ST. GEORGE, VT, Mar. 18 – Sandra Good, a disciple of cult leader Charles Manson who was paroled to Vermont in December, has moved from Burlington to St. George and some residents of the small Chittenden County town say they are unhappy she is there.

The move two months ago came without the knowledge of state police, according to Public Safety Commissioner Charles Bristow, who said he “would have preferred” to have been told by federal parole officials.

Word of Good’s presence began to spread among residents of the town of 680 two
weeks ago.

According to David Enman, chairman of the town selectmen, “Everyone I’ve talked to has expressed shock. They can’t believe she’s in town”

He noted that she was not convicted of the much-publicized murders. “I’m not worried that a violent crime will be committed, but it’s not exactly giving St. George a good name,” he said.

In his official role as a selectman, he has not received any complaints about Good’s presence, he added.

Comments from other selectmen indicated mixed feelings about Good’s presence in the community.

“More than anything, it’s a novelty,” said newly elected Selectman Anne Voorheis.

“My personal feeling is that I have no problem with it,” Voorheis said.

Some St. George residents declined public comment on the case, but privately expressed reservations.

Good, in a face-to-face meeting with two Free Press reporters and a telephone conversation last week, declined to discuss many aspects of her life, either before or after her arrival in Vermont, because the time wasn’t right and she did not trust the media.

Told that some residents had voiced concerns about her being in town, she responded, “They’ll talk a day or two and then they’ll stop talking.”

She said she did not want to be interviewed and that she has had “bad experiences” with the press.

“I can foresee a time when I’ll be in a position to talk,” she said. At present, she added. “I don’t want to stoop to alleviating false fears from any segment of society.”

During the meeting with reporters on a roadside near the home where she has been staying, Good spoke in a quiet, direct voice, pausing at one point to grab a piece of plastic litter caught in brush near the road. She has expressed strong environmental views in past interviews.

She was outfitted primarily in blue; she sometimes goes by the nickname “Blue,” given to her by Manson years ago.

Good, 41, was paroled from the Federal Correctional Institution at Alderson, W. Va., Dec 2 after serving nearly 10 years of a 15-year prison sentence for making threats against corporate officials.

Gov Madeleine M Kunin learned of the move to St. George during the past two weeks, said Ellen Mercer Fallon, the governor’s lawyer. Fallon said an independent third party – not Good or Parole Officer James M. Dean — had notified her and she in turn told the governor.

Kunin had said in December she assigned Bristow to work with Dean so Vermont would know if there were any change in the terms of Good’s parole.

But, according to Bristow, the state police were never told by federal officials that Good had moved.

“The feds didn’t tell us,” stated Bristow about Good’s move from Brookes Avenue in Burlington to St. George, a 677-member town wedged between Shelburne, Williston and Hinesburg.

Bristow said state police had relied on Dean for information, but the department got first word of Good’s move to St. George from a newspaper reporter.

“Any substantial change, we’d be notified,” Bristow said about the agreement with Dean’s office. Asked if a switch in her residence into a community protected by his department constituted a “substantial change,” Bristow said, “Let’s just say, I would have preferred that we had been notified.”

Efforts to reach Dean, who has taken personal control of Good’s supervision, were unsuccessful Monday.

Kunin said Monday she has had no complaint with the federal procedures since Good has been in the state. She said the state has no information that Good has not complied with the terms of her parole.

Manson is serving a life sentence in connection with the 1969 murders of nine people, including actress Sharon Tate. Good was not involved in the murders

By MIKE DONOGHUE and DEBORAH SCHOCH