Various meetings are set
for this week here in Middlebury.
The planning Commission will meet this evening at 5:15 in the Middlebury
Police Department. Agenda items include
the review of the draft letter to Vermont Gas Systems and the continued discussion
of the zoning application and review procedures. The Select Board will meet tomorrow for a special meeting at
7PM in the Town Offices. This will
be the presentation of the FY14 first draft budget proposal. The Middlebury Energy Committee meets
Wednesday morning at 7:30 in the Town Offices. On Thursday the River Task Force meets at 9 AM in the Town
Offices. Agenda items include the Middlebury
River Engineering Analysis and recommendations to the Select Board on
Engineering Proposals. Mitigation
planning and a status of the stream restoration effort will also be
discussed. For complete agenda’s
just visit the Town Of Middlebury’s Website.
Vermont State Police are
investigating a case of vandalism in Bristol. The property owner reported that someone had shot out five
windows in his new barn. Kevin Puls left the new construction barn site at
approximately 1PM on Saturday and when he returned at around 8:30 the following
morning, he discovered the vandalism. Anyone with information is encouraged to
contact the Vermont State Police in New Haven at 388-4919. Information can also
be submitted online at www.vtips.info or text "CRIMES" (274637) to Keyword: VTIPS.
The Homeward Bound Animal
Welfare Center (a division of the Addison County Humane Society) is pleased to
announce that they will be celebrating the holidays this year by holding an
adoption event designed to help cats who have been at the shelter for over a
year find their forever homes. From now thru December 12th, any cat that has
been at the shelter for 12 months or longer will have a reduced adoption fee of
$12.00. There are over 125 cats at
the shelter that need a forever home. For more information about the “Forever
Home of the Holiday” 12-12-12 Adoption Event, please visit their website at www.homewardboundanimals.org or stop by the shelter at 236 Boardman Street in
Middlebury.
Your are invited to join
the Addison County Chamber Of Commerce for the December after hours mixer which
will be held at the Waybury Inn on Thursday December 20th 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.
Addison County Home Health
and Hospice in Middlebury has welcomed three new members and one veteran to the
organization's board of directors for three-year terms. Elissa Cobb of Bristol, Robert Stanton also
of Bristol and Timothy Buskey, Sr. of Addison, owner of Vergennes Residential
Care and Administrator for Vermont Farm Bureau Companies. Art Remick of Shoreham was also
reappointed to the board. The 17
members of the board represent 11 towns within Addison County.
New Haven’s Winterfest
Celebration is coming up on Saturday December 15th. The festivities
begin with tasty treats and hot drinks at the Congregational Church at 5:30
PM. At 6 PM the Memorial Tree
Lighting will take place. Your are
invited to decorate the tree, warm your hands by the fire barrels, sing carols
and roast marshmallows and chestnuts while we wait for Santa to arrive at the
bandstand. Enjoy a horse drawn
ride around the Town Green while you wait to talk with Santa! At 7 that evening you can head back over
at the Church for the magical sounds of hand bell ringing and caroling with the
choir. Hot cocoa, coffee, eggnog,
cider and yummy desserts are to follow downstairs in the Church. For more info, please contact Suzy at newhavenrec@gmavt.net. This
is a Free Community Event.
Whether you are a novice
gardener or someone with years of growing experience, the University of Vermont
Extension Master Gardener Program can help you expand your gardening knowledge
through its comprehensive 13-week home horticulture course. Classes are every Tuesday beginning
February 5th and run through April 30th from 6:15 to 9 PM.
The first class starts at 5:45 PM for a quick student orientation. You can take the course at your nearest
Vermont Interactive Technologies site. Locations include Middlebury, Rutland
and Williston. The all-inclusive fee is $395, which covers all classes and
materials including the required course textbook. Enroll by January 18th to
avoid the $25 late fee. For more
information and to enroll just visit www.uvm.edu/mastergardener.
Rutland Regional Medical
Center has partnered with the Visiting Nurse Association to offer a free
pertussis vaccination clinic to pregnant women and newborn caregivers this Wednesday. Pertussis otherwise known as whooping
cough has made a resurgence in Vermont, making it the state with the
fourth-highest number of cases this year, according to a spokeswoman for Rutland
Regional Medical Center. The
county with the most reported cases is Rutland, with 33. The hospital’s Women
and Children’s Services division along with Rutland Area Visiting Nurse
Association & Hospice will offer a free vaccine clinic from 3 to 5:30 PM
this Wednesday at R-A-V-N-A-H in Rutland.
After almost four years of
discussion and debate, it appears that Ticonderoga will finally update its
zoning regulations in 2013. A committee reviewing proposed changes to the town
zoning law has completed its work and is expected to present its findings to
the town board in December. That report will then be sent to a consultant in
Port Henry for further review. The town board is expected to take action early
in 2013 following a public hearing. The existing Ticonderoga zoning law is 30
years old and has been amended 20 times.
The Cornell Cooperative
Extension Associations of Northern New York are offering basic
financial-management training for farm business owners and managers. Educators will cover the three basic
financial statements every farm business should use, recordkeeping systems,
inventory management, cash flow vs. profitability, crop insurance and risk
management. The 1 to 3 PM courses
qualify for FSA Borrower Training Credits. The cost is $10 per class per farm
or $25 for the series of three classes. In Westport, classes will be December
14th, January 10th and the 24th at the CCE Essex County Office on Sisco
Street. Pre-register by December 10th with CCE Essex County, 962-4810 x0.
There's still time for
Vermont communities and groups to apply for grants from the state to help
protect and restore the state's watersheds. This year, $120,000 is available for grants of up to $15,000.
The deadline to apply is Friday. The money is available to municipalities,
government agencies and nonprofit and citizen groups for work such as
protecting or restoring water quality, shorelines or fish and wildlife
habitats. Rick Hopkins of the
Vermont Department of Environmental Conservation says in light of the damage
from Tropical Storm Irene and other flooding, the state is interested in
projects that put in place practical measures or involve education on stream
habitat protection, restoration, flood resiliency and related topics.
A 37-year-old Vermont man
has been sentenced to 60 days in jail for stealing nearly $14,000 worth of
copper wire from transformers at a mine.
Raymond Earle of Wolcott was sentenced this week in Orleans Superior
Court in Newport after pleading guilty to felony possession of stolen property. Earle is facing additional charges including
his role in a high-speed chase in northern Vermont last month. The driver of the vehicle, Shane
Phillips of Johnson, remains at large after fleeing on foot after the chase
ended.
The U.S. Attorney's Office
for Vermont says the man who killed a couple from Essex Junction, Vermont has
committed suicide. For the first
time publicly, prosecutors say Israel Keyes was linked to the death of Bill and
Lorraine Currier in June 2011.
They say Keyes had confessed to killing the Curriers and that
investigators had found enough evidence to link him to the murders. Prosecutors say Keyes confessed to
the Vermont murders while in a jail in Alaska, where he was being held on
charges related to the death of an Anchorage woman. That's where they say Keyes took his own life yesterday.
The Vermont Agency of
Transportation is awarding $2.4 million in grants to communities for bicycle
and pedestrian projects. This
year's funding will go to construction projects in Burke, Hartford, Poultney
Village, Rutland City, Hinesburg, Hartford, East Montpelier and Williston.
Grants will also fund intersection improvements in Brattleboro and Woodstock
and scoping studies in St. Albans Town, Brattleboro, Plainfield, Rutland City,
and Springfield. Brattleboro will
use the money to improve the intersection of Western Avenue and Union Street,
and for a study of a section of Route 9.
Other projects include a new segment of the Rutland Creek Path and
sidewalks in the village of East Burke along Route 114 as well as bike lanes
sidewalks on Route 2 in the village of East Montpelier.
Experts reviewing the
health effects of shale gas development in New York are among the nation's most
prominent in environmental health. And that's giving fracking opponents hope,
but the industry concern, that reviewers will warn against drilling operations
that use hydraulic fracturing.
Sixteen percent of teens
and young adults in New York are neither in school nor the workforce, part of a
national problem that could lead to "dire consequences" for the
younger generation's financial stability, according to a new report. The latest Kids Count report released today
by the Annie E. Casey Foundation said high school dropouts are having a harder
time landing traditional entry-level jobs in retail and fast-food restaurants
due to competition from older candidates with more experience. Front-line
service providers add that the recent recession has added to the problem.
A program that helps
nonprofit organizations get legal help is being expanded in New York. The program called "Charity
Corps" is a collaboration between the state Bar Association and Attorney
General's office. It matches
volunteer lawyers to organizations that need help in areas including corporate
law, governance and fundraising. In
its first year, the lawyers have helped 56 nonprofits. The program says the
goal is to expand that to 100 more organizations next year. Interested nonprofits must apply by
January 15. Information is available on Charity Corps' website.
Vermont's delegation is
pushing for a year-end deal to protect dairy farmers. House leaders do not believe there are enough votes to pass
a farm bill before Congress adjourns for Christmas. It would be the first time that a farm bill has expired
without another bill taking its place, according to Senator Patrick Leahy. Without dairy supports in a new farm
bill, milk prices for consumers could double.
A Pittsford hunter is
hospitalized with a gunshot wound which police say was self-inflicted. Sixty-one-year-old Richard B. Allen was
riding his four-wheeler and lost control.
During the crash, his gun discharged, striking him in the shoulder. He walked out of the woods and was
taken to Rutland Hospital where he underwent emergency surgery.
For the first time since
he became governor in 2011, Andrew Cuomo will be heading to Washington DC. Cuomo will be in the nation's capital
seeking federal funding to help New York rebuild from Sandy. The governor is expected to try and
build support for the 32-billion-dollars in recovery funding and an additional
nine-billion for infrastructure projects.
Cuomo will also be spending part of the day meeting with members of the
state's congressional delegation.
Route 4 in Fort Ann
remains closed. The road is closed
between Kelsey Pond Lane and Route 22 while crews continue to remove rock from
a rockslide that occurred in October.
Officials say the work will continue after December 14 and that there
will be detours posted. Until then
there will be one lane of alternating traffic open.
The U.S. Forest Service is
offering $5 tree permits for people who would like to cut their Christmas trees
in the Green Mountain National Forest.
The Forest Service’s Vermont office said that in recent years the Green
Mountain National Forest program has continued to grow in popularity. Last
year, 431 permits were sold. The
permits can be purchased at Forest Service offices in Rutland, Middlebury,
Manchester Center or Rochester. The
permit must be attached to the tree before it’s transported, and it’s up to the
permit holder to know the boundaries of the National Forest. Trees over 20 feet tall cannot be cut,
and the stump left after the cutting must be less than 6 inches high.
Brandon Music Café on
Country Club Road in Brandon will host the 6 time Grammy winning baritone
saxophonist Gary Smulyan this Thursday at 7:30 PM. Gary is critically acclaimed
and recognized as a major voice on the baritone saxophone. General Admission is $15 and reservations
are strongly encouraged. BrandonMusic Café offers a concert and dinner package, which includes dinner and a
ticket to the show for $30 plus tax per person. Dinner reservations are
required. Brandon Music will now
present a monthly jazz concert on a Thursday evening, and all other previously
publicized Jazz Thursday shows will be postponed to later date. For reservations contact Brandon Music
@ (802) 465-4071 or info@brandon-music.net
The Vermont Symphony
Orchestra’s Brass Quintet and Counterpoint Holiday Concert will ring in the
season at the Congregational Church in Brandon on Monday, December 17th
at 7:00 PM. The concert is a joint benefit for the Boys and Girls Club of
Brandon and the Benjamin White Memorial Scholarship Fund at Otter Valley Union
High School. Tickets cost $22 for adults, $18 for students and seniors 65 and
over, and free for children under age 18 with an adult ticket purchase. Tickets
are available at the Brandon and Pittsfield branches of Lake Sunapee Bank and
the Boys and Girls Club of Brandon, and by telephone at the VSO office. For more information, or a complete
listing of forthcoming VSO events, please call (800) VSO-9293, ext. 10, or
visit www.vso.org.
