Services for Rep. Greg
Clark have been finalized. Calling hours were held yesterday and a service will
be held this afternoon at 2:00 at the Congregational Church on South Water
Street in Vergennes. A reception will
follow today’s service at the Eagles Club in Vergennes. Meanwhile Gov. Peter Shumlin has
ordered flags to be lowered to half-staff today in honor of Rep. Clark.
The Select Board will meet
for a special meeting at 7 this evening in the Town Offices. This will be the presentation of the
FY14 first draft budget proposal.
The Middlebury Energy Committee meets tomorrow 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’sWebsite.
As part of a national
effort to reach potential claimants and to provide an opportunity for farmers
who have not participated in the wide range of available USDA programs, several
USDA offices throughout Vermont will be hosting informational open houses
during November and December in cooperation with UVM Extension and the Vermont
Women's Agricultural Network. Light refreshments will be served. The following local open houses
will be run from 10AM to 2PM on Thursday, December 6th at 68 Catamount Park
here in Middlebury and Thursday, December 13th at 170 South Main St in Rutland.
For specific questions about the Middlebury USDA Open House event, or for
directions to their office, please call 1-888-408-3783.
Addison County is fast
becoming one of Vermont’s premiere centers for the growing hard cider sector of the
adult beverage market. This week will
see another new hard cider label, made locally. Champlain Orchards and Two Brothers Tavern are partnering to
celebrate the official release of Champlain Orchard’s Pruner’s Promise Vermont
label hard cider at the tavern on Friday starting at 9 PM. You can look for Pruner's Promise at
Vermont restaurants and specialty stores starting next week.
Addison County Home Health
& Hospice has been named a Top Agency of the 2012 HomeCare Elite. It’s a compilation of the top-performing home health agencies
in the United States. Local
management credits staff and their commitment to patient care with the agency’s
ability to achieve recognition as one of the HomeCare Elite. HomeCare Elite
identifies the top 25 percent of Medicare-certified agencies and is the only
performance recognition of its kind in the home health profession.
The owners of the Vermont
Marble Museum indicated yesterday that they would move forward with plans to
close the museum now that an effort to find a buyer for the museum had failed. The Preservation Trust of Vermont came
up short in its effort to raise $880,000 to buy the Proctor museum that
chronicled the history of the Vermont Marble Company. Faced with an end of the
year deadline, the nonprofit historical group was able to raise only $200,000
toward its goal. The museum's gift
shop remains open part time most days during the Christmas season. The museum will continue to find proper
homes for its records and artifacts.
With the exception of the
Green Mountain Power building, Howe Street in Rutland is officially not a part
of the downtown. The Board of
Aldermen voted Monday to redraw the boundary of the downtown special benefits
district so that it ends at the railroad tracks behind the plaza, but to
include the GMP engineering building. The vote came after a request by a local
property owner to have property he owns on Howe Street removed from the district.
In a surprise action
yesterday, Essex County Manager Daniel Palmer and his wife, Clerk of the Board
of Supervisors Deborah Palmer, both announced their retirements effective at
the end of the year. Mr. Palmer
has been county manager since August 2008, and his wife was appointed board
clerk in September 1996. Before he was named county manager, Mr. Palmer was
county personnel officer, and before that he served as Minerva town
supervisor. The retirements are
effective January 1, 2013. Mr. Palmer said he couldn’t support the board’s
decision to make major changes to the tentative 2013 budget he had filed.
Downtown Ticonderoga
visitors will be treated to the sounds of the holiday season during the
community’s “Shopping & Dining Night” this Friday. Ticonderoga Central School music
teachers will have students perform 5 to 8:30 PM throughout downtown. “Shopping & Dining Night” will feature participating businesses open until 9 PM offering discounts and
promotions. Participating businesses will have a snowflake displayed. The chamber office will be open until 9
PM serving complimentary refreshments sponsored by Stewarts Shops. Learn more right now at www.ticonderogany.com.
A Winter Clothing Exchange
is coming up on Friday & Saturday in Ticonderoga. You can join Santa and his Elves to trade items of clothing
you no longer use for gently used adult and kids coats and other warm clothing
ranging from fleece jackets to hats, gloves, scarves and even sweaters, shoes
and boots. All items you bring
will be taken to New York City and New Jersey to help victims of Hurricane
Sandy. Everyone is welcome and
encouraged to participate. The
Winter Clothing Exchange will take place next to the Downtown Gallery on
Montcalm St. in Ti on Friday from 4 – 7 PM and Saturday from Noon to 3 PM.
The Essex County Veterans
Cemetery Committee is accepting donations to buy holiday wreaths to place on
the graves of the 35 veterans interred at the County Veterans Cemetery. Each wreath is $12, so they will cost
$420 total. According to the
Committee Chair they have raised about half of that. The wreath-laying ceremony will take place starting at 2 PM
this Sunday and you are invited to attend and participate.
The Vermont Department of
Labor is warning about a nationwide identity theft scam that attempts to lure
employers into providing confidential information about their employees. Emails have been sent to
businesses in at least 10 states, including New York and Massachusetts. The DOL said it has not yet
received reports of the scam in Vermont.
According to DOL, the scam is designed to trick employers into
responding to an email that appears to have been sent from a state's
"Division of Unemployment Assistance." Employers are advised that DOL does not use email to request
confidential information, nor does the agency attempt to collect information on
behalf of other state's unemployment agencies. Any employer receiving this email or other correspondence
that may not be legitimate should call the Vermont Department of Labor 802-828-4254.
As part of a four-month
trial period, Sprint Wireless customers in Vermont can send a text message to
911 for emergency help. The
service started Monday. Sprint Wireless customers must have mobile phones that
are capable of sending text messages. It's part of an experimental trial to
evaluate the technology. David
Tucker, executive director of the Enhanced 911 Board in Vermont, said this is
the second such trial launched during the year. He said the fact that a large
number of people who are deaf or hard of hearing already use Sprint means
officials will be better equipped to provide access for that population to the
Vermont 911 system.
The Vermont Air National
Guard has announced its night flying schedule for this month. Night flying will take place starting this
evening through Friday and then again next Tuesday through Friday. All planes are expected to be back on
the ground by 9 PM.
Authorities say they have
confirmed that a man who committed suicide in an Alaska jail killed a Vermont
couple missing since last year. Federal
and state investigators said at a news conference in Vermont on Monday
afternoon that 34-year-old Israel Keyes provided details about the abduction of
Bill and Lorraine Currier that authorities had not released to the public. The bodies of the Curriers have never
been found, but Vermont investigators had said they found evidence to support
the claims by Keyes that he killed them.
Gay marriage advocacy
groups say Maine's new same-sex marriage law is going into effect on December
29. EqualityMaine says Gov. Paul
LePage signed off on the certified election results on November 29. The new law
goes into effect 30 days from that date.
Voters in Maine, Maryland and Washington approved laws November 6
legalizing same-sex marriage. Gay marriage is already legal in New York,
Connecticut, Iowa, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Vermont and the District of
Columbia.
Governor Andrew Cuomo says
he's "optimistic" that Congress will move quickly to get New York
tens of billions of dollars to help it recover from Superstorm Sandy. Cuomo
commented after spending the day meeting with top White House and congressional
officials in Washington.
Burlington's City Council
will not pursue an independent investigation into a clash between police and
protesters. A peaceful protest
during an energy conference this summer turned violent when a small group refused
to let buses leave. Police shot
pepper balls at the protesters. An initial finding found no wrong-doing by police.
A veteran Rutland police
officer was suspended with pay over an altercation at the Rutland Regional
Medical Center. Chief Jim Baker
requested a criminal investigation of Officer Thomas Fuller after the 26-year
veteran had an altercation with an individual at the hospital. Police declined to comment except to
say that the altercation did not involve anyone in police custody.
Three individuals were
taken to the emergency room after a knife fight at the University of Vermont
campus in Burlington. The incident took place a little after 6 on Monday night
in the Wing parking lot.
University police are asking for anyone with any information to contact
them about the stabbings. They say
that there is no continued danger to the university community.
Developers of the Georgia
Mountain wind project will have to pay twenty thousand dollars. Georgia Mountain Community Wind will have
to pay a fine of ten thousand dollars in fines. It will pay another ten thousand to a private remediation
fund for failing to notify neighbors about a planned blasting, and blasting on
a state holiday, which is illegal.
Green Mountain Coffee
Roasters got a scare Monday when someone in the Waterbury call center received
a threatening phone call. Police
say Alexander James Garrison Junior called and said that because he didn't get
a permanent job, he was planning to come and shoot 'a bunch of people' at a
Vermont plant. He didn't specify
the location. Green Mountain
Coffee took protective action.
Garrison was not cited.
State health advisers are
likely to approve Governor Andrew Cuomo's proposal aimed at cracking down on
alcohol joints around the state.
Under the proposed "Health Improvement Plan," limits on the
numbers of new bars and liquor stores would be put in place, and bar hours
could also be restricted. Health
officials say the goal is to crack down on underage drinking by teens and binge
drinking by adults.
Environmental groups want New
York State officials to expand the health review regarding hydrofracking. Critics of the current plan to have
health experts review the regulations for any public health impacts if
hydrofracking is approved in the state say such a review needs further
transparency and public input.
Some lawmakers against the controversial gas drilling process say they
feel the public continues to be cut out of the health impact review.
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
A thief, or maybe thieves
remain at large tonight. Five businesses in Williston were broken into over the
weekend, and police believe they may all be connected. Unfortunately there's no security
footage but police are hoping you saw or heard something. Fortunately the crook didn't get away
with anything at one of the stops, but at the others, laptops, cameras and even
the company car was stolen. "A
lot of drawers open, a lot of things that were in one place ended up in another,
the lights were all on, the door had been jimmied open," Rebecca Ryan of
the American Lung Association said.
That's what Monday morning looked like for five businesses in
Williston. Three on Hurricane
Lane, the American Lung Association, the Division of Fire Safety and APS
Healthcare. Just down the road, the architectural firm Morris Switzer and
Allen's Pools and Spas. Police believe all five were hit by the same person or
group. "The strongest motive
that we can see at this time can be traced back to drug use," Detective
Sergeant Bart Chamberlain said, of the Williston Police Department. "It feels a little sad and
desperate," Ryan said. In all
of the break ins, doors or windows were pried open, footprints were left on
blueprints, and a screen was ripped open.
"It's very eerie," Janet Carlson said of Morris Switzer. An unmarked company car, flip cameras,
laptops, a DVD player, a bottle of patron tequila, two hundred dollars in cash,
even change was stolen. "I
might have had three quarters in my drawer; it literally was that bad,"
Det. Sgt. Chamberlain said. Police
say the break ins could have happened any time between Friday night and Sunday
night because these are Monday through Friday businesses and during the
weekend, it's pretty secluded and dark around in those areas. "There isn't a lot of traffic
so I think that leads to a sense of security that they're not going to be
caught," Det. Sgt. Chamberlain said.
But police say cracking this crime is a top priority. The unmarked Morris Switzer
company car is a 2012, dark tan, Ford Edge with the license plate, FNG 500. If you have any information, call
Williston police, or crime stoppers.
