Thanks to your generosity on Saturday, WVTK’s
Amanda Leigh spearheaded a successful effort to collect food in time for
Thanksgiving. Amanda stood outside in the chilly air from 10AM -2PM on Saturday
to collect items for HOPE’s food shelf. With your help she collected over
500lbs in food and $254 in donations.
You can still donate! Go to Shaw’s in Middlebury and look for the
donation bin. Or contact Amanda by visiting our website!
This week here in Middlebury the Planning
Commission will meet the evening at 5:15 in the MVAA building on Collins
Drive. Agenda items include an
update on the VT Gas PSB 248 Pre-Filing and the Town Plan Status. The Ilsley Library Board of Trustees
will meet tomorrow evening at 6:30 in the Community Meeting Room. And the Middlebury Town Offices will be
closed for Thanksgiving and Black Friday this week. The Town Clerk’s Office will close at noon on Wednesday.
Westport Central School Board will hold a special
meeting at 8 this morning in the superintendent’s office. The meeting will include policy
adoption and extracurricular appointments. All School Board meetings are open
to the public.
The number of people who have been killed on
Vermont highways is almost double what it was last year. With the holidays around the corner,
more people are on the roads, and more people are drinking. Police and Emergency Room Doctors want
to remind you to slow down and buckle up. William Mapes from the Regional
Ambulance Service in Rutland said, "Flesh and bone doesn't stand up the
way sheet metal does." Police
say 85 percent of Vermonters are buckling up every time they get in the car,
but at a press conference in Rutland Friday, they made a powerful plea to the
other 15 percent. Police say the biggest excuse they hear is that the seat belt
is uncomfortable. Police also encourage parents to be good role models for
their children, start the habit early and buckle up!
The Rutland School Board has agreed to further
investigate universal pre-kindergarten in the city school system. Act 62, adopted by the state
Legislature in 2007, recognizes the importance of pre-k education for children
ages 3 to 5 and allows school districts to use public money to fund it, with
the permission of school boards. The money can be used by school districts to
provide up to 10 hours per week of high quality classes in both private and
public settings, and with licensed community partners.
The Ticonderoga Area Chamber of Commerce will host
an Open House with the North Country Small Business Development Center on
Tuesday, December 11th. Services provided by the North Country S-B-D-C will be
available at the Chamber office typically on the second Tuesday of each month.
The open house will be from 9:30 AM – 3:00 PM for the month of December. The
December Business Seminar will be held prior to the open house on the 11th
from 8:00 – 9:30 AM and is entitled Business Basics: Customer First Culture. Refreshments
for these seminars will be provided compliments of Stewarts Shops. Learn more by visiting www.ticonderogany.com.
The Moriah Fire Department recognized William
“Bill” Wykes last Thursday for 53 years of service. Deputy Fire Coordinator Herb Clark presented him with three
awards. Bill began his career with
the department as a fire fighter and three years later joined the fire police
and remains an active member of the fire department and said he has no plans to
stop anytime soon.
Six days ahead of schedule, Whiteface Mountain
opened for the 2012-13 skiing and riding season Saturday. Bright sunshine, mild temperatures and
variable conditions greeted hundreds of skiers and riders that rode the
Facelift quad chair to the Upper Valley, Lower Valley and Fox trails. Saturday
marked the earliest opening for Whiteface since 2003-04 when the season began
November 16th. Whiteface will re-open this Friday in time for the
Thanksgiving holiday weekend.
Elizabethtown Community Hospital’s 2012 annual
fundraising campaign is underway. The
annual appeal was conducted through a letter that was mailed to people in the
hospital’s service area and to donors who live outside of the area. The letter
outlines how Gary Dickerson of Lewis used the services of the hospital’s
Emergency Room to provide lifesaving care during the heart attack he
experienced in 2010. It also
explains the hospital’s role as a federally designated, critical-access
hospital and explained about its newly developed ambulance transport service to
help patients receive care as quickly as possible. Tax-deductible contributions
can be made at www.ech.org.
More than 1,300 sustainable-farm and food experts
and members of the public will exchange knowledge and help shape the future of
New York State’s organic movement as the Northeast Organic Farming Association
of New York holds its 2013 NOFA-NY Winter Conference in Saratoga Springs from
January 25 - 27, 2013. The
conference will explore topics including urban food production, GMO labeling,
farming with alternative energy sources, and improvements in organic farming
practices from grains to apples to livestock during three days at the Saratoga
Hilton & City Center.
The largest phone company in the state remains
concerned about scams originating from area code 876. The area code isn’t a state but Jamaica, which is home to an
offshore multimillion-dollar lottery scam targeting victims in the U.S., many
in Vermont, Maine and New Hampshire. The problem prompted FairPoint Communications Vermont
State President Michael Smith to take the added step of traveling to Jamaica
this month. Smith spent a
day in Kingston, the capital, to attend a conference to address the lottery
scam. He said with the help of the
Internet, con artists will scan obituary notices and buy lists of names to
target widows and widowers in the U.S.
Passengers flying out of Vermont's largest airport
were down in October by more than 10% from the same month a year earlier.
That's according to statistics released by Burlington International Airport, which
says 54,916 people boarded planes there in October. That was down from 61,092
in October of 2011. Outgoing traffic was up slightly for the first five months
of this year over the same period of 2011, but has been down in June, July,
August, September and October. October saw the biggest drop over the same month
a year earlier.
Police in Vermont are seeking the public's help in
identifying a driver who struck a man while putting gas in his car on the side
of the road and then taking off without stopping. State police say Dean Mason
of Meredith, NH was putting gas in his pickup truck about 8 PM Saturday after
running out of fuel on Route 5 near Interstate 91 in Hartland. Mason told
investigators that a mid-sized black sedan squared up to him and accelerated,
striking him and propelling him through the air. Police say Mason was
hospitalized with multiple injuries, including a compound fracture of his
thighbone and head injuries.
Vermont police are looking for a 32-year-old man
who fled on foot after leading troopers on a high-speed chase. Police attempted
to stop a vehicle in Berkshire around 1 AM Sunday, but the driver sped off and
attempted to strike the trooper's cruiser. Officials say the driver, Shane
Phillips of Johnson, drove up to 90 mph during the 15-mile chase that ended in
Belvidere. Police say Phillips and his passenger, 37-year-old Raymond Earle of
Wolcott, took off on foot. Earle was caught after being tracked over rugged
terrain by police dogs, but Phillips remained at large Sunday morning.
A sentencing date has been set in a Vermont court
for a Mennonite pastor convicted of helping a woman and her daughter flee the
US rather than allow the girl to have regular visits with the woman's former
lesbian partner. Kenneth Miller of
Stuarts Draft, VA faces up to three years in prison when he is sentenced in
Burlington on March 4th. A civil
lawsuit is also pending against Miller and others by the mother's former civil
union partner, Janet Jenkins of Fair Haven. Miller's attorneys are also continuing to fight a subpoena
from federal prosecutors that he testify before a grand jury, presumably about
other people involved in helping the woman, Lisa Miller, and her daughter travel
to Nicaragua. The Millers are not related.
Police are seeking the public's help in their
investigation of multiple copper thefts from seasonal cabins in northern
Vermont. State police said camps
in Swanton had copper stolen from underneath them, and in one case somebody
broke into a cabin to steal copper from inside. Police say a number of detached sheds and garages at the
properties were also vandalized. Authorities
say the two main areas that have been hit are on Fairfield Pond and on a
dead-end road near the Swanton-Alburgh Bridge that crosses Lake Champlain.
The Vermont Department of Corrections is holding
quarterly town meetings to gather input from the public on the department's
policies. The meetings will be held
on interactive television. Commissioner
Andrew Pallito says the department hopes citizens, stakeholders and community
partners will take part and provide the department with constructive and open
input. The first meeting will held
on December 4th from 4:15 - 6:15 PM.
The other Corrections Town Meetings will be held in 2013 on February 12th,
May 15th and August 14th. For a
list of Vermont Interactive Technology sites and dates, times and locations of
the meetings, visit the department's website.
Experts in leadership and disaster response give
high marks to the governors of New York and New Jersey and the mayor of New
York City for their performance in Superstorm Sandy. The storm that took the lives of more than 100 people and
presented perhaps the biggest crisis-management test yet for three politicians
who have been rumored to hold presidential ambitions. Syracuse University political science professor Robert
McClure says Americans seek authenticity in political leaders, and the three
men demonstrated it.
The holiday season is rapidly approaching and that
means it's time for Maple View Farm's annual holiday open house in Brandon! Maple View Farm Alpacas and the Vermont
Fiber Mill & Studio will be open to visitors from 11 AM – 4 PM this Saturday
and Sunday. You are invited to join
them for a fun weekend on the farm!
Over 30 alpacas including 7 babies born this past spring and early
summer will greet visitors. The open house is an ideal time to learn about
alpacas. Ed and Debbie Bratton
have been raising alpacas for 10 years at their 100-acre farm in Brandon. Alpaca fiber, which comes in 22 natural
colors, is used to make knitted and woven items, similar to wool. For more information, visit their
website at www.mapleviewfarmalpacas.com
or Facebook at Maple View Farm Alpacas or Vermont Fiber Mill & Studio. The farm is located at 185 Adams Rd,
Brandon, VT. Contact mvfalpacas@earthlink.net
or 802.247.5412 for more information.
Jay Peak Ski Resort is admitting to violating a
state environmental permit by failing to report how much water it was pulling
from a local brook for snowmaking.
The state has fined Jay Peak more than 52-hundred dollars, but some
environmental groups are questioning if that's a stiff enough penalty for the
crime. A spokesman for the resort
says its monitoring system was damaged by Tropical Storm Irene, and once they
realized the problem took steps to correct it. The fine and settlement are now under review since a new law
allows the public to comment on environmental enforcement actions.
The farmer accused of using his tractor to crush
seven parked sheriff's department cruisers has lost one legal battle. The attorney for Roger Pion filed a motion
to have the case dismissed on grounds Orleans County State's Attorney Alan
Franklin was improperly sworn in as acting county prosecutor. The judge issued a five-page ruling
stating the appointment of Franklin is valid, and scolded defense attorney David
Sleigh for raising the issue 22 months after the prosecutor was appointed.
There's not any snow on the ground, but it doesn't
mean the ski slopes are bare.
Sugarbush is one of four resorts opening up this week, and a
spokesperson for Sugarbush says season pass sales are already up over last
year's. State tourism officials
say they hope all the pre-season ski excitement will give the state a badly
needed revenue boost.
A rare, wheelchair-accessible section of the
Appalachian Trail in Vermont has been reopened more than a year after it
suffered extensive damage during Tropical Storm Irene. The Thundering Falls boardwalk in
Killington forms a link on the footpath from Georgia to Maine and allows people
who use wheelchairs to view the spectacular falls. The boardwalk, first opened in 2008, was damaged when Irene
caused the Ottauquechee River to overflow its banks. The Green Mountain Club's Long Trail Patrol special projects
crew rebuilt the boardwalk with guidance and support from the U.S. Forest Service.
Merchants across the state are hoping for a good
turnout next weekend for what's being called "Small Business
Saturday." The National Federation of Independent Business is among the
groups hoping that after mobbing the malls on "Black Friday,"
shoppers will turn their attention to Main Street on Saturday.
New York Senator Charles Schumer is calling for
steps to be taken to keep cell phone service running during emergencies. Schumer is calling on the Federal
Communication Commission to require cell phone service providers to maintain
emergency power at cell tower sites to keep service during storms and
floods. Schumer says during Sandy
many New Yorkers were left not just in the dark with no power, but completely
cut off because of cell service disruptions. He says the day is coming when there will be no more landlines
and keeping the wireless system running will be imperative.
