WVTK Local & State News January 10, 2012

Two Vermont men have pleaded no contest to catching an endangered lake sturgeon. Dhan Gurung of Winooski and Kamal Pradhan of South Burlington were arrested by game wardens in July after catching the 35-inch sturgeon from Otter Creek in Ferrisburgh. The lake sturgeon is on Vermont's State Endangered Species List. The men were fined $516 a piece and must pay $1000 in restitution. Their licenses they have to hunt, fish or trap in Vermont will be revoked for three years, and they will be required to take a remedial course before being eligible for licenses again.

An alumnus and trustee of Middlebury College recently gifted the college 377 acres of land in Cornwall bordering the school’s historic campus. Willard T. Jackson, a 1951 Middlebury graduate, began donating land parcels to the college in 2007. The final and largest section of 269 acres was donated in December and includes Jackson’s Cornwall home, Taproot. The property, located along Route 125 and Cider Mill Road, is larger than the college’s main campus of 350 acres.

Wind power has arrived at the Northlands Job Corps campus and is capable of powering 20 homes. The installation of the 121-foot-tall wind turbine on the north end of the Northlands Job Corps campus was completed at the end of December. The windmill will be owned and operated by Green Mountain Power, but the Vergennes job-training center will receive 10 percent of its power output. In 2011, Northlands applied for and won the right to host the first wind turbine installation of the Green Mountain Power and Northern Power Systems Community Wind Partnership, which was created to promote local wind power.

The Hub teen center in Bristol has seen the facility and its resources grow and the programming has expanded substantially. And thanks to some substantial grants, all of this has happened without a serious impact on local taxes. The average weekly visits increased from slightly over 64 in April to 106 in November. Organizers have found that keeping kids busy with things they like to do also keeps them out of trouble. The Hub is also attracting other new visitors. The Mount Abe football team this fall reviewed game tapes there, and it’s often used during the day for tutoring.

Heading into its second year, Hogback Community College has doubled its course offerings and is expanding it’s classes to incorporate courses in health, acting and even home brewing. The first classes start later this month with some getting under way later in the spring. The college is based in the five-town region around Bristol and is and offshoot of Vermont Family Forests, which is a local nonprofit dedicated to environmental conservation.

Community College of Vermont students will have a shiny new building waiting for them when classes resume January 23rd in Rutland. The recently completed 32,000-square-foot building at the corner of West and Wales Streets offers more classes and larger classrooms for the 800 students who study in about 140 classes at the Rutland campus each regular semester. The school will hold a grand opening ceremony in February for the more than $8 million project.

All interested families are welcome to visit Christ the King School and Mount Saint Joseph Academy in Rutland during the schools’ upcoming winter open houses in the upcoming weeks. Mount Saint Joseph Academy will hold its open house at 7PM Thursday, January 26th. Christ the King School's open house will take place at 5:30PM Thursday February 2nd. Tuition assistance programs are available. No RSVP is necessary to attend either open house. For more information visit www.rutlandcatholicschools.org.

Everyone has a role to play as schools take measures to prevent bullying including parents. That’s why Crown Point Central School will host a bullying prevention program for parents Thursday, January 19th at 6PM. The program has been billed “Promoting Respect and Acceptance at CPCS.” Last fall Crown Point school adopted a Bullying Prevention Program that has been used successfully in schools all over the country and around the world.

Elizabethtown Community Hospital has entered into a process to purchase the Smith House clinic in Willsboro. The hospital is awaiting state approval, which is expected by Spring. ECH officials said the purchase price wouldn’t be released until the sale is finalized and the information becomes public record.

Individuals and groups have banded together in Essex, NY to erect new signs, beautify and provide activities throughout the year. Two new signs have been installed at the western and northern ends of the hamlet of Essex by a group of volunteers called the Beautification Committee. They obtained a grant from the Essex Community Fund/Adirondack Community Trust to pay for one and raised private funds for the other. Each sign cost around $1,300.

Seven candidates have filed to be on the ballot in Vermont's presidential primary in March. The Republicans are Mitt Romney, Newt Gingrich, Ron Paul, Rick Perry, Rich Santorum and Jon Huntsman. The lone Democrat is Barack Obama.

Pilots with the Vermont Air National Guard will be practicing night missions this month. F-16 aircraft will be taking off and landing in South Burlington after dark on several nights throughout the rest of the month. The trainings start today.

Vermont's former Agriculture Secretary Roger Allbee is joining Vermont Technical College as a consultant and advisor to the school's president. One of the school's areas of growth is in diversified agriculture. VTC president Philip Conroy says Albee's broad interest in the field makes him well equipped to help it respond to new developments in the industry.

Burlington city council voted 8-6 to ban smoking around Church Street. The proposal would prohibit smoking in almost all downtown areas from 9 in the morning to 9 at night. The penalty for violating the ordinance ranges from $50 to $100 dollars, although officers will first have to give out a warning.

An industrial kitchen with professional ovens and mixers may not seem like the traditional business incubator, but its creators hope it'll lead to the next Ben and Jerry's or Cabot cheese. The nearly $4 million Vermont Food Venture Center in Hardwick features 15,000 square feet of industrial kitchen space, funded with a mix of federal and state money, and grants. Economic development leaders say the center should be a model for states looking to add value to farm products.

Officials with the Vermont Transportation Agency and other groups are going to be talking about improving services at the Newport State Airport. The expansion will benefit Newport and other communities, including the Jay Peak ski resort and other businesses along the U.S. Canadian border.

Lieutenant Governor Phil Scott is thanking the Vermonters who offered him support after a fire destroyed the building that housed his business, DuBois Construction in Middlesex. Scott says friends, colleagues in the Legislature and state government as well as competitors have expressed their condolences and offered help. He says he's "honored and humbled" by the support.

New data from the Vermont Department of Mental Health appear to add fuel to the fire of criticism that several drugs widely used with the mentally ill raise the risk of diabetes in those patients. The Department of Mental Health looked at Medicaid recipients who were getting drugs known as atypical antipsychotic medications in 2005 and found them 60% more likely than those not getting the drugs to have diabetes.

Two Burlington police officers are being credited with possibly saving the life of a man threatening to commit suicide by jumping off a bridge linking the Vermont cities of Burlington and Winooski. A passer-by spotted the 41-year-old male Saturday night. He was on the top of the bridge rail. Officer Jennifer Cousins was the first to arrive and found the man sitting on the railing with his legs over the rail and threatening to jump. Police also brought in trained negotiator Officer Laura Pezzulo.

New York auditors report widespread compliance by local governments with the 2 percent property tax cap imposed by state law, though 177 exercised the option to pass resolutions or local laws and exceed that limit. The State Comptroller says the next challenge will come when the cap takes effect for school districts working on their 2012-2013 budgets. The cap was pushed by Gov. Andrew Cuomo and approved by the Legislature in June. It generally limits annual increases to 2 percent or the inflation rate.

In just a few weeks, Addison County musician Mark LaVoie will be heading to the tropics on a sold-out luxury cruise. The East Monkton harmonica player forms one part of a blues-roots duo with New York City-based blues singer Bill Sims Jr. They will be one of nearly 30 groups to perform aboard the weeklong Legendary Rhythm and Blues Cruise in the Caribbean.

Fort Ticonderoga’s new winter series of programs begins on Sunday, January 22nd at 2PM with a “Winter Landscape Snowshoe Trek.” People can discover Fort Ticonderoga’s landscape while exploring the wide variety of tree species that grow along the shores of Lake Champlain near the historic fort and King’s Garden. The cost is $10 a person and will be collected at the door. It is free for members of the Friends of Fort Ticonderoga. Participants must provide their own snowshoes. Learn more at www.Fort-Ticonderoga.org.

The last 24 hours have seen a number of changes to the Burlington areas restaurant scene. Two Friendly's shops closed for good and a popular southern burger joint had customers lining up out the door for its grand opening. Freshly made burgers and hand-cut fries brought big business to the new Five Guys restaurant in South Burlington Monday. Five Guys will be keeping a close eye on the Shelburne Road location. If it is successful, the chain could add restaurants on Church Street, in Williston and Rutland.