WVTK Local & State News November 9, 2010

Drivers are hoping today's commute is a little less adventurous than the one yesterday when rain turned into freezing drizzle and sleet. An ice-coated bridge on Route 105 in Sheldon was the scene of a three-vehicle crash. Another car slid off Interstate 89 near Richmond. V-Trans crews remained on standby all night, and will be treating roads, if necessary, through today. Meanwhile at Killington it was wind and ice not a lack of snow that kept the resort from welcoming skiers.

The next public meeting regarding the possible consolidation of schools in the Addison Northwest Supervisory Union will be held tonight from 6:30 – 8:00 PM at the Vergennes Union Elementary School. The union is exploring a possible unification vote on Town Meeting Day 2011.

The Vermont Secretary of State's office says the results of last week's gubernatorial election will soon be official. A canvassing board is to sign off on vote totals from the race between Democrat Peter Shumlin and Republican Brian Dubie, as well as the other races on the Nov. 2 ballot. The vote totals are important because under Vermont law, the top vote-getter in the gubernatorial election must get 50% of the votes cast, plus one, or the election goes to the Legislature for a secret ballot vote. That's expected in the Shumlin-Dubie race, even though Dubie has already conceded defeat.

Peter Damone was sitting on the back porch of his Bridport home when a bullet came from the woods and hit him on August 13th. Right now it's hunting season and he's got a request for anyone with a gun: know where your bullet is going to end up before you pull the trigger. He says he's not against guns, but if anything good can come from this, it's more responsibility.

A revised plan has been submitted to the Ferrisburgh Zoning Board of Adjustment for a potential Dollar General Store on Route 7. About 20 people were present at the second of two public hearings on a plan for the 10,000 square foot store. Developers hope it will be the first of three stores on the site near the new solar farm.

The Granville selectboard will hold a public hearing on Wednesday, Nov. 10, beginning at 6 p.m. at the Granville town clerk’s office. They are seeking public comment on a proposed 100-foot cell tower that AT&T would to build off Butz Road in Lower Granville. The selectboard would like to hear from residents, renters, businesses and second homeowners in Granville and the surrounding areas. This is an opportunity for people to ask questions or make comments to an AT&T representative regarding the proposed wireless communications tower.

The Hannaford Career Center’s Addison Repertory Theater is seeking to raise $11,000 to help with its planned performance of “Peter Pan”. The $11,000 is needed to hire a professional aerial choreography company. A representative of the company would come in to rig the Middlebury Union High School auditorium stage with the necessary cables and other technology to allow the student stars of the play to take flight in Pan-like fashion.

Rep. Willem Jewett of Ripton faced no opponent in his re-election bid on November 2 and hopes to have similar luck in his next political contest coming up on December 4. The four-term Addison-2 lawmaker will be asking his Democrat colleagues to elect him assistant majority leader, also known as “majority whip”, of the Vermont House.

Now that repair crews know what they're dealing with, the hope is for Vermont Yankee to be able to go back on line sometime today. A radioactive leak was discovered Sunday, forcing the nuclear power plant to shut down. A spokesman for Vermont Yankee says a two-inch plug in a pipe, which has been there for 28 years, is to blame.

Some Rutland troops will be the last of the Vermont deployment to leave Afghanistan late in December or in January of next year. This marks the end of the National Guard’s one-year scheduled deployment. Most Vermont soldiers will be home by Christmas but they will come in at different times and in different crews. National Guard units from northern parts of the state and Connecticut will arrive home first.

Expenses for Stafford Technical Center, which are part of the overall Rutland Public Schools spending plan, are down 3.7 percent. That according to financials expected to be presented to the School Board today. The board is expected to weigh Stafford’s budget as it moves forward with trimming its overall spending plan for 2012 of more than $45 million per a request from the state Legislature to cut $2 million.

A record number of Vermont households will receive home heating assistance this winter, but they will get less money. State officials say 18,700 families have qualified to receive help in paying their heating bills -- about three thousand more than last year. The government has loosened the eligibility guidelines allowing more people to qualify for assistance, but so far Congress has allocated ten million dollars less than last year. So benefits will be greatly reduced.

Vermont's Abenaki Indians are trying again to win state recognition of their tribe. The group that will establish the process for achieving that recognition has scheduled a series of public forums around the state. The first meeting is next Tuesday in Newport. Additional meetings are scheduled in Johnson in December and Montpelier in January.

The USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service chief David White announced the availability of $1.2 million in federal funding for forest farm owners on Friday. Vermont is one of the seven states participating under the New England-New York Forestry Initiative to provide $5.9 million that will be available to forest and owners throughout New England and New York. This is an initiative to assist Vermont landowners with forestland planning and management.

The Committee on Temporary Shelter in Burlington just got a new permanent home for its administrative offices, family and housing services. Burlington College announced it's selling its current college building on North Avenue to the non-profit. The Executive Director for COTS, says they'll keep it's Day Station open in downtown Burlington, but had been looking for a while for a place in the Old North End close to families it serves.