WVTK Local & State News February 8, 2012

Vergennes City residents will have the opportunity to meet again to tackle drug concerns tonight. Vergennes Police Chief George Merkel estimated about 100 area residents attended the January 11th meeting. Merkel said those who attended broke into groups to brainstorm what is hoped to be an effort to curb illegal drug use and sales in the area. The next gathering is set for 7 this evening at Vergennes Union High School, in the library.

There will be an information meeting for the Middlebury Business Development Fund tomorrow at 7:00 PM in the Ilsley Library Public Meeting Room. In preparation for the Middlebury Business Development Fund vote at Town Meeting in March, the committee will present for discussion the proposal contained in two articles on the Town Meeting Warning, one to establish the fund and the second to raise 1 cent on the tax rate annually for the next five years for the fund. These articles will be voted from the floor at Town Meeting on Monday, March 5th. You can visit the Town’s website for more information.

Vermont State Police are investigating burglaries at 2413 and 2525 Shacksboro Road in the Town of Shoreham. These residences are located next to one another and were entered by force with no one home at the time. Items taken include a flat screen TV, digital cameras, jewelry, watches, blank checks, a digital photo frame, and possibly a .22 cal Rifle. Anyone with information is being asked to contact the VSP in New Haven. (802-388-4919)

Four attacks against women walking in Rutland’s lower Church Street area has city police advising caution and asking anyone with information for help. In two incidents on Church Street, one on Williams Street and one on Elm Street last month, three women reported that a man assaulted them before fleeing on foot. None of the women were seriously injured. The attacker, described as a white man in his mid 20s. Police are on the lookout for suspicious activity in the area and said women walking at night should exercise vigilance. Anyone with information about the incident is asked to call Rutland City Police. (802-773-1816)

The Vergennes Opera House is currently soliciting donations for its upcoming Used Instrument Sale & Auction being held on March 10th and 11th. All types of musical instruments and accessories are welcome including guitars, trumpets, drums, amps, saxophones, and keyboards. Instruments or equipment should be in good working order or easily repairable. For more information and a donation form call 802-877-6737. Proceeds benefit the Friends of the Vergennes Opera House. The Used Instrument Sale is part of the Opera House’s “Local Music Showcase Weekend” which also features a benefit concert on March 10th with “Panton Flats” and a Young Musicians Recital on March 11th featuring up-and-coming talent.

Police have cited a co-principal at Vergennes Union High School for DUI. Investigators say Edwin Webbley of Bristol, ran into the back of his garage with his vehicle Monday evening. His wife called police seeking assistance and said her husband was very drunk and was a danger to himself and others. Police say they determined Webbley was driving drunk. He was taken into custody and cited for DUI. He's due in court February 27th. Thomas O'Brien, the superintendent for Addison Northwest, said Webbley is on medical leave.

Green Mountain Power Corp. and Central Vermont Public Service Corp. have launched a merger website, www.gmpcvpsmerger.com. The joint GMP-CVPS site contains information on the pending merger for customers, including the package of merger benefits, as well as a calendar highlighting the state and federal regulatory approval process now underway. The site also includes status updates on required approvals necessary for the sale of CVPS to GMP’s parent, Gaz Metro Limited Partnership, and the merger of the two Vermont utilities.

Moriah’s town board meetings have finally returned home. The meetings are now held the second Thursday of each month at 6PM at the newly expanded and renovated court building, adjacent to the town hall at Park Place in Port Henry. The move to the court necessitated a change in the meeting day. Moriah’s town board had met the second Tuesday of each month for decades, but the switch was made to the second Thursday to accommodate the court schedule.

The Moriah Chamber of Commerce is reorganizing with hopes of forging an alliance with the Ticonderoga Area Chamber of Commerce. Membership in the Moriah chamber has dwindled in recent years. At the same time two new groups formed in the community that include the Moriah Economic Development Group and PH7, a group that focuses on activities in the village of Port Henry. The Moriah Economic Development Group and PH7 will become committees of the reorganized Moriah chamber. Immediate goals of the reorganized Moriah chamber are to increase membership, to improve the annual Champ Day celebration and to make the annual Labor Day festivities bigger and better.

Essex County lawmakers say modifications must be made to the new judge's bench in the main county courtroom to prevent witnesses from potentially assaulting the presiding jurist. Recently completed courtroom renovations created a blind spot between the judge's bench, witness stand, jury box and court clerk's desk. A master carpenter will be hired to perform the corrective modification.

Amtrak says the railroad responsible for maintaining the tracks traveled by a passenger train in Vermont has moved from one of the poorest-performing sites to a top performer within a year. It’s a turnaround for Vermont Rail Systems, which was issued a contract violation notice last year from Amtrak. Amtrak says the travel time between Rutland and Whitehall, part of the Ethan Allen Express route, is 15 minutes faster. Travel north is 25 minutes faster. The Ethan Allen Express has gained more than 1,200 riders along the Vermont-supported route between Albany and Rutland from October 2011 to December 2011.

Three Vermont groups are going to share up to $34 million as part of a 5-year grant from the Environmental Protection Agency to promote energy efficiency. The organizations will provide technical, analytical and outreach assistance to the national ENERGY STAR program in the commercial, institutional, and industrial sectors.

Health officials say fish found in a northern Vermont lake show about the same levels of 2 radioactive isotopes as those found earlier in the Connecticut River near the Vermont Yankee nuclear plant. Fish taken from Lake Carmi in Enosburg Falls showed levels of radioactive material in their bones. The findings are believed to be tied to atmospheric testing of nuclear bombs decades ago and to the Chernobyl nuclear accident in 1986.

More than 300 students from the Vermont State Colleges are demanding the state boost its funding for its state college system. The young people descended on the Statehouse yesterday to rally and point out that Vermont provides its colleges the second-lowest funding per student in the country, with the result that tuition at the schools is among the highest for public colleges in the country.

The latest standardized test results show that fewer than half of Vermont 11th graders were proficient in math and science and state education officials want to find some way to improve that figure. Commissioner Armando Vilaseca says the state is surveying schools to see what math courses students are required to take.

1 of 7 suspects in a five-state burglary ring has been arrested in New Hampshire. 21-year-old Logan Critchfield was arrested yesterday in Keene and charged with burglary and being a fugitive from justice. He is 1 of 7 people suspected of committing 60 burglaries in Vermont, 30 in New Hampshire, four in Massachusetts, four in Maine and one in Virginia. Police say thieves mostly targeted small businesses without alarm systems in the early morning hours, often breaking through a window to take cash and other items. Four suspects were arrested Saturday; two were already in custody in New Hampshire on unrelated charges.

A Vermont judge says the Essex police may get fingerprints from a suspect police believe broke into the home of a couple who disappeared in June. The suspect was required to appear at the police station on January 12th. Acting Police Chief Brad LaRose said the man is considered a suspect in the burglary of the home of William and Lorraine Currier in June. He says the suspect has abided by the court order. The suspect's name is blacked out in court records released to the Burlington Free Press. The Curriers were last seen leaving their jobs on June 8th. Their car was found in a parking lot of an apartment complex about a mile from their home. The Curriers has not been found.

A Vermont company that manages billions for large investors has been sold. Dwight Asset Management was founded in Burlington almost 30 years ago. Today, it employs about 100 people in its downtown headquarters. The company handles investments for corporations, insurance companies, retirement funds and foundations. It currently manages about $42 billion. Dwight's parent company, Old Mutual Asset Management, has now sold the company to Goldman Sachs for an undisclosed price. No word on what impact the sale might have on local employees.

A self-described Presidential historian pleaded guilty yesterday to stealing hundreds of pages of historic documents from institutions including UVM. Barry Landau now faces up to 15 years in jail for stealing and planning to sell rare works from museums and libraries along the east coast. From the FDR Presidential library in New York to the Maryland Historical Society, even UVM, where multiple items disappeared including signed letters from Presidents Taft, Wilson and both Roosevelt’s’. Prosecutors say Landau spent years planning the thefts. Landau's assistant also pleaded guilty.

This Saturday from 7- 9PM, Bristol’s Holley Hall will host “A Century of American Humor”, a Vaudeville-style variety show of skits, songs, and poems. The local production will include the wit of W.C. Fields and Dorothy Parker, comedy routines of Charlie Chaplin, the Marx Brothers, Abbott and Costello, and Bert and I, as well as radio and television classics such as “The Bickersons,” “Baby Snooks,” and “Edith Ann.” Admission is by voluntary donation and refreshments will be available. The show is a fundraiser to improve the acoustics in Holley Hall and is sponsored by the Bristol Recreation Department.