Daybreak Tuesday 6/1/21

RABBIT RABBIT, UPPER VALLEY!

At least it'll be warmer. A weak low pressure system is passing through—following whatever-that-was that was in charge of the weekend—but though we'll see morning river-valley fog and widespread clouds, the sun will eventually get through and temps will rise into the 70s by early afternoon. Slight chance of showers in a few spots, and we may see wind gusts above 20 mph in the afternoon. Down into the high 40s tonight.Woodstock park transfer proposal divides town. At issue is Faulkner Park, set up in 1958 by Marianne Gaillard Faulkner as a place “to be used for rest and quiet and not for sports or other noisy activities,” Alex Hanson writes in the Valley News. The park's owned by a trust she set up, managed by JPMorgan Chase. The trustee, however, has proposed giving the parcel to the town, along with an endowment, and though "a cross-section of town officials, land conservationists, trails organizations, and others" like the idea, Hanson reports, two groups of residents have organized to challenge the move. In Pomfret, meanwhile, there was nothing but happiness this weekend. That's because the Teago General Store, closed for renovations over the past year, reopened on Saturday. It now sports a much larger kitchen, an ice cream window, new indoor seating, and a new deck with outdoor seating, reports Gareth Henderson on his Omni Reporter blog. Even before it opened, people were lining up outside, Henderson writes. “A general store, as a place for practical resources and community relating, is so vitally important to the life and heartbeat of a small town," owner Kathleen Dolan tells him.Families of Dartmouth students who died by suicide want more answers from college. On Sunday, the Valley News's Nora Doyle-Burr took a long look at the case of Elizabeth Reimer, who'd been hospitalized and then sent home after struggling with mental health issues; she died by suicide after receiving an email from an assistant dean on a course deadline she'd hoped to change. The college has since changed its deadline policy. Meanwhile, the family of Beau DuBray "also still have questions about their son’s time at Dartmouth," Doyle-Burr writes. In crisis? Call 1-800-273-TALK (8255) or text 741741.As lumber industry globalizes, a small Thetford mill carries on. "About a mile from where a water-powered mill once ran on the Ompompanoosuc River, Ellis Paige operates his private sawmill and transforms trees he harvests from his own land into valuable lumber," writes Li Shen in Sidenote. It runs off a re-jiggered 1945 International tractor, whose power take-off connects to the saw with pulleys and belts that Paige repurposed from an old corn chopper. Shen photographs the whole operation, from logs to planks and beams.Tractor Supply moves forward with Bradford plan. The town's planning commission, reports John Lippman in the VN, has okayed the giant tool, clothing, and farm-supply chain's proposal to build a 19,100-square-foot store on Route 5, south of Route 25. The developer hopes to begin building in the fall. The chain's arrival, Lippman notes, "could invade the turf" of both Farm-Way and building supply store Oakes Bros.; they both focus on goods Tractor Supply also carries. The stores' owners, though, are "not perturbed," Lippman writes, arguing they can compete on prices and local knowledge.“It felt like there was like a giant glass window just shattered." That's Sam McPhetres talking to VTDigger's Katie Jickling about the moment a message from a former Randolph classmate, Rose Earl, made her realize that both had been sexually victimized by former Randolph Union co-principal David Barnett. It was their decision to come forward in 2017 that led to Barnett's arrest. Jickling, who went to RUHS and knew Earl, writes that the public story so far "has lacked its most essential element: the stories of the young women who endured and survived the abuse." She tells them, in detail.Other half of crime-spree couple caught. You may remember that last weekend, VT State Police arrested Kevin Bent, originally of Randolph, after he stole a Silloway Septic truck in Chelsea. He and Amanda Conant were suspected in a series of burglaries and thefts (including of a 2007 Jeep Cherokee on which they'd spray-painted "Bonnie & Clyde 2021"); Conant escaped. Saturday, after a report that Conant had been sighted in Randolph, the VSP stopped a car in which she was the passenger. She's due to be arraigned in Windsor County Court today on burglary and vehicle theft charges.Men's head coaches at Dartmouth paid on average $40K more than women's coaches. That disparity, writes Frances Mize in the Valley News, is contained in an annual federal report required under the Equity in Athletics Disclosure Act of 1994. The average salary for the coaches of the 14 men's teams was $133,033 in the year ending June 30, 2020, compared to the $93,609 the 17 head coaches of women’s teams averaged. New interim athletic director Peter Roby tells her the disparities are part of a gender-equity review of the department. “We need to see where things have to be changed and where we need to be more thoughtful about compensation,” he says. A reason to check out meadows in the morning, plus good news for mayapples. It's the first week of June, and out in the woods—okay, this time it's out in the open—spiders are spinning sheet webs, which you can spot in the morning dew, writes Northern Woodlands' Elise Tillinghast. Mayapples, she says, produce magnolia-like flowers that are "easy to overlook, because they grow beneath the plants’ umbrella-like leaves"—last year they were hard to find, but seem to be having a better 2021 so far. Also out there: little bluets (also known as Quaker ladies), chestnut-sided warblers, and redstarts."I like vague." The first artist exhibiting at the new Kishka Gallery and Library in downtown WRJ will be Lucy Mink—who, Susan Apel writes in Artful, "lodged herself in my brain and stayed there after" after she first saw an exhibition of Mink's work at the now-closed Aidron Duckworth Museum. The pleasure Mink's paintings, gallery co-director Ben Finer tells Apel, "is in their inability to be simple, straightforward." The show—and gallery—open on Friday.Off to see Jorma. Sometime today, Thom Wolke will climb behind the wheel of his RV in Plainfield and point it toward Bennington—the first small step of a trip that will carry the former Claremont Opera House director and musicians' manager across the country, talking to musicians, venue directors, and others in the roots and Americana world about the changing music business. "I’m going to go on an adventure," he says. He describes his plans in a Daybreak interview. And, in observance of the 100th anniversary of the Tulsa Race Massacre yesterday and today, he points out a new song by his client Guy Davis, the great blues musician: "God's Gonna Make Things Over."Another guy hitting the road this week. Benjy Renton graduated this weekend from Middlebury, and in a few days he heads out to visit states around the country, in part to talk to people about differing vaccination rates and in part because he's curious about why different regions have responded so differently to the pandemic. Renton is the (now former) Middlebury student who emerged during the pandemic as a reliable and dogged consolidator of overlooked national and international data. He talks to VTDigger's Mike Dougherty about his highly unusual senior year in college.359. That's the number of distress calls NH Fish & Game responded to last year, either with in-person rescues (173) or by talking people out of trouble over the phone (186), reports Annmarie Timmins in New Hampshire Bulletin. They've already had some dramatic ones this year—including the woman who started hiking Mt. Monadnock an hour before sunset and fell over a rock ledge in the dark. The agency does all this with no guaranteed state funding: Its revenues come from donations; boat, snowmobile, and off-road vehicle registrations; and the sale of voluntary Hike Safe cards.First one, then two, then three... Gray fox kits, that is. Somewhere in NH, playing around right by Reddit user DaveLDog's shed. Definitely do not try this at home. Which you can't anyway, until the next time we get a volcano in these parts (looking at you, Ascutney). Down at the Pacaya Volcano, about 15 miles south of Guatemala City and still active, chef David Garcia has taken to baking pizza in amidst the lava flows. He says the pizzas bake at about 800 degrees, though it's a little tricky because the lava river itself can reach 2000. He just decided to try it one day, he tells AFP, and "When I tasted the flavor of the pizza cooked with the volcanic heat, I said, This is a good idea!" No word on whether his family agrees.

Catching up....

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