WVTK Local & State News March 19, 2012

With warm and dry weather in the forecast, forest officials are urging Vermonters to help prevent brush and forest fires. Grass, leaves and brush can be a fire hazard in early spring before things turn green. Officials already are investigating a forest fire that spread through the Green Mountain National Forest in Mount Tabor last Tuesday.

Investigators believe someone intentionally started a forest fire in central Vermont last week. It happened last Tuesday in Mount Tabor. Officials say the blaze spread through parts of the Green Mountain Forest before it was finally extinguished. Authorities are now trying to identify several people who were seen near the Mount Tabor work center after the blaze started.

With unseasonably warm temperatures the next few days Coast Guard officials are sending a warning to boaters. Water temperatures are still normal for this time of year. So that means no swimming despite summertime temperatures. Coast guard officials in Burlington warn that hypothermia can set in within minutes of your body hitting the water at such cold temperatures. They also suggest letting someone on land know if you decide to take your boat out AND give them an estimated time of return.

Donald James Marler III, the former president of Specialty Filaments, which once had plants in Burlington and East Middlebury, has pleaded not guilty to federal fraud charges. He was indicted by a grand jury in Rutland last month. He's charged with conspiring with the director of finances and vice president of manufacturing to send inflated financial reports to its lender Wells Fargo, which allowed the company to borrow more. The office of the U.S. attorney for Vermont said Friday that when the company went out of business, Wells Fargo discovered the value of its collateral was substantially less than the outstanding loan balance. Wells Fargo and the Vermont Economic Development Authority lost more than $1 million.

Existing assessment data on the Middlebury River and information about plans and funding for managing the river in East Middlebury will be presented by the River Management Task Force this Thursday the 22nd at 7PM at the East Middlebury United Methodist Church on Church Street. Items on the agenda include a flume demonstration, river task force update along with the presentation of a response-to-flooding public information handout. Stay up today by visiting the Town Of Middlebury’s Website.

Since a 19-year-old hiker from New Haven passed away on the Emily Proctor Trail in Ripton in January, lawmakers have scrutinized Vermont’s policies for backcountry search and rescue missions. That policy review would continue throughout the summer if a bill passed last week by a Senate committee becomes law. The Senate Economic Development, Housing and General Affairs Committee unanimously supported legislation Friday that would create a study committee with three representatives and three senators to determine which state agency should have authority over back-country rescues and “to recommend an appropriate organizational structure to manage Vermont’s various search and rescue resources.”

Plans to renovate the Brandon town offices are under way and three local architects have volunteered their time to help come up with floor plans to move forward with the renovation on Center St. in downtown Brandon. The Brandon town offices have been closed since water from the Neshobe River damaged the carpet and some of the office equipment during Tropical Storm Irene. The town employees have been housed at Brandon’s emergency services building on Route 7 since then.

The American Cancer Society’s Daffodil Days gets underway this week at several locations in Orwell, Middlebury and Vergennes. Locations include Buxton’s Store and Orwell Gas N Go in Orwell; Middlebury Natural Foods Co-op, Cole’s Flowers and Blossom Basket in Middlebury; also Shaw’s Supermarket in Vergennes. Dollars raised through the Daffodil Days campaign will help the American Cancer Society fund vital cancer research.

It was a busy morning for Middlebury-area firefighters on Friday as a large garage fire on Shard Villa Road involved mutual-aid crews from Salisbury, Middlebury, Cornwall, Whiting and Ripton. No injuries were reported in that fire that broke out near the West Salisbury Road. Water tankers from several departments used the Middlebury River intake-hydrant on Three Mile Bridge Road to refill during the fire.

Crown Point Telephone and its subsidiary Crown Point Network Technologies have formed Bridge Point Communication. The new firm will begin installing fiber optic cable this week that will serve the Ticonderoga business community this fall. The fiber optic service will provide Ticonderoga businesses with state-of-the-art Internet and phone services. The installation of fiber optic cable this spring and summer is Phase 1 of a larger project. Bridge Point Communication plans to provide the new service to the Wicker Street, Montcalm Street, Champlain Avenue area by fall. The firm plans to expand to other parts of Ticonderoga and offer residential service in 2013.

West Rutland and Wallingford will look at heating buildings with shared biomass burners. The towns were selected last week for studies funded by the Wood Education Resource Center, a West Virginia-based program of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Forest Service. In both towns, the idea is to link multiple buildings to one boiler that will pipe heat to all of them. Wallingford will look at its town office building and Wallingford Elementary School. West Rutland will look at the West Rutland School and the Kazan Building, run by Neighborworks of Western Vermont.

A West Rutland man has been accused of trying to sell a bunch of marijuana and ecstasy. Police arrested Chris Cuccurullo in the Price Chopper parking lot in Rutland. Police said the transaction, which was a controlled buy with law enforcement, involved 12 1/2 pounds of marijuana and 4 ounces of powder ecstasy.

Heavy trucks are being temporarily banned from thousands of miles of secondary roads across northern New England with the early arrival of spring. In Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont, it's an annual ritual to post signs on poles along roadways warning heavy trucks to stay off. But the mild weather has prompted officials to restrict heavy traffic on secondary roads two or three weeks earlier than usual. When roads are "posted" to protect them during the spring thaw, businesses have to delay deliveries until the road beds dry out, lighten their loads or ask the state for exemptions for such tasks as picking up milk at dairy farms or delivering firewood. Officials say if the warm weather keeps up, the road postings could come to an earlier-than-usual end.

A year after breaking Vermont's decades-old record for maple syrup production, syrup makers are predicting a less-than-stellar output this year with unseasonably warm weather during the peak of the sugaring season. The state's syrup production exceeded 1.1 million gallons in 2011. Syrup producers tell the Brattleboro Reformer that farms in northern Vermont are far behind last year's production.

Lake Champlain Chocolates released their Maple Caramel Chocolates, which are maple filled and chocolate covered sweets to coincide with this year's sugaring season. The shop relies on a local sugar shacks for the 36 gallons of syrup it takes to produce the finished treats. The specialty batch is only available on a limited basis.

Gov. Peter Shumlin says he's disappointed with the decision of state Senate leaders not to bring right-to-die legislation to a vote in the chamber this year. The governor says he's a strong supporter of allowing terminally ill patients to ask their doctor for assistance in speeding death. He had asked for the bill to come before the full Senate.

With gas prices on the rise some folks are avoiding all together here in Vermont. Paul Beaudry from Burlington Mitsubishi says the demand right now has been overwhelming for electric cars. He says for the everyday driver who lives about five miles from work, barely any charging is necessary. The cars have a 60-mile range and you would only have to charge it once a week, which would cost about $2.50 a week. An online poll conducted by Harris Interactive says high gas prices are causing three in four adults to change their driving habits. Though electric cars may be the wave of the future they're not entirely ready for intense driving. The state wants to put charging stations up and down Interstate 89 and aptly nickname the highway the "Electric Highway".

A House committee is set to hold a public hearing on Wednesday on the state's immunization laws. Lawmakers are considering a proposal that would end the philosophical exemption under which parents have been able to avoid having their children get immunizations normally required to attend school.

Crews are scaling back their search for a missing New York teenager. 18-year-old Collin Gillis vanished one week ago after leaving an underage drinking party in Tupper Lake. Hundreds of volunteers have scoured the area but have found very few clues. Authorities are now calling off the land search although teams will continue to search waterways and rivers in the area.

The parent company of discount airline Direct Air is filing for bankruptcy. Court documents show Southern Sky Air & Tours LLC may have as much as $50 million in debt and just $1 million in assets. The airline canceled all flights last week, because it could not pay its fuel bill. Direct Air has served the Plattsburgh Airport since 2008. It owes the airport close to $200,000.

CVAA volunteers will be serving a hot mid-day Easter dinner at the Middlebury VFW Post on Friday, April 6th from 11 – 1. The suggested donation is $4. All CVAA meal events are open to adults 60 and over. Attendees are asked to bring a place setting. Reservations are required by April 4th by calling the Senior Helpline (1-800-642-5119). Free Transportation will be provided by ACTR (388-1946).

Due to an upsurge of local interest in cheese making, Rural Vermont and the Metta Earth Institute of Lincoln will offer a dairy processing class. A small group of students will learn to make feta, soft cheese, yogurt, and kefir. The workshop is scheduled for Sunday, March 25th from 1-4PM at Metta Earth Institute. Pre-registration is required and the previous class sold out quickly! For more information, to sign up, or to be added to Rural Vermont’s mailing list, call 223-7222 or email shelby@ruralvermont.org.

“The Best Fourth in the North” is months away, but Ticonderoga will have an Independence Day feeling on Saturday, March 31st. That’s when the “The Best Fourth in the North” committee will hold a pair of fund raising events. The annual Ticonderoga High School alumni basketball tournament will be played and the Ti Knights of Columbus will host a spaghetti dinner. Both will benefit the annual July 4th celebration. The celebration costs between $26-$30,000 and it’s fundraisers like these held throughout the year and donations from the community make it all possible. For more complete details just visit www.best4thinthenorth.com.