WVTK Local & State News October 28, 2011

It’s the final day of Bruce & Hobbes Cash For Paws – “You PAY, we PLAY!” It’s all about raising money for the Addison County Humane Society's Homeward Bound Campaign. The humane society already raised 830-thousand dollars in donations toward the project and in the first 2 days of Cash For Paws, with your help, we’ve raised $4,060 as of 7PM yesterday! For more information and to donate click HERE.

You are invited to join in Middlebury’s celebration of its 250th birthday by participating in a host of festivities taking place through November 4th. The Better Middlebury Partnership’s Spooktacular celebration will take place tomorrow afternoon from 2-4 on the Town Green. The Spooktacular celebration kicks off a week long series of events to commemorate our town’s beginnings. Spooktacular will also kick off a weeklong historic scavenger hunt with the grand prize being an Apple iPad. Scavenger hunt forms will be available at Spooktacular, the Ilsley Public Library beginning Monday. During the weeklong celebration, downtown businesses will display historic photographs of their buildings. For more details and updates, visit www.bettermiddleburypartnership.org.

Middlebury residents in March will be asked to help finance through taxes a new economic development director’s position designed to bring new, good paying jobs to town. The select-board voted this week to include the new economic development post as a request on the next town meeting warning. Middlebury College and the local business community have agreed to assemble the remaining financing for the job, estimated to cost a total of $150,000 to $200,000 annually.

Porter Medical Center will close its popular and innovative palliative care medical practice at the end of this month due to the recent resignation of one of the two physicians in the practice and an inability to put together a new business model to continue the service with a smaller workforce. While PPHC proved to be a popular and valuable service, it was not one of the most solvent in PMC’s portfolio.

The nearly 30 people participated in the Addison County Relocalization Network’s second Matchmaker event earlier this week. Seats in Proctor Dining Hall at Middlebury College were filled with couples pairing off, chatting, and switching tables. The event may have looked like speed dating, but the couples included Shaw’s Supermarket managers with local pesto makers, and small food producers with area school foodservice coordinators. This event is designed to give local food producers and buyers the opportunity to meet.

After two months of public debate and careful consideration, the Bristol Zoning Board of Adjustment has voted in favor of issuing the Bristol Works business campus “a comprehensive conditional use permit”. The permit is for the 5.5-acre space previously occupied by cosmetics manufacturer Autumn Harp.

A ribbon cutting for the Hickory Street Apartments housing development was held yesterday in Rutland. The development is gradually replacing Forest Park. Roughly half of the units were replaced in the first phase, which resulted in 33 units in seven buildings. Hickory Street is a mixed-income development. The rest of Forest Park is scheduled to be demolished and replaced in two more phases.

Essex County has disposed of 400 tons of debris since Tropical Storm Irene rolled through in August. And work continues to restore roadways and bridges damaged then. The County Department of Public Works Superintendent said he has 15 roads with heavy damage, eight bridges destroyed and 12 bridges with severe damage. Some of the bridges, such as the Sprague Mill Bridge in Moriah, will take two years to replace because of federal requirements. A temporary bridge opened this week around the Sprague Mill Bridge, which is a major connector between Moriah and North Hudson.

Crown Point has decided to do a feasibility study to determine whether the town should seek federal designation as a historic district. Crown Point trustees have voted to accept a grant from Preserve New York to contract with the Adirondack Architectural Heritage for a study of the area around Veterans Park. This is the next step in a process that started last spring when town officials learned the Knapp Senior Center is in need of major repairs. Local leaders hope a formal historic designation may make the town eligible for funding to make those repairs.

The Federal Aviation Administration says it has started an inquiry into billing requests made to Burlington International Airport by the cities of Burlington and South Burlington. The Burlington Free Press reports the Airport Commission and airport managers have objected to a bill for $205,000 from South Burlington for "fees for services" covering two years. South Burlington officials have said the fees are for police, fire and disposal of de-icing chemicals.

Administrators in contract talks with striking teachers in southwest Vermont say canceled school days will be made up, possibly during the February and April vacations. Thursday marked the seventh day teachers have been on strike. The boards of the Southwest Vermont Supervisory Union posted the message about making up days on its web site. It said the school vacation periods "are under serious consideration." Talks resumed Thursday but ended for the day with no resolution.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency says the temporary housing units brought to the state in the aftermath of Tropical Storm Irene aren't needed and they've been sent elsewhere. FEMA spokeswoman Deanna Frazier says enough apartments and houses have been found across Vermont for people who were unable to live in their homes after the August 28th flood.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency says it has received nearly 6,700 applications for disaster assistance in Vermont following Irene. In spite of that, a FEMA says they are sure there are people who have yet to register. Vermont residents have until November 15th to apply for assistance.

All State of Vermont departments are being asked to cut 4-percent of their budgets for the upcoming fiscal year. Governor Shumlin says he wants these cuts to apply to programs not people, but state employees remain concerned. Each department will submit a proposal in the coming weeks cutting as close to 4-percent as possible. Secretary Spaulding will then sit down with the head of each department to determine what cuts they can live with before submitting the proposals to Governor Shumlin and eventually the legislature.

Governor Peter Shumlin awarded 43-thousand dollars to the Vermont Veterans Fund Thursday. These are the first ever awards provided through a new check-off option on the Vermont State Income tax form. Recipients of the award are the Veterans Place in Northfield, Home at Last in Brattleboro, Vermont Vet to Vet and American Legion post number nine.

While many long-time residents of Vermont and New York have a nostalgic place in their hearts for the demolished 1929 Champlain Bridge they don’t miss the bridge tolls, which were in effect for 58 years. The old bridge opened to traffic August 26, 1929. It was tolled starting August 27th and remained so until September 22, 1987. The bridge was owned and operated by the Lake Champlain Bridge Commission from 1929 to 1987. The Commission was abolished in 1987 and ownership was transferred to New York and Vermont. At that time the tolls were eliminated and NYSDOT assumed maintenance responsibility. Now the new Lake Champlain Bridge is expected to open within a few weeks and no, there won’t be any tolls!

Rich Strum, Fort Ticonderoga director of education, recently gave a presentation at the October Teachers’ Conference sponsored by the New York State Historical Association in Cooperstown. Strum’s presentation, “The American Revolution on the Northern Frontier,” focused on the American Revolution as it unfolded in northern New York from 1775 to 1777 and used a series of documents from Fort Ticonderoga’s collection related to the war. Fort Ticonderoga offers programs and workshops for students and teachers throughout the year. For additional information about available programs, visit www.fort-ticonderoga.org.

Ticonderoga’s Junior Miss, now in its 49th year, will be changing. In 2012 the program will have a new name, Distinguished Young Women. As the organization adapts to its new name, this scholarship program still remains committed to its original goals and mission. For the past six weeks, eight local participants have been preparing for the Ti Junior Miss program to be held Saturday November 5th at 7PM at the Ticonderoga High School auditorium. Tickets are $7.

Old tires are being turned into cash to help low income Vermonters pay their heating bills this winter. It's called Wheels for Warmth. People donate tires for resale. The money raised goes to Central Vermont Community Action's fuel assistance program. Tires that aren't good enough to sell can be dropped off for disposal at 4-dollars a tire. That money also goes to the emergency-heating fund. Lieutenant Governor Phil Scott started the program seven years ago. He said so far Wheels for Warmth has raised 100-thousand dollars.

Hundreds of Vermonters are going to be a little bit warmer this winter thanks to Vermont Gas. The company contributed 20-thousand dollars to the Warmth Program administered by the Champlain Valley Office of Economic Opportunity. Warmth is designed to help low-income Vermonters with their heating expenses through private donations.

If you have bottles of unused prescription medications in your house, there's an opportunity to get rid of them safely this weekend. Saturday is prescription drug takeback day. Last April, Vermonters turned in 14-hundred pounds of prescription drugs. Overall, 188 tons were collected nationwide. Officials say the pills collected will be incinerated so they don't pose a danger to the community. There will be more than 50 collection sites set up across Vermont from on Saturday. Click HERE to find the nearest one.

Vermont's Chittenden County Transportation Authority is reminding drivers and people who ride the bus that it's getting dark early and they need to be careful. On November 6th, daylight savings time will end and it will be even darker during the evening commute. As a way to promote safety, starting on November 4th, riders will be able to ask CCTA drivers for a safety clip-on blinker.