Archive - Page

Community Forum: Libraries' demise exaggerated

Posted on September 17, 2012 |

• Opinion
• community forum
• libraries

By David Clark

Editor's note: This week’s writer is David Clark, director of the Ilsley Public Library in Middlebury.

The other day a relative stranger, having learned that I was a librarian, announced with the certitude of the uninformed that, “Libraries aren’t really going to be around in another 10 years, are they?”

full story

Unusual weather affects apple crop

Posted on September 13, 2012 |

• Addison County
• agriculture
• Featured

By Xian Chiang-Waren

ADDISON COUNTY — Every orchard agrees: The story of this year’s harvest started in the spring.

“It got too hot too soon,” said Bob Douglas, the co-owner of Douglas Orchards in Shoreham, of the unusual warm spell that hit around St. Patrick’s Day. “Everything blossomed early. But the frost still came along when it always does, and killed those blossoms.”

And while Douglas’s crop is going to come in below average, other Addison County orchards are expecting a decent year.

full story

Middlebury selectmen mull cheaper town office building

Posted on September 13, 2012 |

• Middlebury
• Featured
• Middlebury selectboard

By Andy Kirkaldy

MIDDLEBURY — The Middlebury selectboard on Tuesday heard a suggestion from its town office steering committee that town officials might want to aim a little lower in designing a municipal office building.

The board also talked about capping taxpayers’ contribution to funding a new building at a 2-cent increase to the Middlebury’s tax rate, which officials said would raise about $2 million toward its cost over the length of a bond.   

full story

Lathrop looks back over century of changes

Posted on September 13, 2012 |

• Bristol
• Featured

By Xian Chiang-Waren

BRISTOL — Not many Vermonters can still recall the days when their town’s roads were unpaved, ice was cut and stored in sawdust-lined containers until summer time, and eggs were commonly known as “hen fruit.”

But Gertrude Lathrop can. The lifelong Bristol resident will mark her 100th birthday on Oct. 13.

“It was very different,” she said, recalling how the town looked in her childhood. “The streets have changed. The buildings have changed.”

full story

Tiger girls' soccer nips VUHS, improves mark to 2-0

Posted on September 13, 2012 |

• Sports
• girls' soccer
• MUHS
• VUHS

By Andy Kirkaldy

MIDDLEBURY — When Middlebury Union High School senior middie Lydia Allen’s 25-yard bomb hit the back of the net late in Tuesday’s first overtime, the host Tigers had defeated a stubborn Vergennes girls’ soccer squad, 2-1, and improved to 2-0.

And that’s as many wins as the program earned in the 2007, 2008 and 2009 seasons combined; equaled the number of its regular-season wins in Allen’s first varsity year, 2010; and is already halfway to its four-victory 2011 season.

It’s safe to say the Tigers are a bit pumped.

full story

Bristol forum takes aim at drug-related crimes

Posted on September 13, 2012 |

• Bristol
• bristol
• crime

By Xian Chiang-Waren

BRISTOL — Around 70 community members gathered at Bristol’s second crime and drug forum on Tuesday night and took some steps toward addressing the apparent rise of armed burglaries and drug-related crimes in the five-town area.

While few decisions were made, those at the Holley Hall meeting agreed to move forward by organizing steering committees around specific solutions and continuing to foster a conversation that will help determine the next steps.

full story

Tiger boys top Eagles in Carrara soccer tourney

Posted on September 13, 2012 |

• Sports
• Boys soccer
• MAUHS
• MUHS

By Andy Kirkaldy

MIDDLEBURY — The Middlebury Union High School boys’ soccer team on Monday used solid defense and midfield play and two goals from senior striker Akeem Pottinger to turn back Mount Abraham, 2-1, in a well-played final of the Tigers’ J.P. Carrara & Sons tournament.

Pottinger’s second goal came with about 10 minutes to go, snapped a 1-1 tie and capped a second half in which the Tigers controlled play. The Tigers improved to 2-0 and won their own tournament for the first time in several years.

full story

After years of work, vote scheduled on Bristol plan

Posted on September 13, 2012 |

• Bristol
• Bristol selectboard
• Bristol town plan

By Xian Chiang-Waren

BRISTOL — After nearly a decade of work revising and updating the Bristol Town Plan, an effort that has at times been very contentious, the plan is ready to be voted on by Bristol residents.

The Bristol selectboard held its second and final public hearing on the controversial town plan update on Monday at the start of the board’s meeting in Holley Hall. Only two members of the public were in attendance; no objections were voiced. By 7:04 p.m. — within minutes of calling the meeting to order — the board had closed the discussion.

full story