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THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 5, 2015
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BARNET, DANVILLE
State Withheld
Evidence in Sex Case
PAGE B1
Road Foremen
On The Move
PAGE A6
PAGE A3
CONCORD
NORTH COUNTRY
POLICE: DRUG RING
RUN FROM HOME OF
STJ BUSINESS OWNER
TRIAL DELAYED IN “COMPLEX” RUNAWAY MOM CASE
Judge Allows Prosecution To Depose Daughter;
Defers Ruling On Use Of Competing Harms Defense
By rOBerT BlecHl
Staff Writer
PHOTO BY ROBERT BLECHL
Genevieve Kelley with attorney, Alan Rosenfeld, during an all-day hearing Wednesday.
NORTH HAVERHILL, N.H. —
A superior court judge on Wednesday delayed trial to May in the runaway mom case and ruled on a
ﬂurry of motions that include allowing the prosecution to depose
the daughter for testimony.
“There is simply no way this
case can be ready for trial by
March,” superior court Judge Peter
Bornstein said of what he called a
complex case.
Genevieve Kelley, 50, a former
family practice physician from
Whiteﬁeld, faces two Class B
felony counts of interference with
custody that charge her with unlawfully removing Mary Nunes, then 8,
from New Hampshire in late 2004
after her ex-husband, Mark Nunes,
See Delay, Page A6
PHOTO BY TODD WELLINGTON
Modern Divine Barber Shop On Concord Ave in St. Johnsbury.
LYNDONVILLE
By TODD wellingTOn
Staff Writer
ST. JOHNSBURY
SHELTER PLANS SHELVED
Committee Making Plans
For Launch Next Winter
By TaylOr reeD
Staff Writer
A steering committee in St. Johnsbury has abandoned
plans to establish an overnight warming shelter for homeless people this winter on Elm Street.
“We’re going to wait until next year,” said organizer
Sue Cherry, executive director of the St. Johnsbury-based
Community Restorative Justice Center. “We couldn’t
make it work for the timing. We wouldn’t have been able
to get it up and running until the middle of March. It just
wasn’t coming together.”
Cherry though is conﬁdent it will happen next winter
and said the steering committee will now meet regularly
for planning purposes. The committee includes groups
like the Community Restorative Justice Center, Northeast
Kingdom Community Action, Northeast Kingdom Youth
Services, the St. Johnsbury Police Department, and the
state of Vermont.
“The momentum is there,” Cherry said. “People want
this. They know we need it. We really see the warming
shelter as a way of meeting needs, serving the public, and
providing resources that are not provided now.”
The committee will consider any and all potential locations.
The steering committee last month planned to establish
the seasonal overnight shelter in a former youth shelter
on Elm Street that was operated by St. Johnsbury-based
Northeast Kingdom Youth Services until closing in the
fall when federal and state funding dried up. The building’s owner, Lyndonville-based Rural Edge, offered free
See Shelter, Page A6
Over $120,000 In Galloways Stolen From Meadow View Farm
By JameS JarDine
Staff Writer
The manager of the Meadow View Farm on
Darling Hill in Lyndon was the victim of a modern day cattle rustler.
A check written for $100,000 to buy 53 Belted
Galloway cattle to Steven Downing was worthless.
Downing thought he was negotiating a solid
deal in December when Jason Amidon, 27,
Couderspot, Pa. contacted him with an offer to
purchase 53 Galloways. According to Steve,
Amidon had a convincing story and persuaded
Steve the cattle were going to a farm in Minnesota that planned to begin raising the animals.
All 53 Galloways were loaded on trucks and a
check for $100,000 was issued to the farm, with
a second payment of $20,000 to be paid later, according to a release issued by the U.S. Department of Justice.
Steve said the perpetrators of the fraud planned
it carefully and set everything up so the check
was given to him on New Year’s Day, when it
would be impossible to cash it or verify it with
the issuing bank. By the time the Downings
learned the check was counterfeit, the cattle had
been loaded and were gone. Steve says he
worked frantically with another Vermont farmer
he knows, who has numerous connections with
VOL. 177, NO. 153
HIGH: 17
LOW: -14
the auction and were scheduled to be sold. The
auction house agreed not to sell the animals and
to hold them for authorities.
The animals were kept at the auction until
arrangements could be made to return the cattle
See cattle, Page A6
THREE DECADES LATER, MT. EUSTIS REOPENING
Dave Harkless Leads Effort To Rouse Classic Ski Hill From Long Hibernation
winter hike up Mt. Eustis.
“I had snowshoed up the mountain bike path to
the top [in February 2012],” said Harkless. “I was
just sitting there and saying what a waste it was
that nobody else uses this hill. Then I remembered
[local businessman] Herbie Lahout had attempted
[to re-open Mt. Eustis] 10 years before. So I ﬁred
him an email and said ‘Herbie do you still have an
interest in getting Mt. Eustis going?’ And that’s
By Paul HayeS
Staff Writer
A small-town ski area is coming back to life.
The Mt. Eustis Ski Area, closed since the 1970s,
is slated to re-open with a ribbon cutting ceremony
at 9 a.m. Saturday.
The driving force behind the re-opening is Dave
Harkless, owner of Littleton Bike and Fitness,
who hatched the plan three years ago during a
© T HE C ALEDONIAN -R ECORD
Classifieds. . . . . . . . . . B8
Entertainment. . . . . . . B7
For the Record . . . . . . A2
Opinion. . . . . . . . . . . . A4
Sports . . . . . . . . . . . . . B1
Television . . . . . . . . . . A9
cattle dealers and farmers inside and outside the
state.
It was learned the cattle were trucked to a
Pennsylvania cattle auction, located in Greencastle, Pa. With the state police and FBI working
with Steve, it was veriﬁed the Galloways were at
LITTLETON
TODAY: Scattered snow
early, partly cloudy later
INSIDE
PHOTO BY JAMES JARDINE
Galloway cattle brave winter weather at Meadow View Farm on Darling Hill in Lyndon
Wednesday. The farm was a recent victim of a massive cattle theft.
Details on Page A2
NATIONAL DEBT CLOCK
Vt. Man Who Lived Modestly
Leaves Millions To Library, Hospital
–––––
Settlement Would Pay Average
Of $4K To Dairy Farmers
–––––
Vermont Lawmakers Consider
Changing Election Rules
$
18,103,121,130,049
Population: 319,940,449
Your share: $56,582.78
Page A7
See Ski, Page A6
NATION
See Drugs, Page A6
CATTLE RUSTLER RAIDS LOCAL FARM
REGION
Three people are facing federal drug charges for allegedly operating a heroin and cocaine distribution ring
out of the Concord home of a St. Johnsbury business
owner.
According to a complaint ﬁled in United States District
Court in Burlington, Steven Miller, a.k.a “Shawn,” 30, of
Brooklyn, N.Y., Jenna Gonyo, 29, of Colchester, Vt. and
Cleveland London, a.k.a. “Bleez,” 22, of Brooklyn, N.Y.
were arrested for conspiracy to distribute heroin on Jan.
29.
Prosecutors have asked the court to detain all three suspects. The detention request is scheduled to be heard by
Rescuers Hoist Crashed Taiwanese Plane From
River To Search For Missing; At Least 26 Dead
–––––
Video Of Islamic State Burning Jordanian Pilot
To Death Unleashes Anger, Grief In Mideast
Page A10
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“The budget should be balanced; the
treasury should be refilled; public
debt should be reduced; and the arrogance of public officials should be
controlled.” –Cicero, 106-43 B.C.
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THE RECORD • THuRSDAY, FEBRuARY 5, 2015
FOR THE RECORD
OBITUARIES
RUTH BROOKS
1921-2015
Ruth Brooks passed away
peacefully with her family by her
side on Jan. 26, 2015, at the age of
93, at the Grafton County Nursing
Home after battling Alzheimer’s.
She was born on March 12,
1921, in Lisbon, N.H., a daughter
to Harry Warcup and Hazel Dow.
Ruth attended Lisbon School.
Ruth was well-known for owning Town Taxi with her husband
for many years. She was involved
with White Mountain Mental
Health Common Ground. Family
meant the world to Ruth and she was a devoted wife, mother, sister, grandmother, grant-grandmother, and a friend to all. She will be missed.
Ruth married Clayton (Bud) Brooks on Oct. 3, 1941, and had two
daughters, Judy Dean and Susan Brooks.
She was a member of the American Legion and the VFW, where she
was always cooking for Bingo and other activities.
Ruth is survived by her daughters, her sister, Gladys Stevens; grandson,
Shawn MacLeod and Kristi; granddaughter, Shelly Hines and Tim; three
great-grandchildren, Matthew Hines, Brandon Hines, and Hunter
MacLeod; and nieces and nephews. Ruth was predeceased by her husband,
sister, brother and her parents.
Ruth’s wishes were to have a Graveside Service, which will be held in
the spring in Maple Street Cemetery in Bethlehem.
In lieu of ﬂowers, donations may be made to the Grafton County Nursing Home Activities Dept., 3855 Dartmouth College Highway, North
Haverhill, NH 03774.
Arrangements and care have been entrusted
to the Pillsbury Phaneuf Funeral Home and Crematorium. For more information, please visit
our website at www.pillsburyphaneuf.com.
ANNA MAY (LANDERS) WILLIS
Anna May (Landers) Willis, 79,
of Lower Waterford, Vt., passed
away peacefully in her sleep on the
morning of Feb. 3, 2015.
Born in Philadelphia, Pa., Anna
moved with her family to
Moorestown, N.J., when she was a
child. She graduated from
Moorestown High School in 1953,
attended Philadelphia Biblical Institute and, in 1956, married her longtime friend Bill Willis.
Anna and Bill raised their children
in Moorestown and then moved to
Lower Waterford and built a home there nearly 30 years ago. Anna worked
at Garnet Hill in Franconia, N.H., and was an active member of Union Baptist
Church in Lower Waterford. For the past several years, she and Bill have led
the church’s Grief Share group in support of individuals who lost a loved
one. She also was known and loved by many for the card ministry she created
that brought encouragement and hope to people throughout the region and
beyond.
Anna is survived by her husband, William, of Lower Waterford; daughter
Barbara (and husband Roger) Cousineau of Turner, Maine; sons David (and
wife Jessica) of Littleton, N.H., and Steven (and wife Debbie) of Haddon
Heights, N.J.); ﬁve grandchildren; and 10 great-grandchildren. She was predeceased by her brother, George Landers Jr.
A memorial service and celebration of Anna’s faith and testimony will
take place Saturday, Feb. 7, 2015, at 11 a.m. at Union Baptist Church, 932
U.S. Route 5, St. Johnsbury, VT 05819.
The family has requested that, in lieu of ﬂowers, individuals wishing to
honor Anna do so by donating to the building fund of East Auburn Baptist
Church (560 Park Avenue, Auburn, ME 04210), which is pastored by daughter Barb’s husband, Roger; or to the Waterford Fire Department (P.O. Box
90, Lower Waterford, VT 05848), where Bill has been a volunteer member
for years.
Memories and condolences may be shared privately at www.saylesfh.com
The Sayles Funeral Home is located at 525 Summer St. in St. Johnsbury.
LILLIAN CHARETTE MULLALLY
1920-2015
Mrs. Lillian Charette Mullally,
94, longtime director of the St.
Johnsbury Senior Center, passed
away on Tuesday, Feb. 3, 2015,
with her family at her side.
She was born in Springﬁeld,
Vt., on July 17, 1920, the daughter
of Clyde and Anna (Breason)
Charette. Her husband Joe Mullally predeceased her in 1990.
Her home was the St. Johnsbury House and the residents were
part of her family. She loved to
travel and was fortunate to have
gone to Hawaii nine times! She was very busy participating in the many
functions at the St. Johnsbury House, playing bingo, and making jewelry
and crafts. Lillian was an excellent seamstress and made clothes for her
family throughout her life time. She was a member of the Red Hat ladies.
She is survived by four children: Patricia Wyker and husband Robert
of Hackettstown, N.J., Kathleen Toussaint and husband Richard of
Lebanon, Maine, Mary Foster of Danville, Thomas Mullally of Danville;
brother Clyde Charette of Haywood, Wisc.; 13 grandchildren, all her
great-grandchildren, and even great-great-grandchildren; brother-in-law
Donald Mullally of St. Johnsbury; nieces and nephews.
She was predeceased by two grandchildren, Richard Toussaint Jr. and
Keith Adams.
Visiting hours will be held at Sayles Funeral Home this Friday, Feb.
6, from 9:30 a.m. to the start of the service.
Services will be held at the Sayles Funeral Home this Friday, Feb. 6,
at 11 a.m. with Fr. Christopher Micale ofﬁciating. Burial will be at a later
date at the Mt. Pleasant Cemetery.
Memorial contributions could be directed to Good Living Senior Center, 1207 Main Street, St. Johnsbury VT 05819.
Memories and condolences may be shared privately at
www.saylesfh.com The Sayles Funeral Home is located at 525 Summer
St. in St. Johnsbury.
STEVEN NATHANIEL WILLIS
1970-2015
Steven Nathaniel Willis, 44, of
Danville, Vt., died unexpectedly on
Monday, Feb. 2, 2015, at the Northeastern Vermont Regional Hospital
in St. Johnsbury, Vt.
He was born in Berlin, Vt., on
Dec. 13, 1970, a son of David L. and
Sara B. (Reed) Willis. Steven attended St. Johnsbury Academy. He
worked for many years as a truck
driver for Calco, Inc. in Waterford,
Vt. Steven enjoyed the outdoors,
ﬁshing, four wheeling, and spending
time with family and friends around
the bonﬁre. He also enjoyed remote control helicopters and had recently purchased a drone that he was ﬂying. Steven loved spending time with his family,
especially his grandson Carter.
Survivors include his parents, David L. and Sara B. (Reed) Willis of Barnet, Vt.; his ﬁancé, Robin M. Austin of Danville; two sons, Mikael N. Willis
and Max A. Willis both of Fairland, Okla.; two daughters, Samantha M.
Austin of Danville and Megan E. Austin of Winooski, Vt.; a grandson, Carter
of Danville; a sister, Kristal M. Willis of Brownington, Vt.; two nieces, Felicia
L. Chase and Haley Chase; a nephew, Kyle A. Degreenia; and aunts, uncles,
and cousins.
Calling hours will be on Sunday, Feb. 8, from 1 to 3 p.m. at the Ricker
Funeral Home, 1 Birch St., Woodsville, N.H. Burial will be in Blue Mt.
Cemetery, Ryegate, Vt., at the convenience of the family.
In lieu of ﬂowers, memorial contributions may be made to the American
Heart Association, Founders Afﬁliate, P.O. Box 417005, Boston, MA 022417005.
For more information or to sign an online condolence, please visit
www.rickerfh.com.
Ricker Funeral Home and Cremation Care of Woodsville is in charge of
arrangements.
POLICE LOG
STATE — ST. JOHNSBURY
Mark Young, Sr., 57, Concord,
was in a single vehicle crash on
Cross Road in Concord on Tuesday. Young was wearing his seat
belt. Speed and road conditions
were factors in the crash. Young’s
vehicle struck a utility pole. He
was not hurt.
—————
Jason Davis, 54, Wells River,
and William Jewell, 46, East St.
Johnsbury, were in a two-vehicle
collision on Industrial Drive in
Lyndonville on Tuesday. Neither
man was injured.
ST. JOHNSBURY
TRAFFIC OPERATIONS
Devon Phillips, 26, Waterford,
was arrested for DUI after he
was observed driving the wrong
way down a one-way street on
Saturday.
—————
Jason Rodd, 37, St. Johnsbury,
was cited for violation of his
conditions of release when he
failed to sign in to the police department in accordance with his
conditions on Jan. 24.
—————
Patrick Perkins, 31, Concord,
was cited for driving with a
criminally suspended license
after being stopped on Memorial
Drive in St. Johnsbury on Thursday.
LYNDONVILLE
Durwood Legacy, 59, East
Burke, and Ryley Rodger, 16,
Newark, were in a two-vehicle
crash at the intersection of routes
5 and 114 on Tuesday. No injuries were reported as a result
of the crash.
—————
On Tuesday, Paul Ste. Marie,
Local Forecast
Today: A slight chance of morning snow showers,
then becoming partly to mostly sunny. Much colder,
with temperatures falling into the single digits. Northwest winds 10 to 15 mph, gusting to 25 mph. Winds
chills zero to 10 below.
Tonight: Becoming mainly clear and very cold. Lows
15 to 25 below. Northwest winds 5 to 10 mph during
the evening, then becoming light and variable.
Tomorrow: Partly to mostly cloudy and cold. Highs in
single digits above zero. South to southwest winds
less than 10 mph.
Extended Forecast: Friday Night: Mostly cloudy
with a slight chance of snow showers. Lows in the single digits above.
Saturday: Mostly cloudy. Chance of snow showers.
Highs around 20.
Saturday Night: Decreasing clouds. Low around 5
below.
Sunday: Partly sunny and cold. Highs in the single
digits above.
Sunday Night: Mostly cloudy with a chance of snow
showers. Lows around zero.
Monday: Mostly cloudy with a chance of light snow.
Highs around 10 above.
The cold front that brought snow
overnight is now near the coast and will be
heading offshore. A few snow showers
could linger in the valleys early today;
clouds and a slight chance of snow showers could linger into the afternoon over the
mountains. Temperatures will generally fall
throughout the day, driven downward by
gusty northwest winds that will drive wind
chills below zero. Extremely cold temperatures are expected tonight, as a ridge
pokes northward from surface high pressure centered over the Tennessee Valley.
A weak mid-level disturbance will bring the
slight chance of mainly mountain snow
showers tomorrow, and it will remain very
cold. Temperatures will try to moderate a
bit early Saturday but another arctic boundary will be poised to drop though by that
time, renewing the chance of snow showers. Air behind that front will plunge temperatures back into the single digits by Sunday,
says Lawrence Hayes of the Fairbanks
Museum weather station.
44, St. Johnsbury, and Brian Lafferty, 65, Lyndonville, were in a
two-vehicle crash at the intersection of Route 114 and Granite
Lane. Lyndon Rescue personnel
evaluated each man. Neither was
taken to the hospital.
STATE — BRADFORD
Be Whitten, 46, Vershire, was
in a one vehicle crash on Route
113 in Vershire on Tuesday. No
injuries were reported as a result
of the crash.
Daily Weather Highlights
CONDITIONS AT 4 P.M. YESTERDAY
Overcast
TEMPERATURE
Temp. at 4 p.m. . . . . . . . .25
Maximum past 24 hours . .25
Minimum past 24 hours . .-4
Yesterday’s average . . . . .11
Normal average . . . . . . . .19
Maximum this month . . . .25
Minimum this month . . . .-17
Maximum this date (1991) 53
Minimum this date (1908) -36
HUMIDITY 71%
DEWPOINT 17
WINDS
8 mph, 11 max . . . . . . .SSE
BAROMETER
29.88 . . . . . . . . . . . . .Steady
PRECIPITATION
New . . . . . . . . . . . . .0.02 in.
Total for Month . . . . .0.44 in.
Normal Total . . . . . . .0.31 in.
SNOWFALL
Past 24 Hours . . . . . .0.3 in.
Monthly Total . . . . . . .7.5 in.
Season Total . . . . . .67.0 in.
Season Norm . . . . . .52.6 in.
Snowpack . . . . . . . . .14.0 in.
ALMANAC
Sunrise today . . . .7:01 a.m.
Sunset today . . . . .5:02 p.m.
Length of day .10 hrs. 0 min.
DEGREE DAYS
Avg. temp. difference
below 65°
Yesterday* . . . . . . . . . . . .54
To date since July 1 . . .4748
To date last year . . . . . .4892
Black Cyan Magenta Yellow
LORRAINE T. MUMFORD
1926-2015
Lorraine T. Mumford, 88, of
St. Johnsbury, Vt., passed away
in her home under the care of
Hospice on Saturday, Jan. 31,
2015.
She was born on March 28,
1926, to Arthur S. and Alice
(Wilkinson) Wright of St.
Johnsbury, Vt.
Lorraine attended St. Johnsbury schools. After high school
graduation she enrolled in Wilfred Beauty Academy in Boston
and worked as a beautician before and after her marriage to Edward A. Mumford on Nov. 4, 1950.
In the early 1960s she began working as a salesperson in Hovey’s
Men’s Store. Lorraine greeted her customers with a smile and enjoyed
assisting them in any way she could. Working at Hovey’s brought
much joy and friendship into her life and did so until her retirement.
Lorraine enjoyed traveling throughout her life with friends and
family. These trips included summers at Miles Pond with cherished
family friends. She also visited her children and grandchildren in the
New York and Chicago area and went on bus trips with her “Hovey’s
friends.” Lorraine traveled to many places with her family including
California, Hawaii and New Orleans for Mardi Gras. She was an avid
Red Sox fan and took a particularly special trip to game 7 of the 1986
American League Championships at Fenway Park.
Lorraine had a love for all music that she inherited from her father
who had his own band, Art Wright and the Bar X Cowboys. On any
given day you could walk into her home and music would be playing.
Lorraine also enjoyed bowling in the bowling league, reading mystery
novels, gardening at her home and 5 o’clock Manhattans. Lorraine
was an active member of the Methodist Church including the church
choir and the friendship club.
She is survived by her daughter, Karen Mumford Jordan, her son
Jon Mumford and his wife Rose Mumford; her grandchildren Kelly
Sinon Grossarth and her husband Michael Grossarth, Adam Mumford, Timothy Mumford, Julia Mumford and Mari Mumford and two
great grandchildren Gabriel and Abigail Grossarth.
Lorraine’s family would like to thank Hospice for their support and
guidance during this difﬁcult time.
There will be a memorial service in the spring at Sayles Funeral
Home in St. Johnsbury, Vt.
Memories and condolences may be shared privately at
www.saylesfh.com The Sayles Funeral Home is located at 525 Summer St. in St. Johnsbury.
MILDRED ROY
1933-2015
Mildred E. “Millie” Roy, 81, of North Concord, died peacefully early
Wednesday morning February 4, 2015, at Northeastern VT Regional Hospital in St. Johnsbury, surrounded by her loving family.
She was born October 12, 1933 in Grand Isle, ME the daughter of
Camille and Irene (Daigle) Lausier. On August 2, 1954 she married Gerard
J. Roy.
Millie was a devoted wife, mother, grandmother and great grandmother.
Spending time with her family and doing face time with her children,
grandchildren and great grandchildren brought her much pleasure. A huge
cribbage fan, Millie also liked doing word puzzles, playing other card
games, making greeting cards and feeding and watching hummingbirds.
She and Gerard bowled the late Friday night couples league at Gold
Crown Lanes in St. Johnsbury for many years. In recent years she participated with team Sheffock Shufﬂers at the annual Relay for Life cancer
fundraiser in St. Johnsbury. She had a wonderful since of humor and always looked forward to Thursday evening dinners at the Moose Look
Restaurant in Concord.
Survivors include her seven children, Nancy Bedard and her husband
Steve of N. Concord, Theresa Dingman and her husband David of N. Concord, Gerard Roy Jr. and his wife Penny of Lyndonville, Doreen Dingman
of Lancaster, NH, James Roy and his wife Karen of Greenville, NC, Patsy
Reed and her husband Doug of Jackson, NJ, Tina McCue and her husband
Nate of Shefﬁeld; eight grandchildren; six great grandchildren; six brothers, Clifford Lausier and his wife Lorette of Connecticut, Camille Lausier
and his wife Corrine of Maine, Edmund Lausier and his wife Noella of
Connecticut, Leo Lausier and his wife Alfreda of Maine, Reginald Lausier
and his wife Claudette of Maine, and Harold Lausier and his wife Jeannine
of Maine; three sisters, Anita Bouchard of Maine, Claudette Pelletier of
Maine and Joan Gagnon of Maine; two brothers in-law, Claude Roy and
his wife Cecile of Maine and Gilman Roy of Maine; three sisters in-law,
Freda Roy of West Burke, Myrna Lausier of Connecticut and Bernice
Lausier of Maine; and many nieces, nephews and friends.
She was predeceased by her parents; her husband of forty-four years,
Gerald “Jerry” Roy Sr. in 1999; four brothers, Claude, Jimmy, Emile and
Bub Lausier; and three sisters, Theresa St. Pierre, Edna Lausier and Cecile
Lausier.
A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated in Lyndonville on Friday
afternoon February 6 at 2:00PM at St. Elizabeth Catholic Church with the
Rev. Christopher Micale celebrant. There will be no public visiting hours.
Spring burial will be in St. Elizabeth Cemetery in Lyndonville.
Donations made in her memory may be directed to Norris Cotton Cancer Center North, 1080 Hospital Drive, St. Johnsbury, VT 05819.
Private on-line condolences may be shared with the family at www.guibordfh.com. Guibord Funeral Home is located on the corner of Main and
Center Streets, Lyndonville.
The Numbers
MEGA MILLIONS (Tuesday)
11-22-25-58-69; Mega Ball: 13; Megaplier: 5
MEGABUCKS PLUS (Wednesday)
4-6-12-27-32; Mega Ball: 6
GIMME 5 (Wednesday)
4-5-28-34-37
DAILY PICKS (Wednesday)
Day Draw — Pick 3: 5-2-6; Pick 4: 7-6-5-5
Evening Draw — Pick 3: 1-6-1; Pick 4: 3-3-8-0
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CALEDONIAN Black Cyan Magenta Yellow
THE RECORD • THuRSDAY, FEBRuARY 5, 2015
A3
LOCAL
SUPERIOR COURT
CALIFORNIA LAWYER WANTS WIFE’S MANSLAUGHTER CASE REOPENED
Drugs, Not Billis, To
Blame For Husband’s
Death Attorney
Argues
By Jennifer HerSey
clevelanD
Staff Writer
A California attorney wants the
state to reopen a homicide case to
explore whether the defendant’s
use of Chantix and Ambien caused
the incident.
Attorney Pamela Lacher believes that a crash on Sept. 22,
2009, that killed Charles Billis, 57,
of Brownington, was an accident
caused by the effects of Chantix
and Ambien on Christine Billis,
47, who pleaded guilty in July
2012 to manslaughter in exchange
for a 7- to 15-year sentence.
Lacher, in a letter to former
State’s Attorney Alan Frankin,
wrote, “I am hopeful you will ﬁnd
that the legal responsibility for
Charlie Billis’ death should be assigned to the drug companies
rather than Christine; and that the
crash was nothing more than an accident as was originally thought.”
Franklin, clearly, chose to take
no action on the letter, which
Lacher said would form the basis
for an eventual habeas petition, before leaving ofﬁce.
Newly sworn-in State’s Attorney Jennifer Barrett said she’s not
yet ready to comment on this matter.
Lacher came across Billis’ court
case while doing research for an
attempted murder trial in which
she used the same defense unsuccessfully.
Billis was no longer prescribed
Chantix at the time of the crash,
but reported to police that she’d
taken it that day, and antidepressant Effexor and sleep aid Ambien
were found in her system, Lacher
wrote in the letter to Franklin.
Other details stood out as well,
Lacher said during a phone conversation. Billis described daytime
sleepiness and an inability to remain awake; she’d reported a near
miss car accident due to the
drowsiness days before the crash;
she was taking double the now-approved dosage of Ambien allowed
by law; the fact that witnesses at
the crash scene unilaterally described Billis as having a seizure
when they arrived; and the fact that
Billis had no recollection of
events.
Then there were the recorded
confessions to informant Kevin
Leland – who’d inserted himself
into Billis’ life in an online dating
platform but later wrote in a blog
that he hoped to make money off
the Billis tragedy and gain custody
of Billis’ two minor girls.
Lacher refers to those conversations as “so-called” confessions –
she believes Leland used Billis’
guilt over her husband’s death to
manipulate her into confessing.
Behavior-Altering Drugs?
Much of Lacher’s letter seeks to
tie Billis’ behavior to the side effects of mind-altering drugs.
While warnings were not yet on
the box when Billis began taking
Chantix, it is now known that the
drug can cause suicidal and homicidal ideation. Plus, Lacher argued,
the trials to determine the safety of
Chantix were not performed on
people with a history of mental illness, like Billis, and thus the drug
was not deemed safe for their use.
Ambien users report side effects
like “sleep driving” and other actions taken while either fully
asleep or partly asleep and partly
awake. In 2013, researchers be-
came aware that the drug was still
impairing people the next morning
in about 15 percent of female
users. The Federal Drug Administration forced Pﬁzer Pharmaceuticals to cut the dosages in half for
women, Lacher wrote, and to inform people that Ambien may not
be safe for people with a history of
depression, mental illness or suicidal thoughts.
Six days after Billis started taking Ambien, she reported that it
made her feel weird, that it affected her memory, that she was
stumbling around like a “drunk
skunk,” and that she’d bit her husband.
Both drugs can cause seizure activity, Lacher wrote.
“Ms. Billis’ case ﬁts squarely
within the conﬁnes of behavior
consistent with Chantix use as well
as impaired driving caused by Ambien at the time of the crash,”
Lacher wrote. “Unfortunately for
Christine and her husband, Charlie, the aforementioned Chantix
and Ambien warnings came ever
too late.”
Leland’s Credibility
“It appears obvious from the review of this case that there was no
case, and everyone assumed it to
be an accident until Kevin Leland
… came along,” Lacher wrote. “It
also seems obvious that at the time
of the plea, Mr. Leland’s veracity
and credibility were at issue.”
Lacher refers to the fact that police initially believed the crash was
an unfortunate accident with no
one to blame until Leland came
forward with the recorded confessions.
After Billis had been charged
with murder, and parties were discussing potential ways to resolve
the case, Leland was caught at the
Canadian border in possession of
several narcotics – codeine, mor-
phine, Clonazepam and Viagra –
and a loaded handgun.
Leland blogged about his role in
getting Billis to confess and was
interviewed for two different TV
shows about it – “Snapped” and “I
Dated A Psycho-Bitch.”
Leland was after Billis’ insurance money from her husband’s
death, Lacher argues.
Leland was hurting for cash,
Lacher argued. In Rhode Island,
Leland was sued by four companies for money and to date has not
paid the judgment for any, Lacher
wrote.
Leland was capable of manipulating Billis, Lacher argued, as exhibited in him convincing Billis to
grant him power of attorney over
her bank accounts and to grant him
guardianship of her two youngest
daughters.
After getting Billis to turn herself in, Lacher wrote, Leland “kidnapped” the two girls, writing to
the Agency of Human Services
that “her daughters preferred, even
after they knew I worked with the
police to bring their mother to justice, that I be their guardian.”
Lacher wrote that both girls
deny ever saying that or agreeing
to go with him.
Witness Raymond Benson, who
allegedly smoked pot with Leland
and Billis, was there for at least
some of the confessions, and Benson contends that Leland conned
Billis in an attempt to get the insurance money, Lacher wrote.
“Even assuming that there
might be some evidence that a
crime (murder) was committed, it
is the pharmaceutical companies;
and not Christine, that should be
held accountable for the crash; and
to that end, it is humbly requested
that the case be recommended for
dismissal and Christine be released
from prison,” Lacher concluded.
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BARNET, DANVILLE, PEACHAM
COMMUNITIES SWAP ROAD FOREMEN
By TaylOr reeD
Staff Writer
BARNET — Barnet road foreman Keith Gadapee has resigned
and leaves Friday to become
Danville’s road foreman.
Gadapee will take over a position vacated by his brother Kevin
Gadapee, who last month moved
to a job with the Vermont Agency
of Transportation, according to the
Danville town clerk’s ofﬁce. Kevin
Gadapee served as Danville’s road
foreman for 14 years and earned
about $51,300 annually plus beneﬁts.
“As far as I’m concerned he did
a very good job,” said Danville Selectman Ken Linsley. “We’re sad
to see him go but it’s a nice advancement for him.”
Danville Selectman Craig Vance
said, “I personally thought he did
a nice job.”
Keith Gadapee, who lives in
Keith Gadapee
Danville, begins his new job Monday unless tough weather forces a
weekend start. He will earn
$48,000 annually plus beneﬁts,
down from $53,000 plus beneﬁts
in Barnet.
Keith Gadapee started in Barnet
in 2009. He was hired as a
driver/equipment operator but
climbed to “working foreman”
several years ago, which is the
highway department’s top job, said
Town Clerk Ben Heisholt.
“In Barnet we have a working
foreman who drives a truck and
operates equipment,” he said.
Heisholt credits Keith Gadapee
with, among other things, maintaining a strong working relationship with the town clerk’s ofﬁce.
“I thought he did a fantastic
job,” Heisholt said. “It will be
quite a loss. He’s been very easy to
work with at the town clerk’s ofﬁce. He was very meticulous.”
Keith Gadapee tendered his resignation in January, providing
more than three weeks notice,
Heisholt said. The Barnet Board of
Selectmen advertised the vacancy,
interviewed applicants last week,
and hired Mark Chase of St. Johnsbury, a former Peacham road foreman.
Chase started Monday, said Barnet Selectman Dylan Ford. His
salary is similar to Keith
Gadapee’s, she said.
Ford said Keith Gadapee was an
asset to Barnet.
“We will miss him,” she said.
“He is an excellent road foreman
and Danville is lucky. He is a good
guy.”
Kevin Gadapee vacated the
Danville foreman position Jan. 9.
Danville highway employee Bill
Bailey stood in as interim foreman
while the town searched for a permanent replacement.
Danville selectmen voted to hire
Keith Gadapee during a regular
meeting Jan. 22 following a Jan. 8
decision to offer him the job. Selectmen authorized a $48,000
salary and a week of vacation during his ﬁrst year.
Keith Gadapee and Kevin
Gadapee are the sons of Larry
Gadapee of Danville. Larry
Gadapee is a former St. Johnsbury
road foreman.
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Black Cyan Magenta Yellow
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A4
THE RECORD • THuRSDAY, FEBRuARY 5, 2015
Todd M. Smith, Publisher
OPINION
Dana Gray, Executive Editor
Editorial Comment …
Deja Vu
Last week N.H. Representative Richard McNamara, D-Hillsborough, introduced a single-payer health care bill (H-686-FNA) for the Granite State. If enacted, the legislation would
“provide universal access to health care for all individuals residing within New Hampshire…”
The bill says health care providers will become paid employees of the state and it outlines all the procedures the (few remaining) doctors will provide. There’s not, of course, any
mention of cost or funding for the bill - only that the state will
create some super, high-powered health-care board to figure
out the details (which sounds a little bit familiar).
It’s hard to understand how McNamara missed the morbid
tale of single-payer in the liberal fantasy-land of neighboring
Vermont. Sparing him all the cautionary advice we tried to impart to lawmakers in Montpelier, we’ll relate only this “IT CAN’T WORK. DICK.”
The only impressive thing about H-686-FN-A is that McNamara somehow suckered signatures from two (out of 400 possible) co-sponsors (Rep. Suzanne Smith, D-Hebron, and Rep.
Marcia Moody, D-Newmarket). We would urge this band of
ideological misfits to read some of our back issues before they
present any more of their brilliant ideas.
Senate Perspectives
GRACE, FORTITUDE
AND A LATIN MOTTO
Sen. JOe Benning
Anyone involved in Vermont politics needs to have a thick
skin, and this essay speaks to that. But first a little exposure to
the daily life of a legislator is in order.
My legislative week starts before dawn when I begin my
hour- and 10-minute commute to the Statehouse. For the next
15 or so hours I’m helping design legislation to deal with very
complicated issues, like a $100 million deficit, rising property
taxes, murdered children under DCF watch, gun rights, a stagnant economy, job losses, broken roads and cuts to critical services. I’m also responding to countless constituents who seek
legislative assistance long after I’ve returned home. I also have
a day job, which means my former trial lawyer work week gets
compressed into Saturday through Monday. It amounts to a
pretty tough schedule.
Mind you, I’m not complaining. I actually love the job. But
when somebody sends me a missive in response to a bill they
don’t like, usually written in capital letters and loaded with expletives, which accuses me of not having anything better to do
with my time, I tend to want to respond with my own capitalized expletives. Thankfully, my spouse keeps me in check.
Into one such maelstrom stepped Angela, an eighth grade
constituent taking Latin at Riverside School in Lyndonville.
She wondered why Vermont didn’t have a Latin motto, like a
number of other states do. She proposed re-adopting the Latin
phrase “Stella Quarta Decima,” the phrase stamped on Vermont’s first coin while we were still an independent republic.
It translates into “The Fourteenth Star,” expressing Vermont’s
desire to become the 14th state.
Angela was not suggesting that our English motto (Freedom
& Unity) be replaced. She was not asking to change the state
seal or flag. She was merely trying to place that historical motto
on Vermont’s list of official designations, like our state horse
(the Morgan) and the state tree (the sugar maple).
Through the years I’ve politely declined to submit bills when
I know they cannot possibly match the weightier issues described above. But Angela’s request struck a chord. As a history
nut myself, and as the occupant of the senate seat once held by
one of Vermont’s foremost historians and Latin teachers (Graham Stiles Newell), I knew this would be an excellent opportunity to educate some young Vermonters on how a bill works
its way through the Legislature. Knowing this would take virtually no time or expense against the more important issues, I
introduced a bill to meet her request.
WCAX-TV then posted “Should Vermont Have a Latin
Motto?” on their Facebook page and it resulted in a firestorm
of several hundred ugly responses. Commentators claimed the
proposal would attract illegal immigrants from South America,
would require us to press “1” for English, or would allow
“Moslims” [sic] to take over our country. They went downhill
from there. The level of vitriol, ignorance and bigotry was
downright embarrassing for an educated citizenry.
Of course, a young lady was watching all this. But I’m happy
to say Angela and her parents are handling this tumult as a lesson every child needs to learn in order to succeed in life. These
commentators say I’ll pay in the next election. But if I‘ve
helped Angela’s generation to understand the legislative process
and how to respond to such attacks with grace and fortitude, I
will consider that a price worth paying.
Letters to the Editor…
Cash reward
To the Editor:
I am offering a $500 reward to
the ﬁrst person who can show me
a New Hampshire, Vermont or
Maine drinking water source (private or municipal well, spring, or
town water) that is not visibly contaminated with the dust and ﬁbers
that jets are spraying on us.
Hold a clear glass or jar of your
water between your eyes and the
sun and look carefully through the
sides of the container. Experiment
with different viewing angles and
distances. A magnifying glass can
help. If no contaminants are visible, try stirring which puts the dust
and ﬁbers in motion. If the sun is
obscured by jet emissions, examine
the water in a darkened room with
strong and focused backlighting.
Examine melted snow water and
you will see horrifying amounts of
contamination. This winter falling
“snowﬂakes” often look like frosty
bits of dryer lint that spin as they
descend. Try aiming a 75 watt
halogen ﬂoodlight (energy saving
bulbs don’t work) into night fog,
rain, or snow and you will see large
amounts of jet dust in the air.
If your water is truly free of particulates, I want to hear from you.
I am in the phone book. Leave a
message.
Mitch Perry
Dalton, N.H.
The Vermont
Constitution
To the Editor:
The Vermont Constitution’s
original draft took place on July 2,
of 1777 in Windsor,Vermont. It is
the shortest in length of all the 50
state constitutions.. Its simplicity
and direct language makes it easy
to read and understand. It is devoid
of the deliberate confusion of modern day legislative bills being promoted in both Montpelier and
Washington D.C. The founders of
Vermont modeled this document
after Benjamin Franklin’s Pennsylvania Constitution. These early
Vermonters recognized the
wickedness of slavery and indentured servitude. They had the great
wisdom to make our Constitution
the ﬁrst in the new world to outlaw
both practices.
Two of my favorite Articles in
this uniquely beautiful Vermont
document are Article 16 and Article 18.
They read as follows:
“Article 16 Right to bear arms;
standing armies; military power
subordinate to civil
That the people have a right to
bear arms for the defence of themselves and the State - and as standing armies in time of peace are
dangerous to liberty, they ought not
to be kept up; and that the military
should be kept under strict subordination to and governed by the
civil power.”
“Article 18. Regard to fundamental principles and virtues necessary to preserve liberty
That frequent recurrence to fundamental principles, and a ﬁrm adherence to justice, moderation,
temperance, industry, and frugality,
are absolutely necessary to preserve the blessings of liberty, and
keep government free; the people
ought, therefore to pay particular
attention to these points, in the
choice of ofﬁcers and representa-
tives, and have a right, in a legal
way, to exact a due and constant regard to them, from their legislators
and magistrates, and in making and
executing such laws as are necessary for the good government of
the State.”
Both these constitutional articles
are being challenged by the
overzealous one party Democrat
rule which resides under the golden
dome in Montpelier. Our Vermont
Constitution is the government
playbook for our elected ofﬁcials
as well as for every citizen of our
state. It belongs to all of us. The
document deﬁnes the rules and
boundaries of government regardless of political party afﬁliation.
Reasonable Vermonters that are
following the political activity of
the ruling Vermont Democrat party
have learned that the words “moderation, temperance, industry and
frugality” are not words in this
party’s vocabulary. As for “liberty”, the absence of that word
should be of grave concern for all
Vermonters.
Out of control taxation and a
historic $100 million dollar budget
deﬁcit is testimony to the lack of
respect shown to the principles enshrined in our Constitution. The introduction of H. 57 which allows
for the harvesting of the organs of
dead Vermonters by default is the
most criminally insane, liberty
trampling bill in the history of our
state.
In the last four years I have attempted to raise concerns about the
Vermont Constitution being shabbily treated. I have done this with
elected members of our legislature
as well as my fellow citizens of
every political persuasion. While
Republicans, libertarians, conservatives and independents have
been receptive, members of the
majority party have not. My emails
to elected Democrat legislators
have not been returned. In my person to person interactions with Democrats I have been rebuffed as if
I was wearing a garlic necklace.
Why is it that the Vermont Democrats have such a difﬁcult time supporting and adhering to virtuous
principles that have stood the test
of time for more than two centuries?
Stuart Lindberg
Cavendish, Vt.
We repeat: VtNEA didn’t
negotiate Sutton
deal
To the Editor:
It’s an axiom of life that if you
repeat a lie long enough, people
believe it to be true. While John
Chase from West Burke, Vt.,
couldn’t believe his eyes (Letters,
Jan. 28) when he read about the
settlement reached by the Sutton
School Board and their (now) former principal, we couldn’t believe
our eyes that he repeated the
charge that somehow the VermontNEA had something to do with it.
To Mr. Chase and anyone else
under the assumption that somehow we or our local union, the
Caledonia North Education Association, had any role in the settlement, let me make it simple: We
didn’t. And we never would: We
represent teachers and support proSee letters, Page A5
Joseph Cotto
Thinking
conservatively on
school choice
History has proven that few
things are able to unite the social
and ﬁscal wings of American conservatism. There are a handful of
exceptions to the rule, however.
Crusading against almost any
form of population stabilization
most deﬁnitely qualiﬁes. Culture
warriors claim that all forms of
government-backed birth control
are either thwarting God’s will or
some sort of totalitarian plot. Free
traders, meanwhile, say that a
larger population means more innovation along with, for business
owners, an expansive customer
base and lower employee wages.
Whether or not any of these
folks have compared countries like
Nigeria and El Salvador to ones
such as Singapore and Liechtenstein is worth pondering.
Perhaps the only thing more
popular than population destabilization is “school choice”. Boasting a fan club that ranges from
Mike Huckabee to the late Milton
Friedman, this issue has become a
staple of Republican policy.
The idea is that if students are
taken out of badly performing public schools and sent to better ones,
their academic careers
will ﬁnally reach success,
thus solving our national
educational crisis. Funding is to be provided by a
voucher system compliments of every taxpayer
known to any given
state’s revenue service.
Acute observers ought to have
difﬁculty seeing because of all the
red ﬂags.
School choice will not turn
America’s schools into Finland’s
and vault American students to the
top of the world’s achievement
charts. It is impossible for mainly
troubled youths in dangerous, let
alone substandard, schools to magically become star pupils once they
are placed in a better environment.
What is likely to happen is that
these youths will drag gifted and
well-directed students into a spiral
of chaos and destruction. The
problems that plague bad schools,
most of them located in impoverished urban environments, will
simply be exported to safer city
neighborhoods or suburbia.
This is because the core problem with failing schools is not the
teachers, or even their unions, as
many allege. It is not the buildings
or the athletic courts or inadequate
funding. It is the student body.
Black Cyan Magenta Yellow
In 2013, a most interesting letter appeared
among The Baltimore
Sun’s typically droll
pages. It was written by
Dave Miceli, a veteran
teacher in the Charm
City’s public schools.
“I cannot count the number of
students who have physically destroyed property….They have
trashed brand new computers, destroyed exit signs, set multiple
ﬁres, destroyed many, many lockers, stolen teachers’ school supplies, written their ﬁlth on the tops
of classroom desks, defecated in
bathrooms and stairwells, assaulted teachers (beyond constantly telling them to perform
certain impossible acts upon themselves) and refused to do any
homework or classwork,” Miceli
stated.
His goal was to tell the masses
that teachers are not scapegoats for
problems caused and perpetuated
by the student body. Hopefully
more than a few readers gave
Miceli’s words the serious consideration they deserve.
Does anybody honestly think
that if droves of BCPS students
were transferred to successful
charter schools — or virtually any
private ones — their situation
would improve? Would these generally hard-edged teens become
college-bound academics in short
order just because their surroundings changed?
They would not. What they
would probably do, though, is
recreate their former environment
almost immediately. This would be
disastrous for their new classmates.
In the case of private schools,
concerned parents pay astronomical sums so their children can be
formally educated in a safe, sound
setting. Contrary to stereotypes,
many private school parents are
anything but wealthy. They nickel
and dime to the hilt so that their
kids might have a better life.
This better life does not leave
room for the students which Miceli
described.
Importing trouble to areas
which have none is not only begging, but pleading for disaster.
Using school vouchers so dangerous, self-destructive youths can
corrupt the well-being of more
productive kids ought to be considered nothing less than child abuse.
This is why starry-eyed centerrightists need to stop dreaming and
start thinking. Then, and only then,
can the awful truth about “school
choice” be understood.
©2015 JOSEPH COTTO
CALEDONIAN Black Cyan Magenta Yellow
THE RECORD • THuRSDAY, FEBRuARY 5, 2015
SNOWFLAKE FESTIVAL RETURNING TO LYNDON AREA
By JameS JarDine
Staff Writer
If you’re feeling the winter doldrums, the Lyndon-Burke area has
the perfect antidote: the Snowﬂake
Festival. The festival will run from
Feb. 13 to March 1 this year.
For many, the highlight of the
festival is “ChowdahFest.” The annual fundraising event has attracted
sell-out crowds and has now outgrown its space. Previously it was
held at the Lyndon Outing Club, but
this year’s ChowdahFest will be
held in the barn at the Riverside
School located on the Lilly Pond
Road in Lyndon on Feb. 21. Riverside’s “barn” is a thoroughly renovated public space that provides
plenty of warm space for people and
activities.
ChowdahFest is a fundraiser for
the Lyndon Outing Club and the
Lyndon Area Chamber of Com-
merce and features a large sampling
of homemade chowder delicacies.
Participants who spend the evening
sampling the different chowders and
all of the other culinary offerings
vote on the best chowder, with a
cash prize going to the winning
chef.
The Snowﬂake Festival begins
on Friday, Feb. 13, at the Grindstone
Cafe on Depot Street in Lyndon
with a psychic giving “love readings” from 4 to 7 p.m.
There is a pancake breakfast at
the Lyndonville Methodist Church
on Saturday, Feb. 14.
On Sunday, Feb. 15, there is open
public skating at the Fenton Chester
Ice Arena. On Sunday afternoon
there’s a Sundae Run at Q Burke on
the J Bar hill. Participants will ski
through the Sundae Course to collect all their toppings and ﬁnish with
a complete sundae.
There are cupcake decorating
contests, movie nights, spaghetti
dinners, snowshoe hikes, Snowﬂake
Bingo, a snow sculpture contest, a
sugar and snow event at the Lyndonville Fire Station and a lot more.
No one seems to know precisely
when the Snowﬂake Festival began,
but it’s at least seven years old, said
Mary Marceau, President of the
Lyndon Area Chamber of Commerce.
It is not solely a Chamber event,
she explained. Instead the 21 events
are sponsored by a broad variety of
organizations. The festival is really
an umbrella for a group of activities
scattered over the month of February and happening in a broad number of venues.
All told, there are 21 events listed
on the Snowﬂake Festival Calendar.
For a complete listing, log on to the
Lyndon Area Chamber of Commerce website at www.lyndonvermont.com .
FORUM TO DEBATE NEED FOR NEWPORT CITY SHELTER
By rOBin SmiTH
Staff Writer
NEWPORT CITY — Residents
are being asked to gather next
week to consider the need for a
warming shelter for homeless people in the winter.
The meeting will be held Tuesday, Feb. 10, at 7 p.m. at the Gateway Center, organized by the city
of Newport and Northeast Kingdom Community Action.
The hope of supporters of a
warming shelter is that the forum
will drive the desire in the city to
do more than talk about the need
for a shelter but support the effort
to ﬁnd a location for one.
“We’ll see how much community interest there is,” Alderman
John Wilson said.
The city council two weeks ago
voted unanimously to support the
concept of a warming shelter. The
council also voted to have city
manager John Ward Jr. work with
NEKCA to set up the forum.
Members of the council like Alderman Neil Morrissette have said
that the city cannot stand by and
watch homeless veterans or young
people struggle to ﬁnd a warm
place to stay on cold winter nights.
Morrissette talked about being
called to the police station when
two young people were there on a
bitterly cold night recently, when
they had nowhere else to go. The
two young people had nothing but
the clothes they were wearing. She
was wearing pajama pants, he said.
Newport City and all of Orleans
County lack a homeless shelter. In
Passumpsic Community
Baptist Church
(American Baptist)
Sunday Worship Services
at 10:15 a.m.
the past, NEKCA and other agencies were able to set up homeless
people in area motels on cold
nights, but now local motels are
not accepting any or very few people, NEKCA has said.
Some are being transported to
the St. Johnsbury area or beyond to
Barre just for the night because
there is nowhere else for them to
go.
It’s not just homeless individuals but also families affected.
The topic drew a lot of support
when it came up at a Community
Commons meeting last winter.
Since then, church groups and
other community organizations
have formed a committee to seek a
location for a warming shelter,
working with the city’s zoning administrator on ideas. However, the
city’s zoning makes that difﬁcult.
Several churches have considered hosting a warming shelter, but
cannot due to lack of costly sprinkler systems for such a public facility.
A warming shelter is unlike a
homeless shelter in that it is only
open during the winter months and
only from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m.
NEKCA has the state funds
available, at between $18,000 and
$15,000, to staff a warming shelter
if a location can be found.
A recent effort to open a 10-bed,
adult-only shelter in NEKCA’s
Lincoln Street facility in St. Johns-
Superior Court
Editor’s Note: All information is from
Caledonia Superior Court documents.
Jaime A. Robertson, 23, Newark,
pleaded no contest to drunken driving
in West Burke on Jan. 14 in exchange
for a 1-3 month suspended sentence
and six months of probation. Robertson was also ordered to complete the
safe driving and drunken driving reparative panel.
Darryl James Whitcomb, 46, Lyndonville, pleaded guilty to reckless endangerment by pointing a riﬂe at
Dominique Whitcomb on Sept. 14,
2014, in St. Johnsbury in exchange for
a 6-12 month sentence, all suspended
and $147 in court surcharges. Whitcomb was also ordered to have no
contact with Whitcomb. The state dismissed a charge of aggravated 1st degree domestic assault as part of the
plea deal.
Brian H. Wilkins, 46, Wheelock,
pleaded guilty to drunken driving on
Jan. 12 in Wheelock and was ordered
to pay a $400 ﬁne. A charge of leaving
the scene of a crash was dismissed by
the state as part of the plea deal.
Jeffrey Walters, 47, Lyndon,
pleaded guilty to possessing big game
taken illegally on Dec. 8, 2014, in Lyndonville and was ordered to pay a
$400 ﬁne.
Brandon Trudeau, 27, Rindge,
N.H., pleaded guilty to drunken driving
Jan. 18 in St. Johnsbury and was ordered to pay a $400 ﬁne.
Thomas K. Whitcomb, 26,
Shefﬁeld, pleaded guilty to drunken
driving on Jan. 11 in Lyndonville and
was ordered to pay a $400 ﬁne plus
court surcharges.
Kelly Hall, 35, St. Johnsbury,
pleaded guilty to driving with a suspended license in St. Johnsbury on
Dec. 10, 2014, and was ordered to pay
a $300 ﬁne.
_______
Letters
upset at the settlement, they need
to take the matter up with the people responsible: the elected members of the Sutton School Board.
Vermont-NEA doesn’t, and would
not, be part of determining a sepa-
bury failed. The St. Johnsbury Development Review Board voted
against it by a 4-1 margin, with
some members saying they needed
more information.
NEKCA also went to the St.
Johnsbury Select Board in December seeking support. The select
board held a public forum and generally supported the concept.
NEKCA could appeal the development review board’s rejection of
the project.
NEKCA ofﬁcials said they want
to drum up support in Newport Continued from Page A4
City ﬁrst, with the council and the fessionals, not administrators.
city residents, before trying to ﬁnd
If Mr. Chase or anyone else is
a location.
Adult
Education
Customer Service
(NRF National Certification)
Tuesdays & Thursdays ~ 6:00-9:00pm
Vinton Building: Lyndon Center Lower Campus
DATES: Class 1: February 10, 12, 17 & 19, 2015
Class 2: March 17, 19, 24 & 26, 2015
Tuition: $150.00 50% off (Thanks to DOL Grant) $75.00
(Includes: 12 hours classroom Interactive Learning, Books &
Testing Proctor).
Testing for National Certification: $55.00
Contact: Adult Education ~ 802-626-0191
Lyndon Institute is an equal opportunity employer.
MEADOW LEASING
Littleton, N.H.
Ground Level Containers
20’ - 40’
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Trailers
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28’ - 48’
1-800-762-7026 • 603-444-7026
Let Us Help You With All Your Storage Needs.
dancer
THE
The high level of
professionalism that I
expect of myself in dance
carries over to so many
other parts of my life.
– Monica ’15
COME VISIT US!
CALL TO SCHEDULE A CAMPUS TOUR
802-751-2130
www.stjacademy.org
Black Cyan Magenta Yellow
Editor’s note: All information comes
from Littleton District Court ﬁles.
Eric M. English, 22, of Littleton
was ﬁned $310 with an additional $500
suspended for driving with a revoked
or suspended license on South Street
in Littleton on Sept. 4.
Joshua B. Cutting, 28, of St.
Johnsbury, Vt., was ﬁned $310 for driving without a license on Ely Street in
Littleton on Aug. 25.
Megan N. Adjutant, 19, of Colebrook was ﬁned $310 with an additional $250 suspended for driving
without a license on Main Street in Littleton on Aug. 14.
Franconia Police did not prosecute
Adam J. Young, 25, of Sugar Hill for
simple assault and driving with a suspended license on Main Street in Franconia on Aug. 20.
Nestor E. Roman, 18, of Littleton
was ﬁned $620 with an additional $500
suspended and handed a suspended
90-day sentence for simple assault, resisting arrest, obstructing government
administration and possession of marijuana for pushing Ofc. Scott Moodie,
pulling away from Sgt. Gary Hebert,
and shutting the door on both ofﬁcers
at 155 South St. in Littleton on July 11.
A charge of vandalism was not prose-
cuted.
Zebulon L. Powers, 22, of Bethlehem was ﬁned $620, his driver’s license was revoked nine months an he
was ordered to complete an impaired
driver care management program for
driving while intoxicated in Littleton on
Sept. 6.
Vanessa L. English, 44, of Littleton
was ﬁned $620, her driver’s license
was revoked nine months and she was
ordered to complete an impaired driver
care management program for driving
while intoxicated on Route 302 in Lisbon on Sept. 20.
Zorin L. Vespucci, 28, of Lancaster
was ﬁned $310 with an additional $250
suspended for conduct after an accident at 14 Curtis Ct. in Littleton on July
18. A charge of reckless operation was
not prosecuted.
Kirk P. Tobin, 24, of Bethlehem
was ﬁned $310 (with an additional
$250 suspended) and handed a 10day suspended sentence for breach of
bail conditions at 2043 Main St. in
Bethlehem on Sept. 13.
Charges of simple assault and violation of a protective order on Sept. 13
and simple assault on Main Street in
Bethlehem on Sept. 7 were not prosecuted.
Littleton Police did not prosecute
Todd Burge, 23, of Gilman, Vt., for receiving stolen property at 185 Union
St. in Littleton on July 2.
Bench warrants for failure to appear
were issued for the following: Matthew
J. Almeida, 26, of Westport, Mass.;
Nuna A. Saldanha, 33, of Bristol, R.I.
ration agreement between a principal (or a superintendent, for that
matter) and her employer.
Darren M. Allen
Communications Director, Vermont-NEA, Montpelier, Vt.
CALEDONIAN Black Cyan Magenta Yellow
THE CALEDONIAN-RECORD
A6
STATE WITHHELD EVIDENCE IN SEX ASSAULT CASE
By Jennifer HerSey
clevelanD
Staff Writer
NEWPORT CITY — The state
withheld potentially exculpatory
material from the defense in a now
18-month-old sexual assault case,
a new prosecutor to the case conﬁrmed Wednesday in Orleans Superior Court-Criminal Division.
Defense attorney David Sleigh
told Judge Walter Morris during a
pretrial conference for his client
James Tourangeau Sr., 79, of
Craftsbury, that the state, under the
former “regime,” failed to let the
defense know about two nurses
who performed sexual assault kits
on the complainant.
Sleigh said there may also have
been a recorded statement of the
complainant that was not produced. Sleigh said Deputy State’s
Attorney Christopher Moll, who
started his new job Sunday, alerted
him that signiﬁcant discovery had
not been produced by the former
prosecutor.
The case was prosecuted by
Deputy State’s Attorney Jim Lillicrap until Sunday, when Jennifer
Barrett assumed the ofﬁce of
state’s attorney and assigned the
case to Moll.
“Is it Brady material?” Morris
Drugs
Continued from Page A1
U.S. Magistrate Judge John M.
Conroy today in Burlington.
According to court documents,
the drug ring was being operated
out of the home of Elysia Conley,
26, at 130 Victory Road in Concord. Conley is the owner of Modern Divine Barber Shop located at
77 Concord Ave. in St. Johnsbury.
Conley has a criminal record and
according to police the Vermont
Drug Task Force investigated allegations last spring that Conley was
selling drugs out of the barber
shop.
The investigation into last
week’s arrests began when the task
force received information that
Miller and Gonyo had just returned from the New York City
area with heroin and crack cocaine
and were headed from Conley’s
house to the Chittenden County
area to distribute the drugs.
Police said Miller and Gonyo
were in a black SUV stopped by
state police on Interstate 89 in
Bolton and that 64 grams of
heroin, 14.8 grams of powder cocaine and 27.6 grams of crack cocaine were found hidden in the
interior light assembly above the
center console of the vehicle.
Gonyo, according to the report,
told police she sold heroin and
crack for Miller in the Chittenden
County area and that she and
Miller were headed to Chittenden
County to distribute some heroin.
Gonyo also told police that Miller
had once put a gun in her mouth
while threatening her.
Police said there was a second
male passenger in the back of the
car identiﬁed as Vermont resident
Tyler Kidd. Kidd told police that
he, Gonyo and Miller had just returned on a drug buying trip to the
city.
Shelter
Continued from Page A1
use of it for a warming shelter this
winter only.
The committee pursued the
offer but was unable to trigger a
special meeting of the St. Johnsbury Development Review Board
for zoning consideration, Cherry
said. The review board typically
meets the fourth Thursday of each
month, which was too late for the
steering committee, she said.
“We put in a request for a special board meeting and they never
got back to us,” Cherry said. “I
don’t know where the breakdown
was.”
Cherry said the steering committee lodged its request with zoning administrator Maureen
Hennings.
Following zoning approval, the
shelter would have required con-
asked Moll, referring to the 1963
U.S. Supreme Court, Brady vs.
Maryland, which established that
the prosecution has an obligation
to produce material that could help
exonerate the defendant.
“It is,” Moll replied.
Tourangeau is accused of sexually assaulting a 12-year-old girl in
2012.
Tourangeau’s case has lagged
through seven pretrial conferences,
with attorneys having to sift
through questionnaires ﬁlled out
by three jury panels. Tourangeau
was arraigned on the single felony
count of aggravated sexual assault
Aug. 13, 2013.
It is one of the oldest cases on
the docket, and as such, it was
slated as a high priority case for
this month’s jury draw.
But this new information must
be explored to be fair to both sides,
Moll and Sleigh agreed.
“We’ve been trying to get this
horse to race,” Sleigh said.
Sleigh said he and Moll would
compare their respective ﬁles and
ﬁgure out who was missing what
pieces.
Barrett conﬁrmed that many
ﬁles left behind by former State’s
Attorney Alan Franklin and his
staff are in disarray. In some cases,
discovery that has been provided
to the defense is missing from the
state’s ﬁles, she said.
Barrett said she’s had to reach
out to defense attorneys to try to
build complete ﬁles before moving
forward with cases.
But as for Tourangeau, Sleigh
said he can’t draw a jury due to the
state’s “glaring omissions.”
Sleigh said the complainant at
ﬁrst made a generalized assertion
about being touched by the defendant, but the statement expanded
over time to assertions rising to the
current sexual assault charge. It
would be “enormously helpful” to
be able to listen to the recorded
conversation with the complainant,
he said.
Moll said if he were the defense
attorney he would want to know
what questions were asked of the
complainant and whether those
questions led the complainant at
all.
Sleigh needs the opportunity to
weigh the signiﬁcance of the new
evidence before attempting to negotiate a plea deal, Moll said.
Sleigh said he’ll also need to depose the two new witnesses, which
could take some time and asked
the judge to place the case on the
April jury selection list.
“Unfortunate circumstance,”
Morris said. “We will grant the
motion to continue under the circumstances.”
“When they got back from the
city, Kidd, Gonyo and Shawn went
to Elysia’s house in Concord to
drop off 50, half-gram pieces of
cocaine to ‘Shortie,’” wrote police
in their report. Kidd also told police that two weeks prior Miller
had ‘pistol whipped’ him with a
gun.
“Kidd also witnessed Shawn assault Gonyo, put the gun in
Gonyo’s mouth and threaten her,”
wrote police in their report.
After stopping the SUV in
Bolton police searched Conley’s
residence in Concord and said they
recovered a handgun, approximately 250 bags of heroin and approximately 2.5 grams of crack.
Police said London (Bleez) was inside the residence and the investigation determined that London
worked for Miller in distributing
the heroin and crack cocaine.
Conley told police that she had
just recently met Miller - who she
knew only as “Shawn” - and that
she had agreed to let him stay at
her house in Concord.
“About a month ago, she was
introduced to a guy named
‘Shawn’ who needed a place to
stay,” wrote investigators in their
afﬁdavit. “Conley agreed to let
him stay at her house in Concord,
Vermont. Shawn goes to the ‘city’
at least once a week to pick up
heroin and crack cocaine. While he
was living with her, Conley has
seen Shawn with a softball sized
ball of heroin.”
Police said Conley had also
been working for Miller but that
she now feared for her life.
“Conley has been selling both
heroin and crack for Shawn,” reads
the afﬁdavit. “She sells approximately $700 to $800 worth of
drugs per day for Shawn. Shawn
regularly carries a gun and has
threatened her with it. On one occasion, Shawn got angry with her
over money and because he said
she could sell more drugs. During
that argument, Shawn put the gun
to her head and said things such as:
‘bitch you think I’m playing,’ ‘try
me bitch,’ ‘I’ll kill you.’”
Conley told police that Gonyo,
London and his girlfriend came to
stay at her house after she met
Miller and that London ran
Miller’s operation in the Concord
area.
“Whenever Conley needed
crack or heroin to sell and Shawn
was not around, Conley would get
the drugs from Bleez,” wrote police in their afﬁdavit. “Conley believes that Jenna sells heroin and
crack for Shawn in the Burlington
area.”
According to an afﬁdavit in support of a search warrant ﬁled in
Caledonia Superior Court on June
23, 2014, the drug task force targeted Conley for investigation and
sent a conﬁdential informant into
Conley’s barber shop on June 19,
2014 and that the informant returned after purchasing two wax
bags of heroin marked as “The
Reeper” for $50.
The CI told police there were
two “older gentlemen” in the barber shop waiting to get their hair
cut when the heroin was purchased.
Police said they arrested Conley
in July of 2014 on two counts of
distribution heroin and one count
of distribution of Dilaudid but that
formal charges were not ﬁled after
Conley agreed to cooperate with
investigators.
In January, Conley made the
news as a victim after allegedly
being stabbed in the arm by her
mother.
Andrea Kenney, 47, of Lunenburg has been charged with felony
aggravated domestic assault, ﬁrst
degree, with a weapon for allegedly stabbing Conley during a
dispute on Jan. 7 at Conley’s residence.
ceptual approval from the St.
Johnsbury Board of Selectmen.
“The select board was ready to
meet at the drop of a hat but
wanted us to go through the development review board ﬁrst,” Cherry
said.
Zoning administrator Hennings
addressed the issue Wednesday,
disputing Cherry’s account regarding the steering committee’s request for a special meeting of the
development review board.
“I informed them we couldn’t
get a quorum together,” said Hennings, who serves with Cherry on
the St. Johnsbury Planning Commission.
Hennings was still attempting to
schedule a special meeting when
the steering committee decided to
postpone the warming shelter, she
said.
The proposed Elm Street shelter
was the steering committee’s second attempt this winter to establish
an overnight warming shelter. The
group ﬁrst tried for a shelter at
Northeast Kingdom Community
Action on Lincoln Street but the
development review board rejected the proposal citing the area’s
residential nature and a lack of
program details.
Shelter organizer Joe Patrissi,
executive director of Northeast
Kingdom Community Action, said
the steering committee learned
much about procedure and zoning
this winter. It was a “helpful experience,” he said.
Patrissi is conﬁdent a shelter
will be in place by next winter.
“This gives us a little time to really search high and low to see
what works for the program, what
works for the development review
board, what works for the select
board, and what works for the
community,” he said.
Delay
Continued from Page A1
had been given lawful custody of
her.
Kelley argues she ﬂed with her
daughter because her daughter was
being sexually abused by Mark
Nunes.
After investigations by the N.H.
Division of Children, Youth and
Families and the Grafton County
Sheriff’s Department, no evidence
of abuse was found and Mark
Nunes was never charged.
On Wednesday, Kelley’s attorney, Alan Rosenfeld, of Colorado,
said the case is about Kelley’s belief
that her daughter was being abused,
about a system that did not believe
her and an action she took to protect
her daughter.
“The allegations of sexual abuse
are at the heart of this case, but it’s
not the jury’s job to decide if
[Mary] was abused, but if the
mother believed it and was justiﬁed
in taking the route she chose,” he
said.
Coos County Attorney John McCormick said Kelley violated a
court order to take her daughter to
a forensic interviewer for a more indepth evaluation to determine what
might be going on.
Instead, Kelley took her to Colorado for her own evaluation, said
McCormick.
“The father at that time had no
Cattle
Continued from Page A1
to the Meadow View Farm. All of
the animals were returned. Steve
says other than suffering some
stress and being off their feed and
losing weight, the animals are ﬁne
and are rebounding.
Downing has run the farm
owned by his father, Richard
Downing, Sr., since 1995. Steve
Downing says he grew up raising
Hereford cattle on a farm in Massachusetts. While he loved working with Hereford beef cattle,
when his father decided to switch
to Belted Galloway, he quickly
came to love the different breed.
Galloway cattle, according to
Steve, have two coats of fur and
are ideally suited for the Vermont
climate.
Meadow View Farm slaughters
some of the beef cattle for meat
Ski
Continued from Page A1
what started it.”
Harkless may have spearheaded
the project, but he is quick to credit
others, saying it was a team effort.
Members of the board of directors — current members Jim Alden,
Chris Hubble, J.J. Ilacqua, Ron Lahout, Laura McCarthy and Harkless
and past members Herb Lahout and
Jeff Lopus — have combined to
work thousands of hours on the
project. Much of that time was
spent behind the scenes, where they
attended meetings, organized
fundraisers and promoted the project.
They received strong community
support, according to Harkless,
raising approximately $50,000 towards the project and receiving an
additional $75,000 of donated
labor, equipment and materials.
The experience reafﬁrmed Harkless’ opinion that Littleton is a special community. What makes it
special, he said, was people’s willingness to work together to accomplish bigger goals.
“My little catch phrase is that
‘Littleton is the little town that
could.’ And it can. And it does,”
Harkless said. “In bigger towns
they just throw money at things. We
don’t have any money. So we have
to use elbow grease.”
Beginning Saturday the ski area
will offer a convenient, low-cost
option for local skiers and snowboarders.
Day passes will cost $5 and season passes are available for juniors
($30), adults ($50) and families
($100). Hours of operation will
vary, depending on conditions and
the availability of volunteers, and
will be updated online at
www.facebook.com/MtEustisSkiClub. Lights will allow for night
skiing. Hours for opening day on
Saturday will be from 9 a.m. to 8
Black Cyan Magenta Yellow
THursDay, February 5, 2015
custody,” said McCormick. “There
was no urgency or need to fall off
the face of the Earth with Mary and
10 or 11 years later to ﬁnd ourselves
in this situation.”
The whereabouts of Mary
Nunes, now 18, are still unknown.
The judge ruled that the prosecution is entitled to depose Mary
Nunes for discovery to ensure a fair
trial and to ensure there will be no
surprises at trial.
Other than deposition, the prosecution currently has no other opportunities to gather the information it
needs from Mary Nunes, who
Bornstein said plays a central role
to the case.
The prosecution received another
ruling in its favor Wednesday when
Bornstein denied the request by the
defense to take Mary Nunes’ trial
testimony by video.
Rosenfeld had argued Mary
Nunes suffers post-traumatic stress
disorder and the emotional and
mental strain of testifying at trial
would be too much.
Bornstein, however, said Mary
Nunes is now a young adult, and
the defense, while presenting a
2004 report stating she has PTSD,
has provided no contemporary evidence Mary Nunes would still suffer from emotional and mental
strain at trial.
“Reports themselves are not evidence,” said the judge. “Even if
they were evidence, that evidence is
so remote in time. Some expert tes-
timony would be required.”
Kelley’s attorneys ﬁled a motion
seeking to use New Hampshire’s
competing harms defense, arguing
she ﬂed with her daughter to stop
the greater harm of alleged sexual
abuse.
Coos County Attorney John McCormick ﬁled an objection arguing
that such a defense is not allowed
under state law because Kelley ﬂed
the jurisdiction of New Hampshire.
The judge deferred a ruling on
the competing harms defense and
Kelley’s requested use of a similar
defense under N.H. statute, ordering both McCormick and Rosenfeld
to each ﬁle a memorandum of law
on the use of afﬁrmative defenses.
Authorities believe Genevieve
Kelley ﬂed to Central America and
said her last conﬁrmed sighting had
been around 2005 in Honduras.
Kelley turned herself into the
Coos County Sheriff’s Department
on Nov. 17 with the intent to face
trial.
While Rosenfeld argued the defense is ready for a trial in March
and it is not Kelley’s fault the prosecution is not ready, Bornstein ruled
a May trial would not violate Kelley’s right to a speedy trial.
Attending the all-day hearing at
Grafton Superior Court was Mark
Nunes, who afterward made a brief
statement to members of the press.
“Who speaks for Mary?” said
Nunes. “I’m very concerned there
is no independent voice for her.”
sales. The beef is sold locally with
orders taken by the nearby Steppingstone Spa, a health spa owned
by the Downings.
Galloways are offered for sale
on the Meadow View website.
Because the animals went out of
state, they all had to be quarantined
before they could come back to the
farm.
Downing said when the fraud
occurred “I was in a pretty low
spot. It’s my livelihood; it’s my living. It’s what I love to do.”
Amidon, according to the U.S.
attorney for Vermont, was arraigned in United States District
Court in Burlington last week. He
pleaded not guilty to charges that
he knowingly offered a counterfeit
certiﬁed check as payment for 53
cows and transported the cows to
auction. U.S. District Court Judge
John Conroy ordered Amidon detained pending trial, which has not
been scheduled.
The present case is Amidon’s
fourth cattle fraud case. At the time
of the Meadow View Farm scam,
Amidon was facing state charges
in Pennsylvania that involved the
fraudulent promise of cattle for
$135,000, which Amidon allegedly unlawfully pocketed.
Vermont State Police cooperated in the case with the FBI and
the Pennsylvania State Police.
Steve Downing said he is grateful
for the work the state police and
other agencies put into the case.
Steve Downing said if Amidon
is found guilty he hopes he will receive a serious sentence for the
crime.
There are 150 head of cattle at
the farm. The Belted Galloways
are grass fed, with no grains and
no hormones. The beef cattle are
raised on grazing and spend 24 to
30 months on the farm before they
go out to beef.
pm., Harkless said.
This season a temporary rope
tow will take skiers and riders 300
feet, about a quarter of the way up
the hill. Those wishing to access
upper terrain will have to hike. Next
year a permanent rope tow will run
the entire 1,350 feet to the top.
Mt. Eustis will cater to skiers and
snowboarders of all ages and abilities. Half of the ski trail — which
has a 300 foot vertical drop form
top-to-bottom — will be left ungroomed, Harkless said.
For insurance purposes all skiers
and riders must ﬁll out a liability
waiver, which will be kept on ﬁle.
There will be no ski patrol but volunteers will be trained in basic
medical care. CALEX Ambulance,
located at the Littleton Fire station,
will be available for emergency
medical responses.
Although the ski area does not
have snowmaking, Harkless expects Mt. Eustis will operate for
most of January and February, and
could open earlier or close later depending on the conditions.
“If we had everything in place
we probably could have been open
two weeks ago,” Harkless said.
On Wednesday Harkless oversaw the ﬁnal preparations for reopening. Local plumber Doug
Kilby — one of many people to donate labor — was connecting the
generator to an oil tank.
Many people have given generously to the project, Harkless said.
That includes Home Depot (who
donated the warming hut); Littleton
High School’s building trades instructor Kory Pinard and his students (who built the generator shed
and the warming hut’s porch);
Local businessman Val Poulsen
(who provided hauling and earth
work services and ﬁnancial support); mechanics Mark Champagne
and Henry St. Louis (who inspected
the generator and rope tow motor);
Lincoln Signs (which is donating a
replica of the original ski area sign);
Varney and Smith Co. (which donated lumber); Tender Corp. (which
donated ﬁrst aid supplies); and the
Bretton Woods Ski Area, which
provided a used groomer (at the
cost of one dollar) and loaned the
temporary rope tow.
The Littleton High alpine ski
team, which is expected to use the
hill for training, shoveled the warming hut deck and put up fencing earlier this week.
“It was a total community effort,” Harkless said. “Anywhere I
go and say I’m doing something for
Mt. Eustis, everybody just jumps
forward and helps me.”
While Kilby tended to the generator, other preparations took place.
A lift mechanic prepared the rope
tow for operation, the Porta-Potties
were delivered, and Harkless
tended to the groomer. They represented some of the ﬁnal pieces
coming together.
The days leading up to the reopening have been stressful, Harkless said. The amount of work that
went into the project — the meetings, the fundraising, the promotion
and the actual work on the hill —
was more than he or the other volunteers had anticipated. But he said
the re-opening will be gratifying.
“It will be a giant relief to see the
ﬁrst person go up on that lift, that’s
going to be kind of cool, that’s
going to be a proud moment for
me,” he said.
Saturday’s ribbon cutting ceremony will feature a proclamation
presented by state Sen. Jeff Woodburn.
Organizers are still uncertain
who will take the ﬁrst run down the
hill. They are looking for people
who were involved with the Mt.
Eustis Ski Area, and who used to
ski there, when it previously operated from 1939 to 1970. Those interested can post to the Mt. Eustis
Ski Area’s Facebook page or contact Harkless at Littleton Bike and
Fitness at (603) 444-3437.
CALEDONIAN Black Cyan Magenta Yellow
THE RECORD • THuRSDAY, FEBRuARY 5, 2015
A7
NEW ENGLAND
VERMONT
Settlement Might Pay Average of $4K To Dairy Farmers
By liSa raTHKe
Associated Press
MONTPELIER, Vt. — More than 7,000
Northeast dairy farmers could get an average
of around $4,000 in a proposed settlement with
the cooperative Dairy Farmers of America over
an alleged effort to drive down prices paid to
farmers.
A ﬁnal federal court hearing was held last
week in Vermont on the $50 million proposal
to resolve antitrust allegations.
The 2009 class-action lawsuit charged the
cooperative, its marketing arm Dairy Marketing Services and Dallas-based Dean Foods
with working together to monopolize the market for raw milk in the Northeast.
The lawsuit claimed the cooperative created
an agreement with Dean Foods to source all of
its milk from the cooperative’s farms.
“If you were a small dairy farmer who had
a separate agreement with Dean, you would
have to join DFA/DMS in order to continue
supplying milk. So basically they were using
these full supply agreements in order to consolidate their power and sweep up a bunch of
other dairy farmers,” Vermont Assistant Attorney General Ryan Kriger told the state Senate
Agriculture Committee on Wednesday.
Dean Foods agreed to a separate $30 million
settlement in 2011.
A judge is expected to decide in the coming
REGION
months whether to approve the cooperative’s
settlement, and farmers now have until the end
of May to submit a claim. The settlement covers farmers in Delaware, Connecticut, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New
Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island,
Vermont and Virginia. About $20 million of the
settlement could cover legal expenses.
As part of the deal, the cooperative, which
has not admitted any wrongdoing, may not
enter into any new full supply agreements in
the region for 30 months.
“Although this settlement offer by Defendants DFA/DMS is not perfect in either the
structural relief needed or the monetary compensation to farmers, it is a major step in the
right direction,” former dairy farmer Alice
Allen, of East Ryegate, wrote in a letter to the
court.
Parts of the settlement increase the transparency of the cooperative to farmers but it’s
up to the farmers to pay attention, Kriger said.
The settlement proposes that the cooperative
be audited by a nationally recognized accounting ﬁrm and provide the names and compensation of its board of directors. It also would be
required to post annual ﬁnancial disclosures on
its member website.
“With this case having done what it could to
help, now it must be up to the farmers to use
those tools and work together to improve their
dairy businesses and futures in the dairy industry,” Allen wrote.
Vt. Man Leaves Millions To Library, Hospital
BRATTLEBORO, Vt. (AP) — A Vermont
man who sometimes held his coat together
with safety pins and had a long-time habit of
foraging for ﬁrewood also had a knack for
picking stocks — a talent that became public
after his death when he bequeathed $6 million
to his local library and hospital.
The investments made by Ronald Read, a
former gas station employee and janitor who
died in June at age 92, “grew substantially”
over the years, said his attorney Laurie Rowell.
Read, who was known for his ﬂannel shirt
and baseball cap, gave no hint of the size of his
fortune.
“He was unbelievably frugal,” Rowell said
Wednesday. When Read visited her ofﬁce,
“sometimes he parked so far away so he
wouldn’t have to pay the meter.”
The bequest of $4.8 million to the Brattleboro Memorial Hospital and $1.2 million to the
town’s Brooks Memorial Library were the
largest each institution has ever received. Read
also made a number of smaller bequests.
“It’s pretty incredible. This is not something
that happens on a regular basis,” said the hospital’s development director, Gina Pattison.
In addition to cash, Read had an antique
Edison phonograph with dozens of recording
drums that he left to the Dummerston Historical Society, Rowell said.
“It’s really a beautiful machine,” said the society’s president, Muriel Taylor.
Read was born in the small town of Dummerston in 1921. He was the ﬁrst in his family
to graduate from high school, walking and
hitchhiking about four miles each way from his
home to school in Brattleboro. After military
service during World War II, he returned to
Brattleboro and worked at a service station for
25 years and then 17 years as a janitor at the
local J.C. Penney.
In 1960, he married a woman he met at the
service station. She died in 1970.
Stepson Phillip Brown, of Somersworth,
New Hampshire, told the Brattleboro Reformer he visited Read every few months,
more often as Read’s health declined. The only
indication Brown had of Read’s investments
was his regular reading of the Wall Street Journal.
“I was tremendously surprised,” Brown said
of Read’s hidden wealth. “He was a hard
worker, but I don’t think anybody had an idea
that he was a multi-millionaire.”
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Vermont lawmakers consider
changing election rules
The driver, who was not identiﬁed, didn’t obey several commands to stop. When he reached for something on the seat, the
ofﬁcer twice used a stun device to subdue him.
When police realized he was a diabetic in the midst of a
MONTPELIER, Vt. (AP) — A Vermont Senate committee
is weighing several ideas for an amendment to the state con- medical situation, he was given intravenous treatment and his
stitution that could make it easier to elect a governor and other condition immediately improved. He was not charged.
top ofﬁcials. Ideas presented to the Senate Government OperClaremont chosen for $478K
ations Committee on Wednesday ranged from instant-runoff
grant for sidewalks, rail trail
voting to leaving the current system alone.
Currently, the Vermont Constitution says governors, lieuCLAREMONT, N.H. (AP) — The city of Claremont has
tenant governors and treasurers must get more than 50 percent been chosen to receive a grant of nearly $478,000 from the
of the vote to be elected or the election goes to the legislature. New Hampshire Transportation Department to improve sideThat came into play this year when the legislature had to re- walks and upgrade a rail trail for pedestrians and bicyclists.
elect Gov. Peter Shumlin who failed to win an outright majorThe Eagle Times reports ﬁnal approval for the grant would
ity in November.
come from the Executive Council. The city would be responsible for nearly $120,000 in matching funds.
Vermont bill would ban jilted
The Transportation Department expects the project to begin
lovers posting ‘revenge porn’
this summer.
City ofﬁcials say the Neighborhood Connectivity and Rail
MONTPELIER, Vt. (AP) — Vermont legislators are weighing a bill that would make it a felony to post so-called “revenge Trail Improvement Project will upgrade East Street between
porn” on the Internet. That’s when someone harasses a former Pleasant and Broad streets, which currently has no sidewalk,
intimate partner by posting explicit pictures or videos the ex- and will extend the length of the street.
The Bobby Woodman rail trail portion will include new surlover thought would remain private.
Rep. Kesha Ram says she’s been contacted by women in face materials as well as an improved trail head and safety imthe Burlington area who say they’ve been the victims of such provements.
postings.
Mitt Romney to speak at New
The legislation follows the conviction of a California man
Hampshire college graduation
who ran a website devoted to revenge porn and charged fees
to people who wanted him to take down material depicting
MANCHESTER, N.H. (AP) — Mitt Romney, who recently
them.
toyed with a third run for president before dropping out, will
Allen Gilbert, chief of the Vermont ofﬁce of the American deliver the 2015 commencement address at Saint Anselm ColCivil Liberties Union, says his group has concerns about the lege in Manchester, New Hampshire.
measure. He says criminalizing expressive conduct may vioRomney was the Republican party nominee in 2012, losing
late the First Amendment.
to President Barack Obama. He also ran for the nomination in
2008 but lost to John McCain.
Vermont seeking proposals
The former Massachusetts governor vowed after 2012 that
for broadband expansion
he was done with presidential politics then surprised the poMONTPELIER, Vt. (AP) — The Vermont Department of litical establishment in January when he told supporters he was
Public Service is seeking proposals to provide broadband In- considering another run. He announced last week he would
ternet service to 1,700 remote, underserved parts of the state. not take another shot.
Romney, who has a home in New Hampshire, will speak at
The request for proposal that’s part of the Connectivity Initiative passed last year, will provide $963,500 in grants to help Saint Anselm on May 17. The liberal arts college hosts the
“Politics & Eggs” series of forums for potential presidential
Internet service providers expand service to those areas.
The lowest acceptable speed for funding under the proposal candidates, political analysts and commentators.
is 10 megabits-per-second download and 1 megabit upload.
Lawyer challenges DMV rule
Public Service Commissioner Christopher Recchia says the
on blood-alcohol content
goal is to increase the speed and quality of broadband service
in Vermont’s hardest-to-reach areas. He says any technology
BRENTWOOD, N.H. (AP) — The lawyer for a teenager
will be accepted as long as it meets the minimum service char- indicted on charges he had been drinking and smoking mariacteristics. The state of Vermont is working to ensure that juana after striking two women last year in Hampton Beach is
everyone in the state has high speed Internet access.
challenging a rule that allows the state to round up his bloodalcohol content.
In diabetic episode, 78-year-old
Remi Gross-Santos was 18 when he was charged with secdriver shocked by police
ond-degree assault and driving under the inﬂuence of drugs or
PORTSMOUTH, N.H. (AP) — Police in New Hampshire alcohol. The accident happened in June.
WMUR-TV reports (http://bit.ly/16m4VTh) test results prosay an ofﬁcer feared he was in danger when he twice shocked
a 78-year-old man who, while suffering from low blood sugar, vided by the state show Gross-Santos’ blood-alcohol content
was .017. An administrative rule allows the Division of Motor
had crashed into several cars and refused orders to stop.
The incident unfolded Sunday morning in a parking lot in Vehicles to round that up to .02, reaching the threshold necesPortsmouth when the man crashed into parked cars. The sary to suspend his license. DMV ofﬁcials have said while the
Portsmouth Herald reports that when an ofﬁcer tried to stop logic of the argument is clear, “the applicable law requires a
him, he kept driving, hit another vehicle then backed into the different ﬁnding.” Defense lawyer Andrew Cotrupi is arguing
for a change.
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Black Cyan Magenta Yellow
CALEDONIAN Black Cyan Magenta Yellow
A8
THE RECORD • THuRSDAY, FEBRuARY 5, 2015
Black Cyan Magenta Yellow
CALEDONIAN Black Cyan Magenta Yellow
A9
By Dave Green
Tundra
Zits
Fred Basset
Find The Jumble Game
in Classifieds,
page B8.
9
8
Hagar The Horrible
6
5
3
9
1
2
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8
7
9
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2/04
Difficulty Level
ScrabbleGrams Directions: Make a 2to 7-letter word from the letters in each row.
Add points of each word, using scoring directions at right. Finally, 7-letter words get 50point bonus. “Blanks” used as any letter have
no point value. All the words are in the Official
SCRABBLE® Players Dictionary, 4th Edition.
Peanuts
SOLUTIONS TOMORROW
THURSDAY FEB. 5
TELEVISION
5:30
6 PM
6:30
7 PM
7:30
8 PM
8:30
9 PM
TELEVISION
9:30 10 PM 10:30 11 PM 11:30 12 AM
Network Channels
Grey’s Anatomy (N) Scandal “Where’s the How to Get Away
Local 22 Inside
Local 22 (:35) Jimmy Kimmel
ABC People’s Local 22 World
News (N) Edition
News (N) News
With Murder (N) ’
Black Lady?” (N)
News (N) Live ’ Å
’Å
WVNY Court
Away-Murder
News
ABC
Chronicle Inside
Grey’s Anatomy (N) Scandal (N) Å
News
Jimmy Kimmel Live
WMUR News
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News
ment
Theory
(N) Å
Half Men thys
lock” (N) ’ Å
News
vid Letterman (N)
WCAX
News
CBS
Ent
Insider
Big Bang (:31) Mom Two Men McCar
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News
Letterman
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NBC 5:30 Now! News
Fortune arrested. Å
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News
Nightcast Fallon
ries Premiere) (N)
(Part 2 of 2) Å
WNNE (N)
News
News
207
Inside
The Blacklist Å
The Blacklist (N)
Allegiance “Pilot”
News
Tonight Show
WCSH News
Backstrom “Takes
Fox 44
Fox 44
Two and Family
American
FOX Two and Modern Modern Big Bang Big Bang American Idol The
Family
Theory
Theory
singers perform. (N) One to Know One”
News
News
Half Men Guy ’
Dad ’
FOX 44 Half Men Family
PBS NewsHour (N) Boston
Steves
British Baking
Language Matters With Bob Holman ’
Charlie Rose (N) ’ Business
NH PBS News
PBS NewsHour (N) Super Skyscrapers Inside Claridge’s
Masterpiece Classic Secret Service
Business Charlie Rose (N) ’
VT PBS News
Rick Mer- 22 MinCBC
Murdoch Mysteries Corona- The Nature of Things Doc Zone Search and The National (N) ’ Å CBC
CBC CBC
cer
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News
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CBMT News
Cable Channels
(:00) The Nightwatch “Those The First 48 ’ Å
The First 48 “Cold
The First 48 (N) ’ Å (:01) Nightwatch “Of- (:02) Nightwatch
The First
A&E First 48 We Rely On” Å
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ficer Down” (N)
48 Å
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(:00) ››› “Casino Royale” (2006, Action) Daniel Craig, ››‡ “Young Guns” (1988, Western) Emilio Estevez,
››‡ “Young Guns II” (1990, Western) Emilio
AMC Eva Green, Mads Mikkelsen. Å
Kiefer Sutherland. Å
Estevez. Å
Wild West Alaska
Alaska: Battle
Wild West Alaska
Alaska
APL To Be Announced
Manzo’d The Millionaire
The Millionaire
The Millionaire
The Millionaire
The Millionaire
What
The Millionaire
BRAVO With
Matchmaker ’
Matchmaker ’
Matchmaker ’
Matchmaker ’
Matchmaker (N) ’
Happens Matchmaker ’
American Greed
Shark Tank Å
American Greed
American Greed (N) American Greed
Greed
CNBC Fast Mny Mad Money (N)
E. B. OutFront
Anderson Cooper
Inside Man
CNN Tonight
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Inside
CNN (:00) The Situation Room (N)
Daily
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Work.
Work.
Tosh.0
Tosh.0
Tosh.0
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COM Futurama Nightly
Sports
Early
Tailgate Patriots Patriots Quick
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Sports
Sports
Check
Sports
Sports
CSNE Felger
To Be Announced
DISC To Be Announced
Liv-Mad. Liv-Mad. K.C.
Jessie
›››‡ “Cars” (2006) ’ ‘G’ Å
Austin
Jessie
I Didn’t
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DISN Jessie
Mighty
StarLab Rats Kirby
The 7D
Gravity
Lab Rats StarWander- Wander- Kirby
Kirby
Kirby
Kirby
DISXD Med
Rebels
Buckets
Falls
(N)
Rebels
Yonder
Yonder
Buckets Buckets Buckets Buckets
“He’s Just Not That Into You” E! News (N)
Lance Loves Michael:
Lance Loves Michael:
E! News (N)
Ghost
E!
SportsCenter (N)
College Basketball Teams TBA. (N) (Live) College Basketball Teams TBA. (N) Å
SportsCenter (N)
SportCtr
ESPN Pardon
College Basketball Teams TBA. (N) (Live) College Basketball Teams TBA. (N) (Live) Basket
Dream
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ESPN2 Outside Around Pardon
Boy...
›› “The Wedding Date” (2005)
››› “Grease” (1978) John Travolta.
The 700 Club Å
Gilmore
FAM Boy...
Greta Van Susteren The O’Reilly Factor The Kelly File (N)
Hannity (N)
The O’Reilly Factor Kelly File
FOXNWS The Five Special Report
Pregame NASCAR Race Hub NFL
NFL
UFC Main Event
UFC Fight Night Gustafsson vs. Johnson.
College Basketball
FS1
Two and ›› “Taken 2” (2012, Action) Liam Neeson, ›‡ “Grown Ups” (2010, Comedy) Adam
Archer (N) Archer
Archer
›‡ “Grown Ups”
FX
Half Men Maggie Grace, Famke Janssen.
Sandler, Kevin James.
(2010)
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“A Novel Romance” (2015) Amy Acker.
Valentine
HALL Backyard “Perfect on Paper” (2014) Drew Fuller
Pawn
Pawn
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Pawn
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Project Runway
Project Runway
Project Runway
Project Runway All Stars (N)
(:32) Project Runway All Stars All Stars
LIFE Wife
Hardball Matthews All In With Chris
Rachel Maddow
The Last Word
All In With Chris
Maddow
MSNBC Ed Show PoliticsNation (N)
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Ridic.
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Ridic.
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Fantasy Fantasy Fantasy Ridic.
Broke
Fantasy Ridic.
MTV Ridic.
NHL Live NHL Hockey: Red Wings at Avalanche
NHL
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››‡ “The Expendables 2” (2012) ’
›‡ “The Condemned” (2007, Action) ’
SPIKE (:00) ›‡ “The Condemned”
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TCM Sinatra, Dean Martin. Å
(1938) Errol Flynn.
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NBA Tip-Off (N)
NBA Basketball: Clippers at Cavaliers
NBA Basketball: Suns at Trail Blazers
TNT Castle ’ Castle ’
Teen
Steven
Adven
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Cleve
American American Fam. Guy Fam. Guy Chicken
TOON Uncle
Bizarre Foods
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TRUTV Funniest truTV Top Funniest Jokers
Walker, Tex. Ranger Walker, Tex. Ranger FamFeud FamFeud Raymond Raymond King
King
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Friends
TVLAND Walker
Law & Order: SVU
Law & Order: SVU
Law & Order: SVU
Law & Order: SVU
Mod Fam Mod Fam Mod Fam
USA Law-SVU Law & Order: SVU
Black Ink Crew ’
CrazySexyCool: The TLC Story ’
››› “Menace II Society” ’
VH1 Hip Hop Black Ink Crew ’
Black Cyan Magenta Yellow
5
6
7
4
3
Difficulty Level
1
7 2
9
1 4
2
6
2015 Conceptis Puzzles, Dist. by King Features Syndicate, Inc.
Garﬁeld
Sudoku Directions: Sudoku puzzles are
formatted as a 9x9 grid, broken down into
nine 3x3 boxes. To solve a sudoku, the numbers 1 through 9 must fill each row, column
and box. Each number can appear only once
in each row, column and box. You can figure
out the order in which the numbers will appear
by using the numeric clues already provided in
the boxes. The more numbers you name, the
easier it gets to solve the puzzle!
3
6
3 5
6
8 9
Sudoku And ScrabbleGram Solutions
From Wednesday, February, 4
1
4
8
7
3
5
9
6
2
5
9
7
4
2/05
2015 Conceptis Puzzles, Dist. by King Features Syndicate, Inc.
Blondie
Buckles
Shoe
Baby Blues
THE RECORD • THuRSDAY, FEBRuARY 5, 2015
CALEDONIAN Black Cyan Magenta Yellow
A10
THE RECORD • THuRSDAY, FEBRuARY 5, 2015
NATION & WORLD
Obama budget’s claim of $1.8 trillion
in deﬁcit cuts open to question
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama’s budget is relying on
a series of familiar accounting tricks to show $1.8 trillion in deﬁcit reduction
over a decade, an amount that would shrink by almost half if they were excluded.
But so-called “pay-go” rules ofﬁcially require tax cuts and new spending
on the mandatory side of the ledger to be balanced by new revenues or spending cuts elsewhere. Mandatory spending, like fees that Medicare pays to doctors, runs on autopilot.
The accounting steps essentially inﬂate the White House’s “baseline” predictions of future deﬁcits. Then the White House claims greater deﬁcit savings than it otherwise could if it played by the budget rules followed by the
Congressional Budget Ofﬁce, whose estimates lawmakers have to follow.
That’s according to a study by the budget sleuths at a Washington think
tank called the Committee For a Responsible Federal Budget, a businessfunded group that advocates cutting deﬁcits.
Rescuers hoist crashed Taiwanese plane from
river to search for missing; at least 26 dead
TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — Rescuers used a crane to hoist the fuselage of a
wrecked TransAsia Airways plane from a shallow river in Taiwan’s capital
late Wednesday as they searched into the night for 17 people missing in a
crash that killed at least 26 others.
Flight 235 with 58 people aboard — most of them travelers from China
— banked sharply on its side shortly after takeoff from Taipei, clipped a highway bridge and then careened into the Keelung River.
Rescuers in rubber rafts pulled 15 people alive from the wreckage during
daylight. After dark, they brought in the crane, and the death toll was expected
to rise once crews were able to search through submerged portions of the
fuselage, which came to rest a few dozen meters (yards) from the shore.
Dramatic video clips apparently taken from cars were posted online and
aired by broadcasters, showing the ATR 72 propjet as it pivoted onto its side
while zooming toward a trafﬁc bridge over the river. In one of them, the plane
rapidly ﬁlls the frame as its now-vertical wing scrapes over the road, hitting
a vehicle before heading into the river.
Speculation cited in local media said the crew may have turned sharply to
follow the line of the river to avoid crashing into a high-rise residential area,
but Taiwan’s aviation authority said it had no evidence of that.
Video of Islamic State burning Jordanian pilot
to death unleashes anger, grief in Mideast
CAIRO (AP) — The horriﬁc fate of a captured Jordanian pilot, burned to
death by the Islamic State group, unleashed a wave of grief and rage on
Wednesday across the Middle East, a region long riven by upheavals and violence. Political and religious leaders united in outrage and condemnation,
saying the slaying of the airman goes against Islam’s teachings.
The gruesome militant video of the last moments in the life of 26-yearold Lt. Muath Al-Kaseasbeh, whose F-16 crashed in Syria in December during a U.S.-led coalition raid on the extremist group, crossed a line — beyond
the beheadings of Western hostages at the hands of Islamic State extremists.
From the world’s most prestigious seat of Sunni Islam learning, Cairo’s
Al-Azhar Mosque, Grand Imam Ahmed al-Tayeb said the IS militants deserve the Quranic punishment of death, cruciﬁxion or the chopping off of
WORLD BRIEFS
their arms for being enemies of God and the Prophet Muhammad.
“Islam prohibits the taking of an innocent life,” al-Tayeb said. By burning
the pilot to death, he added, the militants violated Islam’s prohibition on the
immolation or mutilation of bodies — even during wartime.
Under many Mideast legal systems, capital punishment is usually carried
out by hanging. In Iran and Pakistan, stoning to death as punishment for adultery exists in the penal code but is rarely used. Beheadings are routinely carried out in Saudi Arabia, and Gaza’s militant Hamas rulers have on occasion
publicly shot to death Palestinians suspected of spying for Israel.
Disneyland measles outbreak is far smaller than
infections that raged in Ohio Amish country
LOS ANGELES (AP) — The largest U.S. measles outbreak in recent history isn’t the one that started in December at Disneyland. It happened months
earlier in Ohio’s Amish country, where 383 people fell ill after unvaccinated
Amish missionaries traveled to the Philippines and returned with the virus.
The Ohio episode drew far less attention, even though the number of cases
was almost four times that of the Southern California outbreak, because it
seemed to pose little threat outside close-knit religious communities.
The Disneyland outbreak has already spread well beyond the theme parks
that attract tens of thousands of visitors from around the globe, who could
then return home with the virus. Disease investigators for weeks raced to
identify measles-stricken patients, track down potential contacts and quarantine them if necessary.
Public health experts say success at containing the outbreak will largely
depend on how many unvaccinated people get the measles shot.
“This was a wake-up call,” said Dr. James Cherry, a pediatric infectious
disease expert at the University of California, Los Angeles. “It could continue
to smolder” if not enough people get vaccinated.
Jordan says IS can be defeated; Mideast
revulsion over video of pilot’s death by burning
AMMAN, Jordan (AP) — Jordan called Wednesday for a decisive battle
against the Islamic State group, declaring “this evil can and should be defeated,” after the militants burned a Jordanian pilot to death in a cage and
gleefully broadcast the horriﬁc images on outdoor screens in their stronghold.
Waves of revulsion over the killing washed across the Middle East, a region long accustomed to violence. In mosques, streets and coffee shops, Muslims denounced the militants’ brutality and distanced themselves from their
violent version of Islam.
Even a prominent preacher with close links to jihadi groups said Islamic
State militants miscalculated if they hoped the images of the pilot’s agony
would galvanize greater opposition to a U.S.-led military coalition that has
been bombing targets of the group.
“After millions of Muslims were cursing every pilot (in the coalition), with
this act, they (IS) have made the burned one into a symbol,” Abdullah alMuhaysni, a Saudi sheik, wrote on his Twitter account.
The Islamic State group, which controls large areas of Iraq and Syria, has
killed captives in the past, posting videos of beheadings and sparking wide-
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spread condemnation. However, the killing of Lt. Muath al-Kaseasbeh, who
crashed over Syria in December, also highlighted the vulnerability of Jordan,
a key Western ally in the region, to threats from extremists.
From Australia to Wisconsin, Westerners join
Kurds to battle Islamic State group in Iraq
SINJAR, Iraq (AP) — As Kurdish ﬁghters gathered around a ﬁre in this
damp, frigid mountain town in northwestern Iraq, exhausted from battling
the Islamic State group, a surprising recruit wearing a tactical vest with the
words “Christ is Lord” scribbled on it joined them.
The ﬁghter, with a sniper riﬂe slung over his shoulder and a Rambo-styled
bandanna around his head, is 28-year-old Jordan Matson from Sturtevant,
Wisconsin, a former U.S. Army soldier who joined the Kurds to ﬁght the extremist group now holding a third of Iraq and neighboring Syria.
“I’m not going back until the ﬁght is ﬁnished and ISIS is crippled,” Matson
told The Associated Press, using an alternate acronym for the militant group.
“I decided that if my government wasn’t going to do anything to help this
country, especially Kurdish people who stood by us for 10 years and helped
us out while we were in this country, then I was going to do something.”
Matson and dozens of other Westerners now ﬁght with the Kurds, spurred
on by Kurdish social media campaigners and a sense of duty rooted in the
2003-2011 U.S.-led military intervention in Iraq. And while the U.S. and its
coalition allies bomb the extremists from the air, Kurds say they hope more
Westerners will join them on the ground to ﬁght.
Foreigners joining other people’s wars is nothing new, from the French
Foreign Legion to the International Brigades of the Spanish Civil War. The
Kurds, however, have turned to the Internet to ﬁnd warriors, creating a Facebook page called “The Lions of Rojava” with the stated aim being to send
“terrorists to hell and save humanity.” The page also frequently features portraits of smiling, beautiful and heavily armed Kurdish female commanders
and ﬁghters.
In Harper Lee’s hometown, ‘Mockingbird’ sequel
buzz tamped by worries about her health, wishes
MONROEVILLE, Ala. (AP) — Hometown friends and fans of “To Kill
A Mockingbird” author Harper Lee are struggling to reconcile a publisher’s
sensational announcement — that her decades-old manuscript for a sequel
had been rediscovered and will be released — with the image of the elderly
writer at her sister’s recent funeral.
Grieving, ill and seated in a wheelchair, Lee talked loudly to herself at
awkward times during the service for her beloved older sister and attorney,
Alice, according to two family friends who attended the November service.
Lee mumbled in a manner that shocked some in attendance, said one of the
friends.
Both spoke on condition that they not be identiﬁed — one for fear of upsetting those handling the author’s affairs, the other not wanting to upset the
family.
That scene seemed at odds with Tuesday’s announcement by an arm of
HarperCollins Publishers that included an eloquent statement attributed to
Lee, 88, who spends her days in an assisted living center not far from where
she grew up in this south Alabama town, the inspiration for “Mockingbird.”
The publisher said Tonja Carter, an attorney who practiced with Alice Lee,
found an unpublished manuscript titled “Go Set a Watchman,” and that it
will be released in July as a sequel to the beloved novel.
“I am humbled and amazed that this will now be published after all these
years,” Lee was quoted as saying.