fosters research and writing. 

Honoré Vargas Hager is survived by her husband Robert; her daughters Gabrielle of Greenwich, Conn., Jennifer of Upper Montclair, N.J., and Christina of Granby, Mass.; sons-in-law John Nossiff, Jim Henegan, and Gary DeAngelo; grandchildren Aaron, Peter, and Johnny Nossiff, Bobby and Lilly Dukich, Patrick Henegan, and Brady and Derek DeAngelo, and a new great-granddaughter Yumin.  

Arrangements are by Cabot Funeral Home. In accordance with Honoré’s wishes, no memorial gathering is planned. Gifts in her memory may be made to a favorite place of her youth, the historic Rutland Free Library (currently under great financial pressure), 10 Court Street, Rutland, VT 05701. 

Mary Ryan, age 83, passed away peacefully at her home in Scottsdale, Ariz. on Feb. 14, her family at her side.

Mary was a beloved presence in the lives of her family and friends. She was a dedicated mother, raising three children in Amherst, N.H. and Paradise Valley, Ariz. She combined a New England directness with an Arizona warmth that earned loving and lifelong friendships with the people she came to know.

She was an avid reader, tennis player, friend, wife, mom, and grandmother. She never missed a milestone — baptisms, first communions, confirmations, sporting events, ballets, plays, and graduations. She served on the board of Hospice of the Valley, was a Hospice volunteer, a volunteer for Crisis Nursery, a Eucharistic Minister to patients of Banner Hospital, and a nurse volunteer for Mission of Mercy of Arizona. She was a pillar of stability, strength, and compassion. She is deeply missed.

Born Mary Frances Leete on July 29, 1942 in South Portland, Maine, the daughter of Lawrence and Frances Leete. She attended St. Joseph’s Academy and later graduated from the nursing program at Salve Regina College in Newport, R.I. She married Thomas Ryan of Huntington, N.Y. on Sept. 11, 1965 with whom she raised Sean, Elizabeth and Mark.

A loving grandmother to ten beautiful grandchildren, she found her greatest joy in her family. She cherished time spent with them in Arizona and the family home in the mountains of central Vermont. She will be remembered for her kindness, quiet strength, and the love she so freely gave.

Mary is survived by her husband, Tom; her three children, Sean, Elizabeth, and Mark; her two daughters-in-law, Jennifer and Kerrin; her son-in-law, Jeffrey Catalano; and her cherished grandchildren — Christine and her husband Jesse, Davis, Zachary, Hayden, Tessa, Grace, Keira, Celia, Tommy, Jack; and her two brothers Larry Leete Jr. and Paul Leete of Michigan.

A Mass will be celebrated at Our Lady of the Angels, Franciscan Renewal Center, 5802 E Lincoln Dr, Paradise Valley, AZ 85253, on March 9 (livestream) beginning at 10 a.m. with the rosary, followed by a Mass at 10:30 a.m. and reception following at the Casa. There will be a celebration in late July at Our Lady of the Snow in Woodstock (date TBD) for family and friends in New England.

Mary’s memory will live on in the hearts of all who loved her.

In lieu of flowers donations can be made to Hospice of the Valley or the Franciscan Renewal Center. Condolences may be expressed at https://www.whitneymurphyfuneralhome.com/.

It is with a heavy heart we announce the death of our mother, Norma Bradley, who passed away peacefully at the Mertens House on Monday, Feb. 16, 2026 at the age of 97.

Norma was born on July 10, 1928 in West Hartford, Vt. to Olin Bert Hill and Nellie Gray (Powell) Hill. In 1932, her family moved to a farm in Barnard and started a dairy farm. She attended her elementary school years in a one-room school on the Lakota Road, a short walk from the farm. She attended high school in Woodstock, graduating in 1946.

In early 1946, she attended the Firemen’s Ball at the Masonic Temple and met a young Marine who had returned home from the Pacific, Thomas Bradley. They married in November 1946 and went on to raise five children while living on Maple Street. In 1965, the family bought the farm from her parents and moved to Barnard.

While raising five children, Norma always held a job outside the home.

One of her first jobs was as a telephone operator — at a time when operators would actually ask what number you wanted. Over her lifetime, she also worked at the Woodstock Inn, the Vermont National Bank, Cabot’s Furniture Store, and Elsa Ross Antiques until retirement in the late 1980s. She was a lifelong member of the VFW Ladies Auxiliary.

After retirement, Norma and Tom became snow birds and purchased a home in Plant City. They played golf every day, making dozens of friends from all around the country along the way. After Tom’s death in 2014, Norma moved back to Vermont permanently in 2017. She resided at the Homestead for several years before moving to the Mertens House in 2023.

Norma is survived by her two daughters, Barbara Frizzell (Philip, Jr.) and Jayne Straight (Steve Smith); her two sons Robert Bradley (Diane Wood-Bradley) and Steve Bradley (Nancy Haynes); and her grandchildren James Lewis, Jr., Kristine Urban, Tom Frizzell, Matthew Frizzell, Kate Yeutter, Justin Bradley, Jillian Hackett, and Steven Newcomb; many great-grandchildren and great-great-grandchildren; and numerous nieces and nephews. She is also survived by her brother-in-law James Lewis.

She was predeceased by her husband, Thomas Bradley, her daughter Karen Lewis, her parents, her sisters Evelyn Hubbard, Dorothy Washburn, and Beverly Lewis, her daughter-in-law Michelle Bradley, and her sons-in-law James Lewis, Sr. and Raymond Straight.

The family would like to thank all the staff at the Homestead and the Mertens House, as well as Bayada, for the kind, exceptional care provided to our mother.

There will be no calling hours. Burial will be at the Veterans Cemetery in Randolph, Vt. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Mertens House.

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

Peter R. Bailey, 73, passed away on Tuesday February 10, 2026 at Cedar Hill Nursing Home in Windsor, Vt.

Pete was born on Feb. 8, 1953 in Hanover, New Hampshire the son of Raymond and Ethna (George) Bailey.

Pete was employed by the United States Postal Service on Sykes Ave. in White River Jct., beginning in the ‘80s, sorting mail there for many years. He later transferred to the Post Office in Woodstock as a Postal Carrier. He was well known as he enjoyed taking the time to chat and get to know the people on his route and it didn’t matter what the weather was, he loved his job.

Pete enjoyed woodworking, feeding the birds, camping, fishing, card games, taking day trips, and going to many car shows. He was especially proud to show his 1965 VW Beetle to all those interested. Above all Pete enjoyed family and having get-togethers at his home with family and friends. He also enjoyed repairing vehicles and anything that needed fixing around his home.

Pete is survived by his wife of 50 years Dorinne M. Bailey and a son Samuel R. Bailey. In addition to his parents he is pre-deceased by a son Nicholas B. Bailey and a sister Janet B. Smith.

A graveside service is being planned for this coming June.

Those wishing may make donations to David’s House, 461 Mt. Support Road, Lebanon, N.H. 03766.

An online guestbook can be found at cabotfh.com.

Janet Louise Spencer, 62, of Hartland, Vermont, died unexpectedly on Dec. 21, 2025, after being struck by a car. The day marked the winter solstice, which she embraced as a time of returning light and renewal, a meaning that brings comfort to those who loved her.

Janet was a woman of formidable intelligence, exacting standards, deep loyalty, and fierce love. She brought integrity and strength to every part of her life and left a lasting mark on those fortunate enough to be in her orbit. Beneath her formidable exterior lived a mischievous wit, an infectious laugh, and a generous heart that loved deeply and without half measures.

That strength carried into her life and work. Born April 5, 1963, in Windsor, Vt., and raised in Plainfield, N.H., Janet showed early the independence and determination that would define her path. She earned her PhD in Social-Organizational Psychology from Columbia University and began her consulting career at W. Warner Burke Associates, working with clients including NASA and British Airways. She went on to build a distinguished career as a management consultant helping CEOs and senior leaders guide their organizations through complex change. She served as a managing director at Delta Consulting Group and later worked in collaboration with Genesis Advisors while continuing her independent consulting practice. Over the course of her career, she worked globally, developing leaders and advising organizations with her characteristic rigor and insight. Her clients included hundreds of senior executives, many of whom became lasting allies and friends. She co-authored “Executive Teams” and published numerous book chapters on change management and leadership.

Beyond her professional life, Janet cultivated a rich home life. She surrounded herself with books and ideas, cherishing an eclectic library that reflected her wide-ranging curiosity and many journeys. Her homes were warm, layered spaces filled with books, magical touches, home-cooked meals, gardens alive with flowers and pollinators, the happy presence of her beloved dogs, and the easy flow of visiting friends. She returned to New England during her treatment for breast cancer and, after recovering, chose to remain, shaping her Vermont home and farm into a place she loved deeply and where she found renewal near her family and the land where she grew up.

At the center of that life were her relationships. Though quiet by nature, Janet became the gravitational center of a wide circle of friends. During her decades in New York and later in Connecticut and Vermont, she formed a close chosen family bound by love, humor, and shared experiences. These relationships existed alongside her abiding love for her parents, siblings, and their families. Janet could be direct and sometimes sharp-edged, qualities those closest to her recognized as expressions of her deep commitment to truth. She did not always soften her words for colleagues, family, friends, or romantic partners, yet those exchanges often fostered understanding and respect. Beneath that exterior was a deep warmth and generosity that drew people in and held them there. She opened her home and her life to others, caring for the people around her and allowing herself to be cared for in return. Those who knew her best understood that her toughness and tenderness were inseparable.

Janet was predeceased by her parents, Winston F. Spencer and Claudine Mae Spencer. She is survived by her siblings Winston F. Spencer Jr., Patty Spencer, and Sarah Spencer; by her niece Amanda Williams; her nephews Winston F. Spencer III, Christopher Spencer, and Bryan Tibbals; by her former husband, Francis Laros of New York City; and by her cherished friends.

Gatherings to celebrate Janet’s life are planned in Woodstock and New York City in May 2026. Details will be shared at a later date.

Donations in Janet’s memory may be made to the National Bernese Mountain Dog Rescue Network, the Norman Williams Public Library in Woodstock, Vermont, the Vermont 4-H Foundation, or the Vermont Center for Ecostudies. In Janet’s honor, please consider lifelong learning, caring for yourself and others, planting a native tree in your community, and remembering, as she did, not only to count your blessings but to share them.

An online guestbook can be found at cabotfh.com.

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.”

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.”

“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.

Read Full Article