Vermont
Vermont’s flood-wracked capital city ponders a rebuild with one eye on climate change
A beloved bookstore in Vermont’s small capital city moved across the street to a new spot farther from the Winooski River after an ice jam sent river water into the store in 1992. A nearby office supply and gift store did the same in 2011 because it liked a different space that came with a bonus: it was higher and farther from the river.
But their moves to higher ground weren’t enough to save them from flooding after torrential rains in July caused what some saw as the state’s worst natural disaster since a 1927 flood that killed dozens of people and caused widespread destruction. Some communities suffered more severe flood damage this year than when Tropical Storm Irene ravaged the small, mountainous state in 2011.
“I think most people in this area were very concerned about climate change, but we also were a little pretty much thought we were a little safer here because we had not really suffered the drastic events that some other parts of the country have,” said Rob Kasow, co-owner of Bear Pond Books. “But I think now we’ve been a little disabused of the notion that Vermont is safe from climate change.”
Now the mostly gutted shops, restaurants and businesses that lend downtown Montpelier its charm are considering where and how to rebuild in an era when extreme weather is occurring more often. Vermont’s flooding was just one of several major flood events around the globe this summer that scientists have said are becoming more likely due to climate change.
“It’s definitely going to happen again,” said Lauren Oates of the Nature Conservancy of Vermont. “It’s not a question of if, but when and how bad next time.”
Two people died in the flooding. More than 4,000 homes and 800 businesses reported damage, though officials expect those numbers to rise as the damage is tallied.
Roads were washed out and vehicles tipped over in the Ludlow/Okemo area on Tuesday after devastating rains.
Many communities in Vermont — small, rural and mountainous — grew up in valleys where the rivers were needed to move goods. Hundreds of years later, that means roads and waterways that often lie close to each other, State Climatologist Lesley-Ann Dupigny-Giroux said.
“That’s a piece that’s not going to change soon,” Dupigny-Giroux said. “But I think in terms of development, in terms of settlement, in terms of what do we do in relation to those roads and rivers is something we need to start thinking about really really closely so that we can be a little bit more proactive.”
After Irene, Vermont spent heavily in rebuilding roads, bridges and other infrastructure to better withstand future floods. But much of July’s rains fell elsewhere, and officials say more such work is needed around the state.
Oates, of the Nature Conservancy, said thoughtful planning is needed to simply give rivers more room to flood, too.
“A lot more still needs to be done if we’re going to continue to have our towns and villages alongside our rivers to make sure we’re all better prepared, to make sure our rivers have more space to move and release all of their potential energy as well as their volume,” Oates said.
The storms dumped up to two months of rain in two days in Vermont, causing the river to overflow into basements and first floors of Montpelier businesses and homes, and covered the historic downtown in waist-high water. The rains ripped out blacktop and washed out dirt roads to cut off some areas while inundating communities in southern Vermont.
After the water receded in Montpelier, a city of 8,000, those in its creative and vibrant downtown found themselves taking stock after many had only recently started to rebound from the COVID-19 pandemic. Some are still paying off loans that got them through that. Most did not have flood insurance.
At Bear Pond Books, scores of soaked books lay in mud, silt and debris on the floor after the flood. Volunteers and staff helped to pull the damaged books into a large pile and shovel out the mud. As at other businesses, the wall boards and flooring were removed to prevent mold.
After being hit by Irene and COVID-19, Kasow described the latest disaster as “sort of like a dull exhaustion.” Retirement just keeps getting farther away, he said.
“It does sap your energy to constantly have to rebuild every couple of years or reinvent or reinvest,” Kasow said.
Many businesses said they planned to reduce their vulnerability to future floods by moving utilities upstairs and no longer using their basements for storage. Some may move to other spaces altogether.
That includes Jenny Sebold, owner of Rebel Heart clothing and gift store and Pink Shutter Flowers, who called it “devastating” to see her businesses gutted. Last week, she pulled out a last bit of insulation already bearing the black marks of mold and peered through a hole in the wall. She could see the river through another hole in the floor.
Glenn Sturgis, owner of Capitol Copy, lost about $150,000 in equipment that he says would cost almost twice that to replace. At age 67, he had planned to sell the business next year. Now he’s simply going to walk away.
He said he hopes funding is used to prevent or accommodate flooding rather than just to rebuild.
“I don’t know how you do that with a city that’s this age, and these buildings and it’s right on the river,” he said.
He and his wife shopped downtown all the time, loved having an independent bookstore and want the businesses to come back, he said. “And they’ll be back but it’s got to be getting hard for people that have had to go through this a number of times,” he said.
The state has made $20 million in grants available to businesses looking to rebuild, capped at $20,000 each. Republican Gov. Scott said he knows that’s not enough money to help everyone. The businesses aren’t eligible for Federal Emergency Management Agency funding but several fundraising events are planned and GoFundMe sites have appeared.
Experts warn that the recovery — filing paperwork and pursuing insurance, finding contractors — can be more stressful than the immediate response to the disaster.
Sebold is already feeling that stress as she tries to keep her floral design business going without a space.
“I’m doing like twenty times the amount of work to make a fraction of the money but I have to do all of it,” she said. “And I need to fill out paperwork and I need to go to this meeting and I need to do insurance claims and I need to be ready when they say that that’s happening. So it’s like being a triage nurse but everyone’s missing a limb and everyone is bleeding out at the same time.”
AP reporter Brittany Peterson contributed to this report from Montpelier, Vermont.
A judge on Friday dismissed the lawsuit two senators filed in June against Gov. Phil Scott over his appointment of interim Secretary of Education Zoie Saunders. The lawsuit also named Saunders as a defendant.
In the lawsuit, state Sens. Tanya Vyhovsky and Richard McCormack argued that Scott violated the Vermont Constitution when he selected Saunders to fill the interim role after the Senate voted 19-9 against her permanent appointment. Vermont governors must obtain the Senate’s “advice and consent” prior to filling a secretary of state agency’s seat, the senators said.
A month later, the Vermont Attorney General’s Office requested the lawsuit be dismissed, primarily arguing that Scott does have the constitutional authority to appoint interim cabinet positions even after rejection from the Senate, and that he is following precedent set by previous governors. The Attorney General’s Office also contended that the senators’ claim was not “ripe” and they lacked standing and were raising a political question.
Vermont Superior Court Judge Robert A. Mello agreed with the Attorney General’s Office that Scott’s actions were lawful and based on precedent, but disagreed that the senators lacked standing, ripeness or presented a “nonjusticiable political question.”
“To extent that the Senators argue that the Senate’s decision not to confirm Ms. Saunders prevents the Governor from reappointing her, whether on an interim or permanent basis, the court disagrees,” Mellow wrote in his Sept. 27 ruling. “There is no statute that so provides.”
“When the legislature has wanted to so limit the Governor’s appointment power, it has simply said so,” Mellow added, referencing the statute that prohibits governors from appointing a nominee to the Green Mountain Care Board whom the Senate has failed to confirm within the past six years.
Mello’s decision comes just a day after the judge heard oral arguments from both sides.
Saunders’ term as interim secretary of education ends Feb. 28 next year.
Megan Stewart is a government accountability reporter for the Burlington Free Press. Contact her at mstewartyounger@gannett.com.
Vermont
Man accused of killing 3 family members had cellphone with searches about serial killers, Vermont police say
A New York man accused of killing his father, stepmother and 13-year-old stepbrother in Vermont earlier this month appeared in court in Lake George on Thursday and waived having an extradition hearing, according to the district attorney.
Brian Crossman Jr., 23, of Granville, New York, faces three counts of aggravated murder in the fatal shootings of Brian Crossman Sr., 46, Erica Pawlusiak Crossman, 41, and Colin Taft, 13, in their Pawlet, Vermont, home on Sept. 15, state police said. He will be moved to Vermont to face charges.
The investigation found significant evidence linking Crossman Jr. to the killings, including digital information, statements, injuries and various interviews, Vermont State Police said. His public defender representing him in New York did not return a phone message seeking comment.
A search of his cell phone found multiple internet searches related to serial killers and unresolved murders, police said. Relatives told police that he had a troubled relationship with his father because of Crossman Jr.’s mental health and learning disability.
He was spending the weekend with his father and stepmother while his mother was out of town, according to a police affidavit. The couple had married in July and Erica Crossman told her husband’s friend that didn’t feel safe with Crossman Jr. at the home and she was afraid to be there alone with him, according to a police affidavit. Crossman Jr. called police shortly before 4 a.m. on Sept. 15 to report that he had found the three family members shot, and that the residence was covered in blood, police said.
He then agreed to meet with Vermont State Police Corporal Joseph Duca who said when they met, Crossman Jr.’s clothes were covered in blood, according to the affidavit.
Crossman Jr. said he his clothes had blood on them because he tried to drag his deceased father outside of the house and load him into a utility vehicle to take him to his grandmother’s house across the road, police said.
Police said they found multiple guns and ammunition around the house as they were investigating the killings, including a semi-automatic handgun on an area rug in the mudroom, a 12-gauge shotgun on a table in the dining area, another shotgun on a couch, and an open firearm cabinet and firearm safe.
Crossman Jr. was admitted to a mental health unit of the Glens Falls Hospital on Sept. 15, according to police. New York State Police arrested him on Sept. 19, and he made an initial court appearance in Warren County Court on a charge of being a fugitive from justice on Friday. He is being held without bail.
State police previously said autopsies determined Brian Crossman Sr.’s cause of death was gunshot wounds to the head and torso, Erica Crossman died from a gunshot wound to the head, and Colin Taft’s cause of death was multiple gunshot wounds.
Brian Crossman Sr. was a selectboard member in Pawlet. Mike Beecher, chairperson of the five-member board, said in a statement last week: “Brian Crossman was a friend and neighbor, a hardworking community member who just this year stepped up to join the Pawlet Selectboard.
“This tragedy that struck him and his family has also hit our community hard, and we are shaken and grieving. Our hearts go out to everyone affected by this devastating loss.”
Neighbors told CBS affiliate WCAX-TV that the shooting left them shaken.
“It’s very hard to comprehend. It just hasn’t sunk in. We just visited the family three nights before the deaths,” next-door neighbor Oliver Ihasz told the station.
Brian and Erica Crossman got married in June of this year, the Bennington Banner reported.
WARREN COUNTY, N.Y. (WRGB) — The man accused of a brutal triple murder of his own family in Vermont appeared in court Thursday afternoon.
In a brief court appearance at the Warren County Courthouse, Brian Crossman Jr., 23 of Granville, sat slumped in his chair, his face expressionless as he nodded yes to the judge that he understood his rights, choosing not to fight extradition from New York to Vermont.
By waiving his right to an extradition hearing, it clears the way for him to be transferred to Rutland County, VT to face charges in connection to the death of his father, stepmother, and teenage stepbrother.
He’s charged with three counts of aggravated murder.
On September 15th, Brian Crossman Sr. 46, Erica Crossman, 41, and her son, Colin Taft, 13, were found shot to death in their home in the town of Pawlet.
The judge set a control date of October 23rd to determine if the transfer to Vermont had occurred.
A recently released police affidavit revealed more details about what happened that night and about the 23-year old.
Family told police Crossman Jr, who lives in Granville, NY, was staying at his father’s home that weekend because his mother was out of town.
According to the documents, Crossman Jr. told police he went out for a walk around midnight , looking for deer, and when he returned several hours later, he found his family dead.
“When he returned, he found his father, stepmother, and stepbrother deceased. He advised that he attempted to get his father into a side-by-side and drive him to his grandmother’s house across the street to notify her. He advised he changed his mind about this and only dragged his father outside. He advised he attempted to call 911 several times but was unable to. Crossman Jr. advised he had changed his clothing and there was additional bloody clothing at the residence,” the affidavit read.
According to the affidavit, information from his phone showed calls to 911 placed between 3:25 am and 3:35 am. Those calls went unanswered. An additional 911 call was placed at 3:44 am where he got through to the dispatcher.
Vermont State Police Corporal Joseph Duca responded to the call and met Crossman Jr. at Wells Village School. Duca said he noticed that his shirt and pants were covered in what appeared to be blood.
MORE:Services announced for Vermont man and family, son charged with murder
Crossman Jr. said the blood stained his clothes when he tried to drag his deceased father into a side-by-side vehicle to bring him to his grandmother’s house nearby to notify her, according to the affidavit.
“He advised he changed his mind about this and only dragged his father outside,” read the affidavit.
Police found the bodies in different areas of the home, all suffering from gunshot wounds.
His internet history on his phone revealed searches related to serial killers and unsolved murders.
The family told police the father and son had a troubled relationship due to Crossman Jr.’s mental health and learning disability.
A family member said he has received mental health treatment over the years, adding that he possibly suffers from schizophrenia.
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