Children once ran through the halls of Whitcomb Terrace.

Tucked among the trees in Essex Junction, the building shelters 19 disabled and elderly adults, with subsidized rooms for low-income tenants. The tenants used to meet outside their rooms and play with their grandchildren in the lobby or the rec room.

JoAnn Thibault called the place home.

Then James Bushway moved in upstairs.

Bushway, 62, raped a pregnant University of Vermont employee at knifepoint in 1982, his second rape conviction in 16 years. When he completed his prison sentence in 1998, police obtained special permission from the state Corrections Department to alert the public. Bushway returned to society untreated, and is under no further legal obligation other than to report to the sex offender registry.

Bushway's arrival at Whitcomb Terrace more than a year ago prompted his neighbors to begin locking their doors. Children rarely visit. Thibault decided to move out by the end of November after a run-in with Bushway more than a month ago.

"There aren't many things that rock my socks, but he does," Thibault said. "He terrifies me."

At least four tenants say Bushway -- who is 5-feet-4 inches, 190 pounds, according to the sex offender registry -- has either grabbed them, threatened them and their pets, or driven toward them on his motorized scooter, which he uses to get around.

Bushway declined to comment for this story.

Thibault, 59, suffers from multiple sclerosis and Crohn's disease. The stress of living with Bushway, she says, worsens her condition and is forcing her out. Thibault said she's not sure where she'll go.

"I'm terrified of not knowing where I'll live," Thibault said, "but I'm not as terrified as I am living here."
The application process


Thibault's lifelong companion, Ed LaRock, a former Burlington police officer, died of cancer in 2001. Her friends call her "Shotgun." She does her own laundry, watches NASCAR, and her video collection includes action flicks like "Under Siege 2," starring Steven Seagal. She loathes depending on her motorized scooter -- equipped with all-terrain wheels -- and kicks it contemptuously each morning.

Thibault said she suspected Bushway's criminal history from his appearance and behavior, which led her to look him up on the sex offender registry. She said she complained to no avail about Bushway to her property manager, Linda Chiasson. Chiasson , who accepted Bushway into the building.

Chiasson declined to comment.[

Chiasson, who declined to comment, works for Cathedral Square Corp., which owns Whitcomb Terrace and 17 other housing properties in Vermont. The two-story building provides housing for elderly and disabled people. Whitcomb Terrace gives preference to disabled people younger than 62, which Bushway would have been upon his arrival.

Cathedral Square checks the sex offender registry for applicants and would consider housing a registered sex offender who is not subject to lifetime registration, said Nancy Eldridge, executive director. Eldridge would not speak specifically about Bushway's residency at Whitcomb Terrace.

"We try to be very fair to every resident," Eldridge said.

Prospective tenants fill out an application, which asks about criminal convictions, and Cathedral Square adds them to a wait list, and screens them for eligibility. Housing agencies perform additional screening for tenants applying for project-based Section 8 housing. Accepted tenants agree to a one-year lease.

If tenants feel threatened, "We encourage them to call the police," Eldridge said.

Tenants say they have called and met with Essex police regarding Bushway, beginning this summer.

"We can't discuss ongoing investigations," said Lt. Ken Beaulieu of the Essex Police Department, "but if we had a legitimate concern, we would alert the public."
Where, if not Whitcomb?

Barring another offense, Bushway's name will be taken off the sex offender registry next year, 10 years after his release from prison. Under Vermont law, sex offenders are registered for either 10 years or for life following their release.

Bushway has stayed out of serious trouble since 1998, having been convicted of two misdemeanors: DWI and marijuana possession. However, his reputation as a sex offender has preceded him at Whitcomb Terrace.

"Because it's difficult for anyone who's living on a low income and has difficulty with a disability to find housing, I would assume that if that person is a sex offender, it would be that much harder," said Ed Paquin, executive director of Vermont Protection and Advocacy.

The private, nonprofit organization supports disabled Vermonters, providing them services and legal representation.

"I have no ideas about the particulars of this case," Paquin said. "I think everyone recognizes an individual who has served his time, and is considered to be free to move back to the community, should be given that opportunity. If that individual can be situated in a living situation where the neighbors are not living in fear, obviously that's a better situation."

Whitcomb Terrace tenant Jo Ann Kenyon, 57, a former guard at Chittenden Regional Correctional Facility, said she knew Bushway in prison, and fears his history of violence against women will continue.

"He's the type that raises the hair on the back of your neck," Kenyon said. "I'm not afraid of him, and I'm not going to let him force me out. But he is dangerous. It's a fact; he's dangerous. And we've got people here who can't defend themselves."

In 1966, Bushway was committed to the Vermont State Hospital in Waterbury for raping a Burlington woman. He was released in 1974, and was convicted of assaulting a Charlotte woman in 1977.

In 1983, Bushway pleaded no contest to sexually assaulting the UVM employee in exchange for the state's dropping a habitual offender charge, which carried a potential life sentence. He was sentenced to 18 to 20 years, and served 15 in prison.

Paquin agreed with Thibault that stress can worsen a disabled person's condition, and that Whitcomb Terrace tenants should live in safety.

"I don't question the legitimacy of society to protect itself from sex offenders," Paquin said. "If that plays into this, the other tenants deserve protection."
Contact Matt Ryan at 651-4849 or mryan@bfp.burlingtonfreepress.com