Williston Observer

How will I survive?

By Ginger Isham
August 7, 2008

With the price of gas, and predictions for high costs of fuel for keeping warm this winter, how am I going to survive on a budget and fixed income? There is no way I can control what I have to pay for gas or fuel except to shop around.

I am retired, so my health insurance is somewhat stable. I have limited control over some of my health costs. I need to visit my dentist on a regular basis, have routine check-ups and tests to prevent more serious problems and higher medical expenses. Here, I have some control. Exercise is a key to keeping well and feeling good. It helps keep the blood pressure down, the blood sugar under control, the body moving and the blood flowing. My diet and what I eat is a factor also of which I have control.

Even though the cost of food has gone up, I have some control in this area. I can use coupons and have more than one supermarket to shop at in close range. I can stick to the basics of fresh fruits, vegetables, meat and protein, whole-grain breads and cereals. I do not have to make recipes that call for unusual and expensive ingredients or a lot of seasonings and ingredients. I can choose what quick method of cooking I use and length of time food needs to be cooked.

I can choose what I buy or make for family gifts, making sure they are practical and useful. I can visit the local discount stores for greeting cards or make my own. The computer has many verses for all occasions. I can wrap gifts in leftover wallpaper, use wallpaper borders with tissue paper, brown bags with markers, new towels or even the Sunday funny papers. I can recycle gift-wrap, like we always did at Christmas as a child.

I can use old puzzles and games with missing parts for crafts, such as filling in the outline of a flower, car or house with matching puzzle pieces as a frame for a gift for a grandchild, or I can help the grandchild make his or her own gift. I can buy inexpensive material or gently used material and make pillowcases as gifts.

I can make my own centerpieces by placing candles, outdoor greens and flowers in containers I have on hand.

I can shop for clothes and shoes only when there is a sale or I can visit the gently used shops. I remember the excitement of hand-me-downs as a child and in my own family today–the idea that something nice was free and did not cost anything!

I can watch movies at home rather than go out. I can make my own popcorn and snacks. I can invite friends in for movie night. I can bring out the old games of Scrabble, Checkers and Pictionary, and card games of hearts, rummy and flapjack. Today my granddaughter and I enjoy the card game Skip-Bo.

I can do all these things easily because I have had the luxury of learning how to do them in the past when I had the misfortune not to have so many stores available to tell me what I need to survive in this life.

Ginger Isham is a longtime Williston resident and former co-owner of Maple Grove Bed & Breakfast. She writes a biweekly “Recipe Corner” column in the Observer.

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Garden spinach specialties

July 31, 2008
By Ginger Isham

One cup of cooked spinach is high in Vitamin C and A, rich in riboflavin, folate, magnesium, potassium, and vitamins E, B6, and thiamin and contains 40 calories. When steaming or cooking spinach, save the juice, as it is the most potent vegetable juice in prevention of cancer cell formation. It is thought that a daily serving of spinach makes one less likely to develop lung cancer. One pound of fresh spinach will make one cup of cooked spinach.

Many years ago we attended yearly farm meetings at a local inn and were served a spinach appetizer before our main dish. I wished I knew how to make it and years later a friend in my workplace gave me a recipe very similar to this appetizer. I have been asked for the recipe numerous times over the years so will again share it in my column.

Spinach soufflé
1/4 cup melted butter
1 cup small-curd cottage cheese
2 tablespoons flour
3 eggs, beaten
1 frozen package of chopped spinach; or 1 pound fresh spinach
pinch of salt and pepper
1 package shredded cheddar cheese (8 ounces)
Mix all ingredients in bowl. I sometimes add 1 to 2 tablespoons chopped onion. Pour into an 8-inch-by-8-inch baking dish, lightly oiled. Bake at 350 degrees for about 45 minutes. I double recipe and put in a 9-by-13-inch baking pan.

Green garden spinach/pea soup
2 tablespoons butter
3/4 cup scallions or onion, chopped
1 clove of garlic, minced
4 cups peas
4 teaspoons dried basil or 4 tablespoon fresh basil
1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley
16 cups fresh spinach
6 cups chicken broth
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
pinch of black or white pepper

In large kettle, sauté onions and garlic in butter. Add remaining ingredients and cook until spinach is limp. Cool slightly. Process in a blender or food processor until smooth. Heat and serve with crusty bread.

Starved for time

A quick way to serve spinach is by cooking one slice of bacon, cut up, with one small, thinly sliced onion. Add 1/2 pound of fresh spinach, cover and cook for 2 minutes. Add remaining 1/2 pound of spinach and cover and cook for 3 to 8 minutes. Add dash of salt and pepper. Stir and serve.

Ginger Isham was the co-owner of Maple Grove Farm Bed & Breakfast in Williston, a fifth generation family farm on Oak Hill Road where she still lives. She cooked for guests for more than a decade.

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Pass Jessica's Law before more children suffer

July 31, 2008
By Mike Benevento

Three years ago, previously convicted sex offender John Couey raped and murdered 9-year-old Jessica Lunsford. Couey's crimes upset Floridians so much that they called on their Legislature to pass stricter sex offender laws. Named after Lunsford, Jessica's Law was the centerpiece legislation. Since then, 40 states have passed at least a partial version of Jessica's Law.

Over the last few years, Vermont has deservedly received national attention for being too lenient on sex offenders. Commentator Bill O'Reilly has been one of America's biggest proponents of strict laws against child molesters. On his TV and radio programs, he has taken Vermont to task for not appropriately protecting children. As O'Reilly noted, “In Vermont, there are no mandatory sentencing laws for child rapists.”

Jessica's Law establishes a minimum 25-year sentence for anyone convicted of sexually abusing a young child. It also requires sex offenders on parole to wear a GPS device for police to track their whereabouts. According to the Bennington Banner, Vermont's Legislature has failed to pass Jessica's Law twice in the past.

In early 2007, O'Reilly shared the story of Andrew James, who repeatedly molested a 4-year-old boy in southern Vermont. Despite his crimes, James was not sentenced to jail. He received only probation and treatment as punishment.

Two years ago, Judge Edward Cashman initially sentenced Williston's Mark Hulett to only 60 days in prison for raping a 6-year-old girl for four years. (Derek Kimball of Hinesburg was also charged with sexual assault of the same girl.) As O'Reilly pointed out, “The outcry embarrassed the state of Vermont, but still Jessica's Law was voted down by the Legislature.”

Yet another horrific assault of a child is forcing Vermont to reconsider its sex predator laws.

Earlier this month, 12-year-old Brooke Bennett's body was found in a shallow grave. Her uncle — convicted sex offender Michael Jacques — has been charged with her kidnapping and murder. Because of Jacques' lenient punishment for a previous kidnapping and rape, Brooke's death brought back calls for tougher laws against child sex offenders.

Three weeks ago, Republican Lt. Gov. Brian Dubie told Channel 3 News, “When a person is sexually assaulted, a minor is sexually assaulted, it's my opinion that they should go to jail for 25 years.” He added, “That's very simple and that's what Jessica's Law calls for.”

Agreeing with Dubie, on July 10, Gov. James Douglas said the state should pass stronger laws against sex offenders, including Jessica's Law, civil commitment, strengthening the state's sex offender registry, chemically castrating sex offenders and returning the death penalty to Vermont.

According to Douglas, he reached out to House Speaker Gaye Symington and President Pro Tem Peter Shumlin to request a meeting with them, the minority leaders and the chairs of the House and Senate Judiciary Committees to urge them to support a special session to consider his proposals.

However, the Democrats — who control the Legislature — only seem to be interested in investigating what went wrong with the judicial system's handling of Jacques and not passing any new laws. Thus, Douglas is not planning on calling for a special session, as it would not accomplish much.

Douglas spokesman Jason Gibbs said “Sen. Shumlin and Speaker Symington have made it very clear that they oppose an immediate special session for the purposes of strengthening our sex offender laws. It would therefore be unproductive for the governor to call a special session without the support of the legislative leadership.”

Symington said a special session would be used to investigate why current laws “are not being enforced by the Douglas administration,” before the Legislature considers new laws. Symington, a candidate for governor, said if elected she would launch a “thoughtful review” of the state sex offender laws.

In the end, as Bill O'Reilly notes, “Vermont has become a secular progressive enclave — a state that believes in restorative justice, that is healing for the criminal as well as the victim.” So far, the Democratic/Progressive Legislature seemingly cares more for the rights of the offender than the helpless children the molesters   scar for life.

Rehabilitating violent sex offenders is a difficult task. Unless the offender wants rehabilitation, the recidivism rate is very high. Maybe the prospect of a long prison sentence would deter abusers. For most, it would not. However, one thing is certain: Passing Jessica's Law would keep child rapists in jail and out of our communities for at least 25 years.

Vermonters need to do everything possible to prevent sexual abuse against children. Passing Jessica's Law would be a big step in the right direction.

Michael Benevento is a former Air Force fighter jet weapon systems officer. He has a bachelor's degree in Military History and a master's in International Relations. Mike resides in Williston with his wife Kristine and their two sons, Matthew and Calvin.

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Restoring the world's faith in America

July 31, 2008
By Steve Mount

I recently heard on National Public Radio the story of a Billings, Mont. businessman who was in a bind. In his low-unemployment city, he was having a hard time filling an information technology position in his small company.

Driving to work one day, Rob Hunter heard the story of Bahjat, an Iraqi IT specialist who worked with the Americans in his country. Because of his work, Bahjat was targeted by Iraqi insurgents. He applied for and got refugee status, moved his mother and sister with him to Florida, and began looking, in vain, for work.

Hunter contacted Bahjat and offered him the open position. Though unsure why someone from so far away would want to help him, Bahjat eventually accepted the job.

As the family drove a donated car from Florida to Montana, Hunter organized his friends and neighbors to contribute home goods to furnish a small apartment and to ensure that Bahjat and his family would feel welcome when they arrived.

Throughout the world, America is reviled, looked down upon, feared, hated. But in a world where crowds are wont to chant “Death to America!” stories like that of Hunter and Bahjat give me some hope that we can turn this negative perception around.

While hatred of America is nothing new, it is surprising when you look back at where we were in September 2001.

As I'm sure you recall, in the days following the attacks on Washington and New York, we enjoyed an outpouring of support from all corners of the world. The Bush administration, with its arrogant approach to diplomacy, has squandered most of that good will.

We need more Rob Hunters to restore our position in the world.

Locally, we are doing our part. My parents run an employment agency in Burlington, and over the years I've heard many stories of refugees coming here to start over. Be they Vietnamese, Cambodian, Croatian, Bantu, Congolese or Iraqi, desperate to make their own way, they would take any job they could find.

Similar stories dot the pages of the Vermont Refugee Resettlement Program's online newsletters: Vermonters lending their language skills to newcomers; Vermonters donating gently-used winter gear to Africans seeing snow for the first time; and Vermonters introducing immigrants to the wonders of an American grocery store.

We Americans have big hearts, and it is disheartening when the world reacts only to the negatives.

So it was with some great enthusiasm that I watched Barack Obama visit Europe last week. According to some estimates, the size of the crowd that he addressed in Berlin was even larger than his largest thus far here in the U.S.

Some of the onlookers were spurred by curiosity, to be sure. But I think there is more to it than that. With some exceptions, I think that most of the world wants, desperately, to look up to the United States. It cannot bring itself to do that while Bush is at the helm, and McCain just looks like more of the same.

Obama is bringing ideas to the American people, and, by way of wide media coverage, to the world. Most of them are not new ideas — they are long-held Democratic Party principles — but they seem fresh after eight years of Bush.

But more than restating Democratic Party ideals, more than a return to an America that values conversation, diplomacy and cooperation, Obama is seen as a realization of a classic American ideal, the same ideal that Lincoln's log cabin once evoked.

That's the ideal that anyone, from whatever background, can excel in America. That regardless of our checkered history, even the son of a Kansan and a Kenyan can become our head of state.

Obama is also seeking to restore another classic American ideal — that of John Winthrop's City Upon a Hill. Though Winthrop envisioned an America worthy of almost religious worship, the phrase has evolved to mean an America founded on democratic principles that all nations should aspire to.

Restoring our position of leadership in the world must be a goal of the next president. With people like Barack Obama and Rob Hunter working to that goal, either deliberately or tangentially, we can restore our position, we can be a beacon, we can again be that city upon a hill.

Steve Mount has been a Williston resident since 1996. He is a software engineer at GE Healthcare and is devoted to his family, his country and his Constitution. You can reach Steve at [email protected] or read his blog at http://saltyrain.com/ls.

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July 31, 2008
Tim Simard
Observer Staff

A new salon has opened its doors in Maple Tree Place in recent weeks, replacing the former Maple Leaf Salon on Connor Way. Salon Pure officially opened on July 14 under the ownership of lifelong Vermonter Christopher Brown.

Brown said Salon Pure is a different kind of salon since it uses hair products that are organic, as well as being “pure and natural.”

“The products we have stick with that philosophy,” Brown said.

Many of the products Salon Pure's hairdressers use are better for their clients and for the environment, Brown said. Much of what is used is also for sale at the salon. Popular lines include Eufora and Thermafuse hair care products.

The hairdressers and stylists that worked for Maple Leaf Salon now work for Salon Pure, including Hina Malghani, the former salon's owner, Brown said. Salon Pure has also added three new stylists and color experts, Brown said. Other changes include a new computer system and new Web site, www.lookpure.com, currently under construction. Brown said a new sign should replace the Maple Leaf Salon in the near future.

Brown said Salon Pure has a great location in the shopping center and has received a lot of walk-in traffic in its first weeks.

“This will be great for us,” Brown said.

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