Vermont
Vt. funeral home first in the state to use water cremation
MILTON, Vt. (WCAX) – Vermont offers a variety of burial methods and alternatives, now including a greener way to honor your loved ones.
The vast majority of Vermonters opt for flame cremation – the traditional form we’ve all heard of.
A funeral home out of Milton is the first in Vermont to cremate using water.
Jonathan Daponte of Minor Funeral Home cracks open Vermont’s very first water cremation machine.
“I wanted to be the forerunner of innovation,” he said.
Other funeral homes send bodies out of state for water cremation, but Minor Funeral Home will do it on-site.
“There’s an intrinsic value to families where knowing their loved one doesn’t get transported to another facility. Everything is done here in-house,” said Daponte.
Crews are hooking everything up and finalizing the space, and Daponte says he’s already got families asking about the new option.
Water cremation – or alkaline hydrolysis – uses water, an alkaline solution, heat, and pressure to dissolve the soft tissue of the body.
“After that, the remaining material is going to be dehydrated, and then after that, it’s going to be pulverized to the same consistency so that everyone can see what you would see in the typical cremains,” said Daponte.
Water cremation takes longer than flame cremation and costs several hundred dollars more, but has a much smaller carbon footprint.
Flame cremation can release over 500 pounds of CO2, or the equivalent of driving 600 miles. On the other hand, water cremation releases at least 90% less emissions.
Local experts point out that natural burial and human composting have even smaller carbon footprints, but water cremation is a step in the right direction.
“Alkaline hydrolysis is an improvement over flame cremation. We’ll see what happens as the technology improves. And we’ll see, you know, where that fits in the spectrum,” said Lee Webster of Vermont Funeral.
Daponte says the expensive machine, over $300,000, and the higher customer price tag keep other homes from investing in water cremation.
As the state searches for ways to curb emissions, he believes water cremation is the way of the future.
“I can foresee this in 50 years being the only choice you have,” said Daponte.
Daponte says he’s done one water cremation so far and is receiving calls for others.
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STORRS, Conn. – No. 9 UConn women’s hockey secured a decisive 4-0 win over Vermont on Friday night at the Toscano Family Ice Forum. Julia Pellerin led the way for the Huskies scoring three of UConn’s four goals in the win. UConn moves to 4-1 in Hockey East play and 9-3-1 overall this season.
UConn netminder Tia Chan was stout throughout, making 18 saves, earning her second shutout of the season.
The first period began with Vermont winning the opening faceoff and testing the Huskies’ defense early with a series of blocked and saved shots. UConn responded with offensive pressure, leading to a power-play opportunity after a tripping penalty against Vermont. Junior forward Julia Pellerin capitalized on the power play, finishing a great no-look pass at the back post from Livvy Dewar. This goal marked the beginning of a standout performance for Pellerin, who would go on to record her second career hat trick, and first in a UConn uniform.
Both teams continued to trade shots, but the Huskies maintained their 1-0 lead going into the first intermission, with shots favoring UConn, 17-8.
During the second period, UConn extended their lead with a series of effective plays, leading to goals. Pellerinonce again found the back of the net, marking her fourth goal of the season, putting UConn up 2-0.
Shortly after, UConn doubled their lead as Brooke Campbell added another for the Huskies with a re-directed shot in front of goal, making it 3-0.
The Huskies advantage grew to four when Pellerin completed her hat trick on the power play, going bar down from a near impossible angle. UConn maintained a commanding 4-0 lead going into the final period. Shots favored the Huskies in the second period, 13-3.
UConn maintained their four-goal lead throughout a scoreless third period. Despite multiple shot attempts from both teams, neither side could find the back of the net in the final 20 minutes. The period concluded with the Huskies securing a 4-0 victory to open the weekend series.
Up Next
UConn will conclude the weekend series with Vermont on Saturday, November 22. Puck drop is set for 2:00pm at the Toscano Family Ice Forum. TICKETS
WESTMINSTER, VT. (WWLP) – Two suspects, including a man from Springfield, were arrested in Vermont in connection with drug possession and trafficking.
Vermont State Police stated that at approximately 12:37 p.m. on Thursday, a trooper observed a motor vehicle violation on I-91 in Westminster and conducted a traffic stop. It was discovered that the passenger, identified as 48-year-old Kenneth Piller of Los Angeles, California, was wanted for drug-related offenses.
The driver, identified as 21-year-old Chantz Dudley of Springfield, Mass., was also detained, and both suspects were brought to the State Police Barracks.
Troopers seized the vehicle and executed a search warrant, during which time they located suspected crack cocaine and fentanyl. Piller was turned over to Rutland City Police custody, and Dudley was sent to the Southern State Correctional Facility in place of $30,000 bail.
Dudley was charged with possession of cocaine 1oz+, fentanyl trafficking, and transporting fentanyl into the state.
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The Office of the State Auditor found significant shortcomings with how the Vermont Department of Health reviews complaints related to food and lodging establishments, according to a recent report.
The report is the first audit of four planned for the coming months by Auditor Doug Hoffer and his staff, part of an effort to assess how the state government responds to Vermonters’ complaints.
The department’s Food and Lodging program is responsible for ensuring that Vermont restaurants, hotels, and other similar establishments, follow the state’s health and sanitation regulations and protocols. The program provides licenses and inspects more than 6,000 food establishments and regulates lodging facilities, while addressing the complaints it receives from the public.
The audit selected 45 complaints for review out of the 1,081 complaints the program received between 2022 and 2024. The types of complaints that come in include allegations of unsanitary conditions, bed bug infestations, inadequate cooking and contaminated food equipment. Inspectors have to first verify if the complaints are true, and if so, recommend corrective actions.
However, the audit found that inspections were not always conducted within the required timeframe, and, in some cases, inspectors did not follow up to verify if the problems were resolved. Of the complaints reviewed, 16 of them were not investigated in the timeframe required. Seven out of the 10 complaints with more serious allegations were not investigated within the required two days. Two of them were not investigated at all.
Additionally, inspectors closed 18 of the 26 complaints that required corrective actions without confirming if the problems had been resolved. Hoffer said this does not necessarily mean that the owner of the establishment did not address the problem but that the inspectors did not visit the place again to check if they did.
“If you’re calling for a corrective action for a serious problem, you need to make sure that it’s been done and documented, and they were kind of short on that,” Hoffer said.
The audit also found that the Department of Health doesn’t measure the performance of the Food and Lodging program, which is a state requirement. The program is also missing specific policies and procedures for handling complaints.
Hoffer said the auditor’s office will follow up in one year and again in three years to see if the department has implemented their recommendations to improve the program.
The public complaint system evaluated in the audit is just one part of the work carried out by the program, according to Liz Wirsing, the senior program manager for Food and Lodging.
“The report evaluated a small sample of the hundreds of complaints that we receive and follow up on every year, so sometimes other priorities have to take precedence for protecting public health,” Wirsing said.
Still the recommendations are helpful, and the program is already working on implementing them, she said.
“We appreciate the public reaching out to us and sharing their concern,” Wirsing said, adding that people should continue to file complaints. “It’s important information, and it does help alert us sometimes to things that need some follow-up.”
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