THETFORD TOWN NEWSLETTER

NO. 72         FEBRUARY 2010

 

 

TOWN CLERK IMPORTANT DATES:

 

TOWN REPORTS - should be mailed mid-February, and as they are sent bulk mail, will not be forwarded.  If you will be away, please call to request a copy.

 

PRE-TOWN MEETING—will be held February 15, 7:30pm, at town hall, to discuss the articles to be voted on at Town Meeting

 

TOWN MEETING -  will be held February 27, 9AM at the Thetford Elementary School Gymnasium

 

TOWN VOTING – March 2, 2010, 8am to 7pm at Town Hall

 

Submitted by Tracy Borst

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THETFORD ACADEMY NEWS AND NOTES

 

Thetford Academy commemorates its 191st year on February 5 with the 66th annual Founders’ Day celebration.  Please join us for a variety of activities on the TA campus from 7:40 am-noon.

 

*An exhibit of block prints from the Selamta Family Project is currently hanging in the White Building at Thetford Academy.  The graphic art works were created by the children of the Selamta Family Project in Addis Ababa and presents each child’s distinct cultural heritage.  The exhibit is compiled of block prints that have been drawn and carved by different children under the guidance of Thetford Academy alumna Jessica Chapman.  The public is welcome to view the exhibit Monday-Friday from 8:00 am-3:00 pm.  Please check in at the main office in the White Building upon arrival at TA.

 

*The Board of Trustees will hold its monthly meeting on Thursday, February 11, at 7:00 pm in the TA Library.  All are invited to attend.

 

*Friday, February 19 marks the date of the last scheduled basketball game in historic Anderson Hall.  Please join us as the Thetford Varsity boys take on Lamoille Union High School.  The PreGame ceremony will start at 7:00 pm and be followed by a half-time program and celebration at approximately 7:45 pm.

 

*TA will be closed Monday, February 22-Friday, February 26 for Winter Break.  Can spring be far away after that?  

 

Submitted by Wendy Cole

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TAKE HOME DINNERS IN THETFORD CENTER

Take home dinners available at the Thetford Center Community Building every Thursday in February, 4:00 - 6:00 p.m.

 

February

4th - Chicken Pot Pie, Cranberry, Cole Slaw

11th -  Lasagna, Texas Bread, Tossed Salad

18th -  Corn Chowder, Muffins, Tossed Salad

25th - Mac & Cheese, Ham, Tossed Salad

 

Assorted Pies and Cakes for Dessert

Price:  $6.50 each; 5 or more:  $6.00 each

To reserve meals, call 785-2687 by Thurs a.m.   Walk-ins Welcome

Sponsored by Thetford Center Community Association

 

Submitted by Bev Slack

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IT’S CHOWDER TIME AGAIN!
 
It's Chowder time again! Post Mills Church will host the annual Chowder Supper on February 20 at 5:30pm. Serving both fish and corn chowder, bread, salad, assorted desserts and beverage. Donations gratefully received.   Call 802-333-9803 (Barbara Condict) with questions. 
 
Submitted by Barbara Condict
 

 

IT’S NOT TO LATE TO DONATE


Hopefully you have noticed the thermometer sandwich board that occasionally appears on the Thetford Hill Green and at the elementary school. Friends of Thetford Education is pleased that we are two-thirds of our way to reaching our goal of $5000. Thanks to those who have already donated, and for those who have not, it’s not too late to make a donation. The FTE board will be meeting in March to make our annual funding decision, and we’ve already received some noteworthy proposals. The more funds we raise, the more projects we can fund.

 
Please consider making a donation today! Checks can be made payable to “Friends of Thetford Education” and mailed to Post Office Box 113, Thetford, VT 05074. We will also have a table at town meeting, if you’d prefer to drop off a check there. If you have questions, feel free to call Marty Jacobs (Chair) at 785-2606 or email at marty@systemsinsync.com. Thanks!


FTE is an organization consisting of parents who are dedicated to raising funds for the purpose of enhancing the educational enrichment of our children. Nearly 100% of the money we raise goes toward funding projects, field trips, special equipment, student performances, and other educational opportunities that are not covered by the school’s operating budget. FTE uses a very small amount to cover postage and minor operational expenses.

 

Submitted by Marty Jacobs

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THETFORD COMMUNITY GARDEN

 

Announcing the all-new Thetford Community Garden.  All Thetford residents are welcome! 

 

Have you always wanted to garden but you have a black thumb, your yard is too shady, hilly, or rocky? Are you afraid you can’t do it alone? Then a community garden is for you!


The garden is located on the Common (across from Town Hall). There will be a limited number of plots available by lottery. You must sign up by March 30, 2010. The cost is $10 plus a ten-dollar refundable deposit when your garden plot is cleaned up in the fall. (Waivers are available.)


To sign up, contact: Donna Walter, 333-9833, or Hilary Linehan, 785-2922, ext. 6, or stop by the Town Hall and leave your contact info and we’ll contact you.  For more information contact: Donna Walter



The Thetford Garden Committee would like to thank the following folks for their donations of products or services to the Garden:  Long Wind Farm, Cedar Circle Farm, Jay Clark, Jay Van Arman, J&M Landscaping, High Mowing Seeds, Farmway, North Country Organics, Nancy Limbaugh.


Lori Harriman, Secretary, Thetford Garden Committee


The Thetford Community Garden will gladly accept donations of seeds and/or used garden tools in working condition. (e.g.  shovels, wheelbarrows, hand trowels, rakes, hoes:  trapezoid hoe, stirrup hoe)  Please contact Andy Rowles, 785-2290.  Leave a message.

 

Submitted by Lori Harriman

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THETFORD ENERGY COMMISSION LIGHT BULB SALE

 

The  TEC will once again be selling energy-efficient compact fluorescent bulbs and LED nightlights at this year's town meeting - 9am, Sat. Feb. 27, at the Thetford Elementary School Gymnasium. These bulbs use 25% of the electricity of incandescent bulbs, last 8 to 10 times longer, and pay for themselves through electric savings in a year. Discounts on bulbs will be available to all on-grid Vermont residents, courtesy of Efficiency Vermont. Proceeds from the sale go to support Sustainable Energy Resource Group for organizing the sale and their other assistance to the town.
 

Submitted by Alice Stewart 
 

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Thetford Yoga Classes – Open to All


Mondays 6:00-7:30PM

Thetford Community Center, Rte 113

 

Thursdays, 6:30-8:00PM

Thetford Community Center, Route 113

 

Submitted by Carole Petrillo, carole.petrillo@gmail.com or 802.785.4605

 

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WARMTH IN WINTER SERIES

 

The Thetford Energy Committee's popular Warmth in the Winter series returns for 2010. Join us Sundays at 7 pm at the Thetford Hill Church (across from the Green):

 

February 14, Film,  Transforming Energy, a hopeful 2007 documentary about alternative energy's potential to solve problems caused by climate change and the probable end of oil as our dominant energy source. 


February 21, Kids PJ party with classic film interpretation of Dr. Suess's The Lorax.  Feel free to wear your pajamas or your daytime clothes. 

 

March 7, Vermont Law School professor Pat Parenteau will present on the hazards of coal, including carbon dioxide and mountain top removal. As Vermont debates extending the license of Vermont Yankee, the state needs to think about the alternatives, including buying power generated by coal-fired power plants. 

 

All events are free and include refreshments. Donations are appreciated and will be used to further the TEC's work to help the town and its residents conserve energy.

 

TEC Tip of the Month

Idling your car gets zero miles to the gallon and walking behind an idling car isn't pleasant. Save money, save fuel, and give your neighbors a break by turning off your engine at stores in town, the post office, the recycling center, and the school parking lots. Remember that modern vehicles need little warm-up; they’re most efficient when being driven because driving warms up the catalytic converter and other mechanical parts not warmed by idling. Idling for long periods in cold weather can actually cause excessive engine wear. According to the US Department of Energy, “[t]he best way to warm up a vehicle is to drive it. No more than 30 seconds of idling on winter days is needed. Anything more simply wastes fuel and increases emissions.” NPR’s Car Talk Guys suggest 30 seconds of warm-up when it’s 25 degrees out, and a minute if it’s 10 degrees or lower. Consult your vehicle manual for the manufacturer’s advice on appropriate vehicle warm-up. 

 

Submitted by Alice Stewart (for the Thetford Energy Committee)

 

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Financial Caregiver

 

Carole Petrillo provides bookkeeping and other helpful tasks for people that have lost their partner or for children that are Caregiving their parents and need financial support.  For more details, please view http://carolepetrillo.com.

 

Submitted by Carole Petrillo, carole.petrillo@gmail.com or 802.785.4605

 

 

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Please support the Lake Fairlee Association's proposed milfoil treatment

 

The Lake Fairlee Association has decided to apply an herbicide to the lake late this spring to drastically reduce the extent of milfoil growth in our lake.  We have made this decision after consultation with the best experts we could find, after three well attended public hearings, after lots of publicity, and after considerable debate among our members.  We have tried to involve as many interested parties as possible in the discussion.  Nonetheless, the decision to hire the lake management experts and to apply for the permit was made by a relatively small group of people.

 

We have made this decision reluctantly, because each of us loves the lake, and none would choose this chemical intervention as a preferred course of action.  We believe that it is necessary, that the health of the lake is threatened, and that we have exhausted other means.  We have acted because action is required by circumstance, and because there is no one else who might step in to save our lake.

 

The lake is owned by the State of Vermont.  It is bordered by the towns of Fairlee, Thetford, and West Fairlee.  Members of the Selectboards of each of the three towns have inquired by what authority we have made this decision.  Each has raised the question whether such action ought not require a public vote.  Yet none of the Selectboards was willing to undertake the project itself.  Fortunately we have an active and generous Association membership which has taken responsibility for the removal and control of the invasive nuisance, Eurasian milfoil.  Over the past decade the Lake Fairlee Association has spent more than $700,000 controlling the milfoil.  Funds for this program have been obtained through grants from the State of Vermont, appropriations from the three towns, and private donations. 

 

Whose lake is it, anyway?

 

The State of Vermont regulates the use of any chemicals in its waterbodies very strictly.  In their wisdom they allow either municipalities or organizations such as our lake association to manage such uses.  Most lakes are completely within the boundaries of a single town, and that town becomes the natural project manager and permit applicant.  The Vermont Department of Environmental Conservation advised us that in Lake Fairlee’s case an herbicide permit might be granted to any one of the towns or to the lake association.

 

So for the time being we are stuck with the present arrangement.  In an ideal world the three towns might someday form a joint Commission to manage the lake, which would be a politically ordained governing body, subject to a popular vote.  For now the lake needs attention, desperately, and the Lake Fairlee Association has stepped forward to do its best.

 

The Association depends in part on grants from each of the three towns to do what it does to manage the milfoil.  We are grateful for their support.  Each winter at town meeting voters have an opportunity to decide whether their town will continue to fund our program.  This is one way in which all of the voters in the three towns will have a say.

 

Lake Fairlee is a public good.  It does not belong to just the three surrounding towns.  The lake is used and enjoyed by many who are residents of other towns, or who are only seasonal visitors.  Some of these people are long time Association members.  Each year Lake Fairlee is used by hundreds of children at the four summer camps around the lake.  These summer camps also have long supported our milfoil program.  Families and children from near and far use the Treasure Island public beach.  Fisherman come to the lake from the surrounding region summer and winter.  The Lake Fairlee Association is acting for the lake and on behalf of all of these groups.

 

 

 

 

Our Request for Endorsements

 

In preparation for the coming Town Meetings, and as a partial answer to those who may be concerned that such an important decision be made by a small group without political accountability, we are asking friends, residents, and lake users to lend their names in support of the following proposition.

 

We support the Lake Fairlee Association’s proposed milfoil treatment

 

Eurasian Milfoil is a non-native, aggressively invasive plant species which has now spread to more than 25% of the waters near the shore of Lake Fairlee.  It rapidly crowds out native plants, reduces biodiversity, and diminishes fish habitats. It threatens to render shoreline areas of the lake unusable for swimming and boating. It has exceeded our ability to control it by conventional means.

 

There is an herbicide, triclopyr, that has been used safely and effectively in other lakes with similar problems, including neighboring Lake Morey.  The State of Vermont has determined that there is negligible risk to public health if the treatment is done correctly.  Although it is man-made chemical, triclopyr acts as a focused metabolic inhibitor and has not been shown to alter the ecology of complex biologic systems such as our lake.  The Lake Fairlee Association has made application to the State Department of Environmental Conservation for a permit to treat our lake with triclopyr next June.

 

We believe that this is a necessary and prudent step.  Although as a rule we oppose putting foreign substances in the lake, this intervention is reasonable and is warranted by the circumstances.  Therefore we support and endorse the decision to use this treatment.  At the same time, we urge that other means continue to be explored, and that traditional methods be used wherever appropriate, with the goal of minimizing the amount of herbicide used.

 

At this writing we have received endorsements from the directors of all four childrens' camps on the lake, from the Thetford Conservation Commission, and from four MD's who live on the lake.  Please indicate your support for this decision by emailing your name and zipcode to skip@lakefairlee.org.

 

Skip Brown

Lake Fairlee Association, Milfoil Program Coordinator

333-4541
skip@lakefairlee.org
more information at http://lakefairlee.org

 

 

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NEWSLETTER SUBMISSION INFO

 

The deadline for submissions is the 20th of each month.  Send news including contact name and telephone number to Sheila Fifield at Sheila.fifield@aol.com.  Please list Thetford Town Newsletter in subject line.