Driver denies fatal collision charges

Rutland Herald

June 28, 2016 

By Kathleen Phalen Tomaselli

STAFF WRITER

Lashawn Jones, the tractor-trailer driver charged in a 2015 triple fatality on Route 4 in Killingtonpleaded innocent Monday in Rutland criminal court. Jones, 41, of Alpharetta, Ga., was charged with three counts of driving an 18-wheel tractor-trailer in a grossly negligent manner during hazardous operating conditions.

If convicted on all counts, Jones could be sentenced to up to 45 years in jail.

“This is tragic. It was a tragic accident. Anytime there is a loss of life, it is tragic, and Miss Jones is taking this very hard,” Jones’ attorney Matthew Hart said Monday afternoon. “The allegations are that she was driving too fast for conditions, but anyone who has driven that pass knows how fast the conditions change. It changes instantly. She wasn’t speeding, she was well rested, she did everything she should have, but the weather unfortunately changed.”

On Dec. 29, 2015, the day of the crash, an early morning storm brought snow, sleet, rain and wind to the area, and the National Weather Service had issued a winter weather advisory. Route 4 near Shady Knoll Road was mostly slush covered with icy patches, according to Vermont State Police.

“Something needs to be done about that pass, we see it every year,” Hart said.

At about 2:15 p.m., Jones allegedly crossed the double yellow line on Route 4, and the 2016 International that she was driving collided with a 2009 Cadillac Escalade.

The Cadillac passengers included five members of the Malarczyk family of Hastings-on-Hudson, N.Y., and a family friend from Poland.

Husband and wife Ryszard Malarczyk, 51, and Anita Malarczyk, 50, along with their friend, Jaroslaw Karczewski, 51, were pronounced dead at the scene.

The Malarczyks’ three children who were riding in the back — Natalie Malarczyk, 16, Peter Malarczyk, 20, and Monica Malarczyk, 22 — were severely injured, but survived the crash.

In the affidavit, State Police said the impact of the crash was so great that the Cadillac Escalade was crushed.

One witness, Lori Stiles, told police that she sat with Jones in Stiles’ truck, while her husband, a Killington firefighter, assisted on scene. Stiles said in a sworn statement that she let Jones use her cellphone to make some calls.

“She was upset, and while in between calls, she said, ‘I don’t know why they didn’t see me, I had my hazards on,’” Stiles said, adding that Jones said she was driving up the mountain, but had shifted down in anticipation of the other side. “She told me how she was in fear of the drop off, off the side of the road, so she had moved toward the middle of the road,” Stiles said.

Investigator Lt. Barbara Zonay said Jones’ comments to Stiles were troubling.

“Jones could not have been in the lowest gear going down the mountain, as she would have been traveling less than a few miles per hour. It is also troubling that Jones states she chose to move toward the center of the road, in essence expecting ongoing traffic to avoid her, even though she was clearly in the wrong lane,” Zonay said in her report. “Jones’ statement lends itself to the opinion that Jones chose to endanger other motorists by proceeding into an oncoming traffic lane ... if Jones was in that much fear of traversing the roadway, the burden was on her to stop traveling and wait out the storm for a few hours.”

Based on witness statements and gouge marks in the westbound lanes, police said that Jones crossed the painted solid yellow center line and entered the westbound lane, striking the Cadillac head-on.

Police tested Jones for alcohol or other drugs, but according to lab results, she did not have any intoxicating substances in her system.

Additionally, the investigation revealed that Jones was not talking on her cellphone and not texting at the time of the collision.

The tractor-trailer Jones was driving was registered to Roehl Transport Inc. of Marshfield, Wis., State Police said. After repeated attempts, the company did not return calls.

Jones was released on the condition she not drive a commercial vehicle.

Her next hearing is scheduled for July 18 in Rutland criminal court.

kathleen.phalentomaselli @rutlandherald.com

Killington Select Board faux pas

Mountain Times 

june 30, 016

Dear Editor,

At the Killington select board meeting, Tuesday, June 21, Ms. Kathryn Bellis whose husband was killed in an accident involving Craig Mosher’s bull July 31, 2015, was allowed to speak at the meeting during citizens input. What she said was for the most part a direct quote, from the letter that appeared in the The Mountain Times and Rutland Herald.

After the meeting concluded, I approached the Chairwoman and asked why Ms. Bellis was allowed to read her speech, which was included in the minutes of the meeting.

Her reply was that Ms. Bellis was a resident of Killington and allowed to speak during citizens input.

But, upon checking with the town office I learned that the Bellis family are NOT residents of Killington, Rutland County or the state of Vermont. When the select board allowed that speech to be read at the meeting, it gives the appearance that our town leaders may have served to promote Ms Bellis’ agenda to prosecute Craig Mosher. Not only that, I learned that Ms. Bellis has written letters to several of our towns employees promoting her case against Craig.

While we all feel sympathy for Ms Bellis’ loss of her husband, I would think it would be in the towns best interests to have our select board tend to our towns business, and leave what would be a legal matter to those who are qualified and involved.

Richard Kropp, Killington

- See more at: http://mountaintimes.info/killington-select-board-faux-pas/#sthash.QDot7Kzg.dpuf

Residents Standing Behind Indicted Bull Owner

Vermont Standard

6/30/16

By Curt Peterson

Standard Correspondent

Killington — Kathryn Barry Bellis, whose husband was killed in a July 31, 2015 accident on Route 4, asked to address the select board at its June 21 meeting.

Jon Michael Bellis, 64, a part-time Killington resident, died when his vehicle struck an 1,800-pound Scottish Highland bull, an animal owned by local businessman Craig Mosher, whose farm and excavating business stretch along Route 4 across from the Val Roc Motel. The bull also died in the accident and Bellis suffered minor injuries. Bellis read from a twopage statement and provided copies of an affidavit Vermont State Trooper Robert Rider which was filed on June 3 as a public document by Rutland County State’s Attorney Rose Kennedy in the grand jury indictment of Mosher, who is being charged with involuntary manslaughter in connection with the accident.

Referring to the controversy, Bellis said, “all of you and the public only knew that Mr. Mosher had been charged with involuntary manslaughter in connection with my husband’s death. It was not until June 3 that you had access to the actual facts.”

And the facts, she said, “are very different from what you and the public were first led to believe.”

The affidavit cites five occasions prior to July 31 on which police were notified a bull was loose near Route 4.

“The fifth report was on July 30, at about the same time of night when my husband was killed,” Bellis said.

On the evening of Bellis’s death, just a quarter hour earlier, a truck driver almost hit Mosher’s bull, which he said was standing in the middle of the dark highway. The driver went to Mosher’s house and woke him up, he told police, but didn’t think the farmer was reacting quickly, so he called the State Police.

“The state police dispatched a trooper who was on his way, but he was too late,” Bellis said. “The next call was at 10:13 by a passing motorist reporting the crash that killed my husband.”

“I was sitting in the dark, surrounded by air bags, covered in broken glass, next to my dead husband whose chest was crushed by the steering wheel, his head crushed by the bull coming through the top of the car.”

On April 19, Mosher’s attorney had claimed the farmer was out looking for his escaped bull when he was told of the crash by police. According to Trooper Rider’s affidavit, Bellis stated, Mosher “told the police he did not look for his pet where he was told by the truck driver to go on Route 4 – instead he chose to go back to sleep.”

“The facts are clear,” Bellis said. “The state police thoroughly investigated the crash. The state’s attorney is doing her job — protecting the public.”

She said it might have been anyone who died because the bull was where it shouldn’t have been, and she hopes her husband’s death will inspire a conversation about accountability and responsibility, and that the conversation will be based on facts, not hearsay. The indictment states Mosher “acted with criminal negligence by having notice that his Scottish Highland bull was loose and failed to contain his bull or alert others to this danger.”

After several seconds of silence, select board chairman Patty McGrath expressed to Bellis the board’s sympathies for the loss of her husband, and thanked her for sharing her information.

At the April 19 select board meeting, resident Vito Rasenas stood and requested the town take some kind of official action condemning the indictment.

“Everyone here knows what Craig Mosher has done for this town over the years,” Rasenas said. “And most people feel he’s been mistreated by the Rutland County prosecutor. I think the select board and the town should do everything we can to support him.”

Rasenas’ call for action inspired suggestions from the large crowd, including holding a public hearing, circulating a petition, and residents writing “stacks of individual letters.” The select board, however, declined to take any official action in April, but promised to explore any appropriate options.

On June 21, resident Diane Rosenblum, who was seated in front of Bellis, turned to her and said, “From the other side — my sympathies go out to you, but Craig Mosher is a much-loved member of this community and many here stand with him. Just so you know.”

Bellis replied, “All I ask is that you consider the facts.”

After the meeting Killington Police Chief Whit Montgomery said, “It’s a tough situation all the way around.”

Mosher had to drag his dead bull off the road with a loader and chains, Montgomery said. The chief had been off-duty when the accident occurred, but was at the scene in plain clothes to assist the state police. He said the Killington police have never received calls about Mosher’s livestock escaping or interfering with traffic, but assumes the reports have gone directly to the state police.

“We have a dog ordinance in Killington,” Montgomery said. “It requires dog owners keep their dogs under control or on their own property. There are stiff graduated fines. But it’s a dog ordinance. There’s no statute regarding livestock.”

Asked if he is aware of any special measures Mosher might have taken to prevent escapes since the accident, Montgomery said no, he is not.

In other business, Town Manager Deb Schwartz gave further information about the effect of tax delinquencies and her strategy for dealing with unpaid levies, which currently amount to over $460,000 including interest and penalties.

“I’ve been researching how other towns deal with tax collections,” she said. “Some don’t allow quarterly payments, don’t provide ten-day grace periods, don’t let taxes get two years arrears.”

She pointed out the town budget is designed assuming all the tax revenue due will be paid during the fiscal year.

“If all the taxes aren’t paid, the town doesn’t have the money to cover the budget,” she said.

McGrath said the quarterly payments idea was an experiment to see if it helped people pay their taxes on time.

“I think it helped,” she said, and cited delinquent taxes of $500,000, $600,000 and even $700,000, although she did not imply the quarterly payments made that much difference.

The recent Stage Race, according to Economic Development Commission liaison Amy Morrison, was a big success. Although participation was down 15 percent, more of the riders were from out of state, meaning they used local lodging and restaurants, and more of them spent the weekend in and out of Killington businesses. She claims the economic gain to the town was$663,000.

“Everyone here knows what Craig Mosher has done for this town over the years. And most people feel he’s been mistreated by the Rutland County prosecutor. I think the select board and the town should do everything we can to support him.”

Killington Resident Vito Rasenas

Monday,    Jul. 11          State vs. Mosher, Craig
at 3:00 PM  in Room 2       363-4-16 Rdcr/Criminal
                            Status Conference
                            Plaintiff, State  (Rosemary M. Kennedy)
                            Defendant, Craig Mosher  (Paul S. Volk)

Victim’s Wife Recalls Fatal Bull Crash In Killington

Vermont Standard

6/3016

By Katy Savage

Standard Staff

Kathryn Barry Bellis remembers every detail of the night of July 31. She and her husband Jon left Woodbridge, Connecticut at 6 p.m. They took Interstate 91 and Route 4 to Killington. It was a Friday and they were about to spend a weekend at their condo, just like every weekend for the past 13 years. Jon had a 3 p.m. tee time on Saturday. Kathryn had plans to go shopping and run errands.

They stopped at Outback Pizza in Ludlow at 8:30 p.m. and shared the “The Big Okemo” (an everything pizza). They had three Diet Cokes and Kathryn hurried her husband along at 9:40 p.m., like always. Her favorite show, “Blue Bloods,” a CBS drama about a family of police officers, was on at 10 p.m.

Jon gave his wife a hug as they got into the car and he said what he always said on Friday nights: “I love my life. I love my wife. I love Vermont. Are we ready to have a good weekend?”

That was the last time he said those words.

Twenty minutes later Kathryn blinked and everything went black. When she opened her eyes, her husband was dead. She couldn’t see him because she was surrounded by airbags, but she knew.

He was killed when his car slammed into a bull that had escaped from its pen on Route 4 in Killington.

“It was a massive beast, an enormous beast in the front of our car,” Kathryn said.

Her husband was in the driver’s seat.

“He said nothing to me. He did not moan, he did not groan,” she said. “Jon would have put his arm out in front of me, he would have said, ‘Hold on,’ but the bull was on us before we could see it,” she said.

They were about to turn onto the road where their condo is.

Bellis’ steering wheel crushed his chest. Jon died of a massive head injury after an 1,800 pound Scottish Highlander belonging to Craig Mosher went over the top of the car and crushed the sunroof.

“I was trying to get my cell phone out but my hands were shaking so much,” Kathryn said. She waited on the side of the road for help.

“I just remember holding my eyes and crossing my arms across my chest and praying to God.

“I expected at any moment for my legs to be broken,” she said.

She thought her spine would be broken, she waited for a head injury.

“I just waited for my life to end,” she said.

But it didn’t.

The one-year anniversary of that night is approaching.

“It’s only now that the public knows what I’ve known since July 31,” she said.

The information she’s known since last July was released to the public June 3. The police affidavit said Mosher was made aware of the loose bull before the accident on July 31 when a milk truck driver pulled into his driveway and woke him up by blowing the truck’s air horn. State Police Trooper Robert Rider wrote that a milk truck driver slammed on his brakes, leaving skid marks on the road, to avoid hitting the Scottish Highlander named Rob the night of July 31. The driver alerted Mosher and called state police just before 10 p.m., just as Jon was likely hugging his wife one last time. Mosher told police he went looking for the bull near a spruce tree. Mosher didn’t see the animal and assumed it was behind his shop. He went back inside and fell asleep, the affidavit said.

“I would like people to consider the facts. That’s what I’ve been forced to face as well as my family, my neighbors, my community,” Kathryn said. “All of us would like there to be accountability for Jon’s untimely death.”

Mosher is being charged with manslaughter. He did not make a “reasonable effort to locate the loose bull when he was advised it was out of its pasture,” the police document said.

The case has made national headlines. Farmers rallied around Mosher at a hearing June 6. Locals showed up in support. Some who knew him didn’t believe the police report. They said that Mosher was not negligent like that.

“I wouldn’t venture any judgment until I heard his side of the story because it certainly doesn’t sound like him. It seemed unbelievable,” Killington resident Vito Rasenas said.

The Vermont Farm Bureau is standing behind Mosher. Farmers are concerned about the consequences of their animals escaping.

But, Rutland County State’s Attorney Rose Kennedy has stood by her decisions, saying she’s interested in protecting the public safety.

Mosher’s attorney did not return a phone message.

To Kathryn this was no accident. It was a tragedy that should have been prevented.

Her attorney Jerry O’Neill, a lawyer with the Burlington firm Gravel and Shea, is asking the public to look at the number of times Mosher’s animals have escaped.

“He made the choice not to restrain his animals and that is, from our perspective, what the case is about,” said O’Neill, a horse owner.

Mosher’s’ two bulls doesn’t make him a farmer, he said.

“These are pets. These aren’t farm animals, “he said.

This case, Kathryn and her lawyer have said, isn’t the same as hitting a moose or other wildlife.

“This is entirely preventable. This is a domestic animal on the road,” O’Neill said.

Kathryn’s life has been destroyed, she said.

Kathryn, 61, met her husband in high school.

“Jon was my best friend, “said Kathryn. They have a daughter who’s 26 and a son who’s 30.

Jon and Kathryn were together, always.

“I haven’t made one single life adult decision without him by my side,” Kathryn said.

They’d been coming to Killington almost every weekend for the past 13 years. They played golf in the summer and skied in the winter. Then went back home to work. Jon worked in the outpatient psychology department at Yale. Kathryn has a medical device company.

“My husband and I found Killington to be a place for rest and relaxation,” said Kathryn.

She still comes every other weekend, driving days now instead of nights. She continues to attend the Church of Our Savior in Killington on Sundays.

“I find my own peace up there,” she said.

While her husband’s death has ignited conversation about animal rights, Kathryn is distributing copies of the police affidavit. That night has been all she’s thought about.

“While this criminal indictment has been noteworthy. It has been my life since July 31,” she said. “He chose to go to bed,” she said. “A responsible man would not do that.”

Monday,    Jul. 11          State vs. Mosher, Craig
at 3:00 PM  in Room 2       363-4-16 Rdcr/Criminal
                            Status Conference
                            Plaintiff, State  (Rosemary M. Kennedy)
                            Defendant, Craig Mosher  (Paul S. Volk)

Killington to review tax collection policy

Rutland Herald

By Lola Duffort

STAFF WRITER June 29,2016

KILLINGTON — The town manager will take a look at how Killington collects taxes and goes after delinquent payments.

While reviewing Killington’s May financial report with the Select Board last week, Town Manager Deborah Schwartz noted the hole in the town’s budget aligned perfectly with unpaid taxes.

“For revenues, we are under budget by a little over $1 million, 97 percent of which is uncollected tax revenues,” she said.

Schwartz called the numbers “encouragement” for her plans to propose an updated tax collection policy to the Select Board soon. She added that she had begun to take a look at how other Vermont municipalities collect taxes.

“Other towns don’t wait two years for a tax sale, other towns don’t have 10-day grace periods — and we don’t have to be like other towns, I’m not a very good lemming,” Schwartz said.

Select Board Chairwoman Patty McGrath agreed the town’s quarterly payment system might be specifically worth reviewing, and noted Town Clerk Lucrecia Wonsor had said the town’s last payment — in May — was particularly troublesome since it came just as town offices prepared for summer activities.

The town only recently moved to a quarterly system. Before, property owners paid their taxes in two installments: August and November.

“It’s my understanding that we broke up the payments into four to try and decrease the delinquencies. How has that worked?” one resident asked.

McGrath answered that the clerk had reported more people were paying some taxes — while consistently forgetting one installment.

“What the challenge is, for many years, you paid in August, you paid in November. You kind of get that in. And then all of a sudden, (Wonsor) said, people were pretty good about February, but everybody forgot about May,” McGrath said.

Schwartz also noted the May installment came just days before the town was due to make two annual payments to the state.

“Right, we’re relying on everybody paying their taxes on time on May 25 so that five days later we can pay that same money we just collected to the state,” Selectman Chris Bianchi said.

Bianchi also noted that since voters had approved the upcoming year’s tax payment schedule, changes couldn’t be implemented for at least another fiscal year.

“So, it’s like this for awhile,” he said.

lola.duffort

COURT CLEARS WAY FOR FIRST PHASE OF KILLINGTON RESORT EXPANSION

VT Digger

By Mike Polhamus

Killington Grand Hotel is in the background as skiers head out. Killington Resort is planning a major expansion, the first phase of which will include a base lodge and nearly 200 condos and three dozen homes. Wikimedia Commons photo

In a long-awaited decision, Vermont’s Environmental Court has upheld the land use permit for the first phase of a Killington Resort expansion that eventually is to include 2,300 residential units and 200,000 feet of commercial space.

This first phase includes 32 single-family homes and 193 condominiums on what is now a parking lot at the main base area, plus a base lodge and other commercial structures.

The decision last week upholds the Act 250 District 1 Commission’s approval of the plans in 2013.

The court said the development described in the application will actually improve water quality in nearby Roaring Brook and won’t hurt the area’s aesthetics. A landowner in neighboring Mendon had appealed the permit on those grounds, among others.

The ruling, and the permit application, resulted from lengthy and close collaboration with officials at the Agency of Natural Resources, said Chris Roy, an attorney for the project’s principals, who operate under a corporate entity called SP Land Co. LLC.

The development will help Roaring Brook, Roy said, “because what’s there now is a parking lot.” Stormwater now runs unimpeded from the asphalt into the waterway, he said. That can scour exposed ground and contribute to destabilization of stream banks, according to court documents.

Designers have greatly improved practices relating to runoff and stormwater since the parking lot was installed, Roy said, meaning the development will incorporate elements to reduce erosion.

In addition, as the Environmental Court noted, the owners of Killington ski area — operating under a separate corporation called Killington/Pico Ski Resort Partners LLC — intend to build new stormwater treatment systems that will further reduce harm to downstream waters.

The court said some area streams and brooks have become impaired, which it blamed in part on the existing resort development and its aged stormwater treatment system. The court said: “The new proposed treatment system will not only protect against adverse impacts from the proposed developments, but will also reduce the adverse impacts from the pre-existing developments.”

Roaring Brook qualifies as an impaired waterway, meaning it can’t meet clean water standards.

The resort’s plans had been challenged by Stephen Durkee, a Mendon resident who owns several properties in Killington. His lawyer — Nathan Stearns, of White River Junction-based Hershenson, Carter, Scott and McGee — argued before the court that the development would harm his client by polluting Roaring Brook, along which Durkee owns property, as well as increasing traffic and hurting the area’s aesthetics.

Stearns said Thursday he hadn’t found time to read the decision closely enough to comment on its nuances. He did say the case has been underway for years. “We’ve been waiting a long time for the decision,” Stearns said.

The trial that was the basis of this decision ended in late 2014, Roy said.

The court found that dwindling ticket sales at Vermont ski areas, combined with the long stays the resort’s lodging amenities will encourage, mean traffic won’t increase unacceptably.

The court ordered SP Land Co. to pay $20,000 toward a traffic study that will include traffic counts before contractors finish construction on the first phase of the Killington expansion. The study is to serve as a benchmark for future phases of the planned expansion, which critics say may lead to an increase in traffic and other unwanted consequences.

The court in expansive terms rejected, too, the argument that the proposed development would hurt the resort’s aesthetics.

In fact, the court said, “we regard many of the aesthetic impacts from the proposed development to be positive” — bringing, for instance, “an updated and coordinated appearance to the planned Village Core area that will replace the somewhat worn and disjointed parking lots and buildings that currently exist in the main base area.”

The decision is open to appeal to the Vermont Supreme Court.

Killington board to meet Wednesday

Rutland Herald

June 28,2016

The Killington Select Board will convene for a special meeting at 9 a.m. Wednesday at the Killington Town Office to approve a $900,000 operating loan and approve the funds to investigate a potential fire station site.