Minced Oats
Rare, reclusive
Americana bluegrass band performs in Charlotte
Spotted turtles remain threatened in Vermont
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July 27, 2023
Weekly news coverage for Charlotte and Hinesburg
Lake Champlain
Officials monitor for contaminants LIBERTY DARR STAFF WRITER
Although much of Chittenden County remained relatively unaffected following historic flooding that devastated most of the state this month, officials are warning that conditions in Lake Champlain could begin to worsen as flood waters subside.
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What has already been a harsh year for toxic cyanobacteria blooms is likely to intensify as flooded river waters dumped massive amounts of sediments, nutrient pollutants and debris into the lake, said Ryan Mitchell, a communications coordiSee LAKE CHAMPLAIN on page 11
Hinesburg resident hopes story helps destigmatize use of cannabis therapy COREY MCDONALD STAFF WRITER
Peggy Dippen was living with her roommate in Monkton when she was offered a hit of weed. At 36 years old, it was her first experience smoking pot, having stayed away from it for much of her life. But she decided to hell with it, her life was in shambles, and she was feeling suicidal — so why not. “I thought, what the heck, it can’t make it any worse,” she said. “Within a few seconds, I was like ‘Oh, it’s not so bad.” For a moment, she was jolted out of her regular thought patterns — the feelings of self-doubt and worthlessness subconsciously arranged over a lifetime — and briefly thrown out of “that thought process of negativity” that was “imprinted at such a young age.” It was a pivotal moment, one that would eventually lead her to explore using other substances like MDMA, ketamine and psilocybin
— the naturally occurring psychedelic compound produced in magic mushrooms — as part of a journey unraveling long-held childhood trauma. It was, she said, “the first time that I felt beautiful and lovable, and that I had the capacity to love myself, which I had never been able to do.” A longtime public-school teacher, Dippen has shifted her work a bit. She’s spent the past several years training as a real dialogue specialist with the Institute for Dialogue Therapy, and is a mindfulness-based psychedelic therapist and cannabis-assisted psychedelic therapist — having trained at the Center for Medicinal Mindfulness in Boulder, Colo. Since cannabis’ legalization in Vermont, Dippen, a Hinesburg resident, has worked with at least 40 patients in her practice — helping guide patients through their own PHOTO BY LEE KROHN
See PSYCHEDELICS on page 13
A bee collects pollen on a recent sunny day in the Champlain Valley.