Semi-bound
Winter wonders
No. 1 girls’ basketball team faces Essex
Icicles, snow doughnuts and hair ice
Page 10
Page 12
Volume 52 Number 9
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shelburnenews.com
March 2, 2023
Shelburne Fire Taking the plunge Department celebrates its first 100 years LIBERTY DARR STAFF WRITER
The story of the Shelburne Fire Department begins nearly a century ago — on Town Meeting Day 1923. Like many small communities nearly 100 years ago, it is more than likely that Shelburne residents relied heavily on help from neighbors to extinguish fires in town, but it wasn’t until 1923 that town records show the first documented formation of an official fire brigade. Shelburne resident Tom Tompkins recounted a booklet that was published for the 1963 Shelburne bicentennial, “Part of it the fire department had written that said, ‘much of the department’s early history is shrouded in mystery as no records were kept before its reorganization on Dec. 3, 1942,’” he said. For years, the town had equated the beginning of the fire department with its reorganization in 1942, but according to Tompkins, who has lived in Shelburne for 62 years, the department has nearly two decades of rich history prior to that. “When I joined the fire department in 2006, I was pretty much retired and I had time on my hands. When I joined, they were saying that (the fire department) started in 1941,” he said. “I thought to myself, ‘That’s not accurate.’ So, I went over to the town offices and in the vault are all the old town reports going way back. I went back as far as 1923.” It was there that Tompkins discovered that on Town Meeting Day 1923, residents of Shelburne petitioned the local government to see if money could be voted for the purchase of equipment for fire protection. Voters approved the expenditure of $500 at that meeting and a “fire committee” was appointed with the department’s first known See FIRE DEPARTMENT on page 11
PHOTO BY LEE KROHN
Shelburne police officer Catie Pigeon gives a frosty thumbs up after emerging from the drink at the recent Penguin Plunge. More on page 4.
Shelburne driver faces no charges in fatal accident LIBERTY DARR STAFF WRITER
Following a four-month-long investigation, the Shelburne Police say a Shelburne man will face no charges in connection to a fatal single motor vehicle crash that killed a pedestrian in October. Nathan Miner, 60, of Shelburne was struck by a 2013 Nissan Leaf driven by Craig Simmons, 46, of Shelburne, who
was traveling north on Shelburne Road. The investigation revealed no negligence on the part of Simmons, police say. Miner was intoxicated and wearing dark-colored clothing when he left the sidewalk and crossed in front of oncoming traffic, according to police. Shelburne Police first responded to Shelburne Road and Harrington Avenue at 7:22 p.m. on Oct. 12, assisted by Hinesburg police and Vermont State Police
Crash Reconstruction Team. Miner was transported to the University of Vermont Medical Center’s emergency room by Shelburne Fire Department and Shelburne Rescue Squad where he died of his injuries five days later. Shelburne police and the state police reconstruction team completed the investigation Feb. 7 and forwarded their report to the Chittenden County State’s Attorney Office for review.