Rutland Herald
By Lola Duffort
STAFF WRITER | June 23,2016
STAFF WRITER | June 23,2016
KILLINGTON — Jon Bellis’ widow took the floor at the town’s Select Board meeting Tuesday night to tell Killington “the actual facts” regarding her husband’s death this past summer.
“My sole purpose tonight, my sole purpose, my only purpose, is to share the actual facts of what happened that night, and happened in the weeks preceding the crash,” Kathryn Barry Bellis, a Connecticut resident, told Select Board members and a small group of assembled community members.
Barry Bellis and her husband were driving west on Route 4 the night of July 31, 2015, to their Killington condominium when they struck an escaped 1,800-pound Scottish Highland bull that belonged to Killington resident Craig Mosher.
Bellis, 62, died on scene; his wife suffered minor injuries. Mosher has since been charged with involuntary manslaughter and, if convicted, could be sentenced to a maximum of 15 years in prison.
The decision to charge Mosher has been met with outrage by the Vermont farming community, who worry about the precedent the case could set.
It has also deeply upset many in the Killington community, where Mosher is widely regarded to be an upstanding citizen. Speaking Tuesday night, Barry Bellis said the state’s attorney’s decision to bring the case to a grand jury led the public to learn of the charges before they had the chance to learn facts of the case.
“And the actual facts are quite different about what you and public were first led to believe about the crash that killed my wonderful husband Jon,” she said.
Grand jury proceedings are secret, but documents filed by State’s Attorney Rose Kennedy in Rutland criminal court afterward — June 3 — said Vermont State Police had been called five times in the months preceding the crash about Mosher’s bulls escaping and wandering onto the road.
“There’s no way of knowing how many other times these bulls were out and not reported to police,” Barry Bellis said.
The fifth report came the night before the crash, she said, “the same time, the same place, that my husband was killed.”
What happened to her husband was inevitable, she argued.
“If my husband had not been killed on July 31st, someone else would have died at some point from a collision with a bull standing on Route 4,” she said.
Mosher’s attorney, Paul Volk, contested in an interview with Vermont Public Radio that the state had provided good evidence Mosher’s animals had been the cause of prior calls to police.
“There’s nothing in the discovery that’s been provided that indicates that the bull that was involved in this accident was a bull that was previously supposed to have been out,” he said.
Barry Bellis also recounted how a milk truck driver had nearly struck the bull less than hour before she and her husband did.
Jeffrey Herrick told police he stood on his brakes to avoid the bull, and then drove to Mosher’s home to warn him his animal had escaped. Worrying Mosher wasn’t acting quickly enough — according to court documents filed by Kennedy — Herrick also called police, who were on their way when another motorist called to report the crash.
Mosher told police that night he searched for his bull on his property after Herrick warned him, couldn’t find him, and went back home.
“He chose to go back to sleep,” Barry Bellis said Tuesday night. “He went back to sleep, without knowing where his bull was. The choices that this bull owner made are why my husband is dead.”
Near the end of her speech, Barry Bellis recounted what her husband had told her as they were leaving a pizza restaurant in Ludlow, a favorite spot, just half an hour before he died. It was something he had said many times before.
“He hugged me, and he always said: ‘I love my life, I love my wife. I love Vermont. Are we ready to have a great weekend?’” she said.
Speaking quietly and haltingly, Killington Select Board Chairwoman Patty McGrath briefly responded to Barry Bellis’ testimony.
“Mrs. Bellis, you have our deepest sympathies,” she said. “I want to thank you for coming, and I know that it was very difficult. We appreciate it.”
But visibly agitated, Killington resident Diane Rosenblum responded in turn.
“While we sympathize with you tremendously, Craig Mosher is a very much loved man in this community and many of the people in this community are standing by him,” Rosenblum said, raising her voice as Barry Bellis tried to interject.
“So you should know that, regardless of your statement,” Rosenblum said. “So I just want to put that out as citizen’s input. And I’m sure you’ve seen all the letters in the paper supporting him. That’s all I have to say.”
Barry Bellis had originally asked the board to read her statement during the meeting. McGrath said Wednesday the board declined to do so because it “wasn’t part of town business,” but had told Barry Bellis she was entitled, as a property owner, to speak during the citizen’s input part of the meeting.
The Select Board has declined to take any official action regarding the Mosher case, but writing as a private citizen, McGrath herself has joined the chorus of letters pouring into local papers decrying the decision to charge Mosher.
McGrath said Wednesday she stood by her letter, in which she expressed anxiety about the ramifications the potentially precedent-setting case could have.
She also said that Barry Bellis’ had been well within her rights to present the facts “as presented” by Kennedy.
“In all honesty, what the state’s attorney has put forward doesn’t reconcile with the person that I know,” she said.
lola.duffort @rutlandherald.com
“My sole purpose tonight, my sole purpose, my only purpose, is to share the actual facts of what happened that night, and happened in the weeks preceding the crash,” Kathryn Barry Bellis, a Connecticut resident, told Select Board members and a small group of assembled community members.
Barry Bellis and her husband were driving west on Route 4 the night of July 31, 2015, to their Killington condominium when they struck an escaped 1,800-pound Scottish Highland bull that belonged to Killington resident Craig Mosher.
Bellis, 62, died on scene; his wife suffered minor injuries. Mosher has since been charged with involuntary manslaughter and, if convicted, could be sentenced to a maximum of 15 years in prison.
The decision to charge Mosher has been met with outrage by the Vermont farming community, who worry about the precedent the case could set.
It has also deeply upset many in the Killington community, where Mosher is widely regarded to be an upstanding citizen. Speaking Tuesday night, Barry Bellis said the state’s attorney’s decision to bring the case to a grand jury led the public to learn of the charges before they had the chance to learn facts of the case.
“And the actual facts are quite different about what you and public were first led to believe about the crash that killed my wonderful husband Jon,” she said.
Grand jury proceedings are secret, but documents filed by State’s Attorney Rose Kennedy in Rutland criminal court afterward — June 3 — said Vermont State Police had been called five times in the months preceding the crash about Mosher’s bulls escaping and wandering onto the road.
“There’s no way of knowing how many other times these bulls were out and not reported to police,” Barry Bellis said.
The fifth report came the night before the crash, she said, “the same time, the same place, that my husband was killed.”
What happened to her husband was inevitable, she argued.
“If my husband had not been killed on July 31st, someone else would have died at some point from a collision with a bull standing on Route 4,” she said.
Mosher’s attorney, Paul Volk, contested in an interview with Vermont Public Radio that the state had provided good evidence Mosher’s animals had been the cause of prior calls to police.
“There’s nothing in the discovery that’s been provided that indicates that the bull that was involved in this accident was a bull that was previously supposed to have been out,” he said.
Barry Bellis also recounted how a milk truck driver had nearly struck the bull less than hour before she and her husband did.
Jeffrey Herrick told police he stood on his brakes to avoid the bull, and then drove to Mosher’s home to warn him his animal had escaped. Worrying Mosher wasn’t acting quickly enough — according to court documents filed by Kennedy — Herrick also called police, who were on their way when another motorist called to report the crash.
Mosher told police that night he searched for his bull on his property after Herrick warned him, couldn’t find him, and went back home.
“He chose to go back to sleep,” Barry Bellis said Tuesday night. “He went back to sleep, without knowing where his bull was. The choices that this bull owner made are why my husband is dead.”
Near the end of her speech, Barry Bellis recounted what her husband had told her as they were leaving a pizza restaurant in Ludlow, a favorite spot, just half an hour before he died. It was something he had said many times before.
“He hugged me, and he always said: ‘I love my life, I love my wife. I love Vermont. Are we ready to have a great weekend?’” she said.
Speaking quietly and haltingly, Killington Select Board Chairwoman Patty McGrath briefly responded to Barry Bellis’ testimony.
“Mrs. Bellis, you have our deepest sympathies,” she said. “I want to thank you for coming, and I know that it was very difficult. We appreciate it.”
But visibly agitated, Killington resident Diane Rosenblum responded in turn.
“While we sympathize with you tremendously, Craig Mosher is a very much loved man in this community and many of the people in this community are standing by him,” Rosenblum said, raising her voice as Barry Bellis tried to interject.
“So you should know that, regardless of your statement,” Rosenblum said. “So I just want to put that out as citizen’s input. And I’m sure you’ve seen all the letters in the paper supporting him. That’s all I have to say.”
Barry Bellis had originally asked the board to read her statement during the meeting. McGrath said Wednesday the board declined to do so because it “wasn’t part of town business,” but had told Barry Bellis she was entitled, as a property owner, to speak during the citizen’s input part of the meeting.
The Select Board has declined to take any official action regarding the Mosher case, but writing as a private citizen, McGrath herself has joined the chorus of letters pouring into local papers decrying the decision to charge Mosher.
McGrath said Wednesday she stood by her letter, in which she expressed anxiety about the ramifications the potentially precedent-setting case could have.
She also said that Barry Bellis’ had been well within her rights to present the facts “as presented” by Kennedy.
“In all honesty, what the state’s attorney has put forward doesn’t reconcile with the person that I know,” she said.
lola.duffort @rutlandherald.com
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