The Ilsley Library Board of Trustees will meet this
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.
The Vermont State Police in New Haven are
investigating two daytime burglaries at the residences located along Route 125
in Bridport. The first burglary
occurred at the residence of Isaac Larocque on Route 125 in Bridport. This
burglary took place last Thursday sometime between 6:30 AM and 12:20 PM. The second burglary occurred at the
residence of Mary Duclos on Route 125 in Bridport. Someone forced entry at the residence through a rear door
gaining access to the residence. A separate window was also broken where those
involved unsuccessfully attempted to make entry. Approximately $1,000 in
jewelry was stolen from the home. The estimated damage to the residence is
approximately $500. Anyone with
information is encouraged to contact the Vermont State Police in New Haven at 802-388-4919. Information can also be submitted
online at www.vtips.info
or text CRIMES (274637) to keyword VTIPS.
Otter Creek Brewing Co. of Middlebury took home
gold, silver and two bronze medals at the 16th annual Great International Beer
Festival earlier this month in Providence, RI. A panel of 83 judges selected winners in 44 categories after
blind tasting 470 beers and ciders from around the globe. Included in the medal count were Otter
Creek’s flagship Copper Ale, which took a silver medal in one category. The
newly released Hop Session Ale scored a bronze in the American Pale Ale
category. Also, Stovepipe
Porter scored a bronze medal in the Brown Porter category.
A man
with Crown Point ties is the newest member of the sales team at Foster Motors
in Middlebury. Joe Bodette, who
owned Frenchman’s Restaurant in Crown Point along with his wife Cindy, now
works for the Middlebury auto dealership.
The Bodette’s owned Frenchman’s nearly nine years before selling it this
past summer. Joe is hopeful he will see many of his New York area friends visit
Foster Motors on Route 7 South in Middlebury.
A well-known defense attorney from Rutland died on
Monday. Fifty-four-year-old Mathew
Harnett, who represented some of the most high profile criminal cases in Rutland
County, battled cancer. Matthew
Harnett was born in New York City and got his legal training at the Vermont Law
School. He served as a
public Defender in Rutland at the start of his career but went on to private
practice, becoming one of the state's best-known criminal defense attorneys. Besides
his passion for the law, friends say Harnett loved to be outdoors skiing and
hiking and loved spending time with his family. He leaves behind his wife Lori and daughter Cassie.
The lawyer for the former Weybridge town clerk and
treasurer says a guilty conscience drove his client to resign and admit to
embezzling tens of thousands of dollars.
An independent audit will determine just how much was taken, but Karen
Brisson is suspected of embezzling an estimated 150-thousand dollars from 2007
until 2011. She was the clerk and
treasurer for twenty years, but her lawyer says debt led her to take the money,
adding she's offering up the deed to her house to help the town recoup some of the
funds. So far Brisson is not
charged, and selectmen say thanks to the repayment and insurance taxpayers will
not have to cover the loss.
Rutland Town and West Rutland are combining efforts
with the goal of saving money this winter. The neighboring towns will be using homemade salt brine, a
mixture of water and rock salt which is dissolved and concentrated, on some of
the roads this winter. The hope is
in the long run it will save money on road salt costs. While West Rutland had already signed
the agreement, members of the Rutland Town Select Board will put their
signatures on the deal tonight. It
expires April 15th.
The administration of Gov. Peter Shumlin is hoping
to get the first shovel in the ground later this month on a new 25-bed
psychiatric facility in Berlin that's to help replace the Vermont State
Hospital in Waterbury. That
facility was forced to close by flooding from Tropical Storm Irene and is to be
replaced by the Berlin hospital and a series of smaller psychiatric units
around the state. An unusually
fast, emergency certificate of need process was completed Monday, with approval
granted by the state Department of Financial Regulation.
At least one Albany lawmaker believes a special
session of the state Legislature could be held in the coming weeks. The Senate Deputy Majority Leader says
while Governor Cuomo and others are downplaying such an event, the idea that a
special session could take place before 2013 remains a reality. Several issues such as lawmaker pay
raises and raising the state's minimum wage were expected to be brought up in
any special session that was being hinted about, but Governor Cuomo has
signaled such a session is now unlikely as cleanup efforts from Hurricane Sandy
become the main focus for the state.
The Cuomo administration is in the midst of talks
with gambling interests around New York State about ways to raise revenues
following Hurricane Sandy.
Officials with the New York Gaming Association have met with
senior-level Cuomo administration officials to discuss ways gambling operations
might be able to quickly increase revenues to help pay for the huge Sandy
cleanup cost. That news has led
gambling critics to criticize the Cuomo administration for trying to take
advantage of the Sandy situation to bring more casinos into operation in the
Empire State.
Protect the Adirondacks has called for creation of
a new 39,000-acre Upper Hudson River Wilderness Area. This area would be centered on 22 miles of the Upper Hudson
River that stretches from the Town of Newcomb to North River. It would include
more than 5 miles of the Cedar River and 4 miles of the Indian River, as well
as dozens of lakes and ponds. The
new wilderness area would be created from roughly 19,000 acres of former Finch
Paper lands to be purchased by the state of New York from the Nature
Conservancy. As well, the state will buy 20,000 acres of existing Forest
Preserve lands in the Hudson Gorge Primitive Area and in the Blue Mountain and Vanderwhacker
Wild Forest Areas.
The Schroon Lake Chamber of Commerce is seeking
suggestions for its annual Old Tyme Christmas celebration. The event will be held Saturday, December
8th. As part of the Christmas celebration the chamber will again have its
holiday basket raffle. The raffle, which benefits local Christmas charities,
will be held 10 AM to 8 PM at the chamber office on Main Street December 8th
during the Old Tyme Christmas celebration.
A key green light has been given for the 25-bed
Vermont state psychiatric hospital planned for Berlin. The Department of Financial Regulation has
approved the plan for the hospital drafted by the Department of Mental Health. CFR Commissioner Steve Kimbell
announced his department's approval of a certificate of need for the Berlin
hospital. That and a series of
smaller psychiatric units around the state are being developed to replace the
Vermont State Hospital in Waterbury. That facility was forced to close by
flooding from Tropical Storm Irene in August of 2011, with the state scrambling
since then to find enough places for people with mental illness.
Vermont State Police say they are investigating the
theft of a public address system from church. Police said the equipment was
taken from the Mountain View Baptist Church in Danby. Police said Deacon David
Aubrey told them the theft happened sometime between November 11th and Sunday.
It's described as a black Radio Shack Realistic, 20-watt system.
Ski areas across New England have made big
investments in low-energy, high-efficiency snowmaking to ensure the slopes are
snow-covered earlier and longer than last season. At this time last year, Stowe
Mountain Resort had six trails open. This year the resort opened Saturday - a
week earlier than in 2011 - with nearly double the number of trails, thanks to
$4.7 million in snowmaking improvements.
Advocates for the working poor want New York's
government leaders to raise the minimum wage during a possible special session
of the Legislature that could include a salary boost for lawmakers and top
government administrators. The groups used their annual Thanksgiving appeal to
push for the wage hike during a march and rally held in downtown Albany yesterday.
The New York pension fund for state and local
government workers is reporting a 4% return on investment for its last quarter
with an estimated fund value of $150.1 billion at the end of September, up more
than $3 billion. State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli, fund trustee, cites
"reasonable gains" amid a slow economy and market uncertainty about
the U.S. elections.
New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman says
thousands of New York homeowners have gotten an estimated $625 million in loan
relief from five U.S. banks. It's part of the national mortgage settlement
negotiated earlier this year over foreclosure abuses. In Monday's report, monitor Joseph Smith says more $26
billion in home loan relief was extended to some 309,000 borrowers between
March 1 and Sept. 30. About half was in "short sales" where lenders
agree to accept less than what the seller owes on the mortgage. New Yorkers' settlement share so far
has helped 7,223 homeowners with an average of $86,000 in principal write-downs
and other relief, according to the attorney general's office.
The Boys and Girls Club of Rutland County will host
a Thanksgiving Dinner for its youth and volunteer members at 5 PM today, with
an awards ceremony held at 4:45 before the feast. The Club’s mission is to inspire and enable all young people
to realize their full potential as productive, responsible and caring citizens.
It also provides a safe place to learn and grow, ongoing relationships with
caring, adult professionals, life-enhancing programs, and character development
experiences, as well as hope and opportunity. The Club is located in downtown Rutland at 71-77 Merchants
Row.
There's good and bad news for people flying for
Thanksgiving. AAA predicts fewer
people will fly compared to last year.
But there are strict security rules that could put a damper on
Thanksgiving dinner if you don't plan ahead. With thoughts of family and Thanksgiving, Vermont federal
security director Bruce McDonald wants you to also remember TSA rules. "The reason we have these liquids,
aerosols, and gels rules are any of one of which can easily be disguised as an
explosive," says McDonald. Your
carry on bag is ready to go if the liquids, aerosols, and gels are 3.4 ounces
or less and in a clear plastic bag.
The rules might be easy most of the time. But think twice before bringing a Thanksgiving side
dish. From wine to cranberry sauce
to jams, they have to be less than 3.4 ounces to be carried on-board. "It's better off to package it
well and put it in your checked baggage," says McDonald. If you're picking up a last minute gift
be careful how you pack it because it might not get to your final destination. That's because Vermont's signature
product maple syrup also falls under the liquids rules. TSA says pies and cakes can be carried
on-board. But they might require
additional screening.
Potatoes and prisoners, an award winning
combination? Well stay with us,
potatoes that might have ended up unused are being cleaned and bagged by
inmates at the Southeast State Correctional Facility in Windsor. It's nice to be able to share some good
news about the men and women who haven't been outstanding members of society,
but now it's their turn to give back.
All of the potatoes they bag will go to food shelves across the state. Many of them say this experience has
changed them forever. Down a road,
behind a barbed wire fence, criminals are serving time, "I did an original
sentence for car theft," Inmate Matthew Williams said. "I'm in here
for DUI's," Inmate Matt Mabe said.
But there's something unique going on, designed to put food on the table
for thousands of Vermonters. Governor Shumlin toured the "pilot potato
project" Monday. "We're
paying for them every single day; they ought to be working for us," Gov.
Shumlin said. The Southeast State
Correctional Facility partnered with the nonprofit Salvation Farms, it works
with agricultural surplus, in this case, potatoes. "So we approached our friends at Tuberville who
grow food for donation," Theresa Snow of Salvation Farms said. And that's how the well-oiled machine
got started. "This is food
that would otherwise be wasted. This is a good experience for them to see, I
can do something good, it feels good, it gets recognized and there's value and
I think that's a really good lesson for them," Andy Pallito of the Dept.
of Corrections said. The potatoes
will eventually make their way to the Food Bank in Brattleboro where they will
feed thousands of families. And
the inmates, like Matt Williams and Matt Mabe have packed close to six tons in
under three days, but they're getting far more than they bargained for. "Coming from a criminal
background, it's good to give back and share the time that I have and make it
worthwhile," Williams said. Both
men say having found what it means to give back will change them once they're
out. "I think it's good to
have a purpose and I think that's one thing that's lacked throughout my life is
just having any sort of purpose."
Governor Shumlin says he'd like to see more projects like this one, in
prisons all across the state.
As a federal lawsuit to close the Vermont Yankee
nuclear power plant winds through the courts, the Vermont Public Service Board
is considering the plant's future.
On Monday, the board held a public hearing by videoconference with sites
all across Vermont. The board
wanted to hear from people about if VY should be allowed to operate for another
20 years. "I see no public
good in its license extension and operation going forward and instead see a
wide range of serious problems that will harm the good people of Vermont,"
says Wally Jenkins, a plant opponent.
"The opposition to Vermont Yankee can only be described as not
supported by history and facts. Nuclear power in general has been widely
accepted," says Bret Powell, a plant supporter. The board expects to make its decision about Yankee next fall.
