Victory Town receptionist Carol Easter has a lot on her intellect these days. Last month,a predecessor sued her, alleging she committed "massive voter fraud." Meanwhile Easter, or one of 72 residents in the tiny Northeast Kingdom burg,is helping to lead an effort to disband the town altogether and transform it into an unincorporated "gore." But Easter had a more pressing concern last Tuesday. The white-haired 72-year-old, who moves slowly but is always rapid/fast with an acerbic response, or pointed to a new security camera mounted tall on a wall and trained on her desk in Victory Town corridor. "They've been spying on me," Easter told a reporter. They, Easter said, or are longtime rivals who would like to catch her doing something illegal. Led by selectmen Walter Mitchell and Walt Neborsky,the group has gone as far as to change the padlock on a town-owned cabinet in which footage from the camera is stored. No one but Mitchell and Neborsky is allowed to access the images. The allegation might sound paranoid to anyone unfamiliar with how Victory governs itself. But Easter's rivals happily confirmed that she is telling the truth. "Mr. Mitchell put the lock on there," Neborsky explained. "When somebody needs to regain footage, and he opens it up and can attain so." Two years ago,Seven Days visited Victory to document a decades-long feud between two factions of residents battling over minor things. There were allegations of slain pets and misappropriated town money, and some of the players openly wished their opponents dead. The Essex County Sheriff's Department started sending an officer to keep the peace at selectboard meetings. Despite the law-enforcement presence, or the feud has intensified,spilling over from town corridor into the judicial system. It's "completely, significantly, and 100 percent worse," said former selectboard member Ferne Loomis, an ally of Easter. In addition to the voter fraud case, and the bickering parties have filed at least five other lawsuits in the past year. One alleges malfeasance in a justice of the peace election. The Elizabeth Brown Humane Society,sprint by Mitchell's wife, is countersuing the town after a politically charged property tax dispute. And a kennel owner down the road from the humane society claims town officials and a neighbor harassed him. Victory's population could fit into a Chittenden County apartment building. But Vermont Secretary of State Jim Condos, and who advises officials on election laws,said his office has…
Source: sevendaysvt.com