Monday, December 10, 2012

WVTK Local & State News December 10, 2012


Meetings coming up this week here in Middlebury include the Development Review Board at 7 this evening in the Main Conference Room of the Town Offices. Agenda items include a public hearing on Housing Vermont's Renovation and Reconstruction of 22 Dwelling Unit at 31-37 Pleasant Street.  Tomorrow morning at 9 the Town Offices/Community Center Finance & Fundraising Task Force will meet in the Small Conference Room at the Town Offices.  The Regular Select Board Meeting takes place tomorrow evening at 7 in the Main Conference Room.  Items on their agenda include a Public Hearing on Proposed Interim Zoning and Adoption of Town Plan Maps along with a Public Hearing on the National Flood Insurance Program.  Reports from various committees will be heard and Vermont Gas Systems' Request for a Letter of Support for the Addison Natural Gas Project.  Then on Wednesday at 5:30 PM the Recreation Committee will meet in the Small Conference Room at the Town Offices.  Get more information on these meetings by visiting the Town Of Middlebury’s Website.

People’s United Community Foundation recently awarded $5,000 to Habitat for Humanity of Addison County, Inc.  The Addison County agency is a Vermont affiliate of the well-known Habitat for Humanity International, a nonprofit housing ministry that has helped to build over 500,000 decent, affordable homes and has served 2.5 million people worldwide since 1976.  Habitat’s Addison County President said that the donation from People’s United Community Foundation would assist in paying for the construction of their second of four houses they are building on a parcel of land in Cornwall.

The area’s mosquito-control district has called the state’s process of tracking and testing mosquitoes that carry deadly viruses “shamefully inadequate” and has asked legislators for a quarter-million-dollar statewide budget to rectify the problem.  The recommendation from the Brandon-Leicester-Salisbury-Goshen Insect Control District comes as the state Agency of Agriculture and state Department of Health are considering how much to ask in 2013 funding for the increased surveillance of eastern equine encephalitis.

The Pittsford Select Board decided not to ban medical marijuana dispensaries in town last week, but officials said that’s not quite the same as approving them. According to Selectman Hank Pelkey it’s a fine line between the two and it can be construed that way but at this point they voted to not create an ordinance to prohibit them. The state has approved four dispensaries. So far, one in Burlington and one in Waterbury have been approved.  Pelkey said the Pittsford board would address any future applications as they come forward.

A special chili cook off and fly-in event is planned for this weekend.  It will be held at the Middlebury State Airport on Saturday at Noon.  The event's rain date is Sunday.  Attendees are asked to bring their best pot of chili to share.  A guest pilot from the Recreational Aviation Foundation will answer general questions about flying as well as questions about aviation challenges in mountain country.

Registration for Vermont Spring Open Studio Weekend is underway now through early January. The Vermont Crafts Council is seeking Vermont artists to participate.  Open Studio Weekend 2013 will take place May 25th and 26th in locations throughout Vermont including Rutland and Middlebury. Creativity, authenticity, and education are the heart of Open Studio Weekend.  Vermont visual artists and craftspeople, galleries, and educational sites are all encouraged to take part in this event. Membership and Open Studio registration forms and information are available at www.vermontcrafts.com and are due by January 4th.

Over the course of nearly 2 months, members of the VT State Police Castleton Outpost have investigated several reported burglaries to unoccupied sugarhouses in the Poultney and Hubbardton area.  After a lengthy investigation by several Outpost Troopers, Bryan Parker of Poultney was identified as a suspect. Through continued investigation it was determined that Parker was in fact responsible for the burglaries and was subsequently arrested in connection with burglaries to four separate sugar-houses in these towns.  A large amount of the stolen property taken from the sugarhouses was recovered by the State Police and is in the process of being returned to its owners.

The Essex County Ethics Board will conduct a meeting at 9 this morning at the Board of Supervisors Chambers.  The meeting is open to the public.

The Ticonderoga Area Chamber of Commerce “December After Business Mixer” will be held on Thursday, December 13th at the Hancock House located in historic Ticonderoga next to Liberty Monument. The Ticonderoga Historical Society and Ticonderoga Arts will co- host the event at the Hancock house from 5:30 – 7:00 PM. Sponsors providing door prizes will be Rathbun Jewelers, Ticonderoga Arts and the Wagon Wheel Restaurant. The Hancock House is home to the Ticonderoga Historical Society and Ticonderoga Arts. Both organizations and door prize sponsors are members of the Ticonderoga Area Chamber of Commerce.  Find out more by visiting www.ticonderogany.com

Hudson Headwaters Health Network hopes to maintain a presence in the town of Moriah for many years.  The town and health care agency have started preliminary talks about extending Hudson Headwaters’ lease at the town-owned health center.   The $1.2 million health center in the Moriah Industrial Park on Plank Road in Mineville opened in 2008. At that time the town and H-H-H-N entered into a five-year agreement to provide health care and staffing at the facility. That deal expires in 2013.

Champlain Area Trails will host a “Welcome to Winter Hike” at the new Hidden Quarry Trail this Saturday afternoon at 1 and announce the winners of the travel-writing contest and the raffle.  Hikers should meet at the former Mormon Church parking lot, located 4.8 miles north of the downtown Port Henry on the east side of Route 22/9N. For more details, call 962-2287, go to www.champlainareatrails.com or email champlaintrails@gmail.com.

The Moriah Food Pantry is ready for the holidays.  Back in October pantry shelves were nearly empty and the community service was short of cash. Recently more than $3,000 and many food donations have been taken in. The Moriah Food Pantry got even more good news November 30th when the Canadian Pacific Holiday Train visited.  Canadian Pacific made a $1,000 donation to the food shelf and people attending contributed another $240 in cash along with food items. The Moriah Food Pantry is located in the basement of All Saints Church on Bartlett Pond Road in Mineville and serves about 85 families a month.  Donations are needed on an ongoing basis. 

The Schroon Lake Area Chamber of Commerce is seeking new and renewing members for 2013.  Benefits include multiple marketing opportunities, including enhanced presence on the Schroon Lake chamber’s websiteinclusion and an opportunity for an enhanced listing in the annual Schroon Lake Visitor’s Guide with distribution of around 10,000, as well as exposure and promotion at the Schroon Lake Visitor’s Bureau on Main Street.  Contact the Chamber for more info or to become a member. 

Post Offices nationwide will be open Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve. Most Post Offices will shorten retail lobby hours and close at noon on these dates. Regular mail delivery will be unaffected by the change.  Revised hours will be posted at each Post Office and commercial customers are asked to check with their Bulk Mail Entry Units for specific information regarding holiday hours of operation. Post Offices will be closed Dec. 25 and Jan. 1. Express Mail only will be delivered on Christmas Day and New Year’s Day. All Post Offices will be open and regular mail delivery will resume December 26th and January 2nd.

U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders is hosting his third State of the Union essay contest for the state's high school students. Sanders says the contest is meant to engage students on the major issues facing the country. During the past two years, more than 500 Vermont students have written essays about topics such as the declining middle class, climate change, health care reform and the rising cost of a college education. A panel of Vermont high school teachers will judge the essays. The deadline for submitting entries is January 8th.

Vermont's federal prosecutor's office has collected more than $3.8 million in fiscal year 2012 related to criminal and civil actions. Most of the collections came from civil actions, which amounted to $3.1 million. The office said Friday that it also collected $4.8 million in criminal and civil forfeitures for a total recovery of $8.7 million. Around the country, the U.S. attorneys' offices collected a total of $13.1 billion in criminal civil actions, more than doubling the amount collected the year before.

Gay marriage supporters see 41 reasons to fret over the Supreme Court's decision to take up the case of California's ban on same-sex unions. While nine states allow same-sex partners to marry, or will soon, 41 states do not. Of those, 30 have written gay marriage bans into their state constitutions. That fact is worrisome to those who firmly believe in a constitutional right to marry, regardless of sexual orientation, but who also know that the Supreme Court does not often get well ahead of the country on hot-button social issues. The justices will hear cases this term on California's Proposition 8 and a federal law that prevents gay couples from receiving federal benefits for married people.

The Special Olympics Team USA is heading to Lake Placid to tune up for the upcoming World Winter Games in South Korea.  The 210 members are getting together for the first time to train in a variety of sports at facilities used during the 1980 Winter Olympics, including the Olympic Training Center, from today through Friday.  The organization says the team includes 151 athletes, 44 coaches, and other staff from across the U.S.  The training camp will include team-building activities and alpine skiing, cross country skiing, snowboarding, snowshoeing, speed skating, figure skating, floor hockey and the demonstration sport floor ball.  The Special Olympics Winter Games will run from January 29th to February 5th.


The Rutland South Supervisory Union received a grant of more than $100,000 to help students who drop out, or in some way fall through the cracks.  The union commissioned a regional summit Friday to investigate community services available to those kids and what better role schools can take to prevent the loss of students.  Rutland South Superintendent Dana Cole-Levesque introduced the day-long conference at Rutland’s Howe Center by talking about the Transitions Initiative, which started in 2011.

A landfill in Moretown has until sometime today to prove they can get their odor problems under control.  That's how long the state has given the owners of Advanced Disposal before it will even consider an expansion plan.  The state claims the landfill has a long history of problems, while Advanced Disposal says it wants to put a temporary cap over more than five acres, as well as stop accepting foul-smelling sludge.  If the state does not accept the plan, the landfill could be forced to close early next year once it runs out of room.

Some of Vermont's politicians will be in Florida Wednesday, not soaking up sunshine but listening closely to just how much noise the controversial F-35 fighter jets create.  Governor Peter Shumlin, Burlington Miro Weinberger and Winooski Mayor Michael O'Brien will be at Elgin Air Force Base.  The Air Force is considering whether to base the jets in Burlington as part of the Air National Guard, but there's a big fight over just how much noise the jets create.  Weinberger and the Governor are in favor of the F-35's coming, while O'Brien is so far undecided.

Owners of small inns and bed-and-breakfasts in Vermont now have their own association.  The formation of the group is designed to give innkeepers a bigger voice when it comes to state policies as well as more power in order to market themselves to tourists.  Hundreds of owners of small inns and B & B's in Vermont have in the past relied mostly on local Chambers of Commerce to represent their interests.  The new Vermont Inn and Bed and Breakfast Association currently has about 75 members.

A world record will be made in Albany on December 12.  Downtown Albany's Jingle Elf Quest program will set the record of gathering the largest group of people to sing "Jingle Bells" while ringing actual jingle bells.  The official record setting will take place in front of the Times Union Center at noon on December 12.  Anyone is encouraged to join in the event. 


A regional car dealership is pitching in to help some local schools with grants as part of its Drive for Education program.  Berlin City Auto Group is donating $171,000 to schools across New England and $9,400 of it will go to five schools in Vermont. The participating schools had to present a need and application to Berlin City Auto. About ten in Vermont applied.  The five schools that received the grants are Colchester Middle School, Sheldon Elementary School, South Burlington High School, Franklin Central School, and Porters Point School.  To learn more about the program visit the Berlin City Auto web page.

A 168-foot-long replica of an iconic Vermont covered bridge that was swept away by Tropical Storm Irene is nearing completion.  Beginning today, the Lower Bartonsville Road in Rockingham will be closed so workers can dismantle a temporary bridge and move the new bridge into its place across the Williams River.  The Bartonsville Covered Bridge, which dates to 1870, was destroyed in Irene's floodwaters in August 2011. A dramatic video posted on Facebook showed the bridge being swept away by rushing water, then disappearing seconds later.  The Rutland Herald reported that the road will be closed for about 45 days while the bridge is put into place and final work is completed on the $2.6 million project.