WOLCOTT – Two deceased people were reported to have been found dead in a tent at a property on Jones Road in Wolcott, Wednesday, Nov. 27, said a Thanksgiving Day report from the Lamoille County Sheriff’s Department. The deceased have been identified as 48 year-old Lucas Menard of Montpelier and 53 year-old Tammy Menard of Berlin.
The circumstances of their death are under investigation pending the results of autopsies. Kevin Lehoe with the Lamoille County Special Investigation Unit is leading the investigation, but wasn’t able to be reached for comment. The Vermont Medical Examiner’s Office had no comment and a referral to the Vermont Department of Health wasn’t answered by press time.
Lucas is the brother of Hardwick’s Ivan Menard. Ivan’s wife Brenda spoke for the family, saying they have no comment, but she hoped the media would wait for more information before politicizing it.
A social media post by Tammy M. Smith indicates she was engaged on April 23, 2019. A notice of her marriage to Lucas could not be found.
There was an outpouring of concern from many people and organizations in the area and around the state who are familiar with Lucas and Tammy from encounters over the past several decades or more.
A social media post by Good Samaritan Haven in Barre on Saturday, Nov. 30, said, “We are heartbroken by the tragic loss of Tammy and Lucas Menard, who died while sleeping in a tent after their 80 allowable days in the state motel program ended. . .There is [an] urgent need for safe shelter and support for our unhoused neighbors. Everyone deserves a place to call home and we must come together as a community to protect our most vulnerable neighbors.”
A vigil was held for Tammy and Lucas Menard at Montpelier City Hall, at 4:30 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 30.
A Hardwick resident who recently encountered Lucas hitchhiking with a little dachshund, and picked him up near the Dollar General store in Hardwick, was impressed with his resourcefulness. Lucas was very eloquent and obviously knew how to survive living rough, said the resident who picked him up.
Lucas explained that he would spend a few days each week panhandling on the steps of the statehouse in Montpelier and nearby at the National Life offices, where he could make $300 or so in a few days. He said he’d sleep on the City Hall steps and was known to the city police there.
Once he’d gotten enough money, he’d come back to live in a tent on his father’s property in Wolcott, he said. The couple had been living in a motel, but got kicked out and had appealed the decision, said Lucas. They were waiting to hear back, hoping to get housing soon, he told the Hardwick resident who took him to Montpelier.
Brenda Siegel, a former Democratic candidate for Vermont governor and now executive director of End Homelessness Vermont said, “Tammy and Lucas are clients of End Homelessness Vermont and they wanted their story told and tell it we will.”
Siegel reiterated that “Tammy and Lucas had both given me permission to tell their stories. I asked [the state] for them to remain inside due to their complex medical needs and the state denied them claiming that they were not allowed to make reasonable accommodations.”
Siegel later said she believes there were rooms available because the state had not reached the cap for offering housing vouchers. Further, she indicated federal law requires those with disabilities to be given accommodations, overriding any state law or policy. She did not offer to share the nature of the disabilities that might qualify the Menards for reasonable accommodations to be made.
Despite what Siegel says was every possible effort made by End Homelessness Vermont, which includes offering to make calls to family and friends asking if accommodations might be made to stay, they were unsuccessful. Siegel said the Menards would have been eligible for housing on December 1 under a winter weather program, just four days after they died.
“They died outside,” said Siegel. “I wanted nothing more than to be wrong about the catastrophic outcomes this policy would cause. But I knew that I was not. . “.
“Tell me again how what we did was fine and people will manage. Is this what you mean by manage?” said Siegel. “Shame on all of us that we allowed this to happen.”
Tammy and Lucas obviously made an impression on Siegel, who said they are “Wonderful vibrant people. And Tammy herself helped so many others.”
Paul Fixx is editor of The Hardwick Gazette and lives in Hardwick.
