Archive - Jul 9, 2012
BRISTOL —The New York Yankees of the 1950s, the Boston Celtics of the 1960s, the Montreal Canadiens of the 1970s, and now the Berry cousins of the present day — they are all dynasties of their own eras.
With their fourth consecutive victory in the Independence Day Bristol Outhouse Race, local residents Chris and Kevin Berry have established themselves as Addison County’s modern day athletic dynasty — the duo of cousins has owned the town’s Fourth of July outdoor toilet-racing scene since 2009.
BRISTOL — Bristol police on June 21 responded to Main Street to check on a dog in a vehicle and cited Scott Martin, 35, of Winooski for possession of marijuana.
The officer asked Martin to crack his truck windows. As soon as he opened the truck door, Bristol police Chief Kevin Gibbs said, the officer was overwhelmed by the smell of marijuana.
Democratic consultant Jason Stanford argues in a Huffington Post article that negative advertising is a good thing, if you like democracy. He argues that voters pay more attention to criticism than praise and that raising the voters’ hackles also gets them to the polls.
We would like to believe otherwise, but the research shows he’s correct. To drive the point home, he points to the recent Wisconsin election, which was highly negative, and yet drove more people to the polls than in the general election.
VERMONT — Jeff Severson has spent much of the past 50 summers at his family’s Lake Champlain camp in West Addison. But it wasn’t until two weeks ago that the born-and-raised Vermonter had ever seen blooms of the potentially toxic cyanobacteria, or blue-green algae, engulf his favorite swim and fishing spot.
While Severson and his son were fishing on June 29, his wife Lisa Windhausen, who teaches middle school science in Jericho, watched from above as Oven Bay turned from a pool of glistening glass to chunky green sludge within hours.
MIDDLEBURY — If market reform measures do not pass in this year’s federal farm bill, Vermont dairy farms will have a hard time staying in business, local dairy farmers told Rep. Peter Welch, D-Vt., last Thursday morning.
Without dairy reform, said Marie Audet of Blue Spruce Farm in Bridport, “I just don’t understand how our little farms will survive this fall. The farms that were on the brink three months ago, I don’t know how they can look to the future.”
FERRISBURGH — Vermont’s political landscape has changed quite a bit since Ferrisburgh Democrat Arabella Holzapfel ran for the Vermont House back in 2000.
That was a year during which the GOP claimed a decisive majority in the House following a session that saw passage of the nation’s first civil union law.
VERGENNES –– Charles Gravier, Le Comte de Vergennes, a French nobleman for whom the city of Vergennes was named, died in 1787. But on July 14 le Comte de Vergennes will be strolling around the streets of the Little City, stopping to talk to passersby and leading a tour of the city’s downtown.
French explorer Samuel de Champlain, who lived from 1574 to 1635, will also be hanging out in the City Park this Saturday telling his personal history. Craftspeople will be knitting, making 18th century shoes, quilting, blacksmithing and spinning.
RIPTON — Ripton officials are getting their town ready to participate in the Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) program, which provides renewable energy incentives for local residents. With that in mind, the Ripton selectboard recently adopted a PACE program description and guidelines for the program. Efficiency Vermont will administer the program for the town.
The selectboard is considering having the Addison County Sheriff’s Department periodically monitor the town shed in wake of unauthorized dumping of trash at that location between recycling dates.
