WVTK Local & State News April 5, 2011

Congratulations to our very own Bruce & Hobbes! We’ve received word from the Vermont Lake Monsters that they are the official winners of the Media Madness Bobblehead Contest! In conjunction with FairPoint Communications, the Vermont Lake Monsters will be donating $1,000 to the Addison County Humane Society on behalf of Bruce and Hobbes. They can’t thank you enough for your support and voting them into the top spot to make this happen. Now the WVTK morning duo will be immortalized as Bobbleheads that will be handed out later this summer at a selected Vermont Lake Monsters’ home game. Stay tuned for details!

The latest construction update for the Champlain Bridge is scheduled for 6:30 PM this Thursday at Addison Central School. Construction of the $70 million span is approaching the midway point. New York State Department of Transportation representatives will provide an update on the project, including work completed so far, what's under way now and upcoming work. There will also be an update on the commemoration of the original bridge planned for this summer. The public will be invited to ask questions about the project at the conclusion of the presentations.

The Charlotte to Essex ferry will resume service this week. The crossing was shut down last month because of ice. Lake Champlain Transportation says the service will resume Thursday with regular crossings between 6 AM and 8:30 PM. LCT is adding a fuel surcharge of 2.5 percent to the price of each ticket. The company says if and when prices drop below $3 a gallon it will remove the surcharge.

Shoreham Telephone Co. is being sold to an Alabama telecommunications company for $4.5 million. Otelco Inc. announced that it would acquire Shoreham Telephone from the Arnold family, expanding the company’s presence in New England. Otelco’s president and CEO, Mike Weaver, said Shoreham is a well-run company and a logical acquisition. For Shoreham customers, Weaver said the acquisition would mean improved service. Pending regulatory approvals, the acquisition is expected to close this year.

Middlebury Police Department special officer Gary Barclay is retiring from the force after 40 years. The Middlebury native has seen a lot of change both in the department and in local crime. He looks forward to spending more time with his family and wife Madeline. The Middlebury select-board recently signed a resolution honoring his years of service. Middlebury Police Chief Tom Hanley said he will be missed on the force.

In January the Toxics Action Center published a report identifying hazardous waste sites across Vermont with 214 in Addison County. Now many local residents are concerned about the safety of their land. The Addison County Regional Planning Commission has funding from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to run a Brownfield Program, which identifies and assesses contaminated sites at no or low cost to qualifying property owners in Addison County. A “Brownfield” is a label for a hazardous waste site that is open for development. It should be noted that all hazardous waste sites are not an imminent risk to society, but could potentially be.

Middlebury will take a close look at options for a prominent Route 7 intersection in town. Middlebury officials believe the answer to getting quick and substantial improvements to the intersection of Route 7 North and Exchange Street might include the community offering to take on some of the costs of that state project.

The Rutland Board of Aldermen held off yesterday on scheduling the revote for the Giorgetti Arena bond, but authorized the mayor to send the project’s engineering out to bid. Mayor Christopher Louras said the City Clerk tried to contact the city’s four polling places about their availability for a special election, but that he had only heard back from three so far.

The town of West Rutland has been awarded two of ten grants totaling more than $2.4 million in Community Development Block grants announced by Gov. Peter Shumlin. A grant worth $1 million alone was given to NeighborWorks of Western Vermont to continue its affordable housing revolving loan fund. The second grant awarded to West Rutland, worth $50,000, will help improve accessibility at the West Rutland Free Library located on Main Street and bring the building into full compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act.

The Proctor Select Board is looking for someone to help find some common ground among its members. Voters at town meeting made it clear that they wanted to see more civility at Select Board meetings. Now a week after the latest resignation from the board, the remaining four members voted unanimously to look at hiring a mediator to find some common ground. The board will study what it would cost to hire a mediator before making a decision.

A program to significantly boost the New York State's maple-syrup industry is being touted in Washington by Sen. Charles Schumer. The Maple Tap Act would provide incentives that would help maple producers tap more trees and provide funding for research, education and marketing of the sweet product. The goal is to substantially increase maple production statewide, which would, in turn, create jobs and provide an economic upswing.

Vermont State Police say a 2-year-old boy has died after being accidentally shot in the chest. Details are sketchy. Police were called to a home in Lowell just after 12 Noon Monday after the boy was shot with a .22 caliber rifle while at a family home on Potter Road. They aren't saying who fired the weapon. The boy, whose name hasn't been released, was taken to North Country Regional Hospital, where he was pronounced dead. His identity is being withheld pending notification of next of kin.

Documents show the Nuclear Regulatory Commission gave the Vermont Yankee nuclear plant a new license last month knowing that electrical cables to key safety systems had been submerged in water for long periods of time. A nuclear watchdog group, the New England Coalition, says the issue has new urgency since the nuclear disaster in Japan. NRC documents show the agency has been concerned about submerged electrical cables at U.S. nuclear plants for years. An agency report issued in December said it would not require any changes of the industry.

Local, state and federal emergency responders will be converging on the area around the Vermont Yankee nuclear plant for a drill to prepare for a test of their readiness scheduled for next month. The drill is being held today and tomorrow in and around the towns of Vernon, Guildford, Brattleboro, Halifax, Dummerston, and Marlboro. Sampling teams who would check for radioactive contamination in an actual emergency will be out in the field on Wednesday.

A new survey shows more than one-quarter of Vermont's doctors would leave the state if a single-payer health care system were enacted. The survey shows doctors are about evenly divided over single-payer with 44 percent supporting it and 46 percent opposed. But 28 percent are so concerned about how it will affect them that they would be likely to stop practicing medicine in Vermont. Among specialists the number is 37 percent.

In his State of the City address, Mayor Bob Kiss focused on the economic health of the city of Burlington. The mayor did acknowledge challenges the city is facing, including the financial crisis at the city owned communications company Burlington Telecom, which owes taxpayers $17 million. But Kiss said he still supports the company and plans to make it vibrant in the future.

There has been another victory for the Vermont state employees union in its fight over access to public records. Judge Geoffrey Crawford already ruled the Douglas Administration was wrong to charge $1,300 to allow the union to view emails and other documents. Now the judge has ruled the state must pay the union's attorney's fees of about $6,000.

A new study funded by the Canadian government could mean big things for the maple syrup industry. A University of Rhode Island professor found anti-oxidants in pure maple syrup. The same cancer fighting agents found in berries and red wine. What researchers at the University of Rhode Island discovered could have health benefits that act as anti-inflammatory agents and help prevent cancer. These antioxidants were discovered in Canadian maple syrup, but local producers say maple syrup is maple syrup no matter where it's harvested. Some think the discovery will boost the maple syrup industry in New York and Vermont.

A group of Vermont fishing enthusiasts is organizing a 4-day summer camp for teenagers who want to try their hand at fly-fishing. The MadDog Chapter of Trout Unlimited is hosting the camp from June 23-26 at the Quimby Country sporting camp in Averill. Fish and Wildlife Commissioner Patrick Berry is hailing the effort, saying he sees it as a good way to pass the tradition of fly fishing and support for conservation of Vermont's waters - on to the next generation. Those interested can e-mail vermonttroutcamp@gmail.com.

After a banner year in which it got 260 inches of snow, Vermont's Killington Resort is setting a May 1 end to the season. Sales and marketing director Rob Megnin says that will make six months since Killington opened on Nov. 2, giving skiers and snowboard riders 180 days of skiing. On April 16, Killington will play host to pond skimming contests, with prizes awarded for best skim, best splash and best costume.