Williston Observer

By Tom Gresham
Observer staff

Williston police are looking for a man who exposed himself to a jogger at Rossignol Park last week.

Officer Jon Marcoux said a woman was jogging on a path above Rossignol Park around mid-day on Friday when she saw a man on the Little League baseball field with his hand down his pants. The woman continued on her route, which took her on the loop of Avenue D, and then ran back past Rossignol, Marcoux said.

The man was lying on the baseball field with his hand still down his pants when the woman returned. Upon seeing her again, he stood up, dropped his pants to his ankles and masturbated, according to Marcoux.

Marcoux said the man was able to see the path from his vantage point, but he was out of sight of passing motor traffic. Police were called to the scene at 1:20 p.m. Marcoux said he searched the area on foot, but did not find a man fitting the description given by the jogger.

Marcoux described the suspect as a white man in his early 20s. He was 5 feet 10 inches to 6 feet tall and wearing a baseball cap with a logo, a light-blue T-shirt and a pair of long, silky shorts.

Anyone with information about the incident is asked to call 878-6611.

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Attendance surges at Immaculate Heart of Mary

By Tom Gresham
Observer staff

When Pope John Paul II died on April 2, the bells at the Immaculate Heart of Mary Church in Williston rang 84 times to signify the pontiff’s age.

The wind was apparently blowing hard that afternoon, said Pastor Donald Ravey, because when parishioners arrived for mass that evening many said they had received some comfort at the sound of the bells.

Bernadette Ferenc, a Williston resident and Immaculate Heart of Mary Church parishioner, said she heard the slow tolling of the bells.

“I felt compelled to go to evening mass,” Ferenc said. “It was very moving, very emotional.”

Ravey said local worshippers have been praying and paying their respects to Pope John Paul II in the days since his death, just like millions of others around the world. The pope’s passing after a 26-year tenure in his position at the Vatican was a powerful event to many Catholics, Ravey said.

Ravey said his church has seen an obvious increase in visitors over the past two weeks. The Immaculate Heart of Mary held a special morning mass in the John Paul’s memory last week that attracted a large crowd and services the past two weekends have also featured strong attendances.

Ferenc said Ravey’s memorial mass felt like an intimate funeral service.

“It helped to put some closure on his passing for me,” said Ferenc, who is proud to share John Paul’s Polish heritage. “I had been watching everything on television, but it put a little more of a personal aspect on it.”

Ravey said the Immaculate Heart of Mary has also displayed a portrait of the pontiff.

“People have just been coming in regularly to pray and to pay their respects and to reflect on what he has meant to them,” Ravey said.

Ravey said he does not know of any parishioners from the Immaculate Heart of Mary traveling to the Vatican to witness the memorial ceremonies for Pope John Paul II, but their attachment to the departed has been evident. Ferenc said the pope’s influence spread well beyond the Catholic Church. Ravey agreed.

“He really had a far-reaching effect on a lot of people,” Ravey said. “He related well to everybody.”

Ravey said younger parishioners have been particularly curious about the process of tapping a successor to the papacy. The 117 members of the College of Cardinals will soon meet in the Sistene Chapel to elect a new pope.

“This is the only pope they’ve ever known,” Ravey said. “They’re learning what happens now. They can’t imagine anyone else as pope.”

Ravey said the positive media attention that has followed in the wake of the pope’s death represents a chance for the Catholic Church to renew relationships with former parishioners who have drifted from being active in the faith. The Catholic Church has struggled in recent years to escape the negative effects of a clergy sex scandal.

“It certainly is an opportunity because the coverage has just been great through all of this,” Ravey said. “It’s gotten so much attention. Many people have been called to come back. He’s reaching out even in death.”

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Work to start in July, state official says

By Greg Elias
Observer staff

Roadwork that will smooth the rough ride on Interstate 89 and ease congestion at exit 12 begins this summer.

The paving project includes 16 miles on the southbound side of I-89 between Bolton and South Burlington. The exit 12 work involves lengthening the deceleration lane and adding a lane to the southbound off-ramp that leads to Vermont Route 2A.

Motorists who suffer the bruising ride while dodging ruts and potholes during their daily commute say they are eager to see the repaving completed.

“It’s like a roller coaster ride,” said Bolton resident Kelly O’Brien, who commutes on Interstate 89 between Richmond and Williston to her job as a Vermont State Police dispatcher.

The stretch of Interstate 89 was last paved less then a decade ago, said Mike Hedges, paving program manager for the Vermont Agency of Transportation. A type of asphalt designed to reduce road spray and provide better traction was used.

But the state found that the pavement, which was supposed to last for 15-20 years, has a far shorter lifespan.

“It had many useful benefits,” Hedges said. “But we found that in modern applications it has a 9- to 10-year lifespan. Then it fails dramatically.”

Indeed, the quality of the southbound drive between Williston and Richmond has deteriorated rapidly over the past year. Shallow but wide potholes pockmark the stretch between Williston and Richmond. The segment between the Williston and Shelburne Road exits also has flaws.

Both stretches are marked by grooves and washboard pavement. Vehicles occasionally kick up pieces of loose asphalt, a distraction for drivers and a danger to windshields.

Williston resident Phyllis Etienne, who sometimes drives on Interstate 89 to reach Burlington, said she has seen the rapid deterioration.

“It’s definitely noticeable,” she said. “I find myself consciously steering from one lane to another to avoid it.”

Hedges, while acknowledging that potholes could present safety issues for motorists traveling at 65 mph, said many other roads are worse. “They are not as bad as the potholes we have elsewhere,” he said.

The limited lifespan of asphalt on Interstate 89 has been a problem since the state started using the new type of pavement in the 1990s. Last year, the state had to repave a stretch of I-89 between exits 8 and 10.

Was it a mistake to use the new type of paving, which allows water to drain better but apparently doesn’t hold up in Vermont’s rugged climate?

“When we planned it, we felt it was the best available product,” Hedges said. “That’s why we put it on the interstate. We anticipated it would last longer — 15-20 years — than it did.”

About 150 miles of interstate in Vermont have been paved using the asphalt. Hedges said much of it will need to be repaved in coming years.

The work of the exit 12 off-ramp is designed to reduce traffic backups, which sporadically cause vehicles to spill out onto the traveled portion of the highway. Residents and town officials have complained that the situation is a serious hazard, as vehicles traveling at 65 mph bear down on the line of stopped cars.

The state originally planned to do the ramp work in 2006. But that timetable was accelerated after town officials and resident complained that the traffic backups amounted to an emergency safety issue and the state concluded it would make sense to combine the paving and ramp projects.

A second left-turn lane will be added to the ramp to accommodate the majority of the traffic that heads north on Route 2A. The deceleration lane leading up to the ramp will be lengthened, and the timing of traffic signals may be adjusted, Hedges said.

The ramp project will cost an estimated $500,000, Hedges said. The interstate paving will cost roughly $4 million. Federal funding will pay 90 percent of the cost of both projects.

The repaving work will start just north of the 189 interchange (where motorists exit to reach Shelburne Road) and continue south to Bolton. The state will advertise the projects in May, with bidding taking place the following month. Hedges said both the repaving and ramp work would likely begin in July. The projects are expected to take one construction season, which runs through October.

No paving will take place on the northbound side of I-89. Hedges said a northbound stretch between Richmond and Bolton was repaved two years ago.

Motorists will have to deal with congestion as a result of the work, but Hedges said the state will take steps to minimize problems. He said no paving on Interstate 89 will take place during rush hours — 7 a.m. to 9 a.m. and 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. Work will largely take place off the side of the exit 12 ramp, so Hedges does not foresee major traffic issues with that project.

“I think (the workers) will be somewhat out of the way of traffic,” he said. “But there will be some disruption anyway.”

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By Tom Gresham
Observer staff

The Selectboard agreed to hold separate public hearings on two versions of interim subdivision regulations at its May 16 meeting.
The board will hold the hearings as long as it receives approval for the unusual arrangement from legal counsel. Town Planner Lee Nellis suggested the hearings to solve a debate about which version of the regulations should go to hearing.

Each version would produce major changes in the current subdivision regulations, but the most recent version, informally titled “Skipping Ahead,” includes particularly substantial changes in the criteria used for allocating phasing to residential projects. Phasing rules require larger subdivisions to be built over several years.

The phasing criteria changes originated with a task force working on the comprehensive town plan update. Some Selectboard members have expressed reluctance with taking the task force’s recommendations before the town plan process has been completed.

Nellis and Selectboard Chairwoman Ginny Lyons each said they have heard concerns from Planning Commission members about the Skipping Ahead plan. The Planning Commission was poised to review the draft Tuesday night. Results of that meeting were not available at press time.

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Seven employees checked at hospital

By Tom Gresham
Observer staff

Seven Charter One employees were taken to the hospital for observation last week after an employee chopping away at ice in a refrigerator punctured a Freon line.

Linda Magoon, the vice president and regional sales manager for retail branches at Charter One, said each of the employees was examined and released from the hospital and had returned to work by late afternoon. None of the employees demonstrated signs of illness or other effects from the leak.

“Everybody was fine,” Magoon said.

Williston Fire Chief Ken Morton said the leak occurred around noon on April 20 when a Charter One employee breaking off ice that had stuck to a freezer’s walls accidentally punched a hole in the Freon line. Williston’s Charter One branch is located on U.S. Route 2 near Taft Corners.

Morton said the employee was exposed to Freon released into the air, as was another employee who was already in the room. Bank workers called the Williston Fire Department for assistance.

Morton said the workers were told to evacuate the building. Fire and rescue officials arrived. Fire workers ventilated the building, while rescue workers tended to the bank employees. At least one employee was seen wearing an oxygen mask.

Morton said Freon is not a highly toxic chemical and the amount released from the punctured line was limited. He said the main threat would have been if the chemical had been in contact with the skin, had been directly inhaled or had been released into someone’s eyes. None of those occurred.

“This was a mild exposure hazard,” Morton said.

However, Morton said fire and rescue officials must use caution dealing with any chemical leak. He said fire officials spoke with the state hazardous materials team over the phone for advice. Firefighters eventually removed the refrigerator after speaking with a technician about the appliance and ruling out the possibility the leak had been ammonia, a more dangerous chemical.

Morton said rescue workers decided the two workers exposed to the initial release of Freon should be transported to Fletcher Allen Health Care for assessment. He said the other five bank employees decided they would like to be checked, too, for precautionary reasons. The seven employees were transported in a total of three ambulances.

Magoon said the Charter One branch remained closed for the afternoon. A Charter One employee was stationed outside the bank to direct customers to the nearest branches.

When the bank workers evacuated the building, the bank’s vault remained open. A Williston police officer provided security until Charter One facility personnel arrived and closed the vault.

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