Vermont's Nuclear Fallout Jitters, From Chernobyl to Fukushima
It was not published elsewhere at the time (maybe even since) that, unofficially, the Federal EPA's first notice of the Chernobyl meltdown came from a vigilant Vermont public health physicist, Paul Clemons, seen in the photo I took at left, reading an atmospheric fallout measurement on the rooftop of his office building in Montpelier, Vermont. I interviewed him shortly after the meltdown. This later article looks back on Vermont's rapid responses to monitor nuclear drift from both Chernobyl and again in 2011 when Japan's Fukushima nuclear power plant failed to withstand a devastating tsunami following a 9.0 earthquake. April 2011 in The [Montpelier, VT] Bridge) Photo: Ricka McNaughton
Edgar May, Vermont Senator with a Pulitzer in his Back Pocket
While serving in the Vermont Senate, Edgar May told me that he was better known as the brother of Madeleine Kunin, Vermont’s first woman governor, than for anything he did before that. But he’d done a lot. Few knew that as a former journalist in upstate New York, he created a fake identity to pose as a social worker in order to expose an ailing welfare system. In a letter he wrote to me after this article’s publication (attached for the sake of documentation), Sen. May kindly informed me that I was the first to publish an account of the undercover work he did leading to his Pulitzer. I hadn’t known that. I was very touched. (Vermont News & Views Feb. 1989.)
Rare Book Reveals Bizarre War Machines
You don’t have to have an interest in military matters to be intrigued by the illustrations in an ultra-rare volume published in 1532, residing in Norwich (VT) University’s Special Collections Library. If you can read Latin you might be even more intrigued. (The Barre-Montpelier Times Argus Aug. 2011)
Hansel and Gretel Run for National Office
Whatever the outcome of the November (‘24) election, history will likely fail to record the political aspirations of two remarkable Minnesota candidates who sought to make a difference on the national stage. It’s partly because these contenders were at a loss to articulate their respective platforms or party allegiances. That’s because they are dogs.
White Bear Press (MN) Oct. 9, 2024
The $59 Million Question
Was the Vermont Treasurer’s Office doing enough to find people and businesses who didn’t know they had money coming to them? On the State’s Unclaimed Property list were many familiar names (companies, government agencies) it wouldn’t be hard at all to contact. Why then didn’t they? The answer made some sense, in a way. (Seven Days)
The Refueling of Plainfield, Vermont
As a spate of new businesses brought change to this small, community-spirited Vermont town, anti-competition maneuvers by convenience store chain own and gasoline wholesaler-retailed Skip Vallee raised local ire. His actions also spotlighted Vallee’s legal battles with Sen. Bernie Sanders over gasoline price-fixing in another part of the state. Vallee also served as former President G.W. Bush’s ambassador to Slovakia and was active in national Republican Party affairs. This is a reprinted series of articles combined from The (Montpelier, VT) Bridge. Photo Credit Freyne Land, Seven Days Blog
TV’s “The Voice” Finalist Nicole Nelson and Partner: A Profile
When Nicole Nelson wrung every gorgeously controlled drop of ecstasy and angst from Leonard Cohen’s sensual poem-hymn “Hallelujah,” on NBC-TV’s “The Voice, it’s a fair bet that of the show’s 12 million or so addicted fans, a whole lot of them caught the perfect shot of musical adrenaline they craved. In Season 3, Nicole lost in a knock-out round to Loren Allred who (an update here) would go on to voice the hit song “Never Enough” in the movie “The Greatest Showman.” Nicole and her musical partner Dwight Richter kindly invited me to their waterfront apartment in Burlington (VT) to get acquainted prior to their performance at Vermont’s Flying Stage. Montpelier Bridge, Nov. 2015 Photo: Provided
Houghton Cate DIY’d His Own Electricity
In rural North Calais, Vermont, electricity didn’t arrive until the 1930’s. So before that, Houghton Cate, who was 91-years old when he recounted this venture, helped his father build a water-powered turbine on the family farm. And later, on his own place of business, Houghton built his own turbine from an ingenious collection of re-used materials. Houghton was legally blind from boyhood.
The Risky Work of a Vermont State Police Diver
When this was written, it had been a very bad year for drownings in the state. In fact, no one could recall a worse one. When we hear of a drowning, few of us think too much about what risks divers may face to recover a body. Rather, our thoughts naturally drift toward the victims. By the time VSP divers get the call it’s nearly always a recovery operation, not a rescue. But it is they who bring home the deceased to their loved ones. And in doing so, the divers help with the emotional rescue of the living. Also attached to this article is a tribute to Trooper Gary Gaboury, a member of the dive team featured in this story, who six years later died while attempting to recover the body of a drowning victim at a notoriously treacherous site.
Rare Leucistic Cardinal Pays a Visit
There’s a wild creature in town with a white head and underside that aren’t normally white. It’s a bird I’ve come to know. While it’s hardly the stuff of legends, it’s a beguiling little specimen that many North American bird enthusiasts never get to see for themselves. Probably for as long as we’ve had means to describe the creatures around us, humans have assigned special importance to all sorts of animals born with a coloring that’s unusual for its type. We celebrate them according to differing world views -as intriguing genetic mutations, as bringers of tidings or long-awaited change. Even, sadly, as hunted trophy animals. White Bear Press (MN), Mar. 6, 2019.