She had a great run

The Windsor-Cornish Covered Bridge ends its long run as America’s longest covered bridge on August 26th. That is when Ashtabula County will dedicate its new $8 Million dollar 608 foot covered bridge ending our bridge’s reign in America. We knew this was a possibility 8 years ago when then city engineer, John Smolen brought forth the idea. Despite long odds, and nay sayers Mr. Smolen persevered and now the new bridge is moving rapidly toward completion after the four 152-foot spans were placed about 3 months ago. The two-lane bridge will allow all legal highway loads, including school buses and tractor-trailer traffic to cross the span. Workers and carpenters are completing the final touches on the bridge and the pedestrian walkways. The contractor, Union Industrial of Ashtabula, will have its work on the bridge completed by the first part of August. Paving and approach work will need to be completed before the bridge can open, but dignitaries and the Members of the Covered Bridge Festival Committee are hoping the bridge will open up to traffic following the ceremony. During the dedication, the new bridge will be officially christened with a name, most likely the Smollen Covered Bridge after the man who conceived and designed it, John Smolen. We of course would prefer a much better name, the not as nice as the one in Cornish and Windsor covered bridge, but I won’t even take odds on that name. The new steel and wooden bridge is 608 feet long, dethroning our Windsor-Cornish Bridge over the Connecticut River between us and Cornish, N.H. However, our bridge at approximately 449.5 feet long will still be the longest 2-span covered bridge in the world. Of course the longest covered bridge in the world is 1,282 feet long and located in Hartland -not VT, but New Brunswick, Canada. If you recall when the US Postal service honored our bridge a couple of years ago, they made a stink about the term “Longest Bridge”, even though it was on a US Postage stamp. Our Bridge and the one in Canada both span their respective rivers much lower than the Ashtabula County- Smollen Bridge, which is elevated 80 feet above the water at deck level.

About Our Bridge
Built in 1866, the Town lattice truss bridge designed by James Tasker and Bella Fletcher cost $9,000 to build. Our bridge is 449′5″ long and consists of two spans of 204′0″ and 203′0″. It has an overall width of 24′0″, a roadway width of 19′6″, a maximum vertical clearance of 12′9″, and is posted for ten tons. Most importantly, it is an all wooden, historically important bridge. It is a National Civil Engineering Landmark and on the National Register of Historic Places, two things the new bridge cannot take away from us or her.
Three bridges previously built across the Connecticut in 1796, 1824 and 1828 were destroyed by floods and ice jams. In 1935, the New Hampshire General Court authorized funds to purchase the bridge and NH purchased structure in 1936. It was then operated as a toll bridge until June 1, 1943. In 1954 the bridge was renovated by NH after years of damage from floods and ice. In 1977, the Cornish Windsor Bridge again suffered damage from flood water and ice and repaired again by the State of NH for $25,000. In 1986, it was announced the bridge would be closed due to its deteriorated condition and it was closed to traffic on July 2, 1987. The bridge was reconstructed in 1989 at a cost of $4,450,000 and was opened again to traffic on December 8, 1989 to much celebration. This was the longest wooden covered bridge in the United States and still is the longest two-span covered bridge in the world. The American Society of Civil Engineers designated it as a National Historic Civil Engineering Landmark in 1970.

What’s next?
So in my opinion, there is only one thing left to do, find a 610 foot wide section of the river and build a new covered bridge, in the same style and manner as our favorite covered bridge. It cost Ashtabula County’s $8 million to build their bridge and federal bridge funds paid for $5 million of it. The balance came from state and local funds in Ohio. Well, we have two States to match funding, and two federal delegations to secure funding to regain our title. Of course there will be the nay sayers, those that think the project isn’t worth it, or is too expensive, but Ohio faced those as well. There response- ““With the amount of people coming here to see it, spending their money, there is already a good return,” she says. “You got to look at that construction cost from that perspective.”

sources- NH Department of Transportation, Historic Windsor Inc., and Star Beacon article by Carol E. Feather, published July 15, 2008

Windsor Garden Celebrates Life’s Journey

Thought you would enjoy this piece from today’s Rutland Herald.Windsor garden celebrates life’s journeyJuly 17, 2008 By JOSH O’GORMAN Herald Staff

WINDSOR — As people become ever more isolated in their environments and every technological advance seems designed to help them work faster and harder, one man is on a mission to help humanity slow down to contemplate and appreciate its existence.Terry McDonnell has spent the past 10 years creating the Path of Life Garden, located between Harpoon Brewery and Simon Pearce Pottery on Route 5, just north of downtown Windsor.Located on 14 acres, the garden offers 18 distinct areas, each symbolizing a stage of life. “I’ve been working on it for 10 years, and probably have another 20 years to go before it’s complete,” McDonnell said. McDonnell was inspired to create the garden 10 years ago after visiting the Life of Man Japanese Garden in Kildare, Ireland. Like the garden McDonnell would later create in Windsor, that garden offered “rooms” — sculpted outdoor areas — that reflect the Japanese philosophy of the stages of life, from birth to death and eventual rebirth. “I knew I wanted to do something with the land, but I didn’t know what,” McDonnell said, but upon his return to the United States his mission was clear. “This is a Vermont version of a Japanese garden,” McDonnell said, sweeping his hand toward an enormous field dotted with wood and stone sculptures on the bank of the Connecticut River. The first room, signifying birth, is a stone emerging from a shallow depression. A path links each room, and after birth, the path leads to a maze made from 800 hemlock trees, which symbolizes adventure. McDonnell said he planted the trees eight years ago, and today they stand more than six feet tall. The garden is a hobby for McDonnell, who works as a child therapist part time at Kimball Union Academy in Norwich as well as maintaining his own private practice. “Being a child therapist, this sort of thing fits my interests,” McDonnell said, gesturing to the maze. McDonnell’s tour through the garden is rare. Like life itself, each visitor to the garden embarks on a self-guided tour. “Some people spend half an hour and some people spend five hours,” McDonnell said. The path of life leads through rooms symbolizing learning, wisdom and hope before leading to creativity, which is symbolized by four 20-foot driftwood sculptures of people making music. McDonnell drove the wood cross-country from where he gathered it at the mouth of the Russian River in northern California. From creativity, the path leads to union. Two stones on opposite sides of a circle represent two people and a large stone in the center represents the barriers between them, but within that center stone is a window allowing communication, McDonnell said. Atop each large stone are cairns — small piles of stones. “It reflects the fragility of our unions, and people come and move them all the time, which is pretty cool,” McDonnell said. From union, the path leads to family, communication and solitude, which is symbolized by a single stone, surrounded by lilacs beneath a rough-hewn gazebo. McDonnell said he once saw a family walking the path and each member took a turn experiencing solitude. “And I’m sure that when they came out they each talked about the nature of solitude,” McDonnell said. From solitude, the path leads to ambition, symbolized by a large hill one must climb next to McDonnell’s beehives. “Bees are the most ambitious animals I know,” he said. The path then leads to sorrow — symbolized by the skeleton of a Native American teepee — and then on to forgiveness, which is formed by a ring of 50-foot lengths of bamboo stretching toward the sky. Upon entering the ring, the visitor’s eyes are drawn upward. “People automatically look up, and I think that’s where forgiveness comes from,” McDonnell said. The path leaves forgiveness and enters joy, which is symbolized by blueberry and raspberry bushes giving fruit for visitors to pick and eat. After joy, visitors enter respite, a cool shady place in woods near a stream with a hammock and picnic tables. At this point, even moving quickly a visitor has been out in the sun for an hour and the shade is a welcome respite. “This is a different world in here,” McDonnell said. “People say that this is their favorite room.” From respite, the path leads to contemplation, manifested in a large statue of the Buddha, from which one can survey the entire garden. The path then leads to death — a ring of maple tree stumps — and then to rebirth, which looks like a cemetery with trees. “I once saw a picture of a cemetery in Sweden with trees growing out of it and it made me think of rebirth,” McDonnell said. Jane Walker Richmond of Montpelier walked the path recently and admired the combination of themes. “Having studied different cultures, it’s nice to come to a place in such a serene setting,” Richmond said, noting the mix of Japanese, Thai and Native American imagery. “The honoring of life and Earth was most important.” The garden is open from dawn until dusk year-round. Admission is $5 for adults, $2 for children 4 to 12 and free for children younger than 3. Entrance is through the barn housing Still River Kayak Rentals, which rents boats allowing paddlers to navigate the Connecticut River. If the shop is closed, visitors can leave their admission fee in the drop box at the start of the path. For more information, visit www.pathoflifegarden.com. Contact Josh O’Gorman at josh.ogorman@rutlandherald.com.

WINDSOR SCHOOL DISTRICT

MISSION STATEMENT
The Windsor School District is committed to educating each student to his/her full potential. We believe that a safe and positive environment is essential and that it be defined by mutual respect and an appreciation of diverse ideas. Collaboration with the community, parent involvement, and effective communication are hallmarks of our school and guide school development. Our decisions are based upon a vision of high academic achievement. We understand the importance of education for the future and recognize that each of us should be a lifelong learner.

DATE: Monday, July 21, 2008

PLACE: Windsor’s K-12 Educational Complex Windsor, Vermont

TIME: 7:00 p.m. Regular School Board Meeting
Room 210 - 2nd floor - K/12 Educational Complex

AGENDA:
7:00 p.m. Call to Order by Chair Bennett
7:05 p.m. Items for Action
  1. Approval of Previous Minutes
•6/16/08 (enclosed)
2. Appointments / Resignations
7:10 p.m. Correspondence
7:15 p.m. Public Participation on Items Not Related to the Agenda
7:30 p.m. Board Member/Student Rep. Comments (Student reps: first meeting of each month only)
7:45 p.m. Items for Discussion
1. Superintendent Report (Brenda Needham)
•Animal Dissection Policy distribution
•Energy conservation discussion
2. Financial Report (Ed Connors)
8:30 p.m. Old Business
8:40 p.m. New Business
8:55 p.m. Setting Next Agenda
•Monday, August 4, 2008
9:00 p.m. Executive Session
9:05 p.m. Adjournment

SCHEDULE OF SUMMER MEETINGS
Monday, August 4, 2008
Regular School Board Meeting 7:00pm Room 210 – 2nd floor

Monday, August 18, 2008
Regular School Board Meeting 7:00pm Room 210 – 2nd floor

Windsor Area Observer - up and coming

[I got the following information from Matt Jarvis - Stew]

The Windsor Area Observer will be up and running in less than two weeks. I have leased a full-color printer that will be delivered next week and will allow me to print at a reduced cost to what we had before.

So, there will be a weekly Windsor Area Observer (full newspaper size) and a monthly WAO Monthly (full magazine size).

The Windsor Area Observer will continue to carry hard news and the WAO Monthly will cover the positive stories and news of Windsor and the surrounding communities.

Current subscribers will begin receiving the Windsor Area Observer with corrections to expiration dates and the WAO Monthly will be planned for the end of August to highlight the month of September. The Monthly will not be available at Price Chopper, but will be available at our other distribution points.

New Town Manager announcement

PRESS RELEASE
From: Windsor Board of Selectmen
Date: 7/11/08
Regarding: New Town Manager

The Windsor Board of Selectmen are very pleased to announce that Stephen J. Cottrell currently of Dunedin Florida, has been offered and has accepted the position of Town Manager for Windsor – his first day on the job will be August 4, 2008. Mr. Cottrell was the top candidate to emerge from a pool of approximately 40 candidates who applied for the Town Managers position in a recruitment process conducted by the Selectmen with the assistance of Municipal Resources Inc. The Board was unanimous in deciding to offer Cottrell the job.

Mr. Cottrell holds an MPA from Florida State University and a BA from California State University. He is an ICMA credentialed public manager and is a member of the Government Finance Managers Association. He has extensive public management experience, having served for 7 years as Assistant City Manager and 10 years as City Manager for Belleair FL. He also served 5 years as a finance / management analyst for the City of Tallahassee FL and 3 years as a legislative analyst for the Florida Council on Intergovernmental Relations before his appointment in Belleair. While Steve has spent most of his adult life in Florida, he was born and raised in Saratoga Springs NY and he still has strong ties to that area.

Where is Windsor?

I have observed certain dealings in Town and from what I see, this is Windsor’s problem. Everyone is selfish. There are numerous tugs of war in every corner. We cannot come together for a common cause. We cannot find a common ground. We cannot agree to even disagree. There is no vision, no plan that can be agreed on. It’s me and them, her and him, that or this or yes we can, no we cannot. It is an attitude we must finally solve by agreeing together, it is not working.

We need to do things in an orderly fashion, not because we can or cannot but because it is essential to focus on our real needs. It’s not whether we need this or not, it is whether it serves us well. Windsor must project an image. Hopefully it will be a positive image. Anything less than that is a failure. We must all agree. No matter what we are doing, no matter how irrelevant, if it is not done correctly we all look bad, we all fail.

I have joined the WOA board of directors not to be the only one to participate but because I thought I could do certain things to help with quality issues. I did not join to be at odds with the rest of the board but I joined to help progress the reason for it. I joined to help solve problems, not to create them. I look for for things with this task in mind.

1/ What are the immediate needs of WOA

2/ What can I do to satisfy those needs.

3/ Will the result of my actions be positive.

If I find a negative answer to any one of those questions, I am doing no good for Windsor on Air, my work will be fruitless, my efforts in vain. I might as well not even get out of bed.

When I look at Windsor on Air I see great opportunities for our community. We can have our own Television Station and we can reach out and touch our friends with information that is worth their eyes and ears. I have a certain vision for WOA and I will strive to see that vision. When I hit a stumbling block I will try to overcome it. If my efforts are in vain, if my efforts fail and my work is fruitless, I will step down and let someone else try.

Whatever the case may be I can live without Windsor on Air. You can live without Windsor on Air. But we do the town a huge disservice and we fail our mission to serve them.

That is true with every aspect of this town, the Library, the School, the Town Worker, the Bakery, the Gas station, the Garage, the Stores and every single thing that is done here. Our biggest asset is ourselves and we must come together to get things done. Discuss the issues, disagree, rehash them and find mutual ground we can all work on together. This is the only way Windsor is going to move ahead. This is the only way Windsor on Air is going to move ahead and this is the only way it will get done. Unless, we put a huge box of ropes around the town and open a gigantic boxing ring. That might attract people to Windsor and it might get something done. We just will not be sure what, but be assured it wont be pretty.

I write this because I see things going on in different areas of our town. I would much rather work with one person than take on a town full of angry people. Let’s pull it together and make something attractive and worthwhile.

Thanks,

Fred