The Westport Town Council
will hold a special meeting at 4 PM today to discuss personnel matters. All meetings are open to the public.
Valentine's Day is coming
and if you LOVE animals, the Homeward Bound Animal Welfare Center's "Have-A-Heart...Give-A-Heart"
fundraiser is a chance to show it!
Now through Valentines Day, all across Addison County, you can purchase
a bright pink heart to show your support for animals! Whether it's one dollar or a million dollars, every donation
matters! If you make a donation,
you can proudly display your heart to show YOU made a difference. You can pick up your heart at the WVTK
studios in Middlebury, or for other locations, or information, please call
388-1100, or visit the shelter on Boardman Street in Middlebury!
The finalized Town Of
Middlebury FY14 budget of $8,951,760 with $6,360,945 to be raised by taxes will
be included on the Warning for consideration by the Town's registered voters on
the floor of Town Meeting on Monday, March 5th. The Select Board thanked residents this
week for their input and Department Heads and staff for their work to meet the
Board's challenge on the FY14 budget. The Board finalized the Warning for Town
Meeting on March 4th and 5th, which includes customary articles on accepting
the reports of the Town Officers, approval of the budget, a request for
borrowing for vehicles and equipment and setting tax due dates. Absentee
ballots will be available on February 13th for items on the Warning voted by
Australian ballot. The deadline for voter registration for Town Meeting is
Wednesday, February 27th. The FY14
budget proposal and the Warning for Town Meeting are available on the Town's website.
The Ticonderoga Area
Chamber of Commerce is constantly working to improve their community calendar
of events in order to become the central calendar for the area. The Chamber is
looking for area businesses, organizations, and committees to share their event
information as well as a schedule of upcoming special events. While individual events are encouraged
to be submitted to the community calendar, organizations can also submit their
yearly schedule of events. The
Chamber is also happy to announce that their 2013 Save The Date of Events is
now available. For additional
information regarding the Community Calendar of Events or the Save The Date of
Events visit www.ticonderogany.com, email chamberinfo@ticonderogany.com, visit the Chamber’s Facebook page or call
518-585-6619.
A new youth program is
providing teen-agers with fresh opportunities while saving Ticonderoga money. The town has entered in to an agreement
with the Silver Bay YMCA of provide an after-school program for students in
grades 6-12 at the Armory on Champlain Avenue. The program, supported by private donations, is free to
students. Silver Bay is renting space at the Armory for $1,500 a month.
A yearlong narcotics
investigation by the Essex County Drug Task Force resulted in the arrest of the
five Essex County residents and one Clinton County resident relative to their
involvement in the illicit drug trade in Essex County. Additional arrests are
pending in connection with this investigation. Arraignments will be held at a
later date and will be released by Essex County District Attorney Kristy
Sprague. The Essex County Drug
Task Force consists of members of the Essex County District Attorney’s Office,
the New York State Police, the Essex County Sheriff’s Department, the
Ticonderoga Police Department, and the Lake Placid Police Department.
It’s back to the
bargaining table for Essex County and its union workers after the CSEA defeated
a new contract offer by a better than 2-to-1 margin. The proposed three-year contract for the local chapter of
the Civil Service Employees Association union went down, 205 to 87, in Tuesday’s
voting. That means they will
schedule more negotiating sessions, County Attorney Daniel Manning III said, to
make another attempt. The last contract was a four-year pact that expired at
the end of 2012.
Snow or no snow the 11th
annual Rutland Winter Fest runs from 11 AM to 2 PM Saturday at Giorgetti Park.
Snowshoeing may not happen, but there will still be a curling clinic, an
obstacle course and a story walk. New this year is broomball. Giorgetti Arena
will open from 2 to 4:15 p.m. Participating in three activities at Winter Fest
earns free admission for skating at the rink.
Rutland Mayor Christopher
Louras, city officials, local artists, sponsors, committee members and friends
gathered downtown last week to dedicate a special heARTS heart to the City of
Rutland. A giant plastic heart
sculpture features work from all of the artists who were involved in painting
the original 30 hearts seen around Rutland. The heart represents the heARTs of
Rutland project, which celebrates Rutland-area pride.
Vandals damaged panels on
a solar power array with rocks at the south end of Cleveland Avenue in Rutland
on Wednesday. The five Green
Mountain Power owned solar panels were cracked by rocks that investigators
believe were tossed from an elevated railroad trestle nearby. There were no witnesses to the incident.
According to Steve Costello, vice president of generation and energy innovation
for GMP, the $1,600 worth of damage to the panels was minor considering the
expensive electrical components that harvest solar from more than 100 panels
located in the fenced-in area. The panels will be repaired and returned to
operation today.
Vermont State Police are
looking for thieves who ripped 300 feet of copper tubing out of a home on Tower
Road in Proctor. Police were
called to a house at 53 Tower Road this week by the homeowner, who said the
theft that required considerable work was carried out sometime between January
20th and Monday. Anyone with information about the incident is asked to call VSP
at the Rutland Barracks. (802-773-9101)
The Hinesburg Winter
Festival and Winter Waffle Breakfast and Silent Auction will take place along
Route 116, Saturday, February 9th.
This year’s waffle breakfast organizers will mark the event’s 15th
birthday. The festival events are
all downtown and at the Hinesburg Community School. The kick-off breakfast and
auction will be held at the Community School from 8 – 11AM. This year’s event
includes inside activities for children, crafts, face painting, an open gym and
visits from Clifford the Big Red Dog and Monty the Moose from Vermont
Children's Hospital. The
festivities of the Hinesburg Winter Carnival include ice-skating, broomball,
hockey, relay races, a snowman-building contest and sliding. All proceeds benefit the Hinesburg
Nursery School, a non-profit parent cooperative preschool. Adults are $6,
children age’s two to 12 pay only $4, and toddlers under 24 months are admitted
free.
Despite news of financial
problems and possible suspension of Saturday mail service, the U.S. Postal
Service is accepting online job applications only in Vermont and elsewhere in
New England. According to Tom
Rizzo, who is the corporate communications officer of the USPS Northern New
England District, new online job applications for city carrier assistant
positions at post offices in Vermont, Maine and New Hampshire are being
accepted. It is a new position negotiated with the letter carrier union in
their most recent contract.
Senator Patrick Leahy says
closing loopholes in the background check system for gun purchasers won't
threaten firearms owners' Second Amendment rights to own a gun and is a matter
of common sense. As chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, the Democrat was
overseeing yesterday’s hearing on curbing guns.
The Vermont Department of
Fish and Wildlife says there's going to be a special snow geese hunting season
this spring. Vermont officials say the state's season is being adopted at the
recommendation of federal and state wildlife scientists in response to concerns
about a growing number of snow geese across North America.
The Vermont Teddy Bear
Company is touting what it claims as the world's most expensive teddy bear,
just in time for Valentine's Day. The
Shelburne-based company has put a $30,000 price tag on the 4½-foot-tall bear it
is calling The Big Hunka Love Diamond Bear. That's because the bulk of the price is the 5.9-carat,
1-of-a-kind "fire rose" diamond ring made by Perrywinkle's Fine
Jewelry in Burlington. The Big
Hunka Love bear also comes with a red velvet bowtie. Vermont Teddy Bear says the Big Hunka Love bear is the most
expensive teddy bear the company has ever sold.
Lawmakers in Vermont are
taking up legislation dealing with the hot topic of gun control. After one bill in the Senate was
withdrawn, an Essex Representative has a different proposal, limiting the size
of removable ammunition clips to ten rounds. It also institutes a state-version of the federal
restrictions barring convicts carrying guns and requires background checks in
all gun transactions. The primary
sponsor, Representative Linda Waite-Simpson is especially determined to pass
the convict-carry ban.
The New Moretown Landfill
is doing what it can to stay open, and to fix an odor problem, which is leading
many to find ways to shut it down.
There are only two landfills in Vermont, and the Moretown owners have
just five weeks to fix it or getting closed for good. The plant is spending hundreds of thousands of dollars, such
as fixing wells designed to suck in and burn methane, as well as stopped taking
in sludge from out of state sources.
Another effort is installing new cell caps, estimated to cost one-point-four
million dollars. The Agency of
Natural Resources says all this work would have to be done whether the landfill
stays open or closed.
Two bread companies based
in Vermont are merging, combing a staff of nearly 250 workers. Koffee Kup Bakery, based in Burlington,
has purchased the Vermont Bread Company in Brattleboro for
three-and-a-half-million dollars.
The "Rutland Herald" says the purchase was made with the help
of loans from the Vermont Economic Development Authority and People's United Bank.
Lawmakers in Montpelier
have a lot of big issues to grapple with right now, and one of those bills is
the hot topic of what should be Vermont's official vegetable. Senators Anthony Pollina, Bill Doyle
and David Zuckerman are sponsoring a bill to make the state vegetable
kale. It's packed with nutrients
and is considered trendy. No word
on how lawmakers will be lining up on this issue.
Former New York Governor
George Pataki isn't ruling out a return to politics. Speaking to "City and State," the ex-Republican
governor says he's happy with his life now, but wants "to get more involved
in trying to offer solutions" to the problems facing the state and the
country. Pataki says current
lawmakers need to develop more bipartisan plans on how to improve the nation.
New York State Comptroller
Tom DiNapoli remains undecided regarding support for Governor Cuomo's pension
smoothing plan. The pair have a contentious
relationship despite both being Democrats, and Cuomo took a stab at DiNapoli
earlier this week saying the pension smoothing wouldn't be necessary if the
state's retirement fund was doing better.
DiNapoli shot back Wednesday, saying the fund outperforms other state's
retirement funds. DiNapoli has the
power to veto Cuomo's plan.
The New York State Thruway
Authority is planning 234 layoffs to help shore up its finances, but no toll
increases are planned. A Thruway spokesman says the layoffs of full-time
workers will be in all regions, including the Albany headquarters. The
authority employs more than 29,000 workers. The layoffs are expected to save
$20 million.
Governor Andrew Cuomo's
popularity has plummeted among Republicans, Democrats and independents after he
pushed tougher gun control measures into law after the Connecticut school
massacre. The Quinnipiac University poll released yesterday shows the Democrat
dropped from his all-time high approval rating of 74% in December to 59% now.
Guesses come from around
the world. Every year, thousands
of people weigh in and guess the date and time that Joe's Pond in west
Danville, Vermont will thaw. Tickets
cost a dollar each. The winner
gets to keep a portion of the profit. In past years, that's been close to
$5,000. Right now, the ice
thickness is between 12 and 15 inches.
"There's a cylinder on a pallet on the pond, which is attached to a
clock at a cottage and when that ice moves, it pulls the clock off and that's
when they call it the ice out," Garey Larrabee said. Last year, the cylinder finally dropped
on April 8th at 5:25 pm, the year before, April 27th and in 2010,
April 5th.
