Meetings coming up this
week here in Middlebury include the Development Review Board at 7 this evening
in the Main Conference Room of the Town Offices. Agenda items include a public
hearing on Housing Vermont's Renovation and Reconstruction of 22 Dwelling Unit at
31-37 Pleasant Street. Tomorrow
morning at 9 the Town Offices/Community Center Finance & Fundraising Task
Force will meet in the Small Conference Room at the Town Offices. The Regular Select Board Meeting takes
place tomorrow evening at 7 in the Main Conference Room. Items on their agenda include a Public
Hearing on Proposed Interim Zoning and Adoption of Town Plan Maps along with a Public
Hearing on the National Flood Insurance Program. Reports from various committees will be heard and Vermont
Gas Systems' Request for a Letter of Support for the Addison Natural Gas
Project. Then on Wednesday at 5:30
PM the Recreation Committee will meet in the Small Conference Room at the Town
Offices. Get more information on
these meetings by visiting the Town Of Middlebury’s Website.
People’s United Community
Foundation recently awarded $5,000 to Habitat for Humanity of Addison County,
Inc. The Addison County agency is
a Vermont affiliate of the well-known Habitat for Humanity International, a
nonprofit housing ministry that has helped to build over 500,000 decent,
affordable homes and has served 2.5 million people worldwide since 1976. Habitat’s Addison County President said
that the donation from People’s United Community Foundation would assist in paying
for the construction of their second of four houses they are building on a
parcel of land in Cornwall.
The area’s
mosquito-control district has called the state’s process of tracking and
testing mosquitoes that carry deadly viruses “shamefully inadequate” and has
asked legislators for a quarter-million-dollar statewide budget to rectify the
problem. The recommendation from
the Brandon-Leicester-Salisbury-Goshen Insect Control District comes as the
state Agency of Agriculture and state Department of Health are considering how
much to ask in 2013 funding for the increased surveillance of eastern equine
encephalitis.
The Pittsford Select Board
decided not to ban medical marijuana dispensaries in town last week, but
officials said that’s not quite the same as approving them. According to
Selectman Hank Pelkey it’s a fine line between the two and it can be construed
that way but at this point they voted to not create an ordinance to prohibit
them. The state has approved four dispensaries. So far, one in Burlington and
one in Waterbury have been approved.
Pelkey said the Pittsford board would address any future applications as
they come forward.
A special chili cook off
and fly-in event is planned for this weekend. It will be held at the Middlebury State Airport on Saturday
at Noon. The event's rain date is Sunday. Attendees are asked to bring their best
pot of chili to share. A guest
pilot from the Recreational Aviation Foundation will answer general questions
about flying as well as questions about aviation challenges in mountain
country.
Registration for Vermont
Spring Open Studio Weekend is underway now through early January. The Vermont
Crafts Council is seeking Vermont artists to participate. Open Studio Weekend 2013 will take
place May 25th and 26th in locations throughout Vermont
including Rutland and Middlebury. Creativity, authenticity, and education are
the heart of Open Studio Weekend. Vermont
visual artists and craftspeople, galleries, and educational sites are all
encouraged to take part in this event. Membership and Open Studio registration
forms and information are available at www.vermontcrafts.com and are due by January 4th.
Over the course of nearly
2 months, members of the VT State Police Castleton Outpost have investigated
several reported burglaries to unoccupied sugarhouses in the Poultney and
Hubbardton area. After a lengthy
investigation by several Outpost Troopers, Bryan Parker of Poultney was
identified as a suspect. Through continued investigation it was determined that
Parker was in fact responsible for the burglaries and was subsequently arrested
in connection with burglaries to four separate sugar-houses in these towns. A large amount of the stolen property
taken from the sugarhouses was recovered by the State Police and is in the
process of being returned to its owners.
The Essex County Ethics Board
will conduct a meeting at 9 this morning at the Board of Supervisors Chambers. The meeting is open to the public.
The Ticonderoga Area
Chamber of Commerce “December After Business Mixer” will be held on Thursday,
December 13th at the Hancock House located in historic Ticonderoga next to
Liberty Monument. The Ticonderoga Historical Society and Ticonderoga Arts will
co- host the event at the Hancock house from 5:30 – 7:00 PM. Sponsors providing
door prizes will be Rathbun Jewelers, Ticonderoga Arts and the Wagon Wheel
Restaurant. The Hancock House is home to the Ticonderoga Historical Society and
Ticonderoga Arts. Both organizations and door prize sponsors are members of the
Ticonderoga Area Chamber of Commerce.
Find out more by visiting www.ticonderogany.com.
Hudson Headwaters Health
Network hopes to maintain a presence in the town of Moriah for many years. The town and health care agency have started preliminary
talks about extending Hudson Headwaters’ lease at the town-owned health center. The $1.2 million health center in
the Moriah Industrial Park on Plank Road in Mineville opened in 2008. At that
time the town and H-H-H-N entered into a five-year agreement to provide health
care and staffing at the facility. That deal expires in 2013.
Champlain Area Trails will
host a “Welcome to Winter Hike” at the new Hidden Quarry Trail this Saturday
afternoon at 1 and announce the winners of the travel-writing contest and the
raffle. Hikers should meet at the
former Mormon Church parking lot, located 4.8 miles north of the downtown Port
Henry on the east side of Route 22/9N. For more details, call 962-2287, go to www.champlainareatrails.com or email champlaintrails@gmail.com.
The Moriah Food Pantry is
ready for the holidays. Back in
October pantry shelves were nearly empty and the community service was short of
cash. Recently more than $3,000 and many food donations have been taken in. The
Moriah Food Pantry got even more good news November 30th when the Canadian
Pacific Holiday Train visited. Canadian
Pacific made a $1,000 donation to the food shelf and people attending
contributed another $240 in cash along with food items. The Moriah Food Pantry
is located in the basement of All Saints Church on Bartlett Pond Road in
Mineville and serves about 85 families a month. Donations are needed on an ongoing basis.
The Schroon Lake Area
Chamber of Commerce is seeking new and renewing members for 2013. Benefits include multiple marketing
opportunities, including enhanced presence on the Schroon Lake chamber’s website, inclusion and an opportunity for an enhanced
listing in the annual Schroon Lake Visitor’s Guide with distribution of around
10,000, as well as exposure and promotion at the Schroon Lake Visitor’s Bureau
on Main Street. Contact the
Chamber for more info or to become a member.
Post Offices nationwide
will be open Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve. Most Post Offices will shorten
retail lobby hours and close at noon on these dates. Regular mail delivery will
be unaffected by the change. Revised
hours will be posted at each Post Office and commercial customers are asked to
check with their Bulk Mail Entry Units for specific information regarding
holiday hours of operation. Post Offices will be closed Dec. 25 and Jan. 1.
Express Mail only will be delivered on Christmas Day and New Year’s Day. All
Post Offices will be open and regular mail delivery will resume December 26th
and January 2nd.
U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders
is hosting his third State of the Union essay contest for the state's high
school students. Sanders says the contest is meant to engage students on the
major issues facing the country. During the past two years, more than 500
Vermont students have written essays about topics such as the declining middle
class, climate change, health care reform and the rising cost of a college
education. A panel of Vermont high school teachers will judge the essays. The
deadline for submitting entries is January 8th.
Vermont's federal
prosecutor's office has collected more than $3.8 million in fiscal year 2012
related to criminal and civil actions. Most of the collections came from civil
actions, which amounted to $3.1 million. The office said Friday that it also
collected $4.8 million in criminal and civil forfeitures for a total recovery
of $8.7 million. Around the country, the U.S. attorneys' offices collected a
total of $13.1 billion in criminal civil actions, more than doubling the amount
collected the year before.
Gay marriage supporters
see 41 reasons to fret over the Supreme Court's decision to take up the case of
California's ban on same-sex unions. While nine states allow same-sex partners
to marry, or will soon, 41 states do not. Of those, 30 have written gay
marriage bans into their state constitutions. That fact is worrisome to those
who firmly believe in a constitutional right to marry, regardless of sexual
orientation, but who also know that the Supreme Court does not often get well
ahead of the country on hot-button social issues. The justices will hear cases
this term on California's Proposition 8 and a federal law that prevents gay
couples from receiving federal benefits for married people.
The Special Olympics Team
USA is heading to Lake Placid to tune up for the upcoming World Winter Games in
South Korea. The 210 members are
getting together for the first time to train in a variety of sports at
facilities used during the 1980 Winter Olympics, including the Olympic Training
Center, from today through Friday.
The organization says the team includes 151 athletes, 44 coaches, and
other staff from across the U.S. The
training camp will include team-building activities and alpine skiing, cross
country skiing, snowboarding, snowshoeing, speed skating, figure skating, floor
hockey and the demonstration sport floor ball. The Special Olympics Winter Games will run from January 29th
to February 5th.
The Rutland South
Supervisory Union received a grant of more than $100,000 to help students who
drop out, or in some way fall through the cracks. The union commissioned a regional summit Friday to
investigate community services available to those kids and what better role
schools can take to prevent the loss of students. Rutland South Superintendent Dana Cole-Levesque introduced
the day-long conference at Rutland’s Howe Center by talking about the
Transitions Initiative, which started in 2011.
A landfill in Moretown has
until sometime today to prove they can get their odor problems under
control. That's how long the state
has given the owners of Advanced Disposal before it will even consider an expansion
plan. The state claims the
landfill has a long history of problems, while Advanced Disposal says it wants
to put a temporary cap over more than five acres, as well as stop accepting
foul-smelling sludge. If the state
does not accept the plan, the landfill could be forced to close early next year
once it runs out of room.
Some of Vermont's
politicians will be in Florida Wednesday, not soaking up sunshine but listening
closely to just how much noise the controversial F-35 fighter jets create. Governor Peter Shumlin, Burlington Miro
Weinberger and Winooski Mayor Michael O'Brien will be at Elgin Air Force
Base. The Air Force is considering
whether to base the jets in Burlington as part of the Air National Guard, but
there's a big fight over just how much noise the jets create. Weinberger and the Governor are in
favor of the F-35's coming, while O'Brien is so far undecided.
Owners of small inns and
bed-and-breakfasts in Vermont now have their own association. The formation of the group is designed
to give innkeepers a bigger voice when it comes to state policies as well as
more power in order to market themselves to tourists. Hundreds of owners of small inns and B & B's in Vermont
have in the past relied mostly on local Chambers of Commerce to represent their
interests. The new Vermont Inn and
Bed and Breakfast Association currently has about 75 members.
A world record will be
made in Albany on December 12.
Downtown Albany's Jingle Elf Quest program will set the record of
gathering the largest group of people to sing "Jingle Bells" while
ringing actual jingle bells. The
official record setting will take place in front of the Times Union Center at
noon on December 12. Anyone is
encouraged to join in the event.
A regional car dealership
is pitching in to help some local schools with grants as part of its Drive for
Education program. Berlin City
Auto Group is donating $171,000 to schools across New England and $9,400 of it
will go to five schools in Vermont. The participating schools had to present a
need and application to Berlin City Auto. About ten in Vermont applied. The five schools that received the
grants are Colchester Middle School, Sheldon Elementary School, South
Burlington High School, Franklin Central School, and Porters Point School. To learn more about the program visit
the Berlin City Auto web page.
A 168-foot-long replica of
an iconic Vermont covered bridge that was swept away by Tropical Storm Irene is
nearing completion. Beginning today,
the Lower Bartonsville Road in Rockingham will be closed so workers can
dismantle a temporary bridge and move the new bridge into its place across the
Williams River. The Bartonsville
Covered Bridge, which dates to 1870, was destroyed in Irene's floodwaters in
August 2011. A dramatic video posted on Facebook showed the bridge being swept
away by rushing water, then disappearing seconds later. The Rutland Herald reported that the
road will be closed for about 45 days while the bridge is put into place and
final work is completed on the $2.6 million project.
