WVTK Local & State News December 7, 2010

Police are asking drivers to take it easy on the roads again today because driving could once again be tricky due to snow and ice on. Police and rescue crews, as well as tow truck drivers, were busy responding to accidents blamed on slick roads Monday. One SUV slipped off Route 7 in Ferrisburgh and got stuck on the side of the road.

A man was in critical condition after he was run over on Elm Street early yesterday morning in Pittsford. 21-Year-Old Timothy Abare was lying in the road at about 5:40 AM when Frank Malek of Florence struck him. He told police he was driving home from his job in Middlebury when he came upon Abare lying in the road about a half-mile from the residential street’s junction with Route 7. Police said no charges were filed against Malek. It’s unclear how long Abare had been lying in the road.

Police said a Rutland man was badly hurt yesterday after the truck he was in went off a snowy road. Joseph Jurgen was taken to Fletcher-Allen Health Care in Burlington after he suffered two broken legs, a broken ankle and internal injuries including a possible collapsed lung.

Police in Vermont and New Hampshire are warning about a dangerous prank. Already the crime has caused damage in at least two communities. Middlebury College chemistry professor Roger Sandwick calls homemade explosives, often known as soda bombs, danger in a bottle. Vermont State Police in New Haven and Lebanon Police do not have any suspects in the cases, but would like to hear from anyone with information.

A Brandon woman is accused of stealing from the University of Vermont. UVM Police believe Olivia Chicoine misused her university-issued credit card, racking up between 17 and 22-thousand dollars worth of merchandise over a 10-year period. She worked as a secretary and gift shop supervisor for the UVM Morgan Horse Farm in Weybridge. She pled not guilty to embezzlement in September but on Monday her lawyer updated the court, saying his client is working on making restitution.

According to data from the Northern New England Real Estate Network, a median home sale price in Addison County is $205,000. That is down only 2.4 percent from 2009 despite lingering economic woes. The town of Middlebury’s assessor and a Ferrisburgh appraiser both see relatively unchanged values for homes that sell for less than $300,000. At this time they expect the market to remain stable.

A local family has signed papers on a sale that will permanently protect 200 acres of land on their family’s Monkton farm from development. The Claflin family’s 325-acre farm is now protected by a conservation easement held by the Vermont Land Trust, which permanently protects the land from development and subdivision. It is the most recent of the six Addison County projects that the Vermont Land Trust completed in 2010.

Otter Valley Union High School’s declining student population has left the board with a much greater budgetary task than meeting state’s Challenges for Change target of cutting spending by 2 percent. The cuts may result in the termination of the School Resource Officer position currently held by Brandon Police Officer Anne Bandy, one science teacher and two English teachers. However many of the people who attended the November 17th OV School board meeting voiced their support for Brandon Police Officer Anne Bandy and the position of School Resource Officer.

Even though the project won’t be fully completed until next spring, the new Lemon Fair Bridge on Route 125 in Cornwall officially opened ahead of schedule on November 23rd. Vermont Agency of Transportation noted the project hadn’t been scheduled for completion until November 4, 2011. But contractors were able to give extra attention to the project this summer and fall as a result of the challenging economy and good weather.

The Ferrisburgh Zoning Board of Adjustment decided to continue its public hearing on a possible Dollar General Store next month. The third hearing on the proposal to build the store on a 9.9-acre parcel at the junction of Route 7 and Monkton Road will take place January 6th at 7:05 PM.

Jon Kaplan of the Vermont Agency of Transportation presented to the Addison County Regional Planning Commission ways Addison County could implement European bicycle and pedestrian safety strategies into our local roadways. This includes crosswalk signals that tack on extra time when walkers need it and bike lanes with strategically painted lines and symbols.

The Rutland Board of Aldermen have decided to take a closer look at a liquor license application from a chef with drug and drunken driving convictions. None of the aldermen specifically mentioned the convictions or their cause for “concern” as the board voted to send the application to the Special Liquor Committee. Donald Billings of Brandon and Mark Logan of Rutland plan to open a restaurant called “Roots” in the Wales Street location previously occupied by Clem’s.

Former Proctor librarian James Knowlton says his questions about the library’s financial oversight cost him his job. Hired at the Proctor Free Library in August 2009, Knowlton said he had repeated disagreements with the library’s Board of Trustees over the course of the year that culminated with his firing in September. He said the trustees told him it was his request that the library audit its books that brought about his termination.

Yesterday Vermont Gov.-elect Peter Shumlin named outgoing Secretary of State Deb Markowitz as secretary of the Agency of Natural Resources. He says Markowitz has the leadership, management skills and vision to make the agency more customer friendly while also maintaining our commitment to our environment. Shumlin also announced that Vermont Law School professor David Mears would become the commissioner of the Department of Environmental Conservation.

As a way to save money in the cash-strapped justice system, some Vermont courtrooms are arraigning prisoners by video from the jail. A video system adopted in May by the Vermont Superior Court in Burlington is saving money and some state officials say prisoners may one day be arraigned by video in courts across the state. Critics have concerns about the quality of justice video arraignments provide.

Champlain College in Burlington opened a new center yesterday with the aim of educating Vermonters about their finances. The college says the economic recession highlighted just how little most people understand their finances. The new Center for Financial Literacy will start with three main programs. So far the center has raised 188-thousand dollars, which should fund its programming for three years.

A published report says New York Gov. David Paterson doled out $16.7 million in grants last week for a youth chess program and to promote a New Jersey-New York Super Bowl, among other things. Paterson's budget office says the money was set aside in the 2008-09 budgets and allocated for specific purposes, so it couldn't be used to avoid layoffs or anything else without action by the Legislature.