The Town of Middlebury and Pike Industries will be
starting the Quarry Road - Rolling Acres Recycling and Paving Projects this
coming Monday. The project is expected to last approximately 2 weeks. The first
week will be recycling, grading and stabilization. The second week will be the
paving and line striping portion. During
the workday, the Town requests that only local traffic travel Quarry Rd. Work
is expected to begin at 7am and continue until 6pm each day.
The Town of Middlebury Select Board recently formed
the Recreation Committee, formerly the Recreation Advisory Board. This
committee will meet monthly and will consist of 2 Select Board members, 1
representative each from the Ilsley Library, Addison County Teens and East
Middlebury, and two Middlebury residents at large. These are 3-year terms and
the Select Board is seeking applications for the citizen seats on the
Committee. Residents of all ages are welcome and encouraged to submit a letter
of interest to the Town Manager's Office no later than today.
The purpose of the Middlebury Town Center Building
Committee is to provide new and renovated facilities to house vital community
activities and municipal government at a minimum cost to Middlebury taxpayers.
To this end, it has established a Finance and Fundraising Task force. Meanwhile, the Gym Task Force is charged
with developing an objective scope of work for the renovation and alterations
to this high-usage, historic structure. At this time they are seeking members
who have specific expertise in facilities engineering, operations, management,
and renovation/construction. GTF members may include institutional facilities
managers, design engineers, and contractors with rehabilitation and restoration
expertise. Please submit letters
of interest for either task force to the Town Manager's Office here in
Middlebury as soon as possible.
A small committee of volunteers is currently
reviewing proposals for providing Wi-Fi in Downtown Middlebury and would
appreciate additional assistance from individuals with technical expertise in this
area on a volunteer basis. If you are interested in the project and are willing
to make a short-term commitment - as the group would like to wrap-up its work
this month - please contact Ilsley Public Library Director David Clark at 388-4095.
A break-in at the Lincoln General Store has Vermont
State Police turning to the public for help. At some time between 10:30PM Tuesday and 6AM Wednesday, the
store on East River Road was broken into. Cash and cigarettes were stolen. Anyone with information about the
incident is asked to call VSP at 802-388-4919.
Signaling the first step in Green Mountain Power’s
effort to make Rutland a leading solar-reliant and energy-innovative community,
GMP issued a request for bids for a 150-kilowatt solar farm to be built on a
recently rehabilitated brownfield.
The RFP, issued yesterday and distributed to all Renewable Energy
Vermont members, seeks a solar developer to take the project, once permitted by
the Vermont Public Service Board, through construction to interconnection with
the electric grid. The project, if
approved, will be nestled onto a company-owned 3-acre lot between West Street,
Cleveland Avenue and East Creek.
The project will be three times the size of the solar site on Route 7 in
Rutland Town. The panels will be
placed close together to maximize site output. GMP plans to announce the
winning bidder Aug. 15, and pending PSB approval, expects construction to begin
early this fall.
The structurally failing Moriah Center Bridge has
been reduced to a 5-ton weight limit that bars big trucks and fire
engines. The heavily used span
must be closed completely for a week later this month to install a temporary
bridge nearby. The bridge on Essex
County Route 7 (Plank Road) in the Moriah Center hamlet handles traffic from
Interstate 87 headed to Lake Champlain and Vermont. It was scheduled for replacement in mid 2013, but an
inspection Wednesday by the State Department of Transportation found greater
deterioration, and it was closed to heavy trucks Thursday.
The Westport Central School District asks that
parents who believe their child may have a disabling condition to notify the
school. The district is
responsible for maintaining a roster of all disabled students from birth to age
21. That includes any disabling condition, including emotional, intellectual or
mental. The list provides the School Board with the information needed to plan
staffing and funding to serve those with special needs. Call the District Office at 962-8244
between 8AM and 4PM.
Hobbes has a question for you this morning. Is your beagle legal? If not, there’s still time to license a
dog before the town of Ticonderoga takes action. The town is now conducting a dog census. A form has been
mailed to every household in the community seeking information on dogs and
providing information on how to properly license a pet. Ticonderoga residents are asked to
respond to the census by August 31st. After that date the town will begin a
random check of dogs to determine if the pets have been licensed. Penalty for
having an unlicensed dog is $25, impoundment and the cost of impoundment for a
first offense. There were 292 licensed dogs in Ticonderoga in 2011. The Town
Clerk believes there are more than 1,000 dogs in the community. Dog licenses
cost $5 for neutered/spayed dogs and $15 for unaltered pets.
A $21,000 Lake George Association storm water
project on Black Point Road in the town of Putnam will start this summer with
funding support from the Lake Champlain Basin Program. Survey and design work will begin in
May and final construction is slated for completion this August. The Lake
George Association, Warren County Soil and Water Conservation District, and the
town of Putnam are partners in the project. When completed, the project will intercept storm water
runoff from a 37-acre watershed in the town.
Vermont has finished the first year of the state's
electronic waster recycling program with strong results. Vermonters recycled
4.8 million pounds of electronics between July 2011 and June 2012. That well exceeded
the program's goal of 3.3 million pounds.
Vermonters are able to drop off computers, televisions and other
electronics of any age or state of disrepair and the drop-off is free of
charge. The materials are then collected from drop-off locations, and sorted
for usable parts and components.
Town officials in Fair Haven are trying to ensure a
proposed biomass facility and wood pellet manufacturing plant is built, even
though they acknowledge the State's largest utility won't likely buy power from
it. Fair Haven's select board is
continuing to push a plan for Massachusetts-based Beaver Wood Energy to build a
34-megawatt generator along Route 4 near the New York border. The project is expected to create about
50 jobs at the plant and 140 jobs in the forest products industry. Proponents
of biomass energy say that wood-fired power is a cleaner source of electricity
than fossil fuels. But frustrated
members of Fair Haven's select board say Green Mountain Power won't buy energy
produced at the plant, and they're struggling to garner support from the
Legislature. At a select board
meeting earlier this month, officials pledged to keep the project in the
foreground by seeking support, at the very least, from other Rutland County
towns.
Vermont lawmakers are coming to the defense of Gov.
Peter Shumlin's administration following criticisms by a candidate to unseat
him that he misled the Legislature and the public about the amount of
post-Irene disaster relief Vermont was likely to get. Rep. Alice Emmons, a Springfield Democrat and chairwoman of
the House Institutions and Corrections Committee says her panel purposely built
a good deal of flexibility into this year's state construction budget because
of uncertainty about funding from the Federal Emergency Management Agency. She says both Shumlin administration
and FEMA officials were clear with lawmakers that it wouldn't be known for some
time how much money Vermont would get.
Republican gubernatorial candidate Randy Brock charged Wednesday that
Shumlin and his aides gave lawmakers too optimistic a forecast about FEMA
funding.
The Vermont Chamber of Commerce has started a
petition drive in support of bringing F-35 fighter jets to the state. The Vermont Air Guard in Burlington was
named as a preferred site for one of the first deployments of the stealth
fighters. Some neighbors of the
Burlington International Airport are concerned about noise from the jets, and
anti-military activists are lobbying against the planes. The chamber says landing the F-35 is
important to securing the future of the air guard base and the tens of millions
of dollars in direct and indirect economic benefits it generates for the state.
Vermont is roughly doubling, to about 170, the
number of chemicals it is banning as ingredients in so-called designer drugs. That word came Thursday as dozens of
state and federal law enforcement officials gathered at the Statehouse to
strategize in a war on drugs that has expanded to substances called bath salts
and spice. Gov. Peter Shumlin
addressed the group and vowed the full support of his office as police around
Vermont visit head shops and convenience stores where a wide range of the
products are sold. State Health
Department officials say they're trying to stay ahead of manufacturers who
sometimes change a single chemical in a drug to get if off a banned list.
Construction of a $3.5 million bike path in St.
Johnsbury is nearly finished. Work
is tentatively scheduled to conclude by August 15th on the Three Rivers
Transportation Path. It will be open to bikers, hikers, horseback riders,
cross-country skiers, snowmobilers and walkers. It will someday connect to the
planned Lamoille Valley Rail Trail form St. Johnsbury to Swanton.
The Vermont Department of Fish and Wildlife has
reopened 11 cliff areas across the state to hikers now that peregrine falcons
have finished their nesting period.
Fish and Wildlife Biologist John Buck says the young peregrines have
developed, and nesting data suggest the species had a very good year. The
nesting sites are monitored from March to the end of July. The cliff areas were
closed to hiking in May.
An industrial fire in east-central New York State
should not be considered a threat to Vermont's residents or environment. That's the word from Vermont public
safety and environmental officials who have been monitoring the fire in a
transformer recycling plant in Ghent, New York, about 25 miles south of Albany. The fire broke out Wednesday night and
burned through much of Thursday, prompting officials in nearby parts of New
York and Massachusetts to issue safety warnings. Officials urged residents within a 15-mile radius to stay
inside with windows closed and the air conditioning off. Vermont officials say some of the smoke
may have blown over the state, but not enough to cause worry.
Burlington City Arts is presenting its fifth annual
Festival of Fools, starting today and running through the weekend. This festival of street theater
celebrates circus arts, music and comedy all for family audiences. Four main stage locations surround the
Church Street Marketplace and City Hall Park with continuous street theater
performances running through Sunday.
The Lake Placid Sinfonietta with special guest
Ticonderoga Vocalist Kathryn Major, are performing this evening at 7:00 at St.
Mary's Church in Ticonderoga. The
Lake Placid Sinfonietta is the longest standing orchestra in the Adirondacks,
approaching 100 years. Due to the generous support of their sponsors, the
concert will be free to the public and donations will be accepted to support
the Cultural Arts and Economic Development Initiatives.
From Fox 44 & ABC 22 News – Your Voice in
Vermont & New York:
Another school year is around the corner and a
handful of educators are uniting to put an end to bullying. Harassment and
cyber bullying have exploded on school campuses all across the country. A recently formed harassment,
hazing and bullying prevention advisory council wants to better educate staff
and students on the issue. The educators in the group want to look closer at
resources and strategies that work. The goal is to also give students the
skills to be better allies to each other.
"Give students an alternative in terms of behaviors that are
acceptable so that they have a safe learning environment and can succeed in
school and in life," Tracey Tsugawa said, Chair of the Advisory Council. The advisory council also wants
teachers to intervene immediately once they're aware of a problem. The first
meeting is at the end of this month.
A Vermont man apparently angry over his arrest on
resisting arrest and marijuana possession charges has been arrested again after
driving over seven police vehicles with a farm tractor. State Police say 34-year-old Roger Pion
was stopped by Newport city police in northern Vermont a short distance from
where he allegedly crushed the Orleans County sheriff's vehicles Thursday
before driving away on the tractor.
Sheriff's deputies were working inside their building and did not know
what was happening on the parking lot until a neighbor called 911. They said
they could not pursue the man because their cars were crushed. Sheriff Kirk
Martin said no one was injured. Pion
now faces numerous new charges. He was in custody Thursday evening. Authorities
did not know if he had a lawyer.
