Williston Observer

Boys try to repeat as state champs

Feb. 25, 2010

By Mal Boright

Observer correspondent

Don’t know if members of the Champlain Valley Union High boys hockey team say “lovin’ it” about McDonald’s burgers, but they sure are loving the pressure of the Division 1 postseason playoffs.

Tuesday night, the defending champions became the first seventh-seeded team to advance to the championship contest by virtue of a 4-2 victory over third-seeded North Country Union High (14-8-1) at the University of Vermont’s Gutterson Fieldhouse.

The 13-8-2 Redhawks now wait until 8 p.m. on Tuesday to take on fourth-seeded Spaulding High of Barre (15-6-2) for the Big Trophy. Spaulding nipped Bellows Free Academy, 1-0, in the other semifinal.

Coach Doug Hopper’s recharged crew, now in its third straight title test, has bounced back from losses in its final three regular season games to capture three straight playoff wins. The victories include an opening 4-1 home victory over Burr and Burton followed by Saturday’s 6-3 triumph over second-seeded South Burlington High.

One of the primary engineers Tuesday was junior forward Robbie Dobrowski, who assisted on CVU’s first goal and then added two of his own in a 78-second stretch midway through the first period that gave the Redhawks a quick 3-0 lead and brought both grins and concern to the CVU coaching staff.

“I was afraid that after getting that kind of lead that quick we might start to sit back and we did,” Hopper said.

The Falcons, who beat the Hawks 4-2 two weeks ago at Cairns Arena, were held without a shot on goal by hard charging CVU until the 12:32 mark of the opening reel, when Trevor Gray launched a power play blast from the left point over the left shoulder of Hawks’ net minder Mark Albertson.

“I hardly saw it,” Albertson said of the shot. The senior also admitted that it had been strange not seeing the puck coming his way for almost the entire first period, but business returned after that and he had several sharp stops among his 11 saves, nine of those in a second period in which NCU dominated play.

“We got going again with 10 minutes to go in the game,” Hopper said.

That was after Gray scored on another power play goal 6:22 into the final stanza to bring the Falcons back to within 3-2.

Senior forward Nate Lacroix provided the capper with 32.9 seconds left when, from deep in his own zone, he banked the puck off the left boards and into an empty Falcon net, just abandoned a moment before by pulled goalie Chris Bronson (19 saves).

Dobrowski had himself a party in that first period explosion, which hiked his playoff scoring to six goals in three games and added to the career 100 point total he reached against South Burlington.

He opened the flurry with a hard sortie into NCU’s zone that drew a boarding penalty. On the ensuing power play, teammate Kyle Logan knocked in a rebound, on which Dobrowski drew an assist.

Just over a minute later, Dobrowski knocked in a rebound of a Lacroix shot for a 2-0 lead. Just 13 seconds later, the smooth skater moved into the Falcons’ zone and shifted to the right of the goal and unleashed a high shot into the cage for the third score. Mayson Kropf got the assist.

He may have had more goals but hit the posts twice on point blank shots and launched another blast just inches over the cross bar.

“It can be frustrating, hitting the posts in big games,” said Dobrowski, who nevertheless was pleased with the number of scoring opportunities and the way the team came back to reassert itself over the final 10 minutes.

He added that it was one of the most physical games of the season, noting that he was flattened a few times.

It will be CVU’s 15th visit to the championship game. The Redhawks are 11-10 in semifinals.

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Refrigerator soup and other leftovers

Feb. 25, 2010

By Ginger Isham

I like to be creative — sometimes I am successful and sometimes not.

A week ago I went to my refrigerator and found some veggie broth from steaming broccoli and carrots. I had cooked a leftover chicken breast (from another meal) with chunks of broccoli, carrots, onion and garlic. I cut up the veggies and chicken into bite-size pieces and added them to the veggie broth. I then added a potato, cut into cubes. This I simmered until the potato was soft, and then I added frozen corn and about 1/4 cup medium salsa. It made a great soup! The salsa gave it a little kick.

You could do this with any leftover turkey, beef or pork. Sometimes I add a little cumin to the chicken soup instead of salsa. You can also add frozen peas.

On another day I used up a fridge container with about 2/3 can of black beans. I had previously sprinkled some of the beans on a salad of greens, red pepper slices, purple onion slices, sunflower seeds and cucumber with a cream dressing.

After rinsing the remaining 2/3 can of black beans, I added chopped onion, fresh garlic and small slivers of a red pepper. I mixed a combination of plain, non-fat yogurt and low-fat sour cream and stirred it into the beans and veggies. I used this as a side dish and at another meal put a couple tablespoons on top of a hamburger cooked under the broiler.

On the farm, we have our dinner at noon, rather than most folks who have theirs in the evening. At the end of the day, when my energy level is low, I can whip up something quick and easy such as scrambled eggs. I put a little water in a frying pan (no fat) on high heat. When it starts to boil I turn it to medium heat and add eggs that I’ve whipped up with chopped onion, leftover bits of cooked broccoli, carrots, mushrooms, cheese or whatever else I have for leftovers that fit with eggs. Maybe you can add bits of leftover ham or a couple slices of cooked bacon. I can stretch a pound of bacon for several meals, as bacon is a treat at our house. I might have used a few slices in chowder or a few partially cooked slices cut up and added to baked beans.

I find it rewarding to go to the fridge or freezer and pull out something that needs to be used up. I tend to put little bits of food away as I have a hard time disposing of them.

Ginger Isham lives with her husband on a fifth generation family farm on Oak Hill Road.

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Three issues for our legislators

Feb. 25, 2010

By Mike Benevento

In my last column, I urged citizens to give feedback to our representatives in Montpelier. I requested they also inform me so I can spread the word. With that in mind, here are three responses from some of this column’s readers.

Ralph McGregor of Williston quickly took up the challenge and e-mailed Reps. Terry Macaig and Jim McCullough his opinion on school choice. Although we pay taxes, we seemingly get little say in the schools our children attend. Ralph wrote, “We are way past time for school vouchers. How would educators feel about being only allowed to buy Ford cars or could only shop at Shaws?”

Giving Vermonters the flexibility to use education dollars to send their children to the school of their choice allows schools to compete for students and money. Because school vouchers give parents the choice of public, private and religious schools, competition would help make all schools more efficient and accountable.

Rob Roper, grassroots coordinator for EdWatch Vermont, believes the best solution is reform that allows for full, statewide school choice with money following the child. As Ralph wrote, “This would probably cut education costs by at least 30 to 40% and the kids would get a better education.”

Ralph finished his e-mail with, “If you still need to cut expenses, call in a few businessmen to look at other state expenses and start CUTTING!!!!”

Williston’s Jay Michaud wholeheartedly agrees with cutting expenses. As a business owner, Jay experiences what he terms Montpelier’s unrelenting economic and bureaucratic burden. According to Jay, the Legislature is unresponsive to the needs of the people. While it espouses pro-business rhetoric, many of the actions the Democrat-run Legislature take are anti-business.

Like many entrepreneurs, Jay has had enough. They feel representatives need to wake up, act responsibly, stop paying lip service to job creation and take action. Otherwise, they may be out of a job in November because they do not represent their constituency’s will.

Jay points out that last year — during serious economic times — both McCullough and Macaig voted to override Gov. Jim Douglas’ veto. In doing so, they helped pass a bloated state budget that increased spending during the same time business and families had to cut back. Either the Legislature was out of touch with the state’s inhabitants, or it did not care. In times of decreased business and family revenues, increasing spending is wrong.

Business as usual in Montpelier severely hampers Vermont’s commerce. The Legislature fosters an ever-growing welfare state and appears beholden to special interest groups. There are too many unfunded mandates. Delays in building the Circ Highway, pension obligations, unemployment insurance and increasing energy costs by closing Vermont Yankee are among the many issues hurting Vermont’s economy.

A severe exodus of jobs from the state began long ago. With business at the breaking point, if Montpelier does not change its ways, more will surely follow.

One can easily tell that Jay is passionate about improving Vermont’s business climate. Because of his enthusiasm, I know we will be seeing great things from him in the future.

Like a growing majority of Americans, Patricia Crocker of Essex Junction is concerned about the unborn. Pat urges the Legislature to pass an unborn victims law giving protected status to fetuses affected by criminal acts.

Pending legislation was sparked by separate auto accidents involving Patricia Blair and Sarah Cardinal. Both were pregnant with twins and in each accident the fetuses were killed. Strangely, because Vermont does not recognize unborn children, none of the four babies lost counted as official deaths.

Ideas being discussed in Montpelier addressing fetal homicide include increased penalties for intentional or negligent crimes against pregnant women. Another proposal would allow prosecutors to charge people who kill a fetus with murder, manslaughter or negligent homicide. Some versions give limited legal status to the unborn victim while at the same time protecting a woman’s ability to have an abortion.

Abortion advocates almost reflexively reject any legislation protecting the unborn as they fear it may eventually lead to an all-out ban on abortion. Any proposal bestowing any right — no matter how small — is seen as a threat and must be immediately snuffed out. While the pending legislation is not about abortion — and may contain language exempting women and doctors concerning abortions — they oppose it out of habit.

According to former Vermont State Sen. Mark Shepard, 35 states have fetal homicide laws, so there is no rational reason why Vermont does not enact one. Let’s hope the Vermont Legislature agrees and votes one in place.

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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Words matter

Feb. 25, 2010

By Steve Mount

If the news in the last few weeks proves nothing else, it is that words matter. How we say things, how we describe them, can make all the difference in the world.

When Joseph Allen Stack flew a plane into an office building in Austin, Texas, a building he knew housed IRS employees, the police and the press had a decision to make: was Stack a criminal, or was he a terrorist?

Police, trying to calm frazzled nerves, insisted Stack was nothing more than a common criminal. Muslim activists, however, began to wonder — was it only Muslims who flew planes into buildings who were considered terrorists? Within days, the debate was filling newspaper columns and blogs, with a Google search returning over 26,000 results in blogs alone.

The opinions varied, but the most compelling argument I saw was that Stack was a lone wolf, without an organization behind him, and hence a criminal. It is a close call, though, considering the scope of his cowardly and deadly act and the overtly political nature of his manifesto.

In the world of politics, words are the stock in trade, and words can easily be mangled depending on the political point of view.

If you’ve paid close attention to the news, from time to time, you will hear Republicans refer to their political foes as members of the “Democrat Party.” The first time I heard this, I just figured the speaker was ignorant, mispronouncing a relatively simple word. It turns out, though, this is part of a somewhat concerted effort to try to turn “Democratic Party” into an epithet.

Republicans who have taken to using this “epithet” are being silly. Deliberately mangling someone’s name to aggravate him or her is an elementary school tactic. Democrats who take too much offense should remember that age-old mothers’ mantra: “They only say it because it bothers you.”

Most reasonable people, having heard waterboarding described or witnessed it in action, would call it torture. Many conservatives, notably and recently former Vice President Dick Cheney, prefer to call it “enhanced interrogation.” The distinction is self-serving. Torture is illegal. Enhanced interrogation, presumably, is not.

The White House recently released a brightly colored chart, which attempts to put a positive spin on the nation’s continued loss of jobs. On half of the chart, colored Republican-red, the bars in the chart dip further and further below zero, indicating an increasing loss of jobs. On the other half, colored Democratic-blue, the bars are nearly all still below zero, but marching back up toward zero. The presumption is that soon, the numbers will be positive.

The White House line, and that of the Democratic National Committee’s Organizing for America project, is that this is all part of the “recovery.” There is the “Road to Recovery,” the Recovery.gov Web site, and the Recovery Act (the short name of the act’s actual title, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009).

Republicans, though, insist on calling the law “the stimulus bill.” The point is to turn the positive word “recovery” into a negative. I’m not exactly sure what it is about “stimulus” that is negative, but both House Republican Majority Leader John Boehner and Minority Whip Eric Cantor have done this repeatedly in just the last week.

Finally, scheduled for Feb. 25 is a meeting of lawmakers from both sides of the political spectrum. The president touted the meeting in last weekend’s radio address:

“I don’t want to see this meeting turn into political theater, with each side simply reciting talking points and trying to score political points. Instead, I ask members of both parties to seek common ground in an effort to solve a problem that’s been with us for generations.”

The response from Republicans? They plan to attend, but with their words, were sure to take pot shots at the summit before it even began. Speaking on Sunday’s Meet the Press, Rep. Mike Pence, R-Ind., said this:

“Republicans are ready to work. But what we can’t help but feel like here is the Democrats spell summit S-E-T-U-P.”

That the Republicans could fear a summit, a televised chance to talk out differences with the approaches of each party to the issue, tells me that what they really fear is that when they express their plan, the entire country will see how devoid it is of real reform.

Words do matter. Listen to them carefully and you will be able to divine which have worth and which are worthless.

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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