| Teachers, staff and parents gather in a play room at the Family Center of Washington County in Montpelier for a meeting recently. The room is shared by numerous groups with competing needs. The center hopes to relocate to a new facility with more space off Berlin Street on Sherwood Avenue.
Photo: Jeb Wallace-Brodeur/Times Argus |
MONTPELIER – An organization that provides services to nearly 4,000 central Vermont children and parents each year is planning to move from its basement dwellings on College Street. But would-be neighbors worry the Washington County Family Center will bring unwanted traffic and noise to their peaceful Sherwood Drive community.
More than a dozen Sherwood Drive residents showed up at City Hall last Wednesday to decry plans for what could be a 12,000-square-foot facility on a 10-acre parcel of land in Montpelier. Appalled by lack of notice about the project as well as potential impacts on a neighborhood made up largely of retirees, residents spoke out against the proposal.
"This neighborhood is a single-family neighborhood. Many residents … are either retired or about to retire," said Sherwood Drive homeowner Walter Farnham. "It's a rather tranquil neighborhood and we have concerns about traffic, noise and other issues that may come up."
Other neighbors were upset by a perceived lack of effort by the Family Center to notify residents about the plans. Representatives from the Family Center had scheduled a meeting with residents late last year, but canceled because the proposal was in such an early stage that that they didn't have much helpful information to offer, according to Lee Lauber, executive director of the Family Center.
"You're not doing a good job of being a good neighbor at this point," said Sherwood Drive resident Joan VanCour. "We were promised that a meeting would be called and we could come talk to you."
Family Center representatives suffered the barrage during a City Council meeting in which they had hoped the council would agree to apply for a $30,000 planning grant on the center's behalf. The center would combine the grant money with $62,000 of its own funds to pay for design plans for the new building.
"We're very much in need of a more safe and healthy building," Lauber told the council.
But council members, concerned about neighbors' protestations, opted to table the measure until Jan. 25 so that the Family Center could meet with Sherwood residents. That meeting will take place Tuesday.
The Family Center is located in the basement of Vermont College's Schulmayer Hall on College Street. The cinder block walls, leaky ceilings, poor ventilation and small playground aren't conducive to educational services delivered by the center, Lauber said. The center provides programs to infants, tod-dlers and 4-, 5-, and 6-year old children. A total of 44 children are enrolled at the school.
In addition to in-school programs, the center's 45 staff members visit homes across Washington County to advise parents and teach children who can't come to the school. Among the Family Center's more popular programs are its playgroups for parents and children and an evening playgroup specifically for fathers and their children. It also offers parent education and outreach activities and training for child care providers.
Lauber said the center has been seeking land in Montpelier since it severed its affiliation with Norwich University 11 years ago. Established connections with the Montpelier school district, Lauber said, makes it important for the center to stay in the capital city.
"We have a history of working very collaboratively together (with Montpelier), so that relationship is very important to us and to the school district," Lauber said. "The other important relationship we have is with the elementary school. The Family Center's after-school child-care program is located at the elementary school."
Lauber said she's eager to hear the concerns of Sherwood residents and incorporate those concerns into the planning process. The center plans to purchase the 10 acres in May. The wooded lot includes the Jehovah's Witness Kingdom Hall, which would be used in addition to the new facility. The center hasn't yet applied for a planning permit from the Montpelier Development Review Board.
"We need this planning grant so we can do the research we need to do to prepare a thorough application for permits we need to build this new facility," Lauber said. "The grant will help us develop our plans to the point where we can answer the community's questions."
Lauber met with the upset residents in the hall after the meeting, where the atmosphere seemed far more agreeable than it had been during the heated council meeting. Residents said they're willing to hear what Lauber has to say, but they'll be difficult skeptics to convert.
"This is a residential neighborhood, and a building of that size simply doesn't belong in a residential neighborhood," said Catherine Devitt. Zoning regulations allow child care in the Sherwood district; however, Devitt said the proposal is for more than just child care.
"The proposed size of this building is the equivalent of 10 to 12 homes," Devitt said. "We're not saying it's not a good organization, but this has not been handled in a straightforward fashion. We are in the dark as to what's being proposed now, and we want to know what the total project will be." ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- http://www.lasvegassun.com/sunbin/stories/do/2006/jan/13/519960574.html Pioneer LV lounge singer Ricco dies By Ed Koch <[email protected]>
Las Vegas SunThe Characters were one of the first Las Vegas lounge acts to earn a million-dollar contract. They had one of the longest-running acts of their kind, performing regularly at the Sahara's Casbah Lounge from 1955 to 1969. And when The Characters performed in the early 1970s in the lounge at the Hotel International -- today the Las Vegas Hilton -- they found a fan in Elvis Presley. Lead singer Johnny Ricco, the last surviving original member of the group that helped usher in the heyday of Las Vegas lounges, died Tuesday in Las Vegas. He was five days shy of his 77th birthday. Along with the Mary Kaye Trio, Sonny King, Louis Prima, Keely Smith, Sam Butera and Freddie Bell, The Characters played a major role in establishing the lounge -- and its free shows -- as a viable entertainment venue during Las Vegas' formative years. "Johnny was the straight man -- the singer -- the glue that held the group together," said Las Vegas comedian Steve Rossi, who first performed in Las Vegas in 1946 and was the straight man for the team of Allen & Rossi. "He had a terrific voice and he never got tired when performing four sets a night, seven nights a week. And those were high-energy performances -- tough work." The other members of The Characters were Charles "Blackie" Hunt, Carmine "Carmen" Baccari, and his brother Freddie "The Champ" Baccari. Rossi said he first saw the group perform shortly after it was formed in 1953 at Polombo's, a restaurant in Philadelphia, the town where the band originated. In addition to playing several local lounges, The Characters also were a popular lounge act in Reno, Lake Tahoe, New York, Florida and Canada. Rossi said Presley often frequented Las Vegas' lounges to catch the up-and-coming talent and "he loved The Characters and The Vagabonds." After Carmen Baccari left the group to pursue a career as a Jehovah's Witness minister, he was replaced by singer Lorraine Perry, who later married Blackie Hunt and today is Nevada's lieutenant governor. The Characters continued to perform through the early 1970s. After they broke up, Ricco put together several trios. Among the places he worked over the years were the Sahara's Don The Beachcomber, the Imperial Palace and The Bootlegger, a restaurant owned by Lorraine Hunt. The Characters were inducted into the Casino Legends Hall of Fame in 2002. Then-surviving members Ricco and Blackie Hunt were on hand for the ceremony at the Tropicana Hotel. Blackie Hunt died the following year. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ http://www.wrgb.com/news/local/local_news.asp?selection=article_46004 Police still looking for killer (Troy - CBS 6) — Troy police are still looking for the person who murdered an elderly man. Forensic experts spent Thursday at 78-year-old Donald Dougrey's home. He was found dead in his apartment at 507 Grand Street Wednesday night, with at least one stab wound. His son came to pick him up for a Jehovah's Witness meeting, but Dougrey didn't come to the door. His son called police when he went inside and found Dougrey inside --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- http://www.religionnewsblog.com/13244 Golden writer talks about childhood in Watch Tower SocietyAfter keeping her journal hidden in the floor for years, Golden resident Brenda Lee said writing a book about a painful childhood in a religious "cult" was a harrowing but therapeutic process.
Lee, author of "Out of the Cocoon: a Young Woman's Courageous Flight from the Grip of a Religious Cult," has lived in Golden for 20 years.
She said when she was 9 years old, her mother joined the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society, also known as the Jehovah's Witnesses, in a small town in Pennsylvania and told her she was no longer allowed to associate with other members of her family.
"It really is a very destructive organization," Lee said. "… As a 9-year-old I spent 40 hours a week in religious instruction. That was all I was allowed to do. When my mother decided to join, I was told I would never see my cousins again."
Lee acknowledged the Watch Tower Society is not universally recognized as an organized cult but said her experience in the organization fits all the criteria of a "religious cult."
"You're taught to hate the world, to see everybody else as being led by Satan — that we are the one and only right religion and to question or defy that is turning your back on God," she said.
Watch Tower representatives didn't respond to allegations about the organization being a cult. "We appreciate your asking us for a response. The World Headquarters for Jehovah's Witnesses respectfully decline to respond," said a representative at the World Headquarters for the group.
However, other former Jehovah's Witnesses have written several books similar to Lee's. Diane Wilson published "Awakening of a Jehovah's Witness: Escape From the Watchtower Society", in 2002, describing similar circumstances surrounding the difficulty of leaving the organization.
"The public needs to be warned," Wilson wrote on her Web site. "The public needs to be alerted to the lures that this group uses to ensnare innocent people."
Lee said she was mentally abused by the organization and said the group preyed on her fears to keep her involved.
More info "They tell you that you will be ex-communicated if you ever decide to leave and that your family will not be able to talk to you — I haven't spoken with my mother for over 25 years," she said.
Lee's book recalls the daunting environment in which she lived as a child and the disappointment she faced when she tried to reach out to a teacher for help to no avail.
"I started my book with a story I wrote when I was 12 years old about the frustrations I had when my mother joined the cult," she said. "It was this short story. I was hoping someone would hear my pain and help me out. I wrote it for my teacher. It was a pretty brutal story that was pretty graphic about my distress and suicidal thoughts. My teacher gave me an 'A' rather than hearing I was trying to reach out for help."
Finally, Lee said, she reached out to a friend at school.
"My aunt was visiting from Colorado Springs one day – my mother was tying to indoctrinate her into the cult – and she asked me how I felt about living there and I started to crying and told her I was suicidal," she said. "… I would give letters to a girl at school and asked if she would send them (to my aunt) and we did that for the next nine years."
Lee said when she turned 18 she moved to Colorado but still faced troubling times.
"I ate out of garbage cans for three months," she said.
But after overcoming so much adversity, Lee put herself through college, was married and had a son. Though Lee is now divorced, she said her only regret is that she can no longer communicate with her mother, sister or nieces and nephews. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- http://www.atlantahomeservices.com/roofing.htm Our Mission is simple: Your Complete Satisfaction!SCROLL DOWN THE PAGE: Jackson R C Roof Specialist Inc
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