WVTK Local & State News August 24, 2011

The Town of Middlebury will be doing 4 - Cross Culverts and Ditching on South St. now thru the end of August. South St. will be closed to thru traffic between East View and the Horse Farm. Work will begin at 6AM. During this time there will be no through traffic allowed in the work zone. They expect to be done daily by 5PM. Ditching will begin once the culvert work is done along with some ledge removal to the South of the College composting area.

Also, on Putt's Pond Road in Ticonderoga crews will be reconstructing the road for the next two to three weeks. Traffic will be controlled by flaggers in the work zone.

The New York State Department of Transportation has announced plans to transport and lift into place the center arch span of the new Lake Champlain Bridge this Thursday. You will be able to watch the transport and lift, but some marine and vehicle traffic restrictions will be in place. The transport process is expected to begin at sunrise on Thursday with lift work extending into the late afternoon or early evening. The ferry connecting New York State to Vermont will remain open and operational at all times during the work however, higher than normal traffic levels near the bridge site may cause some highway traffic congestion.

Last week, the 143-year-old Hall and Breen Organic Farm in Orwell, one of the oldest farms in Vermont, opened its doors to farmers from Addison and Rutland counties to see demonstrations of its twin high-tech robo-milkers. The automated milking units replace the need for hiring some farm hands. The robot revolution is actually an electronic revolution, which includes everything from iPad farm apps to automated, self-directing tractors which is part of an experimental effort by John Deer. The system also uses real-time, remote-sensing NASA satellite Imagery of acreage moisture and crop infestation.

Police say a head-on crash of 2 tractor-trailers owned by the same company closed Route 7 for several hours in Ferrisburgh. The trucks collided Tuesday just south of Dakin Farms, when the southbound one veered across the centerline. No one was injured. Both trucks were owned by Reithoffer Shows, which runs the midway at the Champlain Valley Fair in Essex Junction. One was carrying a ride to the fairgrounds. Reithoffer officials at the scene declined comment. Traffic was detoured off Route 7 for several hours before the road reopened mid-afternoon.

Vermont's Lake Champlain Maritime Museum is going to be searching for the location of the shipyard used to build U.S. Navy vessels used to repel a British attack on Lake Champlain during the War of 1812. The museum will use a grant of almost $24,000 from the National Park Service to undertake an archaeological survey to find the precise location of the shipyard. U.S. Navy Commodore Thomas McDonough built a fleet at a yard on the Otter Creek in Vergennes prior to the 1814 British invasion of New York State. On Sept. 11, 1814 McDonough used the fleet built at Vergennes to defeat the British fleet at the Battle of Plattsburgh. Maritime Museum Archaeologist Joanne Dennis says she expects the dig to take place in October.

Things were rocking and rolling from Burlington to Brattleboro, but the East Coast earthquake apparently caused no serious damage in Vermont. Vermont Emergency Management spokesman Mark Bosma says Tuesday's quake prompted numerous calls to that office. He urged that members of the public not to use 911 unless they have a genuine emergency. The 5.9-magnitude quake, centered in Virginia, was felt at least as far north as Burlington, where the offices of Seventh Generation were evacuated. And it was felt in Brattleboro, where Assistant Town Clerk Jane Fletcher thought she was having a dizzy spell.

Town officials in Proctor will begin going door to door within the next two weeks to collect income data that could trim thousands of dollars off repayments on a $6.1 million project. Approved by a narrow town wide vote a year ago, the project calls for multiple upgrades to the water system and a switch from surface water to groundwater. The town mailed out surveys to a large portion of Proctor’s 1,900 residents but didn’t receive enough back to constitute a representative sample. Board members hope to collect at least 75 more surveys by going door to door.

A 14-year-old boy was shot yesterday afternoon at a remote camp in Eden. Police say it happened near the Eden-Lowell town line around 4 o'clock. Police say the boy, his 15-year-old brother and several other kids hiked to a remote cabin where they found some guns. Investigators say the 15-year-old accidentally shot his brother in the groin and lower leg while handling a revolver. The group hiked out to call for help. As of last night the boy was being treated at Fletcher Allen.

An attempted murder suspect may soon be been released from jail. 27-year-old Dean Heffernan is accused of shooting at 34-year-old Shawn Holbrook of Hinesburg earlier this month after a drug deal went wrong. The judge initially ordered Heffernan to be held without bail but has now eased conditions because Holbrook has disappeared. According to the Burlington Free Press, bail has now been set at $50,000 dollars. The Judge said the prosecution has weakened its case by losing track of the alleged victim.

Vermont state officials are advising hunters of migratory game birds that they need to register with the federal government. The Vermont Fish and Wildlife Department provides migratory game bird hunters with a registration process online and by phone. Vermont, like other states, is required to annually provide a list of hunter names to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The program is designed to help federal and state fish and wildlife agencies to develop reliable estimates of the number of migratory game birds harvested throughout the country.

A web site devoted to open government in Vermont is offering new information about the money the state spends to hire contractors. Vermont Transparency, whose web site is vttransparency.org allows users to view more than 121,000 transactions in which the state hired outside contractors the first three-quarters of the last fiscal year. Vermont Transparency is a joint project of 2 organizations: the free-market-oriented Ethan Allen Institute and liberal Public Assets Institute. Both groups say they support greater openness in government.

New England is seeing a revival in farmers growing grain. Vermont and Maine were once the bread basket of the northern U.S., but they lost that distinction in the 1800s, when the Erie Canal and intercontinental railroad made it easier to bring grain east from the Midwest. But small farmers on the nation's coasts are growing wheat again as more people clamor for locally grown food. An estimated 30 farmers in Vermont and Maine are growing an acre or 2 of grains, and a number of others with smaller plots.


Police in South Burlington are looking for a suspected thief. Surveillance cameras at Small Dog Electronics captured the man. Police say it happened Monday morning. The suspect walked behind a service desk, unplugged the computer, put it in his backpack and walked out the door. Anyone with information is asked to call South Burlington Police. (802-846-4111)

Governor Peter Shumlin says he wants to work to support legislation this winter that would expand public school choice opportunities at the high school level throughout the state. Shumlin told members of the State Board of Education recently that his approach is quite simple - all students in Vermont should be able to go to any public school in the state. Currently, there are 91 towns that don't have an elementary school or a high school and these communities are able to tuition their students to public or private schools. Shumlin's plan would leave this arrangement in place while expanding public school choice to all other towns.

Another person with Vermont ties has been arrested in Washington as part of the protest opposing the pipeline to deliver oil from the tar sands in Alberta, Canada. Greg Delanty, a native of Cork, Ireland, is a professor and artist-in-residence at Saint Michael’s College. Delanty was arrested yesterday in front of The White House. He is among thousands of demonstrators in Washington who plan to be arrested from now through September 2nd at sit-ins.

The state of Vermont would like to restore passenger rail service to Montreal within three years. Transportation Rail Director Joe Flynn says much needs to be done to meet the goal, but he says it's doable. Amtrak service to Montreal ended in 1995. Part of the challenge in re-establishing a passenger train to Montreal is finding a way to screen the people crossing the border.

Federal officials are warning that the first hurricane to seriously threaten the U.S. in three years could cause flooding and other impacts from Florida to New England. The Federal Emergency Management Agency says people along the entire Eastern Seaboard need to pay attention to Irene. Hurricanes are not only a "Southern thing" and Irene could affect the Mid-Atlantic and northeast coast. National Hurricane Center director Bill Read says even farther north, the Atlantic waters can be warm enough to keep Irene churning as a hurricane. Hurricanes typically can maintain or gain strength over warmer waters.

This years Fort Ticonderoga Corn Maze is offering a history lesson! Kids of all ages can get quite the workout in the process, as there are 2 miles of trails in the 6-acre maze that's cut in the shape of Fort Ticonderoga. The Fort’s Maze is part of a national initiative called Lets Move! Museums & Gardens dedicated to battling childhood obesity. For more information about the Corn Maze visit www.FortTiconderoga.org.

Texting while driving is illegal in all three states in our area. But police say it's hard to enforce and people just don't seem to listen. A new phone app hopes to change that. A national campaign encourages teens and parents to take action, by downloading a free application called Phoneguard. It blocks your phone from receiving texts while the car is moving. And even sends a return text back informing your friends you are driving.