Bock, Reed face off for Chester House seat

Two Democrats are vying for the right to represent Chester in the Vermont House, Windsor 3-1, which includes the town of Chester, a small slice of North Springfield, as well as the towns of Andover and Baltimore.

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Bock, Reed face off for Chester House seat By SUSAN SMALLHEER Staff Writer | August 08,2016 CHESTER — Two Democrats are vying for the right to represent Chester in the Vermont House, Windsor 3-1, which includes the town of Chester, a small slice of North Springfield, as well as the towns of Andover and Baltimore. With no announced candidates from either the Republicans or independents, the race is between Tom Bock and Melody Reed, both of Chester. The chosen candidate will succeed retiring Rep. Leigh Dakin, D-Chester, after the November election, but they face off during Tuesday’s Primary Day. Bock, 70, and Reed, 62, have both been endorsed by various politicians and officials, with Reed nabbing the endorsement of U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont. Bock in turn has Dakin’s endorsement to replace her at the State House, along with other local town officials. Bock, a retired businessman, has served on the Chester Select Board for 10 years, although he recently lost his bid for re-election. And he’s served as chairman of the Chester Planning Commission for the past 25 years, and is the current chairman of the Southern Windsor County Regional Planning Commission. He’s also worked for the town in the areas of economic development. Bock was the manager of Newsbank, which is based in Chester, for 20 years, before switching careers and buying Vermont T’s, which he ran for 25 years before selling it five years ago. He is married and the father of three adult children. But Bock says the opiate crisis is the number one issue facing Vermont. “It’s not global warming, it’s opiate addiction,” he said. “It’s in everybody’s face.” Half of the crime in the state, he said, can be traced back to opiate addiction. He said he supported President Barack Obama’s plans, which would give the states additional funding for both enforcement and treatment. “It’s a very, very serious problem and it’s ruining or destroying families,” he said. Reed, a native of Ludlow who has lived in Chester since 2005, currently runs her own jewelry making business, Bracken Glen Cottage. She makes earrings and sells them wholesale. She has worked for Gallery at the VAULT in Springfield, and was secretary to a dean at the College of St. Joseph in Rutland, and in the process completed her bachelor’s degree, after getting her associate’s degree at the Community College of Vermont. She has worked for weekly newspapers doing ad sales and graphics, and designed art shows and galleries. On her mother’s side, she is a direct descendant of one of Vermont’s earliest governors, Thomas Chittenden. She is married and the mother of three adult children. Reed volunteered for former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean for two years, and has been active in politics, although this is her first race for political office. Both said that Act 46, the state’s new education consolidation law, needs reworking. Reed said that local school officials are very concerned about losing local control. But she said that in support of the law, she has heard it strengthens the schools and diversity by decreasing the financial incentive for parents to send their kids to private schools, if the towns have school choice. “It affects the diversity of the local school. It degrades the local school, and you don’t have the same parent involvement,” Reed said. Bock said Chester has a local study committee, and so far the word is that it doesn’t work for Chester and the rest of the towns in the legislative district. “They think we need a change in the law,” he said. When it comes to large-scale wind development, Bock says he’s against it, and he thinks even those local or small-scale wind turbines should go through the planning or zoning process. As for the large wind turbine project proposed for neighboring Grafton, Bock said he is against it, as wind is too divisive, and damaging to local property values, and creates noise pollution. “Anywhere they go, the opposition is fierce,” he said. “The noise is very annoying and everyone’s views are compromised,” he said. The state instead should focus on solar, hydro and energy conservation to meet its energy goals, he said. For Reed, the impact on Chester’s roads from the construction of the wind project is a big concern. But she said she didn’t feel towns should have veto power over the siting of wind turbine projects. “But towns have to be able to present and voice their concerns,” she said, noting that the sound coming from the large turbines can be a concern. “Would I want to live under one? Probably not,” said Reed, who with her husband lives off the grid in their rural Chester home. “Sound is probably the biggest issue for people,” she said. “I’m not offended by the way they look,” she said. “But you have to be concerned about the environmental impacts.” Reed said her priority if elected would be to “open the lines of communication” with residents, and renew the tradition of writing a local weekly column for constituents. “I haven’t been on a lot of boards,” Reed said, “so I’m not carrying with me a lot of pre-conceived ideas. I’m not afraid to ask questions.”