November 20, 2008 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE S10727 

two, but could not. I do get a lot of catalogs. 

One particularly annoying one is chock full 

of heart warming sayings like, ‘‘Life isn’t 

about waiting for the storm to pass. It’s 

about learning to dance in the rain.’’ Oh 

please. Storms are scary, rain is cold and 

wet, and one can get muddy. Let’s get real. 

Life is hard, get over it. 

Number 1: Take help that is offered. Would 

I have survived without Walter Smith’s care 

and kindness? I do not know. And I am glad 

I did not have to find out. 

Number 2: If you do not have a snack, send 

a coconut. In other words, be flexible. When 

it came time to study for the bar examination, I was on my own. I made little 3x5 filing cards on all the subjects and set them 

around the house so that whatever I was 

doing, I could incorporate a little study. 

Some areas of law are governed by certain 

factors that you just have to remember. Over 

the kitchen sink I placed the filing card that 

listed the elements of a secured transaction. 

Next to the toilet I posted the card that laid 

out the parts of a bulk sale. I read them over 

and over and over. And, poor Martha endured 

one pizza after another because I did not 

cook much while I studied. 

Number 3: Pity parties are a waste of time, 

and a breeding ground for excuses. In other 

words, if your circumstances are not the 

most conducive to success, try anyway. 

Would I have liked to go to law school? Of 

course. Could I? No. So what! Here’s my favorite true example of making due with what 

you have available. I watch the Canadian television coverage of the summer Olympic 

games because it is so much better than that 

of the U.S. coverage. They celebrate individual athletes’ ‘‘personal bests’’ rather than 

the medal counts. And, they covered really 

weird events that I had never heard of, like 

dory racing. I thought it was very cool. They 

did a background piece on Jerad Connaghten, 

an athlete training for the 200 meters in 

track and field. He was from somewhere in 

Canada that had no running track. So he and 

his coach improvised. To train for strength 

they did sand starts taking off in deep sand 

on the sea shore. They set up their own practice course. At the end of a dirt road was a 

little cottage and that cottage marked 200 

meters. The little mulberry tree was 50 meters out and the larger mulberry tree was the 

150 meters mark. Competing against the 

world’s best, Jerad made it through the preliminary heats to the finals of the 200 meter 

event. I was so impressed. Work with what 

you’ve got. Excuses weigh you down. 

Number 4: Do not insult your children by 

thinking life is too hard for them. In other 

words, children are resilient. What might appear to have been my heartless expectation 

of little Martha’s abilities to care for herself 

at a very young age may have been influenced by my maternal grandmother, Olga. 

All four of my grandparents were born in 

Sweden. Olga was the daughter of a farm 

family the Dahlbergs—with too many children to feed. First the Dahlbergs sent their 

oldest daughter Margaret over to live with 

relatives in Chicago, the Larsons. Margaret 

died within months of her arrival of diphtheria. Then the Dahlbergs put there next 

daughter, my grandma Olga, on the boat all 

alone at the age of 12 and sent her to live 

with the Dahlbergs. Throughout my life, 

whenever I thought life was too hard and I 

was scared, I thought of my grandma traveling alone across the ocean to the family 

where her older sister had died. How did she 

do that? What were her nightmares? My 

grandmother was sweet, and kind, and patient, and loving. Her early years did no apparent damage. I know I could have done 

better by Martha. I wish I could have done 

better by Martha. I did the best I could and 

that is my only consolation. 

Number 5: Play dough is far more important than doing the dishes. Get your priorities straight. I was blessed with a job I 

loved, and then had the added joy of coming 

home, forgetting about the law, and playing 

with my daughters. Next confession: My 

housekeeping would not win any awards either. Sometimes the food in the refrigerator 

grew little sweaters. What housecleaning I 

did happened when the children were in bed. 

And, they had clean clothes and decent food 

and, most importantly, they knew their 

mom loved playing with them. Legos, play 

dough, Barbies, puzzles. Whatever activity 

that allowed the analytical part of my mind 

to go into sleep cycle was welcomed by me. 

So, don’t get so busy making a living that 

you forget to make colorful messes and 

memories. 

Number 6: Never, ever coast. After a few 

years at the Attorney General’s office, the 

AG asked me to become chief of the civil division. I was one of two women in the division and all the men had more years of experience than I as lawyers. Here’s a John 

Wayne quote: ‘‘Courage is being scared to 

death but saddling up anyway.’’ Well, I moseyed on into the AG’s office and said, ‘‘Yes, 

I would be pleased to be chief of the division. 

But, I would like a bigger badge.’’ 

To maintain respect and to get the members of the division to be their best, I had to 

set an example. I worked as hard or harder 

than anyone else. I gave them no reason to 

complain about the AG’s choice. So if you’re 

running your own business or supervising 

employees, it is more important to the bottom line the quality of work to set a positive 

example than to offer token prizes to the employee of the month who actually manages 

to get to work on time five days in a row. I 

expected the attorneys to be terrific and so 

they were. 

To conclude, what do I know? My children 

have forgiven me for most of my blunders, 

they are fiercely independent, and can think 

on their own. I’m proud of my work and even 

more proud of my daughters. And, I am 

grateful for the chances I have been given 

and the courage to take them. My main message to you is: Work hard. Then work harder. 

And then, work harder still. 

But, I will leave you with another of those 

pithy homey sayings from the annoying 

catalog, and one that makes no sense to me 

at all. 

‘‘May the light always find you on a dreary 

day. When you need to be home may you find 

a way. May you always have courage to take 

a chance and never find frogs in your underpants.’’ 

f 

ENTREPRENEURIAL 

ACHIEVEMENTS OF HARDWICK, VT 

Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, I rise 

today to highlight an emerging rural 

economic model that some say serves 

as the perfect example of how rural 

America can survive and thrive in today’s global markets. 

My good friend Marian Burros recently wrote an article in the New 

York Times highlighting the sustainable agricultural economy of Hardwick, VT, and Hardwick’s surrounding 

communities. These Northeast Kingdom communities have begun attracting the attention of local, regional and 

national media after the area began attracting some unique characters with 

great ideas. From a community-owned 

restaurant to renowned cheese makers, 

Hardwick and its surrounding towns 

are at the center of an experiment in 

social agricultural entrepreneurship. 

I ask unanuimous consent that the 

text of Marian Burros October 8, 2008, 

New York Times article entitled ‘‘Uniting Around Food to Save an Ailing 

Town’’ be printed in the RECORD to 

allow my colleagues an opportunity to 

hear about the future of Vermont. 

There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in the 

RECORD, as follows: 

UNITING AROUND FOOD TO SAVE AN AILING

TOWN

HARDWICK, VT—This town’s granite companies shut down years ago and even the rowdy 

bars and porno theater that once inspired 

the nickname ‘‘Little Chicago’’ have gone. 

Facing a Main Street dotted with vacant 

stores, residents of this hardscrabble community of 3,000 are reaching into its past to 

secure its future, betting on farming to 

make Hardwick the town that was saved by 

food. 

With the fervor of Internet pioneers, young 

artisans and agricultural entrepreneurs are 

expanding aggressively, reaching out to investors and working together to create a collective strength never before seen in this 

seedbed of Yankee individualism. 

Rob Lewis, the town manager, said these 

enterprises have added 75 to 100 jobs to the 

area in the past few years. 

Rian Fried, an owner of Clean Yield Asset 

Management in nearby Greensboro, which 

has invested with local agricultural entrepreneurs, said he’s never seen such cooperative effort. 

‘‘Across the country a lot of people are 

doing it individually but it’s rare when you 

see the kind of collective they are pursuing,’’ 

said Mr. Fried, whose firm considers social 

and environmental issues when investing. 

‘‘The bottom line is they are providing jobs 

and making it possible for others to have 

their own business.’’ 

In January, Andrew Meyer’s company, 

Vermont Soy, was selling tofu from locally 

grown beans to five customers; today he has 

350. Jasper Hill Farm has built a $3.2-million 

aging cave to finish not only its own cheeses 

but also those from other cheesemakers. 

Pete Johnson, owner of Pete’s Greens, is 

working with 30 local farmers to market 

their goods in an evolving community supported agriculture program. 

‘‘We have something unique here: a strong 

sense of community, connections to the 

working landscape and a great work ethic,’’ 

said Mr. Meyer, who was instrumental in 

moving many of these efforts forward. 

He helped start the Center for an Agricultural Economy, a nonprofit operation that is 

planning an industrial park for agricultural 

businesses. 

Next year the Vermont Food Venture Center, where producers can rent kitchen space 

and get business advice for adding value to 

raw ingredients, is moving to Hardwick from 

Fairfax, 40 miles west, because, Mr. Meyer 

said, ‘‘it sees the benefit of being part of the 

healthy food system.’’ He expects it to assist 

15 to 20 entrepreneurs next year. 

‘‘All of us have realized that by working 

together we will be more successful as businesses,’’ said Tom Stearns, owner of High 

Mowing Organic Seeds. ‘‘At the same time 

we will advance our mission to help rebuild 

the food system, conserve farmland and 

make it economically viable to farm in a 

sustainable way.’’ 

Cooperation takes many forms. Vermont 

Soy stores and cleans its beans at High Mowing, which also lends tractors to High Fields, 

a local compositing company. Byproducts of 

High Mowing’s operation—pumpkins and 

squash that have been smashed to extract 

seeds—are now being purchased by Pete’s 


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S10728 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE November 20, 2008 

Greens and turned into soup. Along with 

40,000 pounds of squash and pumpkin, Pete’s 

bought 2,000 pounds of High Mowing’s cucumbers this year and turned them into 

pickles. 

For the past two years, many of these 

farmers and businessmen have met informally once a month to share experiences for 

business planning and marketing or pass on 

information about, say, a graphic designer 

who did good work on promotional materials 

or government officials who’ve been particularly helpful. They promote one another’s 

products at trade fairs and buy equipment at 

auctions that they know their colleagues 

need. 

More important, they share capital. 

They’ve lent each other about $300,000 in 

short-term loans. When investors visited Mr. 

Stearns over the summer, he took them on a 

tour of his neighbors’ farms and businesses. 

To expand these enterprises further, the 

Center for an Agricultural Economy recently 

bought a 15-acre property to start a center 

for agricultural education. There will also be 

a year-round farmers’ market (from what 

began about 20 years ago as one farmer selling from the trunk of his car on Main Street) 

and a community garden, which started with 

one plot and now has 22, with a greenhouse 

and a paid gardening specialist. 

Last month the center signed an agreement with the University of Vermont for faculty and students to work with farmers and 

food producers on marketing, research, even 

transportation problems. Already, Mr. Meyer 

has licensed a university patent to make his 

Vermont Natural Coatings, an environmentally friendly wood finish, from whey, a 

byproduct of cheesemaking. 

These entrepreneurs, mostly well educated 

children of baby boomers who have added 

business acumen to the idealism of the area’s 

long established hippies and homesteaders, 

are in the right place at the right time. The 

growing local-food movement, with its concerns about energy usage, food safety and 

support for neighbors, was already strong in 

Vermont, a state that the National Organic 

Farmers’ Association said had more certified 

organic acreage per capita than any other. 

Mr. Meyer grew up on a dairy farm in 

Hardwick and worked in Washington as an 

agricultural aide to former Senator Jim Jeffords of Vermont. ‘‘From my time in Washington,’’ Mr. Meyer said, ‘‘I recognize that if 

Vermont is going to have a future in agriculture we need to look at what works in 

Vermont, and that is not commodity agriculture.’’ 

The brothers Mateo and Andy Kehler have 

found something that works quite well at 

their Jasper Hill Farm in nearby Greensboro. 

At first they aged their award-winning 

cheeses in a basement. Then they began 

aging for other cheesemakers. Earlier this 

month they opened their new caves, with 

space for 2 million pounds of cheese, which 

they buy young from other producers. 

The Vermont Institute for Artisan Cheese 

at the University of Vermont is helping producers develop safety and quality programs, 

with costs split by Jasper Hill and the producers. ‘‘Suddenly being a cheesemaker in 

Vermont becomes viable,’’ Mateo Kehler 

said. 

Pete Johnson began a garden when he was 

a boy on his family’s land. Now his company, 

Pete’s Greens, grows organic crops on 50 

acres in Craftsbury, about 10 miles north of 

here. He has four moveable greenhouses, extending the growing season to nine months, 

and he has installed a commercial kitchen 

that can make everything from frozen prepared foods and soup stocks to baked goods 

and sausages. In addition he has enlarged the 

concept of the C.S.A. by including 30 farmers 

and food producers rather than just a single 

farm. 

‘‘We have 200 C.S.A. participants so we’ve 

become a fairly substantial customer of 

some of these businesses,’’ he said. ‘‘The 

local beef supplier got an order for $700 this 

week; that’s pretty significant around here. 

We’ve encouraged the apple producer who 

makes apple pies to use local flour, local 

butter, local eggs, maple sugar as well as the 

apples so now we have a locavore apple pie.’’ 

‘‘Twelve years ago the market for local 

food was lukewarm,’’ Mr. Johnson added. 

‘‘Now this state is primed for anything that 

is local. It’s a way to preserve our villages 

and rebuild them.’’ 

Like Mr. Johnson, Mr. Stearns of High 

Mowing Organic Seeds in Wolcott, who is 

president of the Center, knew he wanted to 

get into agriculture when he was a boy. His 

company, which grew from his hobby of collecting seeds, began in 2000 with a two-page 

catalog that generated $36,000 in sales. Today 

he has a million-dollar business, selling 

seeds all over the United States. 

Woody Tasch, chairman of Investors Circle, a nonprofit network of investors and 

foundations dedicated to sustainability, said: 

‘‘What the Hardwick guys are doing is the 

first wave of what could be a major social 

transformation, the swinging back of the 

pendulum from industrialization and 

globalization.’’ 

Mr. Tasch is having a meeting in nearby 

Grafton next month with investors, entrepreneurs, nonprofit groups, philanthropists 

and officials to discuss investing in Vermont 

agriculture. 

Here in Hardwick, Claire’s restaurant, sort 

of a clubhouse for farmers, began with investments from its neighbors. It is a Community Supported Restaurant. Fifty investors 

who put in $1,000 each will have the money 

repaid through discounted meals at the restaurant over four years. 

‘‘Local ingredients, open to the world,’’ is 

the motto on restaurant’s floor-to-ceiling 

windows. ‘‘There’s Charlie who made the 

bread tonight,’’ Kristina Michelsen, one of 

four partners, said in a running commentary 

one night, identifying farmers and producers 

at various tables. ‘‘That’s Pete from Pete’s 

Greens. You’re eating his tomatoes.’’ 

Rosy as it all seems, some worry that as 

businesses grow larger the owners will be 

tempted to sell out to companies that would 

not have Hardwick’s best interests at heart. 

But the participants have reason to be optimistic: Mr. Stearns said that within one 

week six businesses wanted to meet with him 

to talk about moving to the Hardwick area. 

‘‘Things that seemed totally impossible 

not so long ago are now going to happen,’’ 

said Mr. Kehler. ‘‘In the next few years a new 

wave of businesses will come in behind us. So 

many things are possible with collaboration.’’ 

f 

TRIBUTE TO PETER CHERNIN 

Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, I yield to 

no one in my support of the freedoms 

set out in the first amendment to the 

Constitution, and I have devoted considerable time and energy to their protection and preservation. On October 

21, 2008, I enjoyed a very special 

evening honoring Peter Chernin, the 

CEO of Fox News, and a man who 

shares my belief in the need to vigorously defend the first amendment. 

That night, I congratulated Peter on 

receiving the Media Institute’s First 

Amendment Award, an award that he 

richly deserved for his stand against 

rigid and unyielding application of socalled indecency rules at the Federal 

Communications Commission. I believe 

that his words in defense of the first 

amendment should be heard and heeded 

by all Americans, not just by those 

who were fortunate enough to attend 

that event. 

I ask unanimous consent that the 

statement of Peter Chernin from October 21, 2008, be printed in the RECORD. 

There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in the 

RECORD, as follows: 

POLITICS, INDECENCY, AND THE FIRST

AMENDMENT

Thank you so much for that introduction, 

Senator Leahy. Your strong and unambiguous support for the First Amendment is legendary on Capitol Hill, and I could not be 

more pleased to have you, a former recipient 

of this award, as my presenter tonight. And 

thank you to the Media Institute for bestowing this honor on me. As the head of a media 

company, I am at times painfully aware of 

how important the First Amendment is to 

our ability to create thought-provoking and 

controversial content. And as a citizen of 

this country, I am thankful every day for the 

freedoms that we too often take for granted: 

the freedom to speak freely, the freedom to 

pursue our religious beliefs without persecution, and the freedom of the press to criticize 

our government. 

We live in a pluralistic society. One where 

diversity rules, where disagreement is a constant, and where there is more than one 

right answer for every question. It’s messy. 

And for creators of content, if we’re doing 

our jobs right, we sometimes offend people. 

It’s that simple. And, believe me, we wrestle 

with that fact. We struggle with complex 

issues every day. Are we guilty of contributing to the vulgarization of our society or 

simply of mirroring it? Is it our responsibility to be the arbiters of good taste, or is 

it our duty to push boundaries? Is it even 

possible to create innovative programming 

for a mass audience that is diverse on every 

level—from age, to religious affiliation, to 

ethnicity? 

We don’t take these issues lightly. We are 

constantly thinking about the important 

role we play in shaping our culture. Whether 

we’re creating television shows, making 

films, or working at a newspaper or publishing house. Certainly, we must entertain, 

we must inform and we must provoke. But, 

at the same time, we must take very seriously the power we have to affect millions 

through our work. That’s why we stress the 

importance of individual editorial responsibility across all of our businesses. But, yes, 

sometimes we do make mistakes. Everyone 

does. The alternative? Well, it’s chilling. If 

the media is ruled by fear of crossing an ambiguous line, our product will be less vital 

and more homogenous. Our ability to create 

news and entertainment that is thoughtful, 

provocative, and accurately reflects our society will be compromised. And Americans 

will have far fewer choices. That’s why it’s 

so critical that we don’t chip away at the 

First Amendment until it becomes toothless. 

It must remain absolute in its protections. 

Two weeks from today the U.S. Supreme 

Court is hearing arguments in FCC v. Fox 

Television Stations, the first indecency case 

it has heard since the ‘‘7 Dirty Words’’ case 

was decided in 1978. At issue is whether Fox 

violated the indecency law when it aired two 

live award programs in which actresses 

blurted out one or two so-called ‘‘fleeting 

expletives.’’ While a case with Cher and Nicole Richie at its center is probably not one 

we would have chosen to argue before the 

Supreme Court, the truth is, we don’t get to 


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