Midd Briefs College Honors Altrusitic Residents, Fingers Others as Arsonists

Author: [no author name found]

College Honors Altruistic Residents
by Lindsey Whitton
Five Addison County residents were honored with Middlebury College Bicentennial Citizens' Medals on Friday. The medals, which are a recognition of community service, were presented by President John McCardell to Dottie Nelson, Adele Eells Pierce, Frederic D. Powell, James W. Rubright and Barbara A.B. Wagner at a ceremony held at the Middlebury Inn.
Eric Davis, secretary of the College, said, "The medals were presented to residents of Addison County who have helped strengthen the community, and whose service has been sustained and distinguished. Oftentimes, their efforts have gone unrecognized for many years." Each of the recipients has lived in Addison County for at least a decade and three have been residents for over 30 years.
The awards were conceived two years ago when 10 Citizens' Medals were presented during the College's Bicentennial celebration. "We decided to continue the practice since the Bicentennial celebration truly demonstrated that the town and the College share both a history and a future," Davis said.
This year's recipients were nominated by members of the College community and selected by the administration.
Nelson works as the community service coordinator for Middlebury Union High School and has volunteered, worked and served on the board at the Addison County Humane Society over the past 24 years. Nelson was also a member of the Middlebury Area Refugee Sponsoring Committee in the 1980s.
Pierce has worked on the staff of the Henry Sheldon Museum of Vermont History since 1982 and founded the museum shop in 1983. She coordinates the annual Vermont Symphony Orchestra concert benefit and she organized the museum's capital campaign in the 1980s. She has served on restoration committees, including the Frog Hollow project.
Powell, a retired engineer, volunteers as a math, physics and language tutor at Middlebury Union High School and has donated money to establish a mathematics essay prize for students.
Wagner, an emergency room nurse at Porter Hospital, volunteers for a number of organizations, including the Vermont Emergency Nurses Association, Town Line First Response and the American Red Cross.
Rubright, the co-owner of Middlebury Bagel and Deli, donates baked goods and food to local youth organizations and employs young citizens, offering them flexible hours. His generosity is extended to the entire community, and he has helped many organizations supply food items.

Squirrel Sparks Fire at Starr
by Pierce Graham-Jones
Starr Library faced a minor electrical fire Monday, an unlikely consequence of a squirrel's run-in with a power line earlier that morning.
At 7:30 a.m. a gray squirrel leapt into a pair of wires at lower College Street, resulting in the squirrel's death and leaving the surrounding area with a partial loss of electricity. The affected edifices included Starr Library.
For the duration of the power outage the library operated on a generator, at first without incident. It was with the restoration of electricity at around 8:30 a.m. and the switching off of the generator, that a small fire erupted in the machine room of Starr. The fire, although not large in flame, created a pungent smoke that alarmed people in the library and set off the smoke detectors throughout the building.
As part of the operating procedures at Starr, the librarians called 911 and fire trucks responded immediately. The fireman squelched the fire and used their smoke evacuation equipment to clear the smoke out of the library.
By 9:30 a.m. the library had been reopened with only a small building fan motor damaged.
As Elin Waagen, circulation department manager, said, "Aside from the terrible smell there were no lingering effects."