The death certificate for a Middlebury man killed
in a shootout with police was released. Two weeks ago,
57-year-old George Demarais told police he wanted to die via suicide by cop. According to the Chief Medical
Examiner's office, Demarais died from gunshot wounds to the neck and chest. The certificate also says Demarais
had been a member of the Armed Forces and his occupation was listed as prison
guard. His death is
classified as a homicide for medical, not legal purposes.
The River Task Force will me meet this morning at 9
in the Middlebury Town Offices.
Items to be covered include a review of the Engineering RFP and Schedule
as well as the remaining tasks and schedule for the River Task Force. Get an up-to-date list of meetings and
agendas anytime by visiting the Town of Middlebury’s Website.
This Sunday from 10 AM to 2 PM, the Middlebury Snow
Bowl will host an open house with a pancake breakfast, lift rides, retail and
pass sales. The Middlebury Ski club
will be selling breakfast for $5 featuring pancakes, sausage and local Vermont
maple syrup with proceeds to benefit the club. New members are welcome and will be served breakfast on the
club! The Worth Mt. Chair will be operating and season passes will be sold and
processed. The ski shop will be
open for retail sales and equipment leases, and Snow School staff will be
available to answer any questions about or registrations for our many Snow
School programs. Come on up to the
bowl and enjoy a view from the top!!
On Saturday October 27th Vergennes will celebrate
Pumpkins in the Park and More: Big Pumpkin Fun in the Little City. This annual event has been expanded and
is now a fun-filled day for the whole family. Spooky stories at the Bixby
Memorial Library and Trick-or-Treating on Main Street will be a highlight for
the little goblins. Also new this year is The Great Pumpkin Cook off and in the
evening a kids Halloween safety presentation will be held at the Fire Station. Get a full schedule of events right now
at the Vergennes Downtown Website.
The Fifth Annual Middlebury Spooktacular is coming
up! It’s a Halloween event for
kids of all ages! Hay bales, games, and costumes will decorate the town green
on SUNDAY, OCTOBER 28th from 2 - 4 in the afternoon on the Middlebury Town
Green. The green will be alive with music, dancing, costumes and games for all
ages, including a Jumpy Castle! Prizes will be given to all who take part! Festivities
will kick off at 2:00PM and will conclude with a children’s trick or treat
parade along Main Street.
Ticonderoga’s downtown Halloween Fest is coming
up! Hundreds of ghosts, goblins
and other creatures are expected for the fright fest Wednesday, October 31st. Sponsored by the Ticonderoga Montcalm
Street Partnership, local businesses and organizations displaying a pumpkin in
a window will welcome children in grade 5 and younger along with their families
for trick-or-treating from 3 to 4:30 PM.
Montcalm Street will be closed to traffic from Sunshine Laundry to the
1888 building during the event for the safety of all participants. All the details can be found HERE!
The Ticonderoga Area Chamber of Commerce will host
four business seminars at the Chamber office on Montcalm Street in Downtown
Ticonderoga during October, November and December. The business seminars are
being provided through a partnership with the North Country Small Business
Development Center and made possible through the sponsorship of Mannix
Marketing, Dunkin Donuts of Ticonderoga, and Stewarts Shops of Ticonderoga. This first one is coming up on Thursday
October 25th from 8 – 9:30AM. The ‘Talking Business Roundtable’ is a
chance for business owners to come together to discuss common issues and
concerns that impact small businesses as well as share positive suggestions for
resolving these concerns as well as recommendations for seminars and trainings
needed. For details on this and
the other seminars please visit www.ticonderogany.com.
Essex County Clerk Joseph Provoncha and Deputy
Clerk Janet Cross were reprimanded and fined to a combined $4,000 last week by
the Essex County Ethics Board for
improperly influencing the awarding of a software contract. The pair will receive letters of
reprimand on their records and Cross has been barred from future bid
procurements. Though Provoncha and
Cross deny intentionally doing anything wrong, the pair admitted to
improprieties in order to reach the settlement deal.
Mark Miller wants to remind people of the toll that
illegal drugs have taken on the community, and he’s using the City of Rutland’s
biggest annual event to get the message out. In the 53rd annual Rutland Halloween Parade, Miller said he
has reserved space for a March to Remember to take a stand against substance
abuse, and he’s looking for people who want to hoist a sign and march with him. A Rutland resident who has been
involved for more than a decade in civic groups trying to reverse the rising
tide of drug abuse, Miller was one of many people in the city who rallied after
the murder of Tressa “Terry” King in 2000.
Two New York City officials got a first-hand
glimpse of the manufacture of railcars that are so important to Greater
Metropolitan Area and its suburbs.
Metropolitan Transit Authority Chairman and CEO Joseph Lhota and New
York City Transit President Thomas Prendergast toured the Bombardier
Transportation manufacturing plant in the City of Plattsburgh Tuesday
afternoon. The plant has supplied the MTA with thousands of railcars since it
opened in 1995.
Republican U.S. Senate candidate John MacGovern
says he doesn't think the U.S. Air Force should base F-35 fighter planes at the
Burlington International Airport. MacGovern
says the area is incompatible with the next generation fighter plane that is
louder than the F-16 plane now flown by the Vermont National Guard from the
base. MacGovern said it could be
years before the Air Force phases out the F-16, which would give plenty of time
for the Vermont Guard to find a new mission or redevelop the base. MacGovern's opponent in the November
election, independent U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, favors bringing the planes to
Vermont.
The state auditor is telling the city of Winooski to pay up. Auditor Tom Salmon says the city owes the state Education Fund one-point-five million dollars, all because of a section of the city, which is a special tax district. Salmon told the city of Winooski it didn't do the math correctly, and owes money to the state. The city disagrees, but Salmon says it still has to pay up.
The state auditor is telling the city of Winooski to pay up. Auditor Tom Salmon says the city owes the state Education Fund one-point-five million dollars, all because of a section of the city, which is a special tax district. Salmon told the city of Winooski it didn't do the math correctly, and owes money to the state. The city disagrees, but Salmon says it still has to pay up.
A wind power company says a recent decision against
it by the state Department of Public Service is "troubling." Atlantic Wind LLC applied for a state
certificate of public good to put up two testing towers in Windham and Grafton
but the state turned down the request.
Atlantic Wind says the decision creates a "slippery slope" and
could block future development of energy across Vermont by giving towns too
much authority in the permitting process.
Commercial wind turbines are banned by Windham's town plan.
State lawmakers are reacting positively to the news
that a federal appeals court has ruled the Defense of Marriage Act to be
unconstitutional. Governor Andrew
Cuomo says Thursday's ruling "provides further momentum for national
progress" regarding same-sex marriage. New York State is the largest state population-wise to
legalize same-sex marriage. U.S.
Senator Kirsten Gillibrand tweeted that she was "thrilled" to see the
ruling strike down the law. State
Attorney General Eric Schneiderman calls the decision "a major step
forward in the fight for equality."
Governor Andrew Cuomo is planning to hit the
campaign trail for President Obama.
Speaking on "Talk 1300" yesterday, Cuomo said he will act as a
"responsible surrogate" for Obama because he doesn't want New Yorkers
to think Cuomo is angling for the White House himself in 2016. The governor has not given any details
on when or where he might stump for Obama with less than three weeks to go
before Election Day.
Vermont State Police have arrested two Rutland men
they say stole about $4,000 from the clubhouse at the town-owned Green Mountain
National Golf Course. According to Killington Town Manager Seth Webb one of
them is a former employee at the course. The burglary, which prompted many community questions and
increased security measures at the course, occurred August 13th. Police said
entry was gained through a window at the golf course’s clubhouse off Route 100.
Police are charging Vincent Reynolds and Robert Withington both of Lincoln
Street in Rutland, with burglary.
Killington Mountain Resort announced yesterday that
the K-1 Gondola will be fueled by methane gas from cow manure. It's a process called cow power. Farms collect cow manure
throughout the day mixing it with wash water from the milking equipment, which
is then pumped into an anaerobic digester. The mix stays there for three weeks
to cook it, allowing bacteria to convert the manure into bio gas. The gas then
powers a generator. Already, 13 Vermont farms participate in the program.
Vermont State Police are investigating an incident
in which someone shot a hole in the main transformer of the Barton Electric
utility, knocking out power for more than 2,700 customers in southern Orleans
County. Power was knocked out in
areas including the towns of Barton and Orleans from about 1 PM Wednesday until
early Thursday. The Shooting
caused oil to drain from the transformer, and the overheating that resulted
triggered the power shut-off. The
utility is renting a transformer from Green Mountain Power, and will have to
replace the unit, which is valued at about $200,000.
State lawyers want New York's top court to throw
out the liability lawsuit against the inspectors who continually recertified a
tour boat for 48-passenger capacity before it overturned on an Adirondack lake
in 2005, drowning 20 senior citizens. Deputy Solicitor General Andrew Bing
tells the Court of Appeals the inspectors are not the primary wrongdoers, but
simply involved in regulatory enforcement.
State regulators have launched a review following
initial findings that show many New Yorkers who took advantage of initial
discounts to sign up with independent, retail energy providers are paying more
for electricity and natural gas than from utilities. The competition from
utility deregulation efforts was supposed to drive prices lower.
There’s still some foliage to catch around Vermont
this season as we enter the “late stage” of color. The Vermont Fall Foliage Report can be found here!
The Tiny Tim Christmas Wish Program in Ticonderoga
is now taking applications for its 2012 holiday gift distribution. The program, now in its 32nd year,
provides Christmas gifts to needy children living in the area. Any family
receiving free or reduce price lunches at school is eligible, if they have
children attending the Ticonderoga Central School District or St. Mary’s
School. Applications are now
available at the Ticonderoga Community Building on Montcalm Street. The deadline for applications is
November 10th. For information
call Nancy Quesnel at 585-7017.
From Fox 44 and ABC 22 News – Your Voice in Vermont
& New York:
On Tuesday, Vermont correction leader's
say56-year-old Calbraith Macleod was released from prison. As he left, they put out a press
release warning the public about the high-risk sex offender. In it, they talk about the multiple
sexual assaults committed against women, but there is no mention of a possible
nickname he goes by. "We
would normally put in the press release, his last known name or the name that
he used while he was with us," said Vermont Corrections Commissioner Andy
Pallito. But when we searched the
state's sex offender website Thursday morning, Macleod was nowhere to be found. That's because registry employees
entered what they believed to be his real name, Earl Tatro. Pallito was surprised to learn that was
the case. "A little bit of a
mistake I guess on your part?" said Fox44. "I'm not ready to say that," said Pallito. Pallito says Tatro is actually
Macleod's former name. "We'll
work with the registry to figure out how we cannot have this confusion in the
future," said Pallito. Another
mistake, the registry said Thursday morning Macleod's living in Burlington, but
Pallito says he's actually in South Burlington. If you're wondering exactly where he's living, you're out of
luck; the state doesn't provide his address. That's unlike New York and New Hampshire, where their
registry's show maps and physical addresses. "Why doesn't Vermont include their address?" said
Fox44. "It's based on the
legislation that was enacted when the registry was put into place." Vermont sex offender site: https://secure.vermont.gov/DPS/sor/agreement.php
A federal appeals court in Manhattan has become the
second in the nation to strike down the Defense of Marriage Act as
unconstitutional. The 2nd U.S.
Circuit Court of Appeals issued its ruling Thursday. The decision upholds a
lower court judge who ruled that the 1996 law that defines marriage as
involving a man and a woman was unconstitutional. The three-judge panel says the law violates equal
protection. A federal appeals court in Boston earlier this year also found it
unconstitutional. The issue is
expected to be decided by the Supreme Court.
