Williston Observer

Departure date uncertain for Deb Beckett

Jan. 28, 2010

By Greg Elias

Observer staff

Williston Town Clerk Deb Beckett has received notice that she will deploy to Iraq with a Vermont Army National Guard air ambulance unit.

The timing of the deployment remains murky and a Guard spokesman emphasized that plans to send the unit to Iraq could change. It would be Beckett’s second overseas assignment. She was sent to Kuwait in 2004.

Beckett said she was initially told that she would leave in January 2011. That was later changed to August of this year, and Beckett notified town officials and staff this month that she would step down as clerk in April when she goes on active duty status.

But last week, Beckett said she was told the deployment schedule would change yet again. She did not know when she would leave but hoped to have more information next month.

Guard spokesman Lt. Col. Lloyd Goodrow declined to provide further details other than to say roughly 50 members of the unit are set to be deployed at some unspecified date.

“I’m not in a position to announce or confirm anything,” he said, adding that the unit’s deployment schedule has already changed multiple times since soldiers were first notified months ago.

Goodrow urged the Observer to delay publishing a story about the deployment until an official announcement was made. He said the deployment’s timing could change or even be cancelled because of evolving military plans.

The Observer in fact did delay publishing a story for months after learning of the deployment.

But over the past month, Beckett’s pending deployment has been noted in another newspaper’s account of legislation that would change primary dates to ensure overseas soldiers’ ballots are counted. She has notified her staff of the deployment. Town Manager Rick McGuire told the Selectboard, making information about Beckett’s deployment part of the public record, available to anyone reviewing meeting minutes.

Goodrow said guard members are encouraged to inform employers about deployments. Despite Beckett’s position as a public official, he said it was not appropriate for her to release information to the media about the military assignment.

“One of her roles is not discussing it with the news media,” Goodrow said.

Any deployment over the next year likely would last through the end of her three-year term as town clerk, which expires in March 2011. Beckett said she would seek another term.

“I would like to run again even if I’m deployed,” she said. “I’ve got to figure out how to do that.”

More immediately, Beckett said she has arranged to have her duties covered by other employees. Kathy Boyden, a longtime assistant clerk, would serve as acting town clerk.

Beckett is also president of the Williston Community Food Shelf. She said she plans to step down in February when her term ends, but she will stay involved with the organization.

The air ambulance unit Beckett is assigned to, based at Burlington International Airport, transports wounded soldiers using Blackhawk helicopters.

Beckett said she would have an administrative role with the unit, keeping records and other duties.

Beckett has been Williston’s town clerk since 1999. She first enlisted in the Vermont Army National Guard in 1981 and has been a member for most of the time since except for a few years in the mid-’80s and a more recent stint on inactive duty.

The new deployment would be easier to handle than her tour of duty in Kuwait, Beckett said. Her children, Sean and Ellie, are now grown and have gone off to college. Though leaving her husband Dave behind won’t be easy, Beckett said the previous deployment at least makes the situation more familiar.

“Pretty much every Vermont Guard member has done a second or third deployment,” she said. “If we’ll be doing something useful, I’m happy to do it.”

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Jan. 28, 2010

By Tim Simard

Observer staff

Like most summer weekdays, Sept. 17, 2009 brought brisk lunch hour business to Tim’s Snack Shack at the intersection of U.S. 2 and Industrial Avenue. Customers ordered food and sat outside at picnic tables enjoying the sunny day.

But around 1:45 p.m., normality disappeared. A pickup truck jumped a curb, plowing into two diners and the shack. Four people sustained injuries and one woman died from her wounds.

Now under pressure from town officials, the state is looking to improve safety at the intersection. While Tim’s Snack Shack, currently closed for the winter, sits approximately 35 feet back from the intersection on land owned by Shelburne businessman William Andrus, the state owns the ground adjacent to the road. The wide, state-owned property offers vehicles extended access to the Snack Shack.

Safety improvement plans call for limiting access to the property where the eatery is located. But for one town official, these improvements are coming too late.

“That corner should have been blocked off a number of years ago,” Williston’s Planning and Zoning Director Ken Belliveau told the Observer last week. “I’m going to say it every time I get the chance to — somebody got killed there.”

A fateful day

Snack Shack owner Tim Leggett will never forget that Thursday afternoon in September.

“There’s not a day that goes by that I don’t think about it,” Leggett said.

Leggett’s friend, 68-year-old Barbara Gregory, died several days later from injuries sustained in the accident. Another victim suffered severe injuries, but is recovering.

Attempts to contact Gregory’s family and the other victim were unsuccessful.

After the accident, a police investigation determined that the pickup truck’s driver passed out before driving off U.S. 2. Police said that before the accident occurred, the driver had hit his head at a construction site and decided to head home, complaining of headaches. Police did not file charges against the driver.

The accident shut down Tim’s Snack Shack for the season and raised concerns about safety at the intersection. Belliveau wondered if the severity of the accident might have been diminished had the Vermont Agency of Transportation, also known as VTrans, improved safety at the busy intersection, such as limiting access to the Snack Shack.

But Andrus, the property owner who leases space to Tim’s Snack Shack, said the accident was just that — an accident. Had access been blocked, the truck driver still would have passed out and driven toward the property.

“The accident had nothing to do with traffic,” Andrus said.

Ken Robie, a project manager with VTrans, agreed.

“Obviously, the reason for the crash really didn’t have to do with traffic,” Robie said. “Whether or not having a barrier there would have had a different outcome, I can’t say.”

Limiting access

VTrans acquired the property from Andrus in 2001. Robie said the state bought the land — nearly half an acre — with expectations of improving the intersection. He said VTrans drafted plans on how to best reconstruct the junction, such as widening the intersection.

But various obstacles stalled the project, including conflicts with utility and sewer lines. The project stayed on the backburner as a result, Robie said.

All the while, the state allowed vehicles to access the property around the intersection’s traffic light. Belliveau said VTrans never applied for access permits as it legally should have starting in 2001.

“The access piece came as a surprise to me,” Belliveau said.

Belliveau said the only legal access to much of the property is near a small office building west of the traffic lights. A driveway enters the property and can reach Tim’s Snack Shack. Andrus said the paving trucks of Rox Asphalt that park on his property use the entrance.

Robie has communicated with town officials and expects to block access to the state-owned land. He said VTrans plans to install tightly spaced delineator posts — generally 3-foot high, flexible posts  — along the roadside in the spring. Other improvements are also in the works. While the delineators won’t stop a runaway vehicle from crossing onto the property, they will alert people not to drive where they used to, Belliveau said.

“Hopefully you’ll be seeing some progress on this project in the near future,” Robie said.

New home for Snack Shack

Leggett wants to move his business elsewhere now that access will make it difficult for customers to visit. He toyed with the possibility of selling the Snack Shack, but opted against the idea.

“I have a lot of faithful customers in Williston and I’d like to stay (in town),” Leggett said. “It’s been rough the past couple months, but we’ll pull through.”

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Position eliminated in town budget

Jan. 28, 2010

By Tim Simard

Observer staff

Members of the Williston Police Department find themselves at odds with town officials and Selectboard members over an officer position cut from the town’s operating budget.

The Selectboard believes the position, currently unfilled, should be sacrificed to minimize costs in the struggling economy. Cutting the position would save $70,000, according to Town Manager Rick McGuire. The board voted 3-2 Monday night to approve a Town Meeting warning that omitted police staffing as a separate vote by Australian ballot.

Police personnel say the department needs the position to ensure that safety and security isn’t compromised in town.

“It boggles me that the town manager and Selectboard have chosen to neglect the police department for so long,” Detective Mike Lavoie Lavoie told the Observer. “I’m disappointed and frustrated.”

Lavoie said the department is already understaffed, a statement with which McGuire agrees. Town officials are searching for a police chief. Sgt. Bart Chamberlain has served as acting chief since former Chief Jim Dimmick suffered a stroke in 2008.

But now is not the time to consider adding personnel when residents are struggling in a stagnant economy, McGuire said.

“I think we can use more officers,” McGuire told the Observer. “It’s something we’re going to have to look at when the economic outlook improves.”

But police don’t want to wait for a better economy. Lavoie, the president of the Williston Police Officers Association, ramped up efforts in recent weeks to gather public support for keeping the officer position in the budget. He penned a guest column that appeared in the Observer on Jan. 14 — the Selectboard authored a rebuttal in this week’s Observer (see page 6) — and mailed an informational pamphlet to every address in town.

In the pamphlet, Lavoie states that Williston has one of the highest arrest records in Chittenden County, despite having one of the smaller departments. With 12 full-time officers, Williston made 525 arrests in 2009.

By comparison, South Burlington, a town with a larger population and similar commercial presence, employs 39 full-time officers and made 706 arrests in 2009, according to Daniel Greaves, administration assistant to South Burlington’s chief of police. Essex employs 26 full-time and four part-time officers and made “around 380” arrests, according to Rob Lagrow, support service manager for the town’s police department. Shelburne has 12 full-time officers and six part-time officers. They made 246 arrests in 2009, said Patricia Vincent, senior dispatcher for Shelburne.

Lavoie attributes Williston’s high arrest record to vigilant officers who maintain a strong presence. But the lack of staff can make for challenging situations. For instance, when police are called to a domestic disturbance in the overnight hours, two of the three officers on duty must report. The third officer needs to stay behind for dispatch, and if another call comes in, Williston must request support from state troopers or another police department, Lavoie said.

“We’ve been really lucky that we’ve done the job we’ve done and no one has gotten seriously hurt,” Lavoie said.

Funding the position

McGuire said the department could have retained the officer position if the police union had agreed to a pay increase of 2 percent next year. By contract, officers in Williston receive an annual wage increase of 3 percent, and some earn up to 5 percent depending on experience and rank. The 3 percent raise is on par or higher than raises in neighboring departments.

Because Williston police declined the 2 percent option, McGuire said he had little choice but to cut the position.

“I was given a mandate by the Selectboard to come up with a budget with no added expenditures,” McGuire said. “I didn’t have a whole lot of options.”

Resident Sue Powers urged the board to reconsider the reduction. At Monday’s meeting, Powers held up a small stack of petitions she said was signed by almost 200 people. The petitions either asked for police funding to be kept at its current level or sought to put the issue on the ballot.

“We’d like to see how taxpayers feel,” she said.

Lavoie said before the meeting the department considered a petition of its own, but learned it wouldn’t have enough time to gather the needed signatures.

Board Chairman Terry Macaig said he preferred to put the staffing reduction on the ballot for voters to decide. But board member Judy Sassorossi said those types of expenditures have always been part of the operating budget, arguing it would be impractical to give voters a say on each item.

Resident Mike Isham expressed ambivalence on the issue. He said voting separately on an expenditure that is usually part of the operating budget could set a bad precedent. But he also wanted to know that there are enough officers on duty to maintain public safety.

“We all like to feel safe in our houses,” he said. “I just assume there is someone on call. But maybe there isn’t.”

Observer reporter Greg Elias contributed to this article.

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Jan. 21, 1010

Bulldogs, Rebels up next for CVU hockey girls

Before last Saturday night’s contest with Colchester High at Burlington’s Leddy Park, Champlain Valley Union High girls hockey coach Tom Ryan wished for “a few goals.”

His Redhawks, 8-3-1 going into the game, were coming off home losses to Spaulding High of Barre and Hartford High in which they scored once and gave up 11 goals.

Message received!

Amanda Armell scored twice and Molly Howard and Sophia Steinhoff added singletons as the Hawks downed the 2-9-1 Lakers 4-2 to get back to their winning ways.

CVU will return to the home Cairns Arena on Friday for a 5:40 p.m. match against visiting Burr and Burton Academy of Manchester. The Redhawks tamed the Bulldogs 10-2 in mid-December.

On Wednesday, the Hawks will test South Burlington High at Cairns for the second time this season (5:40 p.m.). CVU nipped the Rebs 5-4 early last month.

Skiers take to Jericho course on Friday

An afternoon in Jericho Center is in the offing this week for the Champlain Valley Union High Nordic ski team, which will start the trek on the Jericho range course at 4 p.m. on Friday. Mount Mansfield Union High is the host school.

The Redhawks are coming off a 12-team meet last Saturday at U-32 in East Montpelier in which the girls placed second to Mount Anthony Union High and the boys were fourth, behind Windsor High, Mount Anthony and U-32 in that order.

Kylie deGroot was the lone Redhawk in the girls top 10, taking third place. Sam Epstein led the boys with a 10th place finish.

A week ago Wednesday, the girls rolled over Colchester High and Burlington High in a Colchester meet, taking eight of the top 10 spots, led by winner Johanna Fehrs.

The boys were second to Burlington, with Epstein the leading Hawk with fourth place.

CVU wrestlers set for annual Essex Invitational

Redhawk grapplers will return to action Friday and Saturday in the annual Essex High Invitational at Essex High. Competition opens Friday afternoon at 3:00 and continues Saturday morning at 10:00.

The Hawks’ most recent muscling on the mats was a week ago Wednesday when Middlebury Union and Milton High wrestlers came to Hinesburg.

CVU topped Milton 39 to 18 with Tucker Austin scoring a victory in the 160-pound class.

Middlebury outpointed CVU 47-34 in team standings. Redhawks Austin, Sam Fortin (171-pound) and James Datillio (285-pound) scored wins, Datillio moving up 20 pounds to compete in the behemoth category.

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