WVTK Local & State News January 12, 2012

Your Forecast For Addison & Essex County: A Winter Weather Advisory is in Effect for Addison, Rutland & Essex County New York. Snow and Mixed Precipitation are expected throughout the day. Rutland County is also under a Wind Advisory through this afternoon.

A storm off the coast of New England is expected to bring just what many winter sports enthusiasts have been longing for: snow. Vermont is expected to get anywhere from 3 to 6 inches today, followed by sleet or freezing rain. The forecast is welcome news for winter tourism businesses.

At this week’s Middlebury Select-Board meeting Project Manager Amy Sheldon reported on the work of the River Management Task Force during the month of December and in January to date. Planning Commission Chairperson Nancy Malcolm gave the Board an overview of the Town Planning process and a status report on the update. The current Town Plan expires in June and the Planning Commission has been working diligently to prepare a revised Town Plan for review in a series of public meetings both before the Planning Commission and Select-Board in the coming months before the plan is re-adopted. Meanwhile Fire Station Committee Members updated the Board on the project, which is progressing as anticipated, on time and on budget. If the bond for the project is approved at Town Meeting, the construction of the stations will begin the first week of May 2012. And the proposed preliminary FY13 General Fund Budget is warned for public hearing on Tuesday, January 17th at 7:30PM. Stay up to date and get further details on the Town Of Middlebury’s website.

A volunteer firefighter and his two-year-old son have been released from the hospital after a blaze broke out at their home. Cornwall resident Bob Stone and his son were in the bathroom when he heard popping noises and the lights began to flicker. Investigators said the fire started by the kitchen stove, but a cause hasn't been determined yet. Volunteer firefighters said they arrived just in time to prevent a total loss. They said the blaze didn't extend far beyond the kitchen and likely caused about $20,000 worth of damage. Bob and his son had minor smoke inhalation and went to the hospital as a precaution. Crews from Middlebury and Weybridge assisted on the fire.

Heavy snowfall is more than just a problem on roads and sidewalks. It can wreak major havoc around the home. The New York State Energy Research and Development Authority advises homeowners to watch out for the development of dangerous icicles and ice dams on roofs that can cause serious structural damage. Heavy snowfall, followed by days of freezing temperatures and sudden sunny days are conditions that cause dams.

Gov. Peter Shumlin is putting the final touches on his plan for how to spend your money. Shumlin will outline his spending priorities in a budget address today. The governor says rebuilding the state after Irene will be a big focus. He also plans to propose investing more in higher education and job training. He wants to revamp how state government works and would like to consolidate workers and agencies. He says that means some state workers will relocate to Barre.

As Gov. Andrew Cuomo prepares to release his proposed 2012-13 budget next week, a state official says state agencies are cutting another 2.5 percent from their spending. The chairwoman of the new state ethics commission says that all agencies are cutting 2.5 percent. Cuomo's budget division won't say if all agencies, or even overall agency spending, will be cut by 2.5 percent. That won't be released until Cuomo presents his budget to the Legislature on Tuesday. Agencies including the public university systems have been cut for three years.

Vermont State Police said they are receiving complaints about “mystery shopper” scams. They said people have gotten offers about making purchases at stores, working on behalf of retailers and product manufacturers. The prospective shopper is asked to deposit a check into their bank account, then withdraw the money and send a specified amount via Western Union to a destination typically outside of the United States, and then asked to evaluate the customer service they received. Police said although it appears to be an easy way to make some extra money after the holidays, consumers should be skeptical of the offer.

The first radio towers and microwave dishes for the new multi-million-dollar Essex County public-safety radio system should start going up this year. The entire communications network should be ready for use by spring 2013 according to the Essex County Emergency Services Director. The purchase of end-user radios, for fire departments, police and the rest, will be funded with a $2 million state grant.

The state Department of Taxes says it has contacted the three people who, due to a computer glitch, had access to Social Security numbers and other personal information belonging to people and businesses that were part of a weekly property tax data package. The department says 2 of the three could not even open or see the data file, as it was corrupted. They did not share the file with anyone and destroyed it.

The Vermont National Guard is hosting the North American Cup series biathlon races this weekend. The races will be held on a course at the Camp Ethan Allen Training Site in Jericho. The event will include a mix of top U.S. and Canadian civilian biathletes competing alongside National Guard biathletes.

A teacher from Saxtons River has been fired after becoming the target of a police investigation. The Vermont Academy tells the Brattleboro Reformer that Brant Nelson was terminated last week after the school learned about criminal activity that Nelson was allegedly engaged in. Neither police nor the school are releasing any details about the investigation. Nelson has not been arrested.

Turning milk into cheese, apples into cider and trees into furniture are the keys to keeping Vermont's working landscape vital in the future. That's the idea behind a bill introduced yesterday by a group of lawmakers and the Vermont Working Landscape Partnership. The bill calls for a new fund to be set up for loans and grants to small entrepreneurs who are trying to add value to the raw materials harvested in Vermont.

Republicans in the Vermont House say they want to cut funding for a housing and land conservation program they've long targeted, and put the money into helping the victims of Tropical Storm Irene. That was 1 of the goals outlined by House Republican Leader Don Turner this week. This year, Turner says he'd use the money to create a low or no-interest loan fund for people who had lost their homes due to flooding from Irene. With only 48 Republicans out of 150 House members, that and other proposals outlined by Turner are deemed unlikely to pass, at least as the versions that the Republicans are proposing.

The Shumlin Administration wants the public to have more of a role in managing Vermont's statewide electric grid. The suggestion for more public oversight came as regulators review the planned sale of Vermont's largest electric company. GazMetro of Montreal won the right to buy CVPS and merge it with Green Mountain Power. The combined company would own a majority stake in the Vermont Electric Power Company, which manages the statewide transmission network. But critics questioned if the deal would concentrate too much control into one, Canadian-owned corporation.

Vermonter Tommy Watson saw an elderly man die at a school soccer game last fall, and has been on a mission since then to get people trained to do cardio-pulmonary resuscitation. The Williston Central School eighth-grader traveled to the Statehouse on Wednesday to urge passage of legislation that would require that all Vermonters get CPR training before they graduate from high school.

An Eden man has been sentenced to 2½ years in prison on charges of selling stolen gold coins and assaulting a prison official. A federal judge also sentenced 31-year-old Joshua Benjamin to three years of supervised release and ordered him to pay $201,000 to the victim of the theft.

The Ticonderoga Federal Credit Union will host their its annual cell phone drive January and February. Cell phones donated at TFCU branches will be given to the STOP Domestic Violence Center in Essex County where they will be turned into emergency 911 phones for domestic violence survivors. More than 200 phones have been collected through TFCU’s previous drives.


For nearly half of 13-year old Courtney Clark’s life, her father has been in war zones with the U.S. Army. She’s a student at Moriah Central School and is a member of the Moriah Central School girl’s choir, which has been selected to perform this spring at Disney World in Florida. Members of the group have been raising money to make the trip. To help out he Combat Veterans Motorcycle Association Chapter 19-3 contributed $850 while the Combat Veterans Motorcycle Association Chapter 19-2 of Fort Drum donated $350 and the Combat Veterans Motorcycle Association Chapter 26-2 of Vermont gave $250 for Courtney’s Disney adventure. Overall the Moriah choir must raise about $28,000 to cover the costs of the trip.

The blues are coming to Ticonderoga. Knights of Columbus Council 333 will host a “Mid-Winter Blues Night” Saturday, January 28th at its lounge on Montcalm Street. The event will include a happy hour 6 to 8 p.m. and the show 8 to 11PM. Ernie Williams and his band will be the featured performers. Tickets are priced at $15 a person and $25 a couple.

Hinesburg Winter Carnival kicks off February 11th at 8AM. The day will be filled with a variety of activities for young and old alike. It starts with the annual town waffle breakfast held at the Hinesburg Community School. In addition there will be children's activities including crafts, face painting, and a visit by Clifford the Big Red Dog. Admission to the waffle breakfast is $6 for adults, $4 for children 3-12 and children under age 2 are free. The waffle breakfast is a benefit for the Hinesburg Nursery School, a non-profit, parent cooperative preschool operating for over 30 years in the heart of the village.