WVTK Local & State News August 27, 2012

The sidewalks along Mill Street in Middlebury will be replaced starting on Monday.  The street and walk will be closed at 7:00AM until 11:00AM each day until the work is complete. This schedule is so the contractor can do as much work as possible before the shops and restaurant open. The sidewalk will be removed in sections with at least four separate sections planned. Pedestrians will have access to shops because they are staggering the pours and splitting entranceways. However there will be times when pedestrians will need to use the stairs up to Park Street. Vehicle access to the Frog Hollow parking lot will be from Weybridge Street. Park Street will be open except when working on the top section uphill from Frog Hollow Alley to Main Street. 

The Middlebury Select Board will meet tomorrow evening at 7:00 in the Ilsley Library Meeting Room.  There will be a Public Hearing on the Amendment of the Zoning & Subdivision Regulations concerning Flood Hazard Areas in Middlebury and Fluvial Erosion Hazard Areas in East Middlebury.  BMP President Ben Wilson will present the Partnership’s Quarterly Report.  Also on the agenda will be a discussion of purchase of the Co-op Fire Parcel at base of Chipman Hill with funding from the Town Conservation Fund, appointments to the Recreation Committee along with reports from various other Town Committees.  For the complete agenda and more information just visit the Town’s Website. 

The Willsboro School Board will meet at 6PM tomorrow in the conference room at the school.  Agenda items include a presentation by the Guidance Office and discussions about business, finance and policy.  Board meetings are open to the public.

Vermont Symphony Orchestra will perform in Vergennes and Castleton in September and October. The two communities are key showcases in the VSO’s Made in Vermont Music Festival. The tour advertises it “will offer brilliant music to go along with Vermont’s brilliant foliage season.”   The concert program for Vergennes and Castleton will include the world premiere by University of Vermont composer David Feurzeig. Also featured are works by includes a work by Haydn’s younger brother, Michael Haydn, Dmitri Shostakovich, and Schubert. Anthony Princiotti will conduct the VSO in both locations.  The concerts are Saturday, September 22nd at 7:30PM at the Vergennes Opera House and Monday, October 1st, 7PM at the Castleton State College Fine Arts Center in Castleton.  Get ticket information and view the full tour schedule right now by clicking HERE.  

On Sunday morning around 4:30, Vermont State Police received a report of a vehicle that had gone in the water at the Chittenden Reservoir.  The operator of the vehicle was found to be Brittany Burke who had driven the vehicle down the boat launch and into the water.  She was arrested and processed for DUI at the Rutland State Police Barracks.

As of Friday State Police continue to search for the missing man whose car was found in Crown Point.  45-year-old Keith Gill was reported missing after police found his car parked on Peasley Road on Monday the 20^th.  Gill was last seen at his family’s cottage on Loon Lake in Chestertown in the early morning hours of August 19th.  Searchers have been canvassing a quarter mile radius where Gill’s car was found. On Friday Police said investigators have not found any solid leads in the investigation over the past five days of searching.

The Ticonderoga Area Chamber of Commerce will host OneWorkSource and the InternetXpress @ Your Library services open house at the chamber office this Wednesday the from 10 AM to 3 PM. OneWorkSource and InternetXpress @ Your Library offer services to the area by utilizing donated space in the chamber of commerce. The services are provided once a month on the third Wednesday unless otherwise advertised. For more information about the open houses at the chamber office visit www.ticonderogany.com.

The Essex County office of Real Property Tax wants to make sure that it can both use modern technology and continue to keep a revenue stream.  During last Monday’s Finance/Tax Reduction/Mandate Relief Committee meeting of the Essex County Board of Supervisors, the question was raised to why the county was not offering tax maps for printing online.  The Tax Director said that the department was previously offering tax maps online, but pulled them when they realized people were getting them for free instead of paying the usual fees.  County Manager Daniel Palmer said that the county could look into offering the service online along with a payment program like they use for taxes and other payments.

As New York farmers approach corn harvest time, they are already thinking about next year’s crop. Northern New York Agricultural Development Program-funded research conducted on regional farms by the Cornell Nutrient Management Spear Program and its Cornell Cooperative Extension, W.H. Miner Agricultural Research Institute, and farmer collaborators has developed recommendations for using two testing tools to help farms optimize nutrient use over time with their corn crops.  Those tools are the late-season Corn Stalk Nitrate Test and the Illinois Soil Nitrogen Test. Complete details can be found online at www.nnyagdev.org.

Work starts today on the second phase of an improvement project for the main road between Lake Placid and Whiteface Mountain. The state Department of Transportation says crews will begin paving work along more than 12 miles of Route 86. One lane will be closed with flaggers directing traffic.

The Ticonderoga Federal Credit Union has awarded its 2012 TFCU academic scholarships. Three $500 grants were awarded in 2012. The recipients are Marissa C. Titus of Crown Point Central School, Joseph Gonyeau of Ticonderoga High School and Nathan Lenhart of Ticonderoga High School. Each year, TFCU awards scholarships to graduating high-school seniors who are TFCU members, have displayed outstanding academic and extracurricular achievements and demonstrated an awareness of the “people helping people” Credit Union philosophy. Applicants are judged by representatives of the Credit Union Association of New York in Albany.

Northeast Dairy Cooperative Agri-Mark will receive the New York Dairy of Distinction 2012 Business of Distinction award at a special ceremony today at the New York State Fair in Syracuse. Nancy Putman, the secretary of Dairy of Distinction’s New York chapter said Agri-Mark and its Cabot and McCadam dairy brands exemplify the very best in the dairy industry. This award is presented to Agri-Mark in recognition for all it has done to support and promote the dairy industry throughout New York State and across the nation.

Green Mountain Power’s upcoming customer rate reduction is a decrease that hasn’t happened in more than 20 years, but state officials said the company initially sought a rate increase.  According to state Department of Public Service Commissioner Elizabeth Miller a GMP rate decrease of 0.4 percent for consumers initially was proposed by the company as a rate increase of somewhere under 2 percent.  The joint GMP and Central Vermont Public Service Corp. pre-filing initially proposed the increase, and it wasn’t until an independent accounting firm, Larkin & Associates, and the department worked with GMP that a customer rate decrease emerged.

Rutland city officials hope the new police chief brings a turnaround to low-level crime, and to the police department's reputation.  They say James Baker's 35-year resume is full of accolades that can bring about positive change to a department that's suffered a few blemishes the last couple of years.  Baker, who signed a three-year contract this month, led Vermont's drug task force and the state police concurrently during high profile cases like the rape and murder of Brooke Bennett.  He also took control of the police academy during administrative turmoil.

Biologists plan to treat Lake Champlain tributaries in Vermont again this fall with a chemical that kills sea lamprey. The Lake Champlain Fish and Wildlife Management Cooperative will be treating the Winooski and Missisquoi rivers in September and October to kill off the lamprey, which attach themselves to fish and weaken them.

Chairman of the Vermont state Republican Party, Jack Lindley, has been appointed an assistant parliamentarian at the Republican National Convention.  The convention is expected to kick off tomorrow in Tampa, Florida, after a slight delay due to Tropical Storm Isaac.  Lindley will also serve on the convention's Credentials Committee.

Friends, family and neighbors attended a memorial Saturday for an Essex couple who disappeared over a year ago.  Police confirmed in July that Bill and Lorraine Currier were murdered, but their bodies have not been found.  The suspect is in jail in Alaska for an unrelated crime.  At Saturday's memorial, the family accepted donations for a bench in the couple's honor to be installed outside of an Essex Junction library.

A new art exhibit in Waterbury celebrates a community effort in expressing responses to Tropical Storm Irene, which hit the area a year ago.  The After Irene Floodgates Art Project features 300 works created by Waterbury residents of all ages.  The exhibit is on display in downtown Waterbury until late September.

According to Vermont State Police the owner of a house on Route 155 in Mount Holly arrived home Friday night to find the dwelling both burglarized and damaged by an intentionally set fire. The fire caused moderate damage to the interior before it went out, police said. Damage is estimated at $20,000. Anyone with information about the incident is asked to call either state police in Rutland at 773-9101 or the Vermont Arson Tip Award Program at 1-800-32 ARSON, which provides rewards up to $5,000 for the successful arrest and prosecution of arsonists.

Fifty days into a Vermont State Police effort to get drivers to slow down, it’s unclear whether the program is having much effect.  Figures from the state police show that since they launched Operation HEAT on July 4th, the state had 11 traffic fatalities as of last Thursday. That’s one about every 4.5 days, on average, which would work out to an annual pace of about 80 in a year.  Last year, there were 55 traffic fatalities on Vermont roads, the lowest number since 1944.   Lt. John Flannigan said fatalities have been below the three-year average so far for August.

A new study from Arizona State University says Vermont was among the top 12 states for job growth from July of 2011 to July of this year. Vermont is the only New England state to make the top dozen. North Dakota led all states with a job growth rate of 6.9%. Vermont tied with Utah and Ohio and recorded a job growth rate of 2%. Vermont's unemployment rate ticked up 0.3 of a percentage point in July to 5%, compared to a national rate of 8.3%.

A hard-fought contest for the Democratic nomination for attorney general appears to be drawing the most attention as Vermont prepares for its 2012 state primary election.  Longtime incumbent Attorney General Bill Sorrell is drawing a challenge from fellow Democrat T.J. Donovan, the Chittenden County state's attorney.  The Republican primary ballot features a contest between John McGovern and Brooke Paige for the nomination to take on incumbent U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders.  There's also a write-in campaign being organized in the Progressive primary for governor. The party had nominated longtime Progressive stalwart Martha Abbott, but activists opposed to mountaintop wind power projects are spearheading a campaign to write in the name of Annette Smith, the head of the group Vermonters for a Clean Environment.  The election is set for Tuesday.

Vermont U.S. Sen. Patrick Leahy and his wife, Marcelle, are celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary.  The two were married August 25, 1962 at St. Mark's Church in Burlington.  He was a law student at Georgetown University in Washington and she had just graduated from nursing school in Burlington.  The Leahy’s celebrated throughout the last week with their three children and five grandchildren.  Leahy, who's been in the Senate for 37 years, says his wife and family remain the most important things in his life. Leahy says that now that their children are grown, he and Marcelle have more time to travel together.  A number of senators have celebrated 50-year wedding anniversaries in office, but Leahy says that he, at 72, is the youngest.

From Fox 44 and ABC 22 News – Your Voice in Vermont & New York:

Vermont Gov. Peter Shumlin is marking the anniversary of Tropical Storm Irene with a four-day tour of towns hurt by flooding from the storm.  During his tour, which kicked off Saturday and runs through Tuesday, Shumlin is visiting many of the communities that were devastated by the storm. He is presenting town officials with "I Am Vermont Strong" license plates, which are being sold to raise money to help Vermonters hurt by the storm.  On Sunday, Shumlin visited the White River valley, where he made appearances in Granville, Hancock, Rochester, Stockbridge, Pittsfield and Bethel.  He was joined by Vermont U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders at a late-afternoon barbecue behind the Pittsfield Town Hall where residents had gathered for a special Town Meeting.  Residents were given an update on the infrastructure repairs in the town while honoring the efforts of the town following the flooding.

New York state police are investigating a homicide in Keeseville, New York along a usually quiet street. Police have not identified the man or whether or not there are any suspects yet. Police discovered his body just after 6 A.M. yesterday near the intersection of River Street and Mill Hill. New York state police are not releasing the man's name at this time or the nature of his death. An autopsy is scheduled for today. Police say they are likely to make an update in the investigation this afternoon.