WVTK Local & State News April 30, 2012

Seymour Street here in Middlebury will be closed to through traffic tomorrow (Tuesday) from 7AM until 5PM. It will be closed at Main Street and at Elm Street for water main work at the Fire Station. Access to businesses and residences north of the Fire Station will be via the Elm Street End.

The memorial service for Sheriff Jim Coons will be held 11:00 this morning 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.

Fire crews in Ferrisburgh were still on scene this morning cleaning up after a massive overnight fire. The building housed two businesses, Erikson’s marine and a farm equipment repair shop on route 7. At least ten departments were called in to help but it looks as though the building is destroyed. Fire officials still don't know the cause of the fire but say it started in the repair shop. Crews blocked off route 7, just north of Ferrisburgh, but it is now back open. They say a water line in Vergennes broke which also gave them problems getting water to the fire. It will take most of the day to fix it.

Brandon’s waterline project would reroute the village’s waterline to run through the Brandon Inn, behind the buildings and reconnect to the Neshobe River near West Seminary Street. Town Manager Keith Arlund said recently their goal is to complete the rerouting of the waterline before the reconstruction of Route 7. A public forum to further discuss the project and update the Brandon community will be at 7 this evening at the Brandon Congregational Church.

According to police a reported drive-by shooting in Rutland’s northwest neighborhood actually was an accidental shooting that took place inside a home on Cleveland Avenue. Officers were called to Cleveland Avenue shortly after 3:30 on Friday afternoon where they found 22-year-old Brendan Barber lying near the road with a gunshot wound. Barber initially told police someone shot him from a passing car near the intersection of Baxter Street and Library Avenue but eventually told police he was shot by a friend who was showing him a gun. The investigation continues.

Plans to open a methadone clinic on Park Street in Rutland fell apart last week when the property’s owner announced the building was no longer available to rent, according to state and local health officials working to open the clinic. For months, officials with the state Department of Health, Rutland Mental Health and Rutland Regional Medical Center had been eyeing a vacant industrial site owned by Rutland Plywood as the preferred location for a drug treatment center that would serve upward of 75 people a day to start with. Officials met at the end of last week to talk about options moving forward.

Last Thursday afternoon vehicles parked at the Mount Philo State Park were broken into and property was stolen. The unknown suspects broke into the locked vehicles by breaking door windows. Property stolen from one of the vehicles included a black and brown hand bag, a grey leather pocketbook, a red wallet, approximately $300 hundred dollars cash, personal checks, and credit cards. Information was obtained from witnesses in the area indicating the suspects were white males, possibly in their 20s, and they fled the parking lot in a vehicle described as a grey Subaru Impreza with a rear spoiler. If you have any information pertaining to this case, please contact the Vermont State Police in Williston. (802) 878-7111

On behalf of Woodchuck’s Earth Week Campaign, 12,672 trees will be planted in the United States to help purify the air we breathe. According to Woodchuck’s Facebook page, 6,336 fans were added in just one week–an enviable social network achievement by any terms. The nation’s number one hard cider maker marks its third year of a unique partnership with American Forests and the Global ReLeaf program. In those three years Woodchuck has donated a total of 34,722 trees.

The new Ticonderoga Central School District budget raises taxes 3.5 percent but stays under the state tax cap. The basic tax cap is 2 percent, but districts are allowed exclusions for spending on certain items, so Ticonderoga's cap would have been 9 percent. If voters approved the spending plan, the amount to be raised by taxes for 2012-13 would be $10.31 million, up $344,770, a 3.5-percent increase from $9.96 million this year. The budget hearing is at 7PM Tuesday, May 8th at the Elementary-Middle School cafeteria. The budget vote is Noon to 8PM Tuesday, May 15th at Ticonderoga High School and Hague Community Center.

Ticonderoga Montcalm Street Partnership, PRIDE, Ticonderoga Area Chamber of Commerce and Ticonderoga Kiwanis will join forces for a clean-up day on Saturday, May 12th. The community clean up will be 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Volunteers can contact Joyce Cooper at 585-2640 or email gcooper1@nycap.rr.com. Volunteers can also sign-up on the day of the event next to Rathbun Jewelers. Volunteers will be organized into groups and lunch will be provided. As part of the clean-up effort, Good Point Recycling from Middlebury is expected to have a truck at the public parking lot on the corner of Montcalm Street and Champlain Avenue for people to recycle old electronic equipment.

The Elizabethtown Planning Board has scheduled four monthly comprehensive planning workshops at the Town Hall. All at 3:30PM on Wednesdays, the first is this coming Wednesday, and then June 6th, July 11th and August 1st. The public is welcome.

Former Vermont Governor Philip Hoff was honored in Castleton yesterday. Hoff was the first Democratic elected Governor in the state since 1854. He was the guest of honor at a luncheon at Castleton State College and at the end of the event Castleton President David Wolk presented Hoff with a distinct honor, a new campus building in his name. Construction on Hoff Hall is set to be finished this June. It will be a completely solar-powered, 162 bed dormitory.

Former Governor Madeleine Kunin returned to the Statehouse to defend women's rights. Kunin told a crowd of about 200 people on Saturday to stand up for hard-won women’s rights, which she said is suddenly under assault around the country. She spoke at 1 of more than 50 marches and demonstrations staged across the country by members of UniteWomen.org. The aim was to counter legislative and political initiatives, such as ultrasound mandates, "personhood" bills and pay-equity repeals, that women's-rights advocate’s regard as regressive. Senator Bernie Sanders also spoke at the rally.

The National Endowment for the Arts is going to be helping the Vermont Symphony Orchestra conduct its 2012 Made in Vermont Music Festival tour. The tour will include a commissioned work by Vermont composer David Feurzeig. The Vermont Symphony Orchestra is 1 of 788 organizations across the country that will receive a total of $24.8 million in NEA “Art Works” grants. The Vermont Symphony is recommended for a $12,500 grant. The Made in Vermont Tour will take place between September 27th and October 7th. Vermont Symphony Executive Director Alan Jordan says the tour brings music to the state's villages and towns.

Vermont State Police are investigating separate cases in which cars were stolen and then driven into rivers about 75 miles apart. A car stolen from a home in the village of Saxtons River on Saturday was later located in Saxtons River. Anyone with information is asked to contact the Vermont State Police at 802-875-2112. In Plainfield, a vehicle reported stolen Saturday morning was driven over an embankment and down 15 feet into a river. Troopers said the occupants got out of the car and were seen fleeing the scene. The vehicle, which was on its roof submerged in the water, was recovered by a wrecker. Police did not have the name of the river. Anyone with information is asked to call State Police barracks in Middlesex at 802-229-9191.

A nonprofit research group says New Hampshire had the highest average student debt load, followed by Maine at number two and Vermont at number 6. The Project on Student Debt's sixth annual report found that students who graduated from 4-year colleges in Vermont had an average loan debt of $28,391. The study, released in December, found high-debt states concentrated in the Northeast and Midwest.

It was an especially bad weekend for house fires across Vermont, with several reported leaving their owners homeless. There were two fires in southern Vermont, one in Woodstock and one in Chester, with the Red Cross responding to help those families. Another home went up flames in West Berlin, as well as one in Colchester. The head of the American Red Cross in Vermont says the non-profit gets maybe 110 to 155 calls, mostly to house fires in an average year. With two more months to go in the current fiscal year, the Red Cross says it's already gone past that number.

Lawmakers thought they were going to wrap up the current session by last Friday, but it looks like they have at least another week, possibly two to go. They still have items such as passing a budget and redistricting left to deal with, but something they're stuck on is the merger of Green Mountain Power and Central Vermont Public Service. A state board is reviewing the deal but some lawmakers are not happy with the utility putting money owed to customers into programs instead of giving it back. The governor is a strong supporter of the merger, and thinks it's a mistake for lawmakers to get involved.

A man from the town of Pomfret is pleading no contest to theft and is going to jail for thirty days. Scott Simpson is accused of stealing a Civil War cannon. Police say he took the antique from his grandparents' rental property in Woodstock and unloaded it at a pawnshop for cash.

One man is recovering while another faces criminal charges after a car in Brattleboro hit a pedestrian. Police there say Sunday night there was some sort of fight between the two men, and when one walked away on Chickering Drive, the other man followed in a pickup truck and struck him. The Brattleboro Reformer reports Shawn Therieau also knocked out a fire hydrant in the process before speeding away. He was arrested after a short chase and is now facing aggravated assault and drunken driving charges. The victim was treated and released.

Castleton state college now holds the record for the world's longest dodge ball tournament. Students played 41 consecutive hours, wrapping up play Sunday morning at 8AM. The tournament started on Friday afternoon at 3. That shatters the previous record of 31 hours and 10 minutes set by some athletes in Albany, New York.

The Middlebury Maple Run is coming up on Sunday, May 6th. We’re expecting 800-900 runners at this year’s event and could use a few additional volunteers! This is a great opportunity for young and old. We have a variety of jobs that take just a couple of hours. This is one of Middlebury’s premier events that brings more than a thousand people to town including runners, family and guests. More than 40% of them are from out of state. It’s a perfect time to show off what a great community we are by welcoming the runners and making sure they have a great event. Learn more about how you can help right now at www.middleburymaplerun.com.

Butson Hotel Management and the Courtyard by Marriott in Middlebury have announced that they rank in the top 2 percent overall of all Courtyards by Marriott in Guest Satisfaction. The Courtyard by Marriott Middlebury has attained many awards from silver through platinum with Marriott International and many of their staff has been with the company since the first year of business in 2004. With room renovations completed this past January the lobby and café renovations are scheduled to be completed in early 2013.

The Vermont House has passed a resolution thanking 1 of its members for the peanut M&M’s. Representative Ken Atkins, a Winooski Democrat, has carried on a tradition since 1999 in which every time there's a pause in legislative action for a House roll call, he dumps a bunch of M&Ms into a glass jar on his desk and other House members gather around for a snack. The retired teacher says he likes a snack during House action, and he used to tell his students not to bring a snack to class without enough to share. Atkins says he tried putting out plain M&Ms with the peanut ones once, but no one took the plain ones.