Compiled by Mike Eldred

The beginning of 2009 started quietly enough, as local residents recovered from a tremendous ice storm that struck at the end of 2008. But several controversies brewed throughout the spring and summer. Wilmington residents debated the merits of the pergola, a structure located in the town’s new Bank Park. Whitingham residents questioned the future of education in their town. Readsboro struggled with the management of their municipal utilities.

January

The valley welcomed the Winter Dew Tour, an event that promised to bring as many as 20,000 fans and television notoriety to Mount Snow and the valley. Almost 300 of the world’s top snowboarders and freestyle skiers descended on the valley, along with hundreds of support personnel, entertainers, and television crews. The spectacular event put Mount Snow’s new terrain park at Carinthia in the national spotlight.

Also in January, less than a week before his last day in office, President George Bush signed a disaster declaration requested weeks earlier by Governor Jim Douglas. The declaration opened the door to federal emergency funding to help towns in Windham and Bennington counties recover from a severe ice storm in December. The ice storm cut power to thousands of residents, some for as long as 10 days, and caused damage to houses, utility poles, trees, and vehicles. A week after the presidential declaration, FEMA and other federal representatives swarmed the area, meeting with local representatives to help get the federal aid flowing. In some towns, storm-related work continued as late into the year as June.

And after more than a year without a fire chief, Wilmington hired Boxborough, MA, public works director and fire training officer Ken March to head the department. March quickly settled into the role.

February

In February, the Twin Valley School Board began discussing a new idea for solving issues at the high school facility in Wilmington: the consolidation of Whitingham and Wilmington’s elementary schools. With a combined K-12 program, board members theorized, they might be able to consolidate the two towns’ elementary schools at Deerfield Valley Elementary School, turn the school facility in Whitingham into a middle/high school, and scrap the current high school. In 2008, the state froze school capital construction aid except for consolidation projects that result in the overall reduction of facilities. If the towns were to approve a K-12 “merger,” half of any approved costs would be reimbursed by the state. But the option would stir some Whitingham voters to call for a dissolution of the Twin Valley Joint School District later in the year.

March

In March, Twin Valley’s Junior Iron Chefs were gearing up for competition. More than 40 middle school students, and three high school students, participated in a “cook-off” in the middle school gymnasium to determine which teams would face competition in the statewide event in Essex Junction.

It was only the second year of the competition and, in the first year, Twin Valley set the standard when they snatched the top award away from several bigger schools. Could they do it again? The answer came the following weekend when the Twin Valley High School team, Stevie Cunningham-Darrah, Chelsea Schneider, and Shannon Lozito, took “best in show” with their “Huevos Mullenos Hakuna Matata,” a dish inspired by traditional Mexican cuisine.

Also in March, voters in Deerfield Valley towns took action on a number of measures on Town Meeting Day. In Dover, voters struck down an article aimed at cutting the amount of local option tax available for the Dover Economic Development Committee’s efforts by half. Proponents of the measure sought to use half of the money for property tax reduction. Voters packed Town Hall for the discussion, and the measure failed on a paper ballot vote, 139 to 39.

At the other end of the valley, Readsboro voters defeated two articles that had the backing of the selectboard. A ballot question calling for the sale of Readsboro’s municipal electric company gained 156 votes in favor to 117 opposed, falling short of the two-thirds majority needed to approve the sale. Another article asking the town to approved $1.4 million in bonds to finance upgrades to the town’s water system failed by three votes, 139 to 136. Readsboro also voted to raise $35,000 for a town manager, but the position hasn’t been filled.

Mount Snow continued to inch closer to their decades-long quest for snowmaking water. Resort officials reacted to the state of Vermont’s concerns about bear habitat near a proposed water withdrawal site for their West Lake project by proposing a new location closer to the future pond. Resort officials said the new site would not only allay the state’s concerns, it would save energy. Under the new plan, the resort would draw water out of Cold Brook during snowmelt each year. The water would be used for fall and winter snowmaking.

April

A group of local residents fired the first volley in what would prove to be a divisive and contentious issue that still hasn’t been resolved. Kelly Kahler, along with several other residents, began circulating a petition calling for the removal of the pergola in the Bank Park, which was still under construction. Kahler said his chief concern was that the structure, in his opinion, was not historical, and didn’t conform to the historical design concept. He said he would like to see a public discussion on the issue. (Ironically, perhaps, opponents of the pergola later introduced a petition calling for an Australian ballot on the matter.)

April also saw a petition in Whitingham, where a group of residents concerned about a proposal to consolidate Whitingham and Wilmington’s elementary schools presented their school board with a petition signed by 132 voters to terminate the Twin Valley contract. The circumstances and the reasoning for the petition were reminiscent of an earlier petition to end the joint contract brought in 2006. In related discussions, school board members estimated that the towns could save over $650,000 per year through the proposed consolidation.

Through the use of DNA, Wilmington police arrested a Newport man for a pair of burglaries that had taken place nearly two years earlier. In the process of breaking into one of the houses the burglar cut himself on broken glass. Police collected a blood sample and sent it to the Vermont Department of Public Safety’s Forensic Lab where it was matched to the suspect during a routine search of the database.

Also in April, tragedy struck when Robert Murphy, 53, of Wilmington, was reported missing. Police discovered Murphy’s ball cap at the bottom of an embankment along the Deerfield River, along the route they suspected he had last taken. Police scent dogs and dive teams searched the river several times, and police continued to search the river and Harriman Reservoir by boat, but Murphy’s body wasn’t to be found until the following month.

May

Voters in Whitingham sent a decisive message on the future of education in the Deerfield Valley, voting almost three to one to defeat the referendum question that would have dissolved the Twin Valley School District. Of the 411 voters who came out to the polls, 300 voted to maintain Twin Valley. The number of voters in favor of the split was lower than the number of voters who signed the petition calling for the vote. The results closely mirrored a similar petitioned referendum in October 2006, which failed 272 to 127. In that vote, the number of votes cast in favor of the split was also lower than the 144 signatures on the petition.

Haystack Club, a planned private membership ski club at the former Haystack Ski area, held the area’s attention throughout the year. Club owners declined to pay their lease for land at the resort owned by the town in 2009, and the town took the base lodge at tax sale after Haystack failed to pay taxes owed on the building. In May, the ownership status of Haystack was thrown into question when Wilmington officials received notice that all assets had been transferred to Alt Charities Inc., a company headed by G. Tyler Henshaw. Later it was learned that Henshaw was an associate of Bob Foisie, the developer of the club.

Representative Peter Welch, a Democrat, joined one of his Republican colleagues, Texas Representative Ted Poe, on the site of the Battle of the Wilderness in Virginia to oppose the proposed construction of a Wal-Mart near the Civil War battlefield. Historian Howard Coffin called the Battle of the Wilderness Vermont’s most important moment in the Civil War. Vermont soldiers, including many from the Deerfield Valley, held a strategic position on the battlefield for two days despite heavy opposition from Confederate forces and no reinforcements. Vermont troops suffered heavy casualties. Welch said the proposed Wal-Mart would “compromise the historic nature of the site.”

Halifax town employees were disappointed to learn that there would be no raises for the fiscal year, thanks to a level funded budget approved at Town Meeting. Selectboard members offered to make Town Meeting day a holiday for employees but, according to selectboard chair John LaFlamme, “They said that even if we gave them Town Meeting day off they wouldn’t come, and personally, I don’t blame them.” Road crew members were incensed about questions raised by voters over employee raises, overtime, and bonuses.

June

In June, Readsboro voters revisited two ballot questions defeated at Town Meeting, with the same result. This time 94 residents voted against selling Readsboro’s electric utility and 137 voted in favor of selling the utility – but it was still two votes short of the two-thirds majority needed to pass the measure. Voters also declined to pass a $1.4 million bond for state-mandated repairs to the town’s water system. Board members, determined to bring the system into compliance, agreed to hold another vote on the matter as soon as possible.

Despite controversy over the design of the pergola, the town’s Bank Park was completed ahead of schedule, and under budget.

Wilmington listers were bracing for more than 670 grievances after the town’s first reappraisal in a decade. Property values increased by an estimated 75% since the town’s 1999 reappraisal, and many property owners were shocked to find their listed values substantially increased. Listers finished their hearings and rendered decisions in early July. The town’s board of civil authority continues to hear appeals.

The trial of David Boglioli, accused in the shooting death of his neighbor George Riccitelli, got underway in Windham District Court in Brattleboro. The start of the trial was delayed when the court exhausted a pool of 98 potential jurors. Subpoenas were issued for 30 more people before a jury could be seated.