WVTK Local & State News March 28, 2012

A husband and wife were arrested this morning in the slaying of Melissa Jenkins. Allen Prue and his wife Patricia of Waterford were arrested this morning for second-degree murder. Both were held at the Northeast Correctional Center with no bail. No word yet on a motive, but police say the couple knew Jenkins and plowed her driveway a few years ago. Police now say the popular teacher at St. Johnsbury Academy was strangled to death. Police believe this was an isolated incident. Allen Prue was a snowplow driver and a sub-contracted newspaper deliveryman for the Caledonian-Record.

Hundreds of students, parents and community members gathered outside St. Johnsbury Academy yesterday to mourn the loss of Melissa Jenkins. Students silently illuminated hundreds of memory bags in Jenkins' honor. The academy plans to ease student back into the classroom Wednesday. Counselors will be on hand for grieving students.

Police have arrested two men in connection with drive-by shootings at a house and several cars in Pittsford. They say 31-year-old Zebulon Washburn and 22-year-old Alex Abraham of Pittsford are charged with reckless endangerment and unlawful mischief in the shootings, which targeted a house and cars on March 21. The home and car owners said they heard a car pass by and then shots fired. State troopers said they found two .22 caliber shell casings in front of the house and near the cars and bullet holes. No one was injured in the shootings.

Yesterday Green Mountain Power Corp. and Gaz Metro struck a deal with the state that will provide additional benefits to customers following the acquisition of Central Vermont Public Service Corp. The concessions by GMP and Gaz Metro, its parent company, will significantly enhance customer savings, investment in weatherization and efficiency funding that will create jobs, and increased public governance of the statewide transmission systems.

Teachers in two more Vermont school districts may be on the verge of going on strike. Union members in the Rutland Southwest Supervisory Union and the Windham Northeast Supervisory Union will both vote on Wednesday on what their next steps should be in trying to resolve long-running contract disputes with the districts' school boards. In both districts, teachers have been working for more than a year without contracts. Two weeks ago, teachers in the Addison-Rutland Supervisor Union decided their next step was to go on strike. That strike was averted with a last-minute deal.

The next Addison County Chamber Of Commerce Mixer is coming up on April 19th at Art on Main in Bristol. The Chamber will be helping to celebrate Art on Main’s 10th anniversary, along with the usual food, drink, door prizes and a chance to win the Pot of Gold. There was no winner of the pot in March. So, on April 19th there will be a drawing for $950. The mixer takes place from 5 – 7PM. For more information and to RSVP to Sue Hoxie just visit www.addisoncounty.com.

The Ticonderoga Area Chamber Of Commerce will hold their mixer on Wednesday April 25th from 5:30 – 7:00PM at Sugar and Spice Country Shoppe. The great networking opportunity will include door prizes from George Sperry Marine Survey, McDonald’s and Wagon Wheel Restaurant. For more information just visit www.ticonderogany.com.

Health and law enforcement officials from the state and local levels joined the Rutland Board of Aldermen in a special meeting yesterday to update the board on the status of a proposed methadone clinic. About 30 people attended the meeting in the aldermen chambers. Rutland Mental Health is considering a spot on Park Street, neighboring the Vermont Achievement Center, for the facility. Another suggestion included the former Video World building on South Main Street. The board plans to organize another meeting for public input in the near future.

Residents are concerned about a proposed wind project on the top of Grandpa's Knob and want answers from the developer. At a public meeting with town officials on Monday, residents voiced their concerns regarding the project that included the impact on property taxes in town, the blasting of the ridgeline for wind turbines and the road and it's affects on the town's wells and farms. Reunion Power has proposed a project that would install up to 20 wind turbines along the Grandpa's Knob ridgeline in West Rutland, Castleton, Hubbardton and Pittsford.
Rutland Plywood will complete a wood-fired co-generation plant with the help of a $346,000 loan from the Vermont Economic Development Corp. The loan was part of $10.4 million in financing approved for business projects around the state that was announced yesterday.

Horace Nye Staff members, community members and family members of patients stood outside the Essex County Government Center to protest the proposed privatization of the Horace Nye Home on Monday. During the Board of Supervisor’s Ways and Means Committee meeting over 30 community members presented their message to passing cars and people on Court Street. Many have concerns for family members that have no other place to go for the care they need.

A naturalist from Marlboro and a non-profit based in Dummerston are just two of the 21 nominees for this year's C-V-P-S Zetterstorm Environmental award. Patti Smith is a naturalist with Bonnyvale Environmental Education center in West Brattleboro, and is nominated as well as Landmark Trust U-S-A of Dummerston, which has rescued deteriorating properties while restoring habitat and ensuring sustainable forestry. Central Vermont Public Service will present the award in April to one of the 21 nominees, along with a cash prize of 25-hundred dollars to benefit the winner's ongoing environmental work.

Alumni of Woodstock Union High School may be the victims of embezzlement. The alumni association told police it was supposed to have about 14-thousand dollars in its bank account, but discovered only nine hundred could be accounted for during a recent change in treasurer for the association. Two officers with the group say they do not want criminal charges filed, because the family of the previous treasurer made restitution. Police say the case remains open, and it's not clear whether a request for charges had to come from an association officer or any alumni member.

The Department of Fish and Wildlife is asking Vermonters to support its non-game programs with voluntary donations through the state tax system. Since its creation in 1986, many Vermont taxpayers have contributed to the Nongame Wildlife Fund, which was created to help pay for work done by biologists who manage and enhance wildlife species that are not hunted or fished. The Nongame Wildlife Fund has helped bring back to Vermont common loons, peregrine falcons and ospreys. Donations to the fund can be made on line 29-a on the state tax form.

FairPoint Communications is teaming up with law enforcement officials to educate the public about telephone scams across northern New England that are targeting the elderly. FairPoint and law enforcement officials are releasing details today on a coordinated effort to prevent the scams. The company says con artists are preying on elderly victims by telling them they've won a lottery but need to make a payment to cash in.

A bill calling for a major reorganization of Vermont's mental health system is headed to the desk of Gov. Peter Shumlin. The House on Tuesday approved a conference committee report previously approved by the Senate that sets out a path for replacing the Vermont State Hospital in Waterbury. The bill calls for building a new psychiatric hospital of up to 25 beds, most likely in Berlin; expanded secure psychiatric units in Brattleboro and Rutland; and increasing use of less secure placements for patients deemed well served by them. Shumlin has said he supports the legislation.

An expert on Vermont's maple sugar industry says the return of seasonably chilly temperatures won't save this year's season for many sugar-makers. Tim Wilmot, maple specialist with the University of Vermont Extension Service, says last week's summer temperatures meant the end of collecting sap for most sugar-makers. He says reports he's getting indicate that most made half to two-thirds the syrup they produce in an average season.

The Vermont House has advanced legislation that hits the Vermont Yankee nuclear plant with a big tax increase. The House on Tuesday gave preliminary approval to a miscellaneous tax bill that roughly doubles the property and generation taxes paid by Vermont Yankee to about $12 million per year. Backers say the new taxes make up for the fact that an agreement under which the plant paid into Vermont's Clean Energy Development Fund is ending. Money from the new payments will go to the education fund, the Clean Energy Development Fund and a new fund set up to help Windham County recovery economically if the plant shuts down.

The Vermont House has given preliminary approval to a bill that would study why the state has a much higher percentage of African-Americans in its prisons as it does in its general population. The bill calls on the Vermont Center for Justice Research to look at what factors are driving the disparity and to report back to lawmakers in December. It also calls for police departments around the state to adopt bias-free policing policies by January. The bill was advanced on an overwhelming voice vote with no debate.

The New York Legislature is poised to pass an on-time budget for a second year in the row. Several closed-door deals Monday paved the way for a compromise. Votes on the budget are expected in the Senate and Assembly today and tomorrow. Only seven spending plans in the state have been approved on time since 1975. The proposed $132 billion budget would increase spending by 2 percent.

Target may still set its sights on Williston after all. The company hasn't been in touch with the town since January, but the senior town planner says there's been no indication the big box retailer has abandoned its plans to build on Route 2 where a driving range is now, next to Maple Tree Place. The town says it's waiting for word from Target to see if it plans to apply for a zoning change in order to build here.

The Easter Bunny will visit Schroon Lake this weekend. He will be in town to assist the Schroon Lake Lions Club with its annual sale of Easter Bunnies. The bunny and sale will be at the Schroon Lake Grand Union this Saturday and Sunday. The chocolate bunnies are $4 each and are available in milk chocolate and white chocolate. The proceeds benefit the Lions Club annual scholarship fund.

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