You are invited to join
the Addison County Chamber Of Commerce for the December after hours mixer which
will be held at the Waybury Inn tomorrow from 5 – 7PM. Joe & Tracey always
treat everyone who attends very well!
As in past years, donations will be collected for a local non-profit.
This year the recipients are HOPE and Helen Porter Healthcare &
Rehabilitation. Please bring two (2) food items or you can pay the usual mixer
admission fee, which will be donated to Helen Porter. For more information and to RSVP to Sue just visit the
Chamber’s Website.
Otter Creek Brewing
Company has earned the honor to be designated as a "SHARP Company." They
are only the ninth company in Vermont to receive such an award and only the
fourth brewery nationwide to achieve this recognition. SHARP, the Safety Health Achievement
Recognition Program, is a national program implemented by states under the
Federal OSHA. The award recognizes high-hazard businesses with exemplary safety
and health management programs. Vermont
is now home to two breweries that have achieved this status, with Long Trail
Brewing Co. in Bridgewater Corners having been designated a "Sharp
Company" in 2010. Otter Creek will receive their SHARP flag at an open
house event today.
On Monday at approximately
12:30 AM Vermont State Police troopers were advised about a family fight which
took place at an apartment building on Route 22A in Shoreham. Police said that
27-year-old Jason A. Gagnon of Bomoseen, attempted to force entry into an
apartment by punching and kicking the door in an attempt to come into contact
with two females inside it. Police
allege Gagnon vandalized the female's vehicle. An arrest warrant was requested for Gagnon and has not been
located.
The Board of Trustees of
Ilsley Public Library will have a vacancy in March for a five-year term. The Board of Trustees has five members
and sets library policies, oversees long range planning, advocates for the
library, and promotes its use.
According to library director David Clark the board works with the
Middlebury Select Board to provide appropriate funding. Persons interested in serving are
invited to run for the board at the March town elections. All candidates must be registered
voters in the Town of Middlebury. A
petition is required with signatures of thirty registered Middlebury voters.
The petition may be obtained from the Town Clerk’s office or the library and
must be submitted to the Town Clerk by January 28th.
The decision date on
nominees to replace Rutland Democratic Sen. William Carris has been set. Kathy Hall is the chairwoman of the
Rutland County Democrats and says the party delegates for the county Senate
district will meet at 6:30 PM January 2 in Rutland Regional Medical Center’s
Leahy Center. Delegates from
Rutland County towns with the exception of Mount Holly, which was attached to
Windsor County in the recent redistricting, will pick up to three names to
forward to the governor.
A very key component in
Ticonderoga Downtown Revitalization is now in place. North Country Community College and Jasama LLC, an independent
real estate development firm, have agreed on a deal to build dormitory/study
“cluster” student housing along Montcalm Street. This project will have an impact on both Ticonderoga and the
school. NCCC wants to expand their
Ti Campus in both student body size and academic offerings. The campus currently hosts
approximately 150 students, but could double that student body if housing was
available. Under the agreement, Jasama will create dormitory suites for 16
students in the upper level of what is known as the Huestis Building, next door
to Sunshine Laundry, in time for the 2013 Fall Semester.
Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo has announced
that $738 million has been awarded through Round Two of the Regional Economic
Development Council initiative. The
goal of the program is to invest hundreds of millions of dollars to put New
Yorkers back to work and rebuild our economy. There are 725 projects that will benefit from this funding
including $1.75 million for International Paper to convert existing power plant
from heating fuel to natural gas including equipment modifications for new
natural gas line, or use of liquefied natural gas to support the long-term
stability of this major manufacturing operation.
Essex County Manager
Daniel Palmer may not be leaving his job after all. On Tuesday, he told department heads that he was
reconsidering retiring from the post he’s held since 2008. County Board of Supervisors Chair Randy Douglas said Palmer
had filed his retirement forms with the state but never gave the county an official
letter of resignation, which would have to be retracted if he stayed.
Moriah Central School
students prepared for Christmas by celebrating Polar Express Day. Kindergarten students made gingerbread
trains with family members in the morning. That afternoon they viewed “The
Polar Express” in the school auditorium on a big screen with surround sound. The
story has inspired many communities to actually create “Polar Express” trains
that provide rides to children during the holiday season. The Saratoga-North
Creek Railroad offers a “Polar Express” leaving the Saratoga Springs station.
Sen. Patrick Leahy says he
will not take over as chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, a spot
that opened up this week with the death of Hawaii Sen. Daniel Inouye. Leahy said in a statement Wednesday
that he has chosen to remain as chairman of the Judiciary Committee. He says staying
in that position while maintaining his seniority on Appropriations "will
allow me to protect both the Constitution and Vermont." Leahy has taken
over as president pro tem of the Senate, a position that puts him third in the
line of presidential succession.
The United States
government says it's not going to seek the death penalty against a man charged
with killing a woman as part of a drug deal in southern Vermont. During a Wednesday court hearing in
Rutland, federal prosecutors said they would not pursue the death penalty
against 30-year-old Frank Caraballo, of Holyoke, MA.
The FBI has ruled out
serial killer Israel Keyes in the disappearance of Vermont teenager Brianna
Maitland in 2004. Keyes, who
committed suicide in jail on charges of killing an Alaska woman, confessed to
the 2011 murders of Bill and Lorraine Currier of Essex, and as many as five
unnamed victims, four in Washington state and one on the East Coast.
Police in Vermont have
arrested two women on a charge of robbing a South Burlington gas station.
Police allege the women told the clerk at the Jolley Mobil on Shelburne Road
Tuesday night they were armed with a knife and left with cash and multiple
cartons of cigarettes. No weapon was shown. Officers from South Burlington and
Shelburne responded to the report of a robbery at about 11 PM Tuesday.
The Federal Emergency
Management Agency has rejected buyouts for 33 Vermont properties damaged by
Tropical Storm Irene and spring flooding last year. Irene Recovery Officer Sue
Minter says the state may appeal in some of the cases. She also says the state
is pulling together a team to look at alternative funding sources to help these
homeowners.
The East Central Vermont
Community Fiber Network recently raised $475,000 in capital from 45 different
investors to help expand high-speed technology services to rural homes and
small businesses. The new
investments will allow expansion of a high-speed fiber-optic network into un-served
areas of Chelsea, Vershire, Thetford, Norwich, Tunbridge, Strafford, Bethel,
Sharon and Woodstock. ECFiber is
extending its network in phases as funds become available.
New York State Attorney
General Eric Schneiderman says more than 2,100 more accounts of registered sex
offenders have been purged from online gaming platforms as part of an
initiative to keep them from contacting children. In April, the Attorney
General's office said several big gaming companies agreed to eliminate the accounts
of convicted sex offenders registered in New York, resulting in 3,500
cancellations.
The state isn't taking it
very well that FEMA won't foot the entire bill for larger and stronger
culverts, after losing more than two-thousand of them to Tropical Storm Irene
and spring flooding last year. That
can mean hundreds of thousands of dollars for each small town, as it
collectively adds up to about ten-million dollars. The state appealed this week to FEMA headquarters in
Washington, using the situation in Townshend as a test case, where Dam Road
culvert washed downstream and was beyond repair.
A truck driven by a
Vermonter triggered a massive chain-reaction crash on Long Island, New
York. Suffolk County police say
the tractor-trailer rig driven by Raymond Simoneau of Rockingham struck several
cars on the Long Island Expressway, and that quickly grew into a 35-vehicle
pile-up. One woman lost her life and 33 other people hurt. The expressway was shut down in both
directions for several hours, with the eastbound lanes closed overnight. Simoneau was not hurt and has not been
charged.
Chester artist Barre
Pinske was inspired by the words of President Obama to the town of Newton,
Connecticut, and felt compelled to make a broken heart in tribute to the 26
people killed at Sandy Hook School last week. Pinske carved it out of pinewood, and etched the names of
the victims on the side, finishing it in red and placing it on a pedestal. After leaving it out in front of the
Chester Bank for the community to sign, he plans to take it to Newtown this
morning. Pinske says it's helping
him process his own emotions so he can move on, and hopes it helps others do
the same.
Governor Andrew Cuomo
wants to make the DMV more customer-friendly. Cuomo is moving forward with a proposal he hopes will end
the usual thought process of the DMV being a horrific, unfriendly,
time-consuming place to ever have to go.
The governor wants to see customer-service reps at DMV offices greeting
motorists, along with self-serve kiosks.
The changes are aimed at slashing the average hour long wait at DMV
offices in half. Fifteen locations
will implement the governor's plan this month for a test-run.
New York State tax
collections through November were 163-million dollars below the state's updated
estimations. The State Comptroller says the 39-point-two-billion dollars
collected were also over 700-million dollars below initial estimates in
April. He says it's clear that tax
collection growth is not going to meet year-end expectations amid a continued
slow economic recovery.
Next summer you might see
groups of people on Segways rolling around Burlington. That's because a company, called
Burlington Segways, is planning to start tours. In Vermont, Segways are generally allowed, though towns and
cities can make their own rules. Until recently, it seemed as if the City of
Burlington didn't like the idea of Segway tours. If Rick Sharp gets his way,
starting next spring he'll be leading Segway tours on the Burlington bike path
and up through the city. "Segway tours are something that make a lot of
sense at this point. There are over 200 cities in the United States that have
them," says Sharp. Sharp is the co-owner of Burlington Segways and uses
one because he has a hard time walking. "We want to provide access to the
Burlington waterfront for disabled people. We want something that is fun,"
says Sharp. But not everyone is happy about Segways on the bike path. "I
don't see why the next step wouldn't be say, go-carts," says Bob
Herendeen, who is against the Segway tours. On Wednesday, the Burlington Parks
and Recreation Department heard from people about the Segway tour plan. Some opponents are concerned about the
safety of the Segways. "They're very controllable," says Sharp. Sharp
seems to have won over critics in Burlington. The parks department has proposed
a one-year trial, which appears will be approved next month.
Vermont wildlife workers
say an owl is lucky to be alive after crashing into the grill of a moving
vehicle. A state biologist says
last week a driver hit the animal on a back road in Addison and drove eight
miles to work where he called wildlife officials. After freeing the bird wildlife leaders say they released it
back into the wild. That's
something they say usually doesn't happen because a crash like that would
normally kill the animal.
