WVTK Local & State News August 16, 2011

Afternoon Update!!

The Lake Champlain Bridge Community has announced that the big celebration has new dates! The activities will be even bigger and better next spring! Plan to celebrate this once-in-a-lifetime event with your friends and neighbors! Saturday and Sunday, May 19-20, 2012 are the new dates for the Grand Reopening Celebration! Event specifics will be announced in the spring, however event planning and fundraising continue! Stay up to date and learn how to get involved now by visiting Champlain Bridge Community Dot Org.

Vermont Gov. Peter Shumlin is ordering flags to half-staff in honor of a U.S. Navy SEAL who was among 30 troops killed in an August 6th helicopter crash in Afghanistan. Chief Petty Officer Brian Bill, of Virginia Beach, was a graduate of Norwich University, in Northfield. He grew up in Stamford, CT. Today, Shumlin ordered the flag lowering, at the Statehouse and all federal and state facilities in Vermont, to begin at sunrise Friday and end at sunset Monday.

The longtime director of a Vermont fairground is calling it quits. David Grimm plans to step down next year from his job as director of the Champlain Valley Exposition, in Essex, which got its start in 1922 as an agricultural fair. It has grown from a late-summer fair into a year-round venue for concerts and other events. It now hosts about 300 days' worth of events a year.

Organizers of a wiffle ball tournament played in Vermont at a backyard replica of Fenway Park say the tenth annual event raised a record $406,000 this time around. The money benefits the Travis Roy Foundation, founded by former Boston University hockey player Travis Roy, who was paralyzed in his first game as a collegian in 1995. The tournament was played last weekend in Essex. The venue is the backyard of Pat O'Connor, who built the Fenway Park replica in 2001 and added a replica of Wrigley Field next to it in 2004.

The administration of Vermont Gov. Peter Shumlin won't support a tax on soda and other sugar-sweetened beverages that proponents say could raise $30 million and help combat obesity. Dr. Harry Chen, commissioner of the state Department of Health, says it would be a mistake for the state to impose the 1-cent per ounce tax, which would add about 60 cents to the cost of a two-liter bottle of soda.

A new manufacturing company is setting up shop in Manchester. It will employ just over 100 people to start. WCW, a family-owned company that currently makes bedding for hospitals and hotels, now plans to expand to retail customers and needs a new manufacturing plant. Gov. Peter Shumlin says WCW will relocate to Manchester from Hoosick Falls, NY in part because of state economic development incentives.

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According to a FEMA representative, Vermonters who receive a notice from FEMA that states they're ineligible for federal aid don't have to take no as a final answer. Some people may be rejected because of a minor mistake on their application. 
An appeal letter must be sent within 60 days after you receive an ineligibility letter. For more information on the appeals process, call FEMA's helpline at 800-621-FEMA.

There has been a second round of rejection for New York homeowners who suffered flood damage along Lake Champlain. FEMA denied the state's appeal for Individual Assistance in Clinton, Essex, and Franklin Counties. According to Representative Bill Owens' office, the only hope now for individual homeowners in New York is to receive assistance is through a physical disaster declaration by the Small Business Administration. Meanwhile FEMA and the SBA has handed out over $4 million dollars on the Vermont side of the lake.

The Lowe's in Ticonderoga closed Sunday night putting 86 people out of work. The store was one of seven locations that closed Sunday night. According to Katie Cody, who works in public relations for Lowe's, the store closed because it was not bringing in enough money to keep the location open. She said that initial sales were well below projections and had not improved over time. Cody says employees were told the store was closing permanently during a meeting at the store Sunday night. She said the employees would receive full pay and benefits for 90 days.

This week's drenching rain has been a welcome relief for many farmers. There were deluges this spring that led to flooding. But since then, rain has been scarce. Many fields have dried out, leaving brittle, brown grass and stunted corn. And farmers are struggling. Agriculture Secretary Chuck Ross says Addison County has been particularly hard hit. Another problem plaguing farmers and gardeners this season is late blight, a disease that can devastate tomato and potato crops. Late blight has begun to appear on many farms recently.

The Lincoln school board is looking for a replacement for senior board member Donny Sargent, who resigned from the board back on May 16th. A new candidate will be appointed by the school board to finish out Sargent’s term. Voters will elect a new board member at town meeting next March.

The Middlebury select-board has approved a warning for a September 27th vote on whether the town should spend $250,000 to further refine plans for a major makeover of the two fire stations. The plan calls for replacement of the East Middlebury fire station and a substantial renovation and expansion of the department’s headquarters on Seymour Street.

During the renovations currently taking place at the John Graham Homeless Shelter’s main building in Vergennes, shelter officials have continued to fulfill the organization’s mission of finding housing for the homeless. Originally plans had called for the 10-bedroom Monkton Road building to stay open during the project. Instead, for safety and quality-of-life reasons, the Graham Shelter rented apartment and office space in a nearby Main Street building owned by the Addison County Community Trust where they can house a half-dozen single homeless individuals. Meanwhile the renovations are expected to be finished in early September.

The Better Middlebury Partnership is again in the market for a new marketing coordinator following the resignation of John Purcell, who held the newly created job for less than a month. According to Purcell “It wasn’t a good fit”. The marketing coordinator position is charged with promoting Middlebury as a shopping destination as well as coordinating some of the BMP’s signature annual events, such as the Chili Fest and Midd Summer Fest.

The long-planned move of the roughly 160-year-old former Vergennes railroad station to the Ferrisburgh commuter lot may finally happen this fall. The Vermont Agency of Transportation and Department of Buildings and General Services are putting finishing touches on plans on which contractors could submit bids.

Members of the Proctor Select Board appear to be pulling together weeks after their work with a mediator ended. In two regular meetings since mediator Sandy Gartner talked to the board in closed-door sessions about infighting that had plagued the board in recent years, the five Select Board members have avoided lengthy arguments that dragged prior meetings past the five-hour mark.

The state's largest electric utility wants to use an insurance rebate from Vermont Yankee to fund a number of clean-energy projects around the state. Central Vermont Public Service Corporation says it will get about $340,000 this year from insurance payments stemming from when it was a part owner of the Vermont Yankee nuclear plant. CVPS has proposed using that money for projects aimed at reducing greenhouse gas pollution. The Public Service Board has to approve the company's funding proposals.

Vermont Air National Guard officials say training operations will mean more planes and helicopters in the air over the Burlington area starting next week. Between August 23rd and September 1st, the Air Guard will be conducting close air support training New York and New Hampshire. And there'll be increased helicopter activity, in conjunction with the training, around the Ethan Allen firing range in Underhill and Jericho and the Fort Drum, NY region. All the operations will take place during the Air Guard's normal weekday flying hours, which are generally 9AM to 5PM weekdays.

Vermont State Police and Green Mountain Power continue to investigate the death of a fisherman downstream from a hydroelectric dam that was releasing water. Police say alarms sound and lights flash near the dam, but apparently could not be heard or seen downstream where two men were fishing at Little River State Park. Police say 59-year-old Daniel Forsey of Essex Junction died Friday after losing his footing while trying to cross the river.

The Champlain Valley Fair is taking a closer look at how it would handle an emergency in the wake of the collapse of a stage at the Indiana State Fair that killed five people and injured nearly 40. Rich Lewis from the Champlain Valley Expo said, during the fair, staff is in constant contact with local police and the National Weather Service. They decide whether to postpone events at the fair or evacuate fair-goers.

President Obama's approval rating has dipped below 40 percent in a new Gallup poll for the first time in more than a year. Former Presidential candidate and Vermont Governor Howard Dean says the president doesn't seem to be fighting hard enough for the middle class programs and jobs. The president is touring the mid-west trying to sell his plans to grow the economy and Dean says that's what he needs to do to turn his approval numbers around.

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo has signed a new law to strengthen ethics enforcement for government officials. The measure, which the governor proposed, establishes a new 14-member Joint Commission on Public Ethics to oversee and investigate compliance by lawmakers. It will also monitor executive branch and legislative employees and oversee registration and conduct of lobbyists. The governor will choose six members. Legislative leaders will select four, with at least four from each major political party.

This year at Addison County Field Days The Cornwall Musketeers put together a table in the 4H Building to help people make cards, write letters and otherwise contact soldiers currently serving in Iraq and Afghanistan. They had terrific people show up to make the cards and participate! In the end, the 4H Group had over 1021 cards ready to send over to the troops! Organizers said they were fortunate to have the opportunity to truly see what the people of Addison County are made of, and that is love. All of the supplies were donated by local businesses, and they will be working with Soldiers Angels to sort and mail the cards out this week.

Wireless Internet is coming to downtown Poultney and West Rutland’s town center by the end of the week or early next week as part of the e-Vermont Community Broadband Project. Both towns have been working with e-Vermont’s community director in identifying the key spots for the Internet access points, or transmitters. Poultney and West Rutland are two of the first 12 towns selected to participate in a two-year pilot project run by the Vermont Council on Rural Development. As part of the project, both towns have also received laptop computers for students, business training workshops and beginner computer courses aimed at helping Vermont towns make better use of the Internet.

You can take a step back into history with a narration about life in the path of war during the American Revolution at 1PM Sunday. Dressed in period attire as a Hubbardton resident of 1777, Hubbardton Battlefield Historic Site interpreter Carl Fuller will tour the East Hubbardton Cemetery and introduce visitors to some of the residents whose lives were disrupted by the American Revolution and recount what happened to them afterwards. The tour will meet at the Battlefield Visitor Center at 1PM Sunday rain or shine, before driving to the East Hubbardton Cemetery. For details on the program, call 273-2282.

Fifty members of the Vermont Air National Guard are in Norway this week and next on an exchange program. They left last weekend for a trip that will include construction projects on a Norwegian air base and training exercises. The relationship between the U.S. Air National Guard and Norway's Air Force has been in existence since 1991. The Vermont Air Guard members are expected to return to Vermont on August 27th.

Five past and present Vermont governors say Congress could take a lesson from state politics. They met in Burlington yesterday to talk about the evolution of state politics and challenges during their own terms. The divisions within Congress quickly came up, and the governors told how they resolved conflict with compromise in times of crisis. They say those in congress should focus less on getting re-elected and more on resolving the issues.

The Stanley Cup will be the showpiece of a parade September Third from the Burlington Waterfront to Church Street, according to the University of Vermont. Former U-V-M star goalie Tim Thomas is now a star player with the Boston Bruins, and he wants to bring his team's Stanley Cup to the city. The parade will start at 9:30 that morning, stopping at the top block of Church Street where Thomas will address the crowd.