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athy Resmer. a freelance writer and

an occasional contributor to OIT M .

has become the editor and publisher
of the Winooski Eagle. 'l'he Eagle is a l6-
page community paper. published monthly
and delivered free to every household in the
city.

Resmer follows Rebecca Padula as
editor. whom she credited with keeping the
paper alive. The writer and former ‘zine pub-
lisher said she hopes to enlist Seven Days
publisher and editor Pamela Polston as an
investor.

The Winooski Eagle was originated
in I981 by Guy Page. published for a couple
of years. then was revived in l993 by Jodi
Harrington (also a lesbian) after a "decade-
long hiatus.“ Fomier Progressive
Representative Steve Hingtgen led a group of
volunteers who bought the paper in 2002 and
made it a nonprofit "community paper."
Resmcr plans to run the paper as a for-profit
business.

Two considerations motivated her
to take on the proycctz her mission "to bridge
the painisan divide in this country and pro-
mote ti culture of civility based on mutual
respect and aflection": and a statistic that “90
percent of all media content in the world is
controlled by six corporations."

She has read the paper since she
and her partner Ann-Elise Johnson moved to
Winooski in January of 2003. But she didn't
become involved until September, when she
found herself free on the night of the Eagle's

 

  the  -d¢¢¢“‘b°'?-2°04  

   
   

monthly community meeting. “Dick Galperin
[the paper's chairman] had just said. ‘Unless
somebody walks through that door. this is it.
we're finished."' Resmer explained in an
interview. “Then I walked in."
Resmer left the meeting thinking

that she could write an article for the final

“'l11e papers chairman had just said,
V/‘Unless somebody walks through
that door, this is it, we're finished,”
Resmer explains. “Then I walked in.”

issue. "But then I thought, ‘I don't want this
paper to die.’ Ninety percent of life is show-
ing up. Sol showed up. and now [I want to
say] ‘Okay VVinooski, let‘s start showing up —
not just at meetings, but as a voice.”

The Eagle “is independently owned
and operated. It’s the only paper reporting on

3

I1 ews

  

 

Winooslci issues,” Resmer declared, including _
“the biggest downtown redevelopment proj-
ect in the state; the fact that we’re one of the.-

‘ most diverse towns in the state per capita. We

have students speaking 22—diiTerent lan-
guages in our schools” among a total student
population of about 900. “We have one of the
highest ratios per eapita of residents under
the supervision of the Department of
Corrections. Our crime rates are very high,” ‘
she concluded. . '

Asked whether an influx of gays,
lesbians, artists, and others who can’t afford
to live in Burlington might be a step toward
gentrification, Resmer said maybe. “We
bought our home through the Community
Land Trust,” she said, including herself in the
tide rolling down Colchester Avenue and
across the bridge. “\Vmooski used to be old
French-Canadian families, millworkers. They

_ don’t live here any more. There used to be 20“

kids on my block. Now there are t.hree.'More
than 60 percent of the housing stock is 
If you want tocall it_gentrification.‘you\ can.“
But longtime residents agree thereiare serious
problems.”

‘ Resmer said in response to a ques- ’
tion that she might consider including a gay
column — as long as it was directed to the
wider community. She plans to continue pub-
lishing the “Faith Matters” column, penned
by a rotating roster of spiritual advisors. She
will, she said, be “very careful” about homo-‘ .
phobic content in the column. V ' '

   

Safe Harbors Leads to

 

Safe Schools?

BY LYNN MCNICOL

;ilc _lciiti;in. co-tliicclor ol
()utii;_-lit \'criiioiil. is li;ipp_\
th;it llic sliitc l)cp:it‘tIiiciit ol

l‘.llllt’illltill is .ltltllt‘\\llllI lilt‘ li:ii';iss-
IllL'lll iiiitl liiillyinp lllill pl;ii_'uc ptililit‘
sL‘ltntil stiitlctits. £‘\l\t‘\'lilii_\ lliosc \\‘lto
itlciilily 1l\ lt‘\l)lllll.l1il).l\l\t'\llill.
tttiitspctitlci oi qticcr. lt‘l'tllZlll satiil ;i
tiicctiiii: with sliitc litluciilioii l)cp:irt»
lllt'lll olliciails in ()ciobci‘ to iiiltlrcss
llicsc issues wcnt "vci'_\'. \'Cl'_\' wt-ll."
“'l'lit'y'i'c workitii: with its
iigiiin |‘in cscitcd ziboiit thtit."
.lci'ni;tn sititl. i'cl'ci'i‘iiig to the st;itc'.s
iippitrciil iibtnitloiniiciit ol‘ llic Sail}:
llairlioizs‘ Projccl lltllil rcccnlly. “I'm

glittl qttcci‘ isstics iirc bcing incltitlcd

shc titldctl.

l-‘olloiuiig ti nicctiiig with
the group in liilc Uctobcr. liluctittoii
(‘oiiiniissioiicr Richard (‘tile nziiiicd
Kiitc (‘um-( )‘.\'cill. l)()l-I coordinator
for lll\' l'lfk'\‘L‘llll0ll progritiiis. to work
\\ itli Stile lltirbors. Bcforc thc \\llll-
dr;i\\iil ol si;itc intcrcst. Ssilc lliirbors
\\‘£l\ wiirkitig on it “toolkit" on ll0\\ to
tlctil with litiriissiiiciit illltl bull_\iiig
|\_sllL‘s in thc schools. But than work
had conic to it stop l;I.\l _\c;ir. Jcriiiiiii
siiid. Now. there iirc pliiiis to ll£l\'C the
project fiiiishctl within months. .lcnii;in
\\'ll\ plctiscd \\ illi tlic coiiiiiti.ssioiicr's
clioicc ol‘ (‘:i.s.si~()‘Ncill. “I think slic
will be it grciit aissct for Stile lltii'bor.s."
.lci'iiitiIi sand.

it rciiiiiiiis tiiiclcnr. liowcvcr.
cxtictly what role (‘;i.ssi~0'Ncill will
play. .lci'ni;iii wits of the opinion that
(‘ti.s.si-()'NciIl wits iippoiiitcd its ii

member of Safe Harbors. but Cassi-
(T.\'cill said she will be the liaison
between Safe Schools and Safe
Harbors.

The Dcpannicnt of
lidticzitioifs Safe Schools‘ Team was set
tip to o\'ci\cc projects coiiccming
liiiriissiiiciil tintl bull_\ ing and other safe-
ty issues such as prcsciicc of wc'.ipoii.s‘
on scliool pnvpcn). it also iiicltidcs the
“HliST“ or Building lilTccti\c
Stnitcgics for Tenchiiig Studciits with
lichiirioritl (‘lizillciigcs Project. Hl\'
prc\ciition L‘tll|C'.lll0ll pmjccts. llllti .sc\~
uiil iibtisc [1rC\L‘lllit\Il. Stile lltirborx
works spccilicull) on isstics rcliitcd to
.sc\ti:il oricnttitioti iiiid gcndcr idcntit_\
in .scliool.s. Jcniinii siiid.

At tiny rtitc. (‘ii.s.s‘i-0‘Ncill
said she pl:lllS to work ililfd to “build it
bridge" bctwccii the two groups and to

establish a strong link to the GLBTQ
community. She previously worked as
a school health coordinator with the
Anierican Cancer Society.

Cate. who has been educa-
tion coniiiiissioncr for just at year. and
following .sc\'er.1l commissioners who
served about as long. said Safe
Harbors‘ completed document will be
distribtited to all of V'eniioiit‘.s‘ school
districts oiicc completed. Rcgtirdiiig
the issue of litiving the HIV coordiii-.i—
tor also working on liiinissiiiciit issues
wlicn thcrc isn't iiccc.s.s‘ari|_\' ti connec-
tion bctwccti the two. Ctitc said. “in
this outfit. c\'cr_\'bod_v's got about six
different jobs.“ adding "l think that‘s
just fine“ that Cassi-O‘Nci|l will play
both mics. _

Ciziy rights 11d\'0C1llCS have
been conccmcd that the -.inti—har;iss-

merit and anti-bullying laws. both
passed earlier this year. don‘t have the
“teeth" needed to stop students from
abusing other students. And they‘re
concerned that there is no mandate to
require training of staff or strong
enough consequences for school dis-
tricts that fail to implement the laws.

“We try to stay away from
iiiandzites.“ Cate said. “They don‘t
work." He said it‘s “dangerous“ to say
there's one wtiy to handle these prob-
lems. and that school districts need to
be able to draw up their own plans.
“Burlington is going to do this much
differently than they are in [the
Northeast Kingdom town of] Norton.“
he said. V

L_\'nn M('NicoI is (1 freelance writer
who lives in Burlington.