Archive - Jul 18, 2006
By CYRUS LEVESQUE
BRISTOL — In response to concerns about availability of dental care in Addison County, two groups are trying to start a dental clinic that could serve area residents who now lack adequate care.
The need for a dental center in the county is likely to grow, according to Moira Cook, district director of the Middlebury office of the Vermont Department of Health. “We are concerned about the access to dental care in this county, so anything to make dental care more readily available would be a good thing.”
The area might not have a shortage of dental care providers right now, Cook said, but as dentists retire or leave the area, some fear that a problem will arise. “There’s pretty decent coverage in this county, but we’re more concerned about the future,” she said.
By HARRIETTE BRAINARD
BRIDPORT — When the Rev. James Slowey came home to what was supposed to be his surprise 40th birthday party in Picayune, Miss., on Aug. 27, 2005, there was no way he could have predicted the terrifying events of the next few days, let alone the next year.
There was no way he could have known that the following summer he and his family would be sitting down at the dining room table of Tim Franklin, pastor of the Bridport Congregational Church in Addison County, Vermont. Up until the spring of 2006, Slowey and his family knew very little of Vermont and never dreamed that they would take their first airplane trip there.
But then Hurricane Katrina struck his coastal community, some 55 miles northeast of New Orleans, and the world changed.
By JOHN FLOWERS
ADDISON COUNTY — Some lawmakers are learning about dairy farmers’ financial problems during debates and meetings in the Vermont Statehouse and in the nation’s capital.
But Sen. Harold Giard, D-Bridport, said one doesn’t need to go beyond the local supermarket to get a vivid picture of the issues plaguing farmers and what is needed to get them back on their feet.
While walking in the dairy section in one of Middlebury’s chain supermarkets last week, Giard — a former dairy farmer and member of the Senate Agriculture Committee — gestured to gallons of milk lined up in a long cooler.
He noted a price of $3.13 per gallon for the milk, of which only $1.03 is ending up in farmer’s pocket, due to the many deductions and price adjustments that take place as the product makes its way from the farm to the supermarket.
