Archive - Feb 2010
February 18th
Part of the role of a town selectman is to advocate on the behalf of town residents. So when a Middlebury woman approached selectman Craig Bingham and complained that smokers at a public event at a Middlebury park had caused her kids to breathe smoke from their cigarettes or move, Bingham dutifully took the problem to the selectboard with a proposed solution: ban smoking in all town parks.
One of the roles of the selectboard is to reign in suggestions that are likely to cause friction without effectively solving the perceived problem. This is one of those times.
What was an encouraging, hopeful and humanitarian response to Haiti’s desperate plight in the aftermath of its major earthquake ended abruptly this week in what we suspect was a heap of bureaucratic red tape.
Middlebury Union High School officials confirmed on Wednesday that plans to accept six Haitian students at the school for a year of study were cancelled when an U.S. Department of State official told MUHS Principal Bill Lawson that complications in obtaining visas for the students presented hurdles too large to surmount.
I know envy is one of those deadly sins, but I can’t help it. Other columnists can write pieces about their smart, charming and funny pets. Or heartwarming pieces about growing up with dogs and finding just the right one now, like my colleague Katie. That helped her win a New England Newspaper and Press Association Rookie of the Year prize.
I’m not jealous of that award. She earned it, and it’s a little late for the particular honor for me. (See picture.) But the topic? That would be nice.
BRISTOL — Bristol selectmen have signed bond papers and notes that gave the final go-ahead to a $1.38 million stormwater system improvement project in the village.
The project will replace waterlines from South Street to the Bristol Elementary School and the old clay tiles that made up the storm sewer in that part of the village. The project also calls for replacing the roadway from curb to curb along North Street.
BRISTOL — Coaches will say they work all season to get their teams to play their best to the end of the game, come tournament time.
Given that, Mount Abraham Union High School girls’ basketball coach Connie LaRose had to like what she saw of her No. 7 Eagles against No. 10 Springfield in Wednesday’ night’s first-round Division II playoff game.
The 9-12 Eagles played their best full 32 minutes of the season against the 4-17 Cosmos, who took the long bus ride home after absorbing a 64-22 loss in a game that effectively ended at 2:22 of the second quarter.
New Hampshire was a key to the Democratic resurgence from 2004 to 2008. John Kerry won the state in the 2004 presidential election, the same year Democrat John Lynch defeated a Republican incumbent to become New Hampshire’s governor. In 2006, Democrats Paul Hodes and Carol Shea-Porter defeated incumbent Republicans to win New Hampshire’s two congressional seats. In November 2008, Barack Obama won New Hampshire, while Democrat Jeanne Shaheen defeated incumbent Republican U.S. Sen. John Sununu.
We were at the top of the ridge. We’d been going steadily uphill for nearly an hour, winding our way up the slope heading north and east. Finally, we cut through a familiar pass between two hilltops, and were ready to start our descent.
Cross-country ski conditions weren’t great on the ascent, but they were okay: better than we’d expected. At the bottom of the mountain, where we live, the open meadows and farm fields were largely barren of snow. What little was left after the meltdown in January had gradually disappeared until only the woods still held white ground cover.
February 17th
GIRLS’ FIRST-ROUND HOOP GAMES
Form, or as the guys on ESPN radio like to say, “the chalk,” prevailed on Wednesday night: the Middlebury, Otter Valley, Mount Abraham and Vergennes girls’ basketball teams all won their first-round Division II playoff games at home. Details on all, including a full write-up and photos from Mount Abe, will be in the Thursday paper.
