Archive - May 8, 2006
By CYRUS LEVESQUE
BRISTOL — The AIDS epidemic in Africa is hitting the country of Zambia especially hard. One in six adults in the country has HIV. About 630,000 children have been orphaned by the disease.
Two Bristol residents, Darla Senecal and Nancy Luke, are creating a local chapter of the organization of the organization Mothers Without Borders, which is trying to offer relief to those orphans.
The local chapter’s first project is collecting “Newborn Kits” for families in Zambia. These kits include six cloth diapers, one layette gown, one bar of soap, four diaper pins, three small plastic pants, one pair of baby socks, one receiving blanket, and one hat for a newborn.
By JOHN FLOWERS
MIDDLEBURY — The union representing Addison Central Supervisory Union teachers has asked an Addison County Superior Court judge to compel ACSU Superintendent Lee Sease to turn over information that the superintendent insists he doesn’t have.
At issue is an ACSU-commissioned report, prepared by Bristol-based Barash Mediation Services, intended to recommend ways of promoting a more “civil and respectful” environment within district schools.
The Middlebury Union High School Teachers’ Association (MUHSTA) has seen the report, which addresses the district broadly, but wants a look at follow up reports created by Barash for some individual schools.
By JOHN FLOWERS
MONTPELIER — The Vermont House and Senate have asked the Agency of Agriculture to study the impact of milk hauling and stop charges on Vermont dairy farmers, and determine whether those expenses could be reasonably shifted to manufacturers and/or consumers.
As it stands, farmers pay the costs for haulers to stop and collect their milk. They are also assessed a fee to have that milk hauled to processing facilities. The fees are deducted from the farmers’ milk checks.
For many farmers, these hauling and stop charges are not insignificant. Sen. Harold Giard, D-Bridport, a former dairy farmer, said he paid upward of $20,000 per year to have his milk hauled to processing facilities in Massachusetts. Giard said he has a cousin in Bridport who milks 90 cows and paid $21,000 in charges last year. He heard recently from a farmer in the Northeast Kingdom who milks 30 cows and pays $4,800 annually in charges.
