Williston
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Permit #15 Williston,VT 05495 POSTAL CUSTOMER
SEPTEMBER 28, 2023
WILLISTON’S NEWSPAPER SINCE 1985
WWW.WILLISTONOBSERVER.COM
Daytime burglary at South Ridge home BY MIKE DONOGHUE Observer Correspondent
Home surveillance cameras captured these images of the alleged burglars and their vehicle. PHOTOS COURTESY OF THE WILLISTON POLICE DEPARTMENT
Williston Police are asking for help from town residents and visitors of the South Ridge development for aid in solving a recent home burglary. Two men wearing gardening type bucket hats with masks over their faces were spotted leaving a home on Metcalf Drive between 1 and 2 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 16, town police said. The video security system appeared to capture the men carrying some contents from the home, which is part of the neighborhood off both U.S. 2 and Old Stage Road. The video system also captured the men speaking in Spanish before they departed the private residence, which was unoccupied at the time, police said. The two men fled the area in a white Nissan Rogue, believed to be between 2011 and 2013, with a bike rack on the rear, according to another neighborhood video surveillance
camera. The two men got into the backseat as the car left the scene, Officer Avery Lemnah said in a news release. Lemnah said she did speak to neighbors in the area that have cameras and those that had any interaction with the men. She did not disclose what was taken or how the burglars got into the house. The burglary appeared to be targeted — Lemnah said none of the other neighbors reported break-ins at their homes that day. Williston Police Chief Patrick Foley said the town has had 44 reported burglaries since Jan. 1, 2020, an average of about one a month. He guesstimated that three quarters are into businesses and one quarter are into residences. Foley said retail thefts at local businesses continues to be the largest crime issue in Williston. Anybody with information about the two suspects or the ownership of the getaway car is asked to call Williston Police at 802-878-6611.
Five goats and a donkey BY SUSAN COTE Observer staff
When a friend needed a place to relocate his small herd of goats and his 38-year-old donkey, Elizabeth Davidson jumped at the chance to give them a new home. Davidson, who lives on just under three mostly scrubby wooded acres in Williston’s agricultural zone, has long wanted to clear out a portion of her land, which like much of the area, is overrun with invasive honeysuckle and buckthorn. “For me, I really wanted the goats for the health of the land,” said Davidson, who notes that in addition to clearing unwanted vegetation, the animals return fertility to the soil with their manure. So Daisy the donkey and her five goat companions, owned by Anthony Kessler, made the move this month from Duxbury to Williston. “I’ve always had this direction toward homesteading and animals are a part of
“I’m constantly in this stressed-out place that if one of my animals gets out on a road where no one else lives and the neighbor …complains to the town, the domino effect of destroying my farm is in place.” Anthony Kessler Duxbury animal owner
that,” said Davidson. What drove Kessler to move his animals is a less happy story for him. In June of this Elizabeth Davidson offers treats to Daisy the donkey. see DAVIDSON page 5
OBSERVER PHOTO BY SUSAN COTE