WVTK Local & State News September 18, 2012

The Vermont Health Department says efforts to control mosquitoes in Brandon and Whiting are working, but it doesn't eliminate the threat of Eastern Equine Encephalitis.  Earlier this month the state used aircraft to spray pesticides in Whiting and Brandon and the number of mosquitoes captured in traps in the area has been cut in half.  But Health Commissioner Dr. Harry Chen says that while the risk of EEE infection in Vermont has been reduced, there is no way to kill enough mosquitoes to eliminate the threat.

A reminder that the Middlebury Select Board's first public meeting on the Town Plan will take place this evening at 7 at the Ilsley Public Library. Copies of the Town Plan are available at the Ilsley Public Library and the Sarah Partridge Library and the Plan is posted on the Town's website.  Other meetings today include the Community Center Finance & Fundraising Task Force will meet this morning at 9 followed by the Community Center Steering Committee at 11.  Both meeting will take place in the Small Conference Room at the Town Offices.  Also the Ilsley Public Library Board of Trustees will hold their monthly meeting at the Library in the Vermont Room at 6:30 this evening.

You are invited to join the Addison County Chamber of Commerce this Thursday 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 visit the Chamber's Website.

The Ticonderoga Area Chamber of Commerce September “After Business Mixer” will be held this Wednesday at the Best Western Plus Ticonderoga Inn & Suites from 5:30 to 7 PM.  Sponsors providing door prizes include George Sperry Marine Survey, The Martin Agency and the Wagon Wheel Restaurant.  The chamber’s “After Business Mixers” provide a networking forum for area business people in addition to showcasing the site of the host as well as promoting the door prize sponsors. All area chamber members, business people and their employees are invited to attend.  For more information just visit www.ticonderogany.com.

The Public Service Board has approved a plan by Green Mountain Power Corp. to phase-in electric rates for former Vermont Marble Power Division commercial customers. The plan is designed to help soften the rate shock from GMP’s higher rates.   The Vermont Marble Power Division changed ownership this year when Green Mountain Power Corp. completed its purchase of Central Vermont Public Service Corp. Last year, CVPS purchased the Vermont Marble Power Division from Omya Inc.

Coming up this Thursday at 7 PM at the Sheldon Museum author Polly Darnell will present a lecture, entitled “Visualizing Middlebury's Industrial Revolution: Isaac Markham & his Drawings.”  Only a remnant remains of Middlebury’s cotton mill, one of the most technologically advanced textile mills in the country in the 1800s, but Isaac Markham’s machine drawings survive in the collections of the Sheldon Museum, the earliest known manuscript drawings of textile machines in the country. 

Local historians will offer a program that takes you across the new Lake Champlain Bridge on foot with a narrative of the region’s history. It’s set for Sunday, September 30th at 1 PM.  You should meet at the Crown Point State Historic Site museum entrance. The fee is $5 for adults. Children younger than age 15 will be free.  Tom Hughes, manager of the Crown Point State Historic Site, and Elsa Gilbertson, manager of the Chimney Point Historic Site, will lead the tour.

If you have a four-legged friend in Ticonderoga there’s still time to license a dog before the town 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 were asked to respond to the census by August 31st. That deadline has been extended until October 31. After that date the town will begin a random check of dogs to determine if the pets have been licensed. State law requires all dogs 4 months old or older to be licensed in the community where they are kept. Unlicensed dogs are subject to tickets and fines, according to state law. 

Whether Essex County needs a local law restricting where convicted sex offenders can live is something county lawmakers will discuss at a special session.  The public meeting is planned for 10 AM Monday, October 22^nd and will be held in the Old County Courthouse at Elizabethtown.  Essex County Board of Supervisors Chair Randy Douglas said he’s also inviting officials from Franklin and Clinton counties to discuss a possible joint law. Essex County District Attorney Kristy Sprague and Sheriff Richard Cutting have both said they would support a sex-offender residency law.

Essex County has made up for the loss of winter tourism dollars.  Regional Office of Sustainable Tourism/Lake Placid Visitors Bureau Executive Director James McKenna reported to members of the Essex County Economic Development, Planning and Publicity Committee meeting last week that through the month of July, occupancy tax revenue had matched the 2011 totals.  And he expects the revenue generated from people vacationing in the Adirondacks for multiple days to be ahead of 2011 totals once August figures are calculated.

The Afterschool Alliance announced yesterday that Dr. Carrie Becker, Director of Rutland South Supervisory Union Afterschool, has been selected to serve as a 2012-2013 Afterschool Ambassador.  She is one of just 12 local leaders from across the country to be chosen for the honor this year.  Each Afterschool Ambassador will continue directing or supporting a local afterschool program while also serving the one-year Afterschool Ambassador term organizing public events, communicating with policy makers, and building support for afterschool programs. RSSU’s afterschool program is funded through the 21st Century Community Learning Centers initiative, and offers more than 400 students from Wallingford, Clarendon, Shrewsbury, Danby, Tinmouth, and Middletown Springs quality afterschool, before school, and summer learning opportunities.

A proposed $2.7 million fire station will go before Rutland Town voters in November.  The estimate, officially announced by the Select Board last week, is the result of the $9,000 feasibility study and needs assessment the voters approved last year. Board Chairman Stanley Rhodes III said the first public meeting on the proposal is tentatively scheduled for 7 PM on October 15th in the Rutland Town School cafeteria.

It looks like no more spraying for mosquitoes for now in Vermont, but people are being warned to continue to take precautions.  Spraying was done over three counties a week ago, and health officials say the risk of contracting Eastern equine encephalitis is low but still there.  They say more spraying may not be needed simply because the cold weather is coming.  Only two cases of triple-E were reported in Vermont this summer.

As the nation marked Constitution Day yesterday, 25 people became new U.S. citizens in a ceremony on the steamship Ticonderoga. Federal Judge William Sessions presided over the ceremony, which is 1 of more than 150 ceremonies this week welcoming more than 32,000 new U.S. citizens.

State elections head Kathy Scheele intends to press lawmakers to move up Vermont's state-office primary, from late August to May or June. Scheele notes this year marks the second straight election cycle where a recount in the governor's race has raised fears Vermont wouldn't make a federal ballot deadline.

Officials say a 19th century anchor from a Lake Champlain freighter has been found off a Vermont beach and it will likely be transported to a deeper, shipwreck preserve.  Adam Kane of the Lake Champlain Maritime Museum says the rusty anchor, which is covered with marine growth, probably came from 1 of the canal boats that carried cargo on the lake in the 19th century.  The anchor was found off Burlington's North Beach. The museum will deposit the anchor in about 40 feet of water at the wreck site of the canal boat General Butler, at the south end of the Burlington breakwater.

A Vermont judge says a recount has confirmed the original results of Progressive Party gubernatorial primary. Washington County Superior Court Judge Robert Bent says the recount found that Party Chairwoman Martha Abbott received 381 votes while her write-in challenger Annette Smith received 340.

The Caledonia County Sheriff's Department and St. Johnsbury Police Department are going to teach young Vermont drivers about the dangers of distracted driving. The Caledonian Record reports the departments have been awarded an educational grant through Vermont Governor's Highway Safety Program and The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

One of Vermont's eight community health centers is expanding in Plainfield to house mental health services and yoga classes.  The $1.2 -million expansion at the Health Center will house counselors and psychiatrists and provide space to store a mobile dental program.  The 5,000-square-foot building was paid for by $988,000 in federal stimulus funding and about $200,000 raised locally.  The federally qualified community health center offers medical, dental and other services to about 9,000 people in surrounding rural communities.  Sen. Bernie Sanders said yesterday at a dedication ceremony for the new building that the Health Center is a model for what primary health care, especially in rural areas of America, should be.

Democratic Vermont Gov. Peter Shumlin has passed the million-dollar mark in campaign fundraising and in the last month has raised more than two and a half times as much as his Republican rival.  Campaign finance reports show Shumlin has amassed just over $1 million in his re-election bid, including $25,000 left over from his last campaign and $1,700 in non-monetary contributions. He has most of the money he's raised - $883,000 - still on hand.  Republican state Sen. Randy Brock has raised $647,000 toward his campaign, including a $300,000 loan to the campaign from his own funds. In the past month, he's raised about $62,000 to Shumlin's $160,000.

Brandon Music, on Country Club Road in Brandon will present Sayon Camara & the Landaya African Rhythm Ensemble this Thursday at 7:30pm in the Music Cafe. General Admission is $12. Sayon will perform in Brandon with the Landaya African Rhythm Ensemble, led by the award winning musician and composer, Dave “the Kobra” Kobrenski.  For details and ticket information just visit www.brandon-music.net.

Fall officially begins this weekend and the leaves are starting to change here in Vermont! In concert with this weekend’s autumnal equinox, colorful foliage will continue to unfold and invigorate Vermont’s scenic landscape. Early yet, colors are showing in the higher elevations of the Northeast Kingdom and in moist, low-lying areas with varying shades of orange, yellow and red.  Best Bets: In general, higher elevation areas in the northernmost regions will offer the most panoramic views of emerging color across the valleys, and many low-lying marsh areas will offer some of the most vivid and varied early season change. Route 108 through Smugglers’ Notch between Stowe and Cambridge is showing color, as is Routes 242 and 100 near Jay Peak; plus Routes 16 and 5A in the Lake Willoughby area. The Worcester Range and Mount Elmore along Route 12 north of Montpelier are tinged with early color, as are views from Route 14 in the Hardwick and Craftsbury region.  Stay Tuned: Rutland County Forester Chris Stone notes Route 103 is revealing 5-20% early stages. “Trees are just starting to lose some green and hints of yellow and orange are starting to show at higher elevations. Some scattered individual red maples are turning at higher elevation wetlands. While the color has yet to really show, there is a hint of fall on the hillsides.”  Sam Schenski, the Windham and Windsor County Forester also suggests Rte. 106 through Perkinsville; Tyson Rd. from Reading to Plymouth and East Hill Rd. in Andover – all of which, he notes are in early stages of foliage. Visit www.vermontvacation.com/fall to plan Vermont Fall Foliage travel.

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

With hunting season right around the corner, some people living near the Berlin pond are concerned with hunters gaming so close to their homes. Monday, the town select board held a meeting with the Vermont Commissioner of Fish and Wildlife to see if there were ways to regulate not only hunting of waterfowl but also ice fishing in the winter months.  There was a mix of opinions at Monday night's Berlin Select Board meeting.  "How are you going to prevent people from getting hurt if you've got guns firing at people from every direction?" asked a concerned woman who frequently walks near the pond.  "Well you’re assuming that guns will be firing over the road or at people," responded Patrick Berry, Vermont Commissioner of Fish and Wildlife.  "I'm making the assumption guns are shooting wherever," the woman responded.  Some residents are concerned with hunters shooting on Berlin pond but Commissioner Patrick Berry doesn't feel any lives are in danger, "I think there are lot of preconceived notions and misinformation about what the potential impacts would be, that really aren't based on a whole lot of information."  I spoke with the Berlin Town Administrator, Jeff Schulz, before the meeting who says it's not just duck hunting but ice fishing and the concern of shanties and spills that have some on edge, "There's concern because that is a water supply, it's probably not appropriate to have folks out on the pond."  Yet, Commissioner Berry says that is not a health concern, "If folks are looking for a safety reason, a biological impact, an ecological impact, to prohibit lawful uses of the pond, for hunting, fishing, wildlife watching, they just don't exist."  While the meeting was intended to come up with ways to regulate recreational use on the pond, Commissioner Berry says, "We just don't have really the kind of conflicts that I think people are expecting will happen."  Vermont is one of a few states that guarantee the right to hunt and fish by state constitution and the commissioner noted that people generally work together and find a way to share the state's natural resources.

Plans for a methadone clinic near two south Burlington schools could be on hold.  That's because the school board filed an appeal.  The clinic is slated for an office complex, off Dorset Street not far from south Burlington middle and high schools.  The superintendent says he is in favor of a clinic but the location is a concern for his 15-hundred students.  ”I’m paid and here to serve and try to help ensure children can travel to and from school or after school activities where they can be as safe as possible, and that's a big charge."  A methadone clinic helps people with heroin and opiate addictions.  The district's appeal will be heard in front of the developmental review board, next month.