By Marguerite Jill Dye On the occasion of your 145th day in office, President Trump, and my 45th column in the Mountain Times, I humbly offer Trump and his party leadership this letter which was inspired by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn’s “Letter to the Soviet Leaders” nearly 45 years ago on Sept. 5, 1973. When Solzhenitsyn was…

By Brett Yates Why do celebrities ever apologize for anything? What does it do, exactly? Does it ever change anyone’s mind about whatever’s happened? When it comes to people whom we don’t know in real life, explanations are probably more appropriate than apologies. Regret and sympathy, contrition and forgiveness—these are the acts and emotions of…

By Brady Crain As always, summer seems to have popped open overnight, and I am always blown away by it.  One of the things I miss most living in Killington versus other more residential towns is magnolia, lilac, cherry, and crabapple trees (even rhododendron, azalea, and forsythia).  There are a few flowering trees around, and…

By Kevin Theissen U.S. markets Shaking off political turbulence in Washington, stocks climbed higher in May amid the strongest corporate earnings growth in years. The Dow Jones Industrial Average picked up 0.33 percent, the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index gained 1.16 percent and the NASDAQ Composite added 2.50 percent, according to the The Wall Street…

By DJ Dave Hoffenberg Ties are meant for the office, not for softball. But for Clearly Moguls and the Wobbly Barn, they apparently are. This was set up as a David vs. Goliath match-up, with the win-less Wobbly taking on the defending champion Clearly Moguls. This is why the games are played: no game is…

By Evan Johnson Mountain bike season took a flying jump into summer this weekend as a swarm of mountain bikers took to the trails at Killington Resort in the first-ever Bike ‘n’ Brew, a celebration of local mountain bike trails and the culture riders enjoy. The weekend-long event included a full lineup of entertainment and…

WOODSTOCK— Dozens of students were recognized at the awards presenttion upon graduation from  Woodtock High School. Those that earned Summa cum laude for the Class of 2017 included: Jonas Kantola (Valedictorian), Spruce Bohen (Salutatorian), Patrick Bald, Erika Gebhardt, Anna Dieffenbach, Rosalie Geiger Lily Doton, Jenna Majeski, Jason Drebber, Rose O’Brien, Sarah Findeisen, Kyle Rasmussen. Scholarship…

Loons were removed from Vermont’s endangered species list in 2005 following decades of recovery effort. But one of the main threats still facing loons as they continue to recover is human disturbance during the breeding season. As Vermont’s loon population continues to increase and canoeing and kayaking becomes more popular, there is greater potential for…

Sullivan temporarily out of jail After serving two years in jail, convicted in the hit-and-run death of Mary Jane Outslay, Christopher Sullivan is out, for now. His wife wrote a $50,000 check, Gordon Dritschilo reported in the Rutland Herald. Sullivan was represented by a public defender, based on his claim that he had no home…

ARSU looks to merger Addison-Rutland Supervisory Union Superintendent Ron Ryan met with the School Board May 24, discussing the changes that will take place as the supervisory union becomes the Slate Valley Unified Union district in July 2018. The new board will contain 18 members, with Orwell’s three board members voting only on matters that…

On June 7, Okemo Valley Golf Club Ladies’ League played their second week under beautiful blue skies with temperatures in the upper 60s. The six-team field played a “Toss It Out” format. It was a two-team race to the finish with Stryhas Builders prevailing with a 109 total, just two better than the 111 total…

MOUNT HOLLY—Police are looking for information regarding a fire that was set at a Mount Holly residence last week. On Tuesday, June 6, at 11:00 a.m. a 911 caller reported a fire at 9 Johnson Lane in Mount Holly. Initial reports and witnesses placed the fire in the second storey of the building. Upon arrival…

PITTSFORD—A New York man was scheduled to appear in court last week after being arrested in possession of nearly an ounce of crack cocaine. According to a news release from the Vermont State Police, in the mid-evening of June 8 troopers from the state police barracks in Rutland stopped a motor vehicle in Pittsford. One…

By Stephen Seitz CHESTER—Police in Chester and Ludlow are investigating what may be a series of sexual assaults in those towns, allegedly by a high school student at Green Mountain Union High School. Asked about this, Ludlow police chief Jeffrey Billings said, “I can’t comment on an ongoing investigation.” During the public comment period at…

Fisheries staff from Vermont Fish & Wildlife received a pleasant surprise recently while completing survey work on Lake Champlain in the form of a 48-year-old lake sturgeon that biologists first studied and tagged nearly two decades ago. “We first saw this fish in 1998 when it was roughly 29 years old,” said Chet MacKenzie, fisheries…