There was a bittersweet moment in Addison County as
Don Keeler officially replaced Jim Coons as the Addison County Sheriff on Tuesday. For 30 years Jim Coons served in
Addison County, making him the longest-serving sheriff in Vermont's history.
The 59-year-old lost his battle with cancer in April. Keeler says Coons was a dear friend and his shoes will be
difficult to fill. Keeler himself brings 40 years of experience in law
enforcement to the position. Keeler
says his top priority is to create a sexual assault investigations unit and
that he already has the funding.
The public hearing on Flood Erosion Hazard Zoning
Regulations originally planned for next Tuesday the 10th has been
rescheduled for Tuesday, August 28th. This hearing concerns the proposed
amendments to the Middlebury Zoning and Subdivision Regulations concerning
Flood Hazard Areas in Middlebury and Fluvial Erosion Hazard Areas as recently
mapped for East Middlebury. A
complete hearing notice will be published in August. A draft of the proposed
regulations, frequently asked questions and a municipal guide to flood hazard
mitigation is available on the Town's website, www.middlebury.govoffice.com.
There will be a public hearing next Tuesday the 10th
at 7:45 PM in the Town Office Conference Room. The Middlebury Select Board has
voted to amend the ordinance for the Regulation of Speed by adding to Section
II. B. “An operator of a motor vehicle shall not operate or drive a motor
vehicle at a rate of speed greater than 25 miles per hour on the following
streets and highways:” The amendment option up for discussion is South Street
from Main Street to the entrance of Porter Medical Center By Town Charter, if the proposed amendment is finally
adopted by the Select Board after the public hearing, the ordinance shall
become effective 40 days after adoption. If within 40 days of adoption, a
referendum petition is filed, the ordinance shall not become effective until
after the question of repeal is voted.
A Massachusetts man hit a moose while driving his
freight truck along Route 7 in Pittsford on Tuesday. Vermont State Police said Richard Coffin of Marlborough was
driving north through Pittsford just before 5:50 PM when a moose crossed the
road. Coffin, driving a 2006 Columbia Freightliner, ran over the moose, which
disabled the vehicle’s radiator, police said, leaving Coffin stranded on Route
7. The state Agency of
Transportation and Department of Fish & Wildlife responded to the scene to
assist. The driver was not injured.
Eating Well Magazine’s following, both in print and
online, continues to grow and is staying in Vermont at its new location in the
Shelburne Business Park. Once only 12 employees in a barn in Charlotte, the
staff has more than doubled now up to 30. This month marks the 10th anniversary
issue. After Meredith expanded its menu with the acquisition of Eating Well,
the magazine's reader base grew from 350,000 to 750,000.
Brandon Music’s Jazz Series is moving to Thursday
nights starting today! Join them this evening for NY Jazz Vocalist Teri Roiger
at 7:30pm. This is the first concert in the new Thursday night jazz series,
which will run throughout the summer. Her compelling and laid-back vocal style
is full of soul and swing, and echoes influences of Billie Holiday, Ella
Fitzgerald and Bessie Smith. General
Admission for the Thursday night series is $12. Brandon Music offers an Early
Bird dinner special, which includes a ticket for the jazz performance, for $22
per person. Reservations are recommended.
Get details now at www.brandon-music.net.
The Rutland Board of Aldermen got a look Monday at
what will change and what won’t due to the merger of Central Vermont Public
Service Corp. and Green Mountain Power.
Steve Costello, who was recently elevated to vice president of generation
and energy innovation at the unified company, whose divisions he said are being
referred to as “GMP North” and “GMP South,” said that one presence that will
remain constant is that of the CVPS’s operations center on Post Road, which is
now headquarters of operations for the entire company. The former headquarters
on Grove Street will close, Costello said, with some employees there relocating
to Post Road, but Costello said the utility would work with the city to
“repurpose” any building it vacates.
Clinton County became the first of three counties
to sign off on a plan to make the former bookmobile a new mobile emergency
command center. The idea is to convert the bus into a mobile command center
that can be used to coordinate responses in various emergency situations in the
three-county area. Grant money
that each of the three counties receives from Homeland Security would help to
pay for the conversion of the vehicle. Each county would have to pay about
$1,500 per year for maintenance. Franklin
County legislators are seeking more exact costs on the plan before voting, and
Essex County supervisors tabled the issue at their meeting this week after
questions were raised about the plan.
Police have arrested two teenage girls for causing
more than $1,000 in damage to community flower boxes on the Montcalm Street
Bridge in downtown Ticonderoga. The
teens, a 13-year-old from Ticonderoga and 15-year-old from Moriah, whose names
were being withheld as they may be given juvenile-delinquent status, were each
charged with felony third-degree criminal mischief and will be petitioned into
Essex County Family Court. The wooden flower boxes were dumped into the LaChute
River below the bridge on June 25, the second time in recent years they have
been vandalized.
Seeing 1940s automobiles gliding down Main Street
in Port Henry while people in suits and fedoras strolled the sidewalk made some
people think time had rolled back.
But it was Westport filmmaker Addison Mehr shooting a period piece about
a boy’s coming-of-age in a small-town post-World War II. The short film, “Fort Apache,” will be
his senior thesis at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts. Addison’s
previous short film, “Firecracker!” was selected for the NYU Showcase and
screened at the Lake Placid Film Festival.
The Vermont State Employees’ Credit Union says it
will chip in $120,000 during the next three years to help the Vermont Foodbank
move food around the state. Foodbank
officials say that’s about enough money to operate a Foodbank truck that makes
a daily trip between Rutland and Burlington. The Foodbank’s Judy Stermer says
the budget for that truck route is about $40,000 a year. The credit union has
supported the Foodbank for nearly two decades, but this is its first multi-year
pledge.
A motorcycle ride to raise money for a veteran’s
home in Rutland will kick off on Sunday.
Hosted by the Red Knights of Vermont Chapter 3, the scenic ride through
Vermont will raise money for the Dodge House, which provides a home for
displaced veterans. Registration
begins at 9AM at the Rutland Fire Department on Center St. The ride begins at
10AM. It ends at around lunchtime at the Wheel Inn in Benson. The cost of the ride is $20 per bike. For more information call the
Rutland Regional Chamber of Commerce at 1-800-756-8880 or go to www.rutlandvermont.com.
Amid concerns from some Vermonters about the health
effects of smart meters, thousands of residents are telling the state’s largest
electric utility thanks but no thanks when it comes to having the wireless
digital devices installed on their businesses or homes. Officials in state government and
utility officials say they’re unconcerned. They believe the rate at which Vermonters are rejecting
smart meters won’t inhibit the multimillion dollar effort to more effectively
manage the electric grid. So far, 3,964 Vermonters in the merged utility’s
territory, which covers 70 percent of Vermont, have chosen not to have a smart
meter attached to their business or residence, an opt out rate of over 5
percent.
Consumers will pay a little more for coffee and
chocolate to ensure the farmers who produce those foods get a fair wage, so why
not ask them to pay more for milk?
That's the idea behind a program designed to raise money for struggling
New England dairy farms. Keep Local Farms urges colleges, universities and
other institutions to charge a little more for milk, with the extra money going
to farmers in the region. It is
among a number of nongovernment programs being created to try to preserve
small, family-operated farms as consolidation continues in the dairy industry. The programs borrow from the fair trade
movement, in which consumers pay a little bit more for items like chocolate and
coffee to provide workers with decent wages and sound environmental practices.
So why are the gas prices in Chittenden County
going down much slower than in the rest of the state, let alone the rest of the
country? Senator Bernie Sanders
wants to know, and he's asking for an investigation. He says that in the 15 metro regions in New England gas
prices are falling much slower, with a decline of only 15 cents while
everywhere else it's at least a quarter.
Sanders is asking the Federal Trade Commission to look into it, to see
if some gas dealers in Chittenden County are colluding to keep prices higher
than they should be.
A group is raising money to buy the property, which
once was the Barnard General Store.
It closed in May after 180 years of service, and now the Barnard
Community Trust is hoping to raise half a million dollars to buy the property. It will take even more money afterwards
for licensing and other costs. The
town has only 900 people, and this was the only store they had. On Saturday, the group started offering
up a three-hour coffee service every morning, allowing people to hear about the
fundraising efforts, as well as giving people a place to catch up. So far the group has raised 20-thousand
dollars.
The 4th of July isn't all fireworks and parades for
Vermont. It's also the day some
honor native son and 30th president of the U.S., Calvin Coolidge. He was born on the 4th of July, and
yesterday there was a wreath-laying ceremony at his gravesite in Plymouth
Notch. Some of his descendents
were there along with members of the Vermont National Guard. The ceremony included reading parts of
a speech Coolidge delivered on the 4th of July in 1926, the 150th anniversary
of the nation's independence.
The Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant is producing
electricity at full power again after technicians completed repairs to 1 of 2
motor generators that vary the flow of cooling water to the reactor. Plant
spokesman Rob Williams says the problem was caused by faulty electrical
connections in the unit, which is about half the size of a bus. On June 18 the
plant's output was reduced to 38% after, smoke was detected in the reactor
building. The smoke was traced to the motor generator, which was shut down.
Ten people became U.S. citizens in Burlington on
Independence Day. U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services held a special July
4 ceremony at the Ethan Allen Homestead in Burlington. Federal Judge Christina
C. Reiss presided over the ceremony and administered the oath to the new
citizens who are from seven countries including, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Mexico,
South Sudan and Sweden. U.S. Senator Patrick J. Leahy and Burlington Mayor Miro
Weinberger spoke at the event.
Pianos are popping up all over the place in parts
of New Hampshire and Vermont. The Hopkins Center for the Arts at Dartmouth
College is celebrating its 50th anniversary with a community project called
Hands On Pianos. Local artists have decorated the pianos and placed them in
Hanover and surrounding towns on both sides of the New Hampshire-Vermont
border. The instruments will remain in place all month, available for anyone to
explore and enjoy.
From Fox 44 and ABC 22 News – Your Voice in Vermont
& New York:
Blue green algae is back. It's been spotted all
across the Lake Champlain shoreline, on both the Vermont and New York sides.
And today, that algae kept swimmers away.
Closed? What? It's hot and it's the 4th of July... But, "It looks
like pea soup," Moriah Town Supervisor Tom Scozzafava said. And it's in our water, and shouldn't
be. Much of Lake Champlain is infested with blue green algae. "We've been
open now for over 40 years and this is the first time we've ever seen this
problem," said Scozzafava. Because
of the disgusting green stuff, Port Henry Village Beach and parts of the Moriah
Town Beach are closed. "It's a shame, it's really just a shame,"
Beach go-er Judy Angrisano said. There
were plenty of people swimming and enjoying the water, but just a couple
hundred yards away the Department of Health says there's no swimming allowed
and it has swimmers questioning why some areas are safe and others are not. Scozzafava says the wind has a lot to
do with it, and can change the conditions almost immediately, that's why
swimmers have permission to swim bay side. Angrisano says she doesn't want to take the chance.
"Myself, I wouldn't go in and I wouldn't let any animal or my
grandchildren go in." But her
grand kids did swim in the water Tuesday, when the Health Department hadn't yet
deemed the water unsafe. "My
daughter in law couldn't even sleep last night for fear the damage was already
done," Angrisano said. Fortunately
they're fine, but exposure to blue green algae can be harmful... digestive issues,
skin irritation and even worse. "Seizures to paralysis, to possible death,
so who would go swimming?" Angrisano questioned. One way of checking the conditions in the water near you, is
the "pencil test." Dip the pencil in the lake and if blue or green
stuff coats the pencil and doesn't slide off, don't get in the water. We will continue to watch and keep you
informed on this issue.
Repairs and cleanup will be needed after powerful
thunderstorms hit the area Wednesday.
They knocked down dozens of trees, took out power lines and flooded
streets. The storms also forced
many towns to postpone 4th of July fireworks shows. In Burlington, Nick Governale was inside his home with his
wife when the storm hit. "Never
seen anything like it around here," says Governale. "We were just
commenting on how it was way worse than anything we saw in the hurricane last
year and then we literally watched the tree come down." That tree blocked half of Colchester
Avenue and turned neighbors into traffic guides. This was one of the many streets impacted by down trees. Falling trees also took out many power
lines. Burlington Electric says at
one point 1,300 homes were without power.
Catalyst Design owner Scotty Taylor says he was concerned that rising
storm water runoff on the street was headed to his store in Burlington. When he checked his basement, Taylor
says it was filled with water. "I
dipped my toe in the water to see if I would get electrocuted or not. Then I
grabbed some hard drives and computers, started grabbing some of my customers
clothing that were down there," says Taylor. While they were able to save many things, the staff here and
their neighbors at a pizza joint, which was also flooded, will have a lot of
cleanup. For those people without
something to worry about, the storm transformed streets into a water park. As of late Wednesday night, the Mayor
of Burlington says there have been no reports of fires or injuries. While work continues to restore power
to everyone soon, crews warn you to stay away from downed lines.
Vermont State Parks attendance is booming right
now. That is the word from Parks Director Craig Whipple. "We are, at this point, in the
early part of this season, 43 percent ahead of last year," Whipple said. Good news, considering last year, many
of the parks were ruined by record flooding on Lake Champlain and Tropical
Storm Irene. It is also good news
for the development of the parks in the future. Many of Vermont's parks were
developed in the 1930's and 1960s. So, Whipple says the State needs funding to
upgrade them. "We're spending
in the neighborhood of about $2.5 million a year," Whipple said. The money is being used to upgrade
bathrooms, sewer and water systems, build new cabins, etc. "Things have been looking very up
for us as compared to what's happened to some of the other States in the
country. We feel very fortunate," Whipple said. The Parks Department just launched a new app for IPhones. To
learn more about the app and the parks click here.
