Former Woodstock Police Chief Joe Swanson has agreed to drop his unlawful demotion lawsuit against the village and top officials if two of them resign their municipal posts.

The proposed settlement was made after a state judge ruled that a preliminary injunction would remain in place blocking Woodstock from naming a permanent replacement for Swanson as police chief, his lawyer Linda Fraas said.

As of late Tuesday afternoon, Fraas said the village had not responded to the week-old offer to terminate the lawsuit and save Woodstock taxpayers the continued ongoing legal expenses. The deadline for the village to respond was by the close of business Wednesday after the Standard went to press, she said.

Under the proposed settlement, municipal manager Eric Duffy and village trustee chair Seton McIlroy would need to resign and Swanson would be returned to his former job as police chief of Woodstock.

Swanson has two legal proceedings in Vermont Superior Court against the village. One is the appeal of his demotion and the other is a $5 million unlawful discharge civil lawsuit mostly against Duffy, the five village trustees — McIlroy as chair, Jeffrey Kahn as vice chair, and Brenda Blakeman, Frank Horneck and Lisa Lawlor, and both the Village and Town of Woodstock.

Duffy ordered the demotion of Swanson earlier this year and the village trustees conducted a 14½ hour marathon hearing March 19. A month later, the trustees announced they were upholding the demotion 5-0. 

For more on this, please see our August 21 edition of the Vermont Standard. 

Cell phones will no longer be omnipresent in the hands of students at Woodstock Union High School and Middle School (WUHS/MS) in the coming school year, which gets underway across the Mountain Views Supervisory Union (MVSU) district next Wednesday, Aug. 27.

Following extensive discussions among administrators, families, students and community members, WUHS/MS Principal Aaron Cinquemani in early May proactively implemented restrictions on the usage of smartphones and other digital communications devices, such as smart watches, by middle and high school students during the school day, effective with the start of the new 2025-26 academic year. Cinquemani’s action was prescient, given that Vermont lawmakers enacted legislation in a special session in early June that banned cellphones in public school classrooms. The legislation also included a first-of-its-kind-in-the-nation ban on schools using social media to communicate with students.

The cell phone ban and the implications of Act 73, Vermont’s newly enacted education transformation legislation, will be hot-button issues for MVSU administrators, teachers, students, and families during the upcoming 2025-26 school year. Other priorities on the agenda for the regional supervisory union include an in-depth investigation of the use of artificial intelligence (AI) platforms at WUHS/MS, as well as traffic safety enhancement at the middle and high school site in West Woodstock and the recruitment of a new principal for the Reading Elementary School.

The MVSU Board of Directors includes elected representatives from Barnard, Bridgewater, Killington, Plymouth, Pomfret, Reading, and Woodstock, and also includes an appointed representative of the Pittsfield School Board. Superintendent of Schools Sherry Sousa sat down with the Standard via Zoom on Friday afternoon for a look-ahead at the 2025-26 school year.

For more on this, please see our August 21 edition of the Vermont Standard. 

The neighboring town of Pomfret was the beneficiary of two decisions by the Woodstock Selectboard at its regular scheduled meeting on Tuesday evening.

In the first of two unanimous votes, the selectboard approved for the third consecutive year a joint traffic management plan for Cloudland Road in Pomfret and Woodstock during foliage season.

Driven by social media on Instagram and other sites, foliage season traffic in the areas of both Cloudland Road and Barber Hill Roads during foliage season has increased significantly in recent years as tourists have endeavored to take fall foliage snapshots and selfies at Sleepy Hollow Farm, widely regarded as the most photographed location in Vermont each autumn.

The 2025 pact for foliage season between the two towns essentially mirrors the agreements of the past two years, except for a truncated timeline during which the plan will be in effect this year. The plan will take effect on Saturday, Oct. 4, and continue through Sunday, Oct. 19 — a period about one week shorter than in previous years. All of the portion of Cloudland Road in Woodstock will once again be closed to all motor vehicle traffic this year.

In a second action on Monday evening, the Woodstock Selectboard approved an annual ambulance contract with Pomfret that contained only one minor revision. At the request of Pomfret Selectboard chair Ben Brickner, on behalf of that town, a portion of ambulance service in the northeastern portion of Woodstock’s neighboring town will be ceded to the fire and rescue service in Hartford.

“Pomfret has been eyeing Hartford as the first responder in the northeast section of town for a few years now,” Brickner told the Woodstock board members. “It’s where the response time is faster out of Hartford’s newly upgraded Quechee station, and we’re just very grateful that Woodstock is considering this for us so that we can make sure that we can optimize the response time for emergency services for North Pomfret residents.”

The acting Woodstock Police Chief was captured on video getting his hair cut while working last week — one of the complaints that led to the recent removal of former police chief Joe Swanson.

The video and still photographs of Acting Police Chief Chris O’Keeffe are circulating on social media, including on the Facebook account of Woodstock lawyer Nicholas Seldon, Swanson’s husband.

O’Keeffe was getting his haircut at First Impressions Salon and Spa, which is owned by Brenda Blakeman, one of the village trustees that voted 5-0 to approve Swanson’s demotion in April.

Swanson had come under fire for his management style, including a messy office, non-matching socks, and for going to Hartford to get his hair cut, possibly on village time.

The video could soon become an exhibit in the two legal actions Swanson has filed in Vermont Superior Court over his demotion. 

For more on this, please see our August 21 edition of the Vermont Standard. 

The Woodstock Elementary School and Prosper Valley School’s Parent Teacher Organization (PTO) will be taking over the responsibility of collecting and distributing trick-or-treat candy for Woodstock’s Village Halloween festivities this year. 

A responsibility that previously lay with the Woodstock Village Board of Trustees will now fall to the PTO. Using the $1,500 set aside by the Woodstock Selectboard and Trustees ($750 each), the PTO will purchase and collect candy. 

Holly Gaspar of the PTO, who is spearheading this initiative, spoke to the Standard about why the PTO felt the need to volunteer their services in this matter. She said, “The PTO is often thought of as supporting school-based activities — book fairs, teacher appreciation events — that which exists within the confines of the school. We are trying to expand the reach of the PTO to extend into our town. We want our kids to see an authentic and proud connection between their school and their village. Since we are parents of the children taking advantage of the safe and wonderful Halloween night in Woodstock, it makes sense for the PTO to take ownership of the candy distribution this year.” 

Each Halloween, Woodstock Village closes off Maple and High Street, provides candy for the homes on those streets, and offers not only the children of Woodstock, but the neighboring towns, a safe place for kids to trick-or-treat. Chair of the Woodstock Village Board of Trustees, Seton Mcllroy, told the Standard, “It is important for us to have a space our kids can go after dark and be safe. It would be so easy for children to wander onto Route 4 in the dark during Halloween. However, by blocking off certain streets and establishing a perimeter for kids to explore and experience the fun of trick-or-treat, children are able to roam around while parents remain calm, knowing their children are safe. This is such an important component to our town, which is why the trustees have not minded handling the collection and distribution of candy in years past. It does, however, require a lot of dedication and manpower. It is wonderful the superstars of the PTO agreed to take over this responsibility. With them, we feel another fun and safe Halloween will be held in the village.” 

For more on this, please see our August 21 edition of the Vermont Standard. 

Ten exceptional teenagers from around the world are hoping to spend the academic year in Vermont schools, but they’re running out of time. Each student has earned a coveted scholarship that has a less than a 2% acceptance rate, yet they may miss their once-in-a-lifetime opportunity because no local families have stepped forward to host them.

“These kids have the potential to do so much, and they can start doing that here,” said Kimberly Eckhardt, who has spent 15 years coordinating exchange programs through PAX – Program of Academic Exchange. “It’s heartbreaking and frustrating, because the need is still there. We still need to understand people better.”

Among the students waiting for host families is Mouadh, 16, from Tunisia, who champions women’s rights while excelling in computer programming and soccer. Arina from Moldova debates and plays piano, using her voice both literally — in choir — and figuratively through student council leadership. Ajdin from Bosnia combines creativity with service, balancing drama and photography with student government responsibilities.

These aren’t typical study-abroad students whose families can afford international tuition. They’re scholarship recipients chosen for both academic excellence and their potential to create positive change in their communities back home. “They’re fully vetted,” Eckhardt explained. “Their English is great. They’re chosen for their future potential as well as being a positive influence in their communities.”

The students come through two U.S. State Department programs originally designed to build bridges across cultural divides. The FLEX program, launched after the Cold War for Eastern European students, and the YES program, created after September 11th to foster understanding with countries with significant Muslim populations. 

Eckhardt hopes to dispel myths about who can host exchange students. “People think the best place for a kid is with a family with a high school kid, so they don’t qualify,” she said. “If that were the case, we would have no kids here every year, because those are the busiest families.”

In reality, only 20% of local host families have high school-age children at home. The other 80% — empty nesters, younger couples without children, or families with elementary-aged kids — often provide better environments for nervous students practicing English.

The requirements are straightforward: provide a bed (students can share rooms), a place to study, and three meals a day. The program covers health insurance, spending money, quarterly group trips, and ongoing support for both student and host families.

The timing makes this year’s placements particularly poignant. With the YES program ending after this academic year, and FLEX funding uncertain, these may be among the last students to participate in programs that Eckhardt sees as vital for world peace.

Families interested in hosting can email Kimberly Eckhardt at keckhardt08@gmail.com or visit pax.org to see available students and learn more about the program. An 800 number is also available on the PAX website for questions.

For more on this, please see our August 21 edition of the Vermont Standard. 

Following five years of collaboration between the superintendents of eight southeastern Vermont supervisory unions and school districts, the Mountain Views Supervisory Union (MVSU) will become a founding member of a newly constituted Board of Cooperative Educational Services, part of a national educational collaborative initiative commonly known as BOCES.

With the unanimous approval of its school board on Aug. 4, MVSU became the first school supervisory union or district in Vermont to officially join a BOCES. Six other supervisory unions and one school district in southeastern Vermont are also expected to join the BOCES collaborative in the coming weeks, including the Windsor Southeast, Windham Northeast, Windham Southwest, Two Rivers, Windham Central, and Windham Southeast supervisory unions and the Springfield School District.

Under Title 16 of state statutes, Vermont law empowers BOCES to provide shared resources and responsive solutions that can cost-effectively meet many short- and long-term challenges faced by school districts across the state. The southeastern Vermont BOCES collaborative is the first of its kind to be established in the state; a number of other supervisory unions and school districts elsewhere in Vermont are considering coming together in a similar collaborative entity. Here in Vermont and nationwide, school unions and districts that are contracted members of a BOCES collective typically gain benefits that include sharing staff resources, professional development initiatives, recruitment and hiring support, consultation, and the pooling of resources for cooperative purchasing, transportation, and other services at reduced costs.

MVSU superintendent Sherry Sousa and school board chair Keri Bristow of Woodstock sat down for a conversation with the Standard on Monday morning to talk about the regional BOCES initiative and the benefits that could accrue from it if the other seven area school unions or districts agree to participate and the Vermont Agency of Education formally sanctions the new BOCES this fall. The new entity, Sousa said, is a by-product of the existing Vermont Learning Collaborative (VLC) that was formed five years ago by the eight pending participants in the southeastern BOCES that is now approaching full legal status.

For more on this, please see our August 14 edition of the Vermont Standard.

By Tom Ayres, Senior Staff Writer

© 2025 Vermont Standard, All rights reserved

Longtime community theater luminary and philanthropist Max Comins has purchased a well-known, 4.6-acre tract in Woodstock’s East End with the intent of constructing a state-of-the-art performing arts center in the highly visible location at the eastern gateway to the Woodstock Village center.

Comins’ plan is to construct a state-of-the-art performing arts center — potentially with a substantial visual arts component as well — on the site formerly owned by the Gerrish family, which in years past was the setting for an automobile dealership. In a real estate transaction inked on Aug. 1, Comins acquired the property from former owner Phyllis Gerrish for $1.4 million. The deal is set to close on Nov. 21, pending a new environmental assessment of the now-mitigated former brownfield site, where a substantial gasoline spill occurred in 1973.

Comins, a part- or full-time resident of Woodstock for nearly 40 years, was hugely successful during a brief, seven-year stint as an arbitrage trader with a Wall Street brokerage house in the late 1970s and early 1980s, turning that newfound wealth into a youthful dream that became a reality. Comins purchased the historic Kedron Valley Inn in South Woodstock, refurbished it with his own sweat equity, reestablished a restaurant there that was highly regarded by locals and visitors alike, and served as the innkeeper for the next 18 years. He eventually sold the inn in 2002 and turned back to a daily routine of independently trading stocks and bonds from a comfortable office in his cherished home on Blankey Cottage Lane in Woodstock Village.

At the age of 74, Comins now plans to turn the considerable wealth he has accumulated into a vehicle for his life’s other passions, much as he did when he left Manhattan to become a quintessential New England country innkeeper in his mid-30s. In the coming days, Comins will file all the legal paperwork necessary to fund and form the Max Comins Foundation, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit educational entity with which he is purchasing the Gerrish tract in Woodstock’s East End. 

His newest dream? To erect a world-class performing arts center on the site, also known as Woodstock East, which was granted a Certificate of Completion by the Vermont Department of Environmental Conservation in 2012, certifying its successful remediation as a brownfield site. Funding, design, and construction of the proposed performing arts center will be the first major endeavor of the Comins Foundation, fulfilling Comins’ desire to use his life’s blessings to support the arts, community theater, and the Vermont village and town he has called home for the past four decades.

“The Max Comins Foundation will be based on my initial, first-year contribution of $15 million, plus $8-10 million now and another $7-10 million in 2026,” Comins noted in an email to the Standard. “It will be in an irrevocable trust so that I can never take the monies back. Ever. This will help secure the 501(c)(3) status after all the paperwork is approved, and it will allow others to donate and get a tax deduction. The initial goal of the foundation will be the purchase of the Gerrish property, finishing the remediation of the soil, and building a world-class performing and visual arts center as a non-profit for the benefit of the community.” 

For more on this, please see our August 21 edition of the Vermont Standard. 

A village privy in East Barnard is filling a need and leaving a legacy

East Barnard is a picturesque town with historic homes, lovely scenery, and a close-knit community, but it has a persistent problem: a shortage of public restrooms. Since late last year, resident Randy Leavitt has been volunteering his time to resolve this situation by custom-building a shelter for a composting toilet outside the East Barnard Church.

The church was built in 1834, but despite being one of the central public buildings in town, Leavitt says, “I don’t know the last time there was a privy outdoors, but I’ve lived in the village since I was an infant and I’m almost 70, and I don’t remember a privy. That means that once people go to church, they don’t have a bathroom. We have tens of church services there in the summer, we’ve had two memorial services, we’re having two weddings there this summer, and we have a pretty popular Christmas Eve service — but no bathroom.”

Randy Leavitt stands on the spot where he is building the privy soon after he started last spring. Robert Shumskis Photo

Realizing the need, Leavitt teamed up with his wife to pitch his idea to the town. “I suggested to the board — my wife Heather is on the board and has been for a long time — that we build a bathroom out back. I explained what it would look like, and I said that I’d be willing to do the work for free if they paid for the materials. So that’s what is happening. We are fundraising for the materials, and we’re about halfway to the $25,000 cost of the whole structure, including the ramp that leads to it from the existing access ramp.”

Leavitt added, “There’s no lock on the door; it will be open for anybody who passes by. That’s why I’m calling it the village privy instead of the church bathroom. There are a lot of hikers and bikers. The village of East Barnard is on a few maps that are popular for bike rides, and there are some hiking trails in the village, so there’s often people hanging around.”

“My goal is to have it done before the end of the building season, whenever that turns out to be,” he says hopefully.

For more on this, please see our August 21 edition of the Vermont Standard. 

Two local authors are capturing moments of American transformation in their latest works, though separated by six decades and vastly different approaches to storytelling. William Boardman’s latest political analysis examines the current Trump administration’s impact on American democracy, while mystery novelist Sarah Stewart Taylor transports readers to 1960s Vermont in her second book featuring detective Franklin Warren and intelligence operative-turned-widow Alice Bellows.

Circling the Drain

Boardman’s latest work, “Circling the Drain: Trump’s Assault on America,” published by Toronto-based Yorkland Publishing, focuses on what he describes as an unprecedented assault on American democratic institutions. The 332-page book emerged from his conviction that the constitutional crisis began on Day One of Trump’s current term.

“[Trump] just asserted the right to rewrite the Constitution, all by himself and issued a whole lot of executive orders, many of which were illegal,” Boardman, a Woodstock resident, explained during a phone interview with the Standard this week.

The veteran reporter, who moved to Vermont in 1971, brings decades of journalistic experience to his analysis. After working as a reporter and editor, Boardman served as an elected non-lawyer judge for 20 years and spent 10 years writing articles warning of American decline for Reader Supported News.

“Circling the Drain” dissects what Boardman called Trump’s “deluge of lies, criminality, cruelty, and ultimate aim: to replace America’s 250-year-old democracy with autocratic rule.” The book analyzes three key events to illustrate broader patterns: the Oval Office meeting where Ukrainian President Zelensky was “ambushed by Trump and his cabinet and sent packing,” Trump’s virtual State of the Union speech about America’s “golden age,” and his address to the Justice Department that preceded arrests of a congresswoman and a judge. Boardman argued these events demonstrate the “chaos and immorality” of current American foreign policy and domestic governance.

Hunter’s Heart Ridge

Meanwhile, Hartland author Sarah Stewart Taylor is exploring an earlier era of American upheaval in “Hunter’s Heart Ridge,” the second book in her Upper Valley mystery series set in 1965 Vermont. This sequel to last summer’s “Agony Hill” continues the adventures of Boston cop-turned-Vermont State Police detective Franklin Warren and his neighbor, Alice Bellows, in the fictional town of Bethany. 

Taylor, who has been writing mystery novels for 22 years, chose the mid-1960s setting because “This period of the mid-’60s in Vermont is when a lot of things about the state were changing. It really was this period of transition.”

The author weaves real historical changes into her fiction: the construction of Interstates 89 and 91, school consolidations, legislative reforms, and the broader national context of the Vietnam War and Civil Rights Movement. Her fictional Bethany, Vermont, draws inspiration from multiple Upper Valley towns, including Woodstock, Chester, Windsor, and South Royalton. “It’s kind of a mash-up of different places,” Taylor explained, creating a setting that feels authentically Vermont while allowing narrative freedom.

Both books are available now. Boardman’s “Circling the Drain” retails for $24.99 and can be purchased directly from Yorkland Publishing at yorklandpublishing.com, as well as on Amazon and in bookstores. Taylor’s works are available at Upper Valley bookstores, with signed copies at many locations, including Yankee Bookshop and Norwich Bookstore. 

For readers seeking escape into mystery and historical fiction, Taylor’s “Hunter’s Heart Ridge” offers the comfort of familiar Vermont landscapes wrapped in 1960s intrigue. Those looking for contemporary political analysis will find Boardman’s unflinching examination of current American democracy both challenging and urgent.

For more on this, please see our August 21 edition of the Vermont Standard. 

Block off your calendar for five hours of fun this Saturday, Aug. 23 at the Barnard Street Dance! The beloved, family-friendly event is in its fourth year of revival by BarnArts, and will take place primarily around Barnard Town Hall from 2-7 p.m. This represents an earlier end-time than previous years, with BarnArts’ Olivia Piepmeier saying, “We’re leaning into the timing being more family-friendly, especially as we’ve noticed people seem to prefer coming earlier vs. later.” 

The event is free admission, but organizers say donations and participation in the online auction are appreciated to cover costs and support future years of the event. In case of inclement weather, the event will move inside the town hall.

For more on this, please see our August 21 edition of the Vermont Standard. 

As arts programs face unprecedented cuts and traditional education often leaves students disengaged, the New England School of the Arts (NESA) in Lebanon, N.H., stands as a beacon of innovation. Founded during the pandemic by Jennifer Chambers, a former educator at Hanover High School, NESA has spent its first two years proving that when the arts take center stage, academic excellence follows naturally.

“The seed of NESA really came from watching art programming being cut left and right all over the country during the pandemic,” Chambers explained. “We wanted to create a school where the arts were not an afterthought or something that could be shoved outside school hours, but really at the center of the programming.”

What distinguishes NESA is its integrated STEAM curriculum — Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics — where subjects flow seamlessly together through project-based learning. Students discover physics through ballet, understanding the angles and forces at work in dance, then apply those same mathematical concepts to designing theatrical sets or creating scaled bedrooms for Greek gods as part of their study of the “Odyssey.”

“We’re building curriculum as a team,” Chambers said. “You’re not going to go to your science class and have your math teacher not know what’s happening. They know exactly what’s happening, and they’re working to cross-connect and team teach those concepts.”

This collaborative approach has transformed how students view learning itself. STEAM teacher Matthew Huyck says he witnessed a remarkable shift during the school’s inaugural year. When he surveyed students about their feelings toward mathematics at the beginning of the year, he said “indifferent” was the most common response. By year’s end, half the students wanted to accelerate their math progress, with three planning to complete calculus before graduation.

Math and science instructor Matt Huyck works with students on a robotics design. Courtesy of Jennifer Chambers

The magic happens because NESA’s curriculum extends far beyond classroom walls. Students take monthly expeditions to the Stewardship Center in Pike, N.H., connecting mathematical and scientific concepts to real-world applications on ropes courses. They learn from drone expert Tom Frawley about mapping and search-and-rescue operations, knowledge that directly connects to their classroom geography work. These aren’t field trips — they’re integral parts of an education that sees learning everywhere.

The afternoon programming offers something truly unique in the region. While students at most schools finish their arts training after school hours, often staying up until 1 a.m. to complete homework, NESA students take ballet during the school day, receive private voice lessons, and work directly with professional artists and Dartmouth professors. The faculty includes two Dartmouth professors — Kassady Small and Joseph Cooley — providing college-level instruction with an extraordinary 1:2 teacher-to-student ratio.

The school’s reputation for both excellence and accessibility has earned recognition from notable figures, including Vermont’s own Grammy-nominated musician Noah Kahan, who has praised NESA’s approach to creative education.

Learn more about the school at https://www.nesarts.org/

For more on this, please see our August 14 edition of the Vermont Standard. 

Mountain biking is one the fastest growing sports in Vermont — and this past weekend, a pair of events that drew riders from across the region to the trail networks in and around Woodstock put its surging popularity in the local area on peak display. 

Last Saturday, nearly 150 young riders descended on Ascutney Outdoors in West Windsor for the first meet of the 2025 season put on by Vermont Youth Cycling (VTYC), a statewide league that organizes races, group rides, and skills clinics for riders in grades 5 through 12.

And then on Sunday, the Woodstock Area Mountain Biking Association (WAMBA) hosted its first Triple Crown Throwdown, a multi-format race that showed off the very best that Woodstock’s three trail networks — at Mt. Peg, Saskadena Six, and the Woodstock Aqueduct — have to offer. 

More than 80 riders took on the Throwdown’s 38-mile course, which combines cross-country and timed “enduro” stages and climbs a total of 5,500 feet. It is a grueling endurance challenge that promises to put the WAMBA-sponsored race on par with other premier mountain biking events in the state, like the Vermont 50 and The Overland. 

Both events offered clear signs of how our area has emerged as a key hub for mountain biking in Vermont.

“It’s been pretty incredible to see the community building the way it has,” said Throwdown race director Quinn Uva, who grew up biking on Woodstock’s trail networks and graduated from Woodstock Union High School this past June.

“I’ve had people who are coming to Vermont tell me, ‘We don’t even go as far north as Kingdom Trails anymore, we just go to Woodstock,’” Uva continued. “And that’s just incredible, because Kingdom Trails is one of the top mountain biking destinations in the country.”

Much of the growth in the area’s mountain biking scene can be credited to WAMBA, a volunteer-led group of local mountain biking enthusiasts and advocates founded in 2016. Since then, WAMBA members have worked tirelessly to build and maintain the expanding network of local trails, negotiate terms of access with private landowners and public officials, and ensure ongoing compliance with Act 250 and other state land-use and development laws.

All the while, WAMBA has been finding creative ways to spread the love for mountain biking in and around Woodstock, from organizing group rides for bikers of all ages and abilities to putting on special events like the Triple Crown Challenge, a pared-down precursor that paved the way for this year’s Throwdown.

From its infancy just under a decade ago, WAMBA’s membership has grown to around 450 today.  

WAMBA’s hard work has made it possible for the local mountain biking community to trailblaze in other ways, too. In 2024, Woodstock Union High School became the first public high school in the state to make mountain biking a varsity sport. 

Woodstock MTB has been coached by Quinn’s father, Todd Uva, since it was launched as a club team a little under a decade ago. In 2018, Todd had just 12 riders on the team; by last year, the team’s roster had ballooned to 40. 

For more on this, please see our August 21 edition of the Vermont Standard. 

Halfway up Hartland Hill, in a sunny meadow surrounded by sugar maples and rippled through with waves of foxtail and goldenrod, one of the oldest sports in the world is practiced daily during the high summer months of July and August. 

For the last decade, a small crew of licensed falconers with New England Falconry have been welcoming weekending vacationers and curious locals to a hillside plot owned by the Woodstock Foundation, the conservation-oriented nonprofit that also owns the Woodstock Inn & Resort, Billings Farm & Museum, and Saskadena Six Ski Area.

There, visitors can learn about the ancient art of falconry, in which trained birds of prey are used to hunt wild animals like rabbits, squirrels, and pheasants — a practice first developed thousands of years ago by nomadic peoples in Central Asia and Western Mongolia. They can also get up close and personal with one or more of the thirteen falcons, hawks, and owls that are currently housed in New England Falconry’s Gothic arched red barn. 

On a recent Sunday afternoon, the Standard tagged along as falconer Anastasia Mickiewicz introduced a small group to two of these impressively trained birds: a three-year-old Harris’s hawk named Pierce, and a nine-year-old barn owl named Alba.  

Over the course of 90 minutes, as we followed Mickiewicz from station to station across the meadow, Pierce and Alba showed off the attributes that make their ilk such skilled hunters, and Mickiewicz provided an incredible historical review of the ancient sport. 

For more on this, please see our August 14 edition of the Vermont Standard. 

Lawrence Albert Luce, 84, died at home on Wednesday, Aug. 13, 2025, after a period of declining health.

Larry was born June 2, 1941, the oldest son of Albert and Helen (Burnham) Luce, at home in the Jericho District of Hartford. He grew up on the family’s dairy farms and learned the work of a farm from an early age. With six brothers and sisters and several cousins close by, he had lots of fun on the farm including showing his Jersey cows at the Hartland Fair and as a member of the Pomfret 4-H. When Larry was 16 his father was hired to cut hay at the Sugarbush farm in Taftsville where he met the farmer’s daughter, Betsy Ayres. Betsy joined 4-H so she could see more of Larry, and they went steady all through high school. Larry graduated from Hartford High Class of 1960, where he played football all four years, ran the mile and half mile in track, and played basketball all while going home each late afternoon to milk the cows.

Larry and Betsy were married Sept. 1, 1962, in Woodstock and after a time of working his father’s farm, they purchased a home in Hartford, overlooking the Taftsville Covered Bridge. He delivered milk to local homes for Honey Gardens Dairy and later delivered for Oxygen Welding, while raising heifers on his farm. In 1970 he built a barn on his farm and started milking cows, expanding the barn three different times including using some salvaged lumber from a Quechee Mill building. Larry and his two sons, Jeff and Ralph, continued operating the Bridge Overlook Farm for thirty years with up to 120 registered Jerseys. Larry enjoyed showing their animals with his sons at many local fairs and also served on several agricultural boards.

Larry and the boys began sugaring from a simple operation that started with just collecting sap on a neighbor’s farm and grew each year with more taps, a new sugarhouse, and evolved into a large-scale sugaring operation. As the boys got into high school and he got more help on the farm, Larry became more involved at the Sugarbush Farm including delivery routes and cutting cheese. Later he and Betsy found time to travel, first around the U.S. and then twenty international trips, many based around farm tours or self-driving trips where he found local farmers to meet. By age 75 he had visited 44 states and 27 countries. The couple also enjoyed going to see live music concerts including country, bluegrass, and southern gospel.

After 30 years of milking, the boys convinced Larry to sell the dairy herd and concentrate on sugaring and raising Angus beef. He missed the camaraderie of showing cows, so he took his love of draft horses and began competing in pulling contests.

In 2013, Larry and Betsy started going to Florida for just a few weeks of gospel concerts and horse pulling and after a couple of years began spending January through March at The Red Oaks Resort in Bushnell. As he found it harder to get around, Larry continued to enjoy watching football, baseball, and especially the Boston Celtics.

Larry loved people, whether it be a farmer in Brazil, a hoof trimmer in Scotland, or a visitor at the Sugarbush Farm who wanted to learn more about maple syrup. He enjoyed a full life growing up with a large family. He deeply appreciated all things Vermont including cows, horses, scenic back roads, maple sugaring, and just visiting with other farm folks.

He is survived by his wife, Betsy of Taftsville; sons Jeff (Sarah) of Hartford and Ralph (Lisa) of Pomfret; grandchildren Sierra, Elizabeth, Timothy, Emily, and Jake; a great granddaughter Everly; brothers Scott (Rose) of Springfield, Mike (Gertie) of White River Jct, Chris (Linda) of Thetford, and Clayton (Wendy) of White River Junction; sisters Barbara Bugbee of White River Jct. and Carol Hardy (Dan) of Pomfret; as well as many nieces, nephews, and cousins.

A visitation will be held Tuesday, Aug. 26 from 4-7 p.m. at the Knight Funeral Home in White River Junction.

Condolence to Larry’s family may be made in an online guestbook at knightfuneralhomes.com.

Shirley Anne McSorley Fenner passed away at the age of 91 on Aug. 16, 2025, at her horse farm in Brownsville. She was born on April 13, 1934, in Arlington, Mass., the daughter of Wesley Allen McSorley, Jr. and Barbara (Cushman) McSorley. After high school, Shirley went on to graduate from Vermont College. It was at VC where she met her future husband Robert (Bob) Fenner who was attending college at nearby Norwich University. After graduating from college in 1954, they married on Dec. 30 and resided at Fort Knox, Ky. where Lieutenant Bob Fenner was stationed with the U.S. Army. Bob was soon deployed to Munich, Germany, where they lived for a year and a half and had their first child, Jeffery. They left Germany after Bob completed his obligations to the Army and moved to Cranford, N.J., where Shirley focused on raising Jeff and their second son, Dana.

In 1963 Shirley and family moved to Killington, as Bob began working for the Sherburne Corporation and Shirley worked for several local inns and for Southworth’s ski shop as soft goods manager. During this time, she ran a B&B before those were even popular and retained her entrepreneurial spirit when they moved into an 1840s farmhouse in South Woodstock where she hosted many a horse and rider and ran her tack shop, Gambol Hill as well as working at the Woodstock Inn gift shop. They later moved to Brownsville, where she raised Connemara horses. In later years, Shirley and Bob spent part of their time in Wellington, Fla. and at their home in St. John, U.S.V.I. Shirley enjoyed golf, skiing, sailing and was an avid gardener and member of the Wellington and Woodstock Garden Clubs. She also was a frequent volunteer at the Woodstock Historical Society and was a member of the St. James Episcopal Church in Woodstock. Shirley was also a loving mother to many a four-legged furry friend: Josh the Boxer, four golden retrievers, four English Welch Corgis, Angel the donkey, several Connemara ponies and one two-legged Goose named Gus. 

Shirley was pre-deceased by her husband of 60 years, Bob and her two brothers Robert Allen McSorley and Richard Cushman McSorley. She is survived by her two sons, Jeffery Thomas Fenner and his wife Jackie (Ditcheos) Fenner, Dana Cushman Fenner and his wife Kristi (Collier) Fenner; her five grandchildren Warren Fenner and his wife Heather (Flavell) Fenner, Catherine (Fenner) Johnson and her husband, Bryan, Emalee (Fenner) Whipple and her husband Taylor; Robert (Will) Fenner, Matthew Fenner and her seven great grandchildren Oliver Whipple, Rhys Fenner, Arlo Whipple, Cooper Johnson, Aidan Fenner, Nolan Whipple and Quinn Johnson as well as her newest furry family member, Buttons the Corgi.

Those we love don’t go away, they walk beside us everyday unseen, unheard but always near, still loved, still missed and very dear.

A memorial service will be held at Mission Farm Church in Killington on Saturday, Aug. 23 at 1 p.m. followed by a reception at Summit Lodge. In lieu of flowers memorial donations may be made to the Green Mountain Horse Association (GMHA) by phone 802-457-1509, online at gmhainc.org, or by mail PO Box 8, South Woodstock, VT 05701 (please indicate “in memory of Shirley Fenner” in the memo).

An online guestbook can be found at cabotfh.com.

Charlotte Louise (Warren) Harvey, 92, died Sunday, Aug. 17, 2025, at Genesis in Lebanon, N.H. surrounded by her family.

Born at home on February 6, 1933, in Pomfret, she was the beloved daughter of William H. and Marjorie (Wooley) Warren.

Charlotte lived a life marked by an unwavering sense of duty, and an unmatched gift for connecting with others.  She worked for many years as a nursing assistant at Guthrie nursing home in Woodstock. Later, she served as Assistant Town Clerk in Mount Holly, Vt. Never one to stop learning, Charlotte proudly earned her GED in 1987, a milestone she and her whole family celebrated joyfully.

Charlotte’s charm and sense of humor found a perfect outlet in her role as a Vermont Ambassador at the Quechee Welcome Center, a position she held until the age of 87. She relished “politely telling people where to go,” always ready with a smile. The rigorous training and testing required for that role only added to her sense of accomplishment, and she made friendships there that would last a lifetime. Personable, engaging, and endlessly communicative, Charlotte made people feel at ease wherever she went. Known for her warmth and wit, Charlotte had a signature style all her own: always polished and never without her red lipstick. She aged with dignity, grace, and an unmistakable class that never faded, even as she navigated the challenges of cancer in her final months. She was an inspiration to many and still had a bucket list at 92. 

She was predeceased by her husband, James R. Harvey, and grandson, Scott Emery, her children’s father, John E. King, her brother and sister-in-law, William S. and Mary Roy Warren, and her brother-in-law, Edward Clogston.

 She leaves behind, her children, Audrey Emery and her husband Bob of Enfield Center, Dale W. King of White River Junction, Paul F. King and his wife Debbie of Enfield, William K. Warren of Cape Coral, Fla., Craig A. King and his wife Wanda of White River Junction, Creighton A. King of West Lebanon, and her sister, Marjorie Clogston of Wilmington, Mass. Survivors also include her grandchildren, Stacey, Holly, John, James, Josh, Melissa, and Jeffrey, as well as ten great grandchildren, two great-great grandchildren and nieces and nephews. 

A visitation will be held at Knight Funeral Home in White River Junction on Friday, Aug. 22 from 5-7 p.m. A funeral service will be held the following day, Saturday, Aug. 23 at the Greater Hartford United Church of Christ in Hartford, Vt. at 4 p.m. Interment will take place in the Hewittville Cemetery in North Pomfret on a date to be announced.

In lieu of flowers, gifts can be made to the Bugbee Senior Center, White River Jct., Vt. where Charlotte spent many hours and made many friends.

Knight Funeral Home has been entrusted with arrangements. Condolences may be expressed in an online guestbook found at knightfuneralhomes.com.

Chris passed away July 31st, the day after his 38th birthday at DHMC after an unimaginable short and hard-fought battle with cancer, surrounded by family and close friends. 

Chris was born on July 30th, 1987 at DHMC to Curtis and Wendy Barr. He was a graduate of the class of 2005 from WUHS.

Chris met Susie Chamberlin the summer of 2012, swooned over a game of horseshoes, they began their life together. They celebrated 13 years together on July 4 this year. In August 2021, they welcomed their beautiful daughter Charlotte into the world, who was the light of his life. Becoming a father was his biggest accomplishment. 

Chris began working for the Town of Woodstock, for the Village Department, July of 2017. He was promoted to Director of Public Works last year, an accomplishment he was very proud of, in which he shared a very close bond to the folks he worked with. 

Chris was many things, but the ones that stood out the most was his true patriotism and a true friend to all. He loved his country and its flag. As an 8th generation Vermonter, he understood what being a real Vermonter meant. He would give the shirt off his back and when he loved someone or something, he loved hard, with everything in him. 

He was an avid hunter and fisherman, enjoying his annual deer hunt with his dad. He never missed an opening morning. 

If you were around Chris, you were listening to music, talking about pistols, hot rods, or Harleys, and could always expect a good laugh. His humor and charm were infectious and he will be sorely missed. 

Chris is survived by parents Curt and Wendy, partner and love of his life, Susie Chamberlin and their beautiful daughter Charlotte, and his ‘brother’ Jacob Crane. 

He was predeceased by maternal grandparents Maxwell ‘Bun’ and Charlotte Maxham and paternal grandparents Stewart and Audrey Barr. 

Donations to his daughter Charlotte’s education fund can be made to Charlotte Barr, 734 Long Hill Rd South Woodstock, VT 05071.

The Cabot Funeral Home of Woodstock is assisting the family. An online guestbook can be found at cabotfh.com.

A Celebration Of Life will be held on Aug. 23, 2025 from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the South Woodstock Fire Station.

David R. “Mooner” Cogswell, 59, died Monday, July 28, 2025, at home in Quechee.

He was born January 26, 1966, in Norwalk, Conn., a son of Dennis Cogswell and Judith (Butler) Cogswell. David spent his early years in New Canaan, Conn., where he graduated from high school before receiving his plumber’s training at Wright Tech in Stamford, Conn. David began his career as a master plumber in Connecticut before moving to the Upper Valley in the early 1990s, where he continued his career in plumbing at Dartmouth-Hitchcock for several years. He later worked at A.L. Bellimer Services in Bridgewater until his health prevented him from working. David lived in Fairlee for a time, before living in the Woodstock area and most recently in Quechee for the past 20 years.

David loved animals and operated a rescue for many cats and dogs over the years. In his spare time, he enjoyed spending time outdoors, fishing and riding motorcycles, ATVs and snowmobiles with friends and family at the family’s camp in Bridgewater.

He is survived by his father, Dennis Cogswell of Woodstock; brother, Christopher Cogswell and his wife, Rose, of Florida; his brother, Jason Grady and his wife, Mel; nieces, Celeste and Stephanie; nephews, Andrew and Matthew; an aunt, Lori Flynn of Bridgewater; longtime girlfriend, Tina DeLuca of Quechee; as well as several cousins and many close friends, including LouAnn Cogswell.

A visitation and funeral service was held at the Knight Funeral Home in White River Jct. on Saturday, Aug. 2. Condolences to David’s family may be made in an online guestbook at knightfuneralhomes.com.

Roberto Mario Rodriguez, age 79, passed away peacefully on July 14, 2025, at Mt. Ascutney Hospital in Windsor, Vt. Roberto was born on November 17, 1945, in Santiago, Chile, to Mario Rodriguez and Marjorie Talman Rodriguez. He is survived by his wife, Krysia Rodriguez (Maziec), son Tony, daughter Elizabeth, sister Elizabeth Filleul, brother-in-law Francis Filleul, and nieces and nephews.

He and his family moved to the United States in 1994 and settled in Windsor, Vt. He was a wonderful father and loving husband. As a father, he encouraged his children to explore their creativity and artistic expression. With his wife, they shared a strong bond of mutual love and respect.

As a distinguished museum professional whose career spanned five decades, he held the positions of deputy and executive director at many museums and cultural institutions in Canada and the United States. He was a lifelong car enthusiast who was renowned for his extensive knowledge of automobiles and their histories.

Roberto’s legacy is one of quiet brilliance, dedication, and professionalism. Always a gentleman, he treated family and friends with genuine respect and kindness. Roberto will be deeply missed by all who knew and loved him.

Information and details for Roberto’s Celebration of Life Gathering will be shared soon at a later date at Knight Funeral Home’s website where you are invited to share online condolences (knightfuneralhomes.com). Memorial donations are appreciated to the American Lung Association (lung.org).

To our readers,

The Vermont Standard Annual Appeal is the one time each year when we come right out and ask for your help with our mission to preserve quality local journalism for our community.

We believe that an informed public is essential if a community like ours is to have a well-functioning democracy. We think credible journalism – the local news, information, and community connection that only a local newspaper provides – is necessary to maintain the quality of life here.

Unfortunately, newspapers throughout the country are going out of business at a rate of more than two per week, and many of those that are still functioning have been debilitated.

The 171-year-old Vermont Standard is our state’s oldest weekly newspaper and at this point, it’s rather unique. To this day, it continues to provide high-quality journalism in print and online to Woodstock and the surrounding towns that the paper serves -– including Hartland, Pomfret, Bridgewater, Barnard, Quechee, Reading, West Windsor, Plymouth and points beyond. In recent years we’ve taken steps to improve the Standard’s coverage, and it has been repeatedly recognized as the best small weekly newspaper in New England.

It’s worth saving.

Professional, ethical, accurate, and fair journalism that you can trust is needed now more than ever in a society dominated by social media echo chambers, political and social division, and the proliferation of misinformation. As seen elsewhere, losing the local newspaper diminishes residents’ civic engagement and leaves a void in the community that bad actors with a cynical agenda often rush in to fill with disinformation campaigns.

Unlike most others, the Standard is an independent newspaper. We are purpose-driven rather than profit-driven. The Standard delivers a colorful, comprehensive local news report in print each Thursday, as well as online updates all week long. Nearly all articles and photos in the Standard are original reporting by our tiny staff, freelancers and volunteers. The community embraces this paper – circulation is strong and steady.

But, just like newspapers throughout the country, the Standard is struggling to remain economically viable.

The smaller, locally-owned businesses that traditionally supported local news organizations with their advertising have been replaced by chains, big box stores, and online sellers that do not actively support community journalism. Classified ads for homes, cars, jobs, and used merchandise are no longer a substantial source of funding for local news because they are now often run online instead.

The Standard, which already operates on a shoestring, has resisted the strategy embraced by so many newspapers across our nation to further strip down its small operation to bare bones, to the point that it can’t get the job done. Instead, we are striving to preserve the Standard as a quality news operation that can continue doing the job serving our community.

Funding local journalism now largely depends on philanthropic support from civic-minded residents who care deeply about this community and recognize the value the Standard brings to the table.

In the past year, a small local board has established a 501(c)(3) public charity called the Woodstock Region Journalism Foundation to help ensure that our community will always have quality local journalism to inform and connect our neighbors; to help ensure the Standard keeps going. All donations to the foundation are tax-deductible.

Preserving the Standard is obviously important to the Greater Woodstock community. But this also has bigger implications.

Most local newspapers are on the brink of insolvency even though they are still the primary entities America counts on to cover local news and inform our citizens — especially in smaller towns. The newspapers are every bit as important to the functioning, spirit and soul of those towns as their public library, their theaters, their churches, and other vital institutions. We must find a way, both collectively and individually, to keep credible local journalism alive. The future of our communities and democracy depends on it.

If there is any one place in the country where residents truly appreciate and embrace both their community and their newspaper, it’s here. If our community can’t find a way to sustain its local journalism, there’s probably little hope for most others.

We sincerely hope you’ll consider making a contribution to this year’s 2024 annual appeal. Our need is quite urgent, to say the least, and we are profoundly grateful for anything you can do to help us.

The Foundation is a public charity so your gift will be fully tax-deductible.

Your donation will be utilized in the form of project grants to support the Vermont Standard’s mission to inform, connect, and educate our community on issues of public importance.

If you’re able to help, please send a check to PO Box 88, Woodstock, VT 05091. Be sure to make your check out to the “Woodstock Region Journalism Foundation.” Or go to our Vermont Standard THIS WEEK website at www.thevermontstandard.com to make a contribution with your credit card.

Also, if you have a family foundation, we hope you’ll add the Woodstock Region Journalism Foundation (EIN: 93-3287932) to the worthwhile causes you regularly support.

We consider it a great honor that you trust and count on the Standard to cover local news in our community. We can’t thank you enough for your friendship, your readership, and your support of this worthwhile mission we’re pursuing.

Phil Camp, president        Dan Cotter, publisher

By Dan Cotter, publisher

A huge sigh of relief and a fist pump were my first reactions, as well as a gaze skyward as I mouthed the words “thank you!” The tears welling up in my older friend’s eyes were his response when I told him.

Then we shared a long, hard hug.

After lots of research and preparation, and then six months of waiting for the application to be processed, Phil Camp and I recently learned that the IRS has approved the Woodstock Region Journalism Foundation’s application for tax-exempt status under section 501(c)(3) and deemed the Foundation to be a public charity.

The approval wasn’t in much doubt, really. But now it’s official.

The Foundation was established last August and it is primarily dedicated to preserving the Vermont Standard and its role in informing citizens and supporting democracy in our area well into the future. The Foundation has a board made up of local residents who care deeply about our community and the value local journalism provides. Phil and I are on the board too. Together, we’re working to keep the 171-year-old Vermont Standard going while taking steps to position the paper’s print and digital journalism for long-term sustainability.

Recognizing the critical role the Standard plays in informing and connecting our community, this Foundation wants to avoid letting our area become a “news desert,” as has happened in hundreds of other places throughout the US in recent years. Newspapers like the Standard are currently dying off at a pace of 2.5 per week. Nor do we want to end up like the hundreds of cities and towns where profit-seeking corporations that have no devotion to the public welfare have acquired their local paper and stripped it of its resources, to the point that it is only a pathetic shadow of its former self and incapable of doing its job.

Providing accurate, credible, reliable news and information to its audience is a local news organization’s primary role. A functioning democracy requires an informed, engaged public. The Woodstock Region Journalism Foundation’s board members, advisors and friends will help Phil and I in our mission to raise enough money to keep quality journalism flowing here.

So, I’m glad to report that any donation you’ve made to the Woodstock Region Journalism Foundation to support the Standard’s mission to inform, connect, and educate our community on issues of public importance is indeed tax-deductible dating back to the inception of the Foundation in late August 2023, as all donations will be going forward.

At 88 years old, Phil feels a real sense of urgency about making sure that our community will always have local journalism – especially given the 40+ years he’s dedicated to leading the paper and his unrivaled love for Woodstock and its surrounding towns. We know we’re in a race against the clock. But now, with the Foundation’s charity status and your tax deduction confirmed, we hope there will be even more support from donors and family foundations that will help us accomplish this very important mission.

Thank you from the bottom of our hearts for your encouragement and generosity. If you would like to contribute to our Annual Appeal, please send us a check at PO Box 88, Woodstock, VT 05091, or go to our Vermont Standard THIS WEEK website at https://thevermontstandard.com/annual-appeal/ to make a contribution with your credit card. Please be sure to make your check out to the “Woodstock Region Journalism Foundation.”

“View From Here”

By Sandy Gilmour, Woodstock resident

If you are reading this column right now, that’s good news for the community. It means you probably paid for this paper, hard copy or online, maybe even made a donation to it, and value its contribution to our lives in Woodstock and surrounding areas. We are so fortunate to have the Vermont Standard week in and week out. For years, small-town dailies and weeklies have been closing their doors, leaving communities without a soul. Papers like the Standard are dying off at the rate of two per week across America. 

Such towns are called “news deserts.” Imagine weeks, months and years going by with no professional reporting on selectboards, trustees, school boards, taxes and roads. Zero stories about public school events, sports, student accomplishments, obituaries, gardening tips, neighborly cooking advice, local history, and no reports from towns from Brownsville to Pomfret. 

We would know next to nothing about the interminable Peace Field Farm restaurant delay, the Ottauquechee Trail head fiasco, the high-stakes Woodstock Foundation controversy and the fatal shooting off Central Street, including the bravery of Woodstock Police Sgt. Joe Swanson. In my view, these stories have been really well reported. 

To not get these stories delivered to us every week would be a news desert right in verdant Woodstock, for sure, a gaping hole left to be filled by rumor and mis- and dis-information, the precursors of community dissolution. So we are blessed indeed to have had the Vermont Standard around — nonstop — since 1853, and owned by beloved Woodstocker Phil Camp, now 87, since 1981. 

But as Mr. Camp has pointed out many times over the years, the paper’s solvency hangs on a thread and now more than ever. In hundreds of towns across America, owners, beleaguered by losing subscribers and advertising to social media, simply folded or sold out to hedge funds and private equity firms, whose investors are bereft of community values. Not Phil Camp. He has always said, “I never sold out. I’m never giving up.” He made up for past deficits (difference between expenses, like staff, and income from subscriptions and ads) out of company savings from better times, week after week. He stayed with it after being flooded out by Tropical Storm Irene in 2011 and being burned out by the Central Street fire of 2018 (taking out his camera and snapping photos of the flames and rubble).

The paper was in dire straits when COVID hit, saved by the forgiven federal PPP (Paycheck Protection Program) loans through 2021, when the largesse ended. Then beginning in January 2022, the community stepped up, responding to a fundraising appeal. I was rather stunned to learn from the Standard’s publisher, Dan Cotter, that the paper’s annual shortfall of $150,000-$200,000 is being covered by donations from local Woodstock residents. There are many (and appreciated) donations in the $50-$100-$200 range, but really heavy lifting is being done by donors of means who, Mr. Cotter says, highly value the contribution local journalism makes to communities. Several of these more-than-generous and anonymous donors contribute $20-25,000 and more — each — and, Mr. Cotter says, without any hint of trying to influence coverage. Without them, surely there would be no Vermont Standard in the mailbox or online, just the unreliable grapevine. At the same time, the paper is moving to create other revenue streams, including an online advertising app for Woodstock happenings and a magazine, in addition to improving thevermontstandard.com website for go-to news. 

Still, the operation is bare bones. It seems to me a miracle the paper “hits the streets” without fail every Thursday with some pretty good and important stories that we need to know about, and many features that are good to know about. And there are just two, count them, two, full-time staffers who report stories: the seasoned and prolific Tom Ayres, and Tess Hunter, who is also the managing editor. Ms. Hunter says reporter staffing is the big issue; she has on hand freelance contract reporters that can be assigned to stories if they are available and if they want to spend the evening at yet another unexciting if important selectboard meeting. “It’s a constant juggling act,” Ms. Hunter told me, “between finding the right person for the story and just getting people to say ‘yes.’” Still, she is committed, saying, “Without us making the attempt, there would be no common base of understanding and little sense of the community spirit of the area or the hard news happening within it.”

Volunteer contributors are crucial; regular community writers like Jennifer Falvey (insightful musings on life) and Kurt Stauder (pointed political observations) are popular. Mary Lee Camp’s business column is relentlessly informative. 

Other key staff are listed in the box below — lean and spare!

Publisher and editorial content director Dan Cotter, 64, hired by Mr. Camp in 2018 after years of informal consulting for the Standard, is not a household name in Woodstock, though he is hands-on every issue. He owns a condo in the area and is here about half the month, returning to his home and wife in Chicago for the remainder. He has decades in the industry as an executive and consultant, was head of the New England Newspaper and Press Association, and takes a no-nonsense hard line on newspaper independence and objectivity. It’s an unusual situation but Mr. Camp, still the president of the company, has total confidence in Mr. Cotter and has turned over the Vermont Standard, its operation, assets and its future, to his close friend. Mr. Camp has indeed not “given up,” but hopes to ensure his dear newspaper’s future with this arrangement. 

So where does the Standard go now? Around the country, journalists are reinventing newspapers and online reporting. The most promising seems to be the non-profit model, where deductible contributions from community-minded supporters can be made even as the publication accepts subscription fees and what advertising there is left. There are indications that the Standard is moving in this direction, and the sooner the better, in my view. When I pressed Publisher Cotter on the issue, he responded with this very encouraging comment: 

“In the past couple of years, members of the community have literally kept the Standard alive with their donations — and a handful of them have given very substantial sums, even without the benefit of a tax break. That’s how much they value the role our local journalism plays in the quality of life in our area. We are working now to put the paper on a path to where donors could indeed have a tax benefit. For it is essential to our democracy and our own survival that we have the financial support we need from the community to maintain a news organization — modest as it is — that’s capable of producing good local journalism that adequately informs our citizens.”

I can’t imagine Woodstock without the Vermont Standard. The new business model provides great hope the paper will not only survive but as a Woodstock-based non-profit, continue to expand coverage to benefit all of us in this great community. 

Note: This (unpaid) column originated with me alone! 

Sandy Gilmour is a retired NBC News correspondent who lives in Woodstock.

Throughout the country newspapers are in a fight for their lives.          Here too.

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