WVTK Local & State News September 12, 2012

This week on Route 9N in Port Henry traffic is reduced to a single lane in alternating directions from Bridge Road to County Route 2 due to road construction over Grove Brook at Island Way.  Also on Route 22 in Willsboro traffic will flow in a single line in alternating directions from the Willsboro/Essex line to the Chesterfield/Willsboro line due to road construction that will occur until further notice.  Please remember to slow down and be alert in construction zones for your own safety and the safety of the work crews.

Vermont officials expect to know today the results of pesticide spraying in the fight against Eastern equine encephalitis.  The state brought in a company from Texas to spray from the air two nights last week, targeting mosquitoes in swampy areas of Brandon and Whiting. They were specifically looking to kill off a single species of mosquito that carries EEE. One Vermonter has died from EEE; another remains in critical condition after being bitten by an infected mosquito.

Vermont is hosting public forums about the Health Benefit Exchange.  "The Exchange will give Vermonters access to affordable, quality health coverage," Mark Larson, Commissioner of the DVHA, said in a press release. "These forums are a statewide effort intended to help the public learn about the Exchange and what it will mean for them."  Each session will cover essential health benefits required of all health plans, assistance that will be available and what the Exchange website will look like.  Upcoming sessions includes one in Middlebury this Thursday at the Ilsley Public Library from 6 – 8:30 PM and one in Rutland on Monday the 24^th at the Rutland Free Library from 6 – 8:30 PM.

Coming up tomorrow the Middlebury Business Development Fund Advisory Board will meet in the Main Conference Room at 1 PM where they will finalize the Statement Of need and Fundraising Strategy.  Get more info anytime by visiting the Town of Middlebury’s Website.

The Addison County Chamber of Commerce and Snake Mountain Cruisers will be hosting the 8th Annual Better L8 Than Never Car Show this Sunday at the Bristol Recreation Field. The car show runs from 9 AM to 4 PM. More than 200 vehicles are expected. Admission for spectators is free, however donations are accepted for Camp Ta-Kum-Ta, and vehicle registration is only $15 per vehicle. Visit www.bristolharvestfest.com to download a vehicle registration form.

The Counseling Service of Addison County is gearing up for its Second Annual Bocce Tournament this Friday.  This year’s event again will benefit CSAC’s Emergency/Crisis Services, which are available 24 hours, 7 days a week for all of Addison County. CSAC runs more than $250,000 in services every year that are not funded because they are committed to doing what it takes to deliver critical and needed services to the people who need them. Check out their website for more details or call or email Sara Mason at 802-388-4021 or smason@csac-vt.org.

You are invited to join the Addison County Chamber of Commerce next Thursday the 20^th for their September After Hours Mixer from 5 – 7 PM.  This month’s Mixer will be hosted by the Middlebury College Museum of Art and the Mahaney Center for the Arts.   There will be appetizers, a cash bar, and arts-oriented door prizes!  The Pot of Gold is up to $500! Join them for a special Chamber members’ preview of the Mahaney Center for the Arts’ 20th anniversary season, and viewing of the fall exhibitions.  For more information or to RSVP to Sue, click HERE!

The Boys & Girls Club and the Rutland Food Hub got a boost from the Vermont Community Foundation this week.  The Boys & Girls Club of Rutland County received $15,000 to have a dental hygienist do check-ups and education programs at the club every week. The project, aimed at dealing with the lack of dental care in the area, is run in partnership with the Community Health Center of Rutland Region, Rutland Regional Medical Center and the Rutland City Schools.  The food hub, a project of the Vermont Foodbank, received $20,000. The program, run with the Rutland Farmers’ Market Education Center and Rutland Community Cupboard, is aimed at making local food available to low-income families.   The foundation awarded a total of $180,000 to 12 organizations around the state.

Dental records have been used to identify Keith Gill’s body, found in the woods off a back road in Crown Point. The remains, located by State Department of Environmental Conservation Police in Crown Point on September 7th were positively identified Tuesday as those of 45-year-old Gill through a forensic dental comparison.  Gill vanished from a family camp on Loon Lake near Chestertown early on August 19th. Essex County Coroner Paul Connery ruled the manner of death as suicide. Police said Gill had been treated for depression in the past.

Four years ago, Washington County enacted a local law that restricted where registered sex offenders could live in their county.  At that time, Essex County looked into doing something similar, but decided not to.  Now, the chairman of the Board of Supervisors wants to look at it again.  Jay Supervisor Randy Douglas said that he was approached by members of his community who were concerned that there were a number of registered sex offenders living in close proximity to a local school. County Sheriff Richard Cutting said the only restrictions currently on sex offenders in Essex County have to do with legal status.  He thinks it would be a good idea to have a local law.

A new sea-lamprey-treatment technique used on the Saranac River delta this week proved extremely successful.  The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, working with the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation and the Vermont Fish and Wildlife Service, targeted sea-lamprey larvae living in the delta sediment. Officials will next treat the Winooski River in Vermont before returning to New York with treatments scheduled for Mount Hope Brook at the southern tip of Lake Champlain, Mill Brook in Port Henry and the Great Chazy River, which will be done later in October.

Two municipal boards support a temporary halt on wind projects throughout the region until more studies can be completed on potential impacts of large-scale turbines.  The Clarendon Select Board has joined town planners in requesting the Rutland Regional Planning Commission executive board pass a resolution calling for a three-year moratorium on wind development projects in Rutland County.  The Select Board on Monday unanimously approved a statement read aloud by planning commissioner Carol Geery calling for the regional commission to approve a resolution.

State troopers found an outdoor marijuana growing operation in Winhall covering two-thirds of a mile.  Troopers say some of the plants were 8 to 12 feet tall with a street value between a half and one million dollars.  The pot was destroyed on site.  Troopers say they don't have any suspects at this time.

As they gear up for their first debate of the campaign, Vermont Gov. Peter Shumlin and Republican challenger Randy Brock are squabbling over health care.  Brock is taking issue with Shumlin's description of Brock's plan to curtail community rating - a law that requires health insurance companies to charge people the same premiums for the same coverage regardless of age or gender.  Brock says Shumlin is exaggerating the degree to which the Republican would dismantle community rating. A Shumlin aide says Brock would allow insurance companies to charge three times as much for older customers than for younger, healthier ones.

The Vermont Yankee nuclear plant has filed a new lawsuit against the state of Vermont - this time over new taxes on the plant that the Legislature passed earlier this year.  Vermont Yankee already won a round in federal court over the state's efforts to close the Vernon reactor down. That case is now on appeal.  Now plant owner Entergy Corp. is suing over a law passed this year that increased the plant's annual tax bill from about $5 million to about $12.8 million. Backers of the increase say it was designed to make up for revenues lost to the state under agreements that ended on the plant's originally scheduled shutdown date in March.  Entergy maintains the new taxes are unconstitutional.

Lawmakers hope a new approach to getting more Vermont school districts to merge will help augment an earlier effort to cut down on the number of school boards. Education officials argue mergers would result in better governance, more student opportunity and possible cost savings.  Two years ago, Act 153 offered school districts a number of incentives to merge into a single RED or Regional Education District.  This year, the legislature passed Act 156, which provides more flexibility by creating the opportunity for some towns in a supervisory union to create their own single district even if others decide not to join. Towns in two Vermont supervisory unions will hold votes in November on whether to merge school districts.

A trial for the man accused of killing Brooke Bennett, his 12-year-old niece, in 2008 is at least a year away after a federal appeals court sent Michael Jacques' case back to Vermont. The Burlington Free Press reports a tentative trial date has been set for September of next year.

A growing number of mentally ill Vermonters are being held in hospital emergency rooms because there aren't enough mental health beds. The state's mental health chief has told state lawmakers that such instances have gone from 15 in June to 24 this past month.

Brandon Music on Country Club Road in Brandon will present Countryman and the Buffalo Band this Thursday at 7:30pm. General Admission is $12.   The NYC-based Countryman and the Buffalo Band plays contemporary soul jazz with an exciting modern flare. Led by saxophonist Geoff Countryman and comprised entirely by some of the city’s top young jazz musicians, the band combines their deep understanding of jazz improvisation with forays into funk, soul and electronica.  Get details now at by clicking HERE.

The Bristol Recreation Club will host the First Annual Vermont Sled Head Vintage Snowmobile Swap Meet on Saturday, September 29^th from 8 AM to 2 PM at the Bristol Recreation Field in Bristol.  The event will feature parts, sleds, memorabilia and more items relating to the glory days of snowmobiling. While the meet is vintage oriented, all snowmobile model years are welcome.  Vendor space at the swap meet is available for $10 for a 10-by-20 space.  The event includes free admission, free parking along with refreshments and bathrooms.  For details about the event, contact Alan Gebo at 425-3190 or e-mail at algebo@gmavet.net.

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

No more pennies accepted or given out at one Vermont store.  "Power play sports" in Morrisville is banning them!  Owner Caleb Magoon says the cent makes *no* sense!  And so far customers seem o-k with rounding to the nearest nickel.  “It doesn't matter to them really check transactions, credit cards are the same they still pay to the cent and on cash transactions they are getting a few cents back it saves them a few cents.”  “I don't really want the pennies anyway they jingle in my pocket end up on my couch or on my rug and I go to pick em up when I vacuum.” the idea isn’t new, Canada has already decided to end production of pennies.

A recent college grad was in for a surprise when he discovered *59-thousand* dollars had been deposited into his bank account!  Jack Washburn is currently job-hunting so at first he thought maybe fate had brought him the mystery money.  And the 21-year-old u-v-m alum admits for a split second he *did* think about keeping it.  But then reality set in. And he knew he had to do the right thing. "It crosses everyone's mind in a situation like that to just take the money and run. But, you have to realize that in the end they're going to find out the mistake and you are going to have to give that money back.  Washburn notified his bank and the mistake was corrected.  The bank said it was an error on their part.  The money actually belongs to a construction firm. And the other account number is very similar to Washburn’s, only one digit different.

Yesterday in Lamoille County Vermont dozens of volunteers split and chopped wood.  Governor Peter Shumlin called it "an extraordinary effort for people who might otherwise be cold."  More than 150 cords of wood were processed and will eventually make their way into the homes of lower income families. It was a joint effort of The United Way and the RSVP and Volunteer Center.  Twice the expected number of volunteers came with splitters and trucks.  Governor Shumlin called it a "model" for the whole state.