Jan. 26, 2012

CHRISTINE P. RYAN

Surrounded by her family, Christine Percita (Twombly) Ryan, 85, passed away peacefully on Jan. 19, in her home, due to complications following a stroke. She was born in Morrisville on Nov. 19, 1926. Christine was a longtime and much loved employee of Fletcher Allen Hospital. She was best known for her honesty, never-ending smiles and laughter. Christine was also devoted to her family and, without hesitation, would help any way she could. She will also be missed for her never-ending quest for the perfect cup of coffee and her soft-spoken “Honey Girl” to her grandchildren. She was the daughter of the late Henry Twombly and Ellen Brown. Her beloved husband, George Ryan, and daughter, Ellen Laberge, predeceased her in 2006. She is survived by five children, Phillip Ryan of Colchester, Charlene Marchbank and her husband, Jim, of Santa Ana, Calif., Darleen Dove of Santa Ana, Calif., Penny Caesar and her husband, Geoff, of Garden Grove, Calif., Jill Martin and her husband, Duke, of Nipomo, Calif.; six grandchildren, Debbi Sheehan of Vergennes, Sherry Pontbriand and her husband, Steve, of Georgia, Aimee Boucher and her husband, Michael, of Colchester, Wendy Ostroy and her husband, Allen, of Burlington, Ryan Martin and Alyson Martin of Nipomo, Calif.; son-in-law, John Laberge of Vergennes; seven great-grandchildren; sisters and brothers, Georgiana Vincent of Essex Junction, Barbara Verdi of Colchester, Kenneth Twombly and his wife, Priscilla, of Easton, Conn., Luella Barbour of Williston, Oliver Twombly of Barre; brother-in-law, John Ryan Jr. and his wife, Helen, of Enfield, Conn.; her cousin, Richard Newcity of Barton; many cousins, nieces and nephews; and her beloved Missy. A Mass of Christian Burial was celebrated at the Immaculate Heart of Mary Catholic Church in Williston on Wednesday, Jan. 25, at 11 a.m. Interment will take place this spring. In lieu of flowers, contributions in her memory may be made to the Humane Society of Chittenden County, 142 Kindness Court, South Burlington, Vt. 05403

Jan. 26, 2012

Youth mentoring ‘exceptional’

Mentor Micaela Wallace (left) poses with her mentee, Williston Central School eighth-grader Amber Downs. Wallace, a St. George resident, was selected as Connecting Youth’s Outstanding Mentor of the Year. (Courtesy photo)

Last spring, a national expert evaluated Williston Central School’s mentoring program and proclaimed that it was the best school-based program she found “in all of America.” As we celebrate National Mentoring Month, I want to acknowledge and thank our partners who do so much to support our pairs: local businesses, neighbors and the entire WCS community.

Due to the strong mentoring community we have built together, students and adults coming into this program trust that they will have a positive and beneficial experience. Last June, 97 percent of our WCS mentors and mentees rated the program “excellent.” Similarly, 93 percent of WCS teachers rated their students’ mentoring relationships as being high quality (22 percent as “good” and 71 percent as “excellent”).

Between them, our 58 volunteers have given 200 years of service to WCS Mentoring. Sixteen of them were recognized by Mobius, the Mentoring Movement, on Jan. 18 for having volunteered as mentors for at least five years: Eric Adler, Deb Baker-Moody, Nancy Colbourn, Pauline Cozzy, Sally Dattilio, Bill Grover, Anne Marie Humbert, John Joachim, Cheryl Lalancette, Polly Malik, Shona Mossey-Lothrop, Nadine Paffett-Lugassy, Carla Stewart, Mike Thomas, Micaela Wallace, and Charlie Wolf.

Mobius gave special recognition to Micaela, a St. George resident, as Connecting Youth’s Outstanding Mentor of the Year. For the past nine years, Micaela has been a steadfast, inspiring, and terrifically fun mentor. She has also been a dream advisory board member: shaping, staffing, and giving her creative flare to WCS mentoring events.

What we are doing together in terms of school-based mentoring for middle school students is exceptional: in Chittenden County, Vermont and the country.

Thank you to this incredible, caring and “mentor-rich” community.

Nancy Carlson, mentoring

coordinator, Connecting

Youth Mentoring, Williston Central School

Five Target points to address

I think a few points need to be addressed before an informed discussion about the pros and cons of a Target department store in Williston can begin in earnest.

1. Will a Target store in fact add to the number of consumers shopping in Williston and hence represent additional income to the township? If all Target does is cannibalize the sales now made by Wal-Mart, Toys R Us and others, why bother? If the Target store attracts significant numbers of new consumers from places like Albany (N.Y.), Burlington, Hanover (N.H.) etc. then the additional 1 percent sales tax generated could be meaningful.

2. If No. 1 can be answered in the affirmative, what will the Selectboard do with the money? Lower taxes? Improve schools? What?

3. The third point is traffic. If Target is allowed to build where they now prefer, it will horrendously complicate an already stressed traffic situation on U.S. 2 and along the Maple Tree Place/Marshall Avenue axis. The Target store in Concord N.H. has 450 parking spots. This means that, at peak times, an estimated 150 cars enter and 150 cars exit every 30 minutes.

4. The proposed location has another negative. It will further eat into the space that separates the Williston commercial hub from the historic village. I think we should draw a very firm line at Maple Tree Place, and not allow any encroachment east from that line.

5. In my view, a logical place allowing acceptable traffic management via easy access from Interstate 89 — through a new exit to be built for that purpose, which would also serve the other mass retailers there (e.g. Wal-Mart) — would be west of Vermont 2A and north of I-89. The space between E-Commerce Park and Wal-Mart seems like a pretty logical spot to me.

Lutz Muller

Williston

Ducking the health exchange bullet

Jan. 26, 2012

By John McClaughry

Just two years from now — if you are among the 143,000 Vermonters covered by private health insurance — you are highly likely to find your health insurance in complete limbo. That is, if Gov. Peter Shumlin has his way with the legislature — which given its composition, is also highly likely.

To understand why this will probably happen, let’s go back to the 2009 passage of ObamaCare. The centerpiece of that legislation is the requirement that by 2014 each state must establish a health insurance “Exchange.”

This Exchange will operate on a state-managed web site where small businesses and individuals will compare available health insurance policies, and choose the one that best meets their needs. Individuals will then qualify for Federal income-based subsidies to purchase their chosen coverage.

This doesn’t sound too threatening on its face — but there’s more.

Last spring, the Vermont legislature enacted the legislation to create an ObamaCare-compliant Exchange. The state has some leeway in deciding which carriers and policies will be offered to Vermont residents. Since only two carriers essentially offer health insurance in Vermont — thanks to laws passed in 1991 and 1992 specifically to drive their competitors out — there will not be a lot of offerings to choose from.

That act also required that policies sold on the Exchange must offer what ObamaCare designates as a “silver” level of benefits. That is, the insurer must cover at least 70 percent of the costs and the insureds no more than 30 percent. This provision of the act will kill off all but the most expensive and impractical Health Savings Account-qualified high-deductible policies, to the dismay of thousands of Vermont HSA owners.

A new bill just submitted by the Shumlin administration (H.559) contains two key provisions, specifying which businesses will be forced into the Exchange, and prohibiting insurers from offering health plans outside of the Exchange.

ObamaCare allows states to define “small groups” as businesses with 1-50 or 1-100 employees. The Shumlin bill proposes to require all small businesses with up to 100 employees to purchase insurance only through the Exchange.

This would merge the present small group market with the individual market as an important step toward Shumlin’s goal of installing single payer Green Mountain Care in 2017. After that date, if Green Mountain Care is actually put in place, private health insurance would disappear.

The state government would then pay for and in effect ration all health care for every resident of Vermont not covered by Medicare, VA, or self-insured plans commonly provided by large companies like IBM.

Vermont businesses are quickly getting behind an alternative measure that makes more responsible choices. A bill by Sens. Vince Illuzzi and Hinda Miller (S.208) specifies that only small businesses with fewer than 50 employees can be forced into the Exchange, and businesses and individuals will remain free to buy insurance — including HSA-qualified plans, outside of the Exchange.

The great merit of passing the Illuzzi-Miller bill is that when Shumlin’s ambitious Green Mountain Care effort collapses, as seems likely, Vermont will still have a working — although severely restricted — health insurance market. Its enactment would also spare 143,000 Vermonters from a huge amount of government-caused grief.

John McClaughry is vice president of the Ethan Allen Institute in Concord, Vt.

Kiss a frog

Jan. 26, 2012

By Kim Dannies

Often called a celery root, celeriac will never be confused with its pretty cousin, true celery. So what if this bulbous dome, dotted by dangling hairy rootlets and dirt-filled crevices, is the geek boy at the dance? A quick shower and shave with a sharp peeler will soon reveal its princely flesh.

Celeriac delivers character and a bracing clean flavor: a cross between parsley and celery, only deeper, softer and slightly sweet. Shred it, roast it, puree it — celeriac adds a creamy volume, nutrition and flavor to dishes while remaining discreet. We’re talking marriage material here, people.

When the word gets out, celeriac will be winter’s hit veggie, showing up at parties everywhere. Eaters will wonder aloud why a particular dish of yours is so outrageously delicious. Go ahead, enjoy a quiet affair with this understated hero. You won’t regret it.

CELERIAC SALAD WITH AIOLI

Peel one large knob of celery root and rinse. Shred raw root in a food processor or grate by hand. You’ll be rewarded with mounds of snow white, crunchy slaw. Place in a prep bowl.

Aioli: in a small processor, finely mince 3-4 garlic cloves. Add 1 heaping tablespoon of Dijon mustard, the juice of a lemon, 1-cup of mayo, 1 tablespoon tomato paste and a pinch of red pepper flakes. Process 30 seconds. Adjust seasoning with kosher salt. Fold the aioli over the celery root. Top with several handfuls of clean flat-leaf parsley. Serve immediately, or store in fridge up to one day ahead; serves 4-6.

CREAMY POTATO AND CELERIAC SOUP

Peel 6 medium red potatoes and cut into quarters. Peel one celeriac root and shred. Place all the veggies in a cooking pot and cover with vegetable or chicken stock. Add 6 whole garlic cloves and 1 medium chopped onion. Cover and bring to a full boil on high heat, then simmer the soup for 20 minutes until potatoes are very soft. Warm 1 1/2cups of low fat milk with 2 tablespoons of sherry and 2 tablespoons of butter in the microwave, on high, for 1 minute. Mash the potatoes and add the milk mixture. Puree the soup until it is smooth. Adjust flavor with kosher salt and pepper. Serves 6-8.

Kim Dannies is a graduate of La Varenne Cooking School in France. She lives in Williston with her husband, Jeff; they have three 20-something daughters who come and go. For archived Everyday Gourmet columns go to kimdannies.com.

Life interrupted

Jan. 26, 2012

By Karen Wyman

This week I barely made the deadline for this column. I was also late for work and late picking up the girls. I largely ignored my family at dinner, let phone calls go directly to voicemail and totally forgot about the girls’ swimming lessons.

Why? I am happy to say it’s not due to early Alzheimer’s. I am not proud to say that it’s due to an addiction — an addiction to Words With Friends.

Ever since installing this application on my phone, I have been obsessed. I play it anywhere and everywhere, and won’t stop until I give myself a migraine or fall asleep. I can totally relate to Alec Baldwin getting kicked off an airplane for refusing to quit playing this stimulating game. I’m not sure if I would hold up an entire flight of people, but I am guilty of holding up traffic once when trying to play at a stoplight. Don’t worry. I would never play while driving, which is precisely why I have barely left my house this week.

For those of you who are blissfully unaware of Words With Friends, it’s essentially Scrabble that you play with your social media friends or random opponents. At one point, I had 10 games going with different friends, including one of my close girlfriends who recently moved across the country. Although we were 2,000 miles apart, it was like she was in my living room having late-night snacks and playing a game. We messaged each other about our days via the app and what we were eating. As the tiles and board space became sparse, however, the conversation turned into trash talk. In our defense, we started out supporting each other for high-scoring words and appreciating each other’s creativity when obscure words were produced. Our competitive selves quickly took over though, and we no longer built up or complimented each other. Accusations of cheating started to fly as we questioned each other’s knowledge of the words we just played. These late-night bouts may not demonstrate fine sportsmanship, but they sure do add some spice to otherwise uneventful nights.

Finally, I woke up one morning to the sight of large dark circles under my eyes and the pain of a pounding headache. I admitted to myself that I had hit rock bottom and needed help. I was being hypocritical by limiting the amount of time my girls could play video games — sometimes even stopping them mid-game much to their chagrin. I now realized first-hand how powerful the urge can be to immerse oneself in technology; whether it’s video games, social media or just plain old Internet searching. I didn’t want us to become a family who no longer talked to each other, with everyone just paying attention to their electronic devices.  I immediately uninstalled my Words With Friends app, sadly realizing I may not have enough self-control to monitor my own time limits as I do my daughters’. It was my way of imposing a time out, a time out from technology.

I realized this would be my New Year’s resolution: to be more present with my family and friends. I am going to be conscious not to check emails, texts, Facebook, etc. when I am with others. I want those significant to me to know they are more important than whatever alert is beeping at me on my phone. I realize this is common sense and courtesy, but it has all but disappeared in today’s society.

I think of how I want my girls to emulate respectful behavior, even making them take part in handwritten thank you notes with a “drawing” before they could even write their names. Why not set technology boundaries now and practice what I am sure I will preach to them in the years to come? Rules, such as, no technology use ever while driving, or finishing a phone call or text before approaching a sales counter immediately come to mind. I think I self-intervened just in time, before my “addiction” turned into Words With Enemies, and I lost any more valuable time with family and friends.

Karen Wyman has been a Williston resident for six years, and lives with her husband and twin 4-year-old daughters.