WVTK Local & State News December 12, 2011

A Middlebury College student was ejected from a global climate conference in South Africa after she interrupted a speaker to make a statement urging global agreement on a treaty to limit greenhouse-gas emissions. Police escorted 21-year-old Abigail Borah from the conference last Thursday. Before she was seized Borah began reading a speech accusing the United States of stonewalling an agreement. U.S. delegate Todd Stern was speaking at the time. Stern denied any stonewalling.

The Middlebury Select-Board will hold its regular meeting tomorrow evening at 7 in the Town office’s conference room. Agenda items include an update on the East Middlebury Flood Hazard Mitigation Effort, a Middlebury Fire Station update, and a Report on the December 8th Public Hearing on FY13 Budget and Project Recommendations. For the complete agenda and more information just click HERE.

On November 27th at approximately 11PM Vermont State Police were called to a reported burglary located on Woodland Drive in the Town of Bristol. Investigation revealed that an individual broke into the residence while the owners were home. Numerous items were broken and vandalized inside the residence. Anybody with any information about the incident is asked to call the Vermont State Police New Haven Barracks. (802 388-4919)

Vermont State Police are investigating an attempted theft from the Little residence in New Haven. The property owner reported that she observed 3 subjects leaving her driveway carrying her snowplow attachment and was able to surprise the three subjects who dropped the plow and left the area on foot. Police are attempting to identify the three subjects. Please contact Trooper Armstrong at the New Haven Barracks if you have any information. (802-388-4919)

Lynne Kathryn Schulze's family and friends are still hoping for a break that could solve the mystery of what led to the Vermont college student's disappearance 40 years ago. Her family and friends don't believe that Lynne is alive and suspect she was killed or accidentally died soon after she disappeared. As a freshman at Middlebury College, she was walking to a final exam with fellow students when she said she had to get something from her dorm room. She left them to head back, and then vanished. She's still missing.

Motor vehicles aren't all that are crossing the new Champlain Bridge. The bridge has 3,300 feet of fiber-optic cable imbedded in it, part of a plan to take state-of-the-art broadband Internet and data service to rural communities. Local phone companies and wireless carriers will resell the fiber-optic network to residential and commercial customers. The entire network being installed will be in Vermont, New York and Pennsylvania and is ahead of budget and on schedule. The next step is to connect the cable all the way to Burlington, by the end of 2012. Another section will cross from Whitehall to Rutland.

The Westport Central School Board will meet at 5:30PM Tuesday in room 112. The meeting will start with a presentation by Champlain Valley Educational Services business executive Ron Clamser on the tax-cap legislation, followed by review of the audit report. Board meetings are open to everyone.

With winter weather approaching, the Ticonderoga highway department is asking for help with snow removal. Mike Parent, Ti highway superintendent is asking people to remember a town-wide parking ban is in place through April 1. The ban prohibits parking on all town streets and roads from 1 to 6AM to facilitate plowing. Violators will be ticketed and/or towed. Avoid plowing and shoveling snow from driveways onto sidewalks or into the street or road. Local police can ticket people who place snow in a road. Ticonderoga follows the state Department of Transportation “clear road” policy. That means snowplows roll as soon as there is a coating of snow on the road. The goal is to keep roads clear of all snow.

Efforts to move the Ticonderoga Police Department have hit a snag. After they found a way to move the police headquarters to the former Rite Aid building on Montcalm Street, a state law was discovered that has placed the plan on hold. Supervisor Deb Malaney explained the old Rite Aid building is larger than what the town of Ticonderoga needs for its police department. The town had planned to rent the building and sub-lease some of the extra space to help defray the rental costs. According to Malaney they can’t do it because there’s a state law that prevents from renting more space than they need and sub-leasing is not an option. The matter has been turned over to the town attorney and officials are optimistic they will be able to do something.

The top budget official in the administration of Vermont Gov. Peter Shumlin is going to give lawmakers the state's best estimate of how much more money will be needed in the current fiscal year to help meet expenses caused by the recovery from Tropical Storm Irene. Officials have been trying to determine how much money Vermont taxpayers will have to pay as the state's share of the Irene recovery costs.

Vermonters with property damaged during Tropical Storm Irene may be able to get some free financial advice. The northern New England chapter of the Financial Planning Association has announced a program to provide free advice to those affected by the August 28th storm.

Democrats in Burlington have chosen their candidate for mayor. Developer Miro Weinberger defeated State Sen. Tim Ashe on Sunday in the second Democratic caucus by a vote of 655 to 533. He will go on to face Republican city councilor and state Rep. Kurt Wright in the race for mayor. Meanwhile, the Burlington Free Press reports Progressive Party caucus members have voted to put off a decision on whether to nominate a candidate until January.

Central Vermont Public Service and Efficiency Vermont have teamed up to encourage municipalities to re-evaluate the efficiency of their streetlights and public space lighting and look at ways to reduce the cost of energy consumption in municipalities. The Municipal Street Lighting Initiative is a two-fold project that encourages towns to increase the efficiency of their streetlights by determining how many light fixtures are needed and replacing them with energy-efficient light emitting diode lights.

Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders is scheduled to make what's being billed as a major announcement today, on efforts to make Vermont a national leader in the area of smart gird technology. Earlier this year The University of Vermont and The Department of Energy's Sandia National Laboratory received funding to create an energy research laboratory in Vermont. The new center is expected to focus on sustainable energy, economic development and creating smart-grid technology that will allow energy consumers greater control over their consumption of power. The announcement is expected in Burlington this morning.

Things are starting to get busy at the Vermont Statehouse, as lawmakers prepare to convene next month. Today, the House Corrections and Institutions Committee and the Senate Institutions committee hold a joint session. Those panels have been grappling with the future of the state office complex in Waterbury. Tomorrow, the House Appropriations Committee meets to work on its middle-of-the-fiscal-year budget adjustment bill. The Mental Health Oversight Committee meets to review proposals for the future of Vermont's mental health system. Also, the House Natural Resources and Energy, Human Services and Ways and Means committees meet in a joint session to discuss how to address cuts in federal funding for home heating aid.

How to pay for a new universal health care system will be the focus of several discussions around Vermont. The Agency of Administration says participants will talk about the challenges facing Vermont's health care system, possible principles for a health care financing system and an overview of potential funding sources. The sessions are designed for the public and stakeholder groups that have been identified by the Legislature. The next sessions will be held on Tuesday night at the Rutland Free Library from 6 to 8PM and Wednesday night at Sheraton Hotel and Conference Center in Burlington.

A new court office is opening in Windsor County. The Springfield office of the Vermont Superior Court Windsor unit will open on Tuesday. It replaces the North Springfield Probate Courthouse, which closed on December 6th. Officials say the new court office is closer to most southern Windsor County residents.

With more illegal immigrants moving beyond the “border states” and a lack of federal immigration reform, some states and communities are coming up with their own enforcement policies. They range from crackdowns to a hands-off approach where police are prohibited from asking about immigration status. Here in Vermont last month Gov. Peter Shumlin changed the state policing policy after two illegal immigrants who were passengers in a pickup truck were handed over to Border Patrol after a traffic stop. Now Vermont troopers will not ask about immigration status when investigating a civil violation, mainly traffic stops. But they can ask about it in investigations of criminal offenses or certain cases of suspicious activity.

A snowboarder from Vermont who suffered a brain injury while in a half-pipe accident is ready to get back on the snow nearly two years later. Kevin Pearce acknowledges that his days of competitive riding are over but he still wants to be on the snow. He'll give it a try Tuesday in Breckenridge, Colorado. Pearce, who's from Norwich, doesn't remember what happened on December 31, 2009, when he hit his head while practicing in Utah for the Olympics.

A general store damaged twice by fire in southern Vermont got a new life Saturday. The Putney General Store reopened for the third time Saturday complete with a ribbon cutting ceremony. It first burned down in May 2008. The store was then bought by the Putney Historical Society and rebuilt. Shortly following, a second fire in November of 2009 leveled it. That fire was ruled arson. After 18 months of rebuilding, Saturday the store opens for the third time. The owner says he is humbled by the communities support.