WVTK Local & State News August 22, 2012

On Friday the Middlebury Finance and Fundraising Task Force will meet at 9:00 AM.  The meeting will be held at the Middlebury Town Offices.  Learn more right now on the Town’sWebsite.

On Route 22 in Ticonderoga crews are repairing the shoulder between Ticonderoga and the Essex/Washington line. Please be aware that traffic control is present in this area.  Always use extra caution in construction zones.

Two Vermont state senators are holding a community meeting to discuss health care reform at 7PM Thursday at the Sudbury Town Meeting House.  Democratic Addison County Sen. Claire Ayer and Sen. Kevin Mullin, a Republican from Rutland County, will be on hand to discuss Vermont’s new Universal Coverage Law. They will give a brief overview of the law and the plans for implementation followed by a time to answer audience questions.  The forum is organized by the Sudbury Community Club in response to the concerns, confusion and excitement voiced by residents regarding the law. It is free and open to the public. The Sudbury Town Meeting House is located on Route 30 at the intersection with Huff Pond Road.

It’s a controversial issue when it comes to legalizing hemp in Vermont—on the one hand, there’s marijuana—a drug; and on the other hand, there’s industrial hemp, which has low THC drug content. This variety of hemp has a promising future as a commercial, sustainable crop in Vermont.  U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon introduced the Industrial Hemp Farming Act S. 3501 this month, a companion to the House’s H.R. 1831. Vermont U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders was an original co-sponsor of the bill.  Robb Kidd of Rural Vermont, the local nonprofit advocacy group getting behind S. 3501, said the bill will allow Vermont’s family farmers to cultivate hemp. The crop was last harvested in the state in the early 1930s. In 2008, the state legislature passed its own version of an industrial hemp bill. If the national bill is passed into law, Vermont farmers can immediately begin growing the crop.

With emergency repairs complete, the Moriah Center Bridge will be paved in the next few days.  Work to install a temporary bridge began Monday, August 13th, and the span opened Friday, with rough wooden planks in place.  The span had to be repaired so school buses and fire trucks could cross. DOT said the red flagging was due to corrosion that destroyed sections of the support steel under the span.  The Moriah Center Bridge is slated for replacement with a new structure in mid 2013. 

Originally scheduled for yesterday, the reopening of the historic Miss Port Henry Diner has been pushed back to Friday.  Owner Donald Foote said they just couldn’t get everything done in time.  He has been restoring the 1933 eatery to its original appearance, including the black-striped lime-green exterior. 

Essex County is prepping workers for the upcoming transfer of Horace Nye Nursing Home to private hands.  County Personnel Officer Monica Feeley said she’s been meeting with staff at the home, which will be sold to Centers for Specialty Care of the Bronx for $4 million.  According to County Officials It will be at least several months before the transfer is complete. The home has about 150 full- and part-time employees, many of whom belong to the Civil Service Employees Association union. 

While a mild winter may have been a bit of a nightmare for Adirondack businesses, occupancy tax numbers have been strong early in the summer.  Carol Joanette of the Regional Office of Sustainable Tourism said that not only were occupancy tax numbers high for the months of May and June, they also set records. May came in ahead 10 percent of the 2011 numbers and June numbers came in 13 percent ahead of 2011.  After some down numbers early in the year all signs point to a rebound for the rest of the year.

Bombardier Transportation will move forward with a large expansion of its manufacturing facility in the City of Plattsburgh.  Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced the project Monday afternoon.   Bombardier was awarded $2.5 million as a priority project when the North Country Regional Economic Development Council announced it was to receive $103.2 million earlier this year for 70 funding requests. The entire expansion is expected to cost nearly $25 million. 

For its first solar project in Rutland, Green Mountain Power decided to buy local.  The utility announced yesterday it had awarded the contract for the Creek Path Solar Farm, to be located off Cleveland Avenue, to Same Sun of Vermont. Steve Costello, GMP’s vice president for generation and energy innovation, said he was impressed with the bid from the relatively young and small Rutland company, which was one of a dozen bidders. The planned 150-kilowatt solar array is the first step in GMP’s effort to turn Rutland into the “Solar Capital of New England.” 

Nine local adults are one step closer to becoming registered nurses and Vermont Technical College is ahead of its ultimate goal to develop the next generation of Vermont’s work force.  On Monday, a new adult education program in partnership with VTC was announced at Stafford Technical Center.  It’s an Associate of Science in Nursing Degree that provides the critical coursework needed to become a registered nurse.  The two-year program involves practical nursing work at Rutland Regional Medical Center, the region’s second biggest employer following General Electric, and at other local health care establishments from the Rutland Area Visiting Nurse Association & Hospice to Genesis Healthcare and Spring Lake Ranch.

A Rutland man who police say on Monday barricaded himself in a motel room and threatened officers who tried to evict him pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge from the incident on Tuesday.  Robert P. Shaw was sentenced to two days in jail and a $50 fine during a brief hearing in Rutland criminal court. No one was hurt in the incident, which began when the inn’s owners asked police to evict Shaw for failing to keep up payments on the room he had rented for a week.

A Vermont State Police investigator says the fire that destroyed a Jamaica convenience store and left 15 people homeless is undetermined, but it is not suspicious.  The fire at Mo's Market on Vermont routes 106 and 30 was reported just before 3AM Tuesday.  When firefighters arrived the building was fully engulfed in flames.  No one was injured.  Firefighters from about 15 departments in Vermont and New Hampshire helped extinguish the blaze.  Route 30 remained closed until early Tuesday afternoon.  The building was considered a total loss.

A major retailer and state and local officials are weighing proposals to fix a traffic-clogged interchange in Colchester. Costco, which has a store at the Route 7-Interstate 89 interchange, has offered to add a turning lane, rearrange pavement striping and create other improvements as it seeks approval for gas pumps. The company said its proposal would serve as a stopgap solution until the state Agency of Transportation comes in a complicated highway exchange to lessen traffic.

A panel of Vermont lawmakers is giving its blessing to a plan for a privately-owned rest area and visitors' center off Interstate-89 in Randolph. Developer Sam Sammis detailed his proposal for the visitor's center and Vermont products showcase yesterday to the legislature's Joint Transportation Oversight Committee.

The town of Williston has a new police chief. Chief Todd Shepard has been sworn as the chief in the Chittenden County town of about 7,650 people. The police department has an authorized strength of 15 officers. The 48-year-old from Milton had been the deputy police chief in neighboring South Burlington. The Burlington Free Press reports Shepard was chosen from 70 applicants.

The public beach at Joe's Pond in Danville is closed because of E. coli contamination.  The beach has been closed several times this summer for the same reason and folks in town want to know what is causing the contamination. Some think it is the large population of Canada Geese. But others point out the geese have left, but the E. coli problem remains. They say perhaps the problem is the concentration of summer camps and septic systems.

The Chittenden County State's Attorney is taking the first steps to get money back from a former Vermont State Police sergeant accused of padding his time cards.  Prosecutor T.J. Donovan filed a lien against former Sergeant Jim Deeghan's home in Colchester, saying the state is trying to protect its interests.  Donovan maintains Deeghan could face a possible restitution order if found guilty, and just wanted to get in line to collect should the house be sold.  Deeghan is pleading not guilty to two felony counts of making false claims with prosecutors saying he claimed 63 hours of overtime, which he never worked.

A lot of families in Vermont home-school their kids, and they are not happy with changes to the enrollment policy.  It requires parents to notify the state by Labor Day if they intend to home-school their children.  Home-school advocates say that creates a situation preventing parents from enrolling their kids if they miss the deadline with no way to appeal.  One home-school advocate says the deadline is arbitrary, and parents should be able to enroll their kids at any time.

Although a family owns property abutting the Georgia Mountain Community Wind project in Milton, they are now under court order to stay off part of their own land.  The restraining order against Jane FitzGerald and her son Dan is to stay off of the last one thousand feet of their property for at least the next few weeks.  It's an active construction site and crews are now blasting rock to make way for roads and foundations to support the wind turbines.  The FitzGeralds are against the project, and think everyone is showing blatant disregard for their private property rights.

The town of Bennington is appealing the decision by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, or FEMA, which leaves the town responsible for the emergency protective work done on the Roaring Branch River.  That amounted to four-million dollars, and was done after the devastation of Tropical Storm Irene last year.  The town had counted on FEMA at least partially reimbursing Bennington for the work, and even the consultants hired to appeal it say they're "a bit baffled" by the FEMA decision.

Secretary of State Jim Condos is urging Vermonters to cast their ballots in next week's primary election. Among the candidates to be chosen, is the Democratic Party's candidate for attorney general and the Republican U.S. Senate choice.

From Fox 44 & ABC 22 News – Your Voice in Vermont & New York:

Vermont's claim to fame was back home today. Successful singer Grace Potter stopped by Splash restaurant to promote the second annual Grand Point North Festival.  The two-day concert starts September 14th. At a 5,000-person capacity every night, it’s nearly sold out!  Potter says the success of her and her band, the Nocturnals has been a slow process, so big events like this are that much more rewarding, but says she's still down to Earth.  "I'm still Gracie from the woods!" she joked. "Not to say last year wasn't amazing, that was a pretty unbelievable line up, but this year we literally got our dream band, the Avett Brothers are our dream band" Potter added.  Something new this year... after parties!  Friday night's performers will be at Nectars and Saturday many of the stars will be at Higher Ground.

For many people in this economy, summer vacations are too expensive, especially taking the whole family. Which is why many people around the country are opting for "Staycations" and local fairs are reaping the benefits.  It's called the 10 best days of summer and with less than a week until opening day, crews are working around the clock to make sure it lives up to the hype.  "Nearly 300,000 people will be out here for the 10 days of the fair and we are hoping we get a stretch of weather just like we have right now," said Tim Shea, Champlain Valley Fair Director.  This year with gas prices continuing to climb many people will opt to stay around the region for entertainment rather than travel.  "Staycations are becoming more and more popular we talked to our colleagues and local camp grounds and they are seeing more and more Vermont and upstate New York folks visiting," said Shea.  If purchased in advanced, fair tickets for adults are nine bucks. A deal that Shea says can't be beat, "The gates open at 10 o'clock, so you get your ticket at 10 o'clock and you're really here for the entire day great value for the entire family."  And even more, fairs around the country are focusing on creating more free entertainment to really stretch your hard earned dollar  "We looked at adding value this year to the experience folks have this year, and we've had good feedback," said Shea.  With more free events to keep the 10 best days of summer competitive enough to make "Staycations" stick around. To save even more money, you can get your fair tickets in advance. Regular admission is 12 dollars for adults but before Friday you can get them for nine dollars either at the ticket booth or at Price Chopper grocery stores around the region.