Bristol is battling a growing heroin problem and
the chief of police say the dealers are capitalizing on shrinking public safety
budgets. On Tuesday, a trio of
drug-related crimes kept Bristol police busy for hours. The first incident
involved a pair of heroin users, weapons and $800 in counterfeit cash. Police got wind of the plan and
intercepted the couple's car outside the Almost Home Market. Police removed a child from the car and
the driver, Mildred Martin of Bristol, was arrested for carrying drugs. But
police say the fake cash and guns were gone. Moments later, the Vermont Drug Task Force asked Bristol to
help them arrest a big time heroin dealer servicing Bristol and Vergennes.
Police executed a search warrant at a home in the village and a woman was
arrested. But police are not releasing her name. That's when police say a third vehicle, driven by Richard
Lattrell pulled up to the scene and tried to hit an officer. Police chased Lattrell up Lincoln Road
past a popular swimming hole to Elder Hill. He abandoned his car and police
lost him in the woods. Lattrell was later arrested on multiple charges after he
returned to the police station to report his car stolen. The chief says he
hopes these arrests send a clear message to the criminals. Despite dwindling resources, police say
they'll continue their push to drive drugs out of the community.
A New Jersey man lost his life in Salisbury
yesterday. 50-year-old Gerard K Conroy of Bradley Branch, NJ was visiting
family members on Lake Dunmore when he fell from a house deck early in the
morning. Police said he fell
approximately 12 feet to the ground below. The ground consisted of brush and
rocks. Gerard suffered a head
injury as a result of the fall. He was transported by Middlebury Rescue to
Porter Medical Center where he passed away due to his injuries. No foul play is suspected but alcohol
may be a factor, according to police.
On Tuesday Vermont State Police in New Haven
responded to a report of a burglary on Dragon Brook Rd. in Ripton. The VSP investigation revealed that
entry was gained through the front door of the residence. A wooden desk
containing art materials, a printer, and a laundry basket were taken from the
residence. Anyone with information
is encouraged to call the State Police New Haven Barracks at 388-4919.
According to State Police a Port Henry man has been
arrested in connection with an alleged burglary. Kevin D. Scott was taken into custody at 5:12 p.m. Aug. 3
for his role in a burglary stemming from a June 8th complaint. He was charged with second-degree
burglary. Scott was arraigned in
the Town of Moriah Court and remanded to Essex County Jail in lieu of $5,000
cash or $10,000 bond. Meanwhile a Moriah
man has been charged with burglarizing a residence on the Windy Hill Road in
Moriah. Wayne C. Patenaude was
charged with second-degree burglary for allegedly entering the residence and
stealing an assortment of coins on an unspecified date in July. Patenaude was arraigned in the Moriah
Town Court, where he was released on his own recognizance and will face future
court action.
The Ticonderoga Area Chamber of Commerce will host
a ribbon cutting on Thursday, August 23rd at 8:45 AM as part of
Peebles Department Stores Grand Opening Celebration. Peebles newest store is
located at 11-71 Route 9N in Ticonderoga. Bruce & Hobbes from “The Wake Up
Crew” on 92.1 WVTK will also be part of the celebration. In addition Peebles
will be offering a series of sales and promotional events throughout the store’s
opening weekend. Peebles Department Store is one of the newest members of the
Ticonderoga Area Chamber of Commerce. The ribbon cutting will kick off the
Grand Opening Celebration and welcome Peebles as part of the Ticonderoga
community. Speakers will include representatives from Peebles, the Chamber and
the Town of Ticonderoga. Visit www.ticonderogany.com
for more information.
Hydro-geologists have found seven places in
Ticonderoga where industrial wells could be drilled to feed the public-water
system. The town can no longer use
Gooseneck Pond and Lake George as drinking-water sources, because the state now
says any uncovered surface water source runs the risk of contamination. Those seven sites were recently
narrowed down to three that could be optimal. Cost of the project to switch to
wells is estimated at $15 million. The Department of Health has given the town
until 2015 to bring a new water source into operation.
The Hacker Boat Company, Inc., based in Silver Bay
on Lake George, has announced that starting this year it will add larger models
to its product line. This is a departure from a decades-old tradition of
building boats that average 22-30 feet length overall. Dealers in South Korea,
Dubai, Uruguay, Croatia and Puerto Rico have also expressed an interest in
representing the iconic American brand. The Hacker Boat Company is the largest American
manufacturer of classic mahogany motorboats. The company’s corporate
headquarter and storage facilities are located near and on the shoreline of
Lake George. Production and restoration facilities are located in Ticonderoga.
International Paper Foundation has awarded Fort
Ticonderoga a $1,000 grant to help underwrite its 2012 children’s garden
programs. The grant will provide
funds for materials and supplies needed for the new program series, “Growing up
with Gardening: Sow, Grow & Know!” which will take place this summer in the
King’s Garden’s Discovery Garden area at Fort Ticonderoga for children ages 3 -
8. For more information click HERE or call 585-2821.
In Castleton, town officials are considering a
public vote on a commercial wind power project proposed for a prominent
ridgeline. The project, which
would run from Grandpa's Knob north through Castleton, West Rutland, Pittsford
and Hubbardton, has drawn fire from many local residents. Select Board Chairman John Hale has
suggested a simple yes-or-no, non-binding vote on Election Day to measure the
sentiment of voters.
A Vermont man has admitted robbing a pharmacy in
West Rutland. Forty-three-year-old
Christopher McCarthy of St. Albans pleaded guilty on Wednesday in federal court
in Rutland. He faces up to 20
years in prison. Court records say
McCarthy demanded methadone and Oxycodone from a Rite Aid pharmacy on February
11 and threatened the pharmacist. McCarthy
was arrested that evening.
Property owners in Wallingford will notice a slight
increase in the tax rate when bills arrive later this month. The Wallingford Select Board set the
2013 municipal tax rate Monday at 26 cents per $100 of assessed property value,
up about 2 cents from the 2012 town tax rate of 24 cents. The homestead education tax rate set by
the state dropped a penny from $1.34 to $1.33. When the two rates are combined,
residents will pay nearly $1.59 per $100 of assessed property value for 2013,
compared to $1.58 for 2012.
Federal prosecutors in Vermont say a Virginia
pastor worked with a number of other people to help a woman flee the United
States with her daughter rather than share custody of the girl with the
mother's former lesbian partner. The trial of 46-year-old Kenneth Miller opened
today in U.S. District Court in Burlington. In his opening statement, Miller's
lawyer said he will prove his client believed Lisa Miller had full custody of
daughter Isabella.
The city and state is doing what it can to get JetBlue Airlines to reverse its decision to end a Burlington-Orlando flight. The airline announced last month it's ending the daily non-stop connection later this year, saying the daily flights didn't have enough seats filled in order to make a sustainable profit. Airline representatives met Wednesday with the mayor of Burlington, Vermont's Secretary of Transportation and the interim airport manager.
The city and state is doing what it can to get JetBlue Airlines to reverse its decision to end a Burlington-Orlando flight. The airline announced last month it's ending the daily non-stop connection later this year, saying the daily flights didn't have enough seats filled in order to make a sustainable profit. Airline representatives met Wednesday with the mayor of Burlington, Vermont's Secretary of Transportation and the interim airport manager.
The state says the Federal Emergency Management
Agency has shown some flexibility and provided additional funds to people who
lost mobile homes to Tropical Storm Irene. Officials see this as a positive development in what has
sometimes been a rocky relationship between Vermont and the federal
agency. Mobile homes were
disproportionately damaged by the floodwaters of Irene and an earlier storm in
May. Research by the University of
Vermont shows that 154 homes in 14 parks were damaged in the two floods.
Fifteen percent of all the homes damaged by Irene last August were mobile
homes.
Brandon Music on Country Club Road in Brandon will
present N’goni and Fula Flute Project featuring Dave Kobrenski and Craig Myers
this Evening at 7:30. These musicians bridges two distinct worlds of
traditional African music and contemporary American music. General Admission is
$12. Brandon Music offers an Early Bird dinner special, which includes a ticket
for the jazz performance, for $22 per person. For more information click HERE!
The Crown Point State Historic Site will host its
15th-annual French and Indian War Encampment next to the new Champlain Bridge
on Saturday and Sunday. This year,
the public will enjoy views of British naval landings. Two tactical weapons demonstrations are
scheduled for the public to view during the encampment weekend. These mock
battles will take place between 2 and 2:30 PM on both Saturday and Sunday. At 3
PM Saturday, a wedding drama will be presented, giving insight into the plight
of wives living at forts in the 1700s.
The “Music Along The LaChute” Concert Series
sponsored by Hope For Hunger, Inc., the Ticonderoga Area Chamber of Commerce
and the Ticonderoga Festival Guild will continue this August with live musical
performances in Bicentennial Park on Saturday, August 18th beginning
at 4PM. All concerts will be free and open to the public but donations both monetary
and nonperishable food items will be accepted. Proceeds are to benefit local
food pantries and feeding orphans in Haiti through Hope For Hunger’s Chicken
Helping Haiti Project. All concerts will take place at the Gazebo within the park
weather permitting. A rain location of the Knights of Columbus Pavilion in
Ticonderoga has been arranged in case of inclement weather. For more
information or if you would like to perform as part of this music series
contact the Chamber office at 518-585-6619, chamberinfo@ticonderogany.com
or visit www.ticonderogany.com.
From Fox 44 & ABC 22 News – Your Voice in
Vermont & New York:
There is growing support for the man accused of
going on a farm tractor rampage in Derby, Vermont. Supporters of Roger Pion say he might get out of jail soon
because he has made bail, thanks in part to donations. That message was posted on the
Facebook page of the group, "Roger Pion, the magnificent." On Wednesday, jail staff could not
confirm if Pion had made bail. Also
in a YouTube video posted Wednesday, the family of Pion took to his defense. "My brother is a kind hearted
person. He'll give his shirt off his back to help somebody," says Laura
Bergeron, Pion's sister. In the
video, family members show money that they say was donated for Pion's
defense. They claim for years
police unfairly singled him out. "That
discouraged him and it is discouraging and it's, it's how do you deal with
that?" says Linda Pion, Pion's mother. Police say he dealt a huge blow to the Orleans County
Sheriff's Department last Thursday.
He's charged with using a tractor to flatten half its fleet of cars. Online, Pion's story has spread and
found him supporters. Some 1,700
people already have "liked" the Facebook page, "Roger Pion, the
magnificent." There's an
image with Pion's face on a revolutionary soldier. One fan commented, "a true patriot." For as little as $22, you can sport a
"Free Roger Pion" t-shirt with a slogan, "In Vermont, they're
serious." But the 14 charges
Pion faces is no joke. Police say
his rampage has cost hundreds of thousands of dollars and tied up this small
department. "It certainly has
taken time away from some of the other duties that we have to do on a daily
basis," says Chief Deputy Phil Brooks, Orleans County Sheriff's
Department. Pion's attorney says
some of the Facebook fan pages are fakes and the money might not go to Pion. Pion has pleaded not guilty to all the
charges.
Vermont lawmakers look at issuing illegal
immigrants driver's licenses. We
first told you about this last session, nothing passed. But it's under review
again and the first meeting on this very hot topic was today. Danilo Lopez works for one of Vermont's
most honest and oldest lines of work. He's a dairy farmer, and does a lot of
the work that he says no one else wants to do. "Think about the hands who made that cheese
available," Lopez's translator Natalia Fajardo said. But Lopez says he feels like a prisoner
because he doesn't have a driver's license and rarely can leave the farm. His situation is why a handful of
lawmakers and human rights activists started talking Wednesday... the topic of
conversation, whether or not migrant workers should have access to Vermont
driver's licenses. "This has some potentially serious ramifications, we
need to give it some good attention," Republican State Senator Peg Flory
said. Right now, Vermont doesn't
have a policy in place for undocumented immigrants. In order to get a license,
"you have to show that you are a legal Vermont resident," Senator
Flory said. But now Vermont is
talking about changing the proof of residency requirements. Three states
already have. Washington, New Mexico and Utah. Local legislators questioned their policies Wednesday. Some
options on the table, a different color driver's license, making it clear an
individual is undocumented, or a driving privilege card, the card would work
for driving, but wouldn't act as ID.
"We have a human right to mobility, so we believe that we deserve
this driver's license," Fajardo translated for Lopez. Some say this could provide revenue for
the state and even safety because the DMV does background checks. So let's say
an undocumented immigrant goes to the DMV, passes the test, and pays for
insurance and registration. How is it that they don't face immediate
deportation? "As a general
rule for the state police, we're not in the business of enforcing immigration
laws, we leave that up to our federal partners," Public Safety
Commissioner Keith Flynn said. The
plan is to get a bill to the legislature by mid-January or come to the
conclusion that the idea won't work in Vermont.
