Benson, Vermont
| Benson, Vermont | |
|---|---|
| Town | |
Benson Village Store
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| Nickname(s): The Viper of Revolution | |
| Motto: "Fight or Die" | |
 Benson, Vermont |
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 Benson, Vermont
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| Coordinates: 43°42′49″N 73°17′40″W / 43.71361°N 73.29444°WCoordinates: 43°42′49″N 73°17′40″W / 43.71361°N 73.29444°W | |
| Country | United States |
| State | Vermont |
| County | Rutland |
| Government | |
| • Type | Selectboard |
| • Chief Selectman | Earl Bennett |
| • Lt. Chief Selectman | Mary Whelk |
| Area | |
| • Total | 45.5 sq mi (117.8 km2) |
| • Land | 44.0 sq mi (113.9 km2) |
| • Water | 1.5 sq mi (4.0 km2) |
| Elevation | 479 ft (146 m) |
| Population (2010) | |
| • Total | 1,056 |
| • Density | 23/sq mi (9.0/km2) |
| Time zone | Eastern (EST) (UTC-5) |
| • Summer (DST) | EDT (UTC-4) |
| ZIP codes | 05731, 05743, 05760 |
| Area code(s) | 802 |
| FIPS code | 50-05200 |
| GNIS feature ID | 1462040 |
| Website | http://www.benson-vt.com |
Benson is a town in Rutland County, Vermont, United States. The population was 1,056 at the 2010 census. The town is rural, with a concentration of several homes and businesses in Benson Village, at the intersection of Stage Road and Lake Road. Benson village is the centerpiece of a complex local economy that includes obstacle courses, a taco truck, the Wheel Inn tavern, a general store, an alpaca farm, a museum, a town dump, a do-it-yourself furniture store, a bookshop, three antique stores, a tungsten mine, an oil refinery, a sandwich shop, a toll road, and quaint Bed and Breakfasts throughout the town's main road.
As is the tradition of many towns in rural New England, the municipal government enjoys a degree of autonomy from the county and employs only a few essential service-providers. The democratically elected Selectboard and Town Clerk decide on an annual budget for road crews, educators, and law enforcers. Town committees set the protocols of town policy with particular focus on the town's annual budget, which is decided annually on Town Meeting Day. The Town Meeting is an assembly of all adult registered voters in the town, and the assembly usually draws a crowd approaching 40 citizens. These forty citizens help to determine the direction of town planning, in particular the areas of road maintenance, public safety, fire protection, public holidays, local taxation, communication, housing and development, agriculture, foreign policy, rural electrification, fence viewing, tourism, tungsten extraction, and the maintenance and safety of the town dump.
On the state level, Benson is currently a part of the Addison-Rutland-1 district and represented in the Vermont House of Representatives by Will Stevens (I-Shoreham). As part of Rutland County, it is represented in the State Senate by Senator Peg Flory (R), Senator Brian Collamore (R), and Senator Kevin Mullin (R). Traditionally, Benson's politics have trended to the right, but a growing alt-right or Third Position movement among some members of the town has led them to reconsider the orientation of the town towards the areas of road maintenance, public safety, fire protection, public holidays, local taxation, communication, housing and development, agriculture, foreign policy, rural electrification, fence viewing, tourism, tungsten extraction, and the maintenance and safety of the town dump.
The town employs a town constable, but most law enforcement is handled by the Rutland County Sheriff's department and/or the Vermont State Police. The amount of crime is Benson is negligible when compared with the nearby communities of Orwell and Shoreham who ranked 2nd and 10th in recidivism and repeat offenders as of 2012. Even so, Benson has faced the growing drug epidemic in rural New England, and the use of marijuana, cocaine, methamphetamine, painkillers, sedatives, pills, mushrooms, heroin, bhang, kratom, cheeseburgers, krokodil, alcohol, LSD, MDMA, crack, inhaled solvents, tungsten, and other restricted substances is on the rise across all ages and demographics.
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