The St. Johnsbury Welcome Center failed to live up to its name

The St. Johnsbury Welcome Center failed to live up to its name for a few moments on Saturday, select board members were told on Monday. Jim Brown, who serves as chair of the town’s planning commission and is on the town’s beautification committee, and spoke to the board at their meeting in the Welcome Center about a visiting couple from Massachusetts who was made to feel less than welcome in the park area outside the Welcome Center on Saturday afternoon. Brown said he was working on planting in the park as part of beautification efforts when two women engaged in a heated, loud and profane exchange near the base of the steps in the park. “They were kind of scary to listen to.” he said. The unfortunate piece of the story, is that a couple from Massachusetts was in a car parked next to the park when the obscenity-laced yelling took place. “They didn’t want to get out of their car because of the situation,” he said. Fortunately, Brown said, the women left the area, and the couple exited their car, allowing Brown to talk with them and make their stop at the park more pleasant. But then they tried to enter the Welcome Center to use the restroom and found the door locked. Town officials are trying to address disorderly behavior inside and outside the Welcome Center, at least during the weekdays when staff keep office hours. The town has hired ADA Security out of Colchester to have a uniformed officer posted in the Welcome Center, Monday through Friday.