WVTK Local & State News November 21, 2011 PM Update

The autopsy report for Gerald “Dusty” Woodburn from Salisbury is not yet complete and is pending further examination. Woodburn died last Thursday after Vermont State Police troopers responded to his home on Lake Dunmore Road in Salisbury for a domestic disturbance. It is not yet determined if the single shot fired from an officers duty weapon made contact with Woodburn. Once the investigation is completed the case will be reviewed by the Vermont Attorney General’s Office, as is customary in an officer-related shooting.

Vermont Hard Cider Co. has filed plans to build a new 87,000 plus square-foot bottling plant on Exchange Street, between the Bridge School and Maple Landmark Woodcraft. The company is considering adding 20 new employees to its workforce in conjunction with the new facility. The Middlebury Development Review Board has scheduled an initial public hearing to review the application on Monday, December 12th at 7PM in the municipal building conference room.

The Addison Central Supervisory Union school board has officially launched its search for a new superintendent. They have agreed on a salary range, length of contract, the makeup of a screening committee for candidates, and a basic timetable for selection of a finalist. The position is expected to be filled by next summer. Gail Conley is serving as interim superintendent this year while officials look for a new top administrator.

Middlebury police investigated complaints about a man distributing racist literature to passersby and storeowners in the Marble Works shopping complex last Wednesday. The investigating police officer said a local man had been passing out stickers that evening bearing three different racist messages.

A recent string of Bristol burglaries has many townspeople worried. Police Chief Kevin Gibbs said the unusual increase in burglaries is perhaps double what it was last year. He pointed to a rising demand for heroin in Bristol and a short-staffed police department as reasons contributing to this increase.

Middlebury author Stanford Pritchard has just released “Restaurant,” a novel that takes a look at a summer resort town through a series of individual stories that are naturally interrelated. It’s light and fun and captures that feeling of tourist-town locals getting through it all very nicely. “Restaurant” is available at Vermont bookstores and online at Amazon.com.

A group of Ticonderoga residents enjoyed fresh, homemade bread with their Thanksgiving dinner this year. Ticonderoga Elementary School students, with help from the King Arthur Flour Company, learned how to bake bread during an assembly last Friday. Students were then given the necessary ingredients and asked to bake two loaves of bread at home, one for their family and another to be donated to residents of Lord Howe Estates and Montcalm Manor. St. Mary’s School and Putnam Central School students also took part in the program.

The head of the Vermont National Guard says the opening of 2 new armories that will be used jointly by the National Guard and the Army Reserve are the wave of the future. Adjutant General Michael Dubie says the new armory in White River Junction will combine functions that had been performed out of 6 separate state and federal facilities in the southeastern part of the state. He says the new Rutland armory will combine separate guard and reserve armories into one facility.

Some St. Johnsbury residents woke up over the weekend to flat tires. Police says a vandal or vandals slashed 61 tires throughout the village sometime Friday night or early Saturday morning. Some vehicles had more than one tire flattened. Police say they've been able to collect evidence and get leads about the alleged perpetrator.

Every year, Library Journal rates the best public libraries in America in its "Star Libraries" ratings. Three public libraries in Vermont were selected for that top group: Killington, Craftsbury Common, and Putney libraries. The first two are repeats from previous years, and this is Putney's first time. Each library is rated within an expenditure range based on circulation, visits, program attendance and Internet use rated on a per capita basis.

An outpouring of love and warm quilts will be headed to Wilmington, which was devastated by floods from Tropical Storm Irene last August. Judy Thomas, the owner of Yankee Pride Quilts in Essex Junction heard a quilting store was destroyed, and decided that others in the town who lost everything needed help, and to know someone cared. Thomas and her customers and staff worked on and pulled together 40 quilts, each large enough to keep out the cold. The collection is continuing, and in about a month will be hand delivered to residents in Wilmington and other towns hard-hit by flooding.