2005: What the Year
Held in Store
January

April: Principal Bob Rosane dyes his hair pink after Brookfield pupils topped their goal for reading books.

Royalton and Bethel Selectboards agree in a joint meeting to open discussions exploring the possibility of a consolidated school for the two towns.

The 198-acre Steiner farm on Ordway Road in Tunbridge is preserved through the donation of a conservation easement by the family.

Sale of the family-owned Rochester Light & Power Co. to the Vermont Electric Cooperative is proposed, and hearings held.

Randolph Center will get a dental office as a permit is approved for Dr. Arthur Knippler.

The White River Valley sent two new legislators to Montpelier—Sandy Haas, a Progressive from Rochester, and Jim Hutchinson, a Democrat from Randolph.

Randolph Boys & Girls Club gets experienced new leadership in Max Bryant, beefs up winter programs.

Former Congressman Richard Mallary of Brookfield returns from Ukraine, where he served as an official observer to the elections that favored reformer Victor Yushchenko.

State proposes enlarging the Vermont Veterans Memorial Cemetery in Randolph Center from 5000 to 15,000 spaces over five years.

South Royalton Selectboard and Planning Commission are at odds over whether the Commission can hire its own legal consel.

Chelsea receives $75,000 grant to construct a pedestrian path.

Vermont hunters begin a conversation over a proposal to make it illegal to hunt spikehorn deer. The proposal was eventually adopted and predictably led to a much lower deer harvest in November.

The building housing the Rose Bowl is sold, and the store will be converted to retail space. Wayne and Karen Warner say they're interested in stepping up to the plate.

RUHS junior Jane Seymour wins the $900 speech contest in a Rotary District meeting in Lyndonville.

The Sharon Academy has its first 1000-point scorer in basketball. He is Jackson Ellis, son of coach Kevin Ellis.

February

With voter approval, RUHS purchases its own ballfields from the Randolph School District. The price was $1.

Ice Climber Jason Osborne rescued after falling on Vulture Mountain in an effort that took almost seven hours.

CFM (formerly Vermont Castings) is honored by the National Guard by being invited to observe training in Florida. Eight CFM employees are on active duty in the Middle East.

Vermonters rally to try to keep the Morgan Horse Museum in Vermont, instead of moving to Kentucky.

Forty-four years of journals in 18 volumes are discovered in the Bethel Library by Hilary Mullins, giving a vivid view into everyday life from 1876-1920.

More talk of school consolidation: Rochester Principal Bob Gray suggests a union district including Rochester, Granville, Hancock, Stockbridge and Pittsfield.

Ted Elzey of Century 21—the Mill Stone Agency is named executive of the year by the Randolph Area Chamber of Commerce.

Jackie Lakin, 17, of Jay, a former resident of Tunbridge, is killed in a snowmobile accident on a trail in Chelsea.

March

Randolph Town Meeting: voters refuse tax break for Montague Golf Course, Tom Schersten defeats incumbent Phyllis Forbes for selectboard seat.

CFM Corp., the owner of Vermont Castings, is sold to Teachers' Private Capital of Ontario, Canada. Local people are cautiously optimistic, even after CFM two weeks later loses an $8.3 million lawsuit regarding patent rights.

Chelsea Town Meeting: Two new school board members elected (Emily Marshia and Karen Colby) and one new selectboard member (Dick Rogers).

In South Royalton, Peg Trombley is elected a new selectboard member.

Randolph wrestlers place second at the state tournament. Paul Lambert later becomes New England champion at his 140-pound level.

A collaborative is chosen from among three firms that submitted proposals for designing and building the new municipal building. The collaborative told the Building Committee it could give them more buiding for the same $1.2 million that had been allocated. The change in design, however, brought on lawsuits that have delayed construction for a year.

Faced with an estimated $7 million in roof repairs, the RUHS board forms a Facilities Committee to decide what is needed. The committee eventually recommended $14.8 million in repairs.

The Vermont Supreme Court, in its annual session at Vermont Law School, is interrupted by an outburst from a 71-year-old Hardwick man.

Gov. Douglas comes to Randolph to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the Winslow Block.

Jacob Hubbard, a Rochester eighth grader, wins the Vermont State Spelling Bee. He later travels to Washington, D.C. to represent Vermont.

In basketball, the South Royalton boys and the Chelsea girls are state champs in their divisions, while the Randolph girls are runners-up.

Branden Emery, 16, a Chelsea High School student, donates bone marrow for his sister Alayna. A community auction raises $23,000 for the family's expenses.

East Garden Chinese restaurant opened in Randolph by Annie and Bill Lu.

Annie Bourdon is named new executive director of the White River Partnership.

Randolph Depot restaurant opens in handsomely restored railroad station.

The proposed classification of Blaisdell Brook by the state is challenged by the Two Rivers Regional Commission.

Retiring Bethel Constable Wendell Wills is given an award by State Police.

April

Minor controversy develops in Randolph over who owns the clock in the former railway station. The building's owner, Jesse "Sam" Sammis eventually donates it to the Town.

Randolph gets $1.4 million to fix a covered bridge that serves four homes.

The Grand Curtain from the Bethel Town Hall is taken from storage and viewed for the first time in 40 years.

Newton School Principal Louis Lafasciano is selected 2005 Vermont Elementary Principal of the Year.

Judy Moore, founder of the very successful Sharon Academy, annouced she will retire.

Dominic Delia of Randolph becomes one of the first two Vermoters to receive artificial lenses implanted into his eyes, with Randolph's Dr. Jack Singer performing the surgery.

Gifford Medical Center begins work on $6 million in construction, including an expanded clinic in Royalton, a new clinic in Sharon, new space for radiology, emergency treatment, and food services, and a 10-bed addition to the nursing home. Work on the nursing home was continuing as of the end of the year.

Alfred E. Brochu was sentenced to life in prison, without parole, for the 2003 murder of Randolph teenager Tara Stratton.

Larry Robinette, the new CEO of CFM, visits the Vermont Castings operations in Bethel and Randolph.

VTC faculty joins other State Colleges in passing a no-confidence resolution regarding the VSC Chancellor Robert Clarke, a former president of VTC.

May

William "Al" Kimmick was sentenced to 14-15 years in prison for killing his ex-wife Kathryn Kimmick at her Bethel apartment. He had fled to Taiwan but was arrested there.

The Vermont Conference of the United Church of Christ dedicates its new Randolph headquarters, on the site of the former August Lion Restaurant on Main Street.

Bethel citizens reject the school budget by 125 to 45. It would take two more votes before a budget is adopted.

In a rare trifecta, RUHS students Martin Schwartz, Michaela Blow, and Chelsea Rose Sargent win the top regional awards for their age group in the UVM Writing Contest.

An eight-year-old, $25,000 home burglary in South Royalton is solved when New Hampshire relatives turned in suspect Daniel H. Daigle.

Bethel School Board cuts two and a half positions to lower the budget.

Prom night crash badly injures four Rochester teenagers.

ClearSource installs a new production line that increases capacity at its Randolph water bottling plant by 50%.

Vermont Law School completes $6.5 million renovation of the former South Royalton school, now dubbed Debevoise Hall.

June

The former Waterbury Co. industrial plant in Randolph is purchased by Russell "Lucky" Dimmick of Randolph Center and will be entirely leased by Applied Research, Inc., which has outgrown its Waterman Road facilities in Royalton.

Randolph Principal Stephen Metcalf selected as Superintendent of the Orange-Windsor Supervisory Union.

Floyd Scholz of Hancock wins gold medal in the Master's Class at the 2005 Ward World Championship Wildfowl Carving Competition, the top prize in the world of birdcarving.

Randolph National Bank is named a "Local Hero" by the Vermont Arts Council.

Tremendous success for area sports teams: South Royalton boys are state champs in baseball, Chelsea girls are lacrosse champions, SoRo boys won the state track title and its girls came in second. Whitcomb boys were runners-up in baseball and Whitcomb girls were runners-up in softball.

The "Old Joe" logging project in the Green Mountain National Forest is stopped by lawsuits.

Cuba buys several young dairy cows from White River Valley farms, in an trade project initiated by Lt. Gov. Brian Dubie.

Variety of insect pests are raising havoc with Central Vermont maple trees.

Woman's car hits not one but two moose on Interstate 89 in Sharon.

Next Week: July through December.