A $1 million bond referendum is on the ballot again in November after residents in a small Gloucester County town defeated it in the spring.

The proposal in South Harrison seeks to fund the replacement and remediation of flooring that is emitting toxic mercury vapors in the one-school town.

The all-purpose room in South Harrison Elementary School has flooring made with phenol mercuric acetate (PMA). The substance, used to seal a rubbery surface to flooring in gyms and other school rooms, can breakdown over time and release fumes that are odorless but toxic.

Superintendent Jim Lavender, who also oversees the nearby Kingsway Regional District, said he and other school officials hope a larger turnout in the general election will approve the proposal.

We did it in March and it failed, Lavender said Thursday. The voter turnout was 15%, maybe. So the thinking was, taking advantage of a general election were going to have a higher turnout. The board believes were going to have a truer representation of how the voters feel about this project.

If approved, the measure would add $62 to the residential property tax bill of $3,489.67 for the typical homeowner.

Lavender said the cost for replacing just under 5,000 square-feet of flooring could be less than $1 million if concrete under the floor is not also contaminated with PMA. He said any savings would be credited back to the bond amount. The superintendent said the district also qualifies for a rebate of up to 40% of the bond repayment from the state.

Lavender said the gym in the elementary school has been closed for more than a year after environmental testing showed mercury vapors in the room exceeded environmental standards of .8 micrograms per cubic unit of air.

The floors can stay in use by ventilating the rooms with fresh air and keeping temperatures between 68 to 72 degrees. The warmer the room is, the more vapors that are likely to be emitted. Students in the district returned to in-person classes on an alternating, cohort schedule for the upper and lower elementary school.

South Harrison is not the only school in the state, or nation, facing this problem. This type of flooring was widely installed until the early 2000s as an alternative to traditional wood floors for gyms and tile floors for cafeterias and all-purpose rooms which may also serve as auditoriums.

Washington Township, Gloucester County found it in flooring in eight of the townships 11 schools. Only one of the schools, Whitman Elementary, had levels that exceeded safe limits.

The remediation efforts in Washington Township were estimated at $3.2 million, officials there said. But an engineer the district hired to study the problem said she thinks it extends far beyond Washington Township.

This is not just a Washington Township problem, this is not just a state problem. This is a national problem, Annina Hogan said.

A bond referendum was passed in Deptford, Gloucester County in January that included funding to replace contaminated gym floors in three elementary schools.

The New Jersey Education Association warned its members last year that 11 school unions have sought help with the issue and that it suspects there are more mercury-laced floors out there.

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Bill Duhart may be reached at bduhart@njadvancemedia.com.

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Mercury vapors are seeping out of N.J. schools floor. $1M plan will fix it, if voters OK it. - NJ.com

Engineers at Viega use simulation applications to share results of finite element modelling with their customers, offering them valuable engineering support as they design radiant heating and cooling systems for both residential and commercial applications.

Imagine the race against time that emergency workers compete in on a daily basis, as well as the panic, stress, adrenaline and rush that comes with driving an ambulance or emergency helicopter. Now, imagine the emergency worker arriving on scene in the dead of winter, only to find the helicopter landing zone covered in ice and snow. Under such intense time constraints, can this area be shovelled quickly enough? What about emergency vehicles slipping on hidden ice? Is it worth the risk to be held at the mercy of these arctic conditions with such high stakes?

Fortunately, there is technology that can safeguard against these issues and it is becoming increasingly prominent: hydronic snowmelt systems. Piping encased in a thermal mass (typically concrete) allows for warm water to circulate throughout the area requiring snowmelt. With regards to an emergency situation, when designed properly, the system will prevent the buildup of ice and snow, thus alleviating the need for manual cleanup.

When it comes to applications where heating or cooling is required, radiant floor systems use a similar piping design to control space temperature and comfort by regulating the flow and temperature of water in tubing installed beneath the floor (Figure 2).

Viega, a company that both designs and manufactures radiant heating systems, helps tackle situations where special methods of temperature control are needed.

Although they have existed in various forms since the Roman Empire, radiant systems are turning out to be particularly useful in modern society for both commercial and residential applications. Radiant heating is used not only for floor warming applications but also to control the temperature of a room. When the floor can be kept at a warm temperature, it will give off thermal radiation in the room. This radiation will only be absorbed by opaque surfaces; in other words, it will be absorbed by our bodies (but not the air), creating a feeling of warmth.

A tubing layout is designed in a specific configuration by Viega. The tubing is then laid beneath the flooring in a panel system. Hot water (or cold water in cooling applications) runs through the tubing and heats the surrounding material. The uppermost surface of the floor then radiates heat to the rest of the room. This is just like when you move from a shady spot to a sunbathed one; although the air temperature is the same, your skin feels much warmer because of the absorption of thermal radiation. The special tubing is made of a cross-linked, high-density polyethene (known commonly as PEX). The cross-linking benefits are two-fold: It provides the capability to withstand higher temperatures and pressures and increases its resistance to stress cracking. These tubes are vigorously tested, adhering to standards for temperature and pressure ratings, minimum bending radii and pipe wall thickness.

The recent emergence of environmental consciousness and energy efficiency at the forefront of building design has contributed strongly to the increased popularity in radiant heating. Radiant heating systems pair quite well with modern, high-efficiency water boilers and since they dont circulate air and utilise lower water temperatures than a baseboard system (115F vs. 180F), they optimise the energy consumption. The water temperature in the tubing distribution is simply controlled by the opening and closing of valves and even yields a more constant temperature throughout the room.

Brett Austin, supervisor of heating and cooling design at Viega, uses the COMSOL Multiphysics software to design a system to meet their customers needs. COMSOL supplements our heating and cooling design and layout program, Austin says. We draw the layout on floor plans, move it into COMSOL and eventually share it with customers. Simulation allows us to provide engineering data to support our designs. When a project is proposed to them, a mechanical engineer from the site provides requirements for heating and cooling outputs, structural specifications, floor covering materials and usually a range of acceptable water temperatures. They then use simulation to determine tube placement and spacing, temperature distributions (Figure 3) and heating or cooling capacity to make sure the customers needs are met. COMSOL is primarily helpful for nonstandard applications where there is multidirectional output or more complex structures, Austin says.

Viega truly benefits from multiphysics simulation through the use of simulation applications and COMSOL Server to share them with their customers. When Viegas team is at meetings with prospective customers, they can now quickly adjust parameters, like water temperature or tubing diameter and show the output of the heating or cooling system on the spot.

Prospective customers often have many initial questions involving multiple iterations, Austin explains. But the simulation applications allow us to go above and beyond and offer them the invaluable service of visualisation. It is a great tool that allows us to share data virtually anywhere in the world from our office.

In environments like Southern California, cooling contributes more to comfort than heating. Thats why the Anaheim Regional Transportation Intermodal Center (ARTIC, Figure 4) came to Viega about installing a radiant cooling system. Because of the massive size of the building, a forced-air circulation system would be near impossible to achieve and hopelessly expensive. Once again, the team underwent the task of modelling smaller sections of flooring and extrapolating the data to the entire layout. This scenario, however, had some added difficulty and required quite the balancing act from Austin. For starters, because of the dome-shaped structure and high amount of window space (Figure 5), there were abnormally high solar gains that added significant heat energy to the building. The cooling capacity, therefore, had to be very high to counteract this. On the flip side, because of constraints from the engineers on the ARTIC side, the water temperatures in the tubing had to be much lower than usual cooling systems (50F vs. 58F); but as temperatures neared dew point at the surface of the floor in some areas that had closely spaced tubing, Viega wanted to ensure peace of mind to the customer that condensation was not a concern.

Using COMSOL Multiphysics, they were able to determine what to do to prevent condensation from forming; installing a thin layer of insulation around the pipe. We worked out a solution with the onsite engineer to add an insulation layer on top of the supply tubing to slightly reduce the output, Austin says. It seems counterintuitive, but in this case, it prevents condensation in areas that had closely spaced tubing due to construction constraints. Additionally, on other projects, they have used COMSOL to run time-dependent simulations to help develop a control strategy where the slabs in the floor are cooled overnight to conserve energy. The chilled water is run throughout the night, cooling the concrete to a low temperature. In the morning, the water is turned off and the floor temperature stays cool for the remainder of the day. This contributes strongly to the reduction of necessary cooling power. Simulation was used to see how long the output will continue throughout the day and if this is a feasible strategy.

Even though snow-melting systems can act as a critical safety feature for emergency entrances and helicopter landing pads, they can be equally as useful at the other end of the spectrum: luxury. High-end ski resorts place extreme value on their customers safety and a sophisticated and reliable snow-melt system is essential to their experience. In a snow-melt system, the ground is kept at a warm temperature, which continuously melts snow and ice.

When Sun Valley Ski Resort, located in Ketchum, Idaho, came to Viega, Austin knew how sizable a task they were about to undertake. The ski resort wanted to install a radiant snow-melting system throughout the entire resort, requiring more than 60,000 square feet of walk areas and driveways. To deal with such a large project using simulation, Austin and his team had to model sections of the system. Fortunately, there are similar types of panels throughout most jobs, he explains. We used our internal program to draw out a section in a CAD format. Then wed draw a small cut-piece in the software, specify the radiant panel material properties and water temperatures and then run the simulation. Simulation applications made it seamless to present the results to Sun Valley representatives and played a major part in completing this job.

Sun Valley Ski Resort benefitted tremendously from Viegas design and installation. All pathways and areas with high foot traffic were involved (Figure 6). As it was not always feasible to plough or shovel these areas, another method of snow removal was needed. A snowmelt system such as this minimises any cleanup, reduces maintenance and contributes to a professional appearance as there is no need for salt or chemicals. It also, most importantly, adds an extra level of safety and reduces liability by allowing for ice-free zones.

COMSOL Server has provided a robust solution to couple Viegas services with their sales team. COMSOL has given much added value to our work and extended finite element modelling to our sales team, Austin says. It was very intuitive and easy to pick up the software and we plan on using more coupled physics interfaces in the future to increase our modelling capabilities.

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Promoted Content: The Unseen Wonders of Radiant Heating, Cooling and Snowmelting - The Engineer

Each leaf will have Hope written on it

The cathedral will play host to The Leaves of the Trees, an art installation by sculptor Peter Walker.

The artwork is made up of 5,000 steel leaves, each with the word HOPE written on them, designed to honour those who have died during the pandemic and to allow everyone to reflect on their experiences.

The Dean of Lichfield, the Rev Adrian Dorber, said the artwork matches the mood of people during the pandemic. He said: The pandemic has affected every facet of life and since the start of the lockdown in March weve experienced new stresses and challenges.

This large-scale work by Peter Walker, our artist in residence, matches the mood with the moment as autumn sees leaf-fall, shorter, cooler days and the approach of winter darkness.

We house the installation in holy space that testifies always to hope and we offer this exhibition as an opportunity to think, pray, reflect and figure out the nature of our hope.

All 5,000 steel leaves will appear as if naturally scattered by the wind on the floor of the cathedral.

Mr Walker said he had chosen steel as the material to help remind people of resilience and collective strength.

He said: As the artwork tours around the country the steel will age, rust and change colour, just as the leaves of trees do when they fall each year.

It is hoped that the simplicity and beauty of the installation will give people the chance to pause and contemplate on their own experience and also the wider situation that we find ourselves in.

Visitors to Lichfield Cathedral can view the installation from October 31 to November 25 during usual daytime opening hours.

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Reflective pandemic art installation to be hosted at Lichfield Cathedral - expressandstar.com

Tim Leiweke

New York Islanders and state officials gathered at the future home of the UBS Arena last Friday morning to watch as construction crews placed the highest beam atop the 885-square-foot facility.

Today is a very, very special day, Northwell Health CEO Michael Dowling said at the topping-off ceremony. The health system the largest in New York State has partnered with the Islanders and lead developer Oak View Group to provide more community-based wellness programs and ensure peoples safety and well-being while inside the future live entertainment and sports venue.

This is about hope, he said. This is about the future.

Construction on the nearly $2 billion project was delayed by two months when Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced his New York on Pause order in March, but now, Oak View Group CEO Tim Leiweke said, the project is back on track to open next fall. He and Islanders co-owner Jon Ledecky attributed that success to the hard work of the projects 10,000 union workers.

Its because of each of you that we are able to reach this important milestone, Ledecky told the workers on-site at the ceremony, with Leiweke adding that he cannot believe what a phenomenal job youve done.

Officials broke ground on the site last September, and they expect the roof to be two-thirds complete by the holiday season. From there, Leiweke said, crews could start working on the electricity and plumbing, and putting up drywall.

Crews have already begun installing the beams and stanchions for the stadium seats, and watched as the highest beam, signed by officials and union workers, was put in place on Oct. 9.

The facility is expected to open in time for the National Hockey Leagues 2021-22 season, and will house a 17,000-seat arena for the Islanders hockey team, as well as 20,000 seats for concerts. There will also be 56 suites, private clubs and 2,000 premium seats.

Musical artists, many of whom postponed their 2020 tours, will also benefit from a two-way ramp that will accommodate eight trucks, one of which will be able to drive right onto the arena floor, for artists to easily unload their equipment. They will also be able to stay in a four-season presidential suite, complete with their own greenrooms and offices that will be only 15 steps from the stadium.

They went out of their way to make sure we didnt cut any corners, Leiweke said of designer Populous at a webinar about the future of live sports and entertainment on Oct. 8, adding that UBS bathrooms are nicer than most arenas.

Oak View Group officials have also spent months looking into different sanitation technologies to implement at the new UBS Arena, and assembled a task force to discuss health and safety. They will also create new standards for health and safety at arenas that an independent agency would rate them on.

Our job is to ultimately deal with the virus, Leiweke said, noting that he had met with Dowling early on in the planning stage to discuss how they could safely open an arena during a pandemic, and Dowling informed him about the need for air-filtration systems.

The arena will now feature four massive air-pumping stations and technology that disinfects the air. It will also use ultraviolet lights to help disinfect surfaces and will feature outdoor spaces, and the grab-and-go technology that Amazon uses at its Amazon Go stores. Oak View Group was able to get that technology at its UBS Arena due to its naming rights agreement with Amazon for the Seattle Krakens new stadium.

Were working with the gold standard, Islanders co-owner Jon Ledecky said. We have to make sure a fan feels 1,000 percent safe when they enter the building.

But the Oak View Group, the Islanders and Northwell Health are also making sure people in the community stay safe. They announced on Oct. 6 that, as part of the partnership, Northwell and the Islanders will create community programs focused on health, nutrition and physical activity. The partnership will also help Northwell expand its outreach efforts, Dowling said, and learn more about the communitys needs.

It will be continuous learning, Dowling said, with Leiweke adding that officials from the different organizations will learn more about the communitys needs before the first puck drops at the arena in 14 months.

A retail village included in the plans for the redevelopment project, however, may open a year later due to coronavirus delays, and the south platform of a new Elmont Long Island Rail Road station at the site will open around Nov. 1 of next year with the north platform serving westbound trains finished a year later. The station will include 5,500 parking spaces, with 150 reserved for commuter parking.

We will be fine, and we will get through this, Leiweke said at another panel discussion about the construction project on Oct. 8. Im not going to let a temporary virus affect what were doing here.

The project is being privately funded, Leiweke said, and is expected to provide a significant boost to the regional economy, at a time when economic activity has slowed because of the coronavirus pandemic. It is expected to generate roughly $25 billion in economic activity over the term of its lease, and developers have vowed to fill 30 percent of the arenas permanent jobs with workers who live in the surrounding area.

Additionally, 30 percent of contracting dollars for construction was earmarked for state-certified minority- and female-owned businesses, and 6 percent was earmarked for service-disabled veteran-owned businesses.

If you dont think New York is going to return, you are blind to whats going on around us today, Leiwekee said at the ceremony on Friday. To all of those that doubt New York, come visit us at UBS.

For more information about the arena, visit http://www.UBSArena.com.

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Highest beam installed at UBS Arena - liherald

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Wood County Health Department business inspections for September.

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Following are the latest results ofWood County Health Department inspections onlicensed food establishments and other types of businesses, which USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin reports regularly.

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Wood County inspections: Employees handling food with bare hands - Wisconsin Rapids Tribune

Kentucky voters who requested an absentee ballot for theNovember election can return them by mail or in secure drop boxes.

Henderson County has one drop box inside the county courthouse and is installing a second one outside.

County Clerk Renesa Abner said the drop box outside the courthouse will be under constant surveillance and it gives voters a chance to deliver their ballot 24/7.

"Part of that installation will be that its bolted down in the concrete, so it would be extremely difficult to, you know, take that away," said Abner. "Also our courthouse houses our sheriffs department. Their office is on the same floor entrance as that drop box, so I feel very safe having it outside.

Henderson County's registered voters can also choose early in-person voting that began Oct. 13 and runs through Nov. 2. Early voting is at the county courthouse or theChase Fulcher Archery Training Center on Garden Mile Road.

The archery center is a school district site and Abner said it's not being used for school programs now.

You can imagine archery, you know, its a very large facility for us to house the voting operation and socially distance people," said Abner. "Its in a good location. Its in a better location for maybe people who dont live in the city. Its in the city limits, but its going toward the county line.

Abner said the county has had about 5,600 requests for absentee ballots and, so far, a total of about 2,000 have been returned by mail and in the drop box inside the courthouse.

The deadline to request an absentee ballot has already passed.

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Henderson County Offers 2 Early Voting Sites and 24/7 Drop Box - WKU Public Radio

AMHERST Walking by the Studio Arts Building at the University of Massachusetts on Wednesday, passersby turned their gaze toward an unusual sight in the expansive second-floor window a full-size antique merry-go-round, sometimes lit up and spinning in the mostly empty building.

The curious stares are just what artist Kathy Fanelli hoped for when she installed the carousel, which she described as a large-scale, sculptural project that challenges and disrupts what we accept.

Merry-go-rounds are a beloved icon. Everyone loves a painted carousel its part of our culture, said Fanelli, who embarked upon the project for her masters of fine arts thesis at UMass.

Fanellis merry-go-round is not the typical carousel seen at fairs or amusement parks. Instead of a brightly painted spectacle accompanied by upbeat music, the 1924 antique ride has been stripped down to its bare essentials, such as silvery aluminum horses, bare wood paneling, mirrors and metal machinery. In place of music, the metallic creaks of the merry-go-rounds inner mechanical apparatus accompany its spinning.

I really wanted to reimagine a merry-go-round completely, Fanelli said, and I wanted to strip it and remove all of the paint and trappings, and the traditional things we associate with a merry-go-round, which are about illusion.

Fanelli knows merry-go-rounds better than most people. Growing up, she spent seven months out of each year moving about the Northeast with her fathers traveling carnival company, Fanelli Amusements. But Fanelli parted with the carnival to pursue art, and until her thesis project, she did not incorporate its imagery into her work, describing her relationship with the carnival as too close and commercial.

But approaching the project, Fanelli drew connections between the merry-go-round and other artistic and spiritual motifs that catch her interest, such as circles, meditation and Buddhist principles centered on illusion and hindrances.

Fanelli acquired the carousel from the New England Carousel Museum in Bristol, Connecticut, which initially offered the rundown merry-go-round to her father. Her family did not have use for it, Fanelli said, as it was in pieces, caked in decades of paint, and looked like junk by the time she began working with it.

Fanelli would spend the next year and four months stripping away paint, polishing the horses, rewiring a nearly century-old electrical system, and sanding the wooden surfaces, among other tasks, sometimes with assistance from interns. Much of the work required skills that Fanelli had to learn for the first time, such as wiring, welding, woodworking and lasering.

The experience was liberating,coming in and not knowing any of that, and just doing it, Fanelli recalled.

Stripping the merry-go-round down to its skeleton also creates asomewhat ghostly effect, shesaid.

You can see the parts of the merry-go-round that actually make it turn, she noted.Theyrenot covered up. I wanted all of that exposed so you can see the truth you can see how it works.

For Fanelli, this transparency is healthy, and a symbol of hope for a future based in truth.

The project also aims to destabilize an institutional space, she said.

Its interrupting that premise and suggesting that if you throw a merry-go-round in the middle of an institution, you destabilize it, Fanelli said. Its no longer a place you pass through. Theres a merry-go-round in it, its deconstructed, its reimagined and it doesnt belong there, so it disrupts the norm of the institution.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the project did not go quite as planned. The merry-go-round is not currently hooked up to a motor and must be spun by hand, which activates its lighting and the jumping motion of its horses. And ideally, members of the public would be able to come into the building to view and ride the merry-go-round.

Instead, Fanelli has only been able to show it to groups of up to five people at a time, and most of the public viewing is limited to those who walk or drive by the Fine Arts Center. Eventually, Fanelli hopes to move the merry-go-round to a museum.

But amid the rapid changes and tension in todays world, Fanelli says that that project ultimately asks how art projects can assist in healing.

I do believe everything we need we already have, and what needs to change is the internal inventory, Fanelli said. I think what needs to change is on the inside, so this is not something I made so much as something I reimagined.

This story has been updated to reflect the correct location of Fanellis art installation.

Link:
More musing than amusing: Stripped-down merry-go-round a revealing ride - GazetteNET

The new Honda Civic Type R is here, and things are looking good under the hood. With such a strong start, the Japanese automaker has some hot new options available for the front-wheel-drive challenger.

Many will see these as an upgrade in the aesthetic department, but theres much more than meets the eye. Honda has ages of experience and success on the racetrack, and this package shows for it. Sure, Honda Access isnt necessarily a performance division, but its clear that they arent just focused on appearance.

7 Photos

We could tell you about the mirror covers, floor mats, paint protection films, and many of the other pieces on offer, but its clear that there are several big-ticket items here. While many of these goodies are solely focused on aesthetic improvements, its clear Honda still utilized some big foreheads in the engineering department.

Youd be remiss to disregard the new wheels as an upgrade in just the aesthetic department. Make no mistake, spokes on the new hoops include a sword-like profile and are painted stark white to complement the vehicles red brake calipers. While they are nice to look at, the Japanese automaker focused on creating a wheel that emphasized its racing spirit.

Following the design ethos of the wheels supplied to its race cars in the Japanese Super GT championship, the aim was to target a delicate balance between strength and beauty. As such, the wheel is constructed from an A6000 series aluminum alloy previously reserved for aerospace applications and produced using a very advanced forging and machining process to save up to 2.1 kg per wheel. Keen readers will know that taking away this unsprung mass has a profoundly positive effect on vehicle kinematics.

As red has always been a staple of the Type R from day one, the Japanese automaker wanted to make it a focal point of the Access pack. In doing so, the weave of fibers in every available carbon component includes red polyester thread. Contrary to popular belief, Honda wanted these panels to create a delicate texture without making excessive claims.

Wed wager that customers will be champing at the bit to get their hands on some of these items. Details on U.S. availability remain unknown, but its clear that the Type R is alive and well.

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Bling Up Your Civic Type R With Dealer-Installed Honda Access Items - Motor1

Maya Crowley opened shop in her hometown, where customers include former teachers and patrons of place that inspired her business, Uncommon Grounds Wochit

ESSEX The name and approach of a new business at The Essex Experience might seem very familiar to local coffee fans.

Another new business came to the rebranded Essex Shoppes and Cinema complex when Uncommon Coffee opened Sept. 3. The shop owned by Maya Crowley serves coffee, tea and non-caffeinated beverages. The latter includes one Crowley was drinking on a recent afternoon, The Librarian, a concoction of fresh-squeezed grapefruit juice, house-made rosemary syrup and seltzer. The drink is named for the wood-paneled book nook inside the former Under Armour shop on Essex Way.

Lorna Dielentheis, coffee-bar manager at Uncommon Coffee, pours a beverage at the Essex business Sept. 30, 2020.(Photo: BRENT HALLENBECK/FREE PRESS)

Keep reading: New tea shop and restaurant in Burlington blends flavors of East Asia, Vermont

Uncommon Coffee also serves breakfast and baked goods from its full-service kitchen/bakery. Menu choices include a build-your-own breakfast sandwich, a breakfast pizza and a paisley hash so named because of the color created by the amalgam of beets, sweet potato and herbs.

Crowley served for four years as manager of Uncommon Grounds, the Burlington coffee shop that was an institution on the Church Street Marketplace for more than a quarter-century before owner Brenda Nadeau decided it was time to retire. Crowley wanted to keep the spirit of the original shop going and opened her new business in her hometown.

Maya Crowley, owner of Uncommon Coffee, stands outside the Essex business Sept. 30, 2020.(Photo: BRENT HALLENBECK/FREE PRESS)

She brought Uncommon Grounds employees including coffee-bar managerLorna Dielentheisand coffee roaster Rob Maynard to Uncommon Coffee. While the old shop and the new one have both had in-house coffee-roasting machines, Crowley said the approach at Uncommon Coffee is a little different. Crowley, whose father is a Vietnamese refugee, emphases espresso and coffee poured through a Vietnamese filter known as a phin.

The 2011 Essex High School graduate said Uncommon Coffee is on the edge of the coffee desert between a few coffee spots in Essex Junction and the relative lack of coffee places heading east on Vermont 15. She said downtown Burlington, with fewer local stores and a long-delayed mall-renovation project, doesnt have the same feel it had in the heyday of Uncommon Grounds.

The thought of coming back to Essex was really meaningful to me, Crowley said. Theres a lot of wanting to make this community feel like a community rather than a suburb of Burlington.

The library at Uncommon Coffee in Essex, shown Sept. 30, 2020.(Photo: BRENT HALLENBECK/FREE PRESS)

Crowley said work began on Uncommon Coffee in December with hopes of opening in early June. She said work crews had to put trenches in the concrete floor to install plumbing for the caf, and those trenches remained for a while after pandemic-related delays slowed construction.

Uncommon Coffee is open at the moment only for in-person or online ordering for take-out service. Theres a smattering of tables outside for those ready to embrace the fall chill in the air.

Maya Crowley, foreground, and Lorna Dielentheis work behind the counter Sept. 30, 2020 at Uncommon Coffee in Essex.(Photo: BRENT HALLENBECK/FREE PRESS)

Uncommon Coffee, 19 Essex Way, Essex. 7 a.m.-3 p.m. Wednesday-Friday, 8 a.m.-3 p.m. Saturday-Sunday. http://www.uncommonvt.com.

Contact Brent Hallenbeck at bhallenbeck@freepressmedia.com. Follow Brent on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/BrentHallenbeck.

This coverage is only possible with support from our readers.Sign up today for a subscriptionto the Burlington Free Press.

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Uncommon Coffee keeps Uncommon Grounds spirit alive in Essex, with new twists - Burlington Free Press

Investigation Discoverys Living a Nightmare is a series that showcases how the loved ones of a victim deal with their grief and loss. It also displays the lengths that officials go to in order to secure justice for the victim. In the episode titled Trouble in Giles County, a cold case from the 90s is discussed, and in this article, we take a look at the homicide and its perpetrator.

The victim of the homicide was Larry Hughes, and Mary was married to him. She reported him missing on March 28, 1990. Sixteen days after this, his naked body was found in a landfill. He had been shot twice in the back of his head. Initially, the police were not able to round up any suspects, especially since DNA technology was years behind in the 90s. Mary sold the house that the couple had resided in after losing her husband.

However, the new owner, Richard Pierce, discovered blood on the floors when he rooted up the carpet to install new flooring. He immediately alerted the authorities, and explained, When I pulled the pad up, there was just a big old circle right here. This is where Larry got killed. The cops swept into actions and looked at every surface in the house for some evidence of DNA, however, this was inconclusive. In fact, they even sent a camera down a well in the back. For further evidence, authorities even exhumed Larrys body and sent samples to the University of North Texas for a DNA profile.

Furthermore, a local radio station picked up this segment, and Giles County Sheriffs Investigator, Shane Hunter, said, People just started pouring out, saying things that they should have said 25 years ago, and ultimately theyve been carrying this for years. Its a lot of good information theyve been carrying around for years. He further marveled at how far technology had advanced since the cases inception Its amazing how technology has evolved just from day to day, but obviously 25 years things that couldnt be processed back then can be processed now.

The most compelling piece of evidence that has been revealed to the public is that an eyewitness saw Mary burning a bloodied mattress. Plus, authorities felt that there was an accomplice that helped her move the body. This was suspected to be her brother, who also lived in Giles County. The District Attorney, Brent Cooper, stated, There is an old saying a friend will help you move. Family will help you move the body, Ill just leave it at that.

Dean, Larrys brother, further expressed I suspected this for a while, but we dont ever know and we didnt know and I didnt want to accuse her. Im sure law enforcement knows more than I do. Its a relief to know that justice is going to be done in the end. He was very dear to me. Mary also collected a $100,000 policy after Larrys death. Although the motive has not been made public, the couple was going through a rough patch. Brent Cooper alsoexplained, Were not saying that was the motive in this case, but that money was paid out as a result of his death.

Mary was arrested on charges of first-degree murder for killing her husband in 2016. The Giles County Circuit Court had set her bond at $400,000. Before her first court appearance, Richard Pierce said, Just another day at the office, Ill tell them what I told him. If she done it, its about time.The aforementioned District Attorney also stated that they were able to prove that it was Larrys blood on the mattress, which was crucial in solving the case.In 2019, she was convicted for the crime, and in a plea bargain, she pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter. Reportedly, the then 72-year-old was given a sentence for time served in jail plus 10 years probation.

Following the outcome of the case, Sheriff Kyle Helton said, I would like to praise all Agencies, Staff, Officers and Investigators involved in the countless amount of hours, days and years spent investigating this incident. It is not frequent that 29 year old cold cases, such as the tragic death of Mr. Larry Hughes, have positive results. However, I again, would like to commend all parties involved on their determined efforts to reach justice for Mr. Larry Hughes and family.

Read More: How Did Larry Hughes Die?

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Mary Ann Hughes Now: Where is Larry Hughes' Wife Today? Is She in Jail? - The Cinemaholic