The Burlington Free Press from Burlington, Vermont • Page 9

1 Fust Call helps families in crisis -TOWNS fjp Beavers fall, 81-73, to Monroe SPORTS SECTIOSB Vermont Monday. Soxember 10. 1997 Metro Editor Rob Dev. 660-1 862 or (800) 427-3124 Community: 2B Towns: 3B Sports: 4B Principal harassed staff clusion that (Morrison) touched the claimants inappropriately, looked at them and other women inappropriately and created at a minimum a hostile work eniron-ment. all in violation of state and federal sexual harassment laws." School officials downplayed the state ruling, saying it was "limited" because they did not participate.

"At this point we're getting on with running the business of the school," Morrison said. schooL "Instead the district decided to focus its time and energy and resources on the school and providing services for the kids." Three months ago. Mar) Lou Thorpe, a 23-year employee, and Deborah Lav alette. seven-) ear employee, accused principal Dan Morrison of sexual harassment and student abuse. The school board's investigation cleared Morrison, who is in his fourth year of leading the school.

The secretaries refused to re turn to work, saying the school work environment was hostile. "He would bruvh against us and invade our space," Lavalctte said. "The biggest thing was that he winked at all the women. It was like a power thing." The two women appealed the ruling that they weren't eligible for unemployment benefits and testified before the state with nine other witnesses. They received word Friday of "unrcfuted evidence" that supported a "con of financial reality Police investigate fatal crash in Guilford GUILFORD Vermont State Police in Bratiieboro are investigating a two-car, head-on collision that lulled a 62-year-old Guilford man Saturday.

The accident happened at 6:30 p.m. on a straight and level section of Weatherhead Hollow Road. Police said Laurie Cum-mings, 43. of Guilford lost control of her Jeep Grand Cherokee and collided with a Subaru driven by Kenneth E. Benson.

Benson was taken to Brat-tleboro Memorial Hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 7: IS p.m. National forest's future to be topic of meeting MIDDLEBURY The future of the Green Mountain National Forest will be the topic of a public meeting tonight. Rep. Bernard Sanders, is sponsoring the meeting, which will be at 7 p.m. at the American Legion Post 27 on U.S.

7. U.S. Forest Supervisor James Barthelme and other forest experts will attend the meeting to answer questions from the public. For more information, call Sanders' office at (800) 339-9834. Channel 17 offers classes in production Channel 17 Town Meeting Television is offering a series of three classes in TVvideo production this month at its studio on North Winooski Avenue in Burlington.

The class today will cover graphics; Nov. 1 3, editing; and Nov. 20, media literacy. Each session will begin at 6:30 p.m. and will end at 8 or 8:30.

More information is available from Oak LoGalbo at 862-3966, Ext. 16. Two face charges as fugitives from justice MORRISTOWN Two Vermont men wanted in Maine were arrested Saturday on fugitive from justice charges. George J. Chouinard, 49, of North Wolcott and Leo R.

Blais, 56, of Andover are wanted in Maine on gun and drug charges. Both were taken into custody without incident by state police, Morristown police and the Lamoille County Sheriffs' office. Both were held at the Northeast Regional Correctional Center in St. Johnsbury for lack of $25,000 bail each. Chouinard posted bail, police said.

Both men are scheduled to be arraigned today in Lamoille District Court. From staff, wire reports Ex-Hinesburg secretaries win claims By Rachel Klein Fret Prm Slif 'rate The Hinesburg Elementary School principal did sexually harass two secretaries, according to an investigation by the Vermont Employment and Training Department, which evaluated unemployment claims by the women. Students Fair provides foundation in budget, career By Anna Geggls Fret Press Sta ff Hriter SOUTH BURLINGTON It's a ritual in homes everywhere: start out with a month's salary, play the subtraction game deducting the amount of bills for water, electricity, insurance. And then come life's surprises. More than 400 middle and high school students were drawn to the Sheraton-Burlington Conference Center last week to play Reality 2000, a combination career fair and reality check for youths who want to live on their own someday.

A weekly look ai school happenings, learning, 3B Participants chose a career and were given the corresponding month's salary. From there, they had to manage student debt, bills of all kinds and life's little surprises, like a "baby" for Samantha Phillips, II, of Wa-terbury. When she received a random card announcing she was having a baby, Samantha was required to reduce Si, 200 from her monthly pay of slightly more than $2,000 to cover the expenses of day care, medical care and equipment. She seemed slightly overwhelmed. "I thought I'd be able to do what I needed to do," Samantha said of the money she received for her "job" as a manager.

"But that was a lot for a baby." For the workday world of the next century, the experts see that people will increasingly have to become independent and entrepreneurial, rather than merely obedient and punctual as it was required of factory workers during the earlier part of the century. That's one of the reasons Sandy Simmonds, a guidance coordinator at Burlington Technical Center, was urging her students to attend Friday night's event. "I thought it would be a very valuable experience for the stu- should be completed in January and open to the public in the spring. They have added a promenade on the west side and space for a health club, dance and art studios, an automated teller machine and a newsstand that will offer food items. The federal government is paying for 80 percent of the project; the state will cover the rest, Moulton said.

The station will serve a proposed commuter rail system that would run from Charlotte to Burlington. The latest plans call for commuter rail to be up and running by fall 1998. The school did not participate in the investigation. School officials ere unsure whether the department's decision would be discussed at Tuesday night's school board meeting. "The school district made a conscious decision not to participate in the hearing regarding their claim for unemployment," said Christopher Leopold, personnel manager with the Chittenden South Supervisory Union, which includes the Hinesburg get taste dents to find out what the realities were really like," Simmonds said.

Event organizer Sarah Spencer had to deal with some harsh realities when she found herself at 28 and the single parent of a two-month-old infant. She had a message to drive home to tomorrow's adults. "Too many people think being an adult means having a martini in one hand and a cigarette in another," she said. "I did the routine, go to school, get married. I thought I was set.

But then adversity happens to you." Spencer signed on several busi The new station also will be a hub for people who are biking, running or boating into town and need a place to take showers and store their belongings, Moulton said. The health club will have six showers available to the public for a fee and about 110 lockers. Union Station was built in 1916 and used as a railroad station until the Rutland Railway stopped passenger service in 1953. The building was converted into offices. Moulton and Steele took over the property from Green Mountain Power Corp.

in 1985. The duo have constructed two See STATION, 2B 'm Four cited with alcohol possession Teen taken to hospital By Tamara Lush Free Prets Staff Writer Police in two Vermont communities cracked down on underage drinking this weekend: Four people were arrested in Winooski for buying beer, and police took one "nearly comatose" East Montpclier teen to the hospital. At 8 p.m. Saturday, Berlin police responded to a complaint of someone vomiting from his car on Vermont 12 near the Meadows Apartments. Police found 17-year-old Dylan Crossman lying face down, with vomit on himself, across the back scat.

When roused, the teen told police he was left there by his friends and was waiting for them to return. The teen could not walk or stand, police said. Police took the teen to Central Vermont Hospital. On the ride to the hospital, the teen told the officer driving the cruiser to "drive carefully" because a friend of his was killed recently by a drunken driver. In October, two Montpclier High School teens were killed on their way home from an Adamant party.

Daniel Kitchen, 16, has pleaded innocent to a charge of driving while intoxicated with death resulting. Police said Kitchen was legally drunk and driving when he killed his brother and his best friend. In Winooski, four teen-agers will appear in court this month for buying alcohol with false identification cards. Police are asking the Vermont Liquor Control Department to investigate the two convenience stores that sold the alcohol to the teens. Friday night, Winooski police saw two men leaving Chuck's Mobil Station on East Allen Street with a case and six six-packs of beer.

Police asked the pair for identification. They initially gave officers false identification cards from foreign countries, then later identified themselves as Eduardo Cuervo, 17, and Luis Canahu-ati, 20. Both were cited to appear in District Court at 10:30 a.m. Tuesday. Winooski police also cited two University of Vermont students into court on similar charges.

Erin Williams, 20, and Jennifer Pierce, 19, were stopped by Sgt. Richard Benoit as they left Chuck's Fast Stop on Main Street with two cases of beer and a bottle of wine. Williams gave Benoit a false and altered identification card. She will be charged with giving false information to a police officer and possession of alcohol by a minor. Pierce will be charged with possession of alcohol by a minor.

The two are scheduled to appear in district court Nov. 24. Photos by ROB WANftON.Anv Va ABOVE: Student and paranta at tha Reality 2000 career fair line up at tha Chittenden Bank booth while pursuing a "career." Participants dealt with real life situations while trying to start a career seeded with a "virtual" checking account. Tha Friday event was at tha Sheraton-Bur- lington Conferenca Center In South Burlington. LEFT: Samantha Phillips, 11, of Crosset Brook School In Water-bury balances her checkbook after finding out she has a "baby on board" during tha career fair.

Samantha said she en-Joyed the fair because "It shows you what It's like to be out In real life." In the game, the delicate act of juggling bills could easily be upset. There were stereos to tempt pocketbooks. And the wrong roll of the dice or random cards that organizers handed out to youths, called "Reality Checks" could spell disaster. "I got married," Rodney Stearns, 16, of Charlotte said in a way that didn't prompt congratulations as he signed up to pay for wedding invitations. There also were bills that students didn't know they had to pay.

"I didn't think I was going to have to take care of water," Samantha said. nesses, employers and educators to exhibit at the game. At the telephone company booth, for example, students signed up for phone service. A roll of the dice determined what service they would get. At the booth for St.

Michael's College, a representative would talk to participants about their education bills. Every effort was made to formulate bills and salaries that were realistic, Spencer said. "If you're in high school and you think you want to be in the childore business, you need to know how your lifestyle is going to mesh with your salary of $6.30 per hour," she said. Developer plans commuter hub Many uses planned in Union Station renovation By Sona Iyengar Free Press Staff Writer With a set of plans tucked under her arm, developer Melinda Moulton pushes aside sheets of plastic and leads the way into a huge room with 14-foot-high ceilings and a curving wall of windows. "When you come to travel, you will come here," she said, looking at the future lobby of Burlington's new train station.

"This is going to be the access for transportation. Right here." Moulton and partner Lisa Steele of Main Street Landing Co. are renovating Union Station at the foot of Main Street a $1.5 million project that 8LENN nr Press IN MEMORY: Cynthia Day, who works for the Hospice of the Champlain Valley, lights a candle Sunday during the ninth annual memorial service for loved ones who have died during the past year. Hospice allows people to die with dignity surrounded by their families and belongings. The service was at the Unitarian Church In Burlington..