The annual Memorial Day Parade in Vergennes drew
thousands, as it usually does, in what turned out to likely be the biggest
Memorial Day parade in what residents call the state's smallest city. This was at least the 57th year of the
parade, with 90 floats, and the usual school marching bands and
politicians. After the parade,
however, is when things turned somber, with speakers remembering and honoring
the fallen. That includes more
than three dozen Vermonters who lost their lives in Afghanistan and Iraq.
New Haven State Police are investigating a rash of
mailbox vandalism's, which occurred on Saturday May 26th at
approximately 4 AM on Royce Hill Road, Fisher Road, Murray Road and several
other roads in the town of Orwell. If you have any information regarding the
vandalism's please contact Trooper Doxsee at the State Police barracks in New
Haven. (802-388-4919)
An informational meeting about the South Street
& Green Mountain Place Project will be held this Thursday at 5:30 PM in the
MVAA Conference Room. In response
to input from the public meeting held in April, the Town will present traffic
calming concepts for the project. The meeting will be taped by MCTV.
Regional educators can again pick up techniques for
the classroom from one of the area’s most impressive instructors: Lake
Champlain. The Champlain Basin
Education Initiative is hosting an 11-day course for K through 12 educators,
including a five-day session in July that will focus on field-based exploration
of the Lake Champlain Basin. Participants will canoe the LaPlatte River,
explore Mount Philo with a geologist, row longboats while discussing history
with the Lake Champlain Maritime Museum staff, tour International Paper and
explore the Ausable River from headwaters to Lake Champlain.
When they mobilized following Irene, they didn't
intend to still be around nine months later, but the group Restoring Rutland
has found they are still needed. The group says some in Rutland County are still without
homes and lacking basic necessities. They are continuing to raise needed funds.
Last week, a silent auction in Rutland raised over 7-thousand dollars, which
will be distributed to local aid groups in and around Rutland County. Members
of Restoring Rutland plan to host another fundraiser sometime in the near
future.
Killington is forming two new committees to study
ways to keep taxes low and get more people to move to the mountain resort town,
which would in turn grow the tax base.
The town is asking interested residents to apply for the committees by
June 7. The Select Board is
seeking candidates interested in serving on volunteer committees to analyze how
the community can grow its full-time population. Anyone interested in applying
to be on the committees can mail a letter of interest to the Killington Select
Board.
The 2012 Ticonderoga Area Farmers Market sponsored
by the Ticonderoga Area Chamber of Commerce in coordination with Inter-Lakes
Health will take place on Saturday’s from June 30th through October 13th, 2012
(weather permitting). The Farmers
Market will be located on Route 9N south of Moses Circle and Liberty Monument except
on Saturday, July 28th where the market will be in downtown Ticonderoga for the
4th Annual StreetFest. Farmers and vendors interested in
participating in the market should contact the Chamber at 518-585-6619,
chamberinfo@ticonderogany.com, visit www.ticonderogany.com or stop by the
office located at 94 Montcalm Street in downtown Ticonderoga.
Ticonderoga’s teachers would like to thank everyone
who came out to McDonald’s on May 1st and supported their efforts to raise
funds. Local instructors flipped burgers and waited on customers during the
third annual McTeacher Night. McTeacher
Night raised $4,000, which will be used for long overdue renovations at the
kindergarten playground area at the Ticonderoga Elementary-Middle School. The
playground committee also would like to express its appreciation to the all the
teachers who worked at McTeacher Night and to the community members whose support
made this a success.
Vermont is dropping its request for a waiver from the federal No Child Left Behind law. President Obama said last year states were allowed to apply for the waiver in order to get flexibility in how they meet the strict requirements of the federal law. Vermont was one of 37 to apply for the waiver, but the U.S. Department of Education told the state more information was needed. The State Board of Education has since voted unanimously to drop the request, deciding it wasn't worth all the work to proceed. Vermont will continue testing students to measure yearly progress.
Vermont is dropping its request for a waiver from the federal No Child Left Behind law. President Obama said last year states were allowed to apply for the waiver in order to get flexibility in how they meet the strict requirements of the federal law. Vermont was one of 37 to apply for the waiver, but the U.S. Department of Education told the state more information was needed. The State Board of Education has since voted unanimously to drop the request, deciding it wasn't worth all the work to proceed. Vermont will continue testing students to measure yearly progress.
Just in time for the start of the summer season,
the Vermont State Parks has rolled out a free iPhone app that gives visitors
the ability to access and organize all sorts of information. Parks director Craig Whipple says the new
app is essentially a field guide - on your Smartphone. Whipple says the iPhone app is designed
to provide everything from general information about each park, with
directions, campground maps, photos, and contact numbers. Whipple says plans
are in the works to make an android version of the Vermont State Parks app
sometime soon.
The Derby Wind Project is being grounded. The developer says he is pulling
the plug on the proposal to build two wind turbines in the Canadian border town
of Derby. Encore Redevelopment has
withdrawn the plan because of the mounting costs and the international dispute.
Many residents on both sides
of the border expressed their concerns over the turbines. The Caledonian Record reports,
Encore will come back next year with a plan for a one-turbine project.
The Select Board and School Board in the central
Vermont town of Berlin are slated to hold a joint meeting this week on a plan
to build a new state psychiatric hospital in the town. The session set for 6 PM tomorrow at the
Berlin Elementary School is to include a presentation from state officials on
the plan to build a 25-bed hospital as part of the plan to replace the former
state hospital in Waterbury. Sites
near the Central Vermont Medical Center and the state regional library are
under review. The meeting also
will include questions and comments from the public.
Vermont is among a handful of states looking to
shore up revenues without raising taxes by making sure that current tax laws
are enforced fully. Vermont, Idaho
and Oklahoma all hired additional tax auditors during the recent recession when
revenues were lagging and have reaped millions of dollars as a result. After
some resistance from taxpayers, lawmakers responded by canceling or placing a
moratorium on the state's efforts to tax the toothbrushes given out by
dentists, meals served at senior housing facilities, and software provided over
the Internet in so-called cloud computing applications.
Sen. Charles Schumer is urging airlines to allow
families with young children to sit together without paying extra. The New York Democrat is reacting to a
news story last week detailing how families this summer are going to find it
harder to sit together without paying fees that can add up to hundreds of
dollars over the original ticket price. Since last year, American Airlines,
Delta Air Lines, Frontier Airlines and United Airlines have increased the
percent of seats they set aside for elite frequent fliers or customers willing
to pay extra.
The Ticonderoga Festival Guild will offer people a
night on the town when its holds its “Progressive Dinner.” The biennial dinner will be Saturday,
June 12th and the theme is “Wine, Winning and Song.” This year's dinner will feature three
area locations never used before. Appetizers will be at Tierney's, salad and
entree at the Knights of Columbus hall, and dessert and beverages at the Wagon
Wheel. Two seatings are scheduled, the first at 4 PM and the second at 5:30 PM.
Each course takes approximately one hour.
Music will be featured at each venue by musicians Ernie Huntington, Gary
Knight and Mary Lou and Michael Vassallo.
Door prizes are also part of the evening. Tickets are $28. Reservations must be made in advance by
calling 585-7015, emailing cburdick5@nycap.rr.com or mailing a check to the
Ticonderoga Festival Guild at PO Box 125, Ticonderoga 12883.
Memorial Day may be the unofficial start to summer,
but it sure felt like the real thing over the weekend. With temperatures in the 80's, people
flocked to the state parks that are now open for the season. There are 51 state
parks spread across the state of Vermont and they'll be open through Labor Day.
Revolutionary War re-enactors will recreate an
encampment of colonial militia at the Ethan Allen Homestead Museum in Burlington
next weekend. The Warner Regiment
is planning to recreate soldiers who were training to reinforce the American
forces in Canada in 1776. You will
get a chance to the view their lifestyle as well as tools and crafts from the
time. Museum interpreters will
also offer tours of the historic Allen House, home to Ethan Allen, the leader
of the Green Mountain Boys, who made a name for himself by helping to take Fort
Ticonderoga from the British in the early days of the Revolutionary War.
From
Fox 44 and ABC 22 News:
Vermont Attorney General Bill Sorrell invited
experts from Facebook to talk to parents and students about online bullying
Tuesday. "It is certainly
increasing nationally and we have had some unfortunate situations in
Vermont," says Sorrell. Sorrell
says bullying lead to at least one suicide in the state. Bullying also prompted a sit in at
Essex High School in November. Sorrell
says it just happens that the high school was chosen for a discussion about
online bullying. Sorrell says
there will be experts from Facebook to talk to parents about social media and
what their kids are doing online.
He says kids can learn about how to protect their privacy on Facebook
and hopefully prevent bullying. "We
want to be aggressive in response to that and we want to protect kids and let
them know how to better protect themselves from being a victim of
bullying," says Sorrell. Sorrell
says schools in Vermont are now more responsible for bullying outside the
classroom. He also says the state has tougher laws that can be used against
online bullies. "People
shouldn't think that because it's online that it's not illegal," says
Sorrell. The discussion is at the
Essex High School at 7PM Tuesday.
It's open to any parent or student, not just those from Essex.
For people with cancer fighting the disease takes
all of the strength and courage they have the last thing they need to worry
about is finding a way to get to the hospital to receive life-saving
treatments. But the American
Cancer Society says transportation is one of the biggest barriers for some
cancer patients. That's why it
created the "road to recovery" program... And right now, there's a
great need for volunteer drivers. “Every
year, almost 3,000 Vermonters are diagnosed with cancer and we want to make
sure they're focused on getting well and getting better and that finding
transportation isn't something that hinders their care.” Some cancer patients have caregivers
who work full time, others don't own a car and some people are just too weak to
drive.
