WVTK Local & State News May 27, 2011

A line of severe storms moved through Vermont last night. The wind gusts, some reaching up to 70 miles per hour, led to thousands of power outages. As of 10:30 PM, Vermont has roughly 8,800 outages statewide. At the height of the storm, there were more than 9,500 outages reported.

Thursday’s storms caused significant damage across central Vermont, flooding Barre and Montpelier, compromising roads and buildings and causing widespread outages. Shortly before 11 PM, Barre Mayor Thomas Lauzon declared a state of emergency. While no reports of tornadoes were officially made, intense downpours, hail and high winds hammered central Vermont throughout the afternoon and evening.

Gov. Peter Shumlin's signing of a bill moving Vermont toward single-payer, universal health care is drawing a range of reactions. Vermont Businesses for Social Responsibility, the Vermont Workers Center and other liberal groups are hailing the legislation, saying the state can set an example for the country in providing health care to all of its citizens. Vermonters for Health Care Freedom, a group that sprung up this year to oppose the bill, says Thursday's signing should be a wakeup call for Vermonters. That group maintains the bill gives too much power to its new Green Mountain Care Board, to set up the new system.

The discovery of environmental contamination at the Connor Homes building on Route 7 South in Middlebury has halted the planned sale of the manufacturing plant to hard cider maker Green Mountain Beverage. It also put on hold Connor Homes’ plans to lease the former Tubbs furniture plant in the Brandon Industrial Park. Mike Connor has confirmed that environmental testing had uncovered contamination under the company’s current location, the former Standard Register building. Middlebury select-board Chairman John Tenny pledged the town’s help in hopefully finding a local solution for the two companies.

The 2010-2011 fiscal year Bristol Police spending plan was passed this week. The just-adopted police budget marks a 7 percent decrease in spending from what was budgeted for this year, and it requires 3.3 percent less from taxpayers in the coming year. The primary causes of this decrease were attributed to a reduction in spending on full-time labor and the omission of grants from the budget. The budget takes effect on July 1st.

The Middlebury Volunteer Fire Department is proposing a $5.2 million renovation of the Seymour Street and East Middlebury stations. The plan could go to the voters as soon as next March. Members of the Middlebury Fire Station Committee outlined their preliminary plans to the town select-board, calling for the replacement of the East Middlebury station with a slightly smaller, more energy efficient structure along with an expansion-renovation of the Seymour Street facility.

A group of residents and Ferrisburgh Central School officials are working to create both a year-round town recreation center on school property and a bicycle and pedestrian path that could link neighborhoods to the school. One of the Ferrisburgh Central School board members has helped lead an effort that has included three meetings to discuss design and funding ideas.

The Monitor Bay Town Campground in Crown Point won't open for Memorial Day weekend this year. The town-owned facility, which includes a campground, park and public boat launch site on Lake Champlain, has 39 campsites, most of which were rented to seasonal campers. Flooding has also closed the Port Henry Village Campground on Lake Champlain and its opening date was postponed from late April to June 17. Moriah's Bulwagga Bay Town Campground is open, but about a dozen waterfront sites are closed due to flooding. The Moriah Town Beach, located at the campground, is also closed until further notice.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is cutting funding for the Lake Champlain Basin Program by 25 percent, to $3 million. But that's good news because officials had feared the EPA would cut their funding by more than half. Basin Program Manager Bill Howland said the allocation will allow the group to plug some of the holes in lake programs created by budget cuts at other federal agencies.

Three Rutland County residents were among those arrested in a federal drug sweep that netted 35 suspects in New York and Vermont yesterday. Federal agents conducted a series of raids, including one on Lincoln Avenue in Rutland, where alleged members and operatives of a Schenectady gang known as the “Four Block Gang” were arrested. The U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of New York charged the gang’s members with a number of offenses ranging from racketeering to drug trafficking.

This Memorial Day Weekend you’ll have plenty of chances to remember the sacrifices of the women and men who died in service to our country and to feel the first thrills of summer in parades around the county. Look for parades in Orwell, Middlebury, Vergennes, Hancock and Bristol this weekend as well as Brandon. In New York you’ll find events all weekend in Hague, Crown Point and in Ticonderoga. Visit the Area Calendar page to find out what’s happening in your town this weekend!

This year’s marshal for the Memorial Day parade in Vergennes will be longtime resident and World War II veteran Richard Poquette. Like many of his generation, he answered the call and served his country in some of the biggest battles in both the European and Pacific theaters of World War II.

Three more names were added to the Vermont Fallen Heroes Memorial during a ceremony at Camp Johnson Thursday. Last year, 1,500 members of the 86th Infantry Brigade Combat Team were called to duty in Afghanistan. It was the largest deployment ever of the Vermont National Guard. Most returned home to their families. But three Green Mountain Boys made the ultimate sacrifice and did not return to the Green Mountains. The names of 14 guardsmen are now on the Vermont Fallen Heroes Memorial at Camp Johnson.

Over Memorial Day weekend the Vermont State Police will be increasing enforcement efforts to promote safe, responsible driving in support of Operation C.A.R.E. and All American Buckle Up Week. Troopers will also focus on specific areas in which unbelted occupants were injured or killed in 2010. High visibility enforcement is an essential component in reducing traffic crashes. In 2010, Vermont experienced no fatalities over the Memorial Day weekend on highways that were patrolled by VSP. Troopers will also be working with other local and county law enforcement agencies during this time to support the national Click It or Ticket mobilization through June 5th.

Rep. Peter Welch says he's encouraged that more members of the U.S. House appear to be coming around to his view that it's time to end U.S. involvement in Afghanistan. The Vermont Democrat was on the losing side in votes on two amendments on Thursday that would have curtailed the war effort. The amendments failed by narrower margins than similar measures in the past.

Sen. Bernie Sanders is criticizing federal regulators for what he's calling inaction in the face of mounting evidence that speculation is driving up the price of oil and gasoline. He joined Senate colleagues in grilling the chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission over the commission's slowness to impose limits on oil price speculation on Wall Street. Sanders says the supply of crude oil is higher than it was two years ago, when the national average price for gasoline at the pump was $2.30 per gallon.

Three organizations hope that better information will lead to better results when it comes to a vote on a new home. The town of Westport, Westport Volunteer Fire Department and Westport Central School District will again submit a proposal for a new municipal center to the voters on Tuesday, July 19th.

The new executive director of the Moosalamoo Association, Jenny Nixon Carter is quickly taking the association to new heights and coordinating this summers activities. That includes building and rebuilding parts of the trail system, developing environmental educational programs and providing a wilderness experience for outdoor enthusiasts of all types. For more information on Moosalamoo just click HERE.

New York is hoping a new online guide will lure vacationers to the Empire State. The effort, called "smiles per gallon," paints New York as an affordable place for Canadians and people from neighboring states to visit. The online guide provides links to affordable restaurants, lodging and summer events that are all within the range of a single tank of gas. The effort is part of the state's I Love New York tourism campaign. The online guide can be found HERE.

The new Town of Crown Point website will be up and running soon. Crown Point businesses are invited to have their information listed on the website; they can have up to 10 lines of information on the site. Businesses may add a link to their own website if they have one. The service is free and town officials say this is in not competition with the local Chamber of Commerce. Contact information for getting your business listed: mbessler@cptelco.net.