WVTK Local & State News February 28, 2012

The Middlebury Select-Board will hold its regular meeting this evening at 7 in the Town Offices Conference Room. Items on the agenda include an overview of Plans for Expansion and re-development of property at 1 Mill Street, the former Frog Hollow Gallery and Craft Center. A Report on the Public Works Committee Meeting that was held February 24th that includes the Town Road & Bridge Standards and Sewer System Evaluation Study. And an update will be presented on the Flood Hazard Mitigation planning. Complete details can be found on the Town’s Website.

57-year-old Edwin Webbley was in a Middlebury courtroom Monday. The Vergennes Union High School co-principal pleaded not guilty to drinking and driving. His attorney told the courtroom the educator is on medical leave. While he is awaiting trial the judge told him he is not allowed to drink. Webbley is due back in court in April.

The Fourth Annual Vermont Chili Festival in downtown Middlebury is set to take place Saturday, March 10th, starting at 1:30PM. The Vermont Chamber of Commerce has named the event one of the Top 10 Winter Events for the past three years. It includes street jugglers, face painting, entertainment for kids, live music, a beverage tent, and award-winning chili, all located on the streets of historic Middlebury. Over 3,000 people attended last year’s festivities with even more expected to turn out this year for the headlining event: a chili contest, taking place on Main Street. Get the scoop now at www.vtchilifest.com.

Addison County farmers are preparing for a busy spring planting season. Jim Bushey of Bourdeau Brothers in Middlebury held a multi-day event especially for customers. The big event included seminars, meetings, local foods, and hands-on demonstrations of everything ranging from motorized field equipment to farm and personal insurance. It was the company’s 30th annual customer event that attracts farmers from as far away as Maine.

Charles MacCormack, a 1963 graduate of Middlebury College and longtime president and chief executive officer of the international humanitarian organization Save the Children, will be an executive in residence at Middlebury for the next year. MacCormack received an honorary doctorate from the college in 1982. He expects to spend about two weeks of every month in Middlebury where he looks forward to working with interested students, faculty and staff at an academic institution that has long been at the forefront of research and teaching in languages and international studies. He will be reaching out to faculty and staff to see how he might be able to add value to their courses and programs.

Police searching for the driver involved in a fatal hit and run crash with a pedestrian in Rutland last week said that they are analyzing evidence that indicates the vehicle involved had a black rubber or plastic bumper. Police said last week they were looking for a white sport utility vehicle that was seen speeding away from the scene of a collision that killed 57-year-old Deborah Campbell the night of February 21. Anyone with any information about the crash is asked to call city police at 773-1816.

The Vermont State Police say they are changing their search & rescue policy following the death of a 19-year-old hiker in Ripton. Nineteen-year-old Levis Duclos of New Haven had gone hiking with his dog on January 9th when he did not return home that evening his family called 911. Vermont lawmakers have been working on legislation that would clarify search & rescue policies for emergency responders. State police said yesterday that they are modifying their policy to include notifying a trained local firefighters and Vermont Fish and Wildlife Department as well as a creating a unified command for search and rescues.

The Champlain Water District is pumping out 20 million gallons a day to rate payers across Vermont, now it's asking those customers on Town Meeting Day, to pick up the tab for a multi-million dollar pipeline aimed at boosting reliability. While the pipes aren't presenting major problems now, some sections are 40-years-old and need to be replaced. The district is proposing a new, two-mile pipe that would link the two existing lines together. It would run from Airport Parkway to River Cove Road in Williston and would allow some flexibility for when repairs are made.

Rutland Town School Principal Patricia Beaumont has resigned. Beaumont confirmed her resignation yesterday morning after she was asked to confirm or deny the rumored resignation of her assistant principal Aaron Boynton. She said, in fact, she was the one who was leaving but did not provide a timeline. Beaumont said she was leaving for personal and professional reasons.

Devil’s Bowl Speedway in West Haven has been awarded a grant for capital improvements and facility upgrades worth $10,000 from NASCAR. The prize was awarded last week during a conference at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach. Under its new ownership for 2012, the asphalt half-mile Devil’s Bowl track will see installation of a new concrete retaining wall and paving of the pit garage area access roads. The NASCAR funds are part of a total $100,000 grant divided among ten weekly local speedways. Devil’s Bowl Speedway opens its 46th season of stock car racing on Sunday May 6th.

The looming potential sale of Horace Nye Nursing Home to a private owner upset some Essex County lawmakers yesterday. Some employees of the county-owned facility are also agitated, and they held a demonstration in front of the County Government Complex on Monday afternoon to protest the threatened sale. Bids on the facility are due by March 7, with a $4 million minimum price set by the County Board of Supervisors.

A proposed management plan for an Adirondack wilderness area in southern Essex County includes a segment of the North Country National Scenic Trail, a planned trail from North Dakota to Lake Champlain. The Adirondack Park Agency in Ray Brook is taking public comment on the proposed plan for the Hoffman Notch Wilderness through March 7. The 38,500-acre tract is in the towns of North Hudson, Minerva, and Schroon Lake. The plan includes a 12.5-mile segment of the National Scenic Trail. The Adirondack portion of the national hiking trail would stretch 140 miles from Forestport to Crown Point, including some existing trails. The national trail follows the Finger Lakes Trail across western and central New York. Visit the Adirondack Park Agency HERE.

Gasoline prices in Vermont are continuing to go up. The website www.Vermontgasprices.com says the price of gasoline went up 6.8 cents in the last week to a statewide average of $3.76. That price is up almost 23 cents over the last month and 35 cents over a year ago. Analysts say the price spike is caused by instability in the Middle East, which is driving speculation.

iPad computer tablets have begun popping up on lawmakers' desks in the ornate, 19th-century Vermont House chamber, as have new questions about whether it's OK to use them to get answers to questions during debate. The issue flared up last week as the House debated a complicated bill designed to set up a new health insurance marketplace, or "exchange." Critics of the legislation were asking pointed questions of House Health Care Committee Chairman Mike Fisher. As he answered them, Fisher glanced frequently at the iPad on his desk. Later he said he was getting some help with answers from Robin Lunge, Gov. Peter Shumlin's director of health care reform. Republicans have complained about that, and House Speaker Shap Smith says he'll ask the Rules Committee to review the matter.

Vermont holds its presidential primary next week, 1 of 7 states across the country that will be voting on Super Tuesday. Vermont will send 17 delegates to the Republican convention. The state has not attracted visits from any of the major party candidates seeking the Republican nomination.

Entergy Corp. filed notice with the U.S. District Court in Brattleboro Monday evening saying it would ask the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to review a decision from a federal district court that was widely perceived as being strongly in the company's favor. The company says the court didn't address the possibility that state regulators could close Vermont Yankee by denying it permission to store high-level radioactive waste on its property in Vernon past its originally scheduled March 21 shutdown date. At the same time it files the appeal, it's asking the district court to keep the plant open.

A new Castleton Poll indicates that Mitt Romney is holding a lead over Rick Santorum in the state Republican primary race. The poll shows Romney with support from 34-percent of registered Vermont Republicans, with Santorum at 27-percent, followed by Ron Paul at 14-percent and Newt Gingrich at ten-percent. Overall, Vermont voters greatly favor President Obama for reelection against any of the Republicans. In head to head matchups with Obama, the closest GOP challenger is Mitt Romney, who trails the president by 26 points.

Vermont Governor Peter Shumlin is among a bipartisan group of governors who are calling on Congress to extend renewable energy tax credits. Shumlin says the governors have reached an agreement on the wording of a letter to Congress on the issue. They are calling for a four year extension of the credits, not a one year extension that has been discussed. Shumlin says manufacturers cannot grow without predictability, and that President Obama agrees with that assessment.

Vermont Attorney General Bill Sorrell has reiterated that he is running for reelection this fall. Sorrell announced last fall that he planned to seek reelection, but since then the state lost the Vermont Yankee case and discussion has begun about a possible challenger and a Democratic primary. Sorrell has won six straight elections and has been attorney general since 1997, and says he is proud of his record.

The Vermont primary is a week away, and some 17-year-olds are preparing to cast a vote for the first time. Vermont has changed the state constitution to allow teens who will be 18 by election day in November to vote in primary elections. Residents have until the close of business tomorrow to register to vote if they want to vote in the primary election. A recent Castleton Poll shows that Mitt Romney is leading Rick Santorum by seven points among registered Republicans.

It may be one of the ultimate academic challenges. Put students who have never worked on an engine, in charge of a project to convert a tractor engine to run on a green fuel. A group of Middlebury College physics students are working on a 1948 Ford tractor. They spent their January term carrying on the work of predecessors in 2008. The goal back then was to convert the tractor engine to run on hydrogen. They eventually got the engine to sputter, but that was it. This year's goal is to optimize it to run on propane, methane and hydrogen and really get it actually running as opposed to just turning over on hydrogen.

Whether you are Irish or not you will have two opportunities to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day this year in Ti. The Ticonderoga Knights of Columbus will host its annual Irishman of the Year celebration Saturday, March 10th. Council 333 will honor a local resident at the hall on Montcalm Street. A Knights of Columbus committee selects the Irishman of the Year. A corned beef dinner will be served at 5 PM and the Irishman of the Year will be honored at 7PM. Tickets are $10 and will be available at the door. The event is open to the public.

A little more than a year ago, Vermont filmmakers completed a short documentary on Lake Champlain's battle against growing blooms of blue-green algae caused by increased levels of phosphorus entering the lake. "Bloom, The Plight of Lake Champlain," which won an Emmy, aired on public-television stations in New York and Vermont and fostered discussion focusing on what options were available to offset the growing problem. Those same filmmakers have recently completed a series of follow-up episodes that look at the major contributors to increased phosphorus levels. The series airs on Mountain Lake Television, Channel 57 tomorrow.