St. James Episcopal Church of Woodstock has called the Reverend Amy Spagna as its new full-time rector. Spagna is a priest from the Episcopal Diocese of Virginia.  She has served at Christ Church in Westerly, Rhode Island and Trinity Episcopal Church in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. Spagna received a Master of Sacred Theology from The School of…

By Virginia Dean The 45 members of Woodstock’s Change the World Kids (CTWK) are taking Swedish teenage environmental activist Greta Thunberg’s warning on climate change seriously by galvanizing for more action to combat the impact of global warming. “I want you to act as if you would in a crisis,” Thunberg said to world leaders…

By Ed Larson The only Vermont button club is celebrating a 40th anniversary this year, coinciding with National Button Day on Nov. 16. The Verd Mont Button Club in Rutland  is comprised of approximately 25 members who meet monthly for eight months of the year.  During the four coldest months they peruse, clean, mount and…

The Vermont Fish and Wildlife Department is asking hunters for help in a statewide initiative to gather more biological data on the state’s deer population.  Hunters who get a deer during the Nov.16 to Dec. 1 rifle season are asked to provide an incisor tooth from their deer when they go to a reporting station.…

Hunters urged to wear orange Vermont Fish and Wildlife is reminding hunters to wear fluorescent hunter orange. “Hunting is one of the safest outdoor activities, and it’s getting safer thanks to advances in education as well as science,” said Nicole Meier, Vermont Fish and Wildlife information and education specialist.  “Our volunteer hunter education instructors stress…

By Christopher Ross/Addison Independent Editor’s note: This story is second in a series. The first, “Bear-hunting hounds attack hikers and pup,” was published in the Mountain Times, Nov. 6. Members of the bear-hound hunting community, along with state officials, have expressed shock over an Oct. 19 incident on the Catamount Trail in Ripton, in which…

Staff report Police are investigating a car that was found submerged in Sutherland Falls Nov. 4. Rutland County Sheriff Stephen Benard said a couple of kids found the Chevrolet Prizm in the river and reported it to the Proctor librarian. The librarian then called police around 4 p.m. on Nov. 4. “We were able to…

By Ed Larson Rutland Mayor David Allaire said that one of the first things he removed from the proposed fiscal year 2020/2021 budget was a request from the Rutland city fire chief for a new employee.  The fire chief had requested a full-time emergency management director.  Allaire stated that the estimated cost for the position…

Staff report The Killington Planning Commission is holding a public hearing on proposed short-term rental zoning bylaw amendments at the town offices on Wednesday, Nov. 20  at 7:30 p.m. Short-term rentals are defined as those rented for fewer than 30 consecutive days and no more than 14 days per calendar year. The proposed amendments would…

‘He cared more about other people’ By Katy Savage Fred Coriell, the beloved owner of the Peak Performance Ski Shop in Killington who had a passion for developing youth interest in ski racing, died Saturday after a battle with cancer. He was 67. Coriell was diagnosed with stage IV cancer in November 2018, but he…

By Karen D. Lorentz In response to a “nice to see men here” comment,” a male responded, “We have daughters.” It was an encouraging observation as the first Northeastern POWDER event focused on encouraging women to be brave in building a career in the ski industry. POWDER is an acronym for Providing Opportunity for Women…

Killington Resort, which opened for the season Nov. 3, received 8 inches of snow in the past week and has 10 open trails, including a top-to-bottom skiing route from the Killington peak down to the to the K-1 Express Gondola via Great Northern, Middle Chute and Lower Bunny Buster. There are also 12 new features…

By Steve Costello Saying she owed her life to doctors, nurses, and countless anonymous blood donors, Rutland resident Stefanie Schaffer is giving back, serving as ambassador for the 2019 Gift-of-Life Marathon Blood Drive (GOLM) – and urging blood donations. Speaking at the Rutland Region Chamber of Commerce annual meeting, where the theme was strength and…

By Christopher Ross/Addison Independent RIPTON — On Saturday, Oct. 19, around midday, a pack of bear-hunting dogs attacked two hikers and their puppy on the Catamount Trail in the Green Mountain National Forest near the Ripton-Goshen border. Former Ripton resident Meryl Siegman, 65, and her husband, Ron Scapp, 64, who have been hiking in the…

By Virginia Dean Rutland High School graduate Andrew Michael Tarr from the class of 1986 has always been involved in music and drama in some way but now likes to call himself a “multi-hyphenate” because of the myriad venues in which he has found himself since leaving the Rutland Raiders. One of those avenues includes…