ORWELL, Vt. (WCAX) – Bud Carpenter is about to take a trip down memory lane.

“Heading to Poultney,” Carpenter said.

The ride there is dotted with silos, with many of the barns he built. “This is one of our buildings here; there’s one over there,” Carpenter points out. And then there’s a building in Orwell.

“That post office over… we built that in the early 70s,” Carpenter said.

Reporter Joe Carroll: Have you figured out how many buildings you’ve built through the years?

Bud Carpenter: You know, I thought about that a lot; I really haven’t.

Bud Carpenter Incorporated, or BCI, started on a “wing and a prayer.” “I just started working, I’d do anything, I’d wash windows, I would paint. I’d even cut meat in the store,” he said. “My first year in business in 1965, I grossed $3,600… Somehow, we made it all work; I don’t know how.

With hard work came jobs and some mistakes. “I’ve done a lot of foolish things,” Carpenter said. “Like get into the used car business.”

Reporter Joe Carroll: How did you have the time to do all of this?

Bud Carpenter: I ask myself a hundred times.

There are massive cow barns to small horse barns, like one in Poultney. “We just did this one last year,” Carpenter said.

With a bum knee and a pacemaker, the 83-year-old no longer works on site.

“He’s a barn building legend!” said Todd Boutwell, Carpenter’s son-in-law, who took over running the day-to-day operations last year. “He’s still there, every day.”

“I like to come out to all of them, I’m on all of them, one time or another, yeah,” Carpenter said.

Back on the road, the conversation turns personal. “I think the hardest part is when I went through a divorce. I had problems with my wife, and we divorced, that’s probably the hardest thing I did,” Carpenter said. “And that’s having to go back on my word… When you get married, you take your vows.”

He has since remarried. Beth and Bud have been together for decades.

And then there was the heavy drinking. “I worked hard, and I drank hard,” Carpenter said. “But I never missed a day of work in my life.”

The drinking has been cut significantly. His recollections of what he’s done are numerous. “You get a little choked up at times on it, everywhere you go, you see things you’ve done: It makes you proud,” he said.

A journey that continues.

Kevin Cassese has made his first big move as the head coach at Virginia, hiring Vermont head coach Chris Feifs as his defensive coordinator and top assistant. Inside Lacrosse first reported the news Wednesday, after which Vermont issued a formal announcement.

Feifs has previous experience in the ACC, having served as North Carolina’s defensive coordinator under Joe Breschi when the Tar Heels won the national championship in 2016. He left after that season to become the head coach at Vermont, where in 10 seasons he led the Catamounts to a 78-59 record and America East championships in 2021 and 2022.

“Chris poured his heart and soul into the program,” athletic director Jeff Schulman said.

Feifs was named the America East Coach of the Year in 2023 after leading Vermont to a regular season conference title.

“I will look back at the past 10 years as the single greatest growth period of my life,” he said.

Now he’ll play a key role in remodeling Virginia’s defense in his likeness. The Cavaliers ranked 39th in Division I last season allowing 11.12 goals per game. They do boast one of the best close defensemen in the country in John Schroter, who will be a redshirt senior next season. The goalie position is uncertain after Virginia turned to Air Force transfer Jake Marek as the starter this year and Kyle Morris entered the transfer portal.

Virginia has moved swiftly since making the surprise decision to part ways with Lars Tiffany on May 18 and issuing a terse press release announcing the departure of a head coach who led the Cavaliers to national championships in 2019 and 2021 and the ACC championship this year. Eight days later, they elevated Cassese — an offensive coordinator with extensive previous head coaching experience at Lehigh — to head coach.

Eight days after that, Cassese has his top lieutenant.

MONTPELIER, Vt. (WCAX) – The state of Vermont wants more flexibility in how it charges for access to state parks.

Right now, fees are determined by location, size, and type of camping.

However, leaders say parking at state parks and ponds is seeing more foot traffic, and costs of maintaining them have gone up.

The Department of Forest Parks and Recreation wants to be able to price campsites and day-use parks more dynamically.

There’s no proposal to raise fees now, but if approved, some state parks could see increased fees depending on their popularity, the date, and location.

“It is trying to find that balance of covering costs, providing the service parkgoers have come to expect and making sure we aren’t creating unintentional barriers for people who want to enjoy our fabulous state lakes,” said Julie Moore, Vermont Natural Resources Secretary.

She adds that last year’s Vermont ‘Parks Forever’ initiative, which allows for people who receive three squares benefits free entry to parks, meant an additional 30,000 visits last year.