Mountain maker
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Nine simple steps to 100 million years
Team’s season gets off to strong start
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the SEPTEMBER 29, 2022
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Linked to near fatal overdose
SB businessman faces federal drug charge MIKE DONOGHUE CORRESPONDENT
A South Burlington businessman who reportedly provided a line of cocaine that caused a brush with death for his housekeeper now faces a federal drug distribution charge. Bruce Erdmann, 63, has struck a deal with the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Vermont to plead guilty to a felony drug charge, federal court records indicate. He has agreed to admit to the charge of knowingly and intentionally distributing cocaine on March 12, 2021, according to his signed plea agreement filed in U.S. District Court. The court clerk’s office has not set a date for Erdmann to formally enter his guilty plea. The woman, who was from Shelburne,
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spent months in the intensive care unit and was initially not expected to survive, South Burlington Police reported in court papers. Erdmann’s home was the site of a series of other drug overdoses in 2021 —including two fatalities on back-to-back days, police said. Erdmann provided a “large line of cocaine” on March 12, 2021, to the family’s 59-year-old housekeeper, then-Detective Cpl. Sarah Superneau said in a state court affidavit. The woman ingested the cocaine and a few minutes later passed out for five hours without Erdmann or his wife, Ellen, calling 911 for medical assistance, reported Superneau, who now works for the Vermont Attorney General’s Office. See ERDMANN on page 16
Pedestrian bridge final design presented at next workshop COREY MCDONALD STAFF WRITER
South Burlington is moving forward with a final design concept for its pedestrian bridge set to be presented at an Oct. 13 city council meeting. Designers for the bridge, which will cross interstate 89 near the exit 14 interchange, originally presented three options
— a land bridge, a “Vermonty” design, and a modern one — in August. Now, the city is set to move forward with a single design incorporating elements from each proposal. “The community gave feedback on the designs they liked, different design elements and now the architects and engiSee BRIDGE on page 5
PHOTO BY GRACE FLOWERS
Grace Flowers captured this scene of a late summer forest in Chittenden County.
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