Williston Observer

John Adams takes job in Shelburne

By Greg Elias
Observer staff

Williston planning staffer John Adams is stepping down, marking the second time his position has turned over in about two years.

Adams, 25, will take a job with the town of Shelburne. His title will be Development Review Board administrator/enforcement officer, a position that involves enforcing zoning ordinances and overseeing board activities. Adams’ current job as development review planner entails a mix of clerical and professional planning work.

The new job comes with more responsibilities and higher pay, Adams said, acknowledging that both factors played a role in his decision to leave Williston.

The position pays better “and it’s a step up in terms of responsibilities as well,” he said.

Adams’ current job pays $17.14 an hour or $35,651 annually based on a 40-hour week. The Shelburne position pays $43,000, according to Shelburne Town Manager Paul Bohne.

During a Williston Planning Commission meeting last week, Town Planner Lee Nellis said the fact that the position has turned over twice in a relatively short period indicates that the town isn’t paying enough.

Nellis explained that young people like Adams working in a junior planning position can be expected to eventually move on. But he said the town could retain even ambitious employees for about two years if the pay was better.

Town Manager Rick McGuire said a recent compensation study commissioned by the town showed Adams’ position pays comparably to similar entry-level planning jobs in Vermont towns.

McGuire said the problem is a small town with a small staff offers few chances for promotion. He noted that other planning staffers who left Williston in recent years have moved up to higher-ranking positions.

Bohne said the problem of limited opportunities is common in small towns. “In order for someone to move up, someone has to leave,” he said.

The position Adams is leaving may be reconfigured, McGuire said, perhaps starting the new employee at a lower level of pay and responsibility to leave room for advancement. He said the opening would be advertised starting this week.

Adams began working for the town of Williston in September 2006. He holds a master’s degree in urban and regional planning from Queen’s University in Canada. His predecessor was David Pesnichak, who was hired for the then-newly created position in 2005.

Adams said he will step down as a full-time employee Aug. 21 but will continue to work part-time in Williston and part-time in Shelburne for a while.

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By Kim Howard
Observer staff

Behind the first door on the right, a man is holding a child at gunpoint. In the room across the hall, behind the spring-loaded door, a man holds a coffee mug.

In each room of this makeshift plywood-covered building at the Ethan Allen Firing Range in Jericho, different “people” on cardboard cutouts represent scenarios soldiers might face in combat, scenarios that are increasingly difficult to predict.

At a training session earlier this month, seven Vermont Army National Guard soldiers are gathered outside the building with Sgt. John Kidder, an instructor at the VNG Army Mountain Warfare School.

“What I’m asking you to do is look at the whole person, then the hands,” Kidder tells his trainees.

Kidder is teaching close-quarters combat skills to groups of the Guard’s artillery battalion soldiers. Williston is home to the Headquarters Battery of the Vermont Army National Guard 1-86th Field Artillery Battalion. The Williston battery soldiers, along with those from Vergennes, Waterbury and Berlin, were gathered at Ethan Allen Firing Range last month for their annual two-week training exercises.

The artillery battalion supports lightweight towed artillery pieces, or howitzers. The units fire 4-inch diameter high explosive shells that blow shrapnel in a roughly 100-foot radius around the target. Soldiers in the Williston battery are specialists in communications and operations, radar, survey, medical assistance, and administration – those functions that support the accurate and proper work of the howitzers and the battalion as a whole. The Waterbury and Vergennes soldiers are the firing specialists.

As Kidder instructed the seven soldiers how to enter and clear a building, about 150 of their artillery battalion colleagues were spread throughout the 12,000-acre property firing howitzers, learning to shoot targets at unknown distances, and practicing general marksmanship. Earlier in training, on other eight or nine-hour training days, soldiers learned land navigation and other “mountain skills,” like rappelling off 160-foot cliff.

This type of training for artillery battalion soldiers wasn’t happening even a decade ago, according to Maj. James P. McLaughlin, the battalion executive officer.

“We’ve refocused since 9/11 on every soldier’s individual skills,” McLaughlin said. While soldiers are still trained on battery-level skills, he said, squad and individual skills are a necessity in a world of shifting war tactics. “Every soldier needs to increase his skills to be able to fight (his way) out of (an unexpected) situation.”

Tactics have changed

Roughly 75 percent of the current artillery battalion has been deployed to Iraq, Afghanistan or Kuwait, according to Headquarters Battery Cpt. Miles Trudell. Some soldiers have gone more than once. When they return home, Trudell said, “they always tell me it’s completely different than the last time we were there. In a year’s time the techniques have changed, the tactics have changed.”

That may be why Kidder repeats the mantra “we need thinkers who are shooters and shooters who are thinkers” as he teaches a four-man team of trainees how to “stack up” when they’re about to enter a room that may or may not house an enemy.

With the outline of a room marked with tape in the dirt outside the practice building, Kidder asks the team to group together strategically. The “number one man” is in front, leading the pack into the room; the “hall boss” keeps his eyes peeled down an imagined hallway; a soldier is behind his back, facing the opposite way; a fourth man leads up the rear. They practice entering the imagined room swiftly, each checking a section of the room before hollering out “right side clear,” “left side clear” or “all clear” to the hall boss remaining outside.

When they prepare to stack up for another entry, Kidder asks them to switch which soldier will enter the room first. Every soldier needs to know “two jobs up,” Kidder tells them, in case those above them are injured or killed. There’s another reason Kidder believes switching around the “number one man” is important.

“Doing multiple entries in a combat zone, when the adrenaline’s going, doors are getting kicked, bangers are going off, rounds are getting fired, dudes getting smoked, friendlies getting hit, friendlies getting smoked, kids crying, screaming, dogs getting shot … the number one man is going to get fried pretty quick, right?” Kidder says. “’Cause he knows it’s just a matter of time before ‘I go through the door and catch one right in the mouth.’ Or the knee or whatever. It’s bad stuff, right? So after about two or three hours of clearing, a lot shorter than that, you’re a mess, right? You guys would probably be a certified basket case at that point, all right? Fetal position sucking on your thumb, all right? So it’s important that we switch that job out.”

Nineteen-year-old Liam Vendeville of Barre completed his first annual training exercises last month as a member of the Williston battery. The basics of close-quarters shooting, he said, are easy to get down; it’s the complications he doesn’t like.

“I kept thinking ‘I hope I don’t have to do this in real life,’” Vendeville said, reflecting on his thoughts during that exercise. “In real life there’s going to be all sorts of furniture, people you don’t want to shoot because they haven’t done anything. Having basics is good, but just going through it in real life probably would be pretty scary.”

Trainings and missions change, too

Vendeville said he found the mountain training skills portion of annual training – knot-tying techniques, rappelling and climbing – most helpful.

“It’s always something good to know if you have to use it anywhere,” he said. “It applies to civilian and military life.”

Staff Sgt. Warren Rotax, 49, of St. George said he’s seen a lot of change through the roughly 20 annual trainings he’s attended. When he first joined the Army National Guard in the 1970s, he said, annual training was “a big party.”

“To be honest, we used to go out, shoot howitzers and drink,” Rotax said. “Now we’re really training with the real professionals (who’ve been through combat). It’s very intense. … Especially this year, the training was very realistic.”

With the switch toward training soldiers on survival skills, Rotax said, “you have more confidence in what you’re doing.”

That confidence – and the trust in the organization that comes with it – is an important byproduct of training, according to Trudell. Having a wide range of skills makes soldiers more flexible as missions shift. Most of the battalion’s more recent deployments, Trudell said, have not been for artillery; military police work like convoy security and base protection has been a primary responsibility.

“Training is a lot more specific to the environment and basically what the mission is,” Trudell said. “Our mission as a field artillery has changed a lot as well.”

Williston armory details

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By Ben Moger-Williams
Observer staff

The public will soon have a chance to fire off some opinions on proposed changes to Williston’s firearms discharge ordinance. At Monday’s Selectboard meeting, the board moved to hold a public hearing to discuss changes suggested by the Williston Conservation Commission. In essence the changes would open up some town-owned land to hunting, and make it easier for people to hunt on their own land. But it would also mean allowing hunting within 10 feet of some public roads.

It is currently illegal to discharge a firearm north of Interstate 89 in Williston, except for a small area in the northeast of town. South of the Interstate is mostly open to hunting, but as the current ordinance reads, guns may not be fired within 500 feet of any buildings, roads, trails or “public park or recreation area.” The commission is proposing changes to the ordinance to allow hunters access to some municipal lands south of I-89, and to shorten the distance from roads and trails that guns may be used.

A memo presented to the Selectboard on Monday by the commission and Environmental Planner Carrie Deegan argues that the 500-foot restriction is unfair to hunters because it applies to public trail easements on privately owned land and is much stricter than the state law.

“The WCC does not feel it is appropriate (or legal) to restrict hunting on private lands,” the memo reads. “This should be the decision of each individual landowner. In addition, 500’ from a public road seems an excessive distance when state standards allow hunting within 10’ of any roadway.”

The proposed changes would keep the 500-foot rule as it applies to buildings, but would allow firearms to be discharged 10 feet away from public roads, and 100 feet from marked trails on town-owned land. The changes prohibit firing across any road or trail, and also give the Selectboard the authority to prohibit shooting on any municipal land.

Greg Paulman, who teaches a hunter safety course in Williston, has been encouraging the commission to pursue the changes. Paulman said in a phone interview that the new rules will not compromise safety, but will lay out guidelines so that hunters and hikers alike can enjoy the public land.

“Essentially what the Conservation Commission has done is they’ve clarified some rules so that there will actually be an enforceable ordinance on town owned land that allows for people to hunt and lets other people using the land know there is hunting going on,” Paulman said.

Selectman Andy Mikell said at the meeting he was “unlikely to support” the changes.

“I’m all for recreational purposes but citizen safety is first and foremost,” Mikell said. “Let’s hear from the public and see what they want.”

The board said it would run the changes by legal counsel and schedule a hearing after that.

MINUTES CHANGES

The board also decided to change how it takes minutes at its meetings. Currently a clerk writes down summaries of the discussions at the meetings, and also records the motions and decisions made and who was present. State law requires the minutes to record the list of board members present, names of other active participants, all motions, proposals and resolutions made, what action was taken and the results of votes.

The board voted unanimously to change the format of minutes to include just the bare minimum. However, Town Manager Rick McGuire said the board would also begin digitally recording the meetings and burning them onto CD to archive.

McGuire recorded Monday’s meeting himself, but said Wednesday that the clerk, Chris Wrobel, would likely take over that responsibility. McGuire said the recordings will also be divided into different tracks according to agenda items.

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By Marianne Apfelbaum
Observer staff

Three Williston residents were sent to the hospital on Saturday – the victims of a dog attack on Porterwood Drive, according to Williston police.

Dan Hill, a resident of the mobile home park where all three victims lived, said he had been petting the dog, a Chow named Dakota. Hill’s daughter, Heather, 25, joined him and Dan Hill gave her a treat for the dog, he said. The dog “suddenly attacked the female” according to police reports, biting her in the chest.

Heather Hill then tripped and fell, and the dog bit her on the forearm, Dan Hill said, so he grabbed the dog’s hind leg, and the dog then bit him on the forearm.

The dog’s owner, Bonnie Racine, tried to end the attack, but the dog bit her as well, police say. Officer Keith Gonyeau subsequently spoke with Racine, who appeared to go into shock after the attack, he said.

All three victims were taken to Fletcher Allen Healthcare after being treated at the scene by Williston Rescue personnel. Heather Hill required 10 stitches on her arm, but she said doctors expect to remove them next week.

The attack occurred on the north side of a shed on Racine’s property, where the dog was tied to a car, Gonyeau said.

The dog had been staying with Racine’s daughter in Burlington while construction was being done on her property, Dan Hill said. The dog had recently been taken back to Williston and both Hills say the confusion of moving and all the construction personnel around that day probably stressed out the dog, and led to the attack.

“It was chaos there. All the odds were against this poor dog,” Dan Hill said.

The dog was “secured” by police, and is being quarantined at a kennel in Shelburne for 10 days per state law, according to Williston’s animal control officer, Sue Powers. The police report indicates the dog is current with its rabies vaccination. However, the dog did not have a Williston dog license, according to Williston Town Clerk Deb Beckett. The Observer’s attempts to reach Bonnie Racine for comment were unsuccessful.

The dog’s fate is now in limbo. Town Manager Rick McGuire said the town is playing an “informal role” in facilitating discussion between Racine and the other victims.

“In this situation, there is a question of whether the town has jurisdiction … but we certainly have an interest in what happens with the dog,” he said.

McGuire said the town has not received a written complaint about the dog, and acknowledged there would likely be a hearing if one were to be received.

The Hills said they will not press charges. “I think it was an isolated incident,” Heather Hill said. “Dakota is usually a very calm and well-liked dog.”

Dan Hill said he is a friend of the Racines, and has known the dog for six years. “I don’t want the dog to be put away. My daughter doesn’t want that either.”

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Observer staff report

Champlain Valley Union High School biology teacher David Ely will give $5,000 to a school in Africa.

Last month Ely received the 2006-07 National Teacher of the Year Siemens Award for Advanced Placement at a ceremony at the AP Annual Conference in Las Vegas. A monetary award of $5,000 accompanied the award. Ely’s selection for the honor was announced earlier this year.

Ely was selected for the national award from a pool of 50 teachers who’d been selected as the outstanding teacher from his or her state. The teachers were selected from a pool of more than 15,000 high schools, according to James Whaley, president of the Siemens Foundation.

Ely, 63, has taught at CVU High School since 1979. He has won numerous awards over the years including the Distinguished Teacher Award, White House Commission on Scholars and the Vermont Teacher of the Year. Ely has taught AP biology to 800 students, more than 750 of whom have taken the national exam, with 98 percent receiving qualifying scores and 450 receiving the highest score of five.

For five of the past nine summers, Ely has trekked to Costa Rica with groups of up to 30 of his AP Biology students, according to a press release. As a biologist, he feels compelled to pursue biodiversity studies abroad, and serve the local community. This year, he traveled with family and friends to Kenya and visited three schools. When traveling, Ely makes a point to deliver necessary supplies to children. This year, in addition to purchasing school supplies, he used his Siemens award money to give a most unusual gift to a school run by women disowned by their tribe – a cow.

“In this part of Africa, wealth is measured by the number of livestock you own,” Ely said in the release.

The Siemens awards for Advanced Placement are designed to promote excellence in math, science and technology education. The program celebrates high school students who excel in AP science and math courses, as well as teachers and schools who are leading the nation in participation and performance in AP science and math courses.

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