Life, Law, and Politics in the Northeast Kingdom

This may be the last time I can make a strawberry-rhubarb pie. The rhubarb’s all gone from my garden and I suspect the Farmers’ Market will be out next weekend, as well. As for the strawberries, I think their time is up, too.

I took some photos through the process of pie-making today, starting with the laying out of some of the ingredients.

This weekend, I splurged and bought a new pastry rolling pin. Makes me feel like a professional!

Always chill the dough before rolling out, that’s one of my mantras.

And chill again after placing in the baking dish.

I’ve learned to always place a rim protector over the edge, immediately as it goes into the oven.

We’ll have this tonight for dessert….

For anyone interested, here’s the recipe I used.

Yesterday, we set off north on Route 102, arguably one of Vermont’s most beautiful byways. Here were stops we made along the way, with interesting little tidbits.

The historic McDade Cemetery in Maidstone.

Another photo of the sculpture/sign at the Richardson’s.

The Stratford-Hollow Bridge, from Maidstone to North Stratford, NH. (It was closed for almost 20 years, until it reopened in 2005).

The Maidstone town historic marker, in front of the Maidstone Town Offices.

Finally, home.

We went for a 14 mile bike ride up into Maidstone this morning. (Trying to take advantage of the sun while we had it!).

We discovered this little gem of sculpture-art-advertising at the entrance to Mary and Bruce Richardson’s driveway.

Mary Richardson is an extraordinarily talented and meticulous framer of photographs, artwork, and any and all graphics you give her. Whenever we need something framed, that’s where we go. Last year, when I opened my law office, I took my diplomas and my Vermont bar admissions to her for framing. I didn’t tell her what kind of material or colors to use. I didn’t need to–I’ve come to trust her judgment implicitly. I simply left the framing choices to her. And of course, she did a fabulous job. To learn more about her, visit her website here.

Her husband Bruce Richardson is an accomplished graphic and web designer, as well as a painter, too. In fact, he has an opening of his art work at WREN in Bethlehem, NH, which we’re attending tomorrow night!

The understated, yet intriguing multicolored frames hanging from a tree branch in the middle of the Maidstone forest, turning lazily in the breeze–very impressive, Mary!

For years, I’ve been lamenting the lack of strawberries for sale in our corner of Vermont. We’ve got farms and farmers galore, but no one grows strawberries for sale. Four or five years ago, someone in South Lunenburg tended a large pick-your-own strawberry field for two years, then disappeared, sadly. Other than that, we’ve always had to drive over an hour south, to Bradford, Vermont for them.

But now I and my fellow strawberry-lovers have reason to celebrate. This year, Mike, Tim and Peggy Cahill are offering strawberries for sale at the Lancaster Farmers’ Market and at a farm stand at their home on Rt 2 near the Lunenburg-Guildhall line.

The strawberries are big, luscious, tasty, and organic. No pesticides. The Cahills’ strawberry field is located on leased land just north of us on Route 102 in Maidstone, Vermont. The crop was started last year and this is the first yield. When I talked with Tim Cahill at today’s Farmers’ Market in Lancaster, he confessed that raising strawberries for sale is hard work, but worth it in the end. Although part of this year’s crop suffered some blight due to the heavy rains, 70% of the strawberry field has thrived.

I’m so excited!

This is the garden/yard of Opal Potter. Mrs. Potter passed away recently. She was a talented gardener, both of vegetables and flowers. I’ve always admired her garden. The house and grounds are uninhabited now, and wild lupine has taken over the yard.

Here is the area known as the Guildhall Town Forest. Conserved for posterity, by the Nature Conservancy.

Baby corn plants in the field heading up the North Rd.

At the Town line.

The beautiful, idyllic pond at the end of Tamarack Lane. The mosquitoes attacked us so badly I only had time to snap one photo!

Entering the Bog of Maidstone.

The incredibly appealing babbling brook on the North Rd.

Across the green, between the old jailhouse and the Church, there’s a discreet wooded path that leads up a hill to Courthouse Hill Cemetery.

I’m told by our town historians that the Courthouse was once on the footprint of this little cemetery and was moved down to its present location some time in the mid to late 19th century.

This is a beloved spot. This morning, on our morning walk with dogs, I decided to take a photograph of every single one of the gravemarkers, 45 in all. Here’s a slide show of them all.

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Here are several photos of the Connecticut River behind our house. It has finally ceased raining, and when the sun peeked out about an hour ago, we managed to capture the rainbow over Cape Horn. The river is swollen and still rising. It hasn’t come over the embankment just below our yard yet, but it sure is getting close.

Last night, we went up to Lunenburg, Vermont (a 20 minute drive) to have dinner with Connolly and Elizabeth. As we sipped our glasses of chardonnay and munched on cheese and crackers, the snow began to fall, and then blow outside. Snow on May 25. Before it got dark, the white stuff had accumulated and there was a stark, surreal contrast between it and the green of the meadow and foliage.

I’ve spent my weekend so far baking, reading, and shopping for selected plants for the garden. Up in Lunenburg, I’ve already planted a few selected cold-weather crops such as spinach, peas, lettuce and radishes. But living up here in Zone 3, I would never dream of putting warm weather crops like tomatoes, eggplants or peppers outside before Memorial Day. This time around, even M.D. isn’t safe for that. Tomorrow, if the weather’s warm, I’m hoping that I can at least do some garden prep and maybe put in some broccoli. Pictured here are the little plants I bought yesterday: four different kinds of basil, sage, rosemary, celery, tomato, pepper and eggplant. I’ll probably keep them inside for another week or maybe even two.

Yesterday, I baked apricot-almond and cherry-chocolate rugelach, almond macaroons, and orange-cashew biscotti. This morning, apricot-ginger muffins and cherry-almond scones, photographed here.

And here’s what I’m reading in between all these oh-so-domestic activities:
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(I highly recommend it!)

For the sake of public knowledge, I thought I’d publish two recent documents, in which the Guildhall School Board acknowledges that their past conduct was unlawful, specifically, that the conflict of interest law and Vermont’s Open Meeting Law were violated.

The Board, through their attorney, filed this document: Guildhall School District, Pleading to Court at Essex County Superior Court this past week. A day or two later, this statement, guildhall_written_statement_re_lawsuit was posted on the Guildhall Town website.

Again, long overdue but much appreciated.

It’s been a while since I’ve written anything about the continuing saga of the Guildhall School Board controversy. But I’m now pleased to learn that our School Board has finally owned up publicly to its past mistakes.

As many will remember, in the late summer of 2011, one of the then-Board members joined with the Board majority in voting to pay tuition for his own child to attend an out-of-district school. This vote happened in spite of the fact that the electorate had, just months before, said no to the tuitioning out of any grade below 6th grade. It happened in spite of a Vermont statute which specifically states that School Board members shall not vote in a matter that will benefit them financially.

And to add insult to injury, that vote took place at what appeared to be an illegally called meeting, which the Board now admits was improperly warned, in violation of Vermont’s Open Meeting Law.

In the aftermath of that vote, there was a groundswell of outrage among townspeople, as you might imagine. Letters were written, petitions were submitted, and citizens attended School Board meetings in record numbers to voice their concerns about the Board’s actions. Yet the School Board majority stood their ground and refused to either rescind the action or even admit error.

After a slew of grass-roots activity, finally, a group of 10 taxpayers and voters filed a lawsuit in Essex County Superior Court asking the Court to declare the votes null and void. As I understand it, the lawsuit asked for no monetary damages, but simply asked that the Court declare the vote illegal and make the Board member in question pay for his own child’s tuition. In fact, many people in town, whether their names were on the lawsuit or not, felt that this was the least the Board should do, in light of the fact that so many families over the years have had to pay with their own money if they chose to send their child out of district.

Today, as reported in the Caledonian-Record, the School Board has finally admitted publicly, to the Court, that the Board violated the law, as it relates to conflict of interest and Vermont’s open meeting law. (The School District’s Memorandum to the Court is available to the public at the Essex County Court).

I frankly wish the School Board had owned up to its mistakes much earlier than this. If they had done so early in the game, we could have avoided much of the anger, outrage and divisiveness in our Town, and I suspect there might have been no need for litigation. In the end, it appears that perhaps the threat of a prolonged trial and the attendant publicity was enough to get the Board to finally admit error–something that was long overdue. Still, this goes a long way toward restoring confidence once again in our Board.

Now that the Board has conceded that its conduct was unlawful, we shall see what remedy the Court will order. Stand by.

This is Marion Elsie Hodge Klinefelter, who passed away last week, on March 6. The photo was taken some time during 2009, at either the Hunters’ Supper or Mother’s Day Brunch at the Guild Hall. I remember being surprised and happy to see Marion because she had been sick and confined to her home for some time. But she looked well that night and told me how much better she was feeling. When I asked if I could take her picture, she smiled and said “of course!”

Marion’s roots in Guildhall ran deeper than almost anyone here. Her grandfather Ida Hodge fought in the Civil War and then lived in a home in Guildhall, a place I regularly pass on my daily runs.

Both Marion and her husband John Klinefelter had special places in my heart. They were an extraordinary couple, intelligent, witty, adventurous, open and forthcoming. On one occasion during our first year in Guildhall, Edward and I went biking on some dirt paths by the Connecticut River. We ended up stuck in tall grass, not exactly sure of our location, and under siege by mosquitos. We headed toward Rt 102 hand pushing our bikes through nearly impassable brush, and came out behind a house. We hesitated, not wanting to trespass on a stranger’s property, but knowing no other way back to the road. Then we saw a man waving to us cheerfully from his back porch. He called us over, sat us down on his back porch, called Marion out, and insisted on serving us ice tea. That was our first encounter with John Klinefelter, or, as I came to call him, “Uncle John” and Marion.

The Klinefelters were an important part of our lives those first years in Guildhall. They went out of their way to make us feel welcome. During my first year as Town Clerk, I had occasion to work often with John Klinefelter, who was a Guildhall Justice of the Peace. I look back fondly on the many afternoons I spent sitting with the Klinefelters in their living room talking about Guildhall history, election results, local politics, and lots of other interesting matters. When I decided to run for Town Treasurer in 2007, John and Marion were among my strongest supporters, campaigning tirelessly for me and giving me encouragement and advice as I undertook a new and unfamiliar job.

Marion was an endless source of fascinating local history. I will never forget the day that she and Uncle John came to our home in Guildhall (known as the Benton Cottage) and we sat on the porch drinking wine. As the shadows lengthened outside, Marion told us how in her late teens, she had worked for the Benton family, and therefore spent lots of time in our home. She then proceeded to give us a little mini-history of every single room in the house, with anecdotes about how each room had been used. It was a great day.

Rest in peace, Marion Hodge Klinefelter.