Wake boats
Tiny art
Opponents seek stricter rules from officials
Annual fundraiser nets $2K for food shelf
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August 10, 2023
Morril takes the stage
Comedian hopes to break bad luck streak
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Hinesburg hires new highway foreman
Light show
COREY MCDONALD STAFF WRITER
Hinesburg has hired a new highway foreman five months after its longtime foreman abruptly resigned. Rick Bushey previously worked for the town of Shelburne as a full-time mechanic who provided maintenance services for town-owned vehicles. The town is still looking to fill its highway department roster and to fill a newly created public works director position. Town manager Todd Odit said they have a candidate for the last general highway department opening, so it may be filled shortly. “That’s good news heading into winter,” Odit said. Michael Anthony, the town’s highway foreman since 1992, abruptly resigned just days before a winter storm left roads in Hinesburg and throughout the Champlain Valley covered in snow last winter. He had been with the highway department for 40 years, and the town garage was named after him when it opened in 2018. In March, Anthony forwarded a 1,700-word email to town selectboard members saying he “could no longer work under the current management team” and had “had enough of the badgering and harassment, changes (to) how and when the highway department works, and now, on-call pay cut.” Anthony appeared to object to several things, including a violation of a labor agreement between
COREY MCDONALD STAFF WRITER
Sam Morril, admittedly, hasn’t had the best luck in Vermont. Last time he tried to get here he missed his flight and had to cancel his gig at the Vermont Comedy Club in Burlington, and in 2019, he had wrapped up his show at the club and he and some other local comics were out at Vermont Pub & Brewery when he had a pint glass broken over his head. It’s a story he’s recounted on podcasts and from clips in his stand-up routine: Standing at the bar, a clearly drunk man approached him and asked cryptically whether he was with the University of Vermont, before saying he was going to “beat the sh*t” out of him. Morril ignored him and turned around when the man proceeded to smash his glass into his head. He was fine, and the guy was later arrested by Burlington police. It was a horrible incident that no sane person would want any part of. But for a stand-up comic, it was material — the type of stuff from which you make your living. He ended up riffing on the incident during his shows the following evening. “That’s kind of the goal — is PHOTO BY LEE KROHN
See MORRIL on page 11
The sun, sometimes a rare visitor this summer, breaks through massive rain clouds over Lake Champlain.
See HINESBURG on page 3