Springfield park to focus on disadvantaged kids

The proposed new state park at Muckross, the former home of the late Edgar May, will focus on providing recreational opportunities for disadvantaged children, the state’s regional parks manager said Monday.
http://www.timesargus.com/article/20151202/THISJUSTIN/312029995

Springfield park to focus on disadvantaged kids By | December 02,2015 SPRINGFIELD — The proposed new state park at Muckross, the former home of the late Edgar May, will focus on providing recreational opportunities for disadvantaged children, the state’s regional parks manager said Monday. “It will be a very different state park,” said Phelps, who added that the park would provide “dispersed” recreational opportunities such as hiking, snowshoeing, fishing, hunting and biking. While the park would be open to all, the focus is on Springfield children, he said. He said the family of Edgar May, who died in 2012, would transfer his 204-acre home to the state of Vermont by the end of the year. Currently, the property is posted as off-limits to the public, he said. May was a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist who served in the administration of President Lyndon B. Johnson and was the first deputy director of VISTA, the domestic Peace Corps. Bob Flint, the executive director of the Springfield Regional Development Corp., and a close friend of May’s, said May wanted his home to benefit children. “The main benefit is serving disadvantaged kids,” Flint said. He said May had asked him to make sure his wishes were honored. Phelps said May, a former state senator from Windsor County, approached the state in 2012 about his gift.