WVTK Local & State News April 26, 2012

A short-lived power outage affected downtown Vergennes yesterday morning. According to Vermont Outages, the source of the outage was a transformer located on a pole along MacDonough Drive. Businesses and residences along Main Street and other streets were without electricity for 45-50 minutes. A utility crew fixed the unit and power was returned by 11 AM.

The memorial service for Sheriff Jim Coons will be held 11:00 AM on Monday, April 30th at Mead Chapel at Middlebury College with the reception immediately following at the American Legion Post on Wilson Road behind G. Stone Motors. There is NO PARKING area at the chapel. Public parking is provided at the Center For Fine Arts and at the Nelson Arena on Route 30 and at the American Legion Post. Shuttle van and busses have been arranged to bring people from the parking areas to the Chapel. The Legion shuttle will run between 9:30 and 10 only. Please do not use Route 125 Hillside or Adirondack View for parking.

Vermont's League of Innovative Schools is adding to its ranks. The Vermont Education Department announced that Vergennes Union Middle and High School have been inducted into the group. The league is designed to promote innovative strategies and best practices in classrooms across the state. Vergennes will begin piloting proficiency-based graduation requirements with its incoming freshman class. The high school's co-principal, Ed Webbley, is crediting leadership from his teachers for the accomplishment. The department of education also recognized Vergennes for its experiential learning program that has students’ complement what they're learning in the classroom with different hands-on activities outside of school.

Chefs at Middlebury College's main dining hall are seeing a lot of green. They've opened their kitchen to 10,000 pounds of donated avocados. The fruit came in 400 crates from a Middlebury parent in California earlier this month. The culinary team at Middlebury was quick to find a spot for the produce on their menus. The lunch menu yesterday had avocados in everything from quiches to a bowl where people could chop them up for themselves for salads and snacks. Students’ say they're easy to find and much appreciated.

The Addison County Chamber of Commerce announced a change in ownership of Almost Home Market in Bristol. The new owners are Beth Marr of Vergennes and Gary Smith of Bristol. A ribbon cutting ceremony was held recently to celebrate Almost Home’s new ownership. The new owners believe that successful businesses are built one customer at a time and they promise to provide the freshest, most interesting local foods, fresh baked pastries, gifts for the home chef and hand selected wines and beer. The pair will be using local ingredients including items from their kitchen garden. They will also be adding new items such as hand cut steaks, chicken, fish and artisanal cheeses and smoked/cured meats.

Rutland's proposed 2-mile bike path is back on track. The project was set to go to bid last fall, but Tropical Storm Irene put plans on hold. Now, the city is set to start phase one in July. The path will go from Giorgetti Park through quiet neighborhoods and along waterways until it ends at the College of St. Joseph. About $1 million in grants and donations are funding the project. But organizers say it could cost up to $1.8 million, so they are hoping for more donations in the future.

A series of vehicle break-ins in Rutland Town has state police looking for the thief. A number of break-ins on Victoria Drive took place between midnight and 4:30AM Wednesday. In one instance a handgun was taken from a vehicle. Vermont State Police Trooper Rene Klementowski said the vehicles that were broken into were GMC models that were locked by their owners, which prompted police to suspect that a general key or remote was used to gain entry. Anyone with information about the break-ins is asked to contact the Vermont State Police.

Brandon Music is pleased to announce the appointment of Donna Towle as head chef of the Brandon Music Café. Towle has over ten years experience in the food service industry, having held positions in delis as well as restaurants, including Back To Vermont in Poultney, the Iron Lantern Restaurant in Bomoseen, where she worked as prep cook and baker, and Castleton Pizza and Deli. Towle has won four awards for her chili, which will be featured on the menu at the Music Café, along with her other baked goods. Towle is excited to be in her new position at the Brandon Music Café, since she has always enjoyed cooking, especially for her two boys. Learn more at www.brandon-music.net.

The Addison County Economic Development Corporation has been awarded a Rural Business Enterprise Grant by USDA Rural Development to be used for an economic gardening pilot program with four Addison County businesses. The ACEDC will work with the Edward Lowe Foundation in conjunction with National Center for Economic Gardening to run the program. Economic gardening is an innovative, entrepreneur-centered economic growth strategy that offers balance to the traditional economic practice of business recruitment, often referred to as "economic hunting".

The Ticonderoga Heritage Museum will host the 10th annual Taste of Ti on Thursday, May 17th at 6:30PM in the Ticonderoga Elementary/Middle School cafeteria. Tickets are $17.50 and are on sale now at Rathbun Jewelers and the Ticonderoga Area Chamber of Commerce office. All money raised from this event benefits the museum’s free summer children’s workshops and other free programs that take place at the Heritage Museum.

Jay Supervisor Randy Douglas appointed three of his peers to the Horace Nye Pending Sale Evaluation Sub-Committee late last week, along with Office for the Aging Director Patty Bashaw and Horace Nye Home Registered Nurse Sabrina Westover. Douglas named Lewis Supervisor David Blades as the chair of the sub-committee, with Elizabethtown Supervisor Margaret Bartley and Minerva Supervisor Sue Montgomery Corey as fellow members. County Public Health Director Linda Beers was named as an alternate and advisor for the committee. Douglas said that the task of the newly formed group was to visit and evaluate the operations of the private firms that submitted bids for the purchase of the Horace Nye Nursing Home.

New York state education officials are admitting that two questions on this week's standardized math tests don't add up. The state's third- through eighth-graders have three days of math tests starting Wednesday. That's after three days of English tests last week. But the state Education Department told principals Monday that one question on the fourth grade math test has two right answers and one question on the eighth grade test has no right answer. Department spokesman Tom Dunn says the errors are just typos and the questions will not count.

Governor Peter Shumlin is hailing what he calls good news on the corrections front: Vermont has seen a reduction in its prison population, while its crime rates also are down. Numbers released yesterday show Vermont's inmate population has dropped by more than 140 since 2008, to 2,059 people behind bars. It had been projected to grow by 26% between 2008 and 2018.

Governor Peter Shumlin is accusing some Vermont lawmakers of pandering for votes in their fight to get refunds to ratepayers of Central Vermont Public Service Corporation. A group of legislators has been pushing for $21 million to be repaid to ratepayers in checks for extra money they paid a decade ago to get CVPS out of financial trouble.

A man found dead in a swimming pool last week is no longer considered the prime suspect in a string of robberies in St. Albans. Chris Davis was 22 and from Swanton, and his death so far has been ruled "suspicious." Police now say a woman who used a debit card belonging to Davis has some explaining to do. While they believe they know how she got his card, they don't believe she's responsible for his death. They also now believe he was likely dead by the time the two hold-ups in St. Albans were committed.

The former Chief Financial Auditor at Dartmouth College is accused in the misappropriation of hundreds of thousands of dollars from college and non-profit groups in Vermont and New Hampshire. Bruce D. McAllister is 79 and from Thetford, and he pleaded guilty yesterday in U-S District Court in Burlington to a single wire fraud charge. That involved a co-ed fraternity at the college and a private fishing club in Bridgewater. Prosecutors say the siphoning of funds went on for about 25 years.

A new publication is helping forest managers prepare for a possible infestation of an invasive beetle. The emerald ash borer has destroyed tens of millions of ash tress over the past decade. Ash Management Guidelines for Forest Managers can be found on the Vermont Forest, Parks and Recreation web site or through a county forester.

The Vermont Senate has voted to allow police access without a search warrant to a database of Vermonters' prescriptions that is maintained by the Vermont Department of Health. In an 18-11 vote after more than two hours of debate on Wednesday, the Senate rejected the arguments of some members that allowing police access to the database would violate rights against search and seizure promised by the U.S. and Vermont constitutions. The majority sided with those saying police access would not be unlimited, and that investigators need to be able to crack down on an epidemic of prescription drug abuse in the state. The House earlier voted to require a search warrant before police got access to the database. A conference committee likely will have to work out the difference.

The Vermont Senate is set to debate a miscellaneous tax bill including a new $7.5 million tax on the Vermont Yankee nuclear plant. Backers’ say the tax is needed to replace money that Vermont Yankee had been paying into state coffers to support renewable energy. The agreement calling for those payments ended March 21, the date the plant was originally set to shut down. The plant is continuing to operate, and backers of the tax say it should end up with Vermont Yankee paying about what it did before. Critics of the tax call it unfair and punitive.

Snake Mountain Bluegrass will perform at the Vergennes Opera House this Saturday at 8PM. This local, Vermont-style bluegrass band featuring banjo, fiddle, mandolin and tight harmony vocals, will be performing a variety of old and new songs along with some originals. The Connor Sisters will join the band for a special performance. Middlebury College teacher Gregg Humphrey and Middlebury construction company owner Mike Connor formed Snake Mountain Bluegrass about twenty-five years ago.

Maine has been named the most peaceful state in the country by the Institute for Economics and Peace. Researchers looked at several factors including the number of homicides, violent crimes and the incarceration rate. However Vermont is the second most peaceful state, followed by New Hampshire. Just avoid Louisiana, which landed at the bottom of the list.

Coming up tomorrow in Glenbrook Gym, Castleton State College students will attempt to break the Guinness World Record for the longest dodge ball tournament. The event will raise money for Right to Play, an international humanitarian organization that uses sport and play as tools to affect social and behavioral change. The current dodge ball tournament that Guinness has on record is from Albany. They set the record for 31 hours and 10 minutes. Castleton’s goal is 40 hours straight. The tournament will begin at 4PM Friday and will continue straight through until 8AM Sunday. The volunteers feature 20 athletes, 10 boys and 10 girls, from seven different varsity sports.