Archive - 2011
January 6th
BRISTOL — The Mount Abraham Union High School board is slashing an additional $174,000 from its 2011-2012 educational spending plan after receiving word this week that the Bristol school will post a projected $111,000 deficit this year.
A recently completed audit revealed a significant drop in Mount Abe’s projected revenues for next year that forced Co-principals Andy Kepes and Leon Wheeler to go back and make more spending cuts on top of the $266,767 that was eliminated earlier in the budget planning process.
MONTPELIER — Most of Addison County’s delegates to the Vermont House will return to familiar committee rooms this biennium — with a few key exceptions.
The Vermont House leadership on Wednesday assigned:
• Rep. Michael Fisher, D-Lincoln, to the Health Care Committee, as vice chairman. Fisher during the last biennium served as vice chairman of the Human Services Committee. Health care reform is shaping up as one of the hot-button issues the Legislature will face during the next two years.
SOUTH BURLINGTON — On a cold Tuesday evening in South Burlington, the five members of the band Chamberlin — several of them Addison County natives — huddle together in a dimly lit room to warm up. They begin their ritual singing in a low voice, “Call… me… Neil…,” and then raise their voices higher, “Call… me… Neil….” At the top of their ranges, “Call… me… Neil…,” the door bursts open and everyone looks up.
MIDDLEBURY — Middlebury residents on Jan. 18 will get a chance to weigh in on a draft 2011-2012 town spending plan of $8,253,112, which would require a 2.13-cent increase to a municipal property tax rate that has remained level the past two years.
BRISTOL — The new year marks Bristol’s Lawrence Memorial Library’s 100th birthday, and to celebrate, the library is throwing itself parties all year long.
In 1911, local businessman and Addison County Sheriff William Lawrence gave the building at 40 North St. to the town for just one dollar. Lawrence dedicated the library to his two deceased wives, Minnie Peet Lawrence and Lockie Partch Lawrence.
MIDDLEBURY — Those working in Middlebury College’s sustainability office are feeling a bit more “chipper” this week.
On Tuesday, Middlebury College employees began harvesting the first batch of wood chips from its willow test plot in two fields to the west of the campus off Route 125, bringing the school’s biomass plant one step closer to processing its own wood fuel.
BRANDON — A fire destroyed the headquarters of a well-respected local building company after firefighters were called to the business twice on Sunday.
Firefighters first responded to Naylor and Breen Builders on Route 7 South in Brandon at about 2 p.m. Sunday after getting reports of smoke and flames. Brandon Fire Chief Bob Kilpeck said that fire began in the paint finishing room of the building, which housed offices in front and a cabinetry shop in the rear.
VERGENNES — The first of five forums on Addison Northwest Supervisory Union unification under one-board governance will be held on Tuesday at Vergennes Union High School.
The meeting on the proposal to operate the four ANwSU schools under one 12-member board will begin at 6:30 p.m. and run for a scheduled 90 minutes.
The five ANwSU towns will vote on unification on Town Meeting Day. All five towns must vote yes if the change is to be adopted.
