Jay Fleury is a private man with an aversion to cameras. Ask his age and he replies, “Over 35 and under death.” He could be St. Albans’ most eccentric enigma. With gold-topped cane in hand and either a leather baseball cap or brown ushanka covering his clean-shaven head, Fleury takes daily strolls along St. Albans City’s Main Street, visiting downtown merchants and patronizing various restaurants. He calls St. Albans his baby.

“And I should take care of my baby,” he says.... Read more

Rich Rodriguez has two passions: tennis and acting. He grew up in a tennis-loving family in California, where his father, Ralph, was such a diligent member of the Stanford University tennis team that the school named the trophy clubhouse after him.... Read more

For eight years, Joe Russo scoured 31 towns north of Rutland for the perfect place to open a combination art gallery and café. “I wanted somewhere that we could provide a needed service to the community,” he says. Last August, he found the place: Highgate, land of hockey, Holsteins and homeland security — because it also borders Canada.... Read more

The man resembles the carved figure on a tomb: Flat on his back. Head sunk in a pillow. Hands folded symmetrically over his chest. Eyes closed. To the casual observer, 70-year-old Phillip Kinne appears dead.

Then he opens his eyes.

“I tell you what,” he says to Kathryn Kuba Dandurand, who produced his deep calm. “Are you going to be here over the next 72 hours?”

“Actually, I am,” she replies. “Shall I come back?”... Read more

Amid talk of food shelves, economic woes and struggling nonprofits, Ethan Dezotelle recalls a scene from last Thanksgiving. He was busy donating frozen turkeys to families via the Enosburg Food Shelf, which Dezotelle, 33, had co-founded that fall.

A boy walked in with his mother, and when Dezotelle handed her the big, chilled bird, the child — eyebrows raised, jaw dropped — screeched in delight.... Read more

On October 19, 1864, a group of schoolchildren watched through their classroom window as Confederate Army Lieutenant Bennett Young and his band of 19 rebel soldiers rode through St. Albans’ Taylor Park with more than $200,000 they had stolen from local banks.... Read more

Wednesday, September 17, 2:30 p.m.: In four hours, leather-clad ladies and gents will line up their chrome, two-wheeled babies outside of Harley D’s and stroll in for cold beer and hot eats. The Nobby Reed Project will blast head-boppin’ blues in a dimly lit corner. An attorney will sit near a table of Mexican farmhands. Drinks will flow. Wings will fly.... Read more

St. Albans City Police Chief Gary Taylor was struggling to pry the lid off the red, waist-high biohazard bin that is locked securely in his department’s evidence vault.

“I always have trouble with this,” he muttered. “Hang on.”

And then — POP! — there they were: thousands and thousands of pills in all shapes, sizes, colors and potencies.

Since late May, the St. Albans City Police Department (SAPD) has collected more than 8500 unwanted and unused prescription pills from residents as part of the city’s Prescription Drug Repository Program.... Read more

Four. Thirty. Five.

That’s the price per gallon of gas in Saranac Lake, N.Y., and the motivation behind a marketing ploy at Pendragon Theatre.

To encourage carpooling and relieve a parking crunch, the Pendragon is giving drivers of high-occupancy vehicles $5 off admission to summer series shows. Drive in with three people or more, and you can buy a gallon of gas, a couple of cookies at intermission, whatever.... Read more

When the St. Albans Artists Guild first approached painter Harald Aksdal of Fairfax with the idea, he had one response: “I don’t have time for this.”

After some thought, he decided the proposal had its upsides: funding for the Guild, exposure for his arts community, and though he can demand thousands of dollars per original work a chance to exercise his talent on a new subject.

Wildlife.

“I had to make the time for it,” Aksdal says. “It’s that special.”... Read more