Ferrisburgh feels fire aftermath Local citizen arraigned on arson charges

Author: Elizabeth Siegel

Mixed emotions resulted from last week's arrest and arraignment of James Husk, a 63-year-old Addison County native who now faces trial for arson.

The Vergennes resident was taken into custody at the Middlebury barracks on Thursday, Feb. 17 for the recent string of fires, three in total, which plagued nearby Ferrisburgh. According to a Vermont State Police affidavit, Husk admitted to first torching Ferrisburgh resident James Danyow's barn on the evening of Feb. 15, setting fire to the town's historic Grange Hall later that night and burning his own farm on Feb. 17, completing the destructive trio.

Despite the alleged admission of guilt, Husk pled innocent at his Friday arraignment in front of Judge Christina Reiss, who set his bail at $50,000.

Following Reiss' decision and the reported retention of Husk at the Marble Valley Correctional Center in Rutland, the town of Ferrisburgh has felt able to breathe a sigh of relief.

"He basically admitted to the fires," commented the town's Selectboard Chairman Larry Simino, "so now the townspeople don't have to worry that [an arsonist] is still around."

Mingled with the quelled fears, however, are shades of uneasiness. As noted by volunteer firefighter Scott Palmer '05, "If a fire starts, you want it to have been from natural causes. It's hard to tell yourself that there is someone out there who did it."

The fact that the arsonist was himself a local resident, having grown up in Ferrisburgh before moving to Vergennes, further colors the story. "In a small community like Ferrisburgh," commented Middlebury College College Residential Advisor (CRA) and Palmer's co-volunteer Eric Ambrette '04, "that sort of thing is a huge surprise." Ambrette, who helped put out the fire at Grange Hall, added "It's a sad sight to see."

Ferrisburgh's tragedy of local resident turning local arsonist has caused heartbreak for friends and family of Husk, who cite mental instability as the cause of the destructive acts. They say that ever since Husk suffered a coma and underwent brain surgery following an ATV accident last February he has been a different person.

According to a Feb. 21 article that ran in the Addison Independent, Vergennes resident and Husk's 20-year companion Carol Morris left Police Chief Michael Lowe with the impression that Husk was indeed suffering from mental distress. Lowe is quoted as saying that Morris described Husk as "distraught over personal issues" and "obsessed with financial and tax problems." Allegedly, he often contended that "the IRS was watching him." Lowe was unavailable for comment.

Danyow, himself a friend and former employee of Husk, is quoted in the Addison Independent as having said that, due to Husk's mental condition, "There's no hard feelings" regarding Husk's burning of Danyow's barn.

Danyow may or may not speak for the rest of the town. With respect to Grange Hall, which was set to be renovated into a new town meeting center and office building, Simino explained, "The town had worked so hard to finally agree on a route to take [regarding renovation] and people had worked to get funding and match the grants we were receiving and the appropriation the town had voted on."

Simino added that as he watched "while it [Grange Hall] was burning," he could not help but think that all that work "was literally going up in smoke."