WVTK Local & State News October 11, 2011

According to recently released 2010 U.S. Census data, 15 Addison County towns grew while the other eight saw a reduction in residents. The numbers also show that the population on the whole is getting older. Middlebury, Monkton, Leicester, Ferrisburgh and Bristol saw the greatest increase in numbers in terms of overall population. Leicester saw the highest percentage increase, followed by Monkton, Ripton, Orwell and Lincoln. Goshen saw a dramatic population decline, while numbers in Vergennes, Hancock and Starksboro also dropped significantly. Overall, the county population grew by 2.3 percent between 2000 and 2010, from 35,974 to 36,821. Addison County’s median age rose overall by more than five years.

Three hill towns that were isolated from the rest of the state after Tropical Storm Irene are considering improving a Class 4 road that would reconnect local routes this winter. Town officials from Hancock, Rochester and Granville are working on an agreement to build a road that would link two town roads with Route 100. Churchville Road, which runs through Hancock, is currently open with one lane. It's only accessible to residents and patients who need medical treatment. The three towns say the goal is to reach an agreement, put down the gravel and build culverts before the snow flies. But there are questions about who would pay for it. There are also environmental issues about whether the Agency of Natural Resources would even allow a new road in that area.

The Town Of Weybridge is celebrating its 250 years of history with a newly produced documentary. Town residents on Friday will celebrate Weybridge’s 250th birthday with dessert and a new movie chronicling their community’s history through vintage photos and testimonials from some of their friends and neighbors.

The 10th annual Jamfest Soccer Tournament took place on the playing fields of Mount Abraham Union High School last Saturday. Eighty-five teams from twelve area towns competed in a minimum of three games each. The event is sponsored by the Starksboro Sports Program. Organizers estimated that there were over 2,000 players and spectators present. The event is free to participants with funds raised solely from food sales and sponsorships. Organizers said that they had made a total of $5,000. Those funds will go toward equipment and improvements along with maintenance of Starksboro’s Cota Playing Field.

Habitat For Humanity Addison County is starting a new project in Cornwall on a 13-acre rural lot on DeLong Road. They plan to build four new homes that will occupy a total of four acres of the parcel and the remainder will be a conserved rural area. Habitat said they are currently looking for four families who qualify for the program. They hope to have the first house completed before the winter of 2012 and have already begun to install septic systems and will begin pouring the pads in the spring.

The McKernon Group is hoping the recent arrest of three Addison and Rutland county men means an end to two years of copper thefts that has cost the Brandon company $275,000. Since the company bought the hospital and infirmary building at the former Brandon Training School in 2008, copper thieves have been systematically dismantling it, entering the isolated buildings on a regular basis to tear out the copper wires, plumbing and other fixtures. The three men are scheduled to appear in Middlebury criminal court next week to answer to felony charges of burglary, larceny and selling stolen property.

The town of Brandon Planning Commission is proposing a more detailed sign and merchandise ordinance that will permit more specific sign allowance throughout town. The Planning commissioner said the proposal is more “attune to the times” than the current one, with more detailed restrictions and allowances for signs and displays in town. According to the proposed ordinance, its purpose is to “preserve and improve the existing attractive aspects of the Brandon environment.” A copy of the proposed ordinance can be found at the Brandon municipal offices or at www.townofbrandon.com. If approved by the Select Board, the ordinance will take effect 21 days after it’s passed.

The Pittsford Police Department is looking to expand its services to town residents with a new full-time officer and a new vehicle. The town’s department received $212,742 in Community Oriented Policing Services grants to hire a new full-time officer and the town has approximately 90 days to implement the grants and hire the new officer. Meanwhile, town officials approved a bid process for the purchase of a new police vehicle. The police department has approximately $31,000 in a cruiser replacement fund for a purchase.

Rutland Regional Medical Center and Rutland Mental Health Services are teaming up to fill a treatment gap for patients addicted to opiate drugs such as heroin and prescription painkillers. Three months after one of the community’s only Suboxone prescribers retired, health officials trying to continue care for addicts using the drug to wean themselves off opiates have begun a program to treat pregnant women.

Eliminating five jobs kept Ticonderoga's tentative budget within the state's 2-percent tax cap. The layoffs include a police officer and one worker each from the Highway Department, Wastewater Treatment Plant, solid-waste transfer station and building-and-grounds crew. The job cuts save more than $250,000, and along with $80,000 in reductions to the town's youth and summer programs and department budgets, enabled the town to hold its portion of the proposed 2011 budget to a 2-percent property-tax increase. The public hearing on the tentative town budget is at 6:30PM on Thursday, November 10, in the Ticonderoga Community Building. Before that, the town is holding a public informational meeting at 6PM Tuesday, October 25, at the Community Building.

Facing a state mandate, the town of Ticonderoga is about to begin a comprehensive water system upgrade. Town officials hope to replace the existing water system, which draws water from Lake George and Gooseneck Pond, with a series of wells. The proposed groundwater project is estimated to cost up to $13.8 million. Water customers will receive confidential surveys in the mail this week. Officials are asking that those surveys be completed and returned by October 31s. The information obtained will be used to seek grant money for the water project. The surveys are crucial if Ticonderoga is to qualify for grant funding.

The general election in Essex County will see races for supervisor in 10 towns. Elizabethtown, Keene, Westport, Newcomb, Crown Point, North Elba, North Hudson, Essex, Schroon and Willsboro have supervisor contests, while there are council races in Crown Point, Schroon, Elizabethtown, Jay, Keene, North Hudson, Newcomb and Willsboro. All towns have local officers on the ballot for the Tuesday, November 8th general election. Polls will be open from 6AM to 9PM.

A Ticonderoga man is facing assault charges after he allegedly stabbed another man outside a bar this weekend. It happened just before four in the morning on Saturday. Police say 23-year-old Michael Sharpe was leaving Shooter's bar in Ticonderoga when he allegedly got into a fight with 22-year-old Richard Ruger and stabbed him. Ruger was rushed to the hospital and had to undergo surgery. Sharpe is now facing charges of second-degree assault.

The University of Vermont administration and faculty union are expected to meet in a mediation session. The union says it's concerned that the administration wants to eliminate retiree health care benefits for future UVM faculty and workers while the school has given generous separation packages to outgoing executives. Members of the faculty are expected to gather outside the meeting, which takes place Wednesday at 10AM.

The statewide energy efficiency program Efficiency Vermont is teaming up with Central Vermont Community Action to offer a series of workshops devoted to building efficiency into repairs made to flood-damaged homes. The next workshop is being held Thursday at 7PM at the Brown Public Library in Northfield, and is designed to provide advice to Northfield and Roxbury residents whose properties were damaged by flooding triggered by Tropical Storm Irene in late August. More workshops are planned around the state.

It's been more than five weeks since Tropical Storm Irene pummeled Vermont with wind rain and some road closures. Some of those roads are still not repaired, and the state's Tourism Task Force is afraid of not enough people coming, so it is doing everything to make the visits memorable. Brandon is offering "Brandon Bucks" to anyone who stays two nights in Brandon, getting 50 dollars to spend in town. That current deal runs through October 31st.

A Vermont judge has released search warrants in the investigation of a missing Essex couple. The documents issued yesterday and sought by the Burlington Free Press show that police seized 28 items from Bill and Lorraine Currier's home since their June 9th disappearance and ten items from the couple's car which was found about a mile from their home.

Vermonters are being given more time to comment on a new energy plan drafted by the Department of Public Service. Yesterday was the original deadline for residents to comment on a plan for the state to get 90% of its energy from renewable sources by 2050. DPS Commissioner Elizabeth Miller said she decided to extend the deadline for comments to November 4th.

The stop-work order continues for a big wind power project being built on northern Vermont's Lowell Mountain, but work remains under way. State environmental regulators last week issued the order due to excessive sediment running off the project site with storm water.

Today Dartmouth College will host the first Republican presidential debate to focus, solely, on the struggling economy. All eight GOP contenders are expected to participate. It will be their first meeting since the September 22nd debate in Florida. A spokesperson says more than 800 people are expected to pour into the Spaulding Auditorium on campus. There will be a different crowd at the Dartmouth debate than the contenders are used to. The audience was selected by lottery so they are expecting a fair number of independents and democrats.