One or more new defendants are expected to be added to the $5 million lawsuit filed by newly demoted Woodstock Police Chief Joe Swanson against various village officials and others, according to his lawyer.

Attorney Linda E. Fraas, on behalf of Swanson, said this week the decision to add at least one more defendant came in part due to the written response by the defense lawyers for the village and officials.

Burlington lawyer John Klesch of Stitzel Page & Fletcher has filed an 18-page response to the Swanson lawsuit and seeks to have the case dismissed in Vermont Superior Court in Woodstock.

Swanson also has filed a separate appeal in superior court for the trustees voting 5-0 to uphold efforts by Municipal Manager Eric Duffy to have the chief demoted.  Duffy, after giving Swanson a positive evaluation in July 2024, said by the fall he had lost faith in the chief.

Duffy and the five village trustees — Seton McIlroy, the board chair, Jeffrey Kahn, the vice chair, and fellow trustees Brenda Blakeman, Lisa Lawlor, and Frank Horneck are among the defendants named in the lawsuit.

The Village and Town of Woodstock, along with Burgess Loss Prevention Associates of Lebanon, N.H., also are listed as defendants in the original 31-page lawsuit filed by Swanson.

Klesch is representing eight of the nine village and town defendants.  He does not represent Burgess, which conducted the internal investigation that Duffy used to support the demotion.

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

Judge H. Dickson Corbett is planning a court hearing for June 9 on Swanson’s request to block village officials from naming two new top police administrators before the chief’s unlawful discharge claims are resolved.

Fraas of Manchester, N.H., is asking the judge to issue a preliminary injunction stopping the Village of Woodstock from filling Swanson’s old post while the legal battle plays out. 

She also hopes to block the village from filling the job of patrol sergeant, which the municipality began to advertise two days after the demotion was announced.

All nine defendants are sued for both intentional infliction of emotional distress and for punitive damages, records show.

Duffy, along with the village and town of Woodstock, are named together in three other counts: breach of contract, wrongful discharge, and breach of covenant of good faith, the lawsuit notes.

Duffy, the five trustees and Burgess Loss Prevention also all are sued under the Common Law Conspiracy provision, court papers note.

The town and the village also are named in a count claiming tortious interference with contractual relations and a separate claim for violating Vermont’s Fair Employment Practices Act, the lawsuit said. 

Burgess also is facing a lone count for a professional negligence claim.

The Village Trustees conducted a 14 ½-hour demotion hearing for Swanson that started on Wednesday March 19 and ran into the early morning hours of Thursday March 20.

While Swanson continues to fight to remain chief, Fraas has said he agreed to an order to report for duty as a patrol officer because the department is short-staffed.  Swanson is willing to help in any way he could pending the final resolution, she said.

For more on this, please see our May 22 edition of the Vermont Standard. 

Bookstock 2025 — a celebration of books, poetry, and a diverse lineup of authors — took place last weekend, in a triumphant return to Woodstock. After Bookstock 2024 was canceled at the last minute, a new board took over the planning and execution of the literary festival, making significant changes to the event. Bookstock board members Jon Spector, Julie Moncton, Michael Stoner, and Priscilla Painton sat down with the Standard to discuss the ups and downs of Bookstock 2025, and to speculate on whether the festival will grace The Green again in 2026. 

Stoner, Bookstock chair, began the conversation, stating, “I think that overall, this event was extremely successful. Measured both by our specific personal objectives and the reaction of those in our community who attended, I think we pulled off a wonderful literary event and created the blueprint for the future.” 

Painton, vice-chair, echoed that sentiment, saying, “It was fascinating for me to see the degree to which books can impact a community. I found it quite moving that at the end of the day, in a world so overrun by media, we can still bring people together and make them forge a deeper connection with those around them through books.” 

Like any complex event, Bookstock encountered a few difficulties last weekend. “There were a few minor complaints,” Spector said. “People complained that we should have had an intermission for some of the longer panels and that sessions were too long in general. Obviously, the uncooperative weather was the biggest negative.” 

Late Friday night, the board made the difficult decision to cancel all outdoor events on The Green for Saturday, May 17 due to treacherous weather risks.

When pressed about Bookstock 2026, the entire board confirmed that the event will continue next year and that the planning has already commenced. 

“We are just so overwhelmed by the support of our community, our sponsors, our donors, and our volunteers. Each and every one of these people showed up and supported us and reaffirmed that this is an event our community wants and needs. We are looking forward to next year,” Spector said. 

There were some changes across the board for this year’s Bookstock — one being the implementation of tickets that were free but had to be reserved in advance. “The tickets this year gave us a realistic idea of how many attendees we would have at each event. I believe the margin is something along the lines of 50-60% of attendees will be ticketholders. There was, of course, room for people to show up without a ticket, and obviously we also had some no-shows. Overall, ticket sales helped us to gauge which venue should host each event so that we had full rooms instead of half-empty auditoriums,” Stoner said.  

While no dates have been set yet, the board says they are confident that next year’s event will be even better than this year’s, and that they will continue to strive to bring fresh, exciting, and diverse voices to Woodstock.

For more on this, please see our May 22 edition of the Vermont Standard. 

In the early morning hours of Saturday, May 10, a mudslide struck portions of the embankment adjacent to Pomfret Road, sliding down from Caper Street — which runs along the embankment — and dislocating portions of guardrail and impairing the structural integrity of the adjacent Pomfret Road embankment. During the mudslide, various debris, rock, mud, and mature trees slid further down Pomfret Road, bleeding onto Mill Brook Road. 

Pomfret Road was closed for the entirety of that Saturday, with a partial reopening for emergency traffic on Sunday. Over the weekend, local road crews worked to remove debris, assess the stability of the remaining embankment, and ensure that an additional slide would be unlikely to occur. Since then, they have continued working to clean up the road itself. 

This landslide was caused by a long duration of rain that occurred between May 2-10, in which approximately five inches of rain fell at the slide location, including 2.5 inches of rain falling over the weekend of May 9. 

As a result of this damage, the town of Pomfret has requested Emergency Aid from the Vermont Agency of Transportation (VTrans). Since this slide damage does not qualify for FEMA or the Federal Highway Administration major disaster assistance, they have appealed to the state level for aid. Benjamin Brickner, Pomfret Selectboard chair, told the Standard, “We are optimistic that this event qualifies, but we are in very early stages of obtaining those state emergency funds. We hope the timeline is short and that we receive aid quickly, as we expect this will be a costly remediation and repair. The timeline to reopen Caper Street is still to be determined. That will depend in part on the work that’s being done now and work that will need to be done later in the spring and summer. The repair is expected to take months, not days.” 

Caper Street is a residential dead-end road that was initially completely closed off because of the mudslide. Currently, it has been reduced to a one-way street to ensure residents can still get in and out of their homes while repair and road work continue. 

As of this moment, the roads in question are stable, as Pomfret’s road crew installed additional ditching and drainage uphill of Caper Street to reduce hydraulic pressure on the slide area until permanent repairs can be made later this season. 

Last Thursday, Two Rivers Ottauquechee Regional Commission and the Vermont Department of Environmental Conservation hosted a flood resiliency event in Bridgewater in collaboration with WSP — a global engineering and professional services firm — with the goal of informing local residents on flood safety protocols and state regulations for flood-risk areas. 

Annabelle Dally, Communications and Public Involvement manager for WSP, as well as a local Bridgewater resident, told the Standard, “Our goal here today is to provide space for community engagement. Residents all along the [Ottauquechee] River could be affected by flooding. We have seen it destroy some of our most beloved businesses already. As water levels continue to rise, we want to make sure our community is aware of any precautions or rules they should follow.” 

Dally was in her home in Bridgewater during two major floods in July and December of 2023. “I remember receiving alerts to evacuate. Thankfully, I had the New England 511 app, which showed me different routes away from my house that were still clear and not yet impaired by flooding. During both floods, my family and I were able to make a safe exit from our home. That is partially why I’m here today — to make sure the members of my community are aware of the resources, like this app, available for when natural disasters occur.” 

Another aspect to the flood resilience event was to educate the local community on permits and state zoning laws that prevent residents from building in areas that are susceptible to flooding. 

One new regulation put in place by the state of Vermont is Act 121, also known as the Flood Safety Act. This act works to protect river corridors throughout the state. It takes flood safety away from local municipalities and makes it a state-regulated issue. “Act 121 recognizes that flood damage and mitigation are often the culmination of many actions taken beyond town boundaries at the larger watershed scale and places the state in a position to regulate at this level, offering river corridor protection across town boundaries. When new state rules are adopted as a result of this act, they will allow flood-safe development in river corridors within village centers, but river corridors outside of downtowns will also be protected, which will translate into less flood and erosion impacts,” Mike Kline, a member of the Board of Directors at Vermont River Conservancy wrote in a pamphlet displayed at this event. 

Dally explained that there are also new rules put in place in collaboration with this Flood Safety Act that directly impact building and repair projects. Now, landowners, developers, and municipalities must ensure their new building projects do not increase flood levels on neighboring land; obstruct flood flows or reduce flood storage capacity; do not worsen erosion or channel instability; and maintain all natural floodplain functions. 

This event included informational pamphlets that detailed Vermont flood regulations, including a map of where residents can safely build, and statistics on the impact flooding has on our local community. More information on flood safety and state regulations can be found at dec.vermont.gov.

For more on this, please see our May 22 edition of the Vermont Standard. 

In the high-intensity world of culinary competition, Woodstock Inn & Resort’s Executive Chef Matthew McClure recently showcased his talents on Food Network’s hit show “Chopped.” The episode, which aired on May 13, gave viewers a glimpse of McClure’s culinary prowess under pressure.

The journey to “Chopped” began months ago when McClure was approached by a casting recruiting firm specializing in finding candidates for cooking shows. After an initial interview via Zoom, which was recorded and condensed to a 30-second snippet for producers, McClure was selected for a follow-up interview.

Despite his experience with on-camera cooking throughout his career, he admitted this particular challenge brought “significant anxiety” due to the competition element and tight time constraints. “They would stop and they would have you stand still so they could reposition the cameras, and you really see your ingredients moments before it’s time,” he recalled.

The competition presented McClure with unusual ingredients in his mystery basket for the first round, including snail caviar and kale candy — items he had never worked with before — along with volage (which he was familiar with) and Asian pears, which he loves. Rising to the challenge, he created a dish featuring an Asian pear slaw with snail caviar, fish in an egg batter, and a sesame kale candy dukkah, a Moroccan-inspired spice mixture.

Despite finishing his preparation two to three minutes early while other competitors were barely keeping up, McClure was the first contestant eliminated. Although disappointed, McClure maintains a positive perspective on the experience. “Sometimes there are winners, sometimes there are losers. Sometimes you lose with a big audience — that’s just kind of how life is,” McClure reflected. “I stayed away from reality shows for a long time. This was my first time doing something like this, but I think it was really cool and totally worth doing.”

For more on this, please see our May 22 edition of the Vermont Standard.

For 10 days in March, four educators from the Mountain Views School District (MVSD) immersed themselves in an extraordinary professional development opportunity: traveling throughout Germany, the Netherlands, and France to explore the legacy of international human rights issues, the Holocaust, genocide, and crimes against humanity around the world.

With funding support provided by the Cohen Institute for Holocaust and Genocide Studies at Keene State College in New Hampshire, the MVSD teachers joined with other educators to visit such diverse and harrowing settings of the World War II and Holocaust eras as the Palace of Justice and Nazi Kongresshalle in Nuremburg, the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg, the former Natzweiler-Struthof concentration camp and the nearby Memorial Alsace Moselle in the Alsace-Lorraine region of northern France, and the Anne Frank House and the International Criminal Court in the Netherlands.

The MVSD educators who partook of this special journey through history and the present day are Woodstock Union High School and Middle School (WUHS/MS) 10th-grade English teacher Nate Clifford, literacy interventionist Marcia Davis, 9th-grade English teacher Lauren Sullivan-Justice, and Reading Elementary School pre-K and kindergarten teacher Lois Fein. For the past several years, Sullivan-Justice has collaborated with WUHS/MS history teacher Nick Wolfe to teach a Holocaust and genocide unit within the 9th-grade English curriculum at WUHS/MS.

The goal of sending the four teachers on the Cohen Institute study tour was to build additional background knowledge and place-based educational experience for the MVSD educators. Over the course of the coming summer, the teachers will collaborate with MVSD Director of Curriculum, Instruction and Assessment Jennifer Settle to prepare a coordinated curriculum for teaching about human rights, the Holocaust and genocide in grades 7-12 at WUHS/MS beginning with the 2025-26 school year that commences in late August. But before those curriculum upgrades, yet another by-product of the MVSD group’s European tour will wrap up this school year at WUHS/MS: an internationally travelling exhibition, “Anne Frank: A History for Today,” that will be on display at the WUHS/MS Library from May 26 through June 13. 

Settle and the four MVSD educators all spoke emotionally at an MVSD School Board meeting on May 5 regarding the March tour of Holocaust-related sites in Germany, the Netherlands, and France, and the powerful impact it is expected to have on their classrooms in times ahead.

For the full story, please see our May 22 edition of the Vermont Standard. 

The stage of Woodstock’s Town Hall Theatre hosted a vibrant rendition of “The Lion King” last Wednesday evening, thanks to the staff and students of Zack’s Place. Called “Z Lion King,” the production was launched by Zack’s Place’s former executive director, Dail Frates. After roughly two months of practicing, the 37 cast members and 11 backstage crew members confidently went out for their one-night-only performance.

Among them were some new players, such as Abigail Kowalzyk, who was in her second role as young Simba, and many veterans, like Erin Norton. Norton is nonverbal, so her mother helps her perform her lines via an iPad app. Norton’s father, Emmett, proudly remarked, “It’s a very special night with these folks. It’s all about them, it isn’t about any of us. It’s fun!”

Robert Shumskis Photo

Throughout the Northeast region, a small volunteer-based non-profit dedicates its time and resources to flying sick children, adults, and family members all across the country, to ensure they receive the care they desperately need. This organization is called Angel Flight East, and its services could very well be used to save the lives of loved ones right here in our area. 

Angel Flights East marketing director Cathy Brzozowski and executive director Ellen Williams spoke with the Standard to discuss the non-profit and its ties to our local community. “I have visited Woodstock so many times throughout my life, I feel as though I live here. While I split my time between Rhode Island and Vermont, I will always feel called to Woodstock and wish to share this organization with the people of our community,” Brzozowski said. 

Currently, Angel Flight East has a fourteen-state footprint from Maine to Virginia, going as far west as Ohio. “We provide free services to any family who needs it. We want residents in southeastern Vermont to know that we exist, and that we are an option,” said Brzozowski.

Mark Thacker, right, pilots a “Compassion Flight” with Debbie McCarthy and her eldest daughter, Sara, en route to be reunited with their daughter/sister receiving treatment for spina bifida at Boston Children’s Hospital. Courtesy of Angel Flight East

Along with flying sick children and adults, Angel Flight East also offers “Compassion Flights,” where they make sure families are never separated from each other. “There was a woman in Upstate New York whose child needed more permanent treatment in Boston, but she had other children to take care of back home. Our pilots made sure to fly Stacy to her sick child every day and then get her home to New York before her other children returned from school,” Williams explained. 

Angel Flight East volunteer pilot Mitch VanDutch, of Lebanon, N.H., told the Standard, “I’ve been flying for years, and after a while, I lost my passion, my drive. Flying these families, having an opportunity to help these sick children get the treatment they need, has changed my life in so many ways. There was one time I couldn’t fly a family because of bad weather in the skies, but I had come to know and love these people, and so I rented a van and drove this family from Detroit to Boston. I would make that trip over and over again if need be.” 

Angel Flight East is currently hoping to attract more pilots for their cause, especially in rural New England.  If you wish to get involved with or use this organization, visit Angel Flight East’s website at angelflighteast.org where you can request a flight or volunteer your services as a pilot. 

For more on this, please see our May 15 edition of the Vermont Standard. 

Last Sunday, over 350 runners and walkers braved a rainy forecast and muddy trails around Silver Lake in Barnard to participate in BarnArts’ 12th Race Around the Lake, an annual fundraising event for BarnArts’ youth programming. 10K winners were Wouter Zwart, of Albuquerque, N.M., and Lauren Pallet, of West Lebanon, N.H. 5K winners were Rhys Jones, of Hanover, N.H., and Mary Kasia Sluka, of South Reading.

Courtesy of BarnArts

Floyd W. Van Alstyne, Jr., 105, died peacefully at his home in East Barnard on Friday, May 9 surrounded by his family.

Floyd was born on Feb. 29, 1920 in Boston, Mass. the son of Floyd W. and Mary French (Smith) Van Alstyne. After spending his very early childhood in Massachusetts, Floyd’s family moved to Albany, N.Y. After his mother died in 1931, he and his younger brother Earl came to Vermont to live with their mother’s sister Maude on Broad Brook in Royalton, Vt.

Floyd began his World War II service with the U.S. Army just after Pearl Harbor. He spoke many times of his duty and travels. Floyd served with the 389th Port Battalion in Churchill, Hudson Bay, Canada. He served in North Africa and in the Allied Invasion of Italy at Sicily. He was in the amphibious landing at Salerno and was in the Battle of Anzio, which was one of the toughest battles of World War II. He also served at the Port of Naples loading and unloading ships.

Floyd purchased the farm in East Barnard just three weeks after coming home at the end of WWII and began farming. He married Marjorie Leavitt on Feb. 15, 1948. After selling the dairy herd in the 1960s, he worked construction. Some of the many projects he worked on as a bulldozer operator were building ponds, clearing the trail for the tram at Jay Peak and Interstate 89 and 91. He spent many years sugaring, logging, raising beef cattle and operating a custom sawmill.

Floyd loved to tell stories, and he had many. He would always talk with people he did not know and would often find connections with them. Such as the time Robert stopped at the farm for lumber and while visiting, he found out that Robert’s uncle was the captain of the liberty ship Booker T. Washington that Floyd came home from World War II on. They have been good friends ever since. He loved talking about and reading history and was very much a constitutionalist. If you do an online search for Floyd Van Alstyne, you will find a number of stories and videos that have been done about him over the years.

Floyd served in many civic positions in the Town of Barnard. He helped start the Broad Brook Fire Department in the 1950’s. He was a proud member of American Legion Post 24 in Woodstock.

He is survived by his wife of 77 years, Marjorie; his five children, daughters Mary Croft, Deborah Hewitt, Marlene Rand; sons Greyling (Nikki) and Clay (Karen); 12 grandchildren, 16 great grandchildren, and many nieces and nephews. Along with his parents, he is predeceased by his brother Earl, a grandson Dennis, great-granddaughter Paige and son-in-laws Rodney Croft, Robert Rand and Denny Hewitt. 

A graveside service will take place on Sunday, June 8 at 1 p.m. at the East Barnard Cemetery, after which family and friends are invited to the East Barnard Community Hall to celebrate Floyd’s life.

Those wishing may make contributions in his memory to the East Barnard Community Hall, Checks can be written to EBCC with a memo that the donation is in Floyd’s memory and mailed to: Scott Cone, Treasurer 5639 Broad Brook Road, So. Royalton, VT 05068 or American Legion Post 24, PO Box 365, Woodstock, VT 05091.

An online guestbook can be found at cabotfh.com.

A graveside service will be held for Howard “Toppy” Rollin Gould, 85, who died Dec. 8, 2024, on Monday, May 26 at 2 p.m. in the new part of the Riverside Cemetery in Woodstock.

The Cabot Funeral Home is assisting the family.

It is with sadness that the family of Clydene Richardson Trachier of Hartland announces her passing after 92nd birthday cakes (with ice cream!) have come and gone. Clydene departed her Lull Farm Lane home on the evening of May 14, 2025, while being cared for by family.

Clydene was born to Reba (Merrill) and Clyde Richardson on February 16, 1933, in the local doctor’s home on Main Street in Woodstock. She spent her childhood on the family’s small farm on Lull Farm Lane in Hartland. An only child, she played with neighbors from nearby Merritt Road, and the best winter fun included tobogganing all the way from there into the Three Corners village. She later became something of an older sister to her Richardson cousins who lived on Hartland Hill. After attending grades 1–8 at the Three Corners School (now the Hartland Recreation Center), she attended Windsor High School, where she excelled in business studies and music. She graduated third in the class of 1951.

Not long after Clydene met Roger Trachier on a double date (arranged by Roger’s cousin Marilyn Best), they were married at the First Congregational Church of Hartland (known as the Brick Church). Last Oct. 6, they celebrated their 68th anniversary. Clydene and Roger shared a varied and fulfilling life, playing outsized roles in their home community while living on the land where she had been raised. 

Professionally, Clydene was a crack bookkeeper. She began working for Central Vermont Public Service while still in high school, and she was employed there for several years. Over time, she also kept the books for Davis Brothers garage in Windsor (where Rite Aid is now) as well as other businesses in the Upper Valley. Later, Clydene was Roger’s office-based business partner in the property management and construction businesses that they ran from their home. An unreconciled penny didn’t have a chance of escaping Clydene’s careful scrutiny.

Music was a golden thread woven throughout Clydene’s life. With musical talent received through both parents, young Clydene needed very few lessons to learn piano, and she became a valued component of the extended family’s occasional musical get-togethers. In high school, she played drums in the band because her rhythm was flawless. She sang in the girls’ chorus and auditioned her way into the Vermont All State Music Festival and the New England Music Festival all four years. As young women, she and three of her schoolmates formed a female vocal quartet — the Windsorettes — in the style of the then-popular Chordettes. The Windsorettes performed in concerts throughout New England — culminating as openers for the Chordettes, who later invited them onstage to perform along with them. With perfect pitch and a vocal range from soprano to baritone, Clydene went on to sing in many different settings and also played the piano, accordion, pipe organ, drums, saxophone, and guitar. For more than 25 years she was the choir director and pipe organist at Windsor’s Old South Church. She played drums for local concerts and often marched in Hartland’s annual Old Home Day parade with the Hartland Community Band. For many years she was the keyboardist in the big-band group that began as the Cogitators, later became the Moonlighters Big Band, and is still a regional favorite.

Clydene was the choir director of many community-based musical performances. In 1972, a few fellow Hartland PTA members suggested that she could help put together a fundraising talent show. She did, and the happy result, “Hometown Hoedown,” was the first of Hartland’s three decades of annual community variety shows, each with a different fun theme. The core of volunteers who produced the variety shows developed into Hartland Community Arts, and Clydene was not only a founding member of the group but also a co-director of many of its Christmas/Holiday concerts. More recently, she enjoyed directing the choir at the Hartland Brick Church. When Clydene was no longer able to leave her home, she deeply appreciated visits from members of the choir, especially the group known as “the three altos.” Through the years, Clydene amassed a copious collection of sheet music. Shortly before her death, she learned that her special dream — that her collection be used as a Hartland-based resource for shows and concerts by future talented singers and musicians — is already becoming reality.

Family was more important to Clydene than her work and musical activities. She was a mother of two, grandmother of two, and great-grandmother of three. When downhill skiing was a growing family sport in Vermont, Clydene enjoyed skiing with friends and her young family at the many local ski hills. A broken leg made her the first skier handled by the nascent volunteer ski patrol at the then-new Quechee Lakes ski area. The break was so complex that it put an end to her own athletic pursuits. Thereafter, she and Roger supported their children’s and grandchildren’s love of skiing and bicycling by attending competitions near and far and also by contributing to the formation and stability of Hartland Winter Trails.

Clydene and Roger were a civic-minded and Hartland-focused team. Together they helped with the campaign for a consolidated school; rescued the bells from the former Three Corners, Four Corners, and North Hartland schools and assured their permanent protection on display at the consolidated school; and worked with many others to support the creation of Aging in Hartland. 

After owning a series of lakeside properties in Vermont and New Hampshire, Clydene and Roger found lasting contentment at their camp on Halls Lake in West Newbury, Vt. Her most cherished way to spend leisure time was soaking up sunshine and puttering on projects there. In the winter, she would enjoy a gentle cross-country ski on the lake ice before hunkering down next to the woodstove in the evening. During warmer weather, few things gave Clydene more joy than to share this happy place during picnic gatherings of family and friends.

Clydene’s life ended on the same dead-end rural road where she had lived her entire life — having left an indelible mark on the community and people around her. 

Preceding Clydene in death were her mother Reba Marion Merrill Richardson; father Clyde Marshall Richardson; husband Roger P. Trachier; and Hartland first cousin James Richardson. She is survived by her son Gary Trachier (Ione) of Hartland; daughter Andrea “Andi” Ambros (Theodore) of Hartland; grandson Marshall Ambros (Megan) and their children Asher, Ingrid, and Gordon of Wisconsin; and granddaughter Alexandra “Alex” Ambros of Oregon; her first cousins Gordon Richardson (Pat) of Hartland, Betty Caterino (Bill) of Cornish, N.H., and Anita Richardson of Hanover, N.H.

At Clydene’s request, there will be no calling hours, funeral, or burial service, and her ashes will be scattered by family at a location she chose. An online guestbook is at cabotfh.com. All who knew Clydene or Roger are welcome to help celebrate their lives on July 12 at Damon Hall, 1 Quechee Road, Hartland, from 2-5 p.m. Shared remembrances in words and music will begin at 3 p.m.

Anyone wishing to make a donation in Clydene’s memory may consider Hartland Community Arts, Aging in Hartland, the First Congregational Church of Hartland, and the Visiting Nurse and Hospice (VNH) for Vermont and New Hampshire.

Edward H. Jagelski Jr., 85, a resident of Windsor, Vt., and a former longtime resident of both Taftsville and Woodstock, passed away Saturday afternoon, May 3, 2025, at the Gill Odd Fellows Home in Ludlow.

He was born on Sept. 10, 1939, in Cohoes, N.Y., the son of Edward and Ann (Garbacz) Jagelski. Ann died in childbirth, and he was adopted by his loving mother, Evelyn (Austin) Jagelski. Ed grew up in Springfield, Vt. where he graduated from Springfield High School in 1958. Ed was an extremely talented athlete who excelled in track and football. He was privileged to be a member of the Vermont team and played in the Shrine Maple Sugar Bowl game. After graduating high school, he continued his schooling at Weaver Airline Personnel School in Kansas City, Mo. After completion, he then began a career in the airline industry as a customer service agent at Mohawk Airlines in Albany, N.Y. In 1967, he returned to Springfield, Vt. to be close to his family. He was a member of the Army Reserves, worked at J&L Machine Tool Company for a time, and later worked as a carpenter for A.W. Frizzell and Sons, Inc. until his retirement. Ed enjoyed spending time outdoors, especially skiing at Mount Ascutney Mountain where he worked ski patrol, snowshoeing, kayaking and occasionally hunting and fishing. Ed was a longtime member and volunteer at Upper Valley Turning Point in White River Junction as well as the Salvation Army.

Ed’s true passion was being outdoors in nature. He was known around Woodstock as the “spoon man.” He had a talent for finding unique wood on his walks and taking that piece of wood and carving it into special spoons and unique walking sticks. You would see his spoons displayed at the Vermont Welcome Centers as well as local craft stores in the area and he would give his walking sticks to anyone in need.

We would be remiss not to mention his love of High Pastures Farm in Woodstock, Vt. where he had the privilege of caretaking for the Roach Family for many years.

Survivors include his children, Holly Aldrich and her husband Rick of Hartland, Edward John Jagelski and his wife Janet of Portsmouth, R.I., and Heather McGreer and her husband Ted of Keene, N.H. Ed was immensely proud of his grandchildren, Mackenzie Elizabeth McGreer and Matthew Theodore McGreer of Keene, N.H.

At his request there will be no calling hours. A graveside service will be on Monday, May 19 at 1 p.m. in the Pine Grove Cemetery in North Springfield, Vt. with Reverend Michael Augustinowitz officiating.

In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to the Second Wind Foundation/Upper Valley Turning Point in White River Junction, Vt. (donorbox.org/give-to-the-upper-valley-turning-point)

Arrangements are under the care of Knight Funeral Home & Crematory in White River Junction, Vt. Condolences may be expressed in an online guestbook found at knightfuneralhomes.com.

Chandler “Denny” Hewitt, 76, died surrounded by his family on Monday, May 5 at the Jack Byrnes Center in Lebanon, N.H.

Denny was born on Feb. 6, 1949 in Hanover, N.H., the son of Chandler M. and Dorothy H. (Potter) Hewitt. He graduated from Woodstock Union High School in 1967 and joined the Navy serving as a Seabee in the Naval Mobile Construction Battalion (NMCB) 40, a group that would remain a large part of his life. He served in the Vietnam War in 1968-1969. In May 1971 he sailed to Diego Garcia (Indian Ocean) and took part in building the original 3500 airstrip, which later was extended; it is still today a strategic U.S. military base. He finished his service duty in 1972 and returned home to work for a number of trucking companies doing mostly long-haul trucking. The most recent company he worked for was Roy Ingraham Trucking, he remained close friends to the owners Roy and Kay 

Denny’s roots were grounded in the Pomfret and East Barnard area. He married Deborah VanAlstyne on Oct. 3, 1970 in the East Barnard Church and made their home in North Pomfret. He was an avid hunter, as well as being a well-known traveling butcher. He enjoyed riding his motorcycle and took enormous pride in his collection of antique tractors that could be seen in many local parades, also being driven by his son and father-in-law. He and Deb enjoyed traveling and visiting with friends, especially attending many gatherings of the NMCB 40 families. Denny could be seen spending time on the beach in his blue jeans on a warm day. His favorite holiday without a doubt was deer season.

Denny is survived by his wife of 54 years, Deborah, his daughter Karen Hewitt Osnoe (Lee), his son David Hewitt; five grandchildren, Nikki, Hayden, Asher, Joleigh, and Avery, his siblings; Pamela (Bill) Barrows, Sandra Birajiclian and Miller (Carlene) Hewitt; and many nieces, nephews, and cousins. In addition to his parents, he is predeceased by a son Dennis Hewitt, a brother Frank Hewitt, and a brother-in-law Michael Birajiclian.

A celebration of life will take place to all that wish to pay their respects on Saturday, May 24, from noon to 2 p.m. at the Pomfret Town Hall. A private family burial service will take place in the Hewittville Cemetery after.

In lieu of flowers, those wishing to pay their respects may make memorial donations to: American Legion Post 24 – PO. box 365 – Woodstock, Vt. 0509.

An online guestbook can be found at cabotfh.com.

In the earliest minutes of Thursday, May 2, 2025, seventeen days shy of her birthday, Phyllis Elaine (Thurston) Kruse, 86, died at the Jack Byrne Center for Palliative & Hospice Care with family at her side, after a short illness.

She was born May 19, 1938 “upstairs over Mr. Finley’s Store” in West Hartford, Vt., the fourth child of Oliver A. and Florence T. Thurston.

Her childhood memories of spending time with her siblings and many cousins at her Grammie and Grampa Thurston’s farm just across the White River, or with her Grammie and Grampa Thompson in Jefferson, N.H. and West Bridgewater were cherished and told often. She attended school in Quechee, often walking from “the far end of the village” to play with friends in Dewey’s Mills or a few miles up on Old Quechee Road. Phyl also attended schools in Pomfret and Hartford as the family relocated for work. Her father, whom she adored, worked on the railroad, among other things, and she’d walk to meet him as he returned each evening, often going fishing with him in the evening, or finding a special treat he had put into his lunch box, just for her.

Phyllis married Werner K Kruse, Jr., on Oct. 11, 1955 in Springfield, Vt. In November 1957, their daughter Karla was born, and their son Wayne was born in January 1959. They built a home in Woodstock in 1960 and lived there all their lives. Werner died in 1981 and Phyllis was determined to keep their home.

Phyl worked hard. She spent over thirty years working in retail businesses in Woodstock, then after “retiring” she turned to being a home health aide and companion to several local residents.

She loved cooking, baking, and decorating her home beautifully each year at Christmas with Karla, gardening, reading and bird-watching on her beloved screen porch she had wanted “all her life,” and coloring intricate pictures in adult coloring books, shading the details with her colored pencils. 

Phyl and Karla had many fun, much-loved vacations together throughout the southwestern U.S., the Caribbean, Iceland, and earlier family camping trips to Canada, where she always enjoyed visiting Prince Edward Island where her Grampa Thompson was born.

Family was most important. She was very proud of her two kids, and Wayne’s wife of over 44 years, Ginny. Wayne and Ginny’s daughters Jessica and Kasey have brought joy into her life for more than 40 years. Kasey then brought two great-grandsons, Brady and Kolby, into her life and they have kept the spark and love strong. 

Phyllis was pre-deceased by her parents, Oliver A. and Florence Thurston, her husband Werner K. Kruse, Jr., brother Oliver C. Thurston, and her dear friend and sister Glennis Thurston Bartlett. She is survived by her daughter Karla Kruse of Woodstock, son Wayne Kruse (Ginny) of Barnard, granddaughter Jessica Kruse of Stafford, Va., granddaughter Kasey Kruse of Barnard, great-grandsons Brady Kruse-Ely and Kolby Kruse-Ely of Barnard and Brownsville, a sister Beverly Thurston Mandigo of Unity, N.H., and nieces and nephews.

A graveside service will be held on Friday, May 23 at 3 p.m. at Riverside Cemetery, Woodstock.

In lieu of flowers, please consider a donation to Lucy Mackenzie Humane Society, 4832 Route 44, Brownsville, VT 05037.

An online guestbook can be found at cabotfh.com.

David MacIver Loman — known to many as Dave, Dave the Rave, Davey Baby, Davey Jones, or Dirty Dave — passed away on Tuesday, April 15, 2025, at the age of 37. Born in Randolph, Vt., and raised in Killington, David brought warmth, laughter, and depth to every place and person he touched, from the slopes of Vermont to the riverbanks of Montana.

David was a gifted athlete, crowned Vermont State Champion in the Giant Slalom during his youth. He continued to race at a high level throughout high school and college, ultimately helping lead Castleton State College to their first-ever podium at the USCSA Regional Championships. He went on to place as the top overall Castleton skier at their second-ever appearance in the USCSA National Championships. During high school, he was also a four-year varsity soccer player.

He graduated from Killington Mountain School and Woodstock Union High School, and later earned his Bachelor’s degree in English from the University of Montana in Missoula.

David’s love of mountains and skiing ran deep — he worked for many years as a ski instructor and race coach, and held various roles in ski towns that felt like home to him. In the final days of his life, he shared his desire to return to one. Beyond the ski world, David worked in a multitude of roles: property manager, ranch hand, carpenter, cook, and more. He often worked in service of others’ needs, perhaps even at the expense of his own ambitions. His generosity and magnetic personality were such that he was elected Prom King at Woodstock Union High School, a school he only attended part-time. He also had a knack for hosting trivia nights, keeping the room engaged and entertained with his quick wit and easy charm.

David was kind. He was brilliant. And he was deeply generous. He had a way of offering himself entirely — his time, his hands, his humor — without ever expecting anything in return. He could fix anything, drive anything, ski anything. His mind was lightning-quick, especially when it came to puzzles, puns, and crosswords, often solving the NYT Mini in under 25 seconds. He shared a legendary back-and-forth of wordplay with his father, Roy, the two often speaking for minutes at a time in nothing but puns.

He found joy in the simple things: a well-made eggs Benedict, a bluebird ski day, a classic film, a new novel, a long float down the river, a good joke. He was a lover of Batman, goofy comedies, science fiction, and deeply human dramas. He had a wry and brilliant sense of humor — equal parts witty and silly — and a smirk that could grow into the most radiant, toothy grin you can imagine.

Above all, David loved. He gave of himself so fully that it was sometimes hard for him to save any kindness for himself. He was the kind of person who would drive across a state to help you move a couch, who’d tell you he was “fine” just to keep from burdening you with his own pain.

He is survived by his mother Esther, father Roy, sister Sarah, brother Dan, sister-in-law Becca, nephew Carter, niece Audrey, and his beloved dog Pesto. He also leaves behind many beloved aunts, uncles, and cousins. He leaves not only those closest to him, but friends scattered across the country, many of whom now carry a deep and aching absence.

A small gathering was held in Montana, and a larger celebration of David’s life will be held at Killington Resort in Vermont on Saturday, June 14. Details can be found at daveloman.com/memorial.

Those wishing to share stories, photos, or videos can do so at daveloman.com/memories or by emailing memories@daveloman.com. Those wishing to donate in his honor can contribute to a foundation of his namesake, available soon at daveloman.com/foundation.

Though David left us too soon, the love, laughter, and generosity he gave the world endures. May we honor him by showing up for each other as fully as he did — for no reason other than love.

Sandra “Sandi” Eloise Lampert, age 86, passed away peacefully May 2, 2025, at the Meadows at East Mountain in Rutland, Vt.

Sandi was born in Springfield, Vt. on September 14, 1938. She was the daughter of Zygmont and Eloise (Sears) Stryhas. She grew up in Ludlow graduating from Black River High School with the class of 1956. Sandi married Robert J. Lampert the following year and together they bought a home in Tyson, Vt. where Sandi lived for 60 years. She began her career as a wife and mother and later took up waitress work in several Ludlow eateries, most importantly DJ’s Restaurant where she was an institution for over 30 years. She touched many locals’ lives notably through her Tuesday lunch service with the Ludlow Rotary Club. Her flower gardens were her special passion. She enjoyed the outdoors and could often be seen walking beside Echo Lake. She taught many young children to ski at Okemo Mountain and enjoyed her beach getaways to Maine.

She is survived by her children: Julie Postler of Thetford Center, Jessica Melville and her husband Hunter of South Woodstock and Jonathan Lampert and his wife Kimberly of Mount Holly; two sisters: Susan Allard of Rutland and Andrea Stanley and her husband Gary of Brandon and a sister-in-law: Barbara Stryhas of Weybridge; grandchildren; Dr. Matthew Postler, Jenna Postler and her husband Jack McDermott, Alex Melville and his wife Kristen and Graham Melville and a great-granddaughter; Gwendolyn Melville. She also leaves behind many nieces, nephews and cousins. She was predeceased by her brother, Don Stryhas.

A private gathering and burial will take place at a later date in the family lot at Pleasant View Cemetery in Ludlow.

Memorial gifts in lieu of flowers may be made in her memory to: Rutland Area Visiting Nurse & Hospice, 7 Albert Cree Drive, Rutland, VT 05701.

Arrangements by Miller & Ketcham of Brandon.

To our readers,

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

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

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

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

It’s worth saving.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Phil Camp, president        Dan Cotter, publisher

By Dan Cotter, publisher 

“So, how’s Phil?”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

By Dan Cotter, publisher

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Standard is one of those newspapers.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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