RUTLAND, Vt. — Hussam Alhallak and his wife kept thinking that the war in Syria would end, or that at least conditions would improve. But it persisted, with gunfire in the streets and bombings that drove the couple and their two young children into their basement for protection. They just wanted to move away from the violence. The family fled as refugees to Turkey and two years later to the United States, where they are rebuilding a life for themselves far away from war-torn Syria, in the small, working-class city of Rutland, Vermont. They learned English, and the couple attended community college classes in accounting, all while Alhallak was working early in the morning at a bakery. In February he was offered a job as a tax accountant. “This is my dream,” said Alhallak, 36, who was an accountant in Damascus. “Thank god for everything. Yeah, yeah, I’m very happy now.” The family has made great strides in a short time. But three years ago, when Rutland’s former Mayor Christopher Louras announced a plan to relocate up to 100 refugees there, it wasn’t clear how they would be received. The plan initially divided the economically depressed city of about 16,400. While some Rutlanders were eager to welcome the new residents and pitched in to gather supplies for them, others raised concerns that the refugees could be security threats or economic burdens and felt the resettlement plan was developed in secret. Then the election of Preside Source: Breaking News
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